Something To Say - Book Review by Naomi

 Hi everyone! If you’ve read my last blog post, or have read the book I was talking about (A Good Kind of Trouble), the book I’ll be discussing today (Something to Say) is written by the same author and is also pretty entertaining to read.

To start, I’ll give basic information so you can visualize. The main character, Jenae, is starting middle school and she’s pretty shy. Ok- that's definitely an understatement. She is incredibly shy and avoids drawing any form of attention to herself at all costs. As a result, she doesn’t really have friends, but she’s okay with that, in fact, better than ok. She prefers not having friends and she doesn’t mind being by herself. However, when she gets to school there's this one guy, Aubrey, who has flaming red hair (it’s dyed) and he seems to be very interested in getting to know Jenae for some reason... Unfortunately for him, she’s not really interested in getting to know him. However, it seems like he can’t take a hint because as much as Jenae tries to push back- he keeps on following her and talking to her. Which is not so great for Jenae. She hates attention- and he seems to love it, I mean, the dude has (clearly unnatural) flaming red hair and talks super loudly- how would he do all that and not like attention? Not to mention his super long introduction on the first day of school in front of the entire class! As the story progresses, you get the chance to see Aubrey and Jenae’s relationship dynamics change (I won’t say how as that would probably be a spoiler). You also get to see their character development and how that impacts a decision she has to make later in the book…

So, why do I like Something to Say? Well for starters, the main character’s personality seemed relatable to me when I was in middle school (I wasn’t as shy as the main character is, but I was still quite shy and introverted). Secondly, the main character isn’t some super hero or perfect person who’s incredibly hard to relate to, which goes along with being more relatable. Aside from the character not being perfect, it’s relatable because she goes through things anyone can easily experience (for example, she feels guilty for stuff that isn’t her fault- yet she constantly blames herself). I also love how the dialogue between the characters (and thoughts Jenae has) are both serious at times but also entertaining and funny, creating the perfect balance for a realistic fiction book in my opinion. Finally, the detail and effort the author puts into the book really helps you almost feel like you’re there. In addition to the amount of details she added into the setting which I always like about books.

Ultimately, my overall rating of the book is probably 9.5/10. I will note that the book is intended for a younger audience, so it’s a fairly easy read. However, if you don’t mind that and enjoy the information I gave you then it’s definitely worth checking out!

Old vs New: pros and cons to the graphic novel version of Mr. Lemoncello's library

YES ALWAYS SPOILERS

Hello everyone, I’m back with a different type of read this time: a graphic novel adaptation of Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. I read the original novel in about 6th grade, and ended up reading the whole series; the books were right up my alley. The plot follows a group of 12 12-year-olds trying to escape a library created by an eccentric “gazillionaire”, Mr. Lemoncello. The main character, Kyle Keeley, and his friends/team end up escaping first and winning a bunch of cool stuff. 

The graphic novel does the series justice by sticking to the original plot, and there are pros and cons to the new form the book takes. One of the pros is that there was visible character diversity in the graphic novel. Sierra, a friend of Kyle's, was black in the graphic novel, something I didn’t realize was the case in the original. Maybe the graphic novel artist changed Sierra’s race, or maybe I don't read as carefully as I should. Another pro is (obviously) the ability to show the reader amazing settings the book takes place in, such as the main one and the book title, Mr. Lemoncello’s library. The graphic novel shows a massive domed ceiling with amazing holographic statues; something a little hard to picture if we haven't seen it in real life ourselves.

The one con of this new graphic novel format for Mr. Lemoncello’s library is the inability to engage the reader with minigames in the writing. In the original novel, the first letter of the first word of each chapter spelled a phrase, but in the graphic novel, such was not the case. I enjoyed the detail Chris Grabenstein, the author, put into the novel; there was less so of that in the graphic novel.

The new form of one of my all-time favorite book series has pros and cons, but in my short example of things that stood out to me, the pros won. I enjoyed this book, and if anyone has read either, I encourage them to read the other version if they haven't had a chance. Thanks for reading!

The BookTok Controversy

 

What was once known as a wholesome platform dedicated to sharing literature between home-bound individuals during the covid-19 pandemic has quickly turned into an online community obsessing over poorly written novels. 

The so-called “BookTok,” is a common TikTok hashtag within the online book community begun by a creator named Cait Jacobs (known on TikTok as @caitbooks). As of October 2024, this hashtag has over 38.8 billion posts, and well over 180 billion global views, pertaining most to those 10-30 years in age. Despite reading being considered a relatively niche topic, BookTok became the perfect space for anyone to easily share book recommendations, reviews, advertise self-published novels, discuss plots and characters, and much more. Furthermore, due to its being trendy, it reintroduced literature to thousands of new readers, growing the amount of individuals both posting and interacting with videos, and therefore making a constantly revolving community.  

The books primarily circulating BookTok during 2020 were of the YA or NA (young adult or new adult) fantasy or dystopian genres, though quickly grew to include classical books, murder mysteries, romances, and much more. It brought attention to books long-forgotten, and positively influenced book sales. The popular bookstore, “Barnes & Noble,” even dedicated an entire center-table with some of the most popular BookTok favorites, such as, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Legendborn, The Poppy War, The Song of Achilles, The Cruel Prince, etcetera. 

However, in the past year or so, BookTok faced a drastic shift in terms of discussed content and books, changing the hashtags premise, and causing many readers and literature-enthusiasts to leave the community. When authors such as Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Maas began growing in popularity, so did a specific genre. Their books brought about a very specific type of romance, one which I can only describe as a mix of Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey, and the Tinkerbell film series. What I mean by this mixture is that their books are incredibly easy to read, and often recommended to 12-17 year olds, despite the book’s contents being better-suited for 16+ at the least. (Though, as a side note, I will say that a FEW of Sarah J. Maas’s books are fine for 12-14 year olds, but it's only a few.) Furthermore, Colleen’s books contain concerning quotes and romanticize domestic abuse, and so much more. I won’t state any specific quotes due to their vulgarity, (but if you look up “weird Colleen Hoover quotes” on tiktok, or “Colleen Hoover controversy” on google, you’ll find plenty.) 

I have never read a Colleen Hoover book, so there is little I can say without quoting others who have criticized the books, but many readers report their disgust with the author’s writing on apps such as Goodreads, or social media. There have also been numerous articles written on Hoover’s books, which give summaries on her books and explain how, with the way her books are written, readers are clearly meant to associate themselves with the main character, and feel content with the main character’s (relatively questionable) decisions. A popular example is when Lily Bloom, (the mc in It Ends With Us, one of Colleen’s most famous novels which also has a movie adaptation), happily co-parents her child, with her abusive ex-husband, as he receives no judicial or social consequences for his horrific actions whatsoever. Colleen has stated that she believes the scene should be interpreted as inspiring, and powerful, as Lily felt powerful enough to leave him in the first place, but I would like to argue otherwise. If the author's intent was to create a book where a domestic violence victim impactfully grows as a character to divorce the abuser, showing them contently co-parenting a child that was created as a result of abuse is (in my opinion) a horrible way of depicting that. Now, some readers call this book "raw,” “emotional,”  or “compassionate.” But I believe that while the book does show an incredibly realistic situation that could very much happen in real life, it lacks the intended message, which from my understanding, is to not fall victim to such abusers. Lastly, because these books are also often targeted towards younger audiences on social media, they may not fully understand exactly what these books are meant to portray and possibly begin romanticizing the relations between characters themselves due to the naivety of younger individuals, which is basically what happened within the BookTok community. 

Since so many Booktok users are within the 10-18 age range and romance was already a trending genre, many of these young readers picked up Colleen's books for themselves, and quickly made her into a trending sensation. From what I can gather, many fans believe her books to be the pinnacle of romance, and many videos contain (somewhat young) readers wishing they experience the same type of romance as the main characters in the books, despite the abusive dynamics within that romance. And so, this surge of videos celebrating this book has completely changed the nature of current-day Booktok. 

These books’ increased popularity has resulted in an influx in similar books, ones seemingly created on a whim to satisfy the ever-growing amount of individuals indulging in this specific sub-genre of romance. Many of these new books contain repeated plots with little to no originality, yet are being highly praised by this new BookTok community. Two of the (somewhat newest) most well-rated novels which match this criteria are Fourth Wing, and Icebreaker. While I have yet to read the latter, I have read the former. Fourth Wing, written by Rebecca Yarbos is a romance novel concerning Violet Sorrengail and her going to the Basigath War College where she prepares to fight alongside dragons for the better of her nation, but becomes enthralled with one of the older students whom everyone fears due to his father, who was conveniently captured by Violet’s family. Before deciding to read this book, I heard many incredible reviews, ones which compared Fourth Wing to other previously popular BookTok books which I had really enjoyed, such as The Cruel Prince. Ultimately, because so many had read this book and had only positive comments, I decided to give it a read, only to find that it was completely sold out for roughly three months, due to how many were buying it. At that point, I just knew it had to be good. However, when I finally got my hands on it, I was fairly disappointed. There was nothing special about it; I mean, sure, it was not HORRIBLE, but I truly expected better, in that, I expected more originality. Last time the entirety of Booktok praised a book had been with (at least from what I remember) The Cruel Prince, which I, to this day, still love because of its intertwinement of a unique government system, alongside well-developed character arcs, plot twists, and overall magical-feeling writing style. Fourth Wing, however, was the most basic romance novel ever written, except it had a war school and dragons. Overall, this book just showed how much BookTok had changed, as no longer do people genuinely care about good literature, since the most popular BookTok TikToks now only concern these new types of mainstream, copy-paste-plots. 

Practically every super popular book now consists of the same type of characters, character arcs are non-existent, and it is all the exact same genre. This is what a large BookTok has become. It's sad imo. Bring more relatively good books back to BookTok and stop the production of these new, awful, boring novels. 

Anyway I think that's all i wanted to say this kinda turned into a rant about booktok and stuff- this is kinda getting a bit long–uhhhh IG THAT'S IT BYE BYE YALL THANKS FOR READING!!!!

- Karina

The Voltage Effect! The most not what you think it is title I have ever seen!

 Hello!

Continuing the theme from last blog I would like to talk to you about another non-fiction book. This time instead of innovation (highly recommend you check out my last blog) I will be talking about voltage. Now the voltage I am talking about has nothing to do with electricity but business instead. Voltage is the ability for an idea to scale. Voltage is used in an argument by John A. List the author that says for any business to have an impact on the world it must have "high voltage". John talks about his argument in his recent book The Voltage Effect which he uses his experience from working at Uber and then Lyft as chief economist and helping them scale their ideas to bolster success. The Voltage Effect talks about John's experiences in both companies and gives examples of voltage. One good example that doesn't give to much away about the book is about the company Lyft. Lyft when John was chief economist was working on releasing a subscription service for the app that would provide benefits to customers, such as discounts and amenities, in exchange for a monthly fee. Deciding how much to charge monthly the is more than just choosing a number. Thought goes into who will purchase this subscription and how much does Lyft need to charge in order to make money while also making the customer feel like they are benefiting as well. So if you want to learn more about how these big companies take more money from us while making us feel good I would recommend reading The Voltage Effect!

Fun Fact: John was an All-American Golfer when he went to college (Translation for non sports enthusiasts: He was very good at golf)

-Jameson

The old Guard book/movie review - Brandon Lee

    Brandon Lee Book/Movie review.

    Spoilers ahead: 

    I have always been a fan of action movies. Anything from marvel superhero movies, to a whole new universe of super strong antagonists, I liked. comic books were also interesting, but I preferred movies and tv shows much better. It gave me a feeling like I was really there in-between all the action. And if there was a good plot to the whole movie on top of that, I would have spent my whole week thinking about how good of a movie it was. 

    

That is why when I had found a new movie called the Old Guard on Netflix, I had clicked to play the movie right after watching the preview. And saying that I was obsessed is an understatement. Here is a short summary about the book. 

   

 The movie starts out by introducing a group of people the main character, being Andy, as well as other members of this group such as Sebastian, Nicky, and Joe. However, this was no ordinary group. All of these people are immortal soldiers and have been alive for multiple centuries. They help fight for the people in need and make an attempt to better the world with it's wrong doings. However, a scientist unfortunately realizes their identity and their big secret. This big cooperation along with a researcher sets a goal to capture these immortal solider and a long fight between the two begins. 

    

When I first saw this story, I was intrigued by this fascinating story of a group of people who not only fight to help people who have been wronged, but they all do this while struggling internally with themselves. They have to maintain a strong mentality to keep themselves sane after centuries of bloodshed and lost comrades. I really loved this story not just because of the amazing fight scenes, but also because it portrays how these characters have developed over such a long time and how they have adapted to different settings over time. I recommend this book to people who love action movies and books, but also to those who really like a good plot in a story and love breaking down the deeper meaning hidden between the lines. This movie is also a comic book series with many more chapters to tell. Also, there was an announcement that the Old Guard 2 is coming out sometime soon so look forward!   

A Good Kind of Trouble Book Review by Naomi

Have you ever considered being the person to spread awareness for an important cause at school? Like THE person? The ONLY person? If your answer is yes, I salute you. If your answer is no, well, that was Shayla’s initial reaction too… let me take you there.

A Good Kind of Trouble, written by Lisa Moore Ramee, is an excellent book. The protagonist, Shayla, is a 7th grade girl. She’s ready for an ideal middle school year, with her 2 best friends, Julia (she’s Japanese-American) and Isabella (she’s Puerto Rican) they are “The United Nations.” (as they refer to themselves throughout the book). They’ve been best friends since sometime in elementary school and things seem to be going pretty well for them! Except, middle school is full of surprises, of course. Fairly early on into the story, Julia starts to distance herself from Shayla and Isabella and hang out with girls from her Asian-only basketball team. This bothers Shayla, but she doesn’t know how to explain the hurt feeling of potentially being replaced.

What else isn’t going well? Boy problems, of course. Shayla’s convinced this is going to be the year she gets a boyfriend, but things don’t seem to be going great with the guy she’s head over heels for, Jace. (According to her friends.)

So aside from the average middle school friend drama and boy drama, what separates this story from others? Why should you read it? Well, one of the major themes is race. If you aren’t familiar with the book, the main character Shayla is black and people won’t stop telling her she’s not black enough. People act like everything she does would lead them to believe she isn’t black enough or she intentionally hangs out with other people. I won’t continue with the plot, as that would likely include spoilers, but if you’d like to see how an important decision could change her experience, I definitely recommend reading this book. Also, if you like the coming of age, fun, middle school experience books, AND enjoy reading books where race gets spoken about, I definitely recommend reading A Good Kind of Trouble. A Good Kind of Trouble is truly a wonderful book and includes topics that should be spoken about and better acknowledged. Additionally, I loved seeing how the plot was driven by characters and their personal beliefs and how every decision had an impact on other characters and didn’t feel randomly thrown in. I’d rate this book 10/10, easily it’s one of my favorite books.