My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star by Joyce Raskin and Carol Chu

What You Need to Know:  Fourteen year old Alex finds herself via playing bass and skateboarding in this slight novel.

Summary:  Alexis, age 14, is miserable.  She is neither blonde, nor pretty, nor cool.  All she can do is cry and mope.  However, once her older brother suggests that she learn to play bass in a friend's band, her life turns around.  Now a "rock-chick",  she wears combat boots and revels in her new found coolness. But just being on the bass and in the band might not be enough for Alex. 

What Worked:  Alex, formerly obsessed with being like the girls in magazines, figures herself out by the end of the book.  Kind of.   Chu's doodles, while not vital to the text, add a fun and whimsical note. 

What Didn't:  The only word I can use to describe this book is lightweight.  And, that's a shame, as it glosses over some fairly heavy issues.  Sexism in music, teen gender roles, sexual assault, drugs, cheating boyfriends -- they're all here, and none are examined very deeply. 

This book is very short, only 112 pages, with some of the back matter devoted to how-tos on buying and playing a guitar and writing songs.   The slimness might work to attract reluctant readers, but it works against creating a compelling story.  Amazing things happen to Alex, but the story doesn't pause to contemplate them, as it moves on to the next chapter. 

Finally, the voice felt a little young for me, and aside from the drug use, I could see this being more appealing to a middle grade audience. 

Who would I give this book to:  Reluctant readers with an interest in music.

Mother and Daughter Book Review: The Secret Science Alliance and the Copy Cat Crook.

Note:  This is our second Mother/Daughter book review, and we are still trying to get the podcast up!  So please enjoy another week of the transcript! 

Me:  Hi Everybody, This is Merideth

Mari:  And this is Mari

Me: And we are going to do our second Mother Daughter Book Review.  This week we’re going to review The Secret Science Alliance and the Copy Cat Crook by Eleanor Davis.  

Mari, how would you describe this book to somebody in just a few sentences if you wanted to get them to read it?

Mari:  Fun, but cluttered artwork.

Me:  I would say it’s a fun, but a little predictable story, with bright colored, but slightly cluttered art.  I agree with you about that.

Mari: It’s about a boy named Julian, who was a nerd at his old school, but he and his parents have to move.  He decides he won’t be a nerd at his new school, but he can’t help it.  Then at school there’s this “crazy” girl named Greta and a “dumb” jock named Ben, and it turns out that they’re both science geeks.   And there’s this scientist named Dr. Stringer, who in my experience, is kind of stuck up, and in the end he plays a very important part.

Me: So, they’re all three science geeks and they don’t want anybody to know it?

Mari:  Well, not a lot of people know, except Greta’s dad, who’s a museum owner (important!).  They don’t want their parents getting in their way! 

Me:  So they form a secret society of scientists, huh?  That’s pretty cool.  What did you really like about this book?

Mari:  They were nerds.

Me:  You liked the fact that they were nerdy?

Mari:  (Sings) “White and nerdy!”

Me:  But they’re not all white are they?  Greta’s an African-American girl and Ben looks like he might be Hispanic?

Mari:  I was singing a Weird Al song (sings) “White and Nerdy!  Look at me I’m white and nerdy!”

Me: Oh.  So you liked the fact that the characters were geeky?

Mari:  Geeks rule! 

Me: Anything else you like?

Mari:  (sigh) The way she draws, but not how she placed it.  I like how the characters didn’t look real, but also they weren’t stick figures without mouths or noses.   But, I thought there was too much stuff on the pages, and it looked cluttered.

Me:  So you thought the characters were not too realistic but not too cartoony either?

Mari:  Yes. 

Me: Anything else you liked about the story?

Mari:  I liked that it was an adventure!  The kids got to do cool things! 

Me:  I liked Greta!  I liked that she was spunky and smart.

Mari: I Liked her too.  I liked her helmet, and that she wasn’t a super girly girl.  Because I’m not always a girly girl (sings) “pink and princess, rainbows and carousels, la la la la la”

Me:  And I felt really sorry for Ben, because he thinks he’s stupid but he’s not.

Mari:  I know!  He just isn’t good at tests.  I think teachers should come up with a different way to find kids’ scores, not just tests.  Because some people get really nervous during tests.  Maybe they could just nonchalantly ask some questions in a conversation, instead of watching you like a sparrow! 

Me:   So, you mentioned that you didn’t like how cluttered some of the artwork was. I would agree with you, I think that some of what librarians like me would call the panel layout was off.  You know, the way the artwork was arranged on the page, there was too much going on, and you didn’t know where to look.

Mari: I would have to agree.

Me:  I also noticed that in some places it’s a very wordy comic.  There’s lots of text.   Lots and lots and lots of words.

Mari:  Yeah, in some places there’s more bubbles than art.

Me: And as much as I like the story, it didn’t really surprise me.

Mari:  Yeah, it was kind of predictable.

Me:  Now I would say this would be a really good book for school age kids.  Kids in 2^nd grade up through 6^th.  Who would you give it to?

Mari:  Hmmmmmm… ages 8-12 I think.  Not middle school or high school. 

Me:  Well, thank you for reviewing another book with me, maybe next week we’ll review something you pick.

Mari: (evil laugh) Ooooo!  I’ll pick something you won’t like!   

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

What You Need to Know:  This is a fast, beachy love story,  for girls who like their romance with a little bit of depth.  


Summary:  Belly, her older brother and her mom have spent every summer at the beach with her Mom's best friend, Susannah and her two boys, Jeremiah and Conrad.  Jeremiah, Conrad and Steven formed a trio of boys that Belly (short for Isabel) desperately wants to join.  She is also desperate for Conrad, the boy she will love forever.  While her Mom and Susannah spend time together, and the boys off on their own, Belly has always lived in the spaces between them.   However, this past summer, the summer Belly turned 16, something was different.  Belly isn't a little girl anymore, and everything  changed. 


What worked:  Han perfectly captures the tone of a summer vacation, that magical time that you look forward to all year, when there's nothing to do and you like it that way.  Also perfectly portrayed is Belly's voice, a girl who has grown up (happily) in the shadow of boys, who is just beginning to transition into young womanhood.  It's a testament to the power of Han's writing that I enjoyed this book so much without particularly liking Belly, who is a little whiny and pouty, like all little sisters.  I also adored Cam, the first boy Belly notices who isn't Jeremiah or Conrad.  He's the perfect first boyfriend. 


What Didn't:  Belly spends a lot of time telling the reader how wonderful Conrad is, but doesn't show much of that.  From what we see of him, he's a jerk.  There are reasons for this, but, he's a jerk nevertheless.  Also, I found the tense a little confusing.  Belly is telling the story of her 16th summer from a point in the near future, but also describes times in the more distant past.  Because the voice doesn't really change, it was tricky to figure out what happens when. 


However:  I tore through this book, and if I was taking more time, the tense thing probably wouldn't have bothered me. 


Who Would I Give this Book To?  Girls who are fans of Sarah Dessen or Deb Calletti.  Romance readers.  I might give this one to my mom, if she would ever take a book recommendation from me.