Artemis Fowl- Reading Suggestions!

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh if only I had read this book at a different time in my life.... Perhaps when I was actually a teenager looking for a teenage book that I could connect with, instead of reading this as part of my grad school homework. I would have found it much more enjoyable. SO- instead of giving a literary criticism, I figured I'd provide you with a list of other novels that you may enjoy if you have read "Artemis Fowl" and vice versa...

1. "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card- The protagonists are both thrown into a situation and must deal with it. Furthermore, both protagonists are young teenage boys.

2. "The Odyssey" by Homer- Yep, I went old school with this one.... However, if you are into fantasy, there is a good chance you will also like mythology, especially the Greek gods and goddesses. Odysseus is also the epic hero, so you may enjoy seeing another protagonist change throughout a journey.

3. Harry Potter Series.... Need I say more? Read them. Live a little.

4. "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman.... Fantasy galore! Male protagonist as well...

Suggestions?? Post THEM!

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"Entwined" Literary Review

Entwined by Heather Dixon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't really know where to begin on this review, simply because this book didn't really affect me that much. Which is the most tragic thought concerning a book! I'd rather hate a book because it has evoked correlating emotions, instead of just having a blah or "okay" feeling.

Let's compile a list:

1) Azalea, our protagonist, is the eldest, aka the leader, of her twelve sisters... And they ALL happen to be too whiny for my taste.

2) Why do they all have awkward names? Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, etc... WHY?!

3) There's a family drama issue that I won't reveal for fear of spoilers, but this issue is remnant throughout the book and never seems to be resolved until the actual resolution. I felt like that young adult readers would absorb this issue and could even entice rebellion within readers themselves. As a teacher, I want students to discover lessons from literature, and even though the primary idea would be to detect that there is an issue, some readers may not grasp this.

4) The plot is quite simple, but does introduce complicated twists that don't seem to be delivered fluidly... Keeper is our antagonist, and we don't fully realize that he's a bad guy until it's too late... (SURPRISINGLY, much like the princesses themselves).

5) The original fairytale is one to encourage love, yet the love story is dismal. I definitely wanted more!



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"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" Book Review

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a refreshing read into the psyche of young adults who are coming of age and struggling to figure out how the world works and what is expected of them. Aristotle (Ari for short) and Dante are two young Mexican American teenagers who, through course of events find themselves forming a relationship.... as a reader, once I found out that Dante really (really!) liked Ari, I was rooting for them the entire time.

Related to an earlier book club discussion, I was impressed with the presence of the parental figures that are within the book. Often you find parents in YA literature to be more in the background while the teen "does their thing", but that isn't realistic. Parents influence their children in many ways and their presence needs to be accounted for in YA lit more often.

The writing style was also very interesting and I found that the shortened, two page chapters were also more realistic. As a teen, I only had a couple of pages written in my diary before a friend called to bug me or worse (!), my sister needed something. I felt like I could really connect with this style.

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