Guess who just got some super-sale books?!

Hey Bookworms,

A week ago, I went to a bookstore in downtown Kelowna called Mosaic Books and found that they had a amazing sale on books. We're talking 70%-50% off loads of teen and tween books! I was so excited and started to get my hands on all of the good books that I could find!
I found lots of books by amazing authors that I love, like Sarah Dessen and Wendy Mass. I also found some books by Mary Hooper, who's tween books I used to adore.

Here is a list of all my very exciting new books:

#1 A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass

-- Looks like a quick, fun read.

#2 Newes From The Dead by Mary Hooper
 
-- Looks very dramatic.

#3 A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson

-- Looks like I will cry at the end.

#4 Along For the Ride by Sarah Dessen

-- Looks like another mushy-romance-love story.

#5 Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera

-- Looks interesting and scary.

I am SO excited and cannot wait to read and review all five of these books!

Have a great summer book worms!

-Gia

The Book of the Maidservant

The Book of the Maidservant

By Rebecca Barnhouse

Summary:

It's the Middle Ages and young Joanna is growing up in a holy woman's household as her maidservant. Joanna's mistress, Dame Margery Kemp, is divorced and lives alone in Northern England. But one day, Dame Margery says to Joanna that the Lord had spoken to her and that he wants her to go on a pilgrimage to Rome with Joanna. Joanna has no choice, she must go and she must walk all day in bare feet. At the end of each day, she must cook, clean and wait on all of the other ladies and lords on the pilgrimage.

Joanna soon adapts to her new on-the-go life, but when the other pilgrims get fed up with Dame Margery, she decides to abandon the pilgrimage.  Joanna must continue onto Rome with the rest of the pilgrims, one of whom  is very dangerous.

She feels alone.
She feels lost.
She feels betrayed.
She feels scared.

Will she make it to Rome... alive?

Review:

The Book of the Maidservant was an unusual book with lots of interesting characters, but it still seemed to be missing something.

I absolutely adored the fact that this was a historical romance and I loved the way that the author described Joanna's life in the Middle Ages. Even though Joanna had a miserable life throughout her trip to Rome, the author somehow made it seem like it was an incredible adventure.

The plot was well thought-out, and Joanna's life and her travels were very interesting. I liked how on the trip to Rome she got to meet lots of different people and learn more about them.

I felt like I was living in the Middle Ages when I was reading this book. Rebecca Barnhouse, the author, did a very good job at describing what was going on around Joanna and what she saw, her descriptions were very vivid.

I think that what the book was missing, was progression of the story and of events. The whole story and all of its events seemed to be lingering on too much and I thought that if the book that been any longer I would have stopped and never restarted. I wish that the author could have made things happen more quickly.

Recommended for any tween or teen age 12+

Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall

Heaven looks A Lot Like The Mall

By Wendy Mass

Summary:

One day, 16 year old Tessa suffers a terrible accident in gym class and she goes into a coma. But in her head she is in heaven, and for her, that means that she is in the mall where her parents worked and where she has, in a way, grown up. That's her heaven.

In the so-called heaven/mall, she meets a boy who has also suffered a traumatic accident. When Tessa asks him why she is in the mall, he tells her she is here to figure out who she is and to try to understand why and how she has changed over the course of her life. Just before he leaves, he gives Tessa a shopping bag and tells her that it contains the most important things that she has ever bought from the mall.

At first Tessa is confused, but soon she lets her memory take over and remembers her old life as it flashes before her eyes once again...

As Tessa remembers the good and decisions that she has made, she also remembers a very different version of herself than who she is today. She regrets choices and actions that she took and she can't help wondering if it is it too late to change?

Review:

Once again, Wendy Mass has done it! This book is brilliant! It is a page-turner that talks about a girl who goes to 'heaven' while she is in a coma. It was a unbelievably fantastic plot with lots of twists and turns.

Tessa is a realistic character who a lot of teens will be able to relate to. I think that a lot of teen girls would like to go to 'heaven' like Tessa and figure out what we did wrong in our lives and see the mistakes that we made without realizing it. Also, none of us are perfect and I think that after reading this book, I feel more comfortable in my own skin and have learnt to accept that everybody makes mistakes, and that that is just part of life and that I wouldn't learn from my mistakes if I didn't have any.  I think that I lot of girls, tween or teen, would benefit from reading about Tessa's trip to 'heaven'.

I loved that when Tessa was in 'heaven' each item that was in the shopping bag that was given to her had its own story and that after reading about every item and its story, I felt like I knew her. Wendy Mass builds the character of Tessa throughout the book.

I also found it very interesting that the entire book was written in verse.  It didn't rhyme, but it was written as if it was a poem. At first I thought that it might have just been the first page or two that was written like that but, but no, the entire book. I am surprising myself by saying this, but I absolutely loved it! It is what made the book such a page turner! In one verse was a bit of her life which suddenly stopped and I just needed to get to the next verse, and then the next, and since the verses are quick and easy to read, the story progresses quickly.

This was the best Wendy Mass that I have ever read and one of the best books ever!

Recommended for all teen girls 14+

Book Countdown Update

Hello Bookworms!

I am just writing a quick little post to let you know how everything is going regarding the book countdown...

It has been going very slowly, unfortunately, mostly because of the stress of packing boxes and cleaning our apartment here before we leave to go to Vancouver. Also, I just got back from a week-long school trip on Friday and had a big dance recital Saturday evening (yesterday), for which I had to prepare all day long!

I had no time to read on my school trip and have been so busy that I am sadly stopping the book countdown 10 days before the deadline. I have just finished The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse, which leaves me with three books to read in just ten days. Now if they were all quite short books, I might be able to pull it off; but since Inkspell by Cornelia Funke is about 500 pages long and in small print, there is absolutely no way that I will be done the three remaining books in time. Another reason is that there are lots of other books that I want to read and when ever I pick them up, read the back cover and get excited, I have to remind myself that I have other books that I have to read for my book challenge. And I hate that, because I am missing out on a lot of really good books, and that is not at all my intention with my book countdown.

I am going to read the three remaining books, though, just not right now because I am in a different 'book period' in my life and am interested in different books...

Look out for the review of The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse, coming out this week!

-Gia

P.S.: I almost forgot to mention that I am now a TEEN!!! The name of the blog will still stay the same though!

What Katy Did

What Katy Did


By Susan Coolidge

Summary:


Katy is a lively twelve year old girl, growing up in a big house in the countryside with her six brothers and sisters. She is a very tall, carefree girl who is always untidy, with a tear in her dress and her hair forever in a tangle. She wants to be good, but she just never seems to be able to get out of her untidy ways. She has never cared about what other people think of her and wants to be 'something big' when she grows up. She is always up to some mischief or of on a so-called 'big' adventure with her best friend Cecy Hall. Katy has always been happy girl, just playing outside, inventing a story or doing something, that, in the end, will get her into trouble.

But one dramatic day, Katy has a terrible accident, one which would change her life forever...

She is forced to remember her old ways and all of her happy memories again, when she is told that she may never walk again.

Katy is completely devastated, but knows that she must find the courage to continue living a normal life and remember how happy she used to be...


Review:  


When I first picked up What Katy Did I was awaiting a story about some girl while she goes through some tough period in her life, but, What Katy Did is a feel-good book, full of tension and courage and is beautifully written.

Katy is such a wonderful character and she is very interesting to watch as she changes and adapts to her new life after her accident. At the beginning of the book, I didn't like her so much, though. I found that she was very bossy with her younger siblings and that she was not a character in a book that anybody would want to be like. But as the story progressed, I grew to like her more and more. She started to really reflect on what life was really about, and what she had been doing with her life and how selfish she had been.
I think that Susan Coolidge (author) does a wonderful job of portraying Katy as she changed, learned to accept and understand how she was going to continue living her newly changed life. Coolidge also did a superb job of weaving the lives of Katy's siblings with hers.

Katy's Cousin Helen, a character who appears at the end of the book, and who has a big impact on Katy's life was very, very well, (maybe even better than the other characters) described and I think that she was the character who I could picture the most, because she seemed very real and life like and she seemed to bring the book alive somehow. Her presence in the book made the story feel very alive and true, and I thank Coolidge for putter Helen in the book as she changed it so much!

I think that this is a book that could make teens all around the world laugh, cry and help them to accept who they are and why the are here, in the world.
What a wonderful read written by one of the only authors who can really make a character leap off of the page and any moment in the story....

An absolute must read!

Recommended for ages 14+

Big News!!!

Okay Bookworms, here's the big news... This summer I am moving back to Canada! I am going to Vancouver!

I have loads of books to get rid of and pass on to other people and I have a challenge that I am going to be blogging! So here we go!!!

I am leaving Paris in about two months time, and, as you know, I have lots and lots of books. I am going to give away the majority of them and only keep the ones that I haven't read, or the ones that I absolutely adore (!), and after arranging which books go and which books stay, I still have a bunch of classics sitting in a pile... So, here is my challenge, which, I am going to be blogging! I am going to read all of my classics and all of my other books that I will otherwise throw away. Here is the challenge:

CHALLENGE : Read all of my remaining classics and other books that will otherwise be left here.


NUMBER OF BOOKS : 7 books : (In reading order), Smith by Leon Garfield, What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge, The Chalet School in Exile by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer,  The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse, Inkspell by Cornelia Funke, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene Dubois


DEADLINE : 12:01am on Thursday June 21st


If any of you want to follow me and do the challenge with me, you are very welcome to and I would love it if you sent me an email to tell me if you are. At the end of the challenge, anybody who participated in it and wants their name mentioned for being a Tween Bookworm, will have their name written in the post (optional)!!!

I can't wait to start this challenge and to share it with all of my Bookworms (you)!

-Gia

Someone Like You

Someone Like You

By Sarah Dessen

Summary:



Halley and Scarlett have been best friends forever. Scarlett is the popular one, who is outspoken and outgoing and Halley is the shy sidekick who is always known as 'Scarlett's best friend Halley'. The two girls balance each other perfectly though and have an unbreakable friendship.

Now it's summer and it's the day after Scarlett's only true love, Michael died in a motorcycle accident, and now Scarlett finds out that she is pregnant with his child. For once it's Scarlett who needs Halley's support.
Scarlett is heartbroken about Michael's death, but is uncertain about what to do about her baby, keeping in mind that she is only sixteen and that her future lies in front of her.

Scarlett's mother is forcing her into abortion, but Halley is telling her to do what she feel's is right. Realizing that her baby is the only bit of Michael left in her world, Scarlett decides to keep her baby and go on an incredible adventure with her best friend, Halley, for the next nine months of her life.

When the two best friends go back to school, Scarlett introduces Halley to Michael's best friend Macon Faulkner. Halley and Macon soon develop a good relationship, which leads them to start dating. But before Scarlett and Halley know it, Scarlett is five months into her pregnancy and Halley is sneaking out to see Macon. Everything seems to be going perfectly, but when Macon asks Halley to take their relationship to the next level, Halley is unsure about developing her relationship even more with Macon if their is a chance that she might end up like Scarlett...

Scarlett and Halley soon get into a fight that might ruin their so-called-unbreakable-relationship and for once both girls need each other more than ever...

Along the way of nine months Scarlett and Halley realize that life is the worst place not to have a best friend.

Can they make it through together without ruining their one of a kind relationship?

Review:


Someone Like You. Wow. I am speechless. Once again Sarah Dessen had written a masterpiece. Absolutely incredible. Someone Like You is the ultimate coming of age book that all teens must read. I read this book in about four days and it was extremely thought provoking.
In this book, Dessen, forces us to reflect and to think about our future life as teenagers. Dessen also write about all of the mistakes that the teenagers at Scarlett and Halley's school make and the mistakes the two best friends themselves make. I think that the book prepares us in some ways, for the next step in our life.

The plot of the story was a good one which combined all of the elements of a teenager's life; heartbreak, worry, friendship problems, insecurities and growing up. I think that all tweens want to be prepared for their teenage years and want to know what silly things not to do and what to do when you have a friendship problem, or any kind of problem and I find that Dessen has done a very good job of explaining many things.

I also find that Halley is a very believable character and I think that any tween of teen would be able to feel as if she was Halley in the book, just the way that I felt while reading the Someone Like You. Halley is real and alive and the description of her actions is well done that makes us, the readers, feel as though she is coming off of the page and telling us all about her life as a teenager with so many worries and uncertainties in her life.

I do think though, that I might have been a little too young to read Someone Like You and I think that teens should read it when they are about 13 or 14 years old, because of Halley and Macon's relationship. But having said that, I am extremely happy that I read this book because I was waiting for a book like this to come along on my list!

What a magnificent and thought-provoking book, one of Dessen's best!

Recommended for all teens age 14+

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

By Suzanne Collins

Happy St. Patrick's Day Bookworms!!! In honor of St. Patrick's Day, we have a guest blogger! The Anonymous Pug! Happy St. Patrick's Day, and a special shout out to all of my Irish bookworms! -Gia

Summary:

Katniss Everdeen, aged 17, has managed to make it through two Hunger Games, the second of which being the third Quarter Quell, where the tributes were picked from a pool of surviving victors, meaning that Katniss and Peeta were sent back into the arena. Near the end, she sent an arrow into the 'chink in the armor' of the force field, effectively destroying the entire arena. She, Beetee and Finnick were successfully rescued by the rebels; however, Peeta, Johanna and Enobaria were taken captive by the Capitol.

Katniss and the other two were taken to district 13, which was destroyed by the Capitol at the end of the dark days, 75 years ago, for rebelling. They rebuilt their society underground, doing everything in and orderly (and rather boring) fashion. On the way, Katniss learns from Gale that district 13 has been bombed, that 90% of it's people are dead, and that he organized the escape of the 900 or so who survived. 13 have been planning to take over each of the district one by one, ending with the Capitol. Panem is in a state of open warfare, and the rebels are desperately trying to get the rest of the country to side with them. Meanwhile, Katniss is being forced to accept the truth. Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, has become the face of the rebellion, the rallying point for all rebels. She has become the Mockingjay.

Review:

Once again, big thanks to Gia. This is probably my favorite book in the trilogy, primarily because now Katniss really started to take action against the Capitol. The are some EXTREMELY intense battle scenes, and readers must be prepared to lose many of their favorite characters.

As Katniss and Finnick say themselves, it feels, towards the end, like they really are back in the Hunger Games, the Capitol watching their every move. The rebels are deadly and unforgiving, determined to make the Capitol suffer as they have suffered. The battle is very frighting, as it seems so incredibly real.

This book has an undeniably sombre air to it. They are constantly watching people die, and many of them their close friends. The final battle everyone has been dreading has arrived. Some of the deaths are rather gruesome, which is saying something, given the amount of gore in the earlier books.

A truly incredible book, and the last of the Hunger Games trilogy.

445 pages

The Beacon Street Girls: Book 1: Worst Enemies / Best Friends

The Beacon Street Girls: Book 1: Worst Enemies / Best Friends

By Annie Bryant

Summary:

Charlotte Ramsey and her dad have been moving around the world over the past couple of years, but this time they are settling down for the long haul. They are moving back to Brookline, Charlotte's birth place, and her mother's burial place.

When Charlotte and her dad arrive in their new home -- a huge, old, bright yellow mansion --  Charlotte is fascinated by it and wants to know more about it.  But her landlady, Ruby, told Charlotte not to go poking her head around every corner of the house...

Having just come from Paris in France, Charlotte doesn't have a clue about fitting in on her first day of school. Before she knows it, she's zipping the cafeteria tablecloth into her jeans, and is embarrassing herself in front of every student at the school, including the food-spattered girls who soon become her new worst enemies: Avery, Katani and Maeve.

To fix her relationship with Avery, Katani and Maeve, Charlotte invites them all over for a sleepover and they all, strangely, accept Charlotte's invitation. When the three girls arrive, they too are fascinated by the house. When the girls find a trap door in the house they want to know even more about the house and its history.  The only way to do that is by going on an adventure together...

This is the story of four girls brought together by a house, a landlady, a dog and an adventure...

Review:

I started to read the Beacon Street Girls series when I was about nine years old and finished the series around my tenth birthday, but I think the great plots mean the series can be enjoyed by any tween up to the age of about thirteen. The author, Annie Bryant, creates great stories with a mix of friendship and mystery. I loved how in Worst Enemies / Best Friends Maeve, Katani, Avery and Charlotte try to solve the mystery of the trap door and the old house individually, but they are eventually forced to work together to solve the mystery. Being forced to work together creates tension between all of the girls and it adds elements of betrayal and fighting to the story. These tensions make the story a lot more interesting to read and make the book become a page turner.

I can definitely related to Charlotte as a character. We have both lived in and explored Paris, and we both know what it feels like to be the new girl and to do a big move. I think that having a character in a book who you can relate to is comforting for the reader, because they know that there are other people like them in the world. Every tween can find a girl in the book that they can relate to. There is Avery, the smart and sporty animal lover; Katani, the creative fashionista and inspiring model; Maeve, the bubbly, dyslexic redhead and inspiring actress; and finally, Charlotte, the traveler, klutz and writer.

This is the perfect book for tweens who are trying to learn how to be a good friend and are preparing to become teenagers.

Recommended for any tween age 11+ 

240 pages

P.S. Happy Leap Day to all of my Bookworms and their families! I hope that you are enjoying this extra day in the year!

-Gia

IT'S OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY BOOKWORMS! WE DID IT!!!

HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF BLOGGING BOOKWORMS!!! I am so happy to have accomplished this much (with all of your help, love and support of course)! I have learned many things while writing this blog and will continue to blog until I am certain that I have convinced tweens all around the world to read and to open themselves up to new styles of books! Now, I won't write an extremely long and boring account of everything that I have learned in the past year, but I will just bring your up to date on me, and my tweenage life!

Favorite Book: A Brief History of Montmaray - By Michelle Cooper

Favorite Author(s): Wendy Mass - Ally Carter

Favorite Series: The Gallagher Girls - By Ally Carter

Favorite Thing(s) To Do: Travel - Read

Energizing Song: Hit The Lights - Selena Gomez & The Scene

Before I end my post, I want to first mention the cupcake in the photo at the top of the page. That cupcake is a 'Diva' cupcake which I bought from CUPCAKES VANCOUVER, which is the best place in the world to buy cupcakes!
I know that this blog is all about books but just this once I am going to tell you some things that I have learned throughout my experience of life and as a blogger...

Life is like a song, when the music changes, YOU, just keep on dancing...

Life is a ride, so plug in your music, turn it up to the max, and enjoy every single minute of your life.

I hope that I inspire you just as you inspire me to spread my love of books!

Love and many thanks for your help with this wonderful achievement,  

-Gia

P.S. If you want to win a couple of books from my 'Top 10 Books' list please e-mail me by clicking on the little letter underneath 'Contact Me' on your right, or by leaving me a comment in the 'Bookworm Comments' sections at the bottom of every page! Thanks!

The Cardturner

The Cardturner 

By Louis Sachar

Summary:

Alton Richards's summer is looking pretty bad. His now ex-girlfriend, Katie, just dumped him for his best friend, Cliff. He has no money. His dad lost his job. His parents need money to finish installing their new pool. And to make things worse Alton is forced to drive his extremely wealthy Uncle Lester to Lester's bridge tournaments four days a week.

Alton wants absolutely nothing to do with his Uncle Lester, especially because Alton knows that his mother is making Alton drive Lester to bridge tournaments just so that it will look like Alton cares about his 'dear Uncle Lester' and will make Lester want to give his money to Alton's family.

Unknown to Alton and his family, there is another family, the Castanedas, also fighting for Uncle Lester's inheritance...

Before he knows it, Alton is discovering family secrets of betrayal and backstabbing between the Castanedas and the Richards, Alton is playing bridge with Toni Castanedas, Alton is fighting for his Uncle's inheritance, and he is being taught that life is just like a game of bridge...

Welcome to a world of discovery, betrayal, confusion and romance...

Review:


The Cardturner is the third book that I have read by Louis Sachar and it is probably the most difficult, but at the same time most interesting book that I have read by this author.

It was difficult to read because, in the middle of every chapter Alton stopped the story and explained to the reader what he learned that day during his game of bridge. The author clearly wanted to make us read a great book, and at the same time learn how to play bridge.  I found the plot so confusing that it was hard to do both. The plot was confusing, but addictive, because it was such a good puzzle.   It was very hard to concentrate on both, so in the end, I just put my mind to the plot, and that was the right thing to do...

The book has a great plot and timeline. I liked how Sachar (author) took us to the past so we could see what happened between the Castanedas and the Richards. It gave us a break from Alton playing bridge, and him explaining to us what he had learned.

The Cardturner isn't a page turner, but it is a book that, forces the reader, after every chapter, to take thirty seconds to think about the chapter.  I think it is good to read books like that every once in a while, because we all need to read something that will make us think and try to understand what is going on in a book or in life.

The last thing that I want to say about The Cardturner is that whenever Toni and Alton are together, they bring a very comedic side to the story. There was always something or someone to laugh at when they were together. I think the story's humour made the story very enjoyable to read, because it made the story seem less bridge-serious!

The Cardturner was a fun and interesting book to read, which I recommend to girls in their late tweens and early teens.

336 pages

Only the Good Spy Young

Only the Good Spy Young

By Ally Carter

Summary:

The Circle is out to get them. The Gallahgher Girls are in danger.

The Circle is a private group of spies that are spread out around the world and they are out to kill one person... Cammie Morgan.

The Circle kidnapped Cammie and Macey.

The Circle drugged Cammie and Liz.

The Circle almost-successfully tricked Cammie and Bex into kiling each other.

The Circle shot Cammie's aunt, Abby.

The Circle killed Cammie's dad.

One of the Circle's agents is Cammie's boyfriend.

One of the Circle's agents is Cammie's most trusted allie.

The Circle wants Cammie.

Survival is more important than anything to Cammie and she dosen't know who to trust any more.

A world of mysteries, murders, lies, betrayal and romance awaits for the four Gallagher Girls.

Review:


The plot in Only the Good Spy Young was definitely more exciting that the ones in all of the other Gallagher Girls books and Ally Carter (the author) used a different place to set the plot, which was in London, and I think that it changed the story a lot. We weren't just reading about a mystery that the girls can solve (if they have the right facts) inside of the Gallagher Academy but we are actually traveling around the world in this book to find out how Cammie will survive and who her allies are. It makes the book a lot more interesting and enjoyable to read.

I also really like how this book is mostly just : Cammie against The Circle. It makes us think that this is more like a war than a little Gallagher Girl mystery! We also have fewer characters to worry about (i.e. Cammie's three best friends: Liz, Macey and Bex!) There is a lot more action in this book and it makes the story move faster, which leads us to having a really good, well written, interesting and 'fast-moving' story. It also makes the reader more attached to the book, because the story is constantly changing which makes us (the readers), wanting to keep reading even more!

[Spoiler alert!!] The last thing that made me fall in love with this book is the fact that Carter added a romance between Zach and Cammie in this book because in all of the other books, he is present, but he and Cammie are never really in love and I think that I was just waiting for them to fall in love! Their relationship is very up-and-down so it adds a very love-mystery effect to the book, which, as you probably already know, is my kind of book!

I loved Only the Good Spy Young for many, many reasons and I cannot wait for the fifth book to come out in March 2012!

This is probably the best book in the Gallagher Girls series so far. It was brilliant and I would recommend it to absolutely and tween or teen.

P.S. Before I end this review I would like to thank Ally Carter so much for all of the Gallagher Girl books that she has written because they are books that have helped me all throughout my tweens and Cammie, Liz, Bex and Macey inspire me to be a better person. Thank you!

265 pages

What Happened To Goodbye

What Happened To Goodbye

By Sarah Dessen

Summary:

After her mom's scandalous affair with another man, McLean and her dad are on their own. Every year though, they have to move town because of McLean's dad's work. Every year McLean 'reinvents' herself; new name, new personality, new clothes, new everything. But this time, McLean wants nothing more than to be herself...

When she arrives at her new school McLean finds herself already slipping into another person: Liz, smart, stylish and friendly. She decides to live with it. But when McLean meets Dave, a very cute popular boy in her class, she starts to wonder who she has really become. Dave brings out the best in Liz, but all that McLean can think about is what happened to McLean? What happened to goodbye?

As McLean tries to figure out who she really is and where and with who does she fit in, Dave is still madly in love with her... Or is he in love with Liz?

McLean only wants one thing... Reality.

Review:
What Happened to Goodbye is one of the most thought-provoking books that I have read. It makes you think about who you really are, and about what makes a person themselves. While I was reading this masterpiece, those thoughts where going through my mind and I realized that you never really think about that kind of thing. It made the plot even more addictive because you wanted to know the answer to the hundred of questions that where passing though you mind.

I think that Sarah Dessen, the author, chose a very good main character for this book. It seems like Dessen has every little thing and fact about McLean just right, and she is a very believable and realistic character. She isn't a perfect or terrible person, but a struggling person, someone with a flaw in her life. Her background and everything about her and her life is so intriguing. You just can't stop reading a book with a character like that!

The plot was absolutely incredible! Romance, friendship, adventure and discovery where all genres of the book. Sarah Dessen had everything in that book, and reading it, you learn about everything that happens in a teenage girl's life. I would definitely recommend this book for any tween who is about to be a teenager.

Before I end my review I will admit that I cried multiple times throughout the book, I unfortunately can't tell you why (for book-ruining reasons!) and there is not much more to say about this book except: GO AND READ IT! It is unbelievable!

Thank you so much Sarah Dessen for your masterpiece. I look foreword to reading some more of your books!

Recommended for any tween age 12+

402 pages

Small Steps

Small Steps


Louis Sachar


Summary:

Armpit has just been released from Camp Green Lake and is now trying to rebuild his life. It will not be easy, but be is dedicated to trying his best.

Three years after Armpit's release everything is going well but as soon as X-Ray, Armpit's friend from Camp Green Lake, is released from the camp Armpit begins to worry. X-Ray engages Armpit in everything that he does. Armpit is worried at first but then is convinced that it is fine as long as he isn't influenced in the wrong way or gets into trouble alongside his on and off friend.
But before Armpit knows it, X-Ray is pushing him to buy and resell tickets to a Kaira DeLeon concert. X-Ray claims that they will earn a lot of money and nobody will even notice. Armpit on the other hand does not feel as comfortable as X-Ray to resell the tickets.

After Armpit naively lends X-Ray seven hundred dollars to buy a bunch of tickets, he knows that he is playing with fire...

Armpit wants to believe the best in X-Ray, but when X-Ray lies to him, makes two copies of one ticket, and cannot repay Armpit the money, Armpit doesn't know if he wants to continue helping X-Ray.

Armpit needs to figure out who his is, what he is capable of doing and if he prepared to deal with the law-breaking activity if scalping tickets.

A lesson of trust, forgiveness and courage is about to be learnt...

Review:

Small Steps is the follow-up book to Holes, which was a great book, but probably not as good as Small Steps. First of all, in Small Steps there are not as many characters that we have to focus on. We just have Armpit, X-Ray and Kaira. I think that this makes the reader more focused on the actual plot and makes the story more enjoyable. This book is the most cliff-hanging book that I have ever read, it has such a great plot that it impossible to put down!

I remember that I got this book at around 4 pm in the afternoon and I finished it abut 6 hours later! I unfortunately had to take a snack break, dinner break, walk break and shower break between those six hours! The point is though, that I could NOT put the book down, after Armpit agrees to help X-Ray sell the tickets the story gets so exciting, daring and, lets just say, ADDICTIVE!

All of the characters in Small Steps are very well portrayed. I can picture all of the characters in my head and feel as if I know them personally. Kaira is a very interesting character. She seems very happy on the outside, but she is actually very different inside. I like the fact that we get to learn about both sides of her. It was interesting to see how she is behind closed doors, she was pushed around and was unaware of what was actually going on, but onstage she looks glamourous and sings and dances like she is just having fun. She is one of those characters that remind you that you, and everyone else, is very different on the outside and inside.

I think that this book would be very good for teens that are trying to figure out who they really are.

The author, Louis Sachar, does an amazing job at showing how important friendship and trust are. He also explains to the reader how racism is wrong. Armpit is colored and he is made fun of, ignored and teased in the book, but Sachar shows us through Armpit's courage that we are all equal and the same.

Recommended for any tween 13+

257 pages