mjenae's reviews
246 reviews

I already love this series.
"Stranded on an island together" is one of my favorite tropes of all times, so I'm not surprised that I'm so into this story. There's a lot of emotion, a lot of action, and steady but strong character development—all in 144 pages. Oh, and Mr. Korman has already made me laugh out loud once or twice. I can't say what outsiders would think of this, but if you're in the GK fan club, do please give these a try. They'll be worth your time.

Absolutely brilliant. I am blown away every time by Gary D. Schmidt's attention to plot and character and emotion, and how well he can weave a story that wraps the reader up and yet means so much—this time was no different. I wish I could experience it for the first time all over again.

Such a fun ride. The only thing that wasn't to my taste was the prose—it was distractingly bland—but I doubt most middle-grade readers would notice. Otherwise, I love what Colfer did with the fairy tales, telling them as they really were and giving redemption to the villains. I'm definitely going to finish the series when/if I'm able to.

I feel a little tiny bit embarrassed that I loved this book so much. But if you take into consideration that it's actually a study on facing your fears and self-discovery and becoming the best you can be—well, I guess that sounds a little less shallow than "rom-com."

Topics & themes:
• Anxiety. June suffers from intense social anxiety, which hinders her from doing a lot of the things she'd instinctively love. It also makes her a people-pleaser... sooo, yeah, both things that comforting to see faced on the page.
• Time travel. I KNOW. I didn't expect this to be science fiction either, but it 100% is and that should be in the genre list.
• Good v.s. evil within yourself. The author doesn't name this directly, but with the whole "get over your fears" thing it seems very prominent. Mikey and June are both learning when to listen to the voices in their heads and when to listen to kindness—when to hold back and when to drive forward through the doubt. It's almost therapeutic to see them helping each other through this.
• Equality. It only brushes on this, but I'd definitely say it's a theme, especially with June's ailing mother and how Mikey treats her. I loved to see their relationship—all the relationships in the book, actually.
• Sports. Mikey was once a coach and is now a gym teacher, so fitness and sports play a big part in the soundtrack of this story.
• Poetry. Same as the last one. June is an English teacher (so yes, teacher-teacher), and there are several times when she recites poetry. I loved it almost as much as Mikey did.
• Introspection. This book

does a really cool thing with uniting the past and present selves of June, and in the process it

tackles the hard lesson of forgiving—even accepting—your past self and understanding that you are the same person, but that fact does not keep you stagnate. You are growing every day, so give some grace, both to your past and present self.

On top of all this, I just genuinely enjoyed how this book was formatted, as audio and in general. Plus, the characters were all so well-rounded, the ending was spectacularly frantic and funny and heartfelt, and every moment made me smile. It was a good little escape.

Short but sweet, I know, but I'm not in the mood. I'll pick it up later.

Caitlin is a 5th-grader on the autism spectrum who, along with her widowed father, is grieving the death of her older brother. (Since this book was written in 2010, the author does call it Aspergers; the difference between the two terms is alluded to now and then.) Devon died in a school shooting before the story begins, and the journey in this book is the family and town's search for closure. In the middle of all this sorrow, Caitlin is also struggling to stay on her feet socially. She works on understanding, empathy, and making friends, which underlines the theme of how people are more than just black and white, good or bad. Sometimes the colors blur a little, but you have to give them a chance. Plus, color makes everything more beautiful.

Through a timely story of healing, Ms. Erskine takes us backstage into the brilliant mind of this beautiful young girl, highlighting her strengths (drawing, courage, intelligence, kindness) and helping readers to understand that just because a mind works differently than your own does not mean it is weird or defective. As Caitlin says: Everyone is special because this world is special—and everyone has difficulties because this world is difficult (paraphrased).

Caitlin made me grin, cry, and laugh through my tears. By the end of the book, I was so proud of her and everyone on the autism spectrum. Facing such challenges with such grace and stamina deserves a medal.

I wasn't going to leave a written review because I didn't have anything special to say, but then the conclusion came and I had to speak up.
This book has fantastic morals. Most other books I've read with the theme of parental neglect only portray the child as a victim, and someone who needs healing. It's often a lot more about accepting hard things than changing them.
Whit is a really good example of how I was at his age. Unassertive, passive. Desperately afraid of upsetting anyone. And this book is a really good example of how someone like Whit—someone like me—can grow, can become more assertive. Maybe it's not everyone else's fault for ignoring you. Maybe you just need to speak up. I really really appreciate the author for writing this book. I think kids need more stories like this, stories that reccomend action and character growth instead of the inevitability of nature and nurture.

I had to push myself to finish, but it was alright. I borrowed the book, so I couldn't highlight or underline like I would in a copy of my own, which may have contributed to my not taking much advice away from it.
I liked the bright graphics, and the engaging outline summaries at the end of each chapter. Her writing voice is definitely a very big part of the story, and I did get a little tired of her overly informal voice sometimes. Not saying this is true, but at times it felt like she was being so casual just to cover up condescension in her tone. It's fine in small doses; I guess I would've just appreciated a shorter book.
The extra chapter at the end was my favorite. In it, Michelle speaks about living in and giving from an abundance mindset. I should really memorize everything she said. She had some great advice, and I was impressed.

SHE WROTE A THIRD BOOK.
I was so excited when I heard this had been released. My friend told me it was even better than the second in the series, and it didn't disappoint.
I don't even know what to say. It was crazy and wild and... so, so emotional. Sure, there was the whole "save the world" aspect, and

Wolfgang Mozart "falling in love" with Amelia (WHAT?),

and Jai with his silliness and believe it or not, even teradactyls. But the nexus of this story is the relationships. Father/daughter, father/son, friends and enemies and friends turned enemies (and vice versa)—even some rOmAnTiC tEnSiOn. It also tackles big universal themes, like women's rights (mainly in composing music), grief, and nature v.s. nurture. All while maintaining those fabulous chapter titles (you've really got to read the books and experience them yourself).
Everyone got a great conclusion, but I still want another book. I'm not ready to leave these characters.

Well-written. The taste descriptions are bursting with life—blunt and mouth-watering. That part I loved.
I enjoyed most of the stories, too, but I'm just not so sure I liked the author. She was too ambivalent; by the end of the book, I really didn't know what her values were, except that she supported abortion (she was very vocal on this subject, which added to my distaste). She talked about God on one page, then yoga and crystals on the next. She spoke a lot about her former relationship with a man with celiac disease; sometimes she was blaming him for everything that went wrong (even though she ended the relationship on her terms), other times she sounded as if she were still in love. It felt like she was trying to please everyone by tackling all the big topics from a neutral perspective, and it made me want to scream. I wish she'd stuck to writing about food. She's very talented at that.