Teen » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

MINI-REVIEWS: Shades of Simon Gray, The Wander Year, Flawless

Posted by Anastasia on February 14, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 142012

026. Shades of Simon Gray by Joyce McDonald
Publication: Laurel Leaf (May 13, 2003), Paperback, 272pp / ISBN 0440228042
Genre: YA Fiction (magical realism?)

Read: February 4-5, 2012
Source: Bought (UBS)

Mini-Review

I tend to buy books based on whether I like the cover or not, which sometimes bites me in the butt. I bought Shades of Simon Gray because I liked the cover, and my butt was only a little bit bitten. Shades of Simon Gray reminds me of a Lois Duncan novel, only with a little less thriller and a little more “growing up and finding out what sort of person you are.” With some magical realism/time travel/ghost things thrown in. I liked that the characters all had different reactions to the events in the book– some of them decided to do the right thing, to take responsibility for the bad thing(s) they’ve done (without actually telling anyone they were the ones who did the bad thing(s)) and to try to make up for it, while others thought they hadn’t done anything wrong at all. It was a nice spectrum of realistic reactions and personalities and whatever, and I liked it. The added touch of spooky atmosphere, weird biblical plagues, and ghosts just made reading it even more fun.

A book with similar themes (minus the magical realism) would be Nothing But the Truth by Avi, if that helps any. Continue reading »

REVIEW: The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

Posted by Anastasia on February 8, 2012 2 Responses »

Feb 082012

024. The Unidentified by Rae Mariz
Publication: Balzer + Bray (October 5, 2010), ebook, 308pp / ISBN 0061802085
Genre: YA Fiction (dystopic?)

Read: February 1, 2012
Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

Fifteen-year-old Katey (aka Kid) goes to school in the Game—a mall converted into a “school” run by corporate sponsors. As the students play their way through the levels, they are also creating products and being used for market research by the sponsors, who are watching them 24/7 on video cameras.

Kid has a vague sense of unease but doesn’t question this existence until one day she witnesses a shocking anticorporate prank. She follows the clues to uncover the identities of the people behind it and discovers an anonymous group that calls itself the Unidentified. Intrigued by their counterculture ideas and enigmatic leader, Kid is drawn into the group. But when the Unidentified’s pranks and even Kid’s own identity are co-opted by the sponsors, Kid decides to do something bigger—something that could change the Game forever.

Review

I love dystopian fiction, but sometimes I get really tired of post-apocalyptic dystopias. Futuristic dystopias, of the kind where the society is still fully functioning and alive and whatnot, are one of my favorite kinds of non-apocalyptic dystopias. Think Feed or Uglies (although I suppose technically that’s a post-apocalyptic society which has become stable again) or even Inside Out. The Unidentified is somewhere along those lines: it’s a futuristic world built on some of the lines that American society is currently traveling on with an emphasis on the negative over the good. So, basically, it’s what might happen if our obsession with reality TV, consumerism, fame/celebrity, plus the government/ad corporations’ obsession with monitoring people, are ramped up to 11. Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: Boy Meets Girl, The Wizard, the Witch and Two Girls from Jersey, Stupid Fast

Posted by Anastasia on February 7, 2012 4 Responses »

Feb 072012

020. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot
Publication: Harpercollins (January 1, 2004), Paperback, 383pp / ISBN 0060085452
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Read: January 27-29, 2012
Source: Bought

Mini-Review

Sometimes you just want to read something fluffy and silly and easy on the brain, and Meg Cabot’s books are really good for that. I haven’t read many of her adult books, but I think they’re basically like her teen books, only with older characters who have slightly different goals (starting families rather than making prom queen, for instance). Boy Meets Girl is adorable, with adorable characters and an adorable plotline. And as a bonus, it’s written in an interesting way: through emails and phone calls and IMs instead of straight narrative stuff. Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Vesper, Dramarama

Posted by Anastasia on February 3, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 032012

017. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Publication: Dell Books for Young Readers (April 26, 2005), Paperback, 352pp / ISBN 0553494791
Genre: YA Fiction

Read: January 26-27, 2012
Source: Bought

Mini-Review

I’ve been meaning to read this book for forever, mainly because it’s one of those generation-defining books that’re so important. I’ve seen bits of the movie and I know vaguely what it/the book is about, so I was expecting something cute and touching and possibly melodramatic. There’s actually not that much melodrama in it, but it IS cute and touching. And kind of boring, to be honest. Continue reading »

REVIEW: ttyl by Lauren Myracle

Posted by Anastasia on February 2, 2012 5 Responses »

Feb 022012

016. ttyl by Lauren Myracle
Publication: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (April 1, 2005), originally published 2004, Paperback, 234pp / ISBN 0810987880
Genre: YA Fiction

Read: January 25-26, 2012
Source: Bought

Review

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that for much of my life I was a Book Snob. I’d see a book like this one, with its bright pink cover, written in IM format, full of pop culture stuff– and I’d think it wasn’t worth my time. That it was silly, or stupid, or most likely both. I’d write it off as a “no way am I reading that” kind of book and that’d be a big mistake. Because ttyl? Isn’t stupid or silly or a book you should ignore. Maybe the cover is a bit over-the-top and maybe some of the pop culture stuff is dated now, but actually it’s a great book in a really clever format. Continue reading »

REVIEW: Planet Janet by Dyan Sheldon

Posted by Anastasia on January 25, 2012 2 Responses »

Jan 252012

011. Planet Janet by Dyan Sheldon
Publication: Candlewick (February 1, 2003), Hardcover, 240pp / ISBN 0763620483
Genre: YA Fiction

Read: January 20-21, 2012
Source: Used Bookstore

Review

Diaries-as-books are some of my favorite things, and I especially like reading teenage diaries. Maybe because I find them so funny nowadays? Teenagers can be melodramatic and selfish and very silly– and Janet’s all those things. In a funny way, of course! Well, mostly funny. Continue reading »

REVIEW: Street Dreams by Tama Wise

Posted by Anastasia on January 20, 2012 No Responses »

Jan 202012

006. Street Dreams by Tama Wise
Publication: Bold Strokes Books (March 13, 2012), eARC, 264pp / ISBN 1602826501
Genre: YA Fiction

Read: January 11-12, 2012
Source: NetGalley

This book will be released on March 13, 2012!

Review

The problem (if it can be called a “problem”) with reading so many great books in a short amount of time is that the books that aren’t great but are still good seem even less good than they normally would if they’d were read after a streak of sucky books. Do you know what I mean? Street Dreams isn’t a bad book. I just wasn’t as wowed with it as I wanted to be. Continue reading »