All tagged YA novel

Book Vs Movie: The Sun is Also a Star

“Carl Sagan said that if you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. When he says ‘from scratch’, he means from nothing. He means from a time before the world even existed. If you want to make an apple pie from nothing at all, you have to start with the Big Bang and expanding universes, neutrons, ions, atoms, black holes, suns, moons, ocean tides, the Milky Way, Earth, evolution, dinosaurs, extinction-level events, playtupuses, Homo erectus, Cro-Magnon man, etc. You have to start at the beginning.”

~from The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Dear Evan Hansen

Every day I meet an Evan Hansen or a Connor Murphy or an Alana Beck. Or a Zoe Murphy. Every day I meet one of these kids in our office, whether they are teens or still toddlers.

For the Evan or Connor who is already a teen, I take a deep breath. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Evan and Connor are characters in the musical (and now novel), Dear Evan Hansen. Both of whom are struggling with feeling alone, with feeling anxiety, with feeling/being depressed.

First Pages: A Darker Shade of Magic

“Kell wore a very peculiar coat.

It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but several, which was, of course, impossible.

The first thing he did whenever he stepped out of one London and into another was take off the coat and turn it inside out once or twice (or even three times) until he found the side he needed.”

~ A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

First Pages: Shatter Me

“I’ve been locked up for 264 days.

I have nothing but a small notebook and a broken pen and the numbers in my head to keep me company. 1 window. 4 walls. 144 square feet of space. 26 letters in an alphabet I haven’t spoken in 264 days of isolation.

6,336 hours since I’ve touched another human being.”

~ Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Long Way Down

There have been two school shootings since I started reading this book.  Two. 

And Long Way Down is a quick and easy read.  However....I put it down after the first school shooting which was by a 12-year-old.  Someone pretty much the same age as my Mini Me.

And then there was an even bigger shooting, more lives lost senselessly.

In Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds tackles gun violence in a different way—from the point of view of a teenage boy who feels as if he has no other choice but to avenge his brother's senseless death.  It makes sense....and it doesn't.