Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

I remember that last year (before this blog) I read a couple Jerry Spinelli books and really enjoyed them. For some reason I haven't read anything else by him in quite a while, but I found this book of his on the library's YA shelf. It was of a thin length, so I knew it would be an easy read. I basically based my decision for checking out a book on whether the synopsis on the back or the inside flap told a good story that would hook me in. And this book certainly did that trick.

Like The Rule of Won, this book takes place in the regular world of high school students, no fantasy or sci-fi elements whatsoever. On the first day of school, a strange new girl no one has seen before shows up and blows their minds away! Why, you ask? Because she's crazy! Incredibly friendly to perfect strangers, genuinely kind and caring, spontaneous, and a joy to be around. She absolutely does not believe in peer pressure. Other ways that she is different: She dresses in weird costumes, she brings her pet rat to school with her, she plays the ukulele (which she uses to sing Happy Birthday to whoever's birthday it is on any given day. Yeah, somehow, she knows everybody's birth dates) and at school games, she cheers for the other team as well as her own!

Her name, oddly enough, is Stargirl. This actually isn't her given name, but she claims that she likes to wear names like articles of clothing, and she replaces them when they don't fit anymore, so this time she calls herself Stargirl. At the start, everyone loves Stargirl and she becomes the most popular girl in school, because she's so honest and not fake, and gives off such a good energy. But then the kids find a reason to strongly dislike her different-ness, even hating her for it, so they collectively shun her. But Stargirl doesn't seem to care, either way. She just goes about business as usual.

The boy who narrates this story in the first person gets lucky enough to be Stargirl's boyfriend, and he loves every kooky thing about her. But when Stargirl starts getting ignored, so does he. Everyone stops talking to him, acknowledging his existence. He can't have both Stargirl and his friends, so how could he choose? Will it be possible for him to turn innocent Stargirl... normal?

This story seemed to have a pretty powerful message about nonconformity, and breaking the status quo. If anyone can take a leaf out of Stargirl's book, it seems that overall they'd be much happier, and more grateful to be alive every day. It's fun to do crazy, unpredictable things. At least, it's fun reading about it, but it makes you wish you could be brave enough to do those wacky things. But being human, aren't we already all crazy, in our own special way? Give this book a read. I think you'll enjoy it.

Mister Monday, by Garth Nix

This book, oddly enough, was the free paperback I'd gotten from our other library on the greatest Saturday of my life (in which I saw the films New Moon and This is it in the theater on the same day!), so I am very sorry to say that I didn't end up liking this book. ~,~ I bought the book because the prologue had been a little interesting, and I knew it had great potential (plus I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that one of my Blogger friends liked this series. Jacoby, maybe?), but the rest of the story couldn't live up to my expectations.

Basically, from what I understand, an asthmatic kid named Arthur is pushed into this wonderland place where just about anything goes and he is forced to battle evil because this strange Key chooses him. He's a regular kid, and he's not wishing for any big adventure, but it still happens to him. For no reason at all. And in my opinion, the whole premise doesn't seem to have any point to it, no morals or anything. It just doesn't make any sense.

I really didn't like Arthur, for some reason. I couldn't relate to him at all. Obviously because he's a boy, and he's younger than me, and I don't have any illness like his asthma, but still. The author could have found a way to have the main character relate to all of his readers. I just couldn't see myself being friends with this kid, unlike most other main characters in books/ series I absolutely love. He didn't even have much of a back-story. I mean, his parents are dead so he's raised by foster parents who don't have much of a play in the story, but he seemed to be pretty much over it, so I couldn't even use his orphan-ness to feel sorry for him. He simply didn't give me much of a reason to care what happened to him, so I couldn't care less about what happens in the rest of this series. I didn't care much for the other characters either.

The world that Arthur finds himself pushed into really didn't seem to go by any solid rules. There are creatures that are made of Nothing, some people fly with (removable?) wings, you can go through time by way of an Improbable Stair (improbable indeed!) and so many other confusing things. It's a bit hard to tell who are Arthur's friends and enemies. Well, I know Mister Monday is the guy that Arthur has to beat, and Arthur meets this girl who follows him around and helps him, but with most of the other characters I found it hard to place their true colors. And there didn't seem to be any set rules on what kind of magic was allowed in this story universe. This metal minute hand Arthur carries around, the Key, does anything he asks it to do in plain English. And as long as he keeps a hold on it, his asthma is cured. Just because.

Really, it isn't that often that I am forced to write a bad bad review, but sometimes it just has to be done. I can't think of anything positive to say about this book. It has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Even the writing style was clunky, and Arthur's thought process... give me a break. Don't worry though. The book that I read right after this one was able to cheer me up quite a bit.

The Rule of Won, by Stefan Petrucha

This was a pretty awesome book. I found it in the YA section (very recently discovered!) of our library. Obviously, the cover just draws you in. Doesn't it just look mysterious? ^_~ I've never heard of the author, but he's definitely got a great style, and the story is one of great intrigue. Oh, okay. I'll stop being all vague and tell you a little of what it's about.

Does anyone remember when the DVD "The Secret" came along, closely followed by the book? The Law of Attraction? Anything you want is yours as long as you're thinking strongly enough about it? Money, toys, relationships, health? The universe is abundant and all you have to do is ask? Well, if you haven't heard about "The Secret," this is a great story in which a parody of that book is used to demonstrate the wrong ways this power can be used. (I don't know how you might not have heard of "The Secret". I've seen it spoofed on an episode of the Simpsons as "The Answer". A hilarious episode. ^_^)

Screech High school student Caleb Dunne is proud to be known as a slacker. He's slightly lazy, a procrastinator, easy-going, not in a rush, tries to take the easy way out as much as possible. This doesn't make him a bad guy, or even bad in school. He's actually very likable, easy to relate to, and he does well enough in class. One day his girlfriend convinces him to join this new after-school club that wants to try implementing the principles of an explosive new book, "The Rule of Won." Apparently all you have to do is think positively and repeat affirmations to yourself that what you want is already yours and eventually it will manifest in real life. For a lazy person like Caleb, this sounds like a pretty interesting idea.

However the leader of this club, Ethan, is frankly a bit creepy. He believes in the Rule a little bit too much. Still, he convinces the club that the Rule is real and actually works, urging them to try it out for themselves. Every 3 chapters in the book it shows this message board, kind of like a forum for all the club members to speak their minds about what they want. At each meeting, they pick someone's desire, or Crave, and try to "imanifest" it together by chanting and thinking positively.

For a while, this power seems to actually work. They wish for better funding for their school, and they get half a million dollars! They wish that their sucky basketball team will win them the next game, and they win! But wait, something doesn't seem right. The school was up for a grant anyway, didn't anyone see the bulletin board a month ago? And the other team came down with the flu, so of course they lost the game easy. Is the Rule really working, or is everything just a strange coincidence? Would you use the Rule to get what you want, even if it bode ill for someone else?

But it's too late. The Rule of Won has turned into a school religion. If you don't believe, you might get beat up. And the next group Crave is for everyone to pass their next Algebra test. Without studying. Because you don't have to work to get what you want. You just have to wish it, and it will happen... won't it?

That was just the first half of the book. I don't want to take all the mystery out of it, so you'll just have to read it for yourself. But the story is really cool and thought-provoking, as well as just an exciting story to follow. And it's quite rare that I read a book that doesn't have at least some fantasy element. It was stationed in as real a world as you can imagine, and I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too.

700 Sundays, by Billy Crystal

This was a wonderful book that my sister recommended to me. It's funny how over the years my twin and I developed quite different reading interests, but we still have a somewhat similar taste. This was a brief kind of autobiography of the great comedian Billy Crystal. The story was actually a play before it became a book. Must have been quite a funny play. ^_^

Billy sure had an amazing childhood. But he also had a sad one, because his father died when he was only 15. ~,~ He was born on a Sunday, and his dad died on a Sunday, so he calculated that he'd only shared 700 Sundays with his old man. Not very many, when you think about it.

The way the book is written is very engaging. Billy Crystal's life was just as interesting as a fictional character, only it felt a lot more real, because... well, he's a real guy, ain't he? =P But this is really an awesome book to read. I know Billy Crystal as a really funny guy from a bunch of movies and stuff, but this shows a whole other side of him.

Storyteller, by Edward Myers

This was a wonderful read that I found when I was in the library the other day. I'd just recently discovered that we had a Young Adult section! Can you believe that I didn't know my own library as well as I thought I did? Anyway, I searched the shelves for something that would interest me, and this book caught my eyes at once. "Storyteller?" How fascinating! I mean, wouldn't you agree, with that cover?

I was quite well rewarded for picking this book up. It reminded me so much of the Marigold books that I'd enjoyed so thoroughly. The story takes place in the Realm of Sundar, a medieval kingdom right out of a fairy tale. The main character is a young man named Jack (a pretty popular name among young men in stories, isn't it? =P), who from a very young age has loved to tell stories. And he's good at it too. So when he's ready to go out and seek his fortune, Jack has quite the interesting adventure.

All the characters are quite well developed, and I loved the writing style very much. Immediately I'm reminded of reading a fairy tale, or of having someone tell a story out loud to me. It's a wonderful tale that teaches about the power of love, staying true to yourself, and what lies in the heart of someone whose deepest wish is to tell stories to the people. Stories that will make their listeners laugh, cry... even sneeze. =P (No, really. He does make someone sneeze at one of his stories!)

I really liked this book, and it would have made my top favorites list, only the end part was a little bit so-so. Like, Jack is somehow corrupted by the royal politics, and he turns into little more than a puppet for the antagonists. (No, he wasn't literally a puppet. He just did whatever they told him without question for a while.) But somehow he gets his head back on straight and plays for the right side again. Still, it wasn't nice to see how the main character you grew to like could so easily be corrupted... And in the end there's a fascinating plot-twist that you never saw coming!

Anyway, besides that, I think this is a great book to read, especially for wannabe authors like myself. ^_^ Even though it's set in an old, fictional time, the principles of telling a good story seem to be the same. I know this book was a decent one, because when I read the very last page, I remember smiling, somewhat in appreciation of the story that was told to me.

This is now a book that my brother picked up. He seems to like it a lot. He's reading most of it, but Adam likes it when I read a couple chapters aloud to him. If there's anything I like better than reading books, it's reading them out loud to my younger brother. ^_^ I highly recommend this book, and this activity.

A couple of short non-fiction books.

Taking a tiny break from fiction novels, I picked up a couple of thin non-fiction books that were quite interesting to read. One of these was a book all about the subject of irony, "The Big Book of Irony". (The book all by itself is ironic, because it's not even that big! ^_~) I love irony. I really liked all the ironic quotes and stories mentioned in this book. Just like a sense of humor, I believe a sense of irony is a wonderful thing to have. Of course, a lot of the ironic examples mentioned in the book are pretty morbid, for example: Say a guy is in the mood for a Coke, so he hops on a bike to go to a nearby gas station or something. Suddenly a truck runs over the guy and kills him. What was the truck delivering? Coke! Ooh, the irony. =P A less gruesome example is if a thief with no teeth in his mouth is caught and arrested for stealing toothbrushes. You probably get the idea by now. So basically, this was a good book that explored irony and it's history, definitions and many uses. (Doesn't the irony of the cover just take the cake or what?)

The other book I read that I finished more recently was of a very different tone altogether. It's kind of the memoirs of a prolific author that I've never heard about, but who used to be a teacher and got a lot of his ideas from his experiences and the letters students wrote him when he visited schools. It's called "Invitations to the World". When I randomly picked it out from the library, I thought the subtitle "Teaching and Writing for the Young" meant it would teach me a little about writing. It didn't exactly do that, but it was still a good book anyway. It included excerpts from the guy, Richard Peck's, numerous books, and a couple poems that I believe he wrote. One of these poems in particular stood out for me, the last thing he writes in the book:

---

A story is a doorway that opens on a wider place.

A story is a mirror to reflect the reader's face.

A story is a question you hadn't thought to ponder.

A story is a pathway inviting you to wander.

A story is a window, a story is a key,

a story is a lighthouse, beaming out to sea.

A story's a beginning, a story is an end.

And in the story's middle, you might just make a friend. ^_^

---

I don't know how much I would enjoy Richard Peck's novels, since he doesn't exactly write sci-fi or fantasy fiction, but his name could be something for me to remember.

Gone, by Michael Grant

This book was another recommendation by the Lateiners. These guys are a really great site if you're looking for some cool new reads, I got to tell ya. ^_~ Anyway, I think this book was pretty neat and I wanted to tell you a bit about it and why I liked it. So...

Well, to tell you the truth, it kind of reminded me of Maze Runner. Where kids have to act like grown-ups and survive in a new society. The difference is that it's in the "real world" where everyone knows how the world is supposed to work, as opposed to the Gladers in Maze, who all forget their former lives.

It all starts when all the adults and anyone over the age of 15 disappears off the face of the Earth. Or just off the face of Perdido Beach in California. No explanation or fireworks. Everyone just disappears and only the little kids and young teenagers are left to fend for themselves. And when you turn 15 years old, you'll vanish as well! Not only that, the Internet, cellphones and all televisions stop working, so they're cut off from the rest of the world. And there's a strange, impenetrable barrier that wraps around the city limits, so they can't even escape. Oh, and add to all of these scary facts that some kids have started to discover superpowers, and some animals are mutating in very weird ways? I think you've got yourself a very interesting story here.

I liked all the characters in the book. Nearly everyone gets a little bit of the story to tell, so you get inside their head a little bit. The personality of the main guy, Sam, kind of reminded me of Harry Potter, in that he's kind of the reluctant hero, but he's noble and shows natural leadership and tries to do the right thing. Characters like Albert and Mary are also neat, because these teens are selfless and only think about the needs of others. Albert runs the local McDonalds and feeds everyone Big Macs, while Mary runs the day care center and looks after all the children who aren't able to take care of themselves, like babies and preschoolers. These people are big heroes to me.

Some parts were... okay. Like the fact that there were a lot of mean bullies out there. And not that the bullies caused all of it, but there was a lot of blood and gore and pain in this story. There was a very interesting sub-plot about this girl Lana, who at the time of every adult's disappearance was with her Grandpa in a car on the highway in the desert, and with Gramps gone she gets into a major car-crash and nearly dies! Luckily, she discovers she has the power to heal herself, but only after a long, long time. It tortured me to read about how much pain she had to endure. Sheesh!

The end of the book was very open-ended. I knew ahead of time that this was a series, so I know there's more to the story here. Still, I think it was a good place to end this part of the tale. I don't know how long it'll take me to want to read the sequel. Hunger, is it called? Well anyway, I think I'll take a little break from the series. I'm not that crazy about it. But it's good enough that I can recommend it to you.