The Earth My Butt and Other Big Round Things - A review by Sarah Gnefkow

The Earth My Butt and Other Big Round Things

By Carolyn Mackler

4 Stars

The Earth My Butt and Other Big Round Things is a really good book. I started reading it and just couldn't put it down. I wish that i would have taken time to read it because it was one of those things that I just didn't want it to end. This book is definately one that I would recommend if you're looking for a fun, rebellious, but kind of out of the ordinary read. 

It is about a girl named Virginia Shreves who is a larger than average girl. Her favorite things to do are eat, make lists, email her best friend that moved to Walla Walla, and hook up with a boy named Froggy. Virginia (Gin for short) feels that no guy would ever want to be with her in public so she decides to follow the "Fat Girl Code of Conduct". Virginias family would be considered the 'perfect' family. Her mother is a popular therapist, her father a top executive, her sister Anais is in the Peace Corps, and her brother Byron is a god. Everyone looks the same in the Shreves family they are all tall, beautiful, blonde, and skinny, except for Virginia. Gin's mother pushes her to go on diets and be a skinny Shreve just like the rest of the family. But when a tragedy happens to her family involving Byron, Virginia rebels. 

This book is fun to read and it goes by pretty quick. It was definitely one that I have never read anything like it. It was pretty much a good book. I would definitely give this book 4 stars.

One Amazing Thing - Review by Halea Coulter

One Amazing Thing

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

* * * * stars

One Amazing Thing was a good book. It took me awhile to conquer, but i did it. I feel like I would have liked it more if I dedicated some time and just went through it all at once. But it is a book I would definitely recommended if your looking for a book that is just good, something interesting and fascinating, and something that says a lot about the human condition under stress.

 

The book opens with one of the main characters, Uma, sitting in a passport office with sixth other people and two workers in the office, and suddenly an earthquake rips through the building and it starts to flood, and all nine people are trapped together. Uma jokes that it is a Lord of the Flies situation, which it is, there is a definate power struggle between characters to be the leader. Finally Uma, who at that time is reading Canterbury Tales, suggests that everyone tells one amazing thing, one thing they haven't told anyone else. All of the characters are just so different, (for example, there is a Muslim-American struggling with the way people are treating him because of the 9/11 attacks, and theres also an African-American Vietnam Vet who is running out of medicene in his asmtha inhaler) and they all come together so well with such fascinating stories, that even if it takes awhile to get into, it's a hard book to hate. the ending wasn't my favorite, but thats up to you to decide.

I haven't ever read another book like this one. The closest I think might be Canterbury Tales, which no one has probably read any of unless they happen to be a senior. I think it was a good book, but I would only reccomend reading it if you can't find anything else to read.

Girl Parts - a review by George Morejon

Girl Parts

by John M Cusick

*** stars

Girl Parts starts off with a girl killing herself on the internet. She broadcasts it on webcam with an audience of her schoolmates watching. After this happens, a new psychiatric comes in to help with the disassociation problem (being disconnected from the real world) the students are facing. The solution he recomends is to assign "companions" to these kids, including popular rich kid David Sun. David is a stuck-up brat who just wants to fool around with girls, but still a person chosen for the programme. When he gets his companion, whose name is Rose, he finds out he cares for her and wants to be with her more than any other girl he's been with before. David thinks he's found his dream girl, but things change at a party when he finds out that Rose isn't "fully functional", if you know what I mean.

When David finds this out, he abandons her at the party, and Rose wanders out into the forest lost and confused. She finds her way to an ocean ridge and is about to jump, which would destroy her link to the Sakora satellites helping her understand things and also probably deactivate her, but a kid named Charlie (who she'd only met one time before when David hit him with a car) tries to save her, dragging them both into the ocean. Charlie's kind of disconnected from society, so after Rose gets desynced from the satellite, they form a sort of bond. This bond strengthens as he hides her from the Sakora agents who are looking for her so they can deactivate her and helps her get over David basically throwing her away.

This book took about 4 hours to read and was way different than anything else I have read, so I wasn't that sure what to think of it. I hadn't seen the idea of robot companions like this in any novel, although I wasn't unfamiliar with the idea. I liked David up until he dumped Rose, which I thought was a jerk move to do. Rose was interesting and I liked being able to read how she was programmed to think, before and after her big change. Her want to be accepted by people and be real reminded me a lot of Pinocchio. Overall, I'd give this book a 3 out of 5.

Awakened- Review by Aspen Gates

Awakened

P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

****stars

Awakened is the eighth book in The House of Night series, and it continues on with Zoey and her friends trying to rid the earth of the evil Neferet and Kalona. However, all of that is put on hold when when in Burned, Zoey soul is shattered and she is stuck in Nyx's Realm. So it's up to Stark and the rest of Zoey's friends to help get her back before it's too late while also trying to get rid of Neferet and Kalona. Now that Zoey has been saved, she and Stark are gaining back there strength and Stevie-Rae is now presiding has the High Priestess at the House of Night in Tulsa, but everything is going wrong. Stevie-Rae is still trying to hide her relationship with Rephaim and to make it worse, Neferet has returned to try and take back the House of Night with the help of Darkness, and kills an innocent boy to do it. With all that's going on, the House of Night is desperate for Zoey to come back home because they believe she is the only one that can destroy Neferet, but there is only one problem. Zoey is not sure that she wants to come back to the House of Night. With all that's going on, who else will die by Neferet's hand? What will happen between Stevie-Rae and Raphaim? Will they be discovered, and if they are, what will be the outcome? And will Zoey return to help not only save the House of Night, but perhaps the world from decay? Read this amazing book to find out.

Awakened I thought was a very important book in this series. It answers a lot of questions that many may have had from reading the first seven books. It also puts together a lot of Aphrodite's visions and makes them come out in this book. I gave this book four stars because like all the others, it keeps me locked in and wanting to know what is going to happen next. So I definitely recommend Awakened along with the rest of the House of Night Series for those who have not read this yet in the O'Hara library. So enjoy and for those who are reading this series, Destined, the next in this amazing series comes out later this year. Yay!

Deadly Litttle Secret --- a review by Amy Lyon

Deadly Little Secret

by Laurie Faria Stolarz

***1/2



Three months ago, Camelia was almost run down in the school parking lot. If not for the mysterious guy who saved her life then rode away on his motorcycle, she probably wouldn't be alive. So now, when he starts attending her school, she can't help wanting to at least thank him. But when she tries to, he denies and tries his best to ignore her. Rumors are spreading that he murdered his ex-girlfriend, and Camelia's ex, Matt, always willing to help, offers to find out more. What Matt tells her is slightly disturbing, but is it real? And does it matter, now that things are heating up between them? And who is stalking girls at school?

Deadly Little Secret was a fast read that had me on edge for most of the novel. Each chapter brings new suspense, about the stalker and her possible romances. I was impressed with the ending, it was almost expected, but there was a little twist. I will definitely be reading the next two books.

Everwild -- Review by Ian Zig.

Everwild

by Neal Shusterman

*****

Where to start?... Everwild is the second book in the Skinjacker Trilogy. The first book, Everlost, introduced the afterlife-ish world with all the kids who had short lives and died before their time. The main characters of the trilogy are Nick, the Chocolate Ogre, Mary, the Sky Witch, and Allie, the Outcast. Everwild is all about Nick and Mary, lovers pitted against each other, exploring Everlost with the intentions of building an army. Allie is just the wild card that's thrown into the mix. Will they get their war? Will Mary and Nick make up their differences and go on loving each other? You'll have to read it to find out.

Now, I'm sure that this blog does this book absolutely no justice, but suffice to say that I loved it! I cannot wait for the next book in the trilogy to come out! If you like reading fantasy and out of the ordinary books, then you'll like this. I would reference this book to all of my friends. You can trust me when I say there's a reason I gave this book 5 stars.

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney -- a review by Hope Austin

The Mockingbirds
by Daisy Whitney
***stars
Alex Patrick is an aspiring pianist at Themis Academy, an ultra-elite boarding school. One morning she wakes up in a strange bed with only a fuzzy recollection of how she got there. As her memories recover, Alex has a shocking realization: she was date-raped. Luckily for her, she has options. She seeks out the help of the Mockingbirds, a To Kill a Mockingbird-inspired, for-the-students-by-the-students group that swears to deliver justice to all students who are wronged.

The author tries to combine the topic of rape with a thriller about vigilante students. It doesn't work. It seems like she wanted to write a story about the aftermath of a date rape, but didn't want anything to do with the trappings of the American legal system, so she made up her own. The story could easily have taken place without the Mockingbirds. That being said, the book does deliver a good (albeit heavy-handed) message about rape and society, specifically about how society sees rape victims.

Matched by Ally Condie

Another "fight against the establishment" teen dystopian novel..., January 15, 2011

3 stars

This was a fast read but a very predictable dystopian novel. Other reviewers have remarked upon the similarities between the premise in MATCHED and The Giver by Lois Lowry as well as Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (to name two). The societies in each are quite similar as the people are completely controlled and their lives dictated to include the clothes they wear, the jobs they are assigned, the food they eat, and the way their mates are assigned to them. Men, women and children are not allowed to make choices or to think for themselves for the good of the Society. They have no concerns or worries, no fear of illness or accidental death -- everything is taken care of. In return, they are to ask no questions and are to obey the Officials. They carry 3 pills to be taken exactly as directed, they work and they play according to the plan, and they don't look beyond their own lives to wonder if there is anything else out there.

The book starts out well -- Cassia is going to her Match Banquet and her world seems full of happy possibilities. During this enchanted evening she is matched to her childhood friend, Xander, which is unusual since it's rare that matches know each other. In some type of computer glitch the next day, another boy's face flashes on the screen and it's someone else she knows -- a boy named Ky, an Aberration and someone who is unsuitable for match. It's after this that the story slides into cliche -- a love triangle, secrets, festering rebellion, etc. Cassia is fascinated with the words illegal poems that were given to her by her grandfather before he dies, and since the society has eradicated everything from the past except for the 100 best of everything, she commits them to memory. The words of one poem, "Do not go gentle..." fuel her dissatisfaction and stir the seeds of restlessness that lead her to defy convention and take chances that result in calamity and big changes in her life and in the lives of those she loves.

This is the first of a planned trilogy with the next book, Crossed, due out in November, 2011. I will likely want to read the second novel to see if the author will come up with a unique approach in this dystopia or if she will continue to borrow heavily from other novels in this genre. I hope it will be refreshingly original.

Ms C.

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

3 1/2 stars for this coming of age YA novel, January 7, 2011

 This novel is about choices -- the choices that a teen girl makes during her senior year of high school when she begins to make decisions that are going to affect the rest of her life. What kind of girl does Natalie want to be vs. what kind of girl do OTHERS think Natalie is? That conundrum is at the heart of this new YA novel by an author who obviously understands the pressure and tension that teenagers deal with every day at high school as well as with extracurricular activities


Natalie wants to be known as a girl who has her act together, who knows what she wants, and who gets it. She has a plan and finally during her senior year, it's all coming together. She's elected, barely, to the role of Student Council President -- only the 9th girl to have that honor in the history of the school. Though others might think so, I didn't feel the novel was about feminism or about the role of women in society. I felt it was about Natalie finding out that all those plans she had and all those high expectations -- of herself and of others -- might need to be reassessed and reevaluated as circumstances changed.

Natalie isn't very popular and she's quite controlling and bossy -- but she can't control herself where Connor is concerned and decides to begin a secret relationship with him. Why secret? Well she doesn't want to be sidetracked by having a boyfriend AND she doesn't want to be gossiped about at school. Not sure why she is too immature to understand that having a boyfriend doesn't automatically make you a slut, but that's her fear. Themes of sexuality and double standards are reiterated over and over in this novel, but the person who causes the most trouble for Natalie is Natalie. She has difficulty with insight -- into herself and into others. She doesn't seem to have the ability to do an honest self appraisal so concerned is she with outward appearances. She doesn't know what she feels about what she's doing or make much attempt to understand her best friend Autumn or the boy she's sneaking around to see only late at night. For a girl who supposedly was going places, she seemed to be running in circles around the dilemmas she created by trying to dictate to others the nature of their relationship with her. She's the kind of girl who wanted everyone to think well of her, and they did because they didn't really even know HER, just knew that she was a responsible girl who got things done. As long as she was doing that, and staying out of trouble, she received praise. Later on in the novel when things sort of fell apart for her, those same people didn't seem to be able to give her those same positive attributes. Her mistake? Being a teenage girl and having feelings and not knowing how to handle them because she'd spent so many years repressing them.


The ending seemed a little rushed and too pat with everything going nicely back into place after the shift that occurred when Natalie sort of "fell off the wagon" but I think teens will enjoy reading about Natalie's senior year and how she fixed her lapses in judgment. One thing to keep in mind is that most of the time mistakes in adolescence aren't permanently life altering, but some CAN be. The tricky part, and the one that teens find most difficult to master, is knowing which are and which aren't!


Teen girls looking for a fast-paced, thought-provoking read about social situations and high school will definitely like this.


Ms C.

Book Club

February 1, 2011 during SSR. Books still available!

From amazon: "In a state of shock, 17-year-old Adam walks away from the scene of the car accident that has killed his parents. Stranded on a lonely road in rural Idaho, he heads east, on foot, as random snippets of memory wander in and out of his mind. Too traumatized to speak, his silence is misinterpreted by the succession of characters he meets on the odyssey home to Rhode Island. Stumbling upon a Wiccan meeting in a forest, he is taken in by one of the chatty young women and takes a job as a dishwasher in a local diner, where he is treated as deaf. Weeks later, he hitchhikes with a trucker and finds backbreaking work in Colorado fields with Mexican migrant farmers. He struggles to survive as he devours a frozen pizza found in a taxidermist's cabin, sleeps in a Dumpster, crashes a picnic, and steals a car. The adventures intertwine with thoughts about his girlfriend, locker-room antics, his parents, their bookstore, and his autistic cousin–spontaneously, as if his mind has short-circuited from the crash."

Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford

Sins of the Sisters..., January 4, 2011

*** stars



Light, quick read with not much substance. The entire Sullivan family is informed on Christmas Day that they have been cut out of Arden Louisa Norris Sullivan Weems Maguire Hightower Beckendorf's will. Shocked and horrified, the family can't believe what they are hearing. One of them has really done it this time -- and the family knows she is serious. Even though there are 6 children in the family, the book centers on the letters written by the 3 Sullivan sisters who worry that they might have been the one who offended Almighty Lou -- their strong willed grandmother who is the matriarch of a rich and powerful family in Baltimore. She has threatened to disinherit the entire family if the guilty party doesn't appease her with a remorseful confession presented to her before the end of the year.


The three sisters, Norrie, Jane, and Sassy (OK the names got on my nerves) dutifully write their stories for their grandmother detailing the antics and mistakes that might have really been upsetting to Almighty so the book is divided into those three basic parts. I won't detail the stories so there are no spoilers but all I kept thinking was -- which girl is the one who upset her??
The family gathers again on New Year's Day to hear if they are going to get a reprieve. Who was it and what was the crime?


Teens will likely enjoy this funny family tale.

DC