What Books Taught Us – Back to School

Have you checked out our various Features pages lately? Julie and I are all about Features posts. (Who doesn’t need an occasional break from reviews?) In this new feature post, we will be discussing What Books Taught Us. And no, we don’t mean cooking, crafting, or organizing. We are talking about serious, useful skills. Like how to survive going back to school! We want to make sure all of our readers are prepared!

 

Be optimistic for the new school year: Every year, Harry Potter heads off to school, his real home. Living with his aunt and uncle is not pleasant. Going back to Hogwarts every year is what Harry looks forward to. And what we, as readers, look forward to as well. How are Harry and the gang going to defeat He Who Shall Not Be Named. What kind of hi-jinks will Fred and George get into. Who will win the quidditch match. Who will win the house cup. I love that as the characters age, their adventures become more dangerous. But along with Harry, and probably Hermione, we are glad to be back at Hogwarts for another year of adventure.

 

Climb to the top of the social ladder: Much like Harry Potter, Red Rising is set at a boarding school. But not the good kind of boarding school. It’s the kind where students kill each other to get ahead in life. Darrow changes everything about himself physically to infiltrate the Golds. And in doing so learns the secrets of the ruling class, including how to be ruthless. And how to not trust anyone. We here at Chapter Break do not necessarily agree with Darrow’s decisions, but climbing the social ladder is difficult. Do want you need to do!

 

Switch schools to reinvent yourself: I’m not saying it’s the perfect solution to your back to school problems, but it does work out for Nastya. In Sea of Tranquility, Nastya decides to escape her past by (1) not talking and (2) moving to a whole new town to reinvent herself. In her new school, Nastya wants to be left alone. But then meets Josh. The two see through the outer trappings to find the real person underneath. It’s only when the truth is revealed that both Nastya and Josh realize their love for each other. (Oh, sorry, SPOILER!)

 

Deal with what life throws at you: How could we not talk about Hopeless? It is where the Chapter Break name comes from! Sky gets it together. And moves on from the terrible experiences that life has thrown at her. Sure, Holder plays a big part in that. Hopeless is CoHo at her best. These are some words to live by, whether you are going back to school or just dealing with every day life.

And while I could sit here and feel sorry for myself, wondering why all of this happened to me..I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to wish for a perfect life. The things that knock you down in life are tests, forcing you to make a choice between giving in and remaining on the ground or wiping the dirt off and standing up even taller than you did before you were knocked down. I’m choosing to stand taller. I’ll probably get kicked down a few more times before this life is through with me, but I can guarantee you I’ll never stay on the ground.

 

Meet your soulmate and lifelong friends: Harry Potter isn’t the only character who has amazing friends who have his back. In the Vampire Academy series and the Bloodlines spin-off, we have an amazing group of friends who work together to help each other and protect their friends. The Dhampirs protect their Moroi charges (and friends) and we even see other Moroi helping each other in a fight.  Our characters are also at a boarding school in each series, and at these schools they find their true loves. Rose finds Dimitri. Lissa finds Christian. And in the spin-off we see Sydney and Adrian together. Best friends, true loves, and of course crazy adventures all await them at school.

 

 

How about you? Have you read any books about heading back to school and learned any valuable lessons?

 

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