Winnie McCabe

Winnie McCabe
Alphas
Lisi Harrison
Realistic Fiction
Holiday
38

1. Right now I am reading Alphas by Lisi Harrison. I am not very far into the book yet. The characters are still being described at this point. The three main characters are Skye Hamilton, Allie A. Abbott, and Charlie Deery. They are all heading to this brand new school for exceptional girls, but each one has different reasons. They were invited by Shira Brazille, an eccentric billionaire. Skye is a really good dancer from Westchester, New York. She received her acceptance letter in the mail. However, they thought that her essay was lost. She had given up on getting into Alpha Academy, but she was thrilled by the great news. Charlie's mom works for Shira. Charlie practically grew up with Shira's kids. She is dating Darwin, one of Shira's sons. She is flying into Alpha Academy with her mother. They are staying there for a little while, and then Charlie is going to Hoboken for boarding school. She is convinced that Shira is sending her away to boarding school in hopes that she will break up with Darwin. Allie recently broke up with her boyfriend because she caught him with her best friend. She steals a girl named Allie J's identity and flies to the school. Allie J. is a singer-songwriter that is all about saving the planet. Allie J. is in Antarctica so Allie thinks she can pull off her plan.

2. This book is not that good so far. I like the stories of the different girls, but the concept of the school is kind of weird. Harrison did not really do a great job writing the book. It is in 3rd person narration so I think it should be a little more sophisticated. The way she describes the characters makes me not like the characters. Also, she switches off between three different settings. This can get confusing to me because she does not make it clear that she is following a completely different character. In the transition from the first chapter to the second chapter I thought that I was still reading about Skye, even though I was reading about Allie. She did a better job switching to Charlie's seen though. Overall, this book has no structure, a poor storyline, and unappealing characters. I am not liking this book, but I think that I will finish it anyways.

3. A major theme in this book is competition. This theme is apparent through almost all of the characters in the book. There is a lot of competition at Body Alive Dance Studio, Skye's dance studio. The girls in the studio all compete to be as good as Skye. Skye critiques each and every one of them when they dance behind her. She is the best dancer in the studio though. There is also competition between Allie and her best friend Trina. They fought over Allie's boyfriend, Fletcher. Allie is really pretty but Trina is not as pretty as she is. Allie has the better appearance but Trina has amazing art skills. Fletcher looks past Allie's good looks and chooses Trina because he is attracted to her talents. I even see a little bit of competition between Shira and Charlie. Shira wants to get rid of Charlie because she is dating Darwin. I'm not sure yet, but I sense a bit of tension. The Alpha Academy itself is a place of competition. There are 1000 people that applied, 100 got in, and only one will win.

4. My favorite character is Charlie. I think that she is the most down-to-earth character. I don't know that much about her yet, but I know that she is very pure. She is not super rich and doesn't care about her appearance too much. She is just a regular girl from New Jersey. She grew up with Shira's boys so I think that she is sort of a tomboy. There is also just a lot of charisma in her character. I don't love her, but I really don't like the other characters at all. Charlie is the most real out of the three main girls that are followed in this book. The others are really snobby and don't appreciate their opportunities.

5. My least favorite character is Allie. She is doing something that could result in a really bad situation. I don't like the way that she just stole Allie J's mail and decided that she could pull off stealing her identity. It was a really selfish act that will definitely have major repercussions. Just because she had a bad breakup doesn't mean that she needed to ruin somebody else's life. I know that she will be trouble because she doesn't care about anyone but herself. She is potentially dangerous to Alpha Academy and Shira's reputation.

6. I predict that Allie will get caught with her identity theft. I think this because Allie J. does not really look like Allie does. Even though Allie changed her look, she could still be caught. Also, Allie J. went to Antarctica to help the planet. She will have to come back at some point! Allie also cannot sing. Allie J. is a singer-songwriter. She will have to sing at Alpha Academy because they are interested in people's talents. Allie will not be the same as Allie J. and could easily be caught by Shira. I think that Trina could also do something to hurt Allie because they got in a really bad fight before she left. If Trina finds out about Allie's scheme, she will definitely want to hurt Allie.