the improbable theory of ana & zak. brian katcher. (306)

i decided to check out the improbable theory of ana & zak, after seeing it

posted on epic read's instagram

post of books for geminis.  i started following epic reads after i got a free tote from them at bookcon.  anyway, this was the post:  

i decided to read the improbable theory of ana & zak because i liked the title.  i had no idea what the book was about but the title sounded cute.  and i guess you can judge a book by its title because this book was cute.

the back cover broke down the story for me perfectly:

i figured this would be like a geeky nick and norah's infinite playlist, well sci-fi geeky, since nick and norah were music geeky.

as epic reads shared, this work would appeal to my dual nature and it did! the book flips back and forth between ana and zak's perspectives.  ana was this overachiever, do anything for college applications girl (totally me!), and zak was this slacker, sci-fi, convention-attending boy.  their paths crossed when zak, to make up for plagiarizing a report, joined the quiz bowl team that ana spearheaded, she was the unofficial captain of the team.  they get off to a rocky start when at the tournament, zak took ana's place for one round, this totally pissed her off.

the weekend of the tournament, sadly conflicted with washingcon, a convention that zak attended every year.  however, both are in seattle and miles apart. zak was disappointed but graduating was more important.  with the con being so close to the tournament, he did considered going.  however, he and ana end up at the convention when clayton, ana's little brother, took off to the convention after listening to zak's stories.

having never been to comic-con, but having attend hello kitty con and book con, i could imagine the chaos of washingcon. though reading this made me wish i had attended a comic-con.  

ana and zak went on a wild goose chase looking for clayton to avoid getting in trouble with ana's parents.  ana was super uptight and as it was revealed, because her parents kicked her older sister out because she got pregnant in high school.  this caused ana to stress about being perfect.  though she was annoyed with zak at first, she started to see that zak was a great and helpful guy.  

i totally would have had a crush on zak in real life, though the goatee would have to go! that goatee was the only thing that ruined my book crushing on him.  i hope ana got him to shave it.  zak was this sweet and easy going guy, friendly to all.  though his life wasn't perfect, it was revealed, his dad died of cancer, and he didn't get along with his stepdad.  however, his issues didn't effect how he treated ana, unlike how she treated him.  her meaness at the beginning is even more upsetting given how zak kept on getting beat up, thanks to ana.

since the setting is a con, a bunch of craziness happened, a vampire ball, a run-in with a strawberry shortcake cosplay player (is that right?), a battle, and like i mentioned, some fights. there was this weird twist, when zak found a bag of cocaine.  he was held hostage with a gun, this felt too extreme for me.  but the same thing happen on an episode of a different world, so i guess it could happen? i personally would have liked to have seen that part edited out because it felt too ridiculous to me.  it just seemed unrealistic, and excessive.

in the end, zak and ana of course, fell in love.  they found clayton, survived the drug dealer, and made it the tournament. i have to add i was anticipating that monte cristo question in the final round. the novel, being ya, cleaned up nicely, in the end, zak and his stepdad got along and ana finally stood up to her mom.

a cute book that i could totally see being turned into a movie.  however, i am too old to know who plays teens now, so can't give a dream cast. this was an enjoyable read and if teen me had read it, i would have totally gone to comic con because of it.  adult me might make it happen.

don't fail me now. una lamarche.

as part of penguin's first to read program, i was able to read don't fail me now by una lamarche.  here is my review for the first to know website:

Having read LaMarche's "Like No Other", I decided to spend the points to guarantee my reading of "Don't Fail Me Now."

Again, LaMarche has taken teens with different backgrounds and thrown them together to learn that you can always find common ground regardless of your differences.  "Don't Fail Me Now" told the story of Michelle Devereaux and her struggle to keep her family together.  Michelle was 17 years old, but did not enjoy the carefree life that most teens do.  Her days were not filled with parties or hanging out with friends, instead Michelle worked part-time at Taco Bell and took care of her younger siblings, Cass and Denny.  Unfortunately, their mother was a drug user and in jail and their father had left years before, thus leaving Michelle as the responsible one in their home, making sure her siblings attended school and were fed.   When we first met Michelle, she was tying to keep her siblings out of foster care and living with an aunt that was more concern with money then helping take care of her family.

As Michelle struggled to keep it together, she was thrown a curveball.  Michelle's half sister, Leah showed up with the help of her stepbrother, Tim to inform her that their estranged father, Buck, was dying.  prior to this Michelle had never met Leah, and only knew of her because of her parents arguments, when she was younger.  Though Michelle had always dreamt of meeting her sister, once she did, she wished she hadn't.  Michelle's regret at meeting her half sister was due to the fact that Leah's life was not as complicated and Michelle and her siblings' lives.  Leah's mother remarried a wealthy man and Leah did not have to the same money issues as Michelle.  There was also a difference due to race, Buck their father was White, and so was Leah's mother, but Michelle's mother was Black.  Leah lived a very privileged life in contrast to the ones of her siblings.  As much as Michelle wanted to have a relationship with her half sister, she was upset that Leah was sheltered from the issues Michelle faced.

When Tim and Leah first met Michelle, they mentioned that Buck had something of value for her. Hoping that this gift would provide her money to get her mother out of jail and pay her aunt, Michelle decided to drive cross country to California to visit Buck on his deathbed.  In an act of goodwill, she invited Leah so that she could get closure as well.  Leah's stepbrother, Tim, joined the road trip to help Leah.

The trip got off to a rocky start.  Leah and Tim were used to traveling a certain way while Michelle was on a budget, caused a division between the siblings.  However, as they travel, they work together to survive their trip.  In addition to that they learn, that tough they may differ based on race and class, they have had to face similar struggles in life.  They learn more about each other and begin to relate not only as friends, but also as sisters.  There is even a romance that blossoms between Tim and Michelle.  I have to add I had a total book crush on Tim, he was so sweet and the boy could sing.

Without giving too much away, they do make it to california, and though they lost their father, they became a family.  "Don't Fail Me Now' was an enjoyable read, demonstrating that we can't always pick our relatives, but at the end of the day, they are the ones that care and love us the most.

i'll give you the sun. jandy nelson. (291)

my friend chris, first told me about this book, but when my best friend's sister, michelle posted it on facebook, i decided to check it out.

*spoilers in this entry*

i knew nothing of the premise, except that it was about twins.  the novel was told from the perspective of two twins, noah and jude.  i enjoyed the chapters from noah's perspective because they were filled with beautiful imagery.  since noah was artistic, he painted in his head. here are some examples of the images in his head:

when jude is upset about the idea of going to art school, "jude barfs bright blue fluorescent bard all over the table, but i'm the only one who notices."

or when jude is jealous and he paints portrait of her:  green with envy, "skin: lime. hair: chartreuse. eyes:  forest. allof her: green, green, green."

so colorful right?

i also love how he paints moments, here are a couple of them:

(self-portrait:  a window flies open in my chest)

(self-portrait: the boy hiding inside the boy hiding inside the boy)

(portrait:  mom sleepwalking into another life)

(family portrait:  assume the crash position)

(self-portrait:  boy hitches ride on passing comet)

i really wish this book was illustrated so that we could see the paintings in noah's mind.

jude's chapters were filled with the colorful wives tales of her grandmother's bible.

some samples of entries:

to avoid serious illness, keep an onion in your pocket

if a boy gives a girl an orange, her love for him will multiply

i enjoyed these superstitions as well.

so back to the novel, in the beginning, we are introduced to the twins, noah, the artsy, gay, oddball, and jude, the hot, popular, surfer chick.  their mother had presented the idea of them attending high school at an arts academy.  noah was elated especially since his mother was so excited about his talent, which made jude jealous.

cut to a couple years later and the family had done a 180.  jude was now the artsy loner attending art school while noah was athletic, popular and "normal" attending regular school.  also, their parents had separated and sadly their mother died in a car accident.

jude convinced her mother's ghost is destroying her art because as we later learned she never sent in her brother's application with her,  jude went to a famous sculptor, guillermo garcia, to learn to sculpt using something her mother's ghost couldn't break, rock.

her work with guillermo, ultimately resulted in the world getting straightened out for the two twins.  it was discovered that her mother and guillermo were lovers during their parents separation.  demonstrating that some people should be in your life.

there were also a handful of other subplots including noah's homosexuality.  he became friends with their neighbor, brian, and thought brian liked him back. however, an incident with jude and brian and 7 minutes in heaven, resulted in awkwardness between the twins. brian turned out to be gay too, but then in a fit of anger, noah outed him.  but luckily, brian was able to come out and find acceptance at his high school and he and noah became boyfriends! yay!

jude also had a love interest, who sounded hot, but i was concern about the age difference.  i mean i got swept up in their attraction by then it lost it appealed when one realized jude was like 16.  but i mean they were destined, his mom did predict their meeting.

i have to add that i loved the inclusion of plato's theory of split-aparts, it reminded me of hedwig.

also there was an incident of date rape with jude that was heartbreaking to read, but didn't get resolved other than jude going on a boy strike and confronting her abuser and telling him to never do what he did to another girl.

all in all, an enjoyable read.  it was predicable at times, but interesting and nice to see high schoolers tolerant of homosexuality.

ps i just discovered this gallery of the artwork mentioned in the novel: http://jandynelson.com/gallery/

iggie's house. judy blume. (284)

after seeing judy blume last tuesday for her book, in the unlikely event, i decided to reread all of our books.  and since june 17, is blumes day (though i might be the only one keeping it going), i decided to check out whatever was at the library that i didn't recall reading as a kid or needed to reread because i forgot what it was about.  i decided to read them in chronological order based on publishing date.

the first then was iggie's house.  i remember owning a copy of the book as a kid but i never finished it.  i remember the cover had a white girl with a family if black kids sitting on a porch.  on this cover, in front of a home, is the sign stating "go back where you belong! we don't want your kind around here"!this cover, let me know from the beginning that it would be about racism specifically based on housing policies.  

iggie's house was told from the perspective of winnie.  her best friend, iggie just moved to tokyo, and though she was sad about this, she was excited to meet the new family that moved in.  to everyone's surprise, the new family is negro or as winnie points out they call themselves black.  i did appreciate how blume took the time to explain via winnie that people should be defined as seen fit.  when making up her petition, she noted how her teacher used "negro", mrs. landon "colored", but the garbers, called themselves black.  due to their skin tone, one neighbor, mrs. landon, tried to get them to move out.  winnie knows this is not right and as the novel unfolds winne learns that the world is not always black and white when it comes to race.

winnie was a great character in they she doesn't discriminate, and tried to make friends with the gerber regardless of their skin color.  for kids growing up in the seventies, this is an important lesson considering that the decade before blacks and whites were still segregated.  however, it was disheartening to see her parents not stand up out right for the garbers.  her father was a little more forward thinking then her mom, but no one out right said racism was wrong.  the same went for her teacher, though it is true, we shouldn't like a specific race because we pity them it just as bad as  discrimination, but i wish he would have given a less PC answer.  but i guess it just goes to show that that is how it was then, people knew racism was wrong but no one really did anything to truly stop it. so, i shouldn't be that harsh on blume for not writing a more progressive adult character.  she was probably being true to her experience.  these people grew up in segregated america, so it would be hard to teach them new tricks.

furthermore, winnie demonstrated that any social change does come via the new generation.  and had we need to

make sure to teach her children to be accepting and tolerant of everyone.

me and earl and the dying girl. jesse andrews. (277)

i picked up me, and earl, and the dying girl, because there will be a panel about the movie based on it at bookcon.  but unlike the other ya novels that i have read for bookcon, i absolutely adored this one.  and if you are going to watch a movie based on a ya novel this summer, make it this one!  screw paper towns!  team me, and earl, and the dying girl!  i have to add that the movie did really well at sundance and nick offerman is in it!

so the novel.  i feel like i have read something with a similar premise or maybe saw a movie (?), but basically this novel is an admission letter by greg gaines (the me in the title) to explain why his grades went south his senior year of high school.  i love that novel ended with greg saying that he would not turn this book into a novel, but maybe that was jesse andrews way of saying that he wanted it to become a movie.  lol

i don't know what to write, other than you need to read it.  its a ya novel, so it shouldn't take you long.  and its sweet without being sappy.  i also loved the realness of the characters.  earl grew up in a troubled home with gangster brothers.  greg is a bit of a dick.  these kids are not goody two shoes but regular teens.  i also admired how it was very realistic with its dealing of leukemia.  i, for one, appreciated "the moron's guide to leukemia", because you always read about it, but never really know what it is.  also i loved that greg didn't know how to comfort rachel (the dying girl) except to make her laugh, because most of the times we don't know what to do in those situation.  it was nice to see greg struggle with that instead of always saying the right thing.  i know i for one am always lost for the right words though my heart is filled with good intentions.  greg struggling to comfort rachel was refreshing, he's a teenage boy, what does he know about death?

though i will add that i was shocked how abruptly rachel died, but i guess that is how it is.  also her death wasn't stretched out but the again, this was greg's story, not hers.  and like novel warned us, this wasn't like other books that deal with cancer and teens.

and of course, i loved their movies!  i did have to look up most of them online. i have to admit that i have no desire to see aguirre, the warth of god that did not look interesting to me, but to each his own.  this part of the novel reminded me of michel gondry's  be kind rewind.  as i read about their remakes, i had visions of mos def and jack black remaking movies. 

i also loved the different forms of writing that andrews used, ie the stage directions and dialogue, the bullet points in that one chapter.

i really enjoyed this book and wish that it was around in high school.  and out of all the ya novels i read for bookcon, i have to say this may have been the best.

paper towns. john green. (276)

i decided to read paper towns, because there is a panel discussion about it at bookcon.  i think it conflicts with a panel i actually want to see, but decided to read it, just in case i catch the panel.  i should also add that i think the panel is for the film based on the book.

so i read, watched, and loved the fault in our stars, however, the same can not be said for paper towns.  to be completely honest, they shouldn't have turned it into a movie.  the storyline is not that interesting and the characters are not as likable.  plus i just watched the trailer and it looks horrible.  maybe its because i know the ending, but it seems like a lot of hype for a lame ending.  

and i need to read the rest of his books, but if the rest of his books are like paper towns, it might be safe to say that green is a one hit wonder.

paper towns is like the poor man's the virgin suicides.  the obsessive neighbor, untoucable free spirited girl, but no interesting chronicles of her life and definitely none of the deep and insightful coming of age knowlege.

the novel is told from the point of view of q .  he has spent his life, all 17 years of it (i think), admiring and loving his neighbor margo roth spiegelman from afar.  they used to be best friend, their defining moment of friendship was when they found a dead body at age 9.  margo became a popular party girl while q became a nerd that hung out with band kids.  i am not hating, q and i would have ran in the same circles, if we went to high school together.  i liked his friend radar especially due to its obsession with updating a wikipedia-esque website, but ben was annoying and i would have hated him in real life.

any hoot, margo discovered her boyfriend was cheating on her and goes on this crazy revenge spree and enlisted the help of q.  margo gave q a talk about paper towns and how people are fake and not as the appear. the next day she disappeared.

q was worried that she committed suicide (i have to admit by the end i wish that she had.) he believed that she left him clues to find her.  it started with a woody guthrie picture (quick sidenote as i was reading about guthrie's poster and his guitar that read "this machine kills facists." i was like where have i read that? and i remember that steve martin's memoir mentioned it as well.) and leads him to developments that were never completed.

q did a lot of bad searching for margo, seriously how did he not realize that those holes in the wall were left by marks on a map?!?! he spent a lot of time overanalyzing leaves of grass, i love whitman but green was trying to hard there.  q discovered he is capable

of being adventurous, realized he put margo on a pedestal.  oh and he missed out on alot of partying before graduation.

in the end, he learned (and i did as well, maybe the only great thing to happen from reading this) that a paper town was a fake town that map makers made up and placed on maps to discover copyright infringement.  and on a paper town near nyc, there was a post about the population being one until some date.  which turned out to be the day after graduation, but since it took 22 hours to drove, q missed his graduation.

q and his friends (btw another big critique is that it lacey and ben as a couple happened really quickly!) go on a road trip.  and though fun, they were really geeky about it, i mean really would teens be that good about planning to the minute?

anyway, they found margo.  she didn't commit suicide but she was a bitch.  she and q resolved life, realizing that they both cared for these ideas of each other but not that actual person.  it was supposed to be deep but i felt like green was trying to hard.

in the end, i was disappointed by the ending, because after all of q's effort, margo was still a beezy.  and i know they talked it out but still it seemed like a big waste of time.  though i guess q did grow as a person.

all in all, this book was lame.

fangirl. rainbow rowell. (275)

i remembering judging fangirl, which i first read as fanggirl, by it's cover. the color and the cute illustration made me think i should read. however, the fan in fangirl reminded me of fan fiction (and it suppose to do just that!), and i was like i'm not going to read fan fiction book.

what changed my mind is that rainbow rowell will be at bookcon and discussing fangirl, so i decided to read it.

i was surprised by how much i actually enjoyed this, even though it was cheesy at times!

cather is the fangirl at the center of this story, and all of the ups and downs of her first year of college.  the first challenge for cather was finding her own identity sans her twin sister, wren.  (yes, their mom took catherine and made it into two names, i have to admit i like cather like willa).  wren was the hotter and more assertive twin and due to this became the party animal.  there was some alcohol issues that arose and the sisters grew apart but wren gets her shit together and they make up in the end.  i have to add that reading about cather's first year and how she judged her sister made me realize what a mess i was my college years but hey i got good grasses and always made it to class.  i found a good balance between my partying and studying!

cather also had to deal with family stuff.  their dad was crazy, i mean i read about his idea for a firemen's pole and was like what the heck is wrong with him.  and of course there was an issue.  but that got resolved.  also the girls' mother left when they were young and had to work through all that.  i understood cather's hatred of her mother, i never hated my dad but i did want nothing to do with him when he started to reach out to me.

of course, there are boys!! i for once knew that nick was going to be a cheat! i mean there was foreshadowing but i still want to feel smart about it.

cather's boyfriend, levi, was so sweet but i mean do college boys like him exist?!?! maybe i just went after the wrong type of guy. lol. i will say the whole roommate's ex things was weird and i would have never done that in college.  it was also funny to read about cather dealing with her sexual desires and just wanting to touch him.  i was not that innocent in college and moved at a way quicker pace then her. god! i was such a floozy in comparison. lol. also their whole getting off on the fan fiction was even too nerdy for me!  but i mean 50 shades of grey is prove that people get off on it!

so the fan fiction!  cather wrote fan fiction based on a wizard named simon snow which is of course based on harry potter.  harry potter is named dropped as to kind of make it seem like it's not based on him but ya know.  simon's archenemy is a vampire, baz, and in her fan fiction, cather makes them gay! cather has a huge fan base, but her fan fiction affects her writing in college, but she gets all of that sort out in the end as well.  people's judgey-ness about fan fiction was addressed, but i still don't see it as a legit form of writing.  i mean people love it, but its not for me.

and before i close loved the idea of emergency kanye dance party!

oh and one last thing!  i had no idea that kansas had such a big mexican population.  i was surprised to read all about cather's hs boyfriend being mexican and his mom making delicious tres leche cake.  also wren's college boyfriend was Mexican, though i have never heard of an alejadrano, going by jandro.  and i was even more surprised by all the taco trucks, cather and her dad ate at! 

okay this is the last thing.  i really need to read outsiders, cather and levi made out after she read it to him.

all in all, a sweet story.  a great book for first years! reminded how roommate meals were a great bonding experience.  a bit cheesy but a good read for young adults!

cherokee bat and the goat guys. francesca lia block.

i have to admit that after reading witch baby and not enjoying it that much, i was wary of reading cherokee bat and the goat guys, but it restored my faith in the dangerous angels series.  i would even say it's my favorite so far, well second to weetzie bat, of course.

in cherokee bat and the goat guys, the kids, cherokee, witch baby, and raphael are left at home while all the adults are filming a movie in south america.  coyote was in charge of them.

witch baby was acting weird, burying herself in mud and cherokee went to coyote for help.  he suggested that she make witch baby a set of wings.  (quick digression i think i am going to be witch baby for halloween or world book day, though i do need to find cowboy boot rollerskates!) with the wings and the return of angel juan, witch baby acted normal again, well normal for herself.

due to the magic of the wings and the return of angel baby, the kids decided to start a band, the goat guys.  they booked a gig but raphael had stage fright so cherokee went to coyote again and got goat pants for raphael.

the goat pants turned out to be magical, and helped the band become successfully, though things started to get weird. the kids were also weird cos they were going through puberty.  they started drinking, smoking pot, and having sex.  i have to say that the analogy of waves for cherokee and raphael was quite clever and if i was a teen, it probably would have gone over my head (i was do innocent back then.)

then, angel juan was jealous of groupies loving raphael, and witch baby was jealous of the other two having sex so cherokee went to ask coyote for horns for angel juan, but he said no, so witch baby stole them.  they were even more amazing a band, and the one day hoof boots came for cherokee.  then, things started to get really crazy.  angel juan was mutilating himself on stage and getting headaches and cherokee's boots were hurting her.  

one night at a party, raphael did blow and hooked up with this girl and cherokee lost it and put everything on, the wings, the goat pants, the horns and the boots (which i thought would be cool for halloween too but i guess i would end up looking like maleficient.) and has a moment on a roof but coyote came to save her.  and he realized that he needed to help the kids and they return their gifts to the animals and the family comes back and everything is back to normal.  oh and  moral of the story was don't be in a rush to grow up!

a great story and i have to say i am kicking myself for not reading this earlier because i could have ordered one of these goat guy shirts when they were in stock! (i didn't get the reference when i first saw it online.)

so cute, huh? and check out the back:

i messed up! oh well.  hopefully they get more in stock!  but so excited for the next book!!!

after tupac and foster d. jacqueline woodson (265)

after reading brown girl dreaming, i was looking up jacqueline woodson's other works online and came across after tupac and foster d.  since i had seen a tupac exhibit at the grammy museum in february, i decided to check out this book.

the novel centered around the narrator and her best friend neeka's life and their friend d foster that entered their lives for a moment.  the narrator and neeka's parents are protective and do not allow the girls to leave the block so part of d's appeal was that she could travel on our own and around the city.  however, the girls learned that her life is not that idealistic.  due to her mother being unfit to take care of her, d had been in and out of foster care.  her foster mother at the time took good care of her but she shared stories with the girls of starving.  due to her experiences, d identified with tupac.  all the three girls love him but for d, his songs were about her life.  

i hate to admit this but i only recently saw for myself how tupac's work was pretty high brow considering he was a rapper. i mean he had a song about van gogh!  and i know that there are college courses based on his songs and poetry, but i never look into his work like i should.  this novel and the grammy exhibit reminded me that his writing is an important part of sharing the black experience of the nineties.  it is important that the history of others is told and i am glad that woodson lets young adults know that music can be a means of self discovery and expression.  i think about how much music was important for me in high school, how i would listen to songs that seemed to understand me.  it's important for kids to know that they have this outlet.

though i have to admit i am disappointed that tupac did serve time for sexual asault. the novel does address it but played up the fact that tupac only touched some girl's butt and that the judge was bias. i googled to look up what happen but i mean no one will really know. and as a feminist, i believe we can't blame the victim or try to slut shame her.

the thing that i liked most about this work was that one of neeka's brother, tash, was gay. they did call him sissy which i found as tat offensive but perhaps it was trying to be authentic. i mean woodson did use queen which i didn't bat at eye at but which i use.  i think it was great to see a strong gay character in this book.  granted he was incarcerated (though it wasn't his fault and he was released early because it was finally realized that he was not involved with the assault and robbery), his message was about being yourself and not trying to act like a thug and ending up in jail.  also tash was gay and proud and i was happy to read about it.

all in all, a great novel for young adults.  it demonstrated that not everyone and their experiences are the same but what is important are the connections that you make.

every day. david levithan. (257)

i came across every day on that search for a christmas gift for my cousin.  the premise sounded amazing and i loved david leviathan's other works but decided to go with something more recent.  however, when i saw it listed on times' 100 best young adult books, i decided to check it out myself.

every day was the story of a, a soul/spirit/possible devil or demon (we never find out for sure) that wakes up in the body of a different person each day and leaves at midnight while asleep (to avoid the pain of being pulled from the body.). a did not have a gender or sex nor any understanding of what a was or why or how a is placed in bodies.  a had rules to avoid disrupting the lives of the people he inhabits but that all changed when a met a girl, rhiannon.

i will say i was shocked by how quickly the book got started.  i assumed that we would see a in a series of bodies before a fell in love but the action started quickly.  

i don't want to giveaway any details of this book because i want people to read it.  plus my rehashing of the story wouldn't do it justice.

and though i did get a bored with the actual love story and didn't support a's decisions to disrupt the person's day so a could see rhiannon especially the kid that missed his flight to hawaii!  i have to praise this book for it's lessons on acceptance and tolerance.  a assumed bodies of every race, class, gender (including trans), sexual orientation, even mental illness and it was amazing because by doing so it demonstrated that underneath all of our identities we are human.  i think this alone is the reason to read the book and is a great lesson for young adults.  i also admired that the couple that demonstrated to a what love truly is and how beautiful it can be was a lesbian couple.  

if you haven't read this book, you need to an interesting story with great lessons about the human experience and a love story to boot!!

we were liars. e. lockhart (245)

i kept on seeing we were liars on must read lists over the summer, but didn't give much thought to it.  i mean everyone was writing about it, but it felt like something i had read before.  i think the title and cover reminded me of justin torres' we the animals.  however, after seeing it listed as one of the best ya novels of 2014, i decided to check it out.

though enjoyable, it was not my cup of tea.  i mean the twist ending though random and unexpected was not that incredible.  also after reading, belzhar, it felt unoriginal.  i guess if i would have read it when it first came out, it would have kind of blown my mind, but the surprise twist of belzhar kind of ruined it for me.

we were liars is the story of four teens, cadence (our main character and whose perspective we read from), her cousins, johnny, mirren, and the nephew of her aunt's boyfriend, gat.  they were called the liars because they hung out together every summer on their families private island.  they had what lykke li once sang about, "the rich kids' blues".  they were super rich, but that doesn't mean they didn't have any problems.  they actually did because though they didn't care about money, their mothers were worried about inheritance (they all had money issues, living off of trusts because they didn't have real jobs, which is a result from having money) so were constantly forcing them to appeal to their grandfather for their share of the inheritance.  they fought over who will inherit want, what homes they have, etc. the kids just wanted to get along.

there is also a love plot, cadence was in love with gat, but the family did not approve based on his race and lack of wealth.

however, cadence suffered an accident that caused the family to change.  her aunts and mother got a long, but the cousins were distant.  she was also kept from the island.  all she remembered is waking up on the beach, in her underwear, and alone.  she was kept away from the island but returned one summer.

when she returned there is a new central estate (the island had multiple houses) which is modern.  the liars all lived off in one of the empty houses and didn't engage with the family like before.  cadence decided to investigate what happen to her.

then it all comes flooding back to her, and it turns out . . . her cousins and gat were ghost!!!! they had died, the summer of her accident.  they had decided to burn down their grandfather's house. but cadence light the fire in her rooms to quickly and ended up trapping everyone in the house!!! talk about a crazy twist.  a surprise but also talk about extreme.

i also want to add that through the novel were fairy tales that she made up based upon her family, which i enjoyed.

i didn't enjoy this book, but i can imagine young adults enjoying it, so i think it deserves to be on the lists for the best of 2014.

like no other. una lamarche. (225)

unfortunately, once again, i don't remember the website that recommended una lamarche's like no other but the premise, an hasidic girl falling in love with a west indian boy after a chance meeting sounded interesting.  just like i am racist reader in the sense that i like indian authors, i do the same thing with jewish characters, which is one of the reasons i decided to check out this ya novel.  i was intrigued, because i had no idea how the orthodox girl was going to make this relationship work!

the novel switches back and forth between narratives from the star-crossed lovers, devorah, a 16-year-old, goody two-shoes, hasidic girl and jax, a nerdy yet responsible, west indian boy.  they met one night when trapped in an elevator at a hospital.  devorah was at the hospital to help her older sister, rose, who was in labor.  jax was there because his friend was injured skateboarding.  however, the trouble with their relationship started right off the bat, with their chance meeting.  being trapped in an elevator with jax was a violation of devorah's religion, it was a violation of yichud.  females are not allowed to be alone with another male.  the law also restricts talking to males, so devorah tried to not talk to jax but being trapped in an elevator she decided to, to not be rude.  they actually had a great talk, devorah explained her religion and they even flirted a bit.  their meeting ended with them listening to the shirelles on jax's phone.  this was also a violation because devorah's parents did not allow her to have a phone, watch tv, or listen to music.  when the power came back on they went their separate ways not thinking anything more would happen between them.

however, they both can not stop thinking about each other.  devorah was actually the one that saw to their meeting again.  she stopped by jax's work while running an errand for her father.  this meeting was the beginning of their sneaking around to see each other.  devorah had to keep it a complete secret due to her religion.  jax lied because in order to see her he had to miss work, thus lying to his boss and mom about where he was.  it was difficult at first because they did not have any means of communication because of devorah's family's no technology rule.  however, she snuck onto facebook to message him and jax later gave her phone.  it was difficult but they managed as best they can. 

in the end, they are caught while trying to runaway for the weekend.  devorah's brother-in-law, jacob, who in my opinion was an asshole though i have to recognize that he was just following his religion so i can't hate him too much.  and this is no disrespect to hasidic judasim but his behavior seemed outrageous because i am an outsider.  i can't imagine my husband not being allowed to touch me after childbirth because my body has bleed, i get it for periods but not for childbirth.  and his racism though inexcusable was due to his culture.  however, his beating up jax and then lying about it was extremely uncalled for and i was shocked that jax's mother did not go after them.  

due to their discovery, devorah's family sent her away.  she believed that it was to rehabilitate her and make her more faithful but in fact, they had sent her to be matched for marriage.  jax then went off to try to save her.  in the end, devorah realized that though she loved jax, they could never be together due to her religions.  she could not give up her faith for him.  

i admired this ending, because it felt real.  as much as i wanted everything to work out for devorah and jax, it was impossible.  and though devorah cared for jax, she didn't want to sacrifice her religion and family for him and that is understandable.  she had to do what was best for her and she made the right decision.  i also admired how devorah and jax were very mature about their break up and left the relationship as better people.  i think that is an important lesson for young adults to learn.  not all relationships work out, but instead of being bitter and upset, one should recognize how that person helped you become a better version of you. (and if that relationship was toxic then how you are a better person for leaving it.)  

from devorah, jax gained the self-confidence to be honest about his feelings and also learned how to be a good boyfriend.  from jax, devorah learned that she was capable of more than what her religion alloted for her.  she could be more than a wife and a mother.  she could go to school and she could learn.  her education could be a goal for her instead of marriage.  i admired devorah for asking her family to allow her to continue to her studies.  and i think this ending was better than one that would have been about true love.  it's refreshing to see that the girl did not need the guy for a better life.  

like no other contains wonderful lessons not only demonstrating how we should be tolerant of other cultures and religions but that also girls do not need to be restricted by cultural and religious gender roles.  i hope that young adults pick up this novel, it's a wonderful story that will help them become more thoughtful adults. 

everything leads to you. nina lacour. (215)

i can't remember how i first heard about nina lacour's everything leads to you. i searched flavorpill and the huffington post websites.  i even went over all the facebook pages i like, book riot, penguin paperback, random house, but could not find anything.  i finally decided upon penguin's first to read program. i must have read a blurb and decided to check it out.  i stressed out about how i found it because initially i hated it.  i hated it so much that i stopped about 60 pages in and decided to return it.  i couldn't do it, it was just so horrible.  i even planned writing about how much i did not enjoy it.  but i gave it a second chance and it turned out to be okay.  extremely predictable and cleaned up too nicely but then again it is a young adult novel.

i hate to come across like some book snob like ya novels should not be read about adults, i read ya novels all the time.  the issue that i had with this novel was that characters did not seem their age.  the situations they were in did not seem plausible for high school students.  i mean the main character emi and charlotte are intern for movies which would be more of a college thing.  it is addressed way later in the book that she started off in job via her brother but still it made no sense initially.  it would have made more sense if they were college students (even first years would have made more sense) versus high school seniors.  i felt like they were placed in high school simply so it would qualify for a ya novel.  so this judgement which occurred early on made it difficult for me to get into the book.

secondly, emi being naive and silly when it came to love.  i mean i can barely handle love in adult novels so i having to read about a high school senior being taken advantage of by her older ex didn't feel like my cup of tea.  i also couldn't take emi seriously due to it.  i mean i get that part of the plot is her growth in terms of understanding love but still teeny bopper romance not my thing.  though i will add kudos for lacour having emi be a lesbian.

thirdly, not that i ever been in the movie industry but all of that seemed far fetch too.  their jobs just seemed too perfect.  i mean the occurrence that starts off the story was so unrealistic.  also regardless of how much money their boss spent a record and belt buckle would have never just been given away like that.  i have seen enough of pawn stars to know that that buckle was more valuable esp since if was in a movies.   and also i just felt for being so young they had so much responsibility.  

the first 60 pages all i could think was, this would never happen in real life.  i am not sure what came over me but i decided to finish this book.  and it turned out to not be that bad.  i mean it was pretty predictable but it was sweet.

the story starts off with two friends, emi and charlotte, discover a letter written by deceased hollywood icon, clyde jones, in a record from his estate sale.  they decided to return the letter to the addressee.  they then discover that jones had a secret daughter.  however his daughter died so they go in search of his granddaughter. 

they find her ava, who is beautiful and a struggling actress.  they help her learn more about her past and help her come into her fortune.  emi also became a production designer for a movie which ava gets the lead!  and then emi and ava fall in love!  oh and toby and charlotte admit love for each other.  it all cleans up so nicely in the end just like a hollywood movie!!

i am being sarcastic now but high school senior me would have problem loved this.  i mean i did read nicholas sparks back then.

i should add that part of the reason i wanted to finish it was because  everything leads to you is set in los angeles.  i love reading about la.  and though i loved la as its backdrop, it was obvious the author was not a la native (the back flap said she is a norcal girl.) first of all, she spelled silverlake as silver lake.  and seriously everyone was way too willing to drive around everywhere.  i mean for morgan to just zip up to pasadena like that from what i am is assuming weho (actually where do lesbian brunch) okay maybe echo park seemed like a lot.  though it was work-related.  but la drivers hate actually having to drive outside of their neighborhoods.  also driving out to the deserts means driving out on the 10 to palm springs.  driving up the 405

to leona valley would be driving up the 405 to leona valley.  but the directions to the bev center was correct! 

all in all, an enjoyable read if you are 16.  if you aren't find something else to read.

here's go you, rachel robinson. judy blume (207)

i picked up here's to you, rachel robinson, on blumesday.  my friend chandra said she was going to reread it in honor of blumesday.  i didn't recall the book so when i stumbled upon it at the library, i decided to check it out.

i don't remember reading here's to you, rachel robinson, but i did remember reading its predecessor, just as long as we're together.  as i was reading and came across the vietnamese friend and jeremy dragon, i thought it sounded familiar so googled and discovered here's to you is a sequel.  i also learned thanks to wikipedia that the title is a reference to "mrs. robinson" by simon and garfunkle, so now every time i read the title, i think of that song.

here's to you, rachel robinson is the story of rachel robinson, a smart, straight-a student, with a troublemaker for a brother.  the story opens with the rachel stressing out about her brother, charles, returning home.  he was sent away for school but was kicked out.  rachel was super stressed out about his return, which made me think that maybe he secretly sexually abused her.  i know that sounds outrageous but she was seriously freaking about his charles' return.  thankfully, charles' abuse of the family did not involve sexual abuse, instead he bullied his sisters by constantly making fun of them and was extremely disrespectful to their parents.  he also smoked pot, drank (i think) and may have been sexually active.  rachel did have an asshole for a brother but she seemed to be a little too sensitive about it.  i would be like sucks do be him screwing up his life versus worrying about him.  i know i am so loving, but he obviously did not want to help himself so why bother?

since it is a blume book, it does discussed the difficulties of growing up.  rachel, was super smart and involved and school, and as result felt overwhelm by her activities.  though i hate to seem like too much of a school geek, but i was super involved in school but never felt overwhelmed by all of my activities.  i was able to do everything and still get A's.  so i didn't really see what her issue was.  she should have taken that course for the credit, she would have managed, she was a genius according to her brother.

rachel's no new friends issue of just as long as we're together reared its ugly head in this story.  she was still jealous of stephanie and allison's closeness.  it's tough feeling like you are losing your best friend,  an issue all girls have and drake too.  

also rachel ended up kissing jeremy dragon which was super exciting but seemed a little random to me.  but i mean maybe rachel is a hottie.  sorry but lets be honest, rarely does the hot guy go for the school geek.

i also have to add that rachel thinking her night out with paul was a date was sad.  she is smart girl, shouldn't she know better?  and boo to blume sad for

having rachel's sleazy cousin ended up with him.  i loved that rachel dropped the baby bomb on them. lol

oh and in the end, charles started to grow up and got his act together.

all in all, an enjoyable read.  not the best of blume, but still a good story.  and hopefully girls take away the lesson about assertiveness, alot of rachel's problems stemmed from the fact that she didn't speak up for herself.

when you reach me. rebecca stead. (190)

*sorry this picture is blurry.  i didn't realize how blurry it was until i return it.  but it makes it feel alittle otherwordly which is perfect for this novel, so it works.

i picked up when you reach me because it is a newbery medal winner.  i also enjoyed the cover art.  i had no idea what the book was about, but that made for a better read.  (so if you haven't read it, stop here, seriously everything will spoil this book for you!)

when you reach me is the story of a girl, miranda, and the letters about her life she had to write due to secret notes she has received.  the letters are from a stranger and are suppose to help save her friend.  a series of random things happen to her prior to the notes appearing. first, her best friend sal stopped talking to her.  this happened after an even stranger event, a boy just randomly walked up to sal, as he and miranda were walking home, and punched him in the stomach.  a crazy homeless man appeared on her street corner, talking to himself, and doing high kicks. the kids are kept in at lunchtime at school, because a naked man is seen running around down the street.  all of these things seemed really odd, but they all come together in the end.  (i have to admit i missed the foreshadowing of the naked man, i just assumed it was random little anecdote.)

in the end it is discovered that all of these weird events and the notes have to do with time travel!

before i go on, i have to share that what i loved most about this book was the inclusion of madeline l'engle 's a wrinkle in time.  a wrinkle in time is miranda's favorite book in the story.  she carried it around and is constantly rereading it.  it is due to this book that marcus and miranda first discuss time travel.  marcus pointed out that there was an error in the book.  if meg and charles wallace had returned 5 minutes before everything had occured wouldn't they have seen themselves land in the garden before they left?  this is true.  marcus was right.  and future marcus was right because he time-traveled back to safe sal!

i won't go into detail about what occurred but in short, future marcus saved sal.  and stead did an excellent job of tying everything together. as i mentioned before, i had no idea the naked man in the street was due to the time travelling.  i loved how everything came full circle, though i was sadden by future marcus' fate but he was an old man and ready for it.

when you reach me had additional storylines.  miranda's mom was picked to go on $20,000 pyramid and part of the novel was her preparation for the show.  since miranda and sal are no longer friends, she became friends with colin and annamarie.  the three of them get jobs at a sandwich shop.  and of course, like any adolescent story, there is always some kind of drama between friends, which occurs between miranda, annamaire and annamarie's ex-best friend, julia.  these additional stories not only added to the story but also distracted from the time travel plot as well.  well played, stead.

the thing that i found interesting, was the issue of race and class and the prejudices that a reader reads with.  i am not sure if this was stead's intent or if i am just super racist.  i mean the latter is true, so that is probably the case.  i was confronted with my racism when jimmy called julia swiss miss, in reference to the hot chocolate, though miranda meant it about her trips to switzerland.  up until then i had not realized that julia was black.  i had assumed since she was rich that she was white.  here is where class became an issue as well.  (class was addressed directly with miranda comparing her home and life to that of annamarie's who is wealthier).  i know how horrible of me, but i mean the girl talked about going to switzerland, isn't that where white people go on a vacay (okay, i am racist, sorry). i then realized i was being extremely racist as i read.  i believe miranda or her mom was described as white, though now i am second guessing everything.  since she was white, i assumed that sal was white.  i also assumed that the boys that caused trouble on the corner was black as was the crazy man on the corner.  also i assumed marcus was black too since he punched sal.  however, race was not mentioned for anyone else except julia, oh and richard (miranda's mom's boyfriend being german).  well explicitly anyway, i just read on a website that it was implied that jimmy was asian but that went over my head. i am embarrassed that i could be so horrible with stereotypes but i am.  again well played, stead for having the read confront the prejudices they have about race so directly though it was presented subtlety.  

overall, when you reach me was a great book and very worthy of it's newbery medal.  if you haven't read it you should.  it has also inspired me to reread a wrinkle in time, which is perfect because the graphic novel version has been sitting on my bookshelf since january.    

holes. louis sachar. (181)

i remember learning about holes when the movie came out with shia labeouf.  i didn't see the movie or read the book.  i was in high school when the book came out and in college when the movie came out, so i didn't think much of it.  i wasn't above shia labeouf, i used to love watching even stevens, it just wasn't in my realm of interest at the time.  i also was a bit sexist, a story about boys digging holes at some prison-like camp did not sound interesting to me.  however, fast forward years later when i discovered that louis sachar wrote the book!  i loved sachar's wayside school books, they were my absolute favorite growing up!  i especially loved that one chapter in the sequel that you had to read backwards!  how cool!  based on my love of sachar, i finally decided to give holes a chance.

i decided to make it a winter break read with brother bear.  it started out well but when i left to vegas for new years, he didn't keep up with his reading and when i came back, he had lost interested.  i, in fact, didn't finish then.  i also dropped by copy (it cost me 50 cents) in a puddle when moving so that didn't help with my finishing of it.  then i sat in a line for about 8 hours to see shia labeouf do this art installation (i sadly did not get in) but that motivated me to give holes a read so i could watch the movie on netflix.

so i buckled down and read it in a day and it was amazing.  i was a bit disappointed in myself for being so judge-y before.  i am now trying to get my brother to finish it.  my mom is reading it with him.  it is a great children's novel and deserved the newbery medal (i have also started this mini mission to read all of the newbery award winners).  it is a wonderful book demonstrating the importance of creating your own destiny, how sometimes you have to lend fate a hand to obtain your destiny.

without giving too much away (because you should really read it), holes is the story of a young boy stanley yelnats (a palindrome).  bearing the curse of his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather", stanley was sent to a camp, camp green lake, for "stealing"shoes.  he didn't steal them but they fell from the sky and hit him on the head, an example of that curse in action.  at the camp which is a correctional facility for boys, stanley spent his days digging holes and trying to avoid yellow-spotted lizards.  stanley befriended another boy, zero, who he taught how to read. zero and stanley then go on a random adventure which helped both boys fulfill their destiny.  seriously, the ending was great, everything came full circle.

what i enjoyed most about holes is that it also included the backstories of stanley's great-great-grandfather and town of green lake.  the historian in me enjoyed reading these backstories and seeing how they all came together in the end.  i have always loved books that allowed me to see how point a and b resulted in c.  

stanley's great-great-grandfather's backstory takes the reader to latvia, where the reader discovers the cause of the curse.  stanley's great-great=grandfather was in love with a girl.  he asked his friend, a gypsy, madame zeroni for help.  she helped him but he doesn't hold up his end of the bargain and he and his generations become cursed.

stanley's family is also tied to the backstory of green lake because his great-grandfather was robbed by the bandit, kissin' kate barlow.  camp green lake stands where the town of green lake used to exist.  green lake was not always a desert, it too was cursed.  kate barlow was not always a bandit, in fact, she was the schoolteacher of the town.  she became a bandit, after she fell in love with sam, an african-american onion seller.  since interracial relationships were not accepted at that time, the town turned against kate and sam.  i don't want to spoil the story for those who haven't read it but kate became a bandit and the city dried up.  i also want to add kudos to sachar to promoting interracial relationships in this book!

these backstories are sad, but as i mentioned before it all comes together in the end and leaves you going wow!  it reminds you of how crazy life can be and how it the end if your heart is in the right place and you try your best, it will all work out for you.  

i want to add that holes was listed in a buzzfeed post about books you should read based on your favorite childhood novel.  their suggestion was junot diaz's the brief and wondrous life of oscar wao, which i absolutely loved.  yes, as buzzfeed says 

Both Holes and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao read as modern mythology, featuring two curse-afflicted protagonists who can’t catch a break. They’re tales of misfits and survival, and the cruelty that Oscar faces as an overweight Dominican-American teen obsessed with sci-fi is just as harsh and alienating as that of Stanley Yelnats’ prison camp.

however, i feel a better fit for this book would have been joanthan safran foer's everything is illuminated.  both stories have family myths especially that pertaining to a grandfather's legacy.  both include a story with a gypsy (okay that is kinda of a loose connection.)  but i did i see parallels between stanley and zero's relatinship and alex and jonathan's relationship.  oscar was too much of longer, while stanley learned the importance of friendship.  (though i have to admit, i don't remember too much from the brief wondrous life of oscar wao, so buzzfeed is probably right, i just have to add in my 2 cents.  i mean oscar wao is a wonderful book and should be read, i was just reminded of everything is illuminated as i read.  

but back to holes, read the book!!!

eleanor & park. rainbow rowell (169)

adorable cover, right?  it looks like some cute save-the-date for some portlandia hipsters.  it just so darn cute with its ampersand made with headphones.  with all of this cuteness, i had to pick up with this book.  i had seen it on amazon and it was even a daily deal but i forgot to buy it, so ended up checking it out from the library, which turned out to be the right choice. although i loved the cover, i didn't absolutely love the book.

though in eleanor & park's defense, since it is a young adult novel, 16 year old me would have been all about it.  i think i mean, a clockwork orange was my favorite book at the time, though the notebook left me in tears, so maybe i would have believed in eleanor and park's love.

but i will admit that both 30 year old me and 16 year old me had a total book crush on park.  through he was kind of right about people not finding asians sexy, i do like me the halfbreeds and so i would have definitely found park's half korean/half irishness sexy.  and i love boys in eyeliner so that was really hot.  but my book crush is not based on lust, how sweet he was!  how he let eleanor read his comics over his shoulder on the bus, or how he saved up all his batteries for her to use, even how he found eleanor sexy in her gym clothes (seriously who can pull off sexy in gym clothes?!?). and he made her mixed tapes!!!! especially the one with love will tear us apart on repeat!!! so sweet!!! and while i loved park, i was not so sure about eleanor.

i was just as judgemental about eleanor as park's mom, why was he with that "weird white girl"?!?!?! eleanor didn't make sense to me.  i mean i understand that she was a good kid in a bad situation.  but i just did not get the attraction.  i mean her outfits didn't even seem cute in that alt-80's kind of way, i mean the ties and ribbons yes but not the golf shoes!  eleanor should have been fashioned after molly ringwald in pretty in pink (she was poor too and dressed eccentric).  i also personally could not get passed her personal hygiene,  i mean didn't park notice that she didn't brush her teeth or that her hair smelled like flea and tick soap?!?!? i mean these are things one would notice right?  i was grossed out by eleanor and i am not even that high maintenance.  

random digression but as i was readig was wondering if the author was eleanor and this was like an exteme version ofna high school romance.  when i looked at her pic on the backflap, i could see the resemblence between she and eleanor:

but looks aside, she didn't seem to bring anything to the plate.  i mean park was so sweet and eleanor was always negative nancy.  and i know i know she had a tough life but in my eyes she was not a diamond in the rough, just rough.  i mean the only good about her was what park brought to her, but then i i guess that is true love.  it makes you a better person.

and onto their love, i hate to be negative as always but some of their convos were too much for me.  all of their talk was sweet and romantic but put in the context of high schoolers made me roll my eyes. though i am sure teenage me would have been lapping it up.  and one last grievance, if they were so in love why did it take eleanor forever to write back to park? i mean he saved her life, how could you not find the means to write back?  

all in all, a sweet read.  not a must read but more like i have the time, this cover is cute, let me check it out kind of read.

the book thief. markus zusak. (151)

i have to admit that when i saw the book thief in the ya section at kmart, last year, i was judgy and didn't think much of it.  i like books, but what kind of person steals them?  and why would i want to read about it?!?!   (yeah, i totally misjudged that title.)  however, when i saw it on my friend fabian's instagram, i decided to not dismiss it.  and then when i saw the trailer for the movie version and saw the girl stealing the book from the nazi burn pile, i decided i had to check it out!

to start, i have to say i appreciate death as the narrator.  having death as the storyteller allowed the reader even greater insight.  also it allowed for the bleak comments about dying to be clever versus shocking because they came straight from death's mouth. it also got me thinking why is death never revered as a god?  he is never the head god but a b-list one.  death is something that is inevitable so shouldn't we have an open dialogue with death?  especially since everyone believes in death, so why not party to me?  i want to be able to ask him for more time? maybe exchange our own time for some more of our loved ones?  as odd as it may seem i would find greater comfort praying to death versus god, death is certain, i am unsure if god even exists.

but back to the book thief, it was a wonderful story.  i absolutely adored liesel, rudy, hans, the mayor's wife, and max.  i loved how hans taught liesel to read by painting unknown words on the wall.  i loved how hans kept his promised and kept max as safe as he could.  and i admired hans for having a heart, for instinctually helping the old jewish man during the march, not seeing him as a jew but someone in need.  

i loved how rudy rebelled against the hitler youth and always tried to stick up for the little guy.  though i have to say rudy's blackface as jesse owens was inexcusable, having grown up with white idols as a person of colored i never tried to whiten my face to emulate what i saw on tv.  rudy's desire to paint himself black demonstrated that he did not see jesse owens as a hero but a black hero.  blackface is inherently racist regardless of how hard the author attempted to make it endearing.  

i loved how liesel went to read books with the mayor's wife.  i admired the mayor's wife for understanding that liesel's anger was due to the tension of the world and left her a book for her to  steal.  

i also loved max, his boxing hitler (with a realistic ending) and the stories he wrote for liesel.  i will say that his story of him as a bird was better then the tree one.  

the characters were great and memorable.  i of course, cried at the end. how sad i was to lose all the characters that i loved.  i was in tears as liesel discovered all of the ones she loved were dead.  and how happy i was when we all discovered that max survived and that liesel went onto life a long life.

it was a great story and how brave liesel was.  her desire to read and thirst for knowledge was inspiring.  i admired how she wanted to test herself with reading at school.  how brave and lucky she was for not being killed by the nazis each time she intervened with the marching of the jewish prisoners.  and how beautiful it was when she and max discovered each others sufferings and helped each other overcome grief.  i loved how when he was sick she brought him a small gift, things to tell him when he woke up.  how sweet and endearing.

i loved the whimsy this book was filled with though i have to admit that some of the death's interjection did get a tad distracting.  i also have to admit that all of the foreshadowing that occurred via death did take away from the story.  i understand that the foreshadowing was to lessen the blow that would be dealt later but i think even the ya readers could have expected the impact.  no offense but a story about nazi germany, someone and quite possibly everyone will die.  also it made me too paranoid about the mayor's wife.  i kept waiting for her to snap but she never did.

regardless of all that, it was a very lovely read and i look forward to seeing the film.