Red - Audiobook review

Review:

 

Interesting premise: in the town of Scarletville, having red hair is all that matters. Felicity is popular and she has it all. She has gorgeous red hair, loyal best friends, a hot boyfriend, artistic talent, and it looks like she will win the Miss Scarlet pagent. But then she receives an anonymous note. Someone knows her secret: she dyes her hair, and has been doing it her whole life. It's her junior year in high school, and if anyone finds out she's a fake, she could lose everything.

 

So, it seems a bit silly that red hair could be that important, but there is always something, especially in high school. Money, looks, power, that "something extra" that the popular people have and the rest of us don't. 

 

The story is well-written and the narrator is good. I guessed the end (or most of it) long before it actually happened, but I still enjoyed listening. It was a bit of a stretch for Felicity to change so quickly at the end, but it wasn't terrible.

 

A funny thing, it doesn't occur to Felicity that in the outside world red hair isn't a big deal. She is also worried about how she will get out of Scarletville and go to college if she doesn't win the pageant. At one point, when someone points out she might be able to get a scholarship or other money for college, Felicity insists her mother won't let her take it, she would think it was charity. Her mother is clearly single-minded. Since Felicity was first born, her mother has been preparing her to win the Miss Scarlet pageant. Felicity doesn't care about the pageant nearly as much as her mother does. Talk about living through your child.

 

This is a young adult novel and maybe teens will get the hint that superficial things aren't as important as they sometimes seem.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1551518/red-audiobook-review

Friends come in unexpected ways....

Review:

 

I didn't know why so many Chinese people lived here and I sure didn't understand why one school needed to be better than another school or why you couldn't go to whichever school you wanted to. If I paid attention and listened, maybe I'd find out.

- Chapter 6

 

Azalea doesn't want to spend the summer with her grandmother, who she barely knows. But, her grandmother is injured and needs help, so her parents take her there and leave her for the summer. Azalea doesn't like meeting new people and she doesn't do well with strangers. A bunch of local kids come to the house to help with her grandmother's garden, so she is forced to interact with them. She meets a strange delinquent boy, a nice Chinese boy, and a stuck up girl who wears dresses to help in the garden. But, people are not always what they seem, and friendship comes when you least expect it.

 

Azalea is a great character who does her best to do the right thing. She comes to town to help her grandmother but ends up finding friends she didn't expect.

 

The book is inspired by true accounts of Chinese immigrants who lived in the American south during the civil rights era. It is told from two points of view, Azalea's in prose, and Billy's in verse. It's a cute, well-written book that will appeal to boys and girls who enjoy realistic or historical fiction.

 

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1550826/friends-come-in-unexpected-ways

Full Cicada Moon - review

Review:

 

"Girls learn how to cook and sew so they can be good homemakers. Why would you want to make a bookcase when you can make a cake?" But I want to ask her why wouldn't I.

- Flying to Vermont - January 1, 1969

 

It was like we were all in the Other check box, having in common speaking English, being American, and feeling that we didn't belong either in our parents' worlds or in this one.

- Flying to Vermont - January 1, 1969

 

Even now, that day reminds me that raindrops are stronger than hammers.

- Summer 1969

 

 

Half-black, half-Japanese Mimi just moved to a mostly white town in Vermont. It is 1969, and girls are expected to take Home Ec and grow up to be housewives or maybe teachers.  Mimi is different. She wants to take Shop class and she wants to be an astronaut. Her teachers and classmates may laugh, but Mimi is determined. When the people in town look at her, they see what is different about her and make comments about her race. Mimi wants to take shop and she won't let anything stand in her way, not even the rules or the principal.

 

I liked this book. Mimi is a strong female character. She doesn't let people tell her no. Even when people look at her and judge her by her looks or her sex, she doesn't let that stop her from trying to get what she wants. The novel is written in verse and takes place over the course of a year as she adjusts to her new town.

 

This is a good story to show kids what it means to be a friend and how one person standing up for what they believe in can make a difference.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1550808/full-cicada-moon-review

One Crazy Summer - review

Review:

Delphine is eleven, going on twelve and yet she is responsible for her two younger sisters. Their mother left when Fern, the youngest, was still a baby and they are being raised by their father and grandmother (Big Ma). One summer they fly to California to spend time with their mother. She is not what they expect, and she doesn't seem happy to see them. Their mother sends them to the community center to have breakfast and get them out of her house. There the sisters get to spend time with members of the Black Panthers who run the center and provide local children with breakfast and day camp.

 

I liked this story. It gave us a look inside the sixties and what life was like for young black girls. We see how hard it is for the girls not to know their mother and when they finally meet her, she is distant and unfriendly. Delphine is a strong girl who doesn't take crap from anyone. It is hard for her to just be eleven when she has so much responsibility. She stands up for herself and her sisters and by the end of the visit, they finally start to connect with their mother.

 

This is a great book and highly recommended for readers, especially girls. Fans of realistic fiction or historical fiction should enjoy this one.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1550801/one-crazy-summer-review

This is my school...

Review:

 

 

This book was recommended to me by many of my friends. They all said it reminded them of our private school. I totally loved listening to the book. In fact, when I finished, I actually missed the narrator. My car was empty without her...

 

The book is fun and quite enjoyable. I LOVED it!!

 

If you have children or have had children in elementary school, you should read/listen to this book. If it reminds you of your school, I feel for you. If it doesn't, it is a good reminder to enjoy what you have. It could be worse.

 

If you have kids, I predict you will enjoy this book, and at least relate to some of it.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1548184/this-is-my-school