The Girl Who Could Fly

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“It’s the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men. I was smiling the whole time (except for the part where I cried) … Prepare to have your heart warmed”

– Stephenie Meyer, Author, The Twilight Saga

I definitely agree with Stephenie Meyer’s quote.

The Girl Who Could Fly is about a farm girl named Piper McCloud who has always been able to fly. Piper comes from a normal family who will not tolerate her ability. When things get out of hand, her parents send her to Dr. Letitia Hellion’s boarding school, called I.N.S.A.N.E. (Institute of Normalcy, Stability, And NonExceptionality) where she meets others like herself. However, when the “safe” facility of I.N.S.A.N.E proves to be dangerous, Piper and her new friends team up to save themselves and innocent plants and animals. This exciting novel is a page-turner!

The Girl Who Could Fly is an unforgettable book. First of all, it is inspiring. 💡 One of the morals of the story is that being different is OK. Victoria Forester, the author, is trying to tell us that if we are born with a gift, we should learn to use it well. She does this by profiling eleven kids with abnormal talents – from telekinesis to X-ray vision – and teaching the readers that if you have a special talent, you should accept it, embrace it, hone it, and use it for good.

Second, it is a plain, good story. Well, plain is not the word I would use, because it is really creative and has some great plot twists.

Third, is that once you get into the good part of the book, it will make you want to predict what comes next. I found myself doing this at least once or twice every chapter!

The only negative is that when the author switches to the point of view of another character or is using a scene transition, it is sometimes unclear.

I recommend The Girl Who Could Fly to students ages 9+ and give it a four star rating.  I’ve already started the sequel named The Boy Who Knew Everything. Stay tuned…

 

 

 

Ham4Ham

Have you ever heard of Hamilton The American Musical? It’s the hardest Broadway musical to get tickets to, the most revolutionary (I’ll explain that part later! 😛 ) musical of all time, and has the best songs ever!

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote and stars in this musical about our youngest founding father. It is also about the American Revolution (see, revolutionary) from Alexander Hamilton’s point of view. Hamilton is not just any musical, it has a hip-hop, rap, pop, and Broadway styled soundtrack.

I was lucky enough to see the show on Broadway and am completely obsessed with Hamilton. Once you listen to the soundtrack, you will be too! The wonderful and incredibly talented cast makes videos called Ham4Ham that are hilarious. Some of the videos feature an actor(s) in the show who sing someone else’s songs or does their impression. They are really fun to watch. If you scroll down to the bottom of this review, I have included my favorite Ham4Ham video.

I love that the cast cares about the show so much, and that they find time to make these videos. It demonstrates their passion for the musical and that they are real people like you and me.

The Ham4Ham videos get a five star rating.

 

Slide the Shakes

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Top: Chocolate Milkshake; Middle: Bowl of Ice Cream; Bottom: Chocolate Avocado Twist

WARNING: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!!! Slide the Shakes is a game where you avoid different obstacles to slide the milkshake into the green zone. The game also gives you recipes so that you can make the interesting beverages that you play with. Some of the these include Cherry Toppers, Jam Donut Shakes, and Bowls of Ice Cream. You may think that Slide the Shakes is easy in the beginning, but other times you may want to throw your phone down in rage!

Not only are there delicious drinks fun to make and slide, but the way that they draw the backgrounds and shakes and pair the colors is beautiful. If you look at the Chocolate Avocado Shake, the background, I think, is stunning. Some of the backdrops are animated and others are not. I do find that whenever I switch over to another app, it loses my progress on the level, which I find very annoying. Slide the Shakes gets a rating of four stars.