 |
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
by katyj10
This is a review of the 1999 book 'The perks of being a wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky. The book consists of a number of chronologically ordered letters written by teenager Charlie and sent to an unknown 'friend' (whom he has heard of but chosen due to the fact that they have never met).
Youngest sibling
Charlie is the ... youngest of three children and extremely clever. He's a loner at school though and manages to make friends with some older kids (I think they are around 2-3 years older than him) who accept him as he is and let him hang out with them at school and at their house parties.
Trauma
A few awful things have happened close to Charlie during his lifetime and this really gets to him. A school mate committed suicide and his closest relative (Aunt Helen) died in a car crash - all this is covered in the first few pages of the book - and Charlie takes it really badly and spends a lot of his time thinking about his friend Michael and his Aunt.
Rules of teenage-dom
In the book, Charlie seems desperate to fit in and tries on numerous occasions to change himself to be more accepted by everyone. He asks for advice on everything from dating to friendship and tries to follow the 'rules' but this does not always work for him.
Format
I liked the format of the book and felt the letters worked almost better than a diary. Charlie is honest and self depreciating in his letter and never boastful about his good school reports or achievements.
Recognition
One of Charlie's teachers has recognised his talent and gets him reading and writing more as extra school work. He tells him at the end of term that he is capable of big things and this is not something Charlie ever hears from his family so he is quite surprised to hear it but admits that he knows he is clever anyway.
Friendship
A brother and sister (Patrick and Sam) are Charlies closest friends. Charlie is there for both of them regardless of what happens and they treat him like their little brother, always looking out for him. Charlie is in love with Sam but she keeps him (kindly) at arm's length for his own good. One of the gang of friends labels Charlie one evening as the wallflower of the group (hence the title) always looking in and watching but not participating. Charlie makes specific attempts to 'participate' from then onwards on the advice of his teacher too but sometimes struggles.
Family
Charlie's own brother and sister are a little neglectful of Charlie and treat him like he's a pest and he is deeply hurt by this treatment. There are occasions when they need him and he is there for them and he sadly doesn't get this in return from them.
My thoughts
This book is an intense 'coming of age book' and really does beam you directly in to the mind of a teenage boy. He is frank and honest in the book and takes the rejection from his peers and family hard. Issues including drinking, smoking, drugs, teen pregnancy, sex, love and relationships are all covered in the book.
Final word
I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. It was quite difficult in places and you feel sorry for Charlie, but mainly sad because you know there are children in every school class who don't quite fit in but you don't know what they are thinking at the time. Charlie's intelligence saves him a lot of the time and he seems to have the respect of the teachers at school and his older group of friends but other than that it can be quite a lonely life for him.
Read the complete review |
 |
Awakened - P.C. Cast
by linzeelou
About the book
Awakened is the 8th book in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. It was published by Atom on 25th October in paperback and the book is 304 pages long.
Plot
Exonerated by the Vampyre High Council and returned to her position of High Priestess at Tulsa's House of Night, Neferet has sworn ... vengeance on Zoey. But Zoey has found sanctuary on the Isle of Skye and is being groomed by Queen Sgiach to take over for her there. Being Queen would be cool, wouldn't it? And what about Stevie Rae and Rephraim? The Raven Mocker refuses to be used against Stevie Rae, but what choice does he have when no one in the entire world, including Zoey, would be ok with their relationship? Does he betray his father or his heart?
What I thought
When I began reading Awakened, I could barely remember what had happened in the previous book. It had been that long since reading it that I was now going into this book quite blind. As the story began to unfold though, it did all start coming back to me slowly. That is one of the good things about this series. Even though there are sometimes large spaces of time between books, each new one recaps on things that have happened before so that you can't forget anything important.
As with the rest of the House of Night series, Awakened is told from multiple points of view. As Zoey is the main character of the series, I would have preferred for her to have more chapters but it is also nice to realise what is happening with everyone else, especially as they aren't always together. This being said, I think it would probably have been better if other characters only got a chapter or two, instead of taking up whole chunks of the book. The series started with Zoey and what was happening to her and I think focusing on her would really bring the series back to being as good as it was to begin with.
The thing that I was happiest to see in Awakened was Zoey and Stark being back together. I loved Stark from the minute he arrived in the series and now he gets a much bigger part in the story overall. As Zoey and Stark have been through a lot together and have experienced things that no one else can understand, they share a very strong bond and I really loved how you could tell that they were now extremely close. As Zoey and Stark have been spending time on the Isle of Skye with Queen Sgiach, the story takes a very interesting turn when Zoey is given the opportunity of a life time. More and more is explained about Queen Sgiach and the things she believes in/ what she follows and I would have loved to have known more about this.
Due to the multiple narrators, the pacing of Awakened is all over the place. One character could have a lot going on and their storyline be very exciting but then another character would come in who has less going on. For me, this made the pacing really hit and miss throughout. I don't mind a change in pace, in fact, I think it's a good thing but here it was too much all of the time. Just when something would start to get a bit faster paced, the character narrating would switch and the pace would change to extremely slow or sad etc.
One of my biggest problems with this book (and the series...kind of) are the references to pop culture. I don't mind a couple in a book but Awakened is full of them. Having this in a book dates it very quickly and I think this is a massive negative thing for the series as a whole. There are other YA books that will be able to stand the test of time because they don't mention things that people will have forgotten about in a few years time. One mention that really bugged me was about Glee. Ok, Glee is extremely popular but the mention seemed really over the top and it wasn't needed at all. Considering the characters are always busy fighting off evil etc, when would they even have time to watch Glee?
Although there were some pretty big things that I didn't like about this book, there was also a lot I did like. Awakened seems to me like the book that sets up everything that is about to happen, a filler book. Each main character has a lot going on and is preparing to face down Neferet, hopefully once and for all. Towards the end of the book, everything began to get really exciting as smaller plot lines began to be revealed, not to mention the twist at the end. I really am hoping that Destined has some massive shocks in-store for House of Night fans.
Read the complete review |
 |
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - Eric Carle
by catsholiday
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Eric Carle
This is a smallish (about the size of a paperback book) board book for young children by the illustrator and author of the famous and ever popular 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. The lovely thing about Eric Carle's books is his lovely painted illustrations which are so ... simple, childlike and colourful.
Apparently the author, Bill Martin Jr asked Carle to illustrate a story he had written because he had seen a beautiful and striking picture of a red lobster that Carle had created for an advert. 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?' was the result of this collaboration and was the start of Carle's writing career.
This book really has no story as such and I am certainly not giving any spoilers when I tell you that the text is basically 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? And then as you turn the page the next animal is asked ' Red Bird, red bird, What do you see?' and it moves through various animals including 'Blue horse, blue horse, What Do You See? And so on.
The animals are quite odd colours which can be a bit questionable. It could be confusing for children learning about animals but I think that the aim is to teach children their colours and the reality of the animals and their colours is irrelevant. A lot of children's books have strange colours so I don't think it is something that worries young children. Sometimes I think adults take these things too seriously and worry needlessly that children will become confused.
The animals in the book start with the Brown bear, then there is a red bird, yellow duck, blue horse, green frog, purple cat, white dog, black sheep and goldfish. After the goldfish we have the teacher and then finally the children in a class. As you can see not much of a story and there is a lot of repetition as each page only changes the one character and the rest is the same text.
Personally I can't see why the author randomly chose a blue horse and purple cat when the other colours are quite sensible. He could easily have had a blue bird and purple butterfly which would have been far more realistic and still told a similar story. It would not have spoiled the rhythm of the text nor the possibility for pictures and those are animals that are familiar to children too. An orange /ginger cat would have worked too. That would have been my choice but I am only a teacher not a children's author so who am I to comment?
Thus is a board book of a previously published book available in hard cover and paperback. As it is a VERY simple piece of writing and the pictures really are the 'selling' point for the audience I think a board book is probably the most suitable version.
This book is amazingly popular and I really can't see why really. There is nothing wrong with the book and the pictures are lovely but it really isn't that exciting. I just wish I could think of something so amazingly simple and draw lovely pictures and publish it as successfully as this had been. There are so many more interesting books around even for children of this young age but it has a certain appeal which is hard to put your finger on.
This is a book that I picked up from our little local village library which is in the old style red phone box. My granddaughter loves it. We spend hours reading Peppa and Night Garden magazines but this is really the only book that she will let us read all through. Other books she tried to turn the pages before we have finished reading and flips backwards and forwards without really listening to the story but this she sits and listens to avidly as though it is the most exciting story she has ever heard!
The fact that it is a solid board book is great because she is not very careful turning pages and a few of our magazines have got torn with less than careful page turning. Board books are usually for the younger child but if you have a child who is not very good at page turning then board books allow them to enjoy the fun of 'reading' by themselves without you having to worry about books being wrecked by their attention.
All children develop at different ages. My own daughter was listening to longer stories well before one and by the age of two was so careful with books that I still have her childhood books in excellent condition. My grandsons were both different one was good at listening and the second not so much but they were very good with lift the flap books and popup books and all of their books are also in great condition.
My Homestart children draw all over books and theirs are torn and stuck together with food but they do love 'reading' them but writing on them is even better. I am not sure I would let mine write on proper books as it doesn't really show a respect for a book; however they do hold pens very well.
So this is a good solid board book with lovely illustrations in the typical Carle style. The text is repeated in a dumpity dumpity dum rhythm and is simple which also appeals to children as they can join in once they realise the 'story'.
It is also fun to try and guess which animal in coming next as you read the book. So you read 'Brown bear brown bear what do you see?' and pause before reading, 'I see a red bird looking at me' then turning the page to find the red bird picture and repeat the question.
If you want a book that will appeal to younger children and is sturdy and colourful then this is one that fits the bill. I would suggest that by the age of three most children will have lost interest. My children at the age of two would have much preferred 'The Hungry Caterpillar' as it has a good story and the variation in page sizes as well as the lovely pictures and sense of humour. The fact that it is scientifically a little inaccurate is irrelevant. Personally I much prefer the 'Hungry Caterpillar' but granddaughter much prefers this one at the stage she is at right now.
I suspect you can pick this up on Amazon pretty cheaply used, just over £1 at the present time but new it is under £5. That is not a bad price for something that will give many hours of enjoyment for a small child.
Thank for reading. This review may be posted in other sites under my same user name
İcatsholiday
Read the complete review |
