Book Review
Me and Mr. Cigar by Gibby Haynes
Publishing date: January 21, 2020
Read courtesy of NetGalley.com
I wanted to like this book; it's about a dog, after all. But one-third of the way through, it became a DNF for me. The author's drug-fueled magical realism was, um, drug-fueled. Not that there's anything wrong with that (*cough*sputter*), but though it made sense in the author's own head, it never made it from his head to the paper in a coherent way. An author cannot surf on the w(hole) of his name and just hope not to end up on his butt.
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Book Review: The Speed of Falling Objects
Book Review
The Speed of Falling Objects by Nancy Richardson Fischer
Publishing Date: October 1, 2019
Read courtesy of NetGalley.com
YES! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I haven't cried while reading a book in a long time. Thank you, Ms. Fischer, for getting to me. I cannot wait to get this into the hands of my high schoool readers.
Not only did the author wow me with a book I expected to just be a knock off of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (it wasn't!), but she also included references to one of my favoritest books of all time, The Phantom Tollbooth. This book was a win-win for me.
Danny's nickname is Pigeon, and she explains why throughout the story. Even the research on all of the pigeon characteristics and metaphors would have wowed me, but Fischer goes on to research survival skills 🔥 , the Amazon rain forests ☔️ 🌳, snakes 🐍 , spiders 🕷 , and scorpions 🦂 (among a myriad of other creepy crawlies), plane crashes ✈️ and the medical possibilities that might occur from one, the planes themselves, and reality television. And it works!
The best part of Fischer's story is that it is really about growing up as much as if not more than surviving a plane crash in the Peruvian rain forest. It's a full-on metaphor of surviving being a teen, coming-of-age, and finding identity. And she didn't preach at the reader - not once.
The Speed of Falling Objects by Nancy Richardson Fischer
Publishing Date: October 1, 2019
Read courtesy of NetGalley.com
YES! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I haven't cried while reading a book in a long time. Thank you, Ms. Fischer, for getting to me. I cannot wait to get this into the hands of my high schoool readers.
Not only did the author wow me with a book I expected to just be a knock off of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (it wasn't!), but she also included references to one of my favoritest books of all time, The Phantom Tollbooth. This book was a win-win for me.
Danny's nickname is Pigeon, and she explains why throughout the story. Even the research on all of the pigeon characteristics and metaphors would have wowed me, but Fischer goes on to research survival skills 🔥 , the Amazon rain forests ☔️ 🌳, snakes 🐍 , spiders 🕷 , and scorpions 🦂 (among a myriad of other creepy crawlies), plane crashes ✈️ and the medical possibilities that might occur from one, the planes themselves, and reality television. And it works!
The best part of Fischer's story is that it is really about growing up as much as if not more than surviving a plane crash in the Peruvian rain forest. It's a full-on metaphor of surviving being a teen, coming-of-age, and finding identity. And she didn't preach at the reader - not once.
Book Review: Gravity
Book Review
Gravity by Sarah Deming
Publishing date: November 12, 2019
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to recommending it to my high school students. It will appeal to a wide range of readers because it crosses cultural, gender, and pastime boundaries.
Deming did a nice job of giving characters personalities and motivations (for ex., why a guy named Monster always wore pink.) The characters had distinct and interesting personalities. Their interplay was purposeful and engaging. Readers will want to continue to read to go through the characters' ups and downs with them.
Not knowing Spanish or NYC culture, I had to look up quite a few terms (foods or the name of a game) that I couldn't figure out from their context. As a teen I probably wouldn't be as hung up, i.e. anal, about looking up those words, but as a former English teacher/current librarian, I had to 😉. I also didn't know some of the boxing terms - yes, I looked them up, too - even though they were a little easier to figure out. On the other hand, Deming did well explaining the difference between a puncher and a boxer, which was important to some of the characterizations.
Deming inserted off-color but tame humor that teens at which teens might groan but secretly appreciate. She also inserted a red herring in the story that really threw me off (no spoiler, but it included a selfie); I kept expecting this inclusion in the plot to have serious repercussions, but that never materialized. It was probably left in the story to show how distracted Gravity was at that point, but that could have been accomplished in a different way, especially since nothing came of it. There was also a gratuitous mention of Michael Phelps -- I'll assume to create the timeline and setting.
Favorite line: "Regrets are like roaches. Exterminate them before that multiply."
A missing piece for me is explaining how Gravity got the money to do all of her international traveling.
Milk became a motif. I have nothing more to say about this [yet].
I'll also have to say that I'll recommend this book to students who can keep a fairly large number of characters straight. In spite of often using nicknames and not given names, I still sometimes had difficulty with remembering which character had what role for this story.
Gravity by Sarah Deming
Publishing date: November 12, 2019
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to recommending it to my high school students. It will appeal to a wide range of readers because it crosses cultural, gender, and pastime boundaries.
Deming did a nice job of giving characters personalities and motivations (for ex., why a guy named Monster always wore pink.) The characters had distinct and interesting personalities. Their interplay was purposeful and engaging. Readers will want to continue to read to go through the characters' ups and downs with them.
Not knowing Spanish or NYC culture, I had to look up quite a few terms (foods or the name of a game) that I couldn't figure out from their context. As a teen I probably wouldn't be as hung up, i.e. anal, about looking up those words, but as a former English teacher/current librarian, I had to 😉. I also didn't know some of the boxing terms - yes, I looked them up, too - even though they were a little easier to figure out. On the other hand, Deming did well explaining the difference between a puncher and a boxer, which was important to some of the characterizations.
Deming inserted off-color but tame humor that teens at which teens might groan but secretly appreciate. She also inserted a red herring in the story that really threw me off (no spoiler, but it included a selfie); I kept expecting this inclusion in the plot to have serious repercussions, but that never materialized. It was probably left in the story to show how distracted Gravity was at that point, but that could have been accomplished in a different way, especially since nothing came of it. There was also a gratuitous mention of Michael Phelps -- I'll assume to create the timeline and setting.
Favorite line: "Regrets are like roaches. Exterminate them before that multiply."
A missing piece for me is explaining how Gravity got the money to do all of her international traveling.
Milk became a motif. I have nothing more to say about this [yet].
I'll also have to say that I'll recommend this book to students who can keep a fairly large number of characters straight. In spite of often using nicknames and not given names, I still sometimes had difficulty with remembering which character had what role for this story.
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Book Review: Girls Like Us
I read Girls Like Us by Randi Pink, due to be published October 29, 2019, through the courtesy of NetGalley.com.
I liked this book as historical fiction because it made the characters realistic. It forayed into things with which I am unfamiliar and told the story well enough for me to be interested as well as engaged. I'll admit that at first I was confused by the hopping around of characters, but that soon dissipated when I realized it as a storytelling technique for how the girls were intertwined.
The author created characters in which I was invested. I believed them. I felt for them.
I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for the ending. It was not a bad ending, but it was jarring. I understood the point of the ending; however, after reading 91% of the book in a different time, the last 9% was more message or platform than story. I couldn't keep myself from comparing the three witches from Witches of Eastwick with the three grandmothers in this ending. It felt more surreal than real.
Regardless of the in-your-face message at the end, I still think this book is a good way to make an important point: women's choice. This book will make a good jumping off for many conversations about the topic of abortion, teenage pregnancy, and women's right to choose.
I liked this book as historical fiction because it made the characters realistic. It forayed into things with which I am unfamiliar and told the story well enough for me to be interested as well as engaged. I'll admit that at first I was confused by the hopping around of characters, but that soon dissipated when I realized it as a storytelling technique for how the girls were intertwined.
The author created characters in which I was invested. I believed them. I felt for them.
I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for the ending. It was not a bad ending, but it was jarring. I understood the point of the ending; however, after reading 91% of the book in a different time, the last 9% was more message or platform than story. I couldn't keep myself from comparing the three witches from Witches of Eastwick with the three grandmothers in this ending. It felt more surreal than real.
Regardless of the in-your-face message at the end, I still think this book is a good way to make an important point: women's choice. This book will make a good jumping off for many conversations about the topic of abortion, teenage pregnancy, and women's right to choose.
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