Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

The story plot is good. Having a notebook to communicate may sound a little strange but it is interesting, especially considering the popularity of electronic communications today.  

However, even though it is interesting, I still don’t find it appealing. Mainly because I’m not its intended audience. But if I had been 12 or 15, I would probably like it.

 

Lily

I don’t like her character. She’s whiny and demanding. She’s the least bit supportive when her parents decided to leave to Fiji and have their honeymoon. I know it may sound selfish for parents to leave their kids alone, but their son and daughter (Lily) are big enough to look after themselves. If the writers’ intention is to have a heroine like this, then they’ve succeeded.

Perhaps, having this kind of heroine is good. Because, I think her character is the complete opposite of the hero in the story.

 

Dash

I find Dash’s character a bit charming. Today, it’s very rare for a guy to be interested in books and yogurt. He is not a perfect character and he doesn’t try to be one. But the way his character developed is really good. Living with divorced parents, hating Christmas, being snarky – he was vividly and aptly described. He is also a bit romantic and he is passionate about what he likes, which is really a cute thing. Though, it was hard to read his POV (just saying).

 

The Story

It’s Christmas time, and Lily found herself feeling alone with her parents gone for their honeymoon and her brother too occupied with his boyfriend. To help her divert her attention and loneliness this holiday season, her brother gave her a red notebook and wrote a dare in it and left it in a library.

Dash accidentally found the red notebook and immediately got curious about it. Then, he followed all the notebook’s instructions and decided to also give a dare to whomever owns the notebook.

Lily didn’t expect the turn of events, and she gladly took the next challenge, until both of them were intertwined in the games of dares.

Even though they are strangers to each other, they find comfort in their words and they were able to express their thoughts and sentiments.

However, because of this, both had conjured the ideal image of one another. And so with an unexpected turn of events, they found out that no one among them is the ideal person they’ve been thinking about all this time.

This could have ended everything between them. However, both of them decided to start over again and continue what they have started and create the most happy ending to their story.

 

Ratings: 2 out of 2. It was ok only because of the plot story.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

This is perhaps one of the most interesting and insightful young adult books this generation can have. Not just because of the story, but also because of the clear message it presents about suffering and death as well as feminism in the context of adolescent life.

These concepts, as we know are complicated, but this book has successfully explained these concepts in a way that connects it to its intended audience.

Furthermore, this book is more than just a story of teenagers in a dorm school. It is about their whole life as a person, how they think and how they react to things happening around them. The book is very realistic in a sense that it clearly portrays how teenagers today react.

Aside from these, what makes this book so good is its characters. The characters are well developed. They are not just fictional characters, but they are the representation of certain personalities that we can all relate to. This book is a good source of how teenagers think, behave and act – on how they dream, suffer and love.

Moreover, the characters are not just rebellious teenagers, but smart people who are transcending from one aspect of life to the other.

This book is brave and I cannot say more praises about it. It is just so insightful and very intelligent. It is worth reading again and the words – they are worth remembering.

The Story

Miles is just an ordinary teenager. He is very indifferent to things and people around him. However, his indifference to the world started to change when he entered Culver Creek’s dorm school.

In here, he met Chip, also known as Colonel, who introduced him to his other friends. Miles, who was given a nickname of Pudge, started to adapt in the school and student culture here. He got involved in pranks, learned how to smoke, started to drink and was involved in a lot of trouble he never thought he’d be able to do. But most of all, his whole life has changed when he met the beautiful, Alaska Young.

Alaska is not an ordinary teenager. She loves reading books, likes poetry as she likes sex, and sometimes moody. Everyone likes her, but nobody really knows what she is thinking. She is complicated. But Miles/Pudge, was fully drawn to her. And his life was never the same again after falling so hard for her.

Rating:

5 out of 5. One of the best books I’ve read so far this year. It was a really good read.

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

“Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow.”

This book has touched my heart in ways I never imagined. It is so sweet, wonderful and heartwarming. The story, feelings and thoughts of Stargirl echo in my own heart. Her character affects me so much.

Reading the first book, Stargirl, gave me so much love and heartbreak and left me hanging. So I thought by reading its sequel, the emptiness it left will somehow be filled. But it gave me something different. It gave me Stargirl’s side of the story! The book gave me Stargirl’s story! And I cannot ask for more. It is a good sequel!

If you enjoyed reading the first book, you will love this book more!

It is well written and the words are well-chosen. It will tug into your hearts, and you will be filled with so much inspiration.

I cannot say more commendations for this book. It has moved and inspired me so much.

The story

Stargirl is different. She is unique and wonderful. She see’s the world in good light. But when she fell in love with Leo, she lost herself.

After leaving her life in Mica, Arizona, Stargirl embarks into a new life by living in a new neighborhood and meeting new people in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Leaving her friends and her ex-boyfriend behind, makes her really lonely. Stargirl misses her life back home. But later on, she met new and interesting people.

She became friends with a five-year-old girl named Dootsie Pringle and Alvina, a tomboyish girl who is fond of kicking teenage boys’ asses. She also met Betty Lou, a divorced woman who has an agoraphobia, who never goes out of her house and Charlie, an old man who passes his days by his wife’s grave. And lastly, Perry Delophane, the thug that stirs the lonely heart of Stargirl. Everyone she met has created a big impact in her life that helped her realized her own thoughts and feelings. With the help of her new found friends she was slowly finding her lost self again.

As the winter is coming, she decided to make a solar calendar. She wakes up every morning at around 4am to mark the first sunbeam. When her neighbor heard what she is doing, they decided to help her. Every house in their neighborhood switches on their porch light to give light on the road for her. In the end, she invited everyone in the neighborhood to witness the start of the winter solstice. She was amazed to see a lot of people to witness the event.

“Do not follow me! Let’s just be fabulously where we are and who we are. You be you and I’ll be me, today and today and today, and let’s trust the future to tomorrow. Let the stars keep track of us. Let us ride our own orbits and trust that they will meet. May our reunion be not a finding but a sweet collision of destinies!”

Ratings: 5 out of 5

I really really liked it. I will read it again and recommend it to my other friends.

Here is Love, Stargirl book trailer by Random House Kids