Blog

Saving Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

Saving Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

Posted on by J.C.

** This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.**

Title: Saving Mr. Terupt (Mr. Terupt, #3)

Author: Rob Buyea

Published By: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (2015)

Synopsis:

The kids from Mr. Terupt’s fifth- and sixth-grade classes are entering their first year of junior high school. There’s a lot to be excited about, but there are new challenges, too. Peter and Jeffrey face tough competition on their wrestling team. Alexiahas a disastrous first day of school, and that’s only the beginning. Anna is desperate for Charlie to propose to her mother—what is he waiting for?! Danielle isn’t feeling so well, but she’s trying to tough it out, like Grandma. Trouble with a bully makes Luke dread going to school for the first time ever.And Jessica is waiting anxiously for an acceptance to a theater retreat in New York City.
     Everyone is missing Mr. Terupt. When a fight threatens to break up the group forever, they think their favorite teacher is the only one who can help them. But the kids soon find out that it’s Mr. Terupt who needs saving. (Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

This book was okay. While it had decent writing and lovable characters, a semi-interesting premise and a good ending, there were certain elements made me lower my rating.

First of all, I did not appreciate the way that it talked about personal girl stuff and personal boy things. I felt it was wrote in as just part of life, rather than a part of the plot, and I found it kind of pointless. Considering it’s a juvenile book, I would have liked it a lot better had it not delved into personal, more intimate matters. It didn’t get inappropriate, but the beginning was strange; while it’s not something I thought wrong to read, it’s things I’d prefer not to read about in juvenile fiction.

Secondly, I hated the way the author portrayed Christianity. I don’t this to come off the wrong way, so I’ll keep it short. To me, it felt like, in certain scenes, that the author was trying to portray Christians as naive and oblivious to the world around them, and that you should rely on people rather than God. Characters pray a lot and go to church, but there’s never any scenes where anyone realizes it’s God that helped them, like I’d been thinking maybe there would. It’s just an aspect to the story, the same way maybe Danielle’s diabetes is just an aspect to the story, and it didn’t really matter in the end. I disliked that on so many levels.

Anyway, this book just didn’t pay off for me. It answered questions and the characters, easy to love, had a happy little ending. So the majority of people will probably love this book. But for me, it was too mature in some areas, and too naive in others. Additionally, the whole plotline was kind of pointless and felt forced, like the author needed a story for his fans and quickly came up with this plotline without really thinking it through. It was predictable and overall just disappointing.

Negative Content/Notes:

None.

Rating: 2.5

Recommended to: Not recommended.

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Posted on by J.C.

** This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.**

Title: Goodbye Stranger

Author: Rebecca Stead

Published By: Wendy Lamb Books (2015)

Synopsis: Bridge is an accident survivor who’s wondering why she’s still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody’s games—or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade?
This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl—as a friend?
On Valentine’s Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight? (Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

**Note: I originally read this at age 14 (which is when I reviewed it), and then this past year at age 16 I reread it again. I see a lot more than I did reading this at 14 (within the suggested age range) and I liked it a lot more, but my review remains the same.**

This book kind of weirded me out. First of all, I found it incredibly disappointing. Nobody or nothing changes through the course of the story. The characters do wrong things, but never change and turn. I thought this book was going to be a moral book about why not to do strange things, but instead it just told the story of the characters doing this wrong things and then ended abruptly without explaining why or why not they should be done.

Okay, so I understand the depth and the meaning behind it, I guess. But I don’t appreciate it for a couple reasons:

  1. It was waaaaay to mature for middle schoolers (the suggested age range).
  2. It was way too vague of a story for me to really understand what was going on.
  3. There were no strong answers or morals at the end.

Number one: This book deals with heavy, even-edging-on-inappropriate issues, and worse, there’s never any black-and-white answer about what to do about them. It just kind of presents the issues, shows the characters, and then ends the book without explanation. I understand the characters were middle schoolers, but I honestly think the author should have seriously considered making this an adult book. I even feel it was too mature for the majority of the YA audience. Will there be a couple teenagers who read it and understand it, like myself? Sure. But I feel the majority of the teenage audience is going to take the occurances in this book the wrong way. In other words: This book just displays the problem without answer, so it could be taken either way—that it’s wrong to do these certain things, or that it’s okay to. And I didn’t like that at all.

This story felt like I was reading it through a thick layer of fog that never really cleared up. Even though I’m 14, above the age recommendation of middle school, I finished the book and still didn’t understand the title of this book or the majority of things that happened until I read a bunch of Goodreads reviews that explained the depth. So while I guess that it’s good that it’s deep, if nobody but adults can understand the themes, then it’s pointless to market it for middle schoolers. I was confused the entire book, and honestly, I’m still sorta lost. Specifically, the sections in second-person; even though they were really well done and creative, they just added to the confusion, especially when no clarity was offered. I still don’t really know who the mysterious girl is. In other words, I appreciate the depth. But the fact that it’s supposedly aimed at middle school kind of ruins it, because the fact is that most kids will probably not understand this book, or very little of it.

Negative Content/Notes:

What I disapproved of most in this book is the swearing. I found more than one curse word phrased in the context of this story and it was most definitely unnecessary. I hate the fact that there is so much swearing in juvenile fiction these days. Children’s. Fiction. Should. NOT. Have. Swearing! Especially when you’re supposedly trying to send a moral message. Especially considering the fact there was no strong morals, it felt like it was just encouraging children to swear, which is, needless to say, never good.

Overall:

Anyway, to sum it up, I just did not like the audience this was targeted for. It was a fuzzy and hard to understand storyline with deep themes that only some adults will fully be able to grasp. Overall, it just was kind of strange and weird and I would say nobody under 14 would be ready for this, not that I’d recommend it at all—because I wouldn’t.

Rating: 2.0

Recommended to: Not recommended.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Posted on by J.C.

** This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.**

Title: The Selection (The Selection, #1)

Author: Kiera Cass

Published By: HarperTeen (2012)

Synopsis: For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. (Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

I went into this book expecting a stereotype. Honestly, I had not been planning to read it at all except for the fact that all my friends were recommending it to me. So I thought I’d give it a try.

Well, Kiera Cass, you impressed me.

Speaking of themes, I saw so many positive ones in this book and it was mainly the reason I kept reading. Themes of strength, self-confidence, independence; standing up for what’s right; family; friendship; honor; loyalty. The main character, America, has a great sense of morality. She loves and has a great heart; she’s humble and concerned more about others than herself. She is careful to stay true to one love and not dash around all the time. Henceforth, the love triangle didn’t even seem much like a love triangle at all because America protects her heart and doesn’t go back and forth (unlike almost every other YA female lead). She’s torn, no doubt there, but she’s aware of both sides and aware of what’s going on. She’s so incredibly caring, especially to the maids and other girls around her, and you can’t help but love her and root for her.

Unlike other dystopians I’ve read, this book surprised me by being actually really well written. The author does a great job with descriptions of both places, things, and people, as well with describing their society as a whole. It’s compelling and the characters are impossible to not like. So while overall it may not be the best book ever, it sent enough positive themes for me to appreciate it, and created characters good enough that I plan to read the sequel. It’s unexpected that I’d like a dystopian like this, but The Selection surpassed my expectations. It didn’t blow me away, no, but it wasn’t as low quality as I expected.

Negative Content/Notes:

 There are 2 questionable scenes in which the characters get involved in some very intense kissing. While reading it, I kind of skimmed these few paragraphs because I wasn’t interested in kissing scenes, and continued on. It wasn’t directly inappropriate or anything, and it didn’t go any farther than kissing, not to mention it was very brief, so it wasn’t a big red flag for me – but those scenes were still there.  As a whole, though, this book was positive and did not glorify the wrong things.

Rating: 4.0

Recommended to: Anyone looking for a clean, pageturner, romance/dystopian!

The Dirt Diary by Anna Staniszewski

The Dirt Diary by Anna Staniszewski

Posted on by J.C.

** This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.**

Title: The Dirt Diary (The Dirt Diary, #1) 

Author: Anna Staniszewski

Published By: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (2014)

Synopsis:

WANTED: Maid for the most popular kids in 8th grade.
Cleaning up after the in-crowd gets Rachel all the best dirt.
Rachel can’t believe she has to give up her Saturdays to scrubbing other people’s toilets. So. Gross. But she kinda, sorta stole $287.22 from her college fund that she’s got to pay back ASAP or her mom will ground her for life. Which is even worse than working for her mother’s new cleaning business. Maybe. After all, becoming a maid is definitely not going to help her already loserish reputation.
But Rachel picks up more than smelly socks on the job. As maid to some of the most popular kids in school, Rachel suddenly has all the dirt on the 8th grade in-crowd. Her formerly boring diary is now filled with juicy secrets. And when her crush offers to pay her to spy on his girlfriend, Rachel has to decide if she’s willing to get her hands dirty… (Take from Goodreads)

Review:

This was an incredible disappointment.

Rachel Lee is an 8th grader. 

Okay, then why does she still act and speak like a third-grader? I mean, for goodness’ sakes, Holy avacado dip? Not that I’m in favor of characters actually swearing—because I’m not—but when an 8th grader says things like “Holy mango sorbet,” you get the feeling she’s more than a bit juvenile for her age. All of the characters in this book are this way, actually. They interact no differently than fourth or third graders.

The plot of this book was five hundred percent predictable, super repetitive, and rather annoying. Oh no! She’s cleaning Briana Riley’s house, her absolute nemesis. Guess what the next scene is?—Cleaning the house of another enemy. No variation at all. It got kind of tedious at times, and here’s why I say that. Either her life is moving along so fast that she speeds through five weeks in less than a page and I can’t keep track of anything, or she’s spending six pages describing how anxious she is when she’s looking at her crush. Her life went back and forth between rreeeeeaaalllllyyyyyyyyyyy slllloooooowwwwwww motttiiioooonnnn and sofastyoucanbarelykeepup.

It seemed that everything lined up just right, every time, to either make Rachel’s life perfectly miserable—or perfect. I’ve never read anything so unrealistic; there was no middle ground. Everything’s either perfectly horrible or perfectly wonderful.

As for the actual plot, the Dirt Diary element was actually uninteresting. The whole element of her parents’ divorce, and her trying to bring them back together, was much more compelling. Ironically, the book would have undoubtedly been much better without the whole Dirt Diary aspect. About the Dirt Diary: it annoyed me. This is one of those books that you know the author came up with the title before writing the book. Why else would Rachel call the diary “her Dirt Diary” and capitalize the letters like so? The point of the Dirt Diary bothered me as well, especially when Rachel never even seems to acknowledge the wrongness of her actions.

Rachel as a character was incredibly unlikable. You can’t figure out if she’s kind or unkind, good or mean. One minute she says she doesn’t hang out with a certain girl because she’s known for gossip, and the next minute she’s collecting all this exact gossip in her book for a payment. She’s selfish, and doesn’t really care for anyone other than herself. She doesn’t stop, ever, to ask herself about others’ feelings. It just doesn’t matter to her. Rachel’s entire world revolves around being “cool” and not being a “loser”. While this is a valid theme in YA, it shouldn’t be promoted from the perspective that it’s GOOD to be popular, and I feel that’s exactly what this book was saying.

Let’s talk about the ending, too, an ending in which everything happens perfectly to Rachel’s advantage and even though she technically “repents” and decides never to do anything like spying again, she never apologizes, forgives, or is forgiven. Everything just ties up neatly in a nice little bow and even though Rachel never confessed or apologized about her Dirt Diary, she still gets a happy little ending. What makes matters even worse is that she DOESN’T stick to her pledge to never spy again—from what I’ve read, she returns to her Dirt Diary in Book #2.

Then the writing.

Not only was this incredibly juvenile writing, but I got the feeling that the author had no idea what she was doing. This is what I mean by that: Almost every time I saw a word unknown to the general audience, it was used in the wrong context. Here’s two examples to prove my point:

Page 53: “ ‘Um. Er,’ I articulately reply.”

When you say “Um” and “Er” that’s generally implying you’re mumbling or nervous.

“Articulately” means the complete opposite: having or showing the ability to speak fluently and coherently. If you’re articulate, it means you are pronouncing Each Word Very Carefully.

“Um” and “Er” and not generally words you directly pronounciate. Plus, the context of this line is Rachel talking to her crush, so she’s going to be nervously mumbling. NOT articulate.

(Some people have said this was meant to be sarcastic. Ummm…what? You don’t use sarcasm in this kind of context. It makes you sound like you don’t know what you’re doing. So either way, whether or not this was meant to be sarcastic, it demonstrates a weak, even lazy, writing ability.)

Page 107 — “ ‘My mom found it during her latest cleaning tirade.’ ”

Okay then. What she’s trying to say is about the last time her mom went crazy cleaning, or some kind of big cleaning day, and during that major cleaning-out she found the photo albums. Wonderful, except for the fact “tirade” matches none of those descriptions. A tirade is a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation. So what she’s saying is: during my mom’s last angry speech, she found a photo album. Not while she was cleaning. While she was yelling.

Again, it really didn’t make any sense whatsoever. I couldn’t ever figure out Rachel’s true opinions for the life of me—she switches so much. I couldn’t grasp the point behind the Dirt Diary, I didn’t understand why her major crush was such an important part of the story when he really didn’t contribute at all, and I didn’t like the way Rachel was so clueless and juvenile about her parents’ divorce. Really, it honestly sometimes felt like the author was just putting in all these pointless subplots and elements just to make her book seem “cooler”.

Overall/Notes:

My opinion to sum it up? The story is strange and focuses on negative elements of lying, deceit, drama, and gossip. It was horribly written, easy enough that an eight-year-old could read it and understand it just fine.  Though at first glance this looks interesting enough, it was not worth the time I spent reading it. Sure, it’s fun, so to speak, but it doesn’t go any deeper than that, and when it comes down to it, reading a fun book isn’t worth it when I could be reading an excellent one.

Negative Content:

Lots of lying and gossiping.

Rating: 1.0

Recommended to: Nobody.

 

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Posted on by J.C.

** This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.**

Title: Since You’ve Been Gone

Author: Morgan Matson

Published By: Simon & Schuster (2014)

Synopsis: It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.
On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?
Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.
Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?
Kiss a stranger? Um…
Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane’s list. Who knows what she’ll find?
Go skinny-dipping? Wait…what? (Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

This story looked interesting, so I decided to try it. And while this book was clean and appropriate all the way through, I did not like the morals I found being sent.

The crux of the story is that Sloane, our main character’s outgoing, daring friend, has vanished along with her family, leaving no trace—or so it appears, until Emily, the main character, finds a list Sloane left behind. Sloane was always leaving Emily lists of things to do, and so, hoping that maybe the list will lead her back to Sloane, Emily embarks on the quest to do all 13 radical things on the list. Along the way, she learns to stand on her own two feet without Sloane by her side, to be independent, to make new friends.Through the challenges, she finds herself becoming a “better” person in bravery and courageousness.

Sounds good, right? Or not.

What I did not appreciate was the way she became this “better” person. The things on the list that make her “braver” include things like “Kiss a stranger” “Steal something” “Go skinny dipping” and also one thing that involves using a fake ID to buy beer underage, all of which the main character actually does—and feels good about.

Again, there was nothing inappropriate, but I felt these morals were not sending acceptable messages. At the beginning, Emily’s first instinct is to tell her parents everything—which is why I kept reading, hoping she’d go back to that instinct—but after the list, it turns from that into getting in a car with a boy and driving over state lines without her parents’ permission (and feeling fine about it). Emily had such a good heart with good intents at the beginning of the book, and Sloane’s list turned them upside down, all the while portraying the opposite that Sloane’s list was the good thing.

One more thing I will note was that I did not like the many “Oh my God”s I saw in this book.

Though this book was pretty clean and decently written, I feel like it was just promoting the wrong thing to teens. I think the author was more trying to just send a message about becoming braver, but unfortunately, she used the wrong methods to do so. Again, a decent storyline and a satisfying ending, captivating plot and intriguing characters—but when it came down to it, the morals it sent just weren’t worth the read to me.

Negative Content:

Characters use illegal IDs to buy beer underage. Characters openly disobey parents and feel good about it.  A mixed crowd goes skinny dipping and a character spends a minute in thought about how the boy she likes is naked in the water with her. (I found this disturbing.)

Rating: 2.5

Recommended to: Not recommended.

 

Spark by Evan Angler

Spark by Evan Angler

Posted on by J.C.

** This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.**

Title: Spark (Swipe, #4)

Author: Evan Angler

Published By: Thomas Nelson (2013)

Synopsis: Spark introduces nine-year-old Ali, a beggar living in the Dark Lands city of al-Balat. Ali meets a stranger who gives her his tablet, a portal to a tech world that Ali never knew existed. But one day, the tablet begins to communicate back to her—and takes her on a journey that will cross her path with exiled Logan Langly, Chancellor Cylis, and the fierce battle for power that spans reality and the virtual world. (Taken from Goodreads)

 

 

Review:

This was a phenomenal fourth addition to the amazing Swipe series and it definitely did not disappoint. The twists and turns I never saw coming and were done with the utmost care and great talent.  Ali was such a fascinating character to read about, full of spunk and yet with still the sense of little girl innocence.

I loved this book so much. I especially liked the Lemony-Snicket style of writing, as in the author writing as if he is apart of the story and actually there. I love the way that Logan and company call the author their “biographer” and find their own books in libraries! I really, really hope for more books to come in this series, and because of the fact this book ends right in the middle, just like all the others. No loose ends tied up, nothing answered, just another part of the story told. I heard it is to be a 6-book series (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and so I eagerly await the next two books! I also heard rumors that the author has been “caught” by DOME and that is why no more books are coming out, a concept which I love—again, Lemony-Snicket style—but all I really have to say is, Escape, Evan Angler, and finish your series!

The only aspect I was disappointed in was the fact that this story focused around Ali and we barely see Logan or Erin. But oh well, I’m sure they’ll return in book 5 and Ali is a very important character!

Negative Content:

None.

Rating: 5.0

Recommended to: Everyone and anyone!