[Prelude: In the meeting on October 2, 2019, the whole club worked on reviewing magazines and books chose from G9-12 Library. They had to elaborate on the reasons for recommending particular books and the targeted readers. Below are their fruits--bilingually!]
Gabriel Woo, Grade 11
Outliers - (by) Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers is a self-improvement manual targeted to understand success and the winners in a particular field. As the name suggests, Outliers explores the winners at the apex of their field, analysing, and breaking down the factors that caused their victory. Overachievers, and the leaders at the top percentile often thinks, acts, and functions on a different ball game. This book explores numerous keys that individuals on the top of their field learns to utilize, such as
"The Matthew Effect" (where the rich gets richer, and the poor gets poorer), "The 10,000 hour rule," (where the concept of 10,000 hours to perfection is popularized), "The trouble with Geniuses" (how mental intelligence is not the definite pathway to success), and how school success and straight A’s don’t transfer into real world success.
I recommend this book because in a competitive world, where only the fittest and strongest survives. It is crucial to be outliers in whatever we do, over achieving excellence is crucial to ensure your survival on top of your field. As students, we are to be prepared for the real life to come, a reality of competition, and high standards. Whereas in school, just passing and scraping by may be satisfactory. In the real world, such standards would prove to be fatal errors. I recommend Outliers for the simple reason that it helps solidify your position as leaders, and allows one to become the top and not the bottom. I recommend this book because I want my fellow classmates to be winners in life, and outstanding champignons. Although this book is not a silver bullet for outstanding leadership, it certainly presents and outlines in sufficient detail blueprints to high-achieving individuals at the pinnacle of their arena.
The target readership for this book is anyone looking to better themselves, self improve, and reach far beyond average. If you are content with your abilities today, and ready to settle for averageness, then this book is not for you. However, if you are willing to put in the work, spend up to 10,000 hours (as the book suggests) to master your craft, and excel far beyond average, then this book would definitely guide you to excellence!
Matt Lee, Grade 11
Halo: The Fall of Reach, written by Eric Nylund, is a prequel to the famous game Halo: Combat Evolved (A.K.A. Halo: CE), which is the very first game of the Halo series, also is the very first novel of the series. This book was released at 2001.
The setting of this book is at 26th century in the Halo universe, and talks about the protagonist's origin and the master chief.
In this world, moving faster than light is possible through another dimension that special relativity doesn't apply, called slipspace. This "slipspace" allowed the human to colonize hundreds of planet. Due to United Nations Space Command (UNSC)'s heavy law, some colonies rebelled. So military leader approved the SPARTAN-II PROGRAM to secretly supress rebellion, which the protagonist is one of them.
I would recommend this book to people who likes to play games but hates read, since this book is a prequel to a game, its plot is far more interesting than other novels.
Cathy Ho, Grade 9
《採果集》內涵印度詩人泰戈爾的八十六篇詩集，兼身詩人、哲學家、藝術家、教育家的他，運用純樸的文字刻劃出對生命和大自然的熱愛。字句中看出他曾參與社會運動的影子。不斷倡導社會階級平等、隱約反諷物質主義，利用貧窮卻充滿大愛的人民故事，帶出他對生命的感動和最真誠的領悟。詩篇有如著溫暖的陽光、美麗的花朵，帶著讀者品嘗生命中甜美的果實。此版本中英對照，幫助學生沉澱心靈，搭配著繽紛的插畫，為從詩中所得的收穫更添一分色彩。
Eloise Fang, Grade 9
《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》是拉丁美洲很有影響力的作者保羅·科爾賀撰寫。他的小說攔獲過很多項國際大獎，而這本《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》是他的代表作，可曾翻譯過42種語言，可是現代文學的經典。《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》是一本追尋夢想的一本小說，男孩他從他父親那邊得了家產，開始牧羊旅行。經過兩年的時間他開始習慣羊的作息。但是男孩的夢想不是牧羊，他渴望認識這個世界，他想到處去旅行，機緣巧合之下他遇到了一個改變他人生的人，他賣了他的羊，換成了錢，並開始他的尋夢旅程。但是事情沒有發展得這麼順利，他後來遇到兩次考驗，他都可以選擇不要面對困難，回去繼續當個牧羊人，但是他憑著他自己的堅持和毅力，選擇繼續向著夢想前行。
Athena Chou, Grade 9
「繪本」是一個藉由文字和圖畫所結合的一種形式，以「圖」為中心，繪本能夠讓一個看不懂字只看得懂圖的人獨得津津有味。大多數的繪本都是大人在念繪本給小孩子聽，小朋友在不會認字的情況下能夠用耳朵體會每一個作家的語言世界，也就是這本書主要在講述的目的-繪本的聲音，耳朵所聽到的語言將會逐一將圖帶到一個更廣闊的想像世界，也能夠透過自己的想像變成自己專屬的繪本，繪本也對大人很重要，成為中間傳遞訊息以及情緒的間接關係。
Mason Huang, Grade 9
《台灣的明天》是一本由彭宗平、李知昂、和竹科聯播聯合編冊的散文。此篇散文主要是再說台灣的未來走向，以及如何讓台灣再次擁有像亞洲四小龍時期一樣的國際競爭能力。這篇散文主要以能源發展、科技發展走向、以及工業、和電子業的未來作為論說重點。書中提到了，要讓台灣更能有競爭力，一定要從教育開始做起。任何成功的文明都是必須先有了良好的教育系統，才能培養出良好的公民。並且，書中更是提到了讓台灣再次擁有強大競爭力其中最重要的一點，也就是要有更多的勞動力和專業技職。簡單來說，台灣需要更多的年輕人，無論是在做工、或是能做特定專業行業的人都可以。台灣現在因應少子化，因此人才會大量短缺，特別是下一代的我們。其實很多先進國家都有少子化的問題，但他們的國家會有移民想要去長住，而不是像我們不但國家小，而且國際地位又不高。因此，本書正好提出了一些解決方案，供大家參考。至於細節是什麼，就讓你們自己去探索吧。
Howard Chen, Grade 9
Summary + Introduction
The Other Side of the Island is a novel written by Allegra Goodman. This story is set in a dystopian future, where a girl and her friend finds out that the paradise they have been living in is not what it seems. The protagonist, Honor Greenspoon is a ten-year-old, who lived after the incident where all the polar ice melted, resulting in a major flood that covered most of the land. Following the flood, a major war breaks out. After the aftermath of the war, the remaining survivors slowly put society back into shape. When Honor was born, it was already a new beginning for the remaining survivors where the Corporation placed and constructed a literal ceiling over the colonies for safety.
Due to the trauma created by the flood and war, strict rules were created to keep the colonies at peace, such as only having one child. However, Honor's parents were rebellious, having a second child secretly and slip back the barricades to enjoy real night sky. One day, Honor's parents suddenly disappear, and Honor decides to find them, believing that they were taken by the Corporation.
Recommendation Reason
This book has a very creative and interesting concept, and the ending is surprisingly ambiguous. There is no second book, and the ending leaves a lot for the reader to think about, having several things unanswered. However, several parts of the story made the story feel slow, and makes the audience dislike certain characters, even though they are considered as a sub-protagonist. It was a very entertaining book though.
Target Audience
The target audience of the novel would be teenagers between the ages of 10 to 14, due to a certain amount of understanding required to understand the plot. Although it's a dystopian novel, it's not too dark, so children between 10 to 14 would be the ideal age. Anyone who has questioned about the authorities would be interested in this book as well, as I consider the characters in this book quite rebellious.
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