Book 38: Someone Like Summer.

Book 38: Someone Like Summer.

M.E. Kerr
HarperCollins Publihers.
2007
Rating:
2

Amazon.com Review

Tall, blonde, blue-eyed Annabel, 17, is in love with Esteban, a Latino immigrant, who turns out to be part of an undocumented group of workers in her town in the Hamptons. The love is intense. They can't keep their hands off each other; in fact, he is the one who stops them from going too far. Prejudice is rough from all sides, including the town's powerful benefactor, who targets the illegals, and Esteban's older sister, who calls Annabel "flour face" and thinks all white girls are loose. The main characters disturb all the stereotypes. Annabel's loving, gruff dad employs illegals because he can pay them less, and he treats them well even as he badmouths them--but no way will he allow Esteban to hook up with his daughter. As things build to a searing climax, Annabel realizes she has asked little about Esteban's dad, who was assassinated back "home" in Colombia. And Kerr crosses other romantic boundaries. Esteban is short--he stands on his toes to kiss.

Hazel Rochman

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

What Do I Think?
Anna B. and Esteban are two whinny, teens 'in love.' Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters in the book. The only time I felt any kind of emotion due to this novel was when Davi-Larkin's dog- was run over. If that doesn't say enough, I don't know what will.

Book 37: The Hunger Games.

Book 37: The Hunger Games.
Suzzanne Collins.
Scholastic.
2008
Rating:
4.5

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. SignatureReviewed by Megan Whalen TurnerIf there really are only seven original plots in the world, it's odd that boy meets girl is always mentioned, and society goes bad and attacks the good guy never is. Yet we have Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, The House of the Scorpion—and now, following a long tradition of Brave New Worlds, The Hunger Games. Collins hasn't tied her future to a specific date, or weighted it down with too much finger wagging. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000, hers is a gripping story set in a postapocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands a tribute from each of its territories: two children to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death.Katniss, from what was once Appalachia, offers to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she is entirely focused on survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta, who recognizes the importance of holding on to one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances. It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a new Theseus, is cold, calculating and still likable. She has the attributes to be a winner, where Peeta has the grace to be a good loser.It's no accident that these games are presented as pop culture. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. The State of Panem—which needs to keep its tributaries subdued and its citizens complacent—may have created the Games, but mindless television is the real danger, the means by which society pacifies its citizens and punishes those who fail to conform. Will its connection to reality TV, ubiquitous today, date the book? It might, but for now, it makes this the right book at the right time. What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessed with grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. They're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet, she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures who are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It isn't just the contestants who risk the loss of their humanity. It is all who watch.Katniss struggles to win not only the Games but the inherent contest for audience approval. Because this is the first book in a series, not everything is resolved, and what is left unanswered is the central question. Has she sacrificed too much? We know what she has given up to survive, but not whether the price was too high. Readers will wait eagerly to learn more.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

What Do I Think?

This is honestly the best book I have read this year.

Every chapter had me gripping my chair and yelling. I was captivated until the very end.

Except, it isn't the end, since it's a trilogy.

Book 36: Left Behind: The Kids.

Book 36: Left Behind: The Kids.

By Jerry G. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye.
TtndaleHouse Publishers, Inc.
US 1998
Rating:
1

Amazon.com Review


"Someday, Jesus will return to take his followers to heaven.... We will disappear right in front of disbelieving people. Won't that be a great day for us and a horrifying one for them?" That was old Pastor Billings droning on again about the Rapture, and Judd was bored out of his skull. A sarcastic 16-year-old, way too cool for all this Jesus stuff, Judd had even lied about receiving Christ as his Lord and personal Savior. But poor hotheaded Judd is about to be very, very sorry.

The first book in the children's version of Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye's sleeper-hit Left Behind, The Vanishings introduces us to Judd ("The Runaway") and his three imperfect companions: Vicki ("The Rebel"), Lionel ("The Liar"), and Ryan ("The Skeptic"). These four teens, for one reason or another, all failed to submit to the power of the living Lord, despite their friends' and parents' best efforts. And when Pastor Billings's Rapture actually happens--sending Christian-piloted trains, planes, and automobiles crashing as millions of true believers literally vanish in the blink of an eye, leaving behind nothing but their skivvies and their W.W.J.D. necklaces--the four wayward teenagers get religion and fast. The saga continues when they receive a second chance in book two. (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes

What Do I Think?
This is without a doubt, one of the worst books I have ever read. It's very poorly written and the characters are not very ineteresting. I am glad to put this boook on the shelf and neveer pick it up again.