Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It all started with a lawn mower, and thus was born an economic empire.
When his birthday rolls around, our unsuspecting entrepreneur’s grandma shows up with his present. Instead of money for his birthday, which would've come in handy, she gives him this old lawn mower that used to belong to his grandfather.
So he starts mowing neighbors' lawns to solve his money problems.
This short and hilarious tale pitches an ordinary kid with an old riding lawn mower into a dizzying ascent up the financial ladder.

As his business becomes more complex, the reader is entertained with quick lessons in, to quote some of the chapter heads, Capital Growth Coupled with the Principles of Product Expansion and Force of Arms and Its Application to Business, the young tycoon ends up smarter than when he started out, and worth half a million dollars.

When it comes to telling funny stories, no one surpasses Paulsen, and here he is in top form; plus you get a primer on economic policies.




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Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If you liked Hunger Games, you will like this trilogy.



In this world there are 5 factions each of which believes the opposite of their lifestyle is the root of evil.  Life within each faction is rules by its beliefs and loyalties. You have Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless, Amity and Erudite.

When Tris leaves her Abnegation family to become one of the wild, fearless Dauntless, she must learn a new lifestyle.  But she begins to see truths in each factions’ beliefs. She also discovers that she is actually a Divergent, with the strengths of multiple factions, and is therefore a target of dangerously controlling leaders and see by these leaders as a threat.

This is a very fast-paced novel and not for the faint-hearted.  There are so many twists and turns that you are kept on the edge of your seat waiting for the next jolt.





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