Review: The Contender by Robert Lipsyte

The Contender
by Robert Lipsyte
Published May 1996
HarperCollins

This is a sports fiction novel that tells a story of Alfred Brooks, a seventeen-year-old high school drop-out, living in Harlem, finding his way in the world and in boxing. Alfred learns that getting to the top is not as important as how you get there, and that before you can be a champion, you have to be a contender with the will to get back on your feet after you have been knocked down. 

Summary and photo from Goodreads.com

So let’s talk about an oldie, but super goodie.

The Contender! Yes.

This is one of my favorites because…

 

…it’s a guy finally deciding to take ownership of his life and choose to do great things. Or better things.

…even though it’s an uplifting story, Alfred does make mistakes. Stupid ones. Big ones. But he doesn’t get hung up over the mistakes he makes, he gets opportunities to choose again. To move forward or move backward.

…there are adults in Alfred’s life, adults that care and adults that are present. It is awesome to see Alfred grow in his support system and prove himself.

…it’s paced well. There is enough sporting montages to satisfy those interested in The Contender for the boxing purposes (at least from my standpoint!), yet it doesn’t dwell too much on the matches and training to bore those who are less interested. Also, I use the word montage purposefully- this entire book rolls in my head as if it were a montage. I love it!

…the ending is still unclear. While there are some things you know, like life there are so many things you can’t know for sure until it’s over.

…one of the thing that amazes me about The Contender is how it is still relevant 40ish years later. It is evident in the book that the story takes place during a certain time. However, the drugs, the racial profiling, the lack of sureness of the future– it all still exists today.

Overall review: While Alfred’s story is inspiring, it is also simply entertaining. This was the 2nd time I have read this book, and it’s only gotten better. I definitely recommend this for 6th graders and up!

Just so you know: If you end up buying this, it will most likely not be $2.25 unless you’re getting it used or something. Just in case you were wondering

Review: Crash Into Me by Albert Borris

Crash Into Me
Albert Borris
Published July 2009
Simon Pulse

Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae have one thing in common: they all want to die. When they meet online after each attempts suicide and fails, the four teens make a deadly pact: they will escape together on a summer road trip to visit the sites of celebrity suicides…and at their final destination, they will all end their lives. As they drive cross-country, bonding over their dark impulses, sharing their deepest secrets and desires, living it up, hooking up, and becoming true friends, each must decide whether life is worth living–or if there’s no turning back. “Crash Into Me puts readers in the driver’s seat with four teens teetering on the edge of suicide. But will their cross country odyssey push them all the way over? Only the final page turn will tell, in Albert Borris’s finely-crafted tale of friendship forged from a desperate need of connection

Photo and summary from Goodreads.com

5 Quick Reasons Why I Really Liked Crash Into Me:

1. Albert Borris is really blunt. The story is about four kids on a road trip visiting the graves of famous people who have committed suicide, with the resolve at the end of the trip to commit suicide together. Borris does not tiptoe around the topic of suicide, but plunges right in. Honestly, it made me  really uncomfortable at first, but the reason I had that reaction was because it touched on so many real human emotions, which is one of the main reasons I really liked Crash Into Me.

2. I didn’t imagine that there would be twists in this story, but there ended up being twists! Borris did a great job of keeping me out of the loop without making me feel stupid or annoyed. Hurray!

3. Each character had a distinct personality and I feel because of that more readers are more likely to find a character to relate to in some capacity. Maybe it’s because he was the narrator, but I saw bits of myself in Owen at times.

4. I really like how the story was told. The main story was told moving forward, however dispersed through the book Borris told the story of how the four characters in the story met and became friends through sharing their chatroom conversations. Pretty awesome!

5. Surprisingly, I didn’t find Crash Into Me to be a downer of a book. While suicide was the preliminary connection between the four characters in this book, they weren’t just defined by their desire to commit suicide. Borris did a great job of bringing his characters to life, allowing the reader to see the downs, but also the ups and the in-betweens. I laughed, I wanted to cry, I was hopeful, I was sad– pretty much I was all over the place on this one!

Overall review: This is great for those in high school and up. While the content is a little intense, it is handled very maturely.

Review: The Six by K.B. Hoyle

The Six
K.B. Hoyle
The Writer’s Coffeeshop
April 5, 2012 

Darcy Pennington hates her life. She is an insufferably average teenager with no real friends, crushing social anxiety, and an indescribable sense of not fitting in anywhere. A change in her dad’s job forces her to attend Cedar Cove Family Camp the summer before her eighth-grade year, and Darcy once again finds herself on the outside of a social circle of teenagers, with her only advocate being an awkward girl named Samantha Palm. The only problem is, Darcy has no desire to be friends with her, but as the hostility from the other teenagers increases, she decides to return the friendship.

When Darcy begins to experience strange magical occurrences, she comes to believe she’s either losing her mind or on the brink of a discovery that could give her purpose in life. After unwittingly stumbling through a magical gateway to a new world called Alitheia, she convinces Sam and the other four teenagers to travel there with her, and despite their earlier hostilities toward her, they eventually concede leadership of their small group to Darcy. Once there, they learn the “arrival of the Six” was prophesied hundreds of years before, and that they must expel an ancient evil from the land. In the end their lives, and the fate of Alitheia, will hinge upon Darcy. Will she have what it takes to fulfill her mysterious purpose? Or will she fall prey to a deadly foe?

Summary and photo from Goodreads.com                                     

I was invited to read and give an honest review for a digital copy of The Six. I have had to be extremely picky with what I read lately, because of trying to manage my time better lately and I am super glad I was able to read this one! The only problem is it got me in the mood to reread a lot of childhood favorites, like Redwall or The Hobbit.

1. One of the reasons why I wanted to read this book was because of the comparison to The Chronicles of Narnia. I remember as a kid I REALLY loved fantasy books. I think part of it was the whole idea that I wanted to be that special one called up for some special task. I wanted to be the hobbit suddenly imposed on by a bunch of loud messy dwarves and a strange wizard. I wanted to be the kid who accidentally found an entirely different world, or found a mysterious cottage. K.B. Hoyle throws you into the world of Darcy Pennington, a 13-year-old girl who has trouble fitting in and gets just what sooooo many kids and adults dream of– thrown into a whole new fantasy world.

2. The writing in this is really interesting. Darcy and her friends are most definitely 13 year-olds emotionally, yet the way this is written I kept expecting them to be older. While that does mean I kept forgetting the kids were so young, I did enjoy the writing. It was reminiscent of Lewis and Tolkien’s writing styles for me. Also, I like how it translated into the story. Darcy and her friends are ONLY 13 and then they come into this world where they are expected to be saviors. It’s easy to forget how little worldly experience they have.

3. Darcy frustrated the bejeezies out of me! As a character she grew a lot from the first page to the last page, but let me tell you. Some of her actions in between, while entirely and totally realistic, made me so angry especially when it came to lying to her friends about certain things. I don’t want to give anything away, but there is a bit where as a reader you know she shouldn’t be doing something– or at least she shouldn’t be hiding things– and she keeps doing it and you’re like “AHHH TERRIBLE THINGS WILL HAPPEN! STOP!” and then she keeps going and you’re left pretty much exhausted trying to convince this character on the page to check herself before she wrecks herself. It’s pretty easy to get invested into this story.

4. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been reading too many fantasy novels lately, but I found the world to be hard to get into at first. I love the narks, I love the six animals and I found the history of the world interesting, but it was overwhelming when you’re first introduced. There are a few things that I am still unsure about, but midway through the adventures of the six kids I was comfortable in the new setting. The way magic works in this setting is interesting, and I liked how we were able to see the kids develop their abilities and discover with them how things work.

5. This is jam-packed with learning lessons and character development. What I like best about this book is how the lessons aren’t thrown in your face. They’re there for Darcy to learn from them, and you too if you want to take it to that level. Also, Darcy repeats her mistakes over and over again, just in different ways. I thought that was genius of K.B. Hoyle to do. It was not repetitive, and it humanized Darcy on another level.

This will be out this April 5th! And you can pre-order HERE!

Overall Review: This is great for adults and children alike looking to step into a new adventure!
If you want more…: K.B. Hoyle’s BLOG. I thought her posts about writing The Six were especially interesting!

The Reader’s Dilemma

Because I have to wake up in 5 hours, and because I have a super long day ahead of me, I have decided to spend my time on this, instead of sleeping or getting ahead in classes:

This is just something I have been noticing lately!

Review: Where Things Come Back

Where Things Come Back
by John Corey Whaley
Atheneum
May 2011 

Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, it all disappears. . . . 

In the summer before Cullen’s senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone’s eating “Lazarus burgers.” But as absurd as the town’s carnival atmosphere has become, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen’s sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. 

While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax. 

Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It’s about a lot more than what Cullen calls, “that damn bird.” It’s about the dream of second chances.

Summary and Photo from Goodreads.com

Have you ever written a paper defining a certain word?

In high school I wrote a paper about the word “passion” and I had to define it in various ways. In college my final paper involved discussing anthologies based on a concept or a word instead of a time period. I have always been a big fan of defining a word from multiple angles, because I am a firm believer that you can’t define anything with one simple definition. There are so many different types of love and hate and second chances and they all mean something a little different to everyone.

I have been typing and retyping this review trying to capture how I feel about this book. The thing is, yes, there is one “main” story when it comes to Where Things Come Back. There is one “main” narrator with his perspective of the world. But somehow, in someway, John Corey Whaley is able to capture so many stories in this one book. You have Cullen’s and Gabriel’s and Cullen’s aunt’s, and his mom’s story and his dad’s and Benton Sage’s, and John the bird guy’s and Cullen’s best friend’s story and that best friend’s girl friend’s story and so on! I feel like I was able to gain something from every. single. character. Even Cullen’s friend’s grandmother some how.

Please, forgive me for the amount of possession going on in the above paragraph!

But seriously. This book? Is like a real story about real people and real life, but with the added majesty of observed and acknowledged poetic life. I mean yea, you can read it as the story of a boy who lost something EXTREMELY important to him and then pursues surviving in this new life (while Benton Sage is being missionary extraordinaire confusing the bejeezies out of you (in a good curious way)). But, there is more to it, which makes this book totally beautiful (or handsome?).

So, if you haven’t read Where Things Come Back here are some tips.

1. Participate, yet enjoy. One of my favorite parts of Mr. John Corey Whaley’s writing is it kept me on my toes going nuts. Will this happen? How do these things correlate? IS THIS A CLUE?! Are clues in this book?!?!?! These were only samples of what I was thinking. Yet, even though my inner dialogue was going crazy, there were so many great parts for me to just sink down into and breathe in.

2. Read it. You know, get a copy of the book. Open it up. And read!

Those are my tips. If you like books that are art, stories that make you slow down and consider life (yet aren’t boring), and/or books that involve intense action-packed fight scenes every other page, this one is for you.

(I was kidding about the intense action-packed fight scenes, although there is a bit of violence and there is intensity!)

Ultimate Review: Fannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnntastic! Once it comes out in paperback I’m going to be buying this just to own and keep. Or depending on if I cave I just might get this in hardcover:).
Random tidbit: I borrowed this from my library, and once I started it I was really intent about reading it ASAP so other people could check it out. This is one of the reasons why I don’t name a lot of names in the possession nightmare paragraph– I don’t have my copy to refer too and I’m too stubborn to look it up on the internet.

Exciting Reading and Exciting Living

Hi friends!

Recently I’ve started grad school in hopes to becoming a school library media specialist, or to work in a public library doing awesome things. This means I’ve been learning a whole ton of neat interesting things, but I haven’t had as much time for reading and reviewing in the past. This doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading at all though. Just means I have had to be more selective and reprioritize as needed.

So, what have I been reading lately?

Wonder by R.J. Palacio: I thought this book was majestical. It shares some fantastic quotes about life and especially about being kind. It’s a story that will make you feel so hopeful yet feel really bad at the same time– in a good way! This book was a great little bugger, that I would definitely recommend for everyone starting around 4th grade and up.

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin: My book club and I chose this as our choice this month (well, since December to be honest!) based on the amount of hype it has been receiving. While I found it really hard to start because of all the characters and the entirely separate world, by page 80 I was pretty into it.

Breaking Free by Beth Moore: This is my lenten hopes and dreams for this time. Beth Moore is really great at doing Bible based studies, and her books are always soooooo dense with information. I’ve been slowly plodding my way through it.

What I hope to read soon?

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White: Stephanie Perkins has spoken only great things about this series, and so I have been really curious to read these. Also, at work I have a customer friend who loves teen paranormal novels, and I am running out of recommendations.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I have been staking out my library’s catalog for this one and it popped up last week, so I snatched it up. I’ve been reading nothing but fantastic reviews concerning Mr. Whaley, and also ever since reading Stolen by Lucy Christopher I have been a pretty big fan of Printz award.

Other exciting things?

For part of my life I get to read stories to little children. Little girls who shout “Yayyyyyyyyyyy!” every time you finish a book, little boys that repeat the words of the story to themselves, and tons of children singing along with you to books make everything wonderful. It is one of the most uplifting activities I have done in a long time.

For school I have a big project where I have to observe a few different school libraries, interview the librarians, and then do a whole lot of work. I’m really excited to see all of these awesome things I have been learning in action. Just for your information too, librarians are pretty much the.nicest.people.ever. The amount of extraordinary people I have been meeting is overwhelming!

This is completely and totally unrelated, but I had a really good dream last night that involved solving a mystery, and the feeling from it has been stuck in my head alllllllll day. It’s a dream I really hope to visit again, and I am not sure even why. I just love how it ended up making me feel. Here’s hoping that’s where I am headed this evening!

Anyway, thank you for your patience in my disappearances and thank you for stopping by!

Happy days and happy reading!

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Graffiti Moon
by Cath Crowley
Published by Knopf Books
Coming out February 12, 2012!
Format: digital ARC 

Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she’s going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He’s out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for.

Instead, Lucy’s stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she’s managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they’re suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

Photo and summary from Goodreads.com

 

Remember that time when I got really excited and wanted to read Graffiti Moon asap? GUESS WHAT! I got to read it and it blew allllll expectations away. I thought the story sounded good, but the writing. The questions. The mind. Ahhhh, Cath Crowley be my friend. Well, the type of friend that does all the talking, because I’m pretty sure all I would do is stare and giggle in awe. It’s something I’m working on.

So anyway, let’s get into this.

1. The narration is fannnntastic. Cath Crowley decides to tell the story switching between two perspectives: using Lucy, a quirky smart girl who just graduated year 12 of school, and Ed, a lost boy who dropped out of school and lost his job. We do get bonus narration from Poet too, who shares a little bit from his present and his past. One of the reasons I love all of these perspectives is that the way Cath Crowley does this means we get to read the whole story of pretty much everything. There are moments where Lucy and Ed misread each other and I misread them too because I don’t get the whole story. Also, it makes for quite a few moments where one or the other entirely misinterpret the other’s feelings. You get to see those moments and get angry or laugh at them or be a little surprised.

2. I think YA fiction gets a bad rap for being just light, fun reads, but Graffiti Moon has an enormous amount of depth to it. There’s a lot of talk about art between the characters, and while I was reading this I kept thinking to myself, “this book is a prime example of writing being an art form.” It got to the point where I forgot I was even reading, and I was just experiencing these people and their stories and it was sad and it was happy and I finished this book feeling changed in some way.

3. Personally? I am a HUGE fan of reading books where the characters have unique hobbies. Graffiti Moon features glassblowing (!!!), graffiti (well, obviously), drawing, fortune telling, and poetry from an unexpected character. One of the perks about reading is getting to experience in some manner things that you wouldn’t normally be able to experience. I’ve never graffitied (I don’t even know how to say it. I’ve never done graffiti? I don’t graffiti things? Is there some graffiti verb that spell check won’t tell me about?) and I’ve definitely never blew glass before. I have however now experienced glassblowing through Lucy’s eyes and the art of graffiti through Ed’s eyes [[okay, sorry to be distracting, but for some reason originally I wrote Ed's house instead of Ed's eyes. Whhhaaattt?]], and while it is not the same as doing it myself, I’m one step closer to understanding.

4. Speaking of the characters, the families in this were really interesting. I’m pretty sure my favorite people ever were Lucy’s parents. Minor spoiler alert: **You learn Lucy’s dad moved out of their house and into the shed so they could have their own space to get the work that needed to get done done.** I just like it, because growing up I always had this clear idea of what a family should be like, and what love is like, and how the world should be set up. I’ve learned that my visions of life and love were not always necessarily true and everything is a lot more gray and fuzzy in some ways. Lucy gets to learn that too. I also liked Ed’s mom’s ability to make the seemingly bad appear magical. Actually, I just really liked her.

5. I can’t put my finger on another “point” as to why I think Graffiti Moon is the bee’s knees. It’s just every single thing about it. The people and the moments and their goofiness and the friendships and the adventures and the jokes and their personalities. Pretty much magical is the word I would use to sum up this book. Without saying it, in one facet it’s all about the magic of life even when it’s dark. The love and loyalty between friends. Looking past what people appear to be. Being unsure about someone and starting to like them more and more and more. I wish I could say more. This is just one of the books where it feels like it  has a part of you inside of it.

Overall Review: To put this review short? Graffiti Moon is pretty much the sum of everything that I love in young adult novels. This is definitely something that I’m planning on owning. Only one month and 6 days until it comes out in the US!!!!
Graffiti, Graffitti, Grafitti: Graffiti is the worst word ever for me to spell. It has been sooooooo completely hard for me to not mess up the spelling every time. I’m thankful for the red squiggly lines!

Happy New Year!!!

Credit.

Review: Want to Go Private?

Apologies for my absence! I’ve been off working and playing Final Fantasy IX and attempting to bake and reading and trying to hang out with people in my daily life and and catching colds and watching things (like Lord of the Rings and New Girl), so I have been off away from my computer(or on it, just doing other things– just not blogging)!

So anyway, today I do have a review for you! I was going to just write little blurbs about what I have been reading (and not blogging about), but then I ended up talking wayyyyy too much about this book, so I couldn’t with good conscience call it a blurb.:)

Want to Go Private
by Sarah Darer Littman
Published August 2011
Scholastic Press

Abby and Luke chat online. They’ve never met. But they are going to. Soon.

Abby is starting high school—it should be exciting, so why doesn’t she care? Everyone tells her to “make an effort,” but why can’t she just be herself? Abby quickly feels like she’s losing a grip on her once-happy life. The only thing she cares about anymore is talking to Luke, a guy she met online, who understands. It feels dangerous and yet good to chat with Luke—he is her secret, and she’s his. Then Luke asks her to meet him, and she does. But Luke isn’t who he says he is. When Abby goes missing, everyone is left to put together the pieces. If they don’t, they’ll never see Abby again.

 Photo and Summary from Goodreads.com

 

1. This was kind of creepy (and by kind of I mean REALLY). One of the reasons why it’s so creepy is it so realistic. It’s a story about how a girl befriends this guy on the internet and ends up meeting him in real life and goes missing. The first half is all about her meeting and getting to know the guy, and the second half is the aftermath told in varying perspectives. What struck me the most is how this girl is REALLY fourteen-years-old. Littman captured the inner thoughts perfectly of a girl growing up and having to deal with changing to a whole new school. It kind of weirded me out, because I remember thinking the same things back when I was a freshman in high school. One of those things was I took everything so seriously and viewed everything as an attack on myself, regardless if it was helpful criticism or some one trying to reach out to me. Just ask my family! It blew my mind how well Littman captured the girl so well.

2. This is a pretty graphic book. Personally I think it is all very crucial to the story and I don’t think Littman goes overboard with the sexual activities in this and how she describes it all. What’s especially interesting about the whole book is I went into it thinking “oh, I wouldn’t do that. I would never do this.” That, however, is the mindset Littman seems to be trying to reach. Especially with it being so easy to access personal information on the internet and make online friends. To me the book never ended up being preachy though, although there is a moment toward the end where it was really close to the preachy line.

3. The relationships in this were really good to read. Between sisters, best friends, boys, and parents, while not always “perfect” Abby’s relationships were strong and realistic. This is a story about two best friends entering high school together and having to deal with making new friends and changing individually. It’s also a story about sisters who fight all the time, and what happens when something terrible happens? It’s about parents struggling with their teenage daughter, and that teenager struggling with boys. This books has soooo many different stories inside of it, because the relationships were so strong.

Ultimate Review: Read it! Parents, I’d recommend reading it *with* your kids. Everyone else? I just recommend reading it. Short and simple:)
Hey, guess what: This was apparently based off of a real story Sarah had heard. Crazzzzziness!

The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson (2)

Heya peeps, I got some more Dickinson for ya! Last night it was uber romantic. The light I generally use in my room is really far from my bed (by really far I just mean you have to get out of bed and walk two steps. The getting out of bed is what makes it essentially miles away), so I had the smart idea to burn candles and read poetry by candlelight. Oo lala! Nothing caught on fire, and I got to stay in bed! hurray. Anyway, onto the poems:

XXXII

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard,
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

LXII

Before I got my eye put out,
I liked as well to see
As other creatures that have eyes,
And know no other way.

But were it told to me, to-day,
That I might have the sky
For mine, I tell you that my heart
Would split, for size of me.

The meadows mine, the mountains mine,00
All forest, stintless, stars,
As much of noon as I could take
Between my finite eyes.

The motions of the dipping birds,
The lighting’s jointed road,
For mine to look at when I liked,–
The news would strike me dead!

So, safer, guess, with just my soul
Upon the window-pane
Where other creatures put their eyes,
Incautious of the sun.

Lately, I’ve been considering risks and taking them and what I constitute as a risk, and these two poems reminded me of that. Daring to hope, daring to believe, daring to do. Sometimes as an excessive reader I worry I live vicariously too much, and I get really anxious to do-do-do. But do what is the question. While reading these words I get a little anxious about doing more, they also just get me excited for today and help me to be content in regards to the future. I LOVE that part that I bolded in the second poem. I hope you enjoyed!

Happy day, Happy night, Happy week!

–> If you’re really confused as to why I’m talking about Emily Dickinson and poetry on my blog, here is the first entry explaining the methods to my madness.