YA Recommendations Part One

Hello! Today I am recommending YA books. I will state what I like about the book and what I didn't like about it. These are arranged in random order.

Calvin is a book about a kid whose diagnosed with schizophrenia, Calvin (the kid), decides the best way to deal with this is to cross Lake Erie in January, to find the creator of Calvin and Hobbes who has become a hermit. 
The author sucks you into Calvin's mind, where it all make sense. Calvin's hallucinations make sense, joyriding in cars on frozen Lake Erie makes sense, Hobbes (like Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes) is alive, real, and hungry. It all makes sense. 
This book mentions quite a bit of stuff from Calvin and Hobbes, so it's best to read after reading Calvin and Hobbes. 
Author: Martine Leavitt 
Rating: Four stars

Turtles All The Way Down is about Aza. This book focuses on three things a) the disappearance of a billionaire, b) Davis Pickett, because this is a John Green novel, and c) Anxiety and mortality. 

This book also sucks you into the mind of Aza, and John Green did such a good job with the anxiety this book will literally make you anxious, warning. 

Plus Daisy, Aza's best friend , is complete nerd. Five hundred percent. Not only is she a fanfiction writer, she speaks the language of the Wookies. 

This book is so delightfully weird, fortunes are left to reptiles, people speak Wookie, and somehow the main characters end up getting years worth of coupons. 

Author: John Green

Rating: Five stars

Eleanor and Park is..I don't know how to describe it. But it's a masterpiece and you should read it. 

It takes place in the 80s and it seems so much like a time machine.

It is a romance that you will most likely enjoy even if you do not like romances.

It will make you cry...probably.

Eleanor and Park's friendship (yes they can be friends and dating) is based around comics and music, unlike other characters in romance novels, who are dating but barely know each other.

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Rating: Five stars

What are you waiting for? Go read these amazing books! 

-Sarah

The True, You Can't See The Elephants Book Mini Review.

A while ago I posted a rant on a book I found about child abuse. It didn't really count as a review, so today I (mini) review You Can't See The Elephants. 
I didn't add that many more points but I decided it would be better than reading a rant.

"When thirteen-year-old Mascha is sent to her grandparents' for the summer, she spends her days bored and lonely at a nearby playground. There she meets Julia and Max, two young siblings who are incredibly shy and withdrawn. Mascha soon begins to suspect that they are being physically abused by their father, a prominent member of their small community. She tells her grandparents and the authorities, but they all refuse to believe her."

PROS OF THIS BOOK

-Not many middle grade books deal with child abuse.

-Julia and Max's response was believable.

CONS OF THIS BOOK

-Mascha literally tells everyone she knows. Now, they've always know that Julia and Max are abused, but none of them want to do anything about it. 

-Mascha is left with no other choice but to kidnap Julia and Max (according to the book)

-You don't root for Mascha, Mascha causes the effect like when you're reading a book where the protagonist is an antihero. 

-Sarah

Poems

Poems. 

1/17/2018

If this was a book

I would be walking towards the front

Yellow ball in hand

Sidestepping, dodging every throw,

Throwing, and watching it soar up ahead

Too high to catch,

before falling down and hitting someone

The best player on the team, cheers for me, etc, etc.

But this isn't a book.

And I watch the ball tumble down towards the ground,

Bouncing once around sneakers, before rolling

Rolling into the wall, where someone picked it up.

There were no throws for me to dodge, no throws for me to catch.

Everyone knows I am too weak to pose a target.

1/20/2018

People are like apples.

This one is green.

This one is red.

One is sour one is sweet.

But not all green are sour.

Not all red are sweet.

And upon peeling the apples there is no difference.

We just say there is.

3/22/2018

The blue pawn stood before the red queen

Ready to swoop

But the blue pawn hesitated

So the red queen went in

And the blue pawn was dead.

This was not the time for mercy

Cried the fallen

The red queen advanced farther into the battlefield.

Where the red queen stood, and the blue queen stood.

Though there was no movement to attack.

So the red queen struck, and the blue queen fell.

But as the blue queen's body tumbled,

The calls of reality sounded.

And the like-gods walked away.  

3/22/2018

To be against

Is to look upon a human face

And decide they are no more than that word,

That that one word defines them, summarizes them

That that word is all you need to know

(Last line in progress) 

-Sarah

You Can't See The Elephants: A Very Ranty Review.

I can't believe this. This is sick. 

You Can't See The Elephants is a book about child abuse. This contains spoilers. Also, this isn't a review, but more of a rant. 

MAIN CHARACTERS: Mascha, who deserves a ten year prison sentence. 

So, Mascha meets these kids, Julia and Max, and Mascha learns that they are being beaten by their parents. Everyone Mascha tells doesn't listen, so she kidnaps Julia and Max. 

Kidnaps.

K i d n a p s . 

K i d n a p s . 

Mascha leads Julia and Max to an abandoned 1 room house in the middle of the field, and locks them in.

She comes back three hours later to screaming. Julia screaming.

"What I saw in the two eyes was incredibly different-it was flat-out rage." -Mascha

"Where were you? Where did you go, wherewereyouwherewereyou!" -Julia

"Your mother had to go to the hospital. ------------- And your dad asked me to look after you. You can't come to my grandparent's becuase they are not here right now, so you have to stay here" -Mascha

This is a one room house with no food, no water, no toilet. Julia is nine, Max is seven. 

"She screamed and she screamed and she screamed, she screamed everything out. "I want to get out of here!" she yelled. " I want to get out of here now, let me out! She ran around the room like a crazy person, trampling the games and the sweets and the greasy plates. "Mascha!" she screamed. "You stupid cow, you stupid stupid cow. Why are you keeping us here?" She rattled the door and the grate on the window, but they didn't give, and Julia just got angrier. "We stink, can't you smell it? We're sweaty and filthy and there's no bathroom. Do you realize how horrible this is? What have we ever done to you?"" 

"You don't understand anything! I was trying to save you, don't you get that you crappy little monsters?"-Mascha

Even though Mascha faces a consequence for her actions (everyone rightfully hates her and is convinced she will kidnap their children), it doesn't feel right. It feels like Mascha isn't guilty or regretful, she's happy because Julia and Max are now out of their abusive home. The only time she shows any sign of regret is when she sees a newspaper saying the following, along with saying what Mascha did:

"As if nothing had happened; the young kidnapper and her family enjoying a cup of iced tea in their garden." 

-Sarah

Completely Unrelated Books Review (Calvin, A Taxonomy of Love, and Symptoms Of Being Human)

Hi! I'm back! Yes, I realize I haven't posted in a month. I'm sorry. Now let's get on with the post. Today, like always* I am reviewing books. Unfortunately, this time there is no obvious title I can use to relate Calvin, A Taxonomy Of Love, the Illustrated Man, and Symptoms Of Being Human. Because unlike last time, where I could somewhat relate the books, this time? Nope. 
Semi-Related-ness: Bent Not Broken isn't focused on mental health...kinda? It covers brain damage, mental health, siblings, and divorce? Shooter is about...plot twists.

Surprisingly, there isn't a lot I can say about this book. It didn't have a lasting effect on me, or show me the secrets of the universe. It is..odd. It has the writing style of a letter for thoughts, and the writing style of a movie script for dialogue. Think The Cursed Child style, except everything that isn't talking has been replaced by a letter to the author of Calvin and Hobbes.
Oh, yeah. This book becomes a lot better if you have read the Calvin and Hobbes comics. There's lots of references to scenes, that you most likely will not get if you have not read Calvin and Hobbes.
Also it centres** around Calvin and Hobbes so much, I have no idea how it got past copyright laws. The main characters are Calvin, Hobbes, and Susie, though 1/3-2/3 of those characters are hallucinations. 
Hallucinations? Right, Calvin is a seventeen year old with schizophrenia. He has been recently diagnosed, and since the reappearance of the tiger plush named Hobbes(of course) signaled the beginning of his schizophrenia, he decides the best way to become healthy is...

Question: Do GIFs have sound? 

To cross Lake Erie in the middle of January, to meet up with Bill Watterson (who has become a hermit) so Bill will draw him healthy and Hobbes-less. 

Yeah. Yet...Calvin never thinks of this as a bad plan, the way someone else would. It makes perfect sense to him. That's the perfect thing about this book: Hobbes is real and hungry, the plans make sense, and the hallucinations make sense. It is my favourite thing about this book, that (like the book says) it is real. But (as the book also says) is it true?

Oh and Susie is coming with him. It's very mysterious. Is Susie a hallucination? Is she going to die? 

PROS

-Very suspenseful

-Somewhat bizarre (joyriding with cars, on the frozen Lake Erie)

-What is real vs what is true?

-What I think is good representation of schizophrenia?

CONS 

-No lasting effects

-Is written from the future***

COS (con pros)

-Has a movie script style

-Calvin and Hobbes references

This book is great to read if you need blog post. That's not sarcasm, trust me. Thanks to this book, I have been inspired to write a blog post on what not to do in your YA novel.
I wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, there were some...issues. These issues include: too much crammed into the book, out-of-character moments, and characters built purely to keep Spencer and Hope apart. 
I think a lot of the problem was that this book takes place over the course of six years, and things have been chosen to be left out of the book. That's fine. I don't want to know every detail of Spence's life. But it is incredibly annoying when you market a book as dealing with racism, even though the only part about racism in the book is three sentences. Examples: Girl doesn't get chosen to do something because of her race. Girl mentions it to MC. Girl says she's going to fix it. Nothing else is said. Was it fixed? I don't know, clearly it wasn't deemed important. Do you know the solution to that? To not market this as a book that deems with racism. 
I really need to do an in-depth post to this. Some of the stuff contain massive spoilers. 
PROS
-Spencer has Tourette's Syndrome
-Might teach people about taxonomies, and how you can use them in everyday life?
CONS
-Out of character moments
-Some characters seem like obstacles rather than characters
-"Wait what that is creepy how could you just put that aside" moments
-Takes place over six years
-Kidnapping 
Moving on. 

This book seems to cross the not-so-fine line between fiction and non-fiction. That line is a mile wide, in fact. But this book seems less what you want to read if you're looking for story, and more what you what to read if you want information on trans people. 

My favorite parts of the book were Riley's blog posts (on a site that is clearly Tumblr). Because Riley is a good writer. Jeff Garvin? Eh. Because while Jeff Garvin wrote Riley's blog post, I prefer Riley's writing style. Makes sense, right? Probably not. 

Also how did Riley become internet famous in a month? This blog has been open months and I am still not famous. 
PROS
-Book about a gender fluid character
-Very informative

CONS
-Slow sometimes
-Strange writing style

And that's it for this post!

-Sarah

*But not always because soon I will post about writing!
**Why on earth does this program hate British spelling?
***This is good sometimes, bad other times, mostly because you know the main character lives. 

One Mini-Review

Hiya!

Today I am reviewing this random book from the library.

"Tippi and Grace share everything—clothes, friends . . . even their body. Writing in free verse, Sarah Crossan tells the sensitive and moving story of conjoined twin sisters, which will find fans in readers of Gayle Forman, Jodi Picoult, and Jandy Nelson.

Tippi and Grace. Grace and Tippi. For them, it's normal to step into the same skirt. To hook their arms around each other for balance. To fall asleep listening to the other breathing. To share. And to keep some things private. Each of the sixteen-year-old girls has her own head, heart, and two arms, but at the belly, they join. And they are happy, never wanting to risk the dangerous separation surgery.

But the girls' body is beginning to fight against them. And Grace doesn't want to admit it. Not even to Tippi. How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives?

Carnegie Medal–winning author Sarah Crossan gives us a story about unbreakable bonds, hope, loss, and the lengths we will go to for the person we love most." From Amazon.

This is called One. I have no idea when I started it, but I finished it 6:07 pm. This book is about conjoined twins, which is surprising mostly everyone but me. See, the girls on the cover look pretty much exactly like conjoined twins exact in a paper snowflake. Perhaps it is the text above it "Two lives. Two sisters. One choice." Yeah, it would have been better if it said "Two lives. Two sisters. One body." or something along those lines. 

This 
  book
is done 
in 
a 
poetry 
style
in case you haven't 
  noticed.

So, the basic plot is Grace gets sick, and they can't treat conjoined twins, so they have to choose if they want to be separated or not. Hope I didn't reveal to much.


PROS
-I don't think I have ever read a book about conjoined twins, but I tried to write one. So this was kind of cool to read, like seeing the story I never finished.
-It is moving.

CONS
-The cover.
-You can not probably have an eating disorder. You do or you don't. Plus how these people's parents not notice the fact their daughter was super super skinny? 


COS (con pros)
-"Her voice was wispy like laundry drying on a line." 

Overall, this is a good book, but not something I can really rant or rave about. Four stars. 



-Sarah

The Sun Is Also A Star Review

Warning: This review is very ranty. It also contains spoilers. Not sure why spoilers are bad here because I am telling you why you should never read the book. But proceed with caution. 

"This book is inspired by Big History (to learn about one thing, you have to learn about everything). In The Sun is Also a Star, to understand the characters and their love story, we must know everything around them and everything that came before them that has affected who they are and what they experience. 

Two teens--Daniel, the son of Korean shopkeepers, and Natasha, whose family is here illegally from Jamaica--cross paths in New York City on an eventful day in their lives--Daniel is on his way to an interview with a Yale alum, Natasha is meeting with a lawyer to try and prevent her family's deportation to Jamaica--and fall in love."


I wanted to like this book. I really did. I read a sample off Amazon*, and it sounded interesting.The Amazon sample is great. It starts with to make a apple pie from completely nothing, you must create the universe, create atoms and molecules. It starts with Daniel, whose Perfect Older Brother Who Is Never Described Without Words I'm Not Going To Say™ has been kicked out of The Best School™, Natasha who is trying to convince someone, not too sure about that, not to deport her and her family. It seems like an awesome book that you must read, so you read it. Then you resist banging your head against a wall.

The first reason why I hate this book is the two narrators, Daneil and Natasha. They are unlikeable to the π degree.
 Dan is just kind of..strange, and isn't really likable or unlikable. You sympathize. You move on. 
But Tash is  awful-ish-ish.  I mean, she is a good beginning character, but the middle, was kind of ish. I am not the kind of person to accuse someone of..wait I don't remember what it is. Stringing along? No idea. But Dan falls in love with Tash, Tash breaks it to him that she can not love him back, Tash does the equivalent of breaking up with him**, and then Tash falls in love with him, etc etc. It ends with Dan and Tash dating, with Tash never telling him she is being deported to Jamaica. Maybe she doesn't get deported in the end. I couldn't finish the book, it was so bad.

The second reason is the foreshadowing. Sure, foreshadowing is good and all, but not when it reveals the entire story in a sentence. Like saying you were writing a poem on heartbreak, but was having trouble because you have never had you're heart broken? You are going to get you're heart broken. Doesn't even matter what genre it is anymore, you are going to get your heart broken. So..what..read the book, and like all stories like this, root for Dan and Tash, yet you know it wont have a happy ending because of foreshadowing. Unless it is false foreshadowing, which is the most awful thing you can do with your book.

Wait. I had forgotten about someone. Ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary people, I present to you Irene. Irene is the worst thing you can do with your book***. So..Irene doesnt have anything to do with the story other than Being There, so far, so..most likely will not go good. I read a book that did a silimar thing, bring in the roles of total strangers, but they were important in the end. EDIT: Flipped ahead to see if they were important. My head hurts now BECUASE A FAMILY IS BEING DEPORTED BECAUSE YOU MISSED IT BECAUSE YOU HAD A DATE  DESPITE THE FACT YOU WERE MARRIED AND HAD TWO KIDS. I am fuming. 
Lets go back to Irene. She needs her job, because it is the only social contact she gets all day. She works in a metal detector. She saw a phone case, Tash's, showing and album cover, listened to the music, and killed herself. DO YOU KNOW WHAT HER SUICIDE NOTE SAID? "Oh well. Whatever. Nevermind." 

What next? Oh yes, The Train Preacher and The Waitress. So..this guy becomes and Evangelical Christian, drives a train, so he decides to preach to the passengers like a Jehovah's Witness. When the passengers don't like it, he kicks them off. Daniel is one of these people, and he spends the time after looking for a sign, and he meets Natasha in a deus ex machina sweater. Daniel is a recently converted atheist-Christian character, which is...fine...if it wasn't for the fact Tash being an atheist is views as tragic and most likely also converts. Oh yes..the chapter right after that is explaining how happy The Train Preacher felt when he converted, so he should convert others and share the happiness. 
The Waitress is just the server at a Korean restaurant Tash and Dan go to. Tash asks for a fork, server tells Dan to teach his girlfriend how to use chopsticks. That's it? WRONG! The next chapter explains that her son fell in love with a white woman. The Waitress and her husband cant accept that, so her son cuts her out of the family, only asking later if they want to come to his wedding. The Waitress wants to go, but "Daddy" doesn't allow her, and she never talked to her son again. So now every tine she sees a Korean guy and a non-Korean girl (no vice versa apparently) she tells them off because their relationship with only cause heartbreak to them and their family. What....?
What now? Yes, the chapter explaining why Tash and her family were deported. So..seems normal, saying that Sam, the guy who cheated, kids will never truly forgive their father or love someone ever again truly. Which is fine. It is like it is telling off Sam for cheating. Then you get to the next part, saying that Sam and Hannah's kids will love people truly, not like Sam's kids. Then the next part, which says it isn't to say if Sam did the right or wrong thing. Okay. But it is saying he did the right thing, replacing his wife and kids.
Next is that Charlie hates his brother because Dan doesn't hate himself and his life.
EDIT: Yass I think Irene is alive! Yass everything ended happy but I am still upset on what happened with Irene. Suicide isn't a plot device so The Protagonist can save them, meet later, and cause The Protagonist to meet Her Long Lost Love. Seriously.

In conclusion, I thought this book was worth the hype. It is very much not. The best thing about this book is..not sure..hang on..I'll think of something...eh..no..there is nothing. 

Okay. I shall think of something. Both of the main characters are people of color, and their culture is touched on, like irie and the history of Korean people in the black hair care business. Which isn't something I thought I would learn, but whatever. Plus this book is a book about a Jamaican girl.  This is the only book I can name with that. 

The writing is indeed good, but when you resiting the urge to bang your head against a wall it doesnt matter anymore. Or maybe that is just me.

Summary: This book has good writing, but too many side characters, instalove, coincidences, stalking, WAIT WHAT YOU BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF YOU AWFUL LAWYER! moments, please no moments, and takes place withing twenty four hours. 

Sorry about no posting in a while.


-Sarah


*Something fun to do is to go onto Amazon, find your favorite book, and look at the books in the related section, and read samples, You might find a really could book. I found a book that for some reason had the majority of the entire novel in a sample. 
** This I can remember the name of. Instalove, in which (two characters look at each other)  (fall in love) Plus they tried a scientific reasoning for that. And it failed miserably.
*** Not Irene herself, but what happened to her. Also you do realize I read part of the book while writing this, so my thoughts changed. Like with Irene.