You Are A Badass How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living in An Awesome Life by  Jen Sincero
	Reviewed by Anonymous April 18, 2023 Grade 9

Your Rating: ★★★★★

Book Tags: Self Help, Funny, Inspirational, Personal Development

Plot Summary: The book, You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, by Jen Sincero is categorized as a self-help book. In this award winning personal development guide, Sincero details how the reader can lead a positive and fulfilling life. She begins the book by explaining how our subconscious mind often unknowingly controls our decision making. It is noted that our ego, or “The Big Snooze,” as the author calls it, prevents us from being our truest selves out of fear of potential negative outcome. The book discusses self-love and how to accept oneself more fully. Comparison is a topic that Sincero dissects and has a strong opinion about. She warns the reader against taking other people's opinions as truth and worrying about what others think. The writer continuously alludes to something she calls, “Source Energy,” or God. She expresses the importance of connecting with what/whomever you believe in and reminding yourself of the bigger picture and your purpose.

Personal Review: This book was extremely inspiring. I love the way the author is direct with her points and does not sugar coat things. Her writing is very tangible and easy to understand. One thing that stuck out to me specifically was her consistent mention of "Source Energy." The author refers to her idea of God as Source Energy and emphasizes that the reader should have a grasp on their own idea of God. Believing in something greater than yourself gives one a sense of hope, peace, and purpose. Additionally, I love what Sincero had to say about comparison. She stresses that loving who you are is extremely important. Demeaning oneself and comparing ourselves to others is essentially pointless and a complete waste of time. Lastly, I love how the author constantly reminds the reader throughout the entire book that they are ultimately in complete control of their reality, thoughts, actions, etc. It is empowering to remember that we are all able to live a life that makes us happy. Happiness does not come from externals but
from our mental state and the way that we view the world.

Similar Reads: Another book that I have read like this one is called The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz.

	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
	Reviewed by Anonymous March 31, 2023 Grade 11

Your Rating: ★★★★★

Book Tags: Nonfiction, Health, Science

Plot Summary: Henrietta Lacks was a black American woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951 at age 31. Before she died, doctors took a sample from her tumor and used the sample for medical research. These cells known as HeLa Cells, were the first human cells to survive, where they thrived and multiplied. HeLa cells have since been used in scientific research all over the world and played a role in medical advances and developments, like the polio vaccine. For over two decades, Henrietta’s identity was unknown, and her family knew nothing about HeLa and the role they unknowingly played in medical research until the 1970s as her name was publicly revealed. When Rebecca Skloot (the author) first hears about Henrietta at college in the 1980s, she is surprised at how little information. In the 1990s, Skloot comes across the papers from the first HeLa Cancer Control Symposium. She persuades, Roland Pattillo the organizer of the symposium to get her in touch with Henrietta’s family. Patillo warns Skloot the family has suffered greatly and some members of the scientific community have treated them poorly. Skloot becomes determined to give a voice to Henrietta, an unsung and accidental hero of modern medicine. Skloot forms a relationship with the Lacks family and is soon particularly close to Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, who wants to learn what she can about her mother. Deborah also wants her mother’s story to be told. But before this book got published, Deborah dies of a stroke.

Personal Review: I really enjoyed the book. This was an amazing book for anyone fascinated with science and the health world just to learn about Henrietta’s story and the purpose and how HeLa Cells impacted the science labs. After I read this, I learned Patients should maintain the same rights to our genetic information as we do to other types of health information. This is important so healthcare workers and scientists won’t keep secrets from their patients. I really liked how Rebecca Skloot was determined to make sure Henrietta Lacks was heard around the world and with the help of Henrietta’s daughter, they were able to make it possible.

Similar Reads: I haven’t read these books but I would recommend Lab Girl by Hope Jahren and The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee if you want to see more stories being heard like Henrietta’s story.