Having Crossed the Bar (Not to Mention the Red Desert) - Review of "Crossed" by Ally Condie

Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication Date: November 2011
Reading Level: 13 and up

Synopsis: (from Goodreads) –
The hotly awaited second book in the dystopian Matched trilogy

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

My Review:
Remember how my review of "Matched" was an undying love letter to Ally Condie and her masterful work of YA fiction?  Remember how I was super-duper excited for the second installment?  Well - I'm still excited about this series, but I do have a few things to say about it.

When giving my rating on Goodreads for this one, I sincerely wished there was a way to give a ½ star rating between levels. Because “Crossed” was really good, but it has the unenviable job of being the second book in a trilogy. “Matched” was fantastic – like, blow-everything-out-of-the-water brilliant and I loved every minute of it. “Crossed” was excellent in its own right, but I think “Matched” was slightly better.  This is not a dig against "Crossed," by any means - I loved it!  But I loved "Matched" just a teensy bit more.

I was correct in my prediction that “Crossed” would be a bit more action-oriented than “Matched” was. This book takes Cassia and Ky into Southern Utah the Outer Provinces. They’ve both been split up and put into the company of other Aberrations (outcasts from the Society – though now that I think of it, I don’t know that Cassia was ever officially marked an Aberration. But I’m sure that’s going to change. Nit-picky, I know). There is still a little of Xander in the story, but that is blessedly short (if there is one thing I want the world to know about these books is that it is possible to have a really good YA dystopian story and leave out the contrived love-triangle.  The itty-bitty love triangle in this series actually serves a purpose!  Bless Ally Condie for this forever!) and Cassia’s focus is entirely, 100% on finding Ky.

One thing I want to make special mention of is the switch between Cassia’s and Ky’s first-person POVs between chapters. I only make note of it because I only noticed my enjoyment of it because I took on the NaNoWriMo challenge and I’m trying to work this technique into my own novel, so I’m pleased to see it work well in an actual published work (there is hope!) I’ve always, always enjoyed stories written in first-person and it almost seems like they’re easier to write. But there’s always something going on elsewhere in the story that, as an author, you feel like it’s important for the reader to know but your character doesn’t know it quite yet. So, I liked that Condie just flat out said “Dear Reader, you get Ky's POV in one chapter and Cassia's in the next.” Both characters deal with their own uncertainty about the other (Is Ky still alive? Is Cassia out there looking for Ky?), but the reader knows that it’s going to work out (or, at least you hope it will) because you know what the other one is doing. My only complaint (and this comes from me reading the Nook version and I wonder if there were headers in the printed version that avoided this problem) is that when Ky and Cassia meet up, the back-and-forth first-person gets confusing and I’m not always sure who’s speaking. But it’s a minor thing – something that someone reading the hard-copy might not have had an issue with.

The only thing that gives me pause about this is that it felt like it ended too quickly. Maybe I’m used to gigantic blow ups and insane cliffhangers at the end of the second part of my trilogies, but there wasn’t much of that. There were a few things that (I won’t mention because of SPOILERS) take Cassia and Ky and the rest off into points unknown and set up the third book, but it felt like there should have been more. I’m sure there are going to be plenty of CRAP JUST GOT REAL moments in book 3 because there were so many in “Matched,” but just not as many in “Crossed.”

Bottom Line: “Crossed” is a good enough follow-up to “Matched” and I’m eagerly awaiting the end of the series.

A Little Birdy Told Me...

Not a review, but I do have something good in the works so watch this space!  I do have two announcements for those in and around Salt Lake County (one applies to the interwebs, so maybe that caveat isn't as hard-and-fast).  Both apply to the library and as I work for the Salt Lake County Library, I feel like I ought to support the home team :)

Two things -

1 - This is for today only - If you've read a bunch of really good books and you don't know what to read next, if you post a comment listing a few of those titles on the Salt Lake County Library's Facebook page, one of their librarians will give you some personalized suggestions of something you might enjoy based on what you give them.  This is just like their personalized reading lists that they do via email, but much quicker.

2 - In one of the comments of said personalized recommendation campaign, one of the librarians let slip that Ally Condie will be speaking at the Holladay Library on March 23, 2012!  Remember Ally?  Author of Matched and Crossed? (which I will be reviewing soon)  Super-awesome books and (I hear) a really super-awesome person?  I'm sure more details will arise as the date comes closer, but I for one am stoked!  The calendar is cleared of any and all conflicts (and before you even say it - I can hit The Hunger Games midnight showing and go see Ally Condie in the evening.  It's a dystopian awesomeness all-day affair!)

The Trailer! It's Here!

The Hunger Games movie trailer is out!

I have chills just watching this.

Boffins, Beasties and Bum-rags - Review of the "Leviathan" trilogy

Another whole-series review? Well, dear readers, you deserve it.  And what a doozy of a series it is!

Titles: 1- Leviathan, 2- Behemoth, 3 - Goliath
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Illustrator: Keith Thompson
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Leviathan Synopsis (from Goodreads) -

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.
With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

My Review:
I know I slagged off Westerfeld for his other-series-that-shall-not-be-named (and rightly so).  I was initially hesitant to read another one of his books because of how much I despised that other thing.  But my students at the time recommended this series to me and my sister said it was good and it was steampunk rather than dystopian, so I thought maybe a change of genre would be good.

And now, seven months after I began Leviathan, I can honestly say that this is one of the best series that I have read in a freakishly long time.  I don't think I have devoured a book - much less three of them - with such ferocity and enjoyment as I did these three.  Not since Harry Potter, where I gladly sacrificed sleep to read "just one more chapter," have I been so excited about a book.  And I get excited about a lot of books.  Seriously - I audibly SQUEE'd when I saw that Goliath was available at the library.  Since I started working there, I don't think I've been so careful to avoid accidentally reading a spoiler when I'm checking in a book.

This series takes place in an alternate World War I, which is an interesting setting for an author to go.  Most steampunk is in the late 1800s.  And honestly, if you want to do a war story, it seems like the easiest place is World War II.  But I applaud this move for several reasons - 1) It's a fresh topic to explore. 2) When I was growing up, I heard plenty about World War II and what that was all about.  But I seldom heard about World War I.  And, in my childlike mind, there must have been a One for there to be a Two.  Even the crappiest of sequels had to have an original to follow.  So I think it's great for there to be something for kids about World War I.  Even if it's not historically accurate (c'mon - they're traveling on an airship grown from a whale, for heaven's sake!) it might pique some kid's interest and want to learn more about that first conflict.

I've got to talk about the Darwinists and the Clankers, which are the two factions at war in this alt-WWI.  The Darwinists are the Allied powers - Britain, France, Russia - and they have the ability to build machines out of animals.  The Leviathan airship is pretty much a giant whale with bits of other animals genetically built in to the structure.  One of their weapons is a flechette bat, which is a genetically modified bat that will eat pieces of iron and the crew lets them out and they... well, they drop what they've eaten and it's like a little flying machine gun (don't think about it too much).  The Clankers are the Central Powers - Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire - and their machines are metal machines, but bigger.

Oh geez - here's the picture from the endsheets of Leviathan. It's easier to understand:

Click to embiggen

Is it weird that I love how Russia is drawn as a giant rotting bear?

Another thing that made me love this series is the character of Deryn Sharp.  Dear Sweet Gallifrey - this kid has so much life and sarcasm and she is totally her own person.  I love how she is totally not worried about anyone discovering her secret (as long as she's careful and follows her own plan) she can be a midshipman on a naval airbeast and show up all the boys on the crew.  The best, I think, is when Dr. Barlow ("the lady boffin," as Deryn often calls her) comes aboard and Deryn isn't cowed by her authority, even though the Leviathan is charged with taking her to Istanbul as a scientific ambassador.  Even when Prince Alek gets thrown into the mix, Deryn holds her own and their friendship is believable.  I also love how Deryn doesn't make a big deal about "girls can do anything boys do" and that allows the story to flow and take shape without any sideshow preachiness to slow it down.  I mean, I was always one of those girls that wanted to beat the boys in sports and games and things like that, but that doesn't mean I want it shoved in my face every time I try to enjoy a good story.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely gorgeous illustrations in this book.  When I finally got my copy of Goliath from the library, I was a bit miffed to see that the tech services folks had taped down the book jacket so you couldn't see the endsheet illustrations (I'll probably purchase this set for myself for Christmas - it is definitely worth owning.)  Keith Thompson does such an amazing job of creating scenes and characters and they add to the story.  As good as the narrative is, it's hard to picture a lot of this stuff when you're just reading the word that describe living airships and enormous metal clanking war machines.  The pictures are just a wonderful way to give the reader a good sense of place and how these things would look.  My favorite is the one in Leviathan where Deryn is flying on this big jellyfish-looking air balloon and the wind has blown her into the path of the Leviathan airship and the ship is just coming out of the clouds and it looks like a whale flying in the air.  If I could have that picture framed on my wall, then I would - it is that neat.

On a personal note - It's funny after having come back from a trip that took me to Vienna and Serbia, which are the two main places that got World War I going in the first place (and hearing so much about Nikola Tesla  in Serbia - and he turns out to be a complete loon in Goliath).  Now, I just have to add Britain to that list and I will be a satisfied little world traveler.

Speaking of Tesla - just because I can and because it's Back to the Future day - here's a video of Tesla coils playing the theme song from BttF -



Ah - nerds. Don'cha just love 'em?

As I look at this review thus far, I notice that I didn't give too much mention of Behemoth.  I will say that the second book was good - it just has the difficult task of being the second book in a trilogy.  By this point, the story has already started and it's not going to finish here.  The whole "Mr. Sharp is really a girl" plot continues on, as does Alek's continued hiding from the Clankers.  Their relationship grows to where it needs to be at the beginning of Goliath and the reader is constantly wondering when the heck is Alek going to figure out that "Dylan" Sharp is actually female (because you know that's going to happen at some point.  It always does).  But it's still interesting and enjoyable and Deryn and Alek are just a joy to follow, no matter what's going on in the rest of the story.

(Oh, and there's no crappily fabricated love-triangle that seems to be all the rage in YA fiction these days.  There is one moment in Behemoth where it comes close, but it mercifully skulks back into the shadows and lets the rest of the story move along in peace).

Bottom Line - I could gush more about these books, but then you wouldn't have time to go read them yourself (I haven't even mentioned how adorable Alek is through the whole series.  And that picture of him on the cover of Goliath? Da-yum). This trilogy more than makes up for Westerfeld's previous botched attempt at YA fiction.  Even without that hanging over his head, he deserves much praise for Leviathan, Behemoth and Goliath.  This just a fantastic story and anyone who enjoys steampunk or alternate history or even historical fiction will enjoy these books.

LDS Fiction: You're Doing It Right

Title: Not My Type: A Single Girl's Guide to Doing It All Wrong
Author: Melanie Jacobson
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Date: September 2011


Synopsis (from Goodreads) -
Twenty-three-year-old Pepper Spicer is not living the dream. She ended her engagement at the last minute because her fiancé — a musician and soon-to-be reality TV star — wanted her to sacrifice her own career ambitions for his.

Now she's stuck at home sharing a room with her little sister, trying to pay off massive debt for a wedding that didn't happen, and spending Friday nights Facebook-stalking everyone who has a better life. Her therapist father urges her to choose her career dreams and count her blessings by writing weekly thank you notes, but gratitude is a tall order when she botches an important job interview and has to settle for writing an undercover dating web-zine column — the
last thing in the world she wants to do. Still, as Pepper (byline: Indie Girl) chronicles her bizarre and hilarious blind dates, she gives her father's challenge a try and slowly finds herself leaving self-pity behind. Life takes a major upswing as Pepper's column hits the big time and she tastes the exhilarating thrill of success. But there's one tiny problem: the intensely hot man she's falling for is having issues with her job (again). Will Pepper trade her personal ambition for another chance at love?

My Review:
I have had a very rocky relationship with LDS fiction over the years.  I blame Jack Weyland and all his soapy-sappy-Sunday-School-watered-down versions of "realistic" (ha!) LDS fiction where it takes someone dying of some rare disease to give the lovable-yet-misguided protagonist their "Come to Jesus" moment and suddenly everything in life is wonderful.  I thought I had another one of "Those Books" on my hands when "Not My Type" floated across the automated check-in system at work.  Didn't help that the main character's name is "Pepper Spicer" (I wish I could say that this name is just something cutesy the author made up, but I would not be surprised if there is some poor unfortunate BYU co-ed with a name like that. I don't know what kind of ill wind is blowing down in Utah County that people name their children such weird things).  I was pretty well ready to blow this one off as another sappy Jack Weyland-knock off about a poor girl whose best idea of rebellion is to read the Salt Lake Tribune and hang out in Sugar House with all the people who fancy themselves hippies, yet could only get their liberal club cards punched as far as the east side of Salt Lake City (poor things. You almost have to feel sorry for them).

However, I was not prepared for the character development Melanie Jacobson had in store for her heroine.  Or her loving-yet-honest (and very refreshing) take on Utah culture - especially the dating scene.

Pepper lives with her parents and works full-time in an effort to pay off a wedding that never happened.  Her ex-fiance, Landon, broke off not just one wedding, but two, because his music career came first.  So, Pepper is living with her parents (sharing a room with her seven-year-old sister) and working a crappy full-time job at a sandwich shop in order to pay-off the debt from the second wedding that never happened.  Needless to say, Pepper is not happy about where her life is and the book begins with her making everyone else miserable because she is miserable.  Her dad, in an effort to administer tough love, gives her two choices - (1) find a new job and a new attitude (for the latter, Dad assigns Pepper to write a thank you note once a week to someone who's done something nice for her) or (2) find an apartment, pay rent and take longer to pay-off the wedding debt.  Luckily for the story, Pepper chooses Option 1.

The weekly thank you notes are key to this being an enjoyable story because Pepper's attitude does change and she does find joy in the weird circumstances she winds up in.  She does find a better job writing for an upstart online magazine for the twenty-somethings.  Her column: "Single in the City," where she goes on dates with guys she meets online and writes about the dates and how disastrous they are (all under a pen name, of course - because who would go out with a girl who's going to write about the date and post it to the internet?)  However, Pepper's newfound change-of heart conflicts with her desire to make fools of these boys... plus she ends up meeting a really nice guy (through a rather hilarious chain of events.  Well... I thought it was funny. I won't spoil it for you, dear reader. Seriously - did not see that one coming).  She also adjusts her career expectations for the better and it's wonderful to see her shift from the whiny, heartbroken sandwich shop manager to a self-assured, happy reporter.

As with most LDS fiction, there are certain elements of Utah culture that are fun to see (considering Utah isn't a place that's featured in a lot of mainstream fiction writing).  I especially loved how Jacobson included the abject idiocy and, quite frankly, pants-wetting the local media engages in when someone from Utah gets on one of those stupid American Idol shows (it's kind of embarrassing, to be truthful).  There are a few scenes that are Church-related, but nothing too doctrinally-heavy gets explored, which is nice for people who aren't familiar with the particulars.  And anything else that's unique to our culture that other people might not fully understand is either explained enough for the purposes of the story or the reader can figure it out well-enough that it doesn't ruin the narrative.  Honestly, I think anyone - LDS or no - would enjoy reading this book.

Bottom Line: All in all, a nice fluffy romantic comedy where the characters just happen to be LDS.  Some lovely character development and lots of witty dialogue makes for an enjoyable read.  It's refreshing to see something even halfway decent come out of the local publishing companies and I'm glad I picked this one up.

"Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light" - Review of "Matched" by Ally Condie

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Date: November 30, 2010
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Synopsis (from Goodreads) -
Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My Review:
Before I begin my review, I have something to say: I want all of you book-summary-writing people to pay close attention.  No, even closer than that.  That's right - right into the computer screen...

ahem...

WRITE JACKET SUMMARIES THAT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE ACTUAL PLOT!!

Seriously! The jacket summary makes Matched sound like it's the dystopian version of Twilight or just another version of Uglies.  If I were Ally Condie, I would take exception to those comparisons, because Matched has so many things that neither Twilight nor Uglies do not (starting off with interesting characters and a coherent plot).  Actually, if you want a decent summary of Matched that gives a good overview of the story, I would suggest the one on the Wikipedia page:

"For Cassia, nothing is left to chance--not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the "burden" of choice. When Cassia's best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable--rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her."

Jeez - some dork from Wikipedia can do your job much better than you can!! (or if you are that Wikipedia dork, why did you not do that better job in the first place??)  Marketing FAIL!

*deep breath* Okay, on to the review.

Just so you know, I listened to the audiobook of this because the wait line for the book at the library was horrendously long.  I don't have the actual book and searching for details in the audiobook is cumbersome (and my Google Fu is failing me), so some details will be fuzzy.  Sorry if that bothers you.

I have read reviews that Matched is basically an extended version of The Giver (which is one of my favorite books, period).  My response: Yes and No.  There are similarities to the Community in The Giver (the Society chooses your job, your mate, watches every little move you make and dictates when you will die).  However, Matched goes further than The Giver does - it explores the Society a lot more than The Giver does, even looking into different sections of the Society and its citizens much more closely.  This works in favor of Matched, because the main character is working things out on her own - she doesn't have a wise mentor like in The Giver. This is not a bad thing nor does it take away from the effectiveness of The Giver as its own story.  They are two very different stories set in similar circumstances (and written for very different audiences).  In fact, I would call Matched "The Giver meets The Hunger Games."  And you will hear no complaints from me on this.  This is what Uglies was supposed to have been and failed at.

Matched starts out with Cassia Reyes on the night of her Matching Ceremony.  She and scores of other kids throughout the country who have turned 16 in the past month have gathered in their respective City Halls where they will learn who the Society has Matched them with, based on genetic compatibility and the likelihood of such matches producing quality offspring.  This is genetic and societal engineering gone mental, but the book never says it outright.  Mostly because this is from Cassia's point of view and she doesn't have a word for this sort of thing. - the calories in the food are monitored as they are distributed, which means that the Society can and does give its citizens smaller portions if it chooses to do so (as it does to Cassia - SPOILER!)  But when Cassia gets her microcard with information about the lucky boy she's Matched with ...[insert jacket summary here].

So, the impetus for this story is that Cassia isn't sure who she's supposed to be Matched with.  But separate and apart from the only-for-teen-angst love triangle, the story also deals with the deal of Cassia's grandfather.  Now, I compare Grandfather in Matched to Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender (the animated TV show, not the movie).  Grandfather has been raised in the Society, but he also has the benefit of being among the first generations who lived under Society rule.  One imagines that he remembers a little of life before the Society (some details in the book led me to that conclusion) and he becomes a bit of a rebel.

The beautiful thing, however, is that Grandfather was very quiet about his rebellion.  Even his own family has no idea of the rules he has broken.  On his 80th birthday (which is the day that the Society decrees that all citizens must die - before they become too old and useless, you know), Grandfather gives Cassia a compact as her one allowed artifact and he shows her how to open a hidden compartment where he has hidden finds two outlawed poems - "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas and "Crossing the Bar" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  She reads the poems and the words of those poems make her realize that she can think for herself (it doesn't happen overnight, but the process of her character development is AMAZING!  "Pants," Cassia is not).

Oh, by the way, there are only 100 poems allowed in the Society.  Also, there are 100 showings (which I think are supposed to be movies), 100 history lessons, 100 songs, 100 books, 100 paintings, etc.  Everything that didn't make the lists of 100 gets destroyed.  I don't know if Condie has made up the exact lists in their entirety, but the few examples from the story suggest that the 100 whatevers were chosen to placate and pacify the masses  and lead them to accept Society rule - not kick them up into a rage or anger them against the Society.  But the two poems Cassia finds in her compact do exactly that - she begins to rebel within her own mind and question everything she's known in her life.

For the most part, the love triangle takes a backseat to the main plotline (DEAR SWEET GALLIFREY, THANK YOU!)  The first third of the book is made up of Cassia learning from the poems Grandfather gave her.  For a long time, I forgot why the book was called Matched because Cassia spends so much time deciding if she will go gentle into that good night or if she'll rage against the dying of the light.  But then the boy she was faked-Matched with, Ky Markham, sees Cassia reading the illegal poetry.  Ky has his own set of unique problems (and a whole list of reasons why he shouldn't be Cassia's Match - which I'll let you, dear reader, discover when you read the book).  Cassia and Ky don't so much fall in love as they team up to teach each other about new words, learn how to create things and more or less become a couple of little rebels.  Seeing Cassia learn how to create words of her own is a fascinating scene and it makes me think about how lucky I am that I can do that all on my own.  And I think about in the past and the present who don't have that ability.  They are told what to do and what to think - whatever benefits the Society they live in.

Really, that's the whole horror of the Society - nobody has a choice.  Well, we all know that's the point of a dystopia.  But Matched one step further - it highlights the fact that nobody gets to create anything.  Everything from birth to death is mapped out for a person to follow.  It is the ultimate Cradle-to-Grave society.  Everyone has a place and if you step out of that place, there will be Consequences-with-a-capital-C.  Nobody will be remembered (unless they perfect that cloning thing - which I think is going to turn out to be a sham) and nobody has an impact on the world.  It's a collection of people living not for themselves but for the  Greater Good (tm - Hitler, Mao, Grindelwald) - working for the government machine and nothing else.

Bottom Line: If you want an engaging, thought-provoking, interesting dystopian story that's not as violent as The Hunger Games, then Matched is a great choice.  The next book in the series, Crossed, is due out this November.  My prediction is, where Matched was more cerebral and we spent most of the time with Cassia learning about her new paradigm, Crossed will be more action-oriented and physical.  I can't say too much without spoiling it more than I already have.

"Gregory! Tell Us About Your Childhood!" Review of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Abrams Books
Publication Date: 2007
Reading Level: Can you remember middle school?  Are you enduring middle school? You can (and should) read this book.

Synopsis: (from Goodreads) –
Greg records his sixth grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship.

My Review:
I think I've annoyed everybody on Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr about this today, but what better place to sing my praises of a children's book that is (A) Genuinely funny and (B) Actually popular with the younger set - than at my book review blog?  My only regret is that it took me this long to pick this book up.  It was easily one of the most-requested books at the library when I did my practicum this summer - but I guess I just assumed it was one of those disgusting fart-joke type books for these poor kids who only have "Spongebob Squarepants" to watch on TV anymore (oh, I how pine for the days of "Doug" and "Hey Arnold!")  The only reason (and it pains me to say this) I picked it up was that I'm taking a Children's Library Services class this semester and this was on the required reading list.  Along with a bunch of Newbery Award books - some of which are, quite frankly, boring as watching paint dry.  But I'll talk about those another time.

If I could have one wish, it's that my years of middle school could be permanently expunged from my memory.  Not the lessons I learned and growth I endured, just the memory of it.  While "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" doesn't do that, it makes it easier to think on any of those memories.

Awkward school dances? This book addresses it.  Popular kids that were just plain mean and hateful?  Covered in a frankly hilarious way (Rowley was made to _ _ _ the diseased cheese left on the basketball court).  Rude and obnoxious older siblings? Dealt with (but not in a mean-spirited way).  Spoiled baby siblings who get EVERYTHING they way?  Greg's got one of those too (and I defy anyone not to laugh whenever little Manny graces the doodled pages).

Despite the summary at the top of the page, there really isn't a concise plotline through Greg's diary JOURNAL.  It's more or less a mishmash of things that happen to Greg, though some things that are introduced early on come into play as the story progresses.  I would have to say it's "Napoleon Dynamite" in book form - deadpan humor with just the right amount of real-life relevancy that appeals to adult and kids.

While I'm not One Of Those People who pickets outside the library because "Captain Underpants" is on the shelf, I'm also not a fan of the cheap and easy over-the-top bathroom humor that's aimed at kids these days (oh, what do I mean "these days"? - that crap was happening when I was a kid).  While "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" does utilize a little bit of bathroom humor, it's limited to things that are actually plausible and that kids just on the cusp of puberty would probably be dealing with (sitting next to the weird, stinky kid on the first day of school and then being informed that's your permanent assigned seat for the year or being self-conscious that you haven't hit your growth spurt while other kids in your grade have to shave five times a day, just to name a few).

Oh, and I have to talk about the cartoons - you can't just look at the cartoon drawings without reading the scrawly narration, nor can you do without the cartoons and just read the writing.  They both go together and add to the humor.  It's both visual and literary, which makes it a great combination.


The next person that says the only way you can get kids to read a book is if there is an abundance of over-the-top bathroom humor, I will insist they read this book.  Everyone who endured middle school should read these books (the sixth book - Cabin Fever - is due out in November) because they will just make you feel better about life.