J.C. Buchanan

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Title: Rules

Author: Cynthia Lord

Published By: Scholastic Press (2006)

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She’s spent years trying to teach David the rules-from “a peach is not a funny-looking apple” to “keep your pants on in public”-in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she’s always wished for, it’s her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal? (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: 

This was an incredible book! The characters were so vivid. You love them; you laugh with them, you cry with them. You relate and sympathize with Catherine, and you smile at David, and then you smile bigger when Jason comes into the scene.

Personally, Jason was my favorite character. He was written so well, that beyond his disorder you see him as a normal kid, reminding me of Melody from Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. I loved his hidden personality, his ambition, his friendship with Catherine.

And David. David was written very well too. This book truly captured the reality of autism and the other disorders, to the point where I came off this book knowing more than I did before. David as a character was realistic and loveable. Even though we see him through Catherine’s eyes and her perspective that he is rather annoying, you still love him.

Catherine’s character was probably the best done of them all. We see the world through her eyes; her emotions and feelings are one hundred percent realistic and believable, and we love her for her kind spirit and her good heart; that even when she thinks things that aren’t the nicest, we know she doesn’t truly mean it and it isn’t who she is—it’s just her way of trying to express her complicated emotions.

The author just did an amazing job with this book. Even though there’s no action, this book was written beautifully—just capturing a few weeks in the mind of a girl like Catherine.

Negative Content:

None.

Overall:

This was one of those books that ended too soon…I just wanted to keep reading about David and Catherine and Jason forever. I just LOVED Rules!

Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Recommended to: All ages!

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Title: Uglies (Uglies, #1)

Author: Scott Westerfield

Published By: Simon Pulse (2005)

Synopsis: 

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. In just a few weeks she’ll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she’ll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun. But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world– and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally’s choice will change her world forever…(Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

While there were elements I loved about this book, there was a lot of things I either did not understand, or disliked. While there were a lot of positive themes and a pageturner plot, I doubt I’ll read it again and I wouldn’t consider it a “favorite.”

Tally as a character was easy to connect to from a reader’s perspective: while others could complain of her not being brave enough, being flat, boring, etc, I found her written very realistically. She could have been an extremely bold character, taking risks at every move, but that just isn’t realistic. Instead, she acts like the average teenager, with the same hesitancy, same fears, etc.

This book was a long book; while most of it was contributing to the storyline, there was yet a lot that I felt was pointless, just written, it felt, to make the book longer. The end was simply WAY too drawn-out and I skimmed most of those pages, just trying to find the outcome already. The book did start out very well paced—however, by Part Three, it was very dragged out, like I’ve said, and I was wondering when the chapters would stop appearing. And, of course, it ended with an abrupt cliffhanger. Sometimes this can be good, but this time, to me, it just seemed a cheesy and easy way to get people to read the sequel. Not that it’s a bad thing…I just didn’t particularly enjoy it.

There was no real suspense; the one thing that was truly intriguing for me was Shay and Tally’s friendship, and the task Tally is assigned. What I really liked about this book was that it focused on friendship rather than desperate, lovestruck characters; ultimately, it was the interaction between Tally and Shay that was the storyline, rather than a romantic interest (though of course a bit of romance snuck in, as it always does with YA novels).

Negative Content/Notes:

No negative content I can recall.

Overall:

So, to sum up:

—Good characters

—Good storyline

—So-so writing

—Not-that-good ending.

Rating: 4.0

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Title: The Sky Inside

Author: Clare B. Dunkle

Published By: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (2008)

Synopsis: Martin lives in a perfect world.
Every year a new generation of genetically-engineered children is shipped out to meet their parents. Every spring the residents of his town take down the snow they’ve stuck to their windows and put up flowers. Every morning his family gathers around their television and votes, like everyone else, for whatever matter of national importance the president has on the table. Today, it is the color of his drapes. It’s business as usual under the protective dome of suburb HM1.
And it’s all about to come crashing down.
Because a stranger has come to take away all the little children, including Martin’s sister, Cassie, and no one wants to talk about where she has gone. The way Martin sees it, he has a choice. He can remain in the dubious safety of HM1, with danger that no one wants to talk about lurking just beneath the surface, or he can actually break out of the suburb, into the mysterious land outside, rumored to be nothing but blowing sand for miles upon miles. (Taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

Some background: I didn’t like The Hunger Games, and couldn’t get into Divergent. I am not a fan of most popular dystopians, but dystopian is my favorite genre. I was desperately looking for an actually good dystopia when I stumbled upon The Sky Inside. And while it didn’t blow me away, it definitely filfulled my expectations for a “good dystopian story.”

What did I like about it?  I liked Martin’s world, and all the details associated with it. While the characters were somewhat one-dimensional,  I did care about them, about what happened to Cassie and the other characters. For me, it is the details that make a dystopia, and this book was rich in descriptions and details for every last thing. I really enjoyed the way this novel portrayed kids hating having to watch television, and there were several laugh-out-loud moments for me. The mystery behind it all had me turning page after page, wondering what exactly would happen next.

On the downside, I found the plot somewhat hard to keep track of. The author’s ideas were very complex, and she seemed to have trouble describing and putting them to paper, and I found myself, on few occasions, rereading page after page to find out what exactly Martin is doing, and why. It did not affect the whole scheme of the book, but as a reader it became irritating to have to keep rereading things. The plot proved to be somewhat predictable as well.

As for Martin as a character, I felt he did not truly feel enough when things happened in his life. Also, the ending was not at all what I was wanting—or expecting. It was waaaaaaay too simple and easy. ** SPOILER ALERT ** Martin is convinced—along with us readers—that Motley, the guy who took his sister away to a “school”, has not taken her to a school, but to a place to die. So Martin embarks on this epic journey until he reaches the so-called school, and who knew? It actually was just a school, just like Motley had said. I get the idea of a plot twist, but this just seemed too simple of an answer. **SPOILER OVER**

On the other hand, though, I did like the ending in the sense that it was open for a sequel without being a cliffhanger or leaving too many things unanswered. While enough is resolved so we are content, enough is left open to be resolved in the sequel, so even though the ending is abrupt, we are satisifed. (Well, despite that sudden need to read the sequel.)

Negative Content/Notes:

No negative content. One note: I’ve seen other people compare it to The Other Side of the Island (Allegra Goodman) and I will say, after reading the reviews, the similiarities are definitely there; however, I completely missed it during the read and it didn’t even enter my mind. I am a big fan of Island, and this didn’t even strike me as close to copying.

Overall:

To summarize, even though there were things I disliked, the good things outweighed the bad things by far. Very intriguing, suspenseful, and just overall a good book!

Rating: 4.5 

Recommended to: If you are a dystopian-loving person like me, but you won’t take just any dystopian (example, you don’t like Hunger Games), then I’d recommend this for you. Clean, mysterious, and intriguing, I’d recommend this for 8+.