Notable Books and Newberry Winner

I recently delved into books by Gillian Flynn. I have always came across books by here in the Kindle store when looking for the next "it" book to read, but never committed to actually purchasing one. The first book I read by her was Gone Girl.

It was dark. It was honest. It was a thriller. Everything promised by her books, but this book was not as completely dark as her other two books. Sharp Objects is a book about self-harm. If you look through the list of books about self-harm on Goodreads.com this book will pop up on that list. I thought Flynn did a great job writing from the perspective of someone who self-harms. I recently had to make a brochure about an adolescent issue, and I chose self-harm. I would not recommend this book for someone under the age of fifteen, but it does shine a light on the issue of self-harm. I think people who do self-injure feel alone, and reading about the issue in a book could show someone that self-harming is well known and treatable. (I refuse to give away the ending!) Sharp Objects is not up for a movie rendition yet, but Flynn's other book, Dark Places, is. Dark Places is coming out this year, and I actually finished it a few weeks ago. I DO NOT recommend this book for anyone under the age of eighteen. This book really gave me nightmares, but it was also one of those you just cant put down! I love to torture myself with literature.

I also wanted to touch on the Newberry Medal winner was announced. The winner, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, is a book that interweaves basketball, poetry, and being twelve. I have not read this book, but did a little research about it. In all honesty, it does not seem like my kind of book, but my students would be a different story. This would be a great book choice for male students in the classroom. Thinking on this book, I actually have a cousin who is trying to improve his reading and English ACT score, and I told him to read more books. This might be perfect for him.