1 . Every year, Barnes & Noble picks the 10 best books of the year, covering all genres and age groups. If you’re looking for an amazing book to grab before the end of 2021, here are some of the best books of the year.
Cloud Cuckoo Land
This novel is both a historical and futuristic science fiction story that connects five characters across hundreds of years through their relationship to a book: “Cloud Cuckoo Land.” The book they find is about a shepherd named Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird, so he can live a carefree life forever. As each character finds this book, from a l5th century kid to a young teen on a futuristic interstellar ship, their stories meet in this complex yet fascinating read.
Crying in H Mart
When Michelle Zauner was 25, her mother s cancer changed her life forever and forced her to accept her Korean American identity in a desperate attempt to stay connected to her mother. As a talented musician, Michelle had previously been divorced from her cultural roots, but quickly turned to food to keep her mother's memory alive in this powerful and heartbreaking memoir.
Pony
It is a historical, middle-grade adventure novel intended for adolescents. It talks about a 12-year-old boy named Silas who is woken in the middle of the night to see his father being taken away by three horsemen. With only his horse named Pony by his side, Silas sets off on a life-changing mission to find his father.
You Will Get Through This Night
It is a nonfiction read about mental health that offers both a personal and professional outlook on how to survive the hardest mental health days. Dividing the book into three chapters — This Night, Tomorrow, and The Days After — Daniel Howell wants readers to not just survive the hard nights but properly care for our mental health.
1. What do Cloud Cuckoo Land and Pony have in common?| A．Plot. | B．Literary form. | C．Characters. | D．Writing background. |
| A．Cloud Cuckoo Land. | B．Crying in H Mart. |
| C．Pony. | D．You Will Get Through This Night. |
| A．It is about psychological health. | B．It helps cure physical disabilities. |
| C．It is a collection of personal stories. | D．It mainly solves sleeping problems. |
2 . Jules Verne was a Frenchman who was born in 1828 and died in 1905. He read a great many scientific books and wrote a number of exciting books about the things which he thought that scientists and inventors would one day be able to do. Years later, many of the things really happened. At that time, however, his stories seemed like fairy tales.
Jules Verne’s most famous book is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.（A league is an old word meaning a distance of about three miles《海底二万里》）. In those days submarines（潜艇） had not been invented but he described an underwater ship very like a modern one.
Many of the things Jules wrote about in his books more than a hundred years ago to look into the future, however, were almost the same as we see today. In his book From the Earth to the Moon he wrote at the age of about forty, three men and a dog made a journey around the moon in a hollow ship fired from a gun. After going around the moon, they returned to the earth and splashed down into the sea not far from where the first real moon traveler landed in July, 1969.
1. Jules wrote a lot of exciting books partly because he ________.| A．liked reading on science | B．liked reading fairy tales |
| C．was a great inventor | D．was a famous scientist |
| A．is almost the same as what happened years later |
| B．is quite different from what happened years later |
| C．never comes true |
| D．seems impossible to the people today |
| A．as soon as Jules’ books were published |
| B．some years after his books were published |
| C．at that time |
| D．when Jules was in his forties |
| A．as large as the spaceship today |
| B．similar to the spaceship today |
| C．a gun used to send up a ship |
| D．an underwater ship |
| A．walked | B．slept | C．fell | D．spent |
3 . Are you struggling to find reading materials for your kids? You can try these books.
Johnny Catching Fire
By Aaron Allen
www. xlibris. com
Hardback | Paperback | E-book
$22. 99 | $16. 99 | $3. 99
Johnny somehow gets the strength of super power. Now, he must decide whether to use his power for good or to get even with those who played tricks on him. Young readers can be inspired to think about the choice of life. To forgive? Or the other way around?
The Unequal Twins
By Sylva Kanderal
www. xlibris. com
Hardback |Paperback | E-book
$28.99 | $16.99 | $3.99
What if …the twins Ava and Zoe, who could hardly be distinguished from each other visually and who could not have been more different in character, had to go through severe envy, jealousy, and hate? Where does that road lead to? To a total loss of their connection, or are they finding the lost path to each other again?
How to Help Yourself to Be Who You Want to Be
By Pam Grewall
www. iuniverse. com
Hardback | Paperback | E-book
$23.99 | $13.99 | $3.99
This self-improvement book offers a simple handbook to help kids recognize their strengths and weaknesses and understand how to make their own destiny.
Quotes from the Quiver
By Dante P. Galiber, MD, FACC
www. authorhouse. com
Hardback | Paperback|E-book
$43.99 | $22.99 | $3.99
Inspired by time, space, and human interaction, this collection offers a series of original and thought-provoking ideas and quotations designed to uplift and enlighten young readers.
1. Which book mentions a teenager’s super power?| A．The Unequal Twins. |
| B．Johnny Catching Fire. |
| C．Quotes from the Quiver. |
| D．How to Help Yourself to Be Who You Want to Be. |
| A．$28.99. | B．$36.98. |
| C．$43.99. | D．$7.98. |
| A．They are designed to inspire young readers. |
| B．They help readers to understand adulthood better. |
| C．They help kids recognize their strengths and weaknesses. |
| D．They provide quotations to uplift and enlighten people. |
