Monthly Archives: April 2019

Book Review of The Nose from Jupiter, by Richard Scrimger

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I won a copy of Richard Scrimger‘s The Nose From Jupiter through Goodreads.

Description:

How do you shut up when your nose is doing all the talking?

Alan is not big or strong. He hates playing soccer and can barely keep up in math class. Moreover, he’s fodder for every bully for miles around. But all that changes the day Norbert, an alien from Jupiter, comes to earth on an exploration mission and moves into . . . Alan’s nose. Soon Alan isn’t acting like himself, but is Norbert really to blame? Loud, pushy and hilarious, Norbert teaches Alan to stand up for himself, even when the odds are stacked against him.

Review:

While there was nothing wrong with this story, I expected a lot more of it. When you pick up a book that is a “20th Anniversary Edition,” you expect to find a story that has enough je ne sais quoi to have endured two decades. You expect something special. But, while this is a perfectly fine middle grade story, it’s not special in any real way. I appreciated that the bullies were both girls and boys, and that the students seemed to come in different shapes. But beyond that….it’s ok. I imagine a 12-year-old boy will like it fine. I didn’t object to any of the content. I feel perfectly comfortable passing it to my 8 & 11-year olds.

Book Review of A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park

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If you’ve not noticed from my recent reviews, I’m trying to read a number of my YA physical books. It’s a tricky way to clear some shelf space. You see, my oldest has now reached the age that she can read some of the younger YA books (those not overtly sexual or overly violent), which means if I get them read I can move them from MY shelf to HER shelf. Ta-da!!

A Long Walk to Water (by Linda Sue Park) is one such book. I’m not sure where it came from though. I like to say in my review posts where I got the book. But this one is a mystery. Probably I bought it, but maybe someone left it in the Little Free Library. I’m fairly sure I didn’t win it.

Description from Goodreads:

A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the “lost boys” of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.

Review:

Written for a young audience, this story of one of the Lost Boys of the Second Sudanese Civil War is quite accessible. Though, lets be honest, covering 20 years in 115 pages, what you get is an overview more than an engaging story. But it’s enough to introduce a student to the travesties of war, as well as the hopefulness and generosity of humanity. I consider it worth the read.

Gena/Finn

Book Review of Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz & Kat Helgeson

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Last year, Chronicle Books sent me a box of books for my Little Free Library. Gena/Finn (by Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson) was one of those books. It’s come and gone and come again from the LFL, so I borrowed it back for a read.

Description from Goodreads:

Gena (short for Genevieve) and Finn (short for Stephanie) have little in common. Book-smart Gena is preparing to leave her posh boarding school for college; down-to-earth Finn is a twenty-something struggling to make ends meet in the big city. Gena’s romantic life is a series of reluctant one-night-stands; Finn is making a go of it with long-term boyfriend Charlie. But they share a passion for Up Below, a buddy cop TV show with a cult fan following. Gena is a darling of the fangirl scene, keeping a popular blog and writing fan fiction. Finn’s online life is a secret, even from Charlie. The pair spark an unlikely online friendship that deepens quickly (so quickly it scares them both), and as their individual “real” lives begin to fall apart, they increasingly seek shelter online, and with each other.

Review:

When I opened this book and saw what format it is in (all emails and text exchanges and journal entries, etc) I almost shut it again. I did not expect to like it. And I admit that it took a little while to get into the rhythm of things. But eventually I did and I largely enjoyed it. I thought the book started out really strongly. I liked the characters and the conflict created by Finn’s conflicting feelings. However, I also thought there was a large leap from BFFs to maybe something more that wasn’t truly shown and felt jarring. 

Additionally, after the big drama I felt like the story telling became very thin. The reader completely loses one character’s perspective and I felt the lack. I love that Charlie accepted the changes in their lives and the tentative happy ending (or happy-to-be), but I feel like it was all just sketched out rather than told. 

All in all, For a quick read I found it more satisfying than not.