Reading, Writing, and Me

The Poet X  by Elizabeth Acevedo (361 pages) Overview:  X is stuck in a body that feels wrong, in a family that thinks she's wrong, in a religion that might be wrong, all in her Harlem neighborhood. X only has one thing that gives her relief, a journal where she could release her musings about the world. This book connects her to the slam poetry club run by her sophomore english teacher which may be the salvation X needs, if only she can find a way to stay late to get to the group. Overall: 4.5 Characters: 5 I'm a huge fan of X and her take on the world. She's intelligent and imaginative and she has an incredibly sharp eye for directing the world she lives in and the world at large with her smooth disassembly of every societal norm thrust in her face. Her family, friends, teacher, and romantic interests work to fill out the rest of her world in a well developed way that made sense to telling the main character's story. Plot: 5 I completely enjoyed the plot. I r...

The Destination Is On Your Left  by Lauren Spieller (June 26) Overview: Life hasn't been stable for Dessa since her family gave up life in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the end of seventh grade. Her new normal became living in an RV, never staying in any place longer than a week or two and always voting on where her future would go, not only with her family, but with the two others that made up their RV caravan. Now a graduated senior, Dessa hopes to change that. With a pending acceptance to UCLA on the table, Dessa is ready to move on to art school and stability, even if that means leaving her family and long term crush Cyrus behind. Overall: 4 Characters: 4 I enjoyed Dessa. She was a great character to lead the story and exhibited a lot of growth in character and independence as the story progressed. Seeing another Greek main character in YA made me happy. I also loved her mentor, a Santa Fe found artist, and a girl that could be called her new best friend who takes her out for a...

The Way You Make Me Feel  by Maurene Goo (320 pages) Overview: Clara shin is the self proclaimed class clown. She's good, but sometimes she takes it too far. Like at Junior prom when her Carry inspired stunt after winning prom queen turns into a brawl with Rose, the junior class president, and the cafeteria up in smoke. Since Clara is immune to school punishment, her father and the school board decide that Rose and Clara will spend all summer working at the KoBra, his food truck to pay off the damages. Is there a chance it won't be totally miserable? Overall: 5 Characters: 5 Clara is infectious. From the first word, I knew was going to love the book. Her voice and humor pick you up and wrap you tight so that you're living in Clara's mind, not just listening to her story. Rose, the uptight, beautiful ballerina-class president, makes for a great advisory turned tentative friend for Clara because they reflect the parts of each other that they spend so much time to h...