Candle in the Wind

The night my mom came home from the library, she brought a handful of books. Now, my mom and I don't have EXACTLY the same tastes, so I was afraid of what she had brought me. When she got to me, she handed me three books. I skimmed the cover of the frst one, wasn't too pleased with it, and stuck those books on my bookshelf. A few days later, I took those books, read the covers, and put them in the order that I wanted to read them. The first one, terrible; the second one, even worse; but the third left me speechless. I knew I HAD to read it. A Candle in the WInd was in that stack. A Candle in the Wind was the third book.I dove right into the Minzunos world, delving deeper and deeper with each paragraph. I explored their feelings and reactions to the murder and at times couldn't believe that so much betrayal and tragic could happen, but then I remembered, it does happen.A Candle in the Wind is an exemplary book that showed me, and can show you, what life really is like when you look at it through a victim's eyes. Hate is bad. Hate can kill.

This book was fantastic, I loved it from the moment I picked it up to the very end. I couldn't wait to see what happened next, and there were a few surprises here and there. The author really makes the reader feel for Terri and ger family, and as I read this, I thought, "What if this happened to me?" Candle in the Wind makes you think-about the fragility of life, about whose side would we take in a tragedy, about our own racial prejudices, what our society really is like when it comes to racism, and where we can find hope and inspiration to come out on top. Terri can be any one of us, at any time, and it's unfortunate that it took a tragedy to happen for her to find out who her friends really were in her life. I loved this book, never a dull moment, it just kept going and going til the end. Read it, you will walk away with so much more than just the text! Thank you, Maureen Wartski, for making me think about the world we live in.

Even though the reading level is rated as Young Adult, I think that a lot of adults will find this book a wonderful read. The author manages to portray the grief and the confusion of the main character in a very compassionate way. "Candle in the Wind" is one of the very few books I've been able to find that gives a good commentary on Asian racism with such a personal viewpoint. The characters are three dimensional and easy to identify with; the plot never drags; and the subject is so well treated and explored that one would think this to be a real event instead of fiction. A must read for all ages, and a rich book for discussion in a Social Studies environment.

This book is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. It shows the stark reality of life and the cruilty in the world. I would recomend this book to anyone who wants a book that is different from all others you have read.