Thursday, March 13, 2014

Quick Review - Camp Boyfriend

Title: Camp Boyfriend
Author: J.K. Rock
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary, 2013
ISBN: 9781939392503
Pages: 324

Lauren Carlson spent the past school year with the popular crowd after a makeover and cross-country move allowed her to shed her former nerdiness. Now with summer looming, she faces a difficult choice: Should she reconcile with her past and convince her usual camp boyfriend, Seth, to become a more permanent choice or embrace her new life completely and stay with her jock boyfriend, Matt, who's decided to join her at Camp Juniper Point? Lauren spends the summer vacillating between the two boys. She claims that the popular crowd is superficial and confining, but she's the one who doesn't let others know who she truly is and chooses not to dig too deeply into her relationships. She's dated Matt for nine months and yet seems completely surprised by him at camp when he shows interest in anything that's not sports-related. The teens in this book don't speak with authentic voices and are never fully developed as independent characters. The subplot about Lauren's bridezilla older sister turns out to be nothing more than a device to have a big, feel-good ending. The pacing is slow and drawn out, exposing readers to contrived situations and extraneous supporting characters. A forgettable cookie-cutter teen romance with nothing new to offer.

For more information on this book:

Book profile on Amazon.com
Book profile on Goodreads
Book profile on Alibris

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

The Fly


Title: The Fly
Author: Elise Gravel
Publisher: Tundra Books, 2014
ISBN: 9781770496361
Pages: 32

The Fly by Elise Gravel is a fantastic picture book sure to delight and disgust young readers! This informational text includes lots of facts about flies but delivers them with great graphic lettering for emphasis and lots of humor. The illustrations are simple, straightforward, and eye-catching. This would be a good book for group story-time, one on one reading, and reading alone.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Update

Life has been a bit crazy of late! My husband and I have moved across the state of New York, I've found a new job, our cat has been very ill... It's just been nuts. But I'm back now! I've been reading and I can't wait to share more book reviews with you. 

In addition to the usual, long posts I've also decided to add some shorter, quick reviews which shall be called... Quick Reviews! These will be one paragraph reviews which touch on plot but mainly focus on my critique. 

I look forward to sharing what I've been reading with you and can't wait to discuss your thoughts in the comments section! 

Thank you!