~Bound~

-by Donna Jo Napoli

Bound was one of the two books that the school gave to us for the summer read. After I figured out the mystery of it, it was pretty conventional. Although I enjoyed it, it is easy to predict what would come next, because of the retelling of the loved fairytale

Xing Xing is a Chinese teen-aged girl that lost her father when she was young, and her mother younger still. She lives in a cave with her step-mother, and step-sister that has her feet bound. If a Chinese girl is born in the family, they are thought of as useless. Xing Xing's father thought otherwise. He taught her how to read, and write poems in beautiful calligraphy. Her father was a potter, so sometimes he asked her to write poems on his pottery.

When Xing Xing's mother dies, her deathbed wish was that Xing Xing would care for her father, just the way a wife would do, and for her to hear his last words. Of course, her father believed that they should make this wish come true, so it was Xing Xing that dressed, cleaned, and cooked for her father, not her step-mother. This made her step-mother angry, but she started to pay more attention to her own daughter, and her feet, rather than her husband. After her father dies, the step-mother gets her revenge by forcing her to work cleaning and cooking at the cave. But since her father died in an accident, she never got to hear his last words. Words that would lead to chance her life forever.

~Wing Nut~

-by Mary Jane (MJ) Auch

I have to admit it ... I cried. In the beginning of Wing Nut, I thought that I would put it down before I finished, but now it is on my top 5 list.

Grady and his mother, Lisa have moved all over the country, from mediocre places to even worse places. Whenever they find work for Lisa, or a commune, they stay there for a time. It is Lisa's temper that forces them to move on again. Usually, Lisa is an optimistic person. But if someone makes a rude remark to either of them, she gets offended, and Lisa and Grady gather up their stuff and leave as soon as possible, with no clue where they are headed.

When Lisa and Grady first arrive at Charlie Fernwald's cottage, that is about as big as a bedroom, Grady thinks that he won't like it there at all. But after they settle in, and Grady gets to know Charlie, things start to get better. After understanding his interests, Charlie takes Grady out to his broken tractor, and they work on it together. Everything seems to be going great, until something tragic happens, that tears the bond between Grady and Charlie, and Grady wonders if he will ever find a home like this again.