Books of the Month: February

This article was written by Kulsoom Usman, Year 13

Hello there!

I am back again with some more book recommendations for you to enjoy until the half-term break :)

George R.R. Martin once said, ‘A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once.’

I cannot imagine how boring it will be to only live once, and I am sure you wouldn’t like that either, so read as much as you can! Take a book wherever you go, believe me, it will be magical.

Whether you are a bookworm or prefer to watch movies, you can never go wrong with a good book!

Caraval

by Stephanie Garber

Genre; Young Adult Fantasy Fiction

Age recommendation; 14+

“ What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don’t let any of it trick you. We will try to convince you it’s real, but all of it is a performance. A world built of make-believe. So while we want you to get swept away, be careful of being swept too far away. Dreams that come true can be beautiful, but they can also turn into nightmares when people won’t wake up. ”

I know it is an awfully long quote, but this is exactly what I will tell someone before they get into the world of Caraval.

The novel follows Scarlett, who has dreamed of participating in Caraval, the magical game put on by the illusive Legend and his band of performers. Year after year, she has written to Legend asking him to bring Caraval to her tiny island of Trisda, but every letter she has ever sent has gone unanswered – until now. Legend has finally responded to one of her letters and has invited both her and her sister, Tella, to his private island to take part in Caraval. Only, Caraval is not quite what she imagined it would be…

 The line separating reality from fantasy is blurred in Caraval, and when Tella is kidnapped as part of the game, the stakes become much higher than Scarlett had anticipated.

I am a bigger fanatic of the second book in the trilogy, Legendary (a true page-turner!), but I cannot recommend it to you before you read Caraval, which is just as whimsical and magical.

If you are new to fantasy fiction, I think this will be a good place to start!

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

by Oliver Sacks

Genre; Non-Fiction

Age recommendation; 15+

“‘Deficit’, we have said, is neurology’s favourite word–its only word, indeed, for any disturbance of function.”

In this book, Oliver Sacks presents the stories of his patients, all suffering from some form of neurological impairment. In sharing these stories, Sacks demonstrates the remarkable complexity of the human brain and its extraordinary capacity to adapt. But the stories not only provide a better understanding of neuroscience, they also provoke thought about the nature of identity, consciousness, and the relationship between the brain and the self.

Do you know, this book is named after one of the patients described in it? A man with visual agnosia, a condition that impairs the recognition of visual stimuli, mistook his wife for his hat!

The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norton Juster

Genre; Children’s (Literature) Fiction

Age recommendation; 10+

“ The only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort. ”

I was in year 6 when I first read this book, and I mostly remember it being strangely good.

It tells the story of a young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, decides to drive through it in his toy car. The tollbooth transports him to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. There he visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping!), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even goes on a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom—Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason—from the Castle of Air.

The novel is a great mix of humorous dialogue with valuable lessons on perspective, repetitive diction, and jumping to conclusions. I am sure the younger audience will devour it!

Happy reading!

There it is! Join the KCDSpeaks Book Club by reading these books, sending your take on them, and then sharing some new reads we can add to the list next month!

Just email us your views and recommendations at: kcdnewspaper@kentcollege.sch.ae or you can also email me directly at: kulus23@kentcollege.sch.ae

P.S. Make sure to check out the KCD Library- borrow books and donate.

Until next time!

Love, 

Kulsoom