“Capsules: 'Noah's Compass' and other book reviews - Danbury News-Times” plus 1 more |
| Capsules: 'Noah's Compass' and other book reviews - Danbury News-Times Posted: 22 Jan 2010 07:27 PM PST Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Interesting Reader Society - Book Reviews by Young Adults - School Library Journal Posted: 19 Jan 2010 03:56 PM PST Interesting Reader Society -- School Library Journal, 1/20/2010 Hubbard, Jennifer R. The Secret Year. Penguin. January 2010. ISBN: 978-0-670-01153-7. Gr 10 and up.
Colt was never "with" Julia, at least not in public. All he had with her were a few nights in the backseat of her car near the river by his house. But when she dies in a car accident, he's left grieving for a person no one even thought he knew. That's because they kept their secret hidden from everyone, including family and friends. When Colt is given a notebook full of letters that Julia wrote for him, he finds himself searching for the answer of how much their relationship meant to her, and of how much it meant to him. The Secret Year is very well-written. Many novels for teens try too much, give too much information, and attempt to make it too real. Hubbard's writing didn't have to try at all, it felt real without trying. It was so easy to get inside Colt's head—I could put the book down, and then pick it back up and not have to struggle at all to make sense of what was happening. I liked the darkness and simplicity of the cover. It helped convey that this was a story about secrets and love. The most compelling element of the book was the realness of the situations. This book brings up so many different issues, from being gay, to having parents who divorce, to alcohol abuse and general family dysfunction that practically any teen should relate to some aspect of the story. And it isn't like the author was even trying to address these issues. They were just there, like they are in real life. The only thing I disliked was that the story didn't have much of an ending, it just sort of ended. I would have liked a bit more just to wrap up things, since it leaves the reader hanging a bit.—Rachel M., age 16
Jess Parker, a new kid and avid cheerleader, is invited to join a secret society of popular "good" girls called the Cinderella Society. She accepts with a few doubts about not being good enough, and soon enjoys the makeovers and fashion advice that the society apparently revolves around. Then she realizes that she's expected to fight the popular "bad" girls, called Wickeds, who are led by a girl who has a personal grudge against Jess. The cover didn't really portray anything much about the book, except that it has something to do with Cinderella. That makes it a bit more intriguing, but doesn't really reflect the story. I thought the good-versus-evil component made it more compelling than many high school romance novels, but it wasn't a big enough part of the story to make up for its more superficial aspects. I was disappointed about how much the Cindys focused on appearance. According to the book, it's impossible to feel good about yourself unless you look good. I think this is a very negative message to be sending to teenage girls, because we think way too much about appearance already without believing that if we don't look 100 percent beautiful all of the time, we are failures at life. I thought it was sickening how much the main character bases her self-esteem on what other people think of her. True, this is very common among teenage girls, but what bothered me is that the Cinderella Society promotes this idea rather than combating it.—Jessica D., age 16 McCahan, Erin. I Now Pronounce You Someone Else. Arthur A. Levine. June 2010. ISBN: 978-0-545-08818-3. Gr 8 and up. I Now Pronounce You Someone Else is basically a love story. Bronwen, who's always struggled with her identity, falls in love with an old family friend, Jared Sondervan. A few months later, they get engaged. However, it falls through. Whether or not they get back together in the end, I'll leave to you to figure out.
The most compelling aspect of the book was Bronwen's struggle with who she was. She didn't seem to fit in with her family, and always wondered who she was, something everyone has to go through. One scene even brought me to tears. The only disappointment I had was that there was a lot of... suggestiveness. Well, not a lot, but some. I don't particularly like reading books with that, but I couldn't put this book down. It was so much fun to read, especially for a romantic such as myself. The story was engaging, and the first-person point of view helped me understand Bronwen's personality and connect with her.—Bethany C., age 13
GoGo Monster is the story of a first grader, Yuki Tachibana, who can see monsters. These monsters happily reside in a world called the "other side," until one day, when new creatures appear. They begin to threaten the other side and bully the creatures that live there. Yuki must find a way to save his friend Super Star and all of the other monsters before it's too late. Matsumoto uses an incredibly realistic style of drawing. It's raw and gritty, giving his graphic novels a new look. This was a fantastic book that I enjoyed reading at least four times! I highly recommend GoGo Monster, especially to fans of manga and anime.—Sara F., age 15, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School (guest reviewer) The Interesting Reader Society (IRS—"teens, not taxes!") is a library teen advisory and reading group for kids in grades 6 to 12 sponsored by the Poudre River Public Library District in Fort Collins, CO. IRS is also one of the 15 2009–2010 national teen reading group appointees for the Teens' Top Ten/YA Galley project of the Young Adult Library Services Association. TalkbackFive Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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