I Am Number Four, but that doesn't mean I'm the fourth book

     I Am Number Four is a book by the author Pittacus Lore, and is about a group of aliens, the Loric, who hail from the planet Lorien. It is also the first book of the series Lorien Legacies. IANF follows the life of John Smith, a Loric, as he struggles to blend in and hide from his enemies, the Mogadorians. I personally think this is a great series of books, and I am going to tell you all about them.

    John Smith is a seemingly average boy until we find out he is actually an alien  from the planet Lorien. When he was a child he was shipped off to Earth from the remains of his planet, along with eight other children. After Lorien was destroyed by another race of aliens, the Mogadorians, the children were chosen to save their planet. A charm was placed over the nine children so that they could only be killed in order. John is Number Four. His name is not actually John, but that is the name we are given throughout the book. John is in danger though. Numbers One through Three are dead, and he is Four. He is the next to die.

    John and his Cêpan, or guardian, Henri head to Paradise, Ohio to try to live life peacefully. There John makes friends with a nerdy boy, Sam, and gets a girlfriend, Sarah. Henri warns him to not get too attached to anyone in Paradise, because they might have to leave at a moment's notice, but John disregards that and proceeds to make friends anyways. In Paradise John learns to work with his special skills, called legacies, that act akin to superpowers. John develops telekinesis, heat resistance, and hand flashlights. John has to hone his legacies in order to use them in combat, and unfortunately Paradise is not always a paradise.

    This book was really good, and hard to put down. Since there's a good sized series of these books, I have been reading through them lately. I would recommend I Am Number Four to anyone who likes Sci-Fi, as well as people who like a good fiction novel/series. There is never a dull moment in the books, and they will get you hooked. I highly encourage giving IANF a try.

Of Mice and Men: Short but not so sweet

   

Eleanor Kraatz

 I decided to read Of Mice and Men because it was very short and I had it at my house. However, in its meer 100 pages it was incredibly eye-opening and sad. The book tells the story of two migrant workers; a small, smart man named George and his strong but mentally disabled friend Lennie. The book does not mention specifically what Lennie's problem is, but he has a terrible memory, poor social skills, and although he is kind, he panics when he is confused. This often gets him in trouble. For example, he becomes fascinated with a women's soft dress and wants to touch it, when he touches the dress the women screams which frightens Lennie. Instead of letting go he grips onto the dress much tighter which eventually leads to the woman telling others she has been raped, and Lennie and George must leave the town. He also is schizophrenic and tends to fixate on very specific things. Because of his issues he travels with George wherever he goes which is not normal for many migrant workers. 

    Although George and Lennie have each other one of the most prominent themes in the book is loneliness. In the story George, Candy (a worker on the ranch), Crooks (a black man working on the ranch), and Curley's wife (the wife of a worker on the ranch)  all admit to how lonely they are. The story also shows that even when people are isolated and long for companionship they still try to tear each other down. It was sad to see the characters, even at their weakest, still tried to crush others dreams and ambitions. 

    "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place...They ain't got nothing to look ahead to." This is said by George in the very beginning of the book and is shown by many of the supporting characters. One of those character is Crooks, an old, black stable-hand. Because Crooks is black, he sleeps away from all the other workers and spends most of his time alone. The following are quotes from the book from when characters explain their loneliness to each other 

 "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black...A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you." -Crooks

"I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely" -Curley's Wife 

Despite knowing about each other's loneliness the characters don't provide each other with companionship. Instead they try and make them feel worse about themselves by telling each their dreams are impossible. It was sad to read because you would think that the characters would realise they do not need to be lonely when they are surrounded by other people. However, the characters allow fear and jealousy to make each other more miserable.