Book Review: Testify by Valerie Sherrard

Testify by Valerie Sherrard is a very fast-paced story, with twists and turns around every corner. Shana is a good girl, good grades, a nice household. However, her whole life goes into turmoil when she agrees to help her friend Carrie, by LYING on the trial stand. Carrie "says" that her stepfather has done horrible things, however, she only says this because she doesn't like him, so she tells Shana to stand up for her by saying that she has also seen the event happen. After the trial, Shana notices that someone is their close-knit group of friends is stealing. However, it's not who Carrie has lead the group to believe. As Shana discovers the truth along with another friend Hannah, she finds that her best friend, Carrie is actually a monster, capable of twisting the truth, theft, and possibly murder, if she finds that her lies are threatened. When Shana finally finds what Carrie has been doing, Carrie sets the house on fire, to prevent the truth coming out. Thankfully, a recording of what has happened makes it's way into the police's hands. Carrie is arrested, and all of the people that Carrie has affected are free once again.

This book was an amazing book overall, with a great plot, and amazing secrets in every crevice. It's written very realistically, and shows that not everything is as it seems. However, I felt the end was a bit iffy. After the amazing detail throughput the whole book, I feel the author could have added more detail at the end. There was no real explanation on the arrest of Carrie, or anything about what happened to everyone after the arrest. By adding a very short epilogue, the author really took away from the quality of the story. Reading the end to me was literally like the book just came to a stop.

This book just furthers the fact that nothing is as it seems. By showing all the troubles that Shana had to go through just because she trusted the wrong people, it shows that if she had just gone with her gut feeling, none of this would have happened. It reminds me of the everyday news. So many reporters twist the story around, just so they can relieve the "it" story. By changing the story, they are essentially telling the audience lies. So overall, this book was a pretty good book, I just feel that the story would have been greatly improved by lengthening the end, so that readers have a greater grasp of what is happening.

When Do You Feel Most Alive?

When Do You Feel Most Alive?

"When Do you Feel Most Alive?" Some people feel most alive when they get what they want, but I feel most alive when I am listening to music. Through music, a person can express their feelings, and opinions. Music can be a way of communication for someone who is scared to say something in public, so they use music as a way to express it. Music can also say alot about the listener. If a person is feeling conflicted inside, they will choose a "sadder" category of music, or music that has more "soul" put into it. If someone is a so-called "hopeless romantic", they might like singers who sing about heartbreak and that criteria of music (Taylor Swift, Adele etc.) Music can be a form of release, almost like a personal dreamland. The right tones and sounds can create a happier environment, but if the music is not constructed for your taste, it can be blank noise. Therefore, through music, a person can really show their true colours, and truly feel happy.

What Can We Learn From Disasters?

What Can We Learn From Disasters?

Disasters are terrible and cause death, destruction and injuries. But from disaster, we can also learn new ways to prevent future disasters from happening. For example, in a natural disaster, many homes, and people, are destroyed. Say the disaster is a flood. Maybe the sandbags that someone put around their house failed and let in water, therefore flooding their house, and neighbours. That would be a tragedy, however, through that disaster, we could observe what failed in the sandbags. Were they not full enough? Not strong enough? Is sand not as absorbent as we thought? By observing what went wrong, we can improve the particular invention, so that in the future more disasters don’t happen. Also, some areas need disasters to flourish. In a forest fire, the tallest, most regal trees are burned down. This is bad because these trees could take centuries to grow back. However, with the larger trees gone, the smaller plants on the forest floor have more access to light, and can grow better.