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First a preface:
When I suggest that students read a book by Ellen Hopkins, their first reaction is often “No way! That book is huge!” And yes, many of her fiction novels are very thick, topping 300 or even 600 pages. But when I flip through the books and show students that they are written in free verse instead of long paragraphs, they perk up. There may be as few as 20 words on a page. That, they feel they can handle. And while I never want anyone to choose a book because it’s short, I sell Ellen Hopkins’ books this way because too many students would miss out on her great stories if they never cracked one open.

Now on to the review:
Impulse is the story of Tony, Vanessa and Connor, three teenagers who for different, devestating reasons try to end their lives. After their suicide attempts, they are sent to a treatment facility where they are supposed to work through their issues with therapists and family members. As you might imagine, the path to healing is not an easy one. The teens struggle to deal with their troubled past, less-than-ideal present and their uncertain future. The book alternates between the three teens’ voices, revealing in agonizing bits and pieces the heartache, abuse and fear that led them to this point. Despite their different journeys, the teens find a connection with each other that gives them hope that their lives will be better.

Unfortunately not everyone gets a happy ending. The book, like all others written by Hopkins, deals with very sensitive issues such as sexual abuse, mental illness, drug use, and depression. Tony, Vanessa and Connor felt like real people, and I quickly became invested in their stories: their triumphs, missteps and especially their falls. While I know they are made-up characters, I also know that Hopkins has worked with at-risk youth and struggled through her daughter’s heroin abuse (which she writes about in Crank). Meaning, I feel that the author knows what she’s talking about. By reading Impulse, I gained a glimpse into the pressures and dangers that can plague teenagers – even the ones who seem to have everything going for them. These kinds of books also remind me that, whatever I’m dealing with, someone else may have it worse and I need to be sensitive to whatever challenges they may be facing. Those challenges are not always obvious from the outside.

I recommend this book and others by Ellen Hopkins for anyone who likes gritty realistic fiction, especially stories of young people who face and overcome trauma or hardship. Since it’s told in three voices, I sometimes had to flip back a page or two to remind myself which character was doing the talking. But even with that, the book was riveting and hard to put down. You’ll be impressed by how quickly you get through the 600 pages.

Another of Hopkins’ books that I have read is Burned, the story of Pattyn, a teenage girl whose parents’ religious fanaticism leads to physical and emotional abuse. When she begins to rebel against their rigid beliefs, she is banished from the family. Luckily, the aunt she is sent to live with does not share her parents’ values. For the first time in her life, Pattyn has the freedom and confidence to explore her world, discovering her likes and dislikes and falling in love. She sees possibilities beyond the submissive marriage and motherhood that her parents believe in. Her escape is short-lived, however, when she is called to return home; efforts to hold onto the new life she has made end badly.

While this book feels less realistic to me, because religious fanaticism isn’t something I encounter regularly, I still found the story interesting and moving. I rooted for Pattyn, and of course raged over her father’s abusive and demeaning treatment of the women in his life.

Hopkins continued Pattyn’s story in a book called Smoke and wrote a sequel to Impulse, titled Perfect. If they are even half as captivating as the originals, then I expect more nights staying up reading until 2 am.

I’m ashamed to say that I have trouble keeping up with the news.  I try to get it online, but am too easily distracted by the endless procrastination possibilities that the Internet offers.  I may be deeply interested in an article about ebola, but soon I see an advertisement for an article on Jennifer Lawrence and I immediately switch off of the important article.  Then I may try to watch on television, but I become quickly frustrated with the newscasters’ squabbling and the frequent commercials.  But now, once a week, I am able to catch up on the world’s pressing news and have the opportunity to watch unique stories that examine serious problems in our country, all while laughing more than I would at any other late night program.  HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver never fails to both inform and entertain.

There have been other shows like this; the Colbert Report, or Late Night with Bill Maher.  However, John Oliver’s program approaches news differently than its competitors.  Unlike the Colbert Report, Last Week Tonight is on premium television.  This means that it gets its funding from its viewers, and not its sponsors.  This means that John Oliver has the ability to say whatever he wants about any company if it is relevant to the news.  Let’s just say that the CEO of CocaCola was involved in a major scandal.  A station sponsored by CocaCola would most likely release a biased statement about the incident in order to retain their funding.  This is not an issue for news broadcasted on premium channels.  Another HBO series, Late Night with Bill Maher, has been very successful for a number of years.  However, in HBO’s neighborhood, Bill Maher may have been the hot shot, but John Oliver is the new kid on the block getting more than his share of respect.  This is not just because he is the shiny new host, but because he is bringing something new to the table.  Instead of wasting time on biased rants and discussions with (non-relevant) celebrities, Oliver calls attention to stories that much of mainstream media does not cover, even though they could be detrimental to the well-being of others in our world.

Much like any news station, Oliver discusses subjects that can make one  go into a melancholic, pessimistic stupor.  However when I watch these episodes, I am not depressed but elated.  While providing us factual information on subjects like nuclear weaponry, the death penalty, ISIS, and human rights violations, Oliver does the impossible: he shows us something that we can laugh at.  This takes away the pessimism of the news because seeing the foolishness of a situation makes it become less of a monster and more of a relatable problem.  For example,  John Oliver did a piece on Syria’s tyrannical leader, Assad.  Here, he explained that Assad was never really into politics.  His true dream was to become an optometrist.  In fact, Oliver said, Assad went to a university in England to realize this dream.  As Assad was overseas studying his optometry textbooks, his brother (in line to rule) had passed away.  His mother, wanting one of her sons to rule, had nearly forced Assad out of school and back to Syria.  To the world’s dismay, he then took his brother’s place.  After learning all of this, I felt that Assad no longer appeared as an unconquerable threat, but as a nerd who is afraid of his mother.  Of course, this man’s rule and treatment of his people is still to be feared, but we are reminded that this is all he is: a man.

This is the way news should be done.  We need to be educated on a wide variety of topics.  We need to make sure that the interests of the sponsors are not warping the story.  But most of all we need to be able to laugh at the things troubling our world.  If not, we internalize more fear and inhibit our ability to rationally deal with these issues.  By laughing, we can remain hopeful.  Last Week Tonight embodies this.

Check Out Oliver’s Interview With Stephen Hawking:

So Mrs. McHugh wanted me to write another article for the paper and I was all like, “idk,” but then senior savage Isaac Bickford gave me the idea to tell people all about the Homecoming dance in the lingo of the 1950s. I responded to Isaac’s idea with, “That’s the stupidest best idea I’ve ever heard….let’s do it!” So if you’re curious as to if I’ve finally gone off the deep end, I have not. So here’s Homecoming, ‘50s style.

Hey you! Yes you! Do you often find yourself on the weekend devoid of a sock hop to attend? Does your gang of high school hellhounds need a place to chill cold? Ever wanted to spend an evening with a fine young honey? If so, well, I’ve got the solution for you, daddy-o! This Saturday night come to the Homecoming shakedown.

Now before you enter, you gotta know that if you have any silly juice in your system, you’re gonna have to hit the road, ace. Don’t get salty with me if you get kicked and thrown in the paddy wagon since you wanted a little underage fun.

Now, the tickets cost thirty big ones, so if you’re a bit skinny on cash, it’s time to save up your jukebox money. The dance is open to all ages of people from big daddys to little mamas so don’t feel like you’re too old or too young to have a jig. There are plenty of reasons to attend the dance such as the chow being served. Puccini’s will be catering the hop and I must say their food never fails to razz my berries. Disc jockey extraordinaire Molly Minnehan will be itching and scratching the latest records from Elvis, Fats Domino, and, if you’re feeling frisky, Ritchie Valens. With six songs in total, the gym will be a real hoppin’ joint. Remember, only the heartthrobs and tootses of HHS can attend the dance so if someone else from some other town tries to snake in, tell them to make like an egg and beat it.

Hey fellas, once you and your cool cats groove on down to the dance floor, be sure to ask a young dame to vibe with you. Don’t be a kook about it; if you think that young lady scorching the dance floor is pretty, buck up, tie your shoes real tight, make sure your pompadour is groomed, and ask that dame to shake it. Ladies, don’t be a two-cent floosie, save a dance for a real hunk, not some creep.

The dance will last until 9:30, so after that you can hop in a hot rod and goose out of there and back to your parents for a safe responsible evening. Keep in mind kiddos, this is for fun for everyone so don’t be a stick in the mud and ruin it.

Yeah, I just wrote that. You just read that. I feel bad too. Goodnight.

Remember Home Alone? That family friendly movie with the kooky kid and incompetent robbers? Yeah, that movie’s great. Now take Home Alone, and add blood. Lots of it. Now you have the 1½ hour long limb-losing bonanza called The Collection.

Now before I begin going into any more detail about the film, I must inform you that originally it was fellow news club extraordinaire Andrea Bilton and her friend Ally Knight, both juniors, who started watching it. But within the first 10 minutes, I was forced to turn it off by both of them. I believe some quotes from Andrea were, “WHY WOULD SOMEONE MAKE THIS??” and “I WANNA WATCH MY DISNEY!!”

Now that that’s off my chest, on with the review. The Collection, directed by Marcus Dunstan and released in 2012 (now On Demand), is a gore fest with a leather-masked serial killer known as The Collector. It’s a sequel to an equally bloody film The Collector. Our tough female heroine is Elena, who is invited out to a new unknown club by her friend. Elena begins to party completely responsibly until she sees her boyfriend making out with another woman. She pops him in the nose then her friend flips him off (#teamwork.) After entering the bathroom, Elena stumbles upon a large red trunk which is moving and yelling. Due to this being a horror movie, where characters always seem to do stupid things, she opens the box. Out comes Arkin, our beat-up protagonist from the first movie and a former captive of The Collector. The opening of this box sets off a series of gears and cogs wired around the club and have you ever wondered what steak would look like if you put in in a garbage disposal? Well that’s what you’re going to witness once this trap begins to hit the dance floor.

So after we can no longer find anybody in the club with bottles full of bub, Elena is captured by The Collector and brought to his “not” murder dungeon. Arkin is contracted by Elena’s father to help find Elena since he is the only man to ever escape the killer. Arkin and a team of highly trained mercenaries, otherwise known as the ones who are going to die in the movie, enter The Collector’s quaint two bedroom, half bath cottage. Just kidding the place is an abandoned motel with a murder hole! I’m serious; there’s just a hole with dead bodies that he disposed of in his lair. The movie really starts here so I’ll give you the Sparknotes so you can watch it yourself: impalement, razor net, spiked coffin, drugged-out zombie people with doll masks, fun with meat hooks, blood, rebreaking a compound fracture, blood, blood, explosions, slo-mo, blood.

So if crimson-soaked, escape action movies interest you, then watch The Collection before the Halloween season is over. But be warned, you’ll never look at steak the same way again.

PS. This movie is rated R, for mature audiences only. So legally, only the seniors can watch this.

What we fear can paralyze us, or provide good fuel for our friends to make fun of us. Either way, since this is Halloween season, I asked students and staff members what really freaks them out, and some of the answers were reasonable and others were just funny.

Senior Tyler Smith has a fear of small holes clustered together. I’m not kidding; I laughed in his face but the  fear is common enough among the general public that it has a name, trypophobia.

As to why Tyler is afraid of clusters of holes, I haven’t the slightest fraction of a clue. What I do know is that fear varies from person to person, which is fascinating. While many people I talked to, such as art teacher Mrs. Curley, junior Allison Camillo and about half the population of the earth (including me), confessed an aversion to spiders, others had an oddly specific fear such as a fear of being rejected by Steve Carell. This is Mrs. Fay’s actual fear. The English teacher wakes up screaming in the night from this.

Fear can be brought forth from childhood trauma or overexposure to a certain thing. It’s entirely dependent on the person.  Ms. Della Croce, the PE teacher, is actually afraid of dying in a plane crash. “I wouldn’t want to know if I was going to die,” she said. “I would just want the plane to crash ‘cause if I knew, I would be scared.”

Ms. D is suffering from agoraphobia, or the fear of being trapped in a place from which she can’t escape.

I managed to get a word with junior Dan McDougall, whose fear is sharks. When I asked Dan why he’s afraid of the animal, he responded with, “I don’t know. They’re just scary.” Wow, such prolific words.

Fears can be both rational and irrational. A rational fear would be junior Courtney Ceurvels, who was feasted upon by ticks . . . so she obviously hates ticks. An irrational fear would be from junior Kylie Chetwynde, who claims to be afraid of jeans. I didn’t ask why; I just moved on with my day.

Some people have no time for fears. “You shouldn’t be afraid of something,” said junior Erin Thornton. “That’s messed up.”

Plenty of people are afraid of plenty of things. Librarian Mrs. McHugh fears nothing more than crickets in her library. The scars from last year’s senior prank have not healed and I wonder if they truly ever will.

It’s important to realize, however, that being afraid of something isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Conquering a fear can be a very rewarding experience and it helps you grow as a person. Really, no matter what you’re afraid of . . . I’ll always be scarier.

Remember that when you go to bed later 🙂

This winter at Hanover High School, we will be lucky enough to showcase a production of Romeo and Juliet. Although we have always had such talented student actors and actresses, this year will be extra special due to our brand new play director and drama teacher, Mr. Jacob Plummer. Being one of Jake’s students myself, I can only imagine how much effort and dedication he is putting into this production to make it the best it can be.

“He’s awesome,” says sophomore Macy Hohenleitner (Lady Montague). “We’re only about two weeks into rehearsal but I couldn’t be happier with how it is going.”

Another actor, Isaac Bickford (Tybalt), reports that Jake has been doing a fantastic job, leaving him with no complaints.

“I love his artistic design, he’s a great guy,” reports sophomore Anna Harper (Juliet).

“You have no idea how great Mr. Plummer is,” says Sean Meehan  (ensemble). Sean may be right; although we can truly see for sure how talented and awesome the cast and Mr. Plummer is, when we go to see this seemingly wonderful play.

Romeo and Juliet was a great choice for HHS because everybody reads the play during freshman year. Therefore, everybody knows the story and the characters. This will ensure that the audience will remain hooked during their favorite scenes and parts. This year’s production is much bigger than last year’s, because this year they have an ensemble, which allowed many more students to make the cast list, rather than get cut from the entire production. Some former cast members from last year’s production of “You Can’t Take it With You” are Macy Hohenleitner, Katie Scott, Sean Meehan and Lindsay Glover. All four students say that the cast is much bigger this year, allowing them to make all sorts of new friends, many of them freshmen.

“We have so many wonderful new people this year, and they’re all doing such a great job,” says Katie(Benvolio). Lindsay Glover (Lady Capulet), being a busy senior, agrees with Katie and is elated with how everything is going. She loves being a part of this new experience regardless of how it compares to last year.

On the other hand, there are many freshmen and newcomers to theater who are just as excited about this production. Sophia Ruggiano (ensemble) agreed with the other cast members that everybody fits into their role perfectly, and she also said how great it was to join the  cast in her first year.

David Adams (Romeo) may be a freshman, but he’s sure not brand new to this. David has had minor roles in other plays but has never received a lead role. However, David truly enjoys this production so far, and loves everybody in it.

Mrs. Turner, a freshman English teacher, is beyond excited for the play. “I’m very excited to see Jake’s rendition of it, and I think it is going to be absolutely fabulous.”

(Fun Fact: Mrs. Turner was Jake Plummer’s English teacher for his freshman year and she had taught him the lesson of Romeo and Juliet. According to Turner, he seemed to really enjoy it as a student, and obviously he still enjoys it today.)

Anna Harper(Juliet) believes that everybody was given the part that truly suited them and complimented their personality. “Before this production I have had experience performing in local theaters, but I did not at ALL expect to be receiving the role of Juliet.” says Anna. When asked, Anna and David both agreed that there was no true chemistry behind the scenes of their characters. Oh well!

Cast: “If you were asked to describe this production to somebody who was considering whether or not to see it, what three words would you say to them?”

Max Meallo (Lord Capulet): “energetic, entertaining, fiery”

Lindsay Glover (Lady Capulet): “Shakespeare with swag”

Anna Harper (Juliet): “tragedies, relationships, fun”

Isaac Bickford (Tybalt): “historic, funny, entertaining”

Alexander Linn (Peter): “A. Fun. Experience.”

Macy Hohenleitner (Lady Montague): “crazy, exciting, awesome”

David Adams (Romeo): “fun, amazing, death”

Katie Scott (Benvolio): “busy, exciting, wonderful”

Dante Nicotera (Friar Laurence): “satirical, humorous, tragic”

Vanessa Gallo (Ensemble): “great, social, experience”

Audrey Lloyd (Ensemble): “educational, dramatic, funny”

Sophia Ruggiano (Ensemble): “outstanding, exciting, awesome”

Sean Meehan (Ensemble/understudy Lord Montague): “more Shakespearean, interesting”

Mrs. Turner (Freshman English Teacher): “Tragedy, love, loss”

If you’re as excited for this play as the cast is, stay tuned! It’s coming to the Hanover High School Auditorium this December! Get ready to laugh, cry, smile, frown, and jump out of your seats at this comedic tragedy! Wanna know more? Ask Jacob Plummer or any of the above named cast members! 🙂

Other cast members not named above: Hayley Ardizzoni, Ricky Dahlstrom, Dillon Russel, Cameron Mccauley, Coleman Hernon, Madison Fitzpatrick, Zack McArthur, Eric Carey, Julia Goslin, Bruno Barbuto, Emily Bartone, Maddy Carol, Jill Drummy, Kayla Maslow, Lauren Murray, and Emily Sweeney.

On October 6, at 7pm, a nearly-week long marathon of The Walking Dead began with the pilot episode of the series; Episode 1, Season 1. It was gearing up viewers for the premiere of Season 5. On Sunday, October 12, we began the new season and new beginnings for many.

From the get-go of the episode, there is anxiety as we see gore and horror in the brutal murders by the cannibalistic leaders of the death-zone Terminus. We see a carefully crafted escape from Terminus by the core group with help from a former ally, none other than Carol. Carol’s presence has been felt since the beginning of the series, and through her secret assistance to the group, loyalty, and bravery despite being exiled last season for killing sick members of the group, we can feel a true sense of her care for them. According to Yahoo and Forbes magazines reports on the episode, they also believe that Carol’s act of bravery and defiance to help her friends and companions is her way of redeeming herself to them. Despite her evident mistakes, Carol still has goodness instilled in her.

For viewers who were Carol fans all along, it appears that they “were lovers of Carol before it was cool,” upon her crossing serious boundaries to save the group in the premiere. Forbes article called what Carol did a “refreshing” act by a character, and during the premiere it wasn’t surprising to see jaws drop as Carol smeared herself in walker blood and guts, set off an explosion inside Terminus, and sauntered through flames to help her friends. During a scene of violence, action, and high-anxiety, this could almost be interpreted as a heart-warming moment to see her act of bravery for her group. After the escape of Terminus, we see the reunion between Carol and Daryl, which truly makes one smile, as well as Rick accept her with open arms. Here we understand that what Carol did may have been out of her own want to assist them, but it did indeed redeem herself in the their eyes as well. We see a passionate reunion between family as well with Rick, Judith, and Carl. In addition to Carol’s act of bravery, we also see such from Tyreese as he acts on behalf of Judith and puts up quite the fight when he is sentenced outside among the walkers with no form of defense. The episode has a lot of familial and friendship reunions and brings most of the group back together (except for Beth, whose whereabouts are still a mystery), pleasing a lot of fans who enjoy that aspect of the show; on the contrary we also see a good amount of action and violence to satisfy that part of the show as well.

By the end, although, not all questions are answered. Where is Beth? What is happening in the cattle car at the end of the episode? Could Beth possibly be in there? What truly will happen or may have happened to the leaders of Terminus? Will we see them again? Those are the questions we anticipate to be answered as the season rolls on, of course.

I have been hooked on American Horror Story since the very first episode of season one. The unconventional series, which tells a unique story in a new setting each year, often with the same cast of actors, spooked me in the Murder House, scarred me for life in the Asylum, and amused me in the Coven. For its fourth season, which premiered Oct. 8, we are taken to a circus Freak Show, the likes of which we haven’t seen on the boardwalk or beside the big top in decades. The trailers released before the premiere promised a terrifying, creepy and, to borrow from the show’s title, freakish experience. That’s saying something given the horror-riddled basement of season 1 and the mutated monsters of season 2. The premiere episode did not disappoint. If you have not watched the episode, be warned that there are SPOILERS ahead.

It’s Florida in the 1950s, and a freak show is trying to stay afloat while others across the country have fallen out of fashion. Some of the performers try to blend in with regular society, hoping to be treated as ordinary people and not the monsters they appear to be. That’s not easy for people like conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler, played by series regular Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates’ Bearded Lady or the flipper-handed Jimmy Darling, played by Evan Peters, another fan favorite. According to the show’s creator, the theme of the season will be the “freaks” in conflict with the “evil forces” that don’t understand them.

Entitled “Monsters Among Us,” the premiere introduced us the Tattler sisters, who are discovered hidden in a farmhouse after their mother’s murder. When Elsa Mars, the German immigrant running the freak show, hears about them, she tries to convince them to join her troupe. The “Siamese” sisters have very different reactions to the idea, played convincingly by Paulson with the help of some voiceover, diary entries and, I’ve read, long grueling days of filming. But they are convinced to join when other freaks defend them from a sheriff who blames them (rightly so, it turns out) for their mother’s death.

As the freak show fights for its survival, a psycho clown nicknamed Twisty is terrorizing the community where they’ve set up camp. Played by character actor John Carroll Lynch, Twisty is absolutely terrifying from his slipshod makeup to the way he dramatically pulls juggling pins from a bag –before using them to bludgeon a couple he finds canoodling in a field. When he makes a balloon animal for two children he’s holding captive, I wanted to scream too. What the fluffernutter? Who is this guy? What has driven him to this madness? And, later, when we see him watching from a distance as the freak show performers chop up the ill-fated sheriff, I wondered : what is this guy’s end game? What is his plan? It’s going to be fun to find out, if my heart doesn’t stop along the way.

As she has in the three previous seasons, Jessica Lange shines in her role as Elsa, a frustrated starlet who dreams of a shot at fame and, in a scene near the end of the episode, reveals that her connection with the freaks goes beyond seeing them as a money-making venture.  Viewers will want to savor every moment that she’s on screen, for it’s no secret that she has decided to move on after this season ends. Creators of the show have promised to give her an over-the-top sendoff.

The other performers in the freak show are an interesting bunch. Peters, as Jimmy Darling, longs for dignity and life beyond being a sideshow attraction. But he also has no trouble using his freakishness when it benefits him. His mother, Ethel, is the bearded lady and fiercely loyal to Elsa and the life the show has provided. The cast includes several performers who have dealt with the “freak” label in real life: Matt Fraser, who portrays Paul the Illustrated Seal, has malformed limbs as a result of phocomelia. Rose Siggins, who plays Legless Suzi, had her legs amputated when she was 2. Jyoti Amge, who plays Ma Petite, is in reality the world’s smallest living woman. These actors bring realism to a show filled with the absurd, and make it easy to empathize with their view that it’s not their deformities, but outsiders’ reaction to them, that is truly monstrous.

That seems to be a perfect segue into talking about Dandy Mott and his mother Gloria, the show’s only spectators one night who offer large sums to buy the Tattler sisters. They seem normal, if very dysfunctional, but their fascination with the freaks as objects to own is unnerving. I’m worried about the role they will play, especially given the teaser for coming episodes.

The premiere built in me a sense of dread, but also anticipation, of what will happen next. I can’t wait to learn the back stories of more of the characters, especially Elsa and Twisty. I’m also eager to see how other cast members such as Emma Roberts, Angela Bassett, Patti LaBelle and, it’s rumored, Neil Patrick Harris will factor into the story.

American Horror Story: Freak Show airs Wednesdays at 10 pm on FX. It is recommended for mature audiences.

It is the dead of winter in Russia, at the height of the Nazi siege of the city of Leningrad during World War II. As German forces surrounded the city for 900 days, they choked off supplies to the point where 17-year-old Lev Beniov and friends eat “library candy” made from book bindings and bread made mostly from sawdust. They walk on the south side of the street because it’s safer during Nazi bombing raids. Schools and markets are closed, and life as they previously knew it is at a standstill. Lev’s mother and sister have fled to the countryside, where they thought they’d be safer, but Lev has dreams of being a wartime hero.

When Lev and his friends loot the corpse of a German paratrooper who falls near their apartment building, he is arrested and thrown into prison expecting to face the firing squad in the morning. (With the military overwhelmed and the police ranks decimated, there is no time for due process in Leningrad). Lev and his cellmate, Kolya, a handsome soldier who deserted his unit, are spared death for a very absurd mission: find a dozen eggs to make a wedding cake for the daughter of a Russian colonel, whose family thrives while the city around him starves.

The mission takes Lev and Kolya all over the city, where they encounter black marketeers and a couple whose hunger has driven them to extremely gruesome measures. Eventually, they head outside the city into German-held territory, and the quest for eggs becomes entwined with a life and death struggle against the enemy. Lev and Kolya join forces with Russian partisans intent on killing the leader of a Nazi death squad which has burned villages, turned teenage girls into prostitutes and murdered hundreds of innocent men, women and children. The climactic confrontation is tense and thrilling.

City of Thieves, by David Benioff, is historical fiction that gives readers a look into what life was like during the siege of Leningrad, one of the most famous conflicts of WWII. While following Lev and Kolya on their search for eggs, you will learn about Russian military tactics, the barbarity of the German invaders and the callousness of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. You will witness the inhumanity of war.

The novel is also a coming-of-age story as Lev wages an inner battle between courage and fear, a desire to live and an inability to face any more heartache. Lev also struggles between patriotism and disdain for Russia, a country in which his poet father was killed as an enemy of the state by tyrannical leader Stalin. His relationship with Kolya, who is just a few years older but ages more experienced in life, is both serious and darkly comical as they talk about literature, women and bodily functions.

I found the book interesting for the look into history, but I also enjoyed the adventures (or misadventures) of Lev and Kolya. They had the same love-hate rapport of many duos in books, TV and movies such as “21 Jump Street” or “The Other Guys” — albeit in much darker circumstances. Even though the book only covers about a week in their lives, I became very invested in them, cheering for them in dire situations, groaning over their missteps, and mourning their devastating losses. The ending is bittersweet, not quite happy but not entirely tragic either.

City of Thieves is 258 pages. I recommend the book for readers interested in history (especially World War II or Russia), as well as for anyone who likes adventure stories.