Wonder

Wonder

by R.J. Palacio

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. (description from Amazon.com)

I really enjoyed this book. It is interesting and heartfelt and sends a great message to just be kind to other people. Poor Auggie has a face that sends others screaming, but when he starts regular school, he finds that once people get to know him they can get past that and he makes some wonderful friends.

I found this book to be very realistic in that not everyone came to love Auggie. Some of the kids he met were still jerks and so were their parents. Some of the things that people said to Auggie were exactly the type of things that I could imagine people saying in real life. What I loved, though, was the people who came to stand up for Auggie...and the people that learned from Auggie.

This book is mostly told from Auggie's perspective, making it heartbreaking at times to read, but it is also told at points from the perspectives of his sister, his best friend, and others in his life. This added a bunch of really cool viewpoints that made the story much more real, as well.

Recommended to anyone that likes real-life stories and books that explore family relationships.

 

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my library

Beauty Queens - Blog Tour

Beauty Queens
by Libba Bray

Publication date: May 24, 2011

Survival of the Fittest!

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream Pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up? (ARC jacket copy)

It is hard to believe, but it is only the middle of March and I think I just read my favorite book of this year. I think I may have just read my new favorite book...period. This book is...pure genius. Libba Bray is amazing. I am absolutely giving this book a gold star...plus some sparkles...plus, well it deserves a tiara for goodness sakes!!

This book is not just great. It is astounding. Thoughtful, tongue-in-cheek, laugh out loud funny...I mean, there is a girl who spends the entirety of the book with a plastic airplane tray sticking out of her forehead! Who else but Libba Bray could pull that off!?!

No, really. I think that EVERY woman, most men, heck everyone should read this book! Go out and get it as soon as it comes out. It will blow your mind. IT.WILL.BLOW.YOUR.MIND. There are beauty queens who learn to become not just real women, but real kick-ass women. There are sexy, sometimes stupid, reality tv pirates, an angry dictator with a taxidermied advisor, a secret laboratory/lair underneath a volcano, and subtextual references to current culture galore.

Besides the obvious, yet subtly disguised references to actual people (David Levithan, for one!) and products (Bratz dolls, Barbie, tons of makeup, etc.), Libba Bray also gave a shout-out to librarians!
p. 379 - Some in the crowd tossed copies of Ladybird's book into the fire while a librarian pleaded with them not to do that and grabbed a fire extinguisher.*
*(footnote) Really, being a librarian is a much more dangerous job than you realize.

OMG. Yes! This caused me to bounce up and down on the couch, laughing until I cried, and finally spluttered out what I was reading to my husband, who then said, "Oh, has she been following you around at work lately?" and I died again.

I cannot sincerely recommend this book enough. Yes, it is full of subcontext. It brings up a lot of morality issues, political issues, questions about feminism, sexuality...it covers a lot. What makes it a great book is that while everything is right out there in the open, it's not preachy. It's laugh out loud funny! Then when you're done, you sit back and think. Really think. Again...read this book. Read it as soon as you can. You won't regret it.

Full disclosure: ARC received as part of Book It Forward ARC Tour

Aphrodite the Beauty

Aphrodite the Beauty
by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Goddess Girls, book three

Aphrodite delights in helping mortals in love, but she's pretty annoyed at the constant attention she gets from the godboys at Mount Olympus Academy. When she decides to give Athena a makeover, she's a bit unprepared for the result. She didn't count on all the interest Athena's new look would get. And she certainly never thought she'd find herself jealous of one of her best friends! Will she be able to put the jealousy behind her?
(description taken from back jacket copy)

This is such a good, easy to read tween series. This book, the third in the series, features Aphrodite. After giving Athena a makeover, she has to deal with some major feelings of jealousy. Then, when Ares starts to ignore her and Hephaestus begins to pay her a little too much attention, Aphrodite learns to see the beauty within. She and the other goddessgirls also learn to ignore gossip, as it generally never leads to anything good. Though I still think that Persephone's story has been my favorite so far, I really enjoy these books and I look forward to reading Artemis the Brave.