Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island is a suspenseful and mind-bending thriller. The story takes place in 1954 and follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels. He and his partner, Chuck Aule, are sent to Ashecliffe Hospital, a mental institution for the criminally insane, located on a remote island. Their job is to investigate the disappearance of a patient named Rachel Solando, who seems to have vanished without a trace.
The setting is eerie and unsettling. The stormy, isolated island adds to the tension, making you feel as trapped as the characters. As Teddy investigates, strange things start to happen, and he begins to uncover secrets about the hospital, its staff, and even his own past. The deeper he digs, the more unclear everything becomes such as what is real and what isn’t?
Lehane writes in a way that pulls you in and keeps you guessing. The twists in the story are unexpected, and the ending completely changes how you see everything. It’s the kind of book that makes you think even after you’ve finished reading.
Shutter Island is not just a mystery but is about memory, guilt, and what happens when we can’t trust what we see. It’s a must-read if you enjoy thrillers with big surprises and plot twists.
The City of Ember is a dystopian/adventure novel that takes place in an underground city called Ember. Ember was created in the past by a group called the builders when the conditions above ground became unfit for people to live in. The story follows two 12-year-old protagonists, Lina and Doon. In the beginning of the book Lina and Doon attend a traditional ceremony in which children their age are randomly selected for various careers in Ember. The two are disappointed with their jobs and decide to switch with each other. One day, Lina finds a box in her closet that belonged to her great-great grandfather who used to be the mayor of Ember. The box contains parts of a paper that she believes will help save the citizens of Ember from their now deteriorating city. As a result, Lina and Doon begin to work together to piece together the message and find a way out of Ember. However, this leads to conflict in the story as the current mayor of Ember wants the people of Ember to believe that Ember is alone in the world and surrounded by darkness as a means to hide essential resources from the population and save himself. In the end, Lina, Doon, and Poppy, Lina’s younger sister, piece together the message and leave Ember via a secret river in the pipeworks designed by the builders to allow the people of Ember to return to the world when the time was right. Doon, Lina, and Poppy escape before they are caught by the mayor and learn about the outside world, seeing sunlight for the first time. They leave exit instructions with their friend in Ember in hopes that the remaining population will one day join them. Overall, I would recommend this book for students in grades 4-6 who enjoy dystopian books with aspects of mystery and adventure. 
as sent to her uncle’s mansion. Her early life experience has deeply influenced her personality and she was upset and angry all the time. During her time in the mansion, she found an abandoned garden. She learned about the “secret” of the garden while discovering the other side of herself. She then rebuilt the garden to make it alive with her relative and friend to surprise her uncle. This realistic fiction novel contains a mix of emotions and a mystery storyline about the story of Mary Lennox. This book is suitable for grades 4-6 to read as there are a lot of new words that support students expanding their vocabulary. I highly recommend this book because the story focuses on personal growth and talks about how Mary opened up herself to connect with others to build relationships and heal herself step by step. Reading to see the transformation of Mary might inspire students to become better person through self-reflection.
All he had to do was settle the argument between his heart and his brain.