Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - Brandon Lee

 Spoilers Ahead!!! 

 Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a non-fiction story about a true story from World War II and an amazing survival

story of the main character Louis Zamperini (aka Louie). Louie was a famous Olympic star runner for team

USA, and was depicted as a hero before he got drafted into the air force for WWII. While on a bomber

mission to destroy a Japanese military base, Louie encounters a problem with the left engine. As the

plane begins to descend downwards, Louie braces for impact and the plane ends up crashing  into the

middle of the pacific ocean. Louis along with two other people stay on a raft for almost two months

until only Louis and his best friend manage to stay alive. On the brink of death, a shadow towers over them.

Louie’s celebration however, is short lived as both of the soldiers realize that a Japanese ship has found

them. 

The next chapter cuts to a scene of Louie and his companion along with hundreds of other

American soldiers that were captured by the Japanese in war. They are forced to stand in the hot

weather until the warden suddenly emerges from a building in the distance. He introduces himself as

Colonel Watanabe. Louie gets a rude welcome as he is continued to be punished and beaten for

standing up to the warden. Louie stays in this camp for about a year and faces multiple harsh

punishments. However, hope is found when the American military slowly captures military bases near

the camp and slowly reaches the camp until one day, the whole base is attacked and the prisoners are

forced to move to another camp. All of the prisoners are transferred to another Labor camp coal mine

where the conditions would be way worse. The temperature was significantly colder, and the living

conditions were also terrible. However, one last surprise awaits Louie and the rest of the prisoners

that might take away all the hope that they have. 

This book about the journey of Louis Zamperini was truly an inspiring and amazing story for

people who are new to this genre. I myself was not a big fan of non-fictional and war related books

or movies. However, after reading this book, I gradually started getting used to these types of plots.

The amazing plot of sharing real life experiences really allows the reader to take a deep dive on what

it was like to be a main character in a world full of obstacles blocking your way to success.

The resilience Louis and all the other soldiers have shows how much people will do and love their

own countries and origins. I highly recommend this book even for people who have not explored

these types of genres and to explore the deeper meanings hidden between the pages of the books.

The Silence Between Us - Book Review - By Naomi

What’s harder than being the new kid? Being the deaf new kid. 17 year old Maya is starting her senior year across the country and is convinced she’s going to hate it. Maya hasn’t been at a hearing school since she could hear and she’s gotten so accustomed to communicating with deaf or hard of hearing people. Using sign language to communicate was awesome and she could understand everything, however, now she’s going to have to rely on her interpreter and lip reading, which is not going to be easy…

Not to mention how Maya’s schedule is going to get busy. Between completing loads of homework to achieve her goal of working in the medical field and helping her single mother out with her brother who has cystic fibrosis, Maya is in for a really late night. But, she loves her mom and brother, so it should be worth it.

So, maybe Maya will be fine, I mean, aside from making friends, but she doesn’t need any new friends. That is until Maya learns her younger brother is trying to make friends, so perhaps she should as well in order to be a good example for her younger brother. If he can do it with cystic fibrosis, she can do it deaf. And hey, there’s Nina- a nice girl in her grade, one friend should do the trick. Except there’s also Beau… the student body president. To Maya’s surprise, he starts learning sign language and attempting to communicate with her, but Maya isn’t entirely sure what to think. Is it a prank, or is he being serious? Whether it’s his green eyes and dimples or the fact he’s trying, something makes it so Maya can’t help but be somewhat drawn to him… Would a hearing and deaf relationship ever work, though?

This heartwarming and thought provoking story is a 10/10 in my opinion and I highly recommend it.