YA Lit Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Another old book review from Goodreads. Does posting three times in one day make up for not posting for months? Maybe?

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Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not wildly original or remarkably well-crafted, but this book totally sucked me into its orbit for the four days it took me to read it. Already bought the sequel on Amazon! (Two day shipping suddenly seems horribly slow...) Tris Prior makes for a tough-yet-sympathetic and engaging heroine, but I'm having a hard time with Four. Maybe I'm too old (or cynical?) to have patience for boys who run hot and cold, even if they are super dreamy. Impatiently waiting for book 2 to get to my house...

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YA Lit Review: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

This is a bit old, sorry... 
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 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Smart, beautiful, and heart-breaking. I teared up while reading this during SSR time, hoping my 3rd period students wouldn't notice me sniffle. This book has such smart, insightful things to say about the nature of living and dying, the way we treat people with cancer and other terminal illnesses, the purpose of literature, and the beauty of first love and all the other kinds of love, too. I can see now why my students are obsessed with John Green. Bravo, sir.

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YA Lit Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was fantastic! I LOVE the kooky/creepy vintage photos, and Riggs pulls together a pretty fascinating story. Sometimes the mythology he created gets a little confusing (and I still haven't figured out how to pronounce "ymbryne"), but the crazy-fun cast of characters he put together more than makes up for it. I didn't really care for Jacob's family much (which I guess is sort of the point), so I'm hoping the sequel fully dives into the relationship Jacob is developing with the rest of the peculiar children. I also have to confess that I totally didn't see that twist at the end--should I have?

I have so many spoiler-ific questions now... (view spoiler)[ What happens to them now that they're out of the time-loop in a WWII-stricken world? Will there be any fun man-out-of-his-own-time hijinks in story for Jacob now that he's in the 1940s? Will there be any potential timeline-changing issues since Jacob is a man-out-of-time? (hide spoiler)]

I'm so glad there's a sequel already!

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YA Lit Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In 1943, during the dark days World War II, a British spy plane is forced to make an emergency landing in Nazi-occupied France, its pilot and single passenger stranded on enemy soil with little hope for rescue. That these two managed to survive such a dangerous foray into enemy territory is enough to call them brave men indeed, but to do so might be inaccurate: the two agents conducting this critical spy mission into hostile territory were, in fact, women. Code Name Verity tells the story of how these two best friends became players in a covert operation that could turn the tide of the entire war and what happens when they find themselves in a situation that will test their honor, their courage, and their friendship.


Code Name Verity is a twisty mind-bending book that sucks you in and then proceeds to surprise you again and again, a gorgeous soul-grabber of a novel. Reading this wrecked my brain and my heart. The history-lover in me cheers, the feminist in me dances, and the part of me that adores a piece of well-crafted writing is just astounded. I simply love clever, intelligent writing like this that doesn't lose its beating heart underneath the brain. I found myself flipping back and forth between the pages feverishly to find clues that I had missed

Anyone who likes exciting, action-packed stories will like this book, but especially people who love historical fiction or stories about war, airplanes and their pilots, or espionage.

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YA Lit Review: The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In The Maze Runner, Thomas finds himself trapped in an enormous maze with dozens of other boys and none of his memories of his pre-maze life except his name. It is an interesting premise, and I like how the author shows the little society the boys have created for themselves inside The Glade, complete with government, economy, and their own slang. I would imagine this would be a pretty good book for boys, but it does skew more middle school than high school, I think. The monsters in the maze (Grievers) are too fantastical to be truly frightening; the really terrifying question is why the boys are there in the first place and what ending of the book reveals about the truth of their circumstances. I am curious to see where Dashner takes this story in the next book.

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YA Lit Review: 'Matched' by Ally Condie

In my effort to be in the habit of posting more regularly, I'm going to start sharing my reviews on the various young adult books that I've been reading as a part of the classroom-library/book-reading-culture-building that I'm working on with my 11th graders. We always had Silent Sustained Reading time at my last school, but here I am really trying to commit to make the SSR time sacred--no grading or email-checking for me, and in general I'm trying to make sure the kids see me reading books that they would be interested in reading (though once in a while I slip in a book just for me into the rotation!). If you're already my friend on Goodreads, then these reviews might be a re-read for you, but otherwise, hope you enjoy my humble thoughts!

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[Review embedded from Goodreads.com] 

  Matched by Ally Condie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Matched is the first in a trilogy (trilogies are THE way to go in YA lit, apparently) set in a futuristic society where The Society (with ominous capitalization) makes decisions for all its citizens based on science and probability to maximize happiness and healthiness: what to eat, where to work, where to live, whom to marry, when to have children. If you were any sort of reader at all as a child, you'll recognize--this is basically the world from Lois Lowry's The Giver.

Add a teen love triangle and intriguing cover art, and you've got a book that appeals pretty well to YA readers (likely girls). You can tell Condie loves literature and poetry and language, which I can appreciate. The romance was a little... melodramatic for me. I probably would have appreciated it more when I was a teen. As it was, it felt a little overwrought to me (at the ripe old age of 26). Mostly this book makes me want to read The Giver again. Perhaps I should now that the series is complete.

With all that said, I wrote this in my journal midway through reading this book. Perhaps it is enough of a recommendation:

Whatever else I feel about the strengths and weaknesses of this book, I will love it forever for giving teenage girls (and me) this line: "Then, the question I asked myself was: Do I look pretty? Now the question I ask is: Do I look strong?"

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