Shining On

I've actually swapped Invisible at the library for Shining On. Though Invisible really had a darn cool cover page. When I saw this book lying helplessly on the shelf among others, I suddenly felt that this was definitely for ME. I had this urge to borrow it immediately and go home straight and bury myself into it. I feel that the book did choose me, and it was something that I sought for, illuminating stories by 11 powerful authors, carefully woven together to show you obstacles faced by youths and how they overcome them. A few stories left lasting impression in my mind and I will start with Sue Limb's You're A LEGEND. Everything started when Jess was asked to go to her grandma's to help her pack up her deceased grandfather's clothes for the charity shop. She doesn't want to go for oldies' house have a weird smell. Jess's mom can't accompany her since she was ill. Before she leaves for the train station, the phone rings. She hopes that grandma had called to tell her that she was very ill and that she needn't come. She thought that it was rather rude for her to say that and she changed her mind--- Perhaps grandma was too happy with an old guy called Max! She picked up the phone and it was her friend Jodie, who called to tell her about the party later that night. Jess tells her that she can't go and Jodie wishes her to have a great time there. She was busted why she had to go help her grandma with that kind of things. She love her grandma but she thinks she can do that kind of things HERSELF. At her grandma's house, she heard her say how the taxi driver seemed so pleasant and that he might be coming over to their house with a knife. Jess's grandma just lover homicides. Grandma then called her into her room, where she asked Jess to open up the cupboard containing her grandfather's clothes. Her Grandma can't bear to open the cupboard since grandfather passed away. In The midst of packing, her grandma weeped and decided to keep the clothes in the storeroom for now, she didn't want to loose him. Jess was looking for a new way to dress herself as she find herself too normal. When she brings the boxes of clothes up to the storeroom, she suddenly recalled that she came here very often with grandma while she was little. She decided to stay here for a while looking for old scraps of treasures and perhaps clothes to dress herself. She suddenly sees a newspaper report of a few decades ago, with a girl wrestling with the police officers. In the background was a young man, in black leather, resisting arrest. She was DEFINITELY going to dress like her. She brought the newspaper down and showed it to her grandma. Her grandma looked and recalled how she remembered every second of it. Apparently grandpa had been attacked by 3 mods and he lashed out. And the little defiant teenager in the headline is Grandma. Grandma eyes seemed dancing as she thought of her 19 year old self. How about Pulp Fiction for the 40th time, she asked. Jess eyes brightened, "Grandma YOU ARE A LEGEND!" and she wasn't taking it with a pinch of salt, she was serious. Another one is Humming through My fingers by Malorie Blackman, where a girl called Amber who is blind actually meets a boy called Kyle, who decided to visit her since she was always sitting alone in the corner under her favourite tree during Sports Day. Amber had very strong sense of smell, taste and hearing as she embarks with a walk with Kyle. She made Kyle blindfold himself and guide him through the school compound, which she knows at the back of her head. Kyle has many worries as he is not accustomed to him losing his sense of sight. However, he still successfully jumped over a small stream, walk across the bridge. Amber dragged Kyle to touch something yellow and soft, and she told him to remove his blindfold. It was a flower, a small but beautiful one. She explained how she feels fortunate to have all the other senses and she felt it as a blessing. Through these 11 stories of mom being lesbians, mom quitting her job as a housewife, sister dead, painful breakups, WE YOUTH CANNOT BE DETTERED BY THESE ELEMENTS. PICK up THIS book AND find YOUR true SELF! :)