"Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

Do you play a ukulele and sing to other students at lunch? Do you wear old fashioned clothes and keep a pet rat named Cinnamon? Well, you do if you are Stargirl Caraway. Stargirl is new in school, and everyone is talking about her. Leo Borlock is terrified the first time she looks straight at him, thinking she will come talk to him. Stargirl even sends Leo a valenitne on Valentines Day. Leo can't really get her out of his head, and one day follows her after school. Where does she go? She goes to the dessert, but he doesn't follow her any longer. He even walks to her house and hides behind their car. Then, Stargirl comes out and finds him. What does she say? Well, you have to read "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli to see what she says to Leo, and to find out if she can also capture his heart.

I give "Stargirl" five stars, because it's a great lesson. There probably aren't many people like Stargirl, who send you a card or do something nice for a person they don't even know. She is a very selfless person, who during the book was treated badly because no one knew her. They judged her before they knew her, even though she was a great person. I think overall it was a great book that I recommend to anybody and will read again.

"The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros

The House on Mango Street is a story about a girl, Esperanza, who moves a lot. Esperanza's Family, which includes her Mama, Papa, Kiki, Carlos, Nenny, and herself moves into a house of their own. The book tells the story about Esperanza's life on Mango Street.

The different chapters are names that I myself giggled at when I read, like “There was an old woman and she had so many children she didn't know what to do.” There are lots of other neat titles for the chapters.

This book is also very unique in other ways. It seemed to me like each chapter told a different part of Esperanza's life. One chapter told about when she moved to Mango street and told some of the places she lived. It tells about how Esperanza hates her name, and how it was passed down from her Great-Grandmother who was forced to get married and then spent the rest of her life looking out the window. Esperanza states that her name means to many letters, or sadness, like the Mexican records her father plays in the morning, songs like sobbing.

There are other chapters that state interesting things like a girl who sees mice, and a woman who lives in a house, people know she lives there, but she has never been seen. I would recommend this book to someone who likes short stories but like to read.