Noggin by John Corey Whaley is the most bizzare book I have ever read, and I loved it. I had never heard of a kid getting his cut off and reattached to another body, and honestly, Whaley did an amazing job of making that crazy idea into a realistic story. The characters are lovable, maybe a bit strange in the best way, and very relatable; they know what true friendship means. Written in the first person, you really live the whole experience with Travis. For example, when Travis would do something stupid and embarrassing, I would have to close the book and breathe for a second because I could feel his embarrassment. It made me laugh and cry in a good way, and left me wanting more. The writing style was hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time, though the amount of swearing was distracting and unnecessary to the story. Overall, I thought it a very unique and fun book, and would recommend it to others.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
A new student review of Noggin
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
A new student review of Tour of the Merrimack
After reading the description on the back, I was certain that I would like this book. As I began to read, I wanted to like this book. As I continued reading, I worked at liking this book. But in the end, I didn’t like this book. What kept me from liking it?
Writing-style
It definitely wasn’t the unusual writing-style. Though I thought it needed to be refined a bit, I could appreciate its uniqueness, and could easily see others enjoying it as is. The heavy use of implied subjects constituted an interesting and engaging technique. Although short sentences were necessary for this, they were overused elsewhere, which made for an undue choppiness that detracted from the skillful use of implied subjects.
Plot-line
It wasn’t even the plot-line. That was okay, except that it was like a bulldozer, stuck in quicksand, moving in first gear. It was dramatic, potentially gripping and exciting, but so painfully, agonizingly S L O W . . . and D R A W N O U T . . .
Character Development
Some of it was the character development, or the lack thereof. To that end there were descriptive paragraphs when each character was introduced, along with occasional factual passages sprinkled throughout the book to fill in the blanks. Without these I would have been completely lost.
Dialogue
Some of it was the dialogue. That was almost funny when the author had the otherwise two-dimensional characters crack some “witty” yet cliché-ish and unreasonably terse banter. Unfortunately, banter seemed to be the only purpose of dialogue in this book, since it contributed nothing towards developing the characters. In addition, the lines struck me as being of the one-size-fits-all variety; it seemed as though they were factory-made and applied to each character at random. Instead of using dialogue to help move the plot along, the author employed...
DRAMATIC ACTION SCENES!!!!!!!!!!
These appeared ad nauseum, and were the only reason the story went anywhere. They kept my attention for about the first chapter, after which they became a melodramatic distraction from an otherwise tedious plot. I would have been able to enjoy them if they had been used a little more sparingly and less like duct tape. As it was, it seemed as though any time the author hit a snag in the plot, out would pop a “DRAMATIC ACTION SCENE!!!!!” to distract you from it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I found the book to be choppy and draggy overall with certain points over-sensationalized. The characters were flat and undeveloped to the point of being almost indistinguishable from one another. Dialogue was poorly used. I did, however, find the writing-style interesting.
A new student review of Happily Never After by Missy Fleming
I really enjoyed this book because I was entertained and kept in suspense from beginning to end. The characters were all great in keeping character and I never knew what would happen next to ether one of them. I highly recommend this book for supernatural romance/mystery book addicts!
A new student review of The Brewster Boys and the Red Revenge by Stephen Dittmer
This book was very interesting. I read the first book and I liked it a lot. I suggest reading the first book before reading this book so everything makes sense. The author did an awesome job with the characters. The characters seemed familiar and their personalities stayed the same as the first book. The setting was very realistic, it wasn’t a made up fantasyland. The author gave a clear picture of what the setting was like around the characters. The book did seem a little foggy on some of the story details. I left the book asking myself questions about what happened and how it happened. I recommend this book for anyone who read the first book and enjoyed it.
A new student review of Lupus Rex
The book was well-written and intriguing from the very start, with just enough mystery and romance to keep it versatile and interesting. I chose a favorite character almost immediately because of the sufficient information given. The character development is fabulous. I think, though, I could do with a little less descriptiveness during some action/battle scenes. Not all of them are too violent, and a diverse array of words is used throughout. Overall, this is definitely a book I want to read over and over.
A new student review of Tramp: A Detective's Story by Bill Kennedy
This book was very interesting; I loved it. When I was reading it I could not put it down. It gets more interesting as the book goes on. The book has some sad parts, but most of it is happy. It even has some funny parts. One of the funny parts of the book was when and how Tramp gets a family.
Monday, May 12, 2014
A new student review of The Break-Up Artist
I waited quite a while to read this book, but let me tell you, it was well worth the wait! I got so sucked into The Break-Up Artist that I couldn't put it down for a whole weekend. I couldn't wait to see what happened next and to find out how everything would pan out. I would recommend this book to anyone! Truly an amazing book!
Sunday, May 11, 2014
A new student review of The Golden Day
I felt that this book was definitely on the more sinister/morbid side, but found it pretty disappointing for a couple of reasons. Almost from the very beginning foreshadowing the happenstance of bad things to come, the tone meant to create a scene that kept you on pins and needles. However, I felt that this creepiness was slightly overdone. The author just seemed to try too hard to make sure you realized something bad was going to happen. The characters were hard to relate to—the purpose was to make the reader pity or sympathize with the girls, but I just found them annoying and juvenile. I also felt that many things mentioned in the novel were unrelated to the plot, with extravagant distribution of characters and other plot lines that led to nowhere. Two girls were the only characters that were explored in-depth, and even then, the writing was vague. Though the author had a wonderful vocabulary and prose to make the book sound refined and polished, I still felt that the book could have been better to make a more enjoyable read.
“That’s what they were waiting for….Miss Baskerville would speak, and they would know what had really happened. Any moment now.”
I would recommend this book for ages ten and up, because, though there is no profanity or other indecency, there is that undertone of horridness and fear the could disturb younger readers.
The eleven girl’s lives changed the one day in the cave by the sea. Will The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky change yours, too?
Saturday, May 10, 2014
A new student review of The Zombie Rule Book: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide by Tony Newton
I enjoyed The Zombie Rule Book because it was comical while being serious. The tips and rules would most likely be useful in the event of a zombie apocalypse. It was hard to put down the book once I started to read.
A new student review of Say It Ain't So
I felt that this story immediately captivated me from the start. Josh Berk has an incredibly good natural tone, as if he was Lenny talking to the reader. I lent Say It Ain't So to a friend during an extremely long testing period because he was bored and after reading for a while, he said it was really good and asked to read it later. After quickly reading it, he told me he really enjoyed the book and would love to read any other books by Josh Berk. I introduced him to the other book called Strike Three, You’re Dead. Although Say It Ain't So was an incredible book, I believe the mystery part was a bit too rushed and that there was too much commentary for the games. Overall, a great book!