Teen and Staff Reviews

So six months ago I got really excited because they were turning Beastly by Alex Flinn into a movie. I knew the book was based on the tale of Beauty and the Beast, set in modern day New York City. I immediately grabbed the book, and although it wasn't all that great, I enjoyed it for what it was. Then they delayed the movie, then they delayed it again.

Have you ever read a book and been completely amazing but also completely unable to describe it? I have a feeling that this is not going to be the best review I have ever written because I loved Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King, but I don't even know where to begin telling you about it. In a nut shell the story is about love, in all its messed up forms. As it is almost impossible to describe I will tell you the facts:

I am going to write about something near and dear to my heart, Buffy. I don't know about you but I tend to move from one obsession to another and for several years I turned my attention to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Joss Whedon in general. If, goodness forbid, you are unfamiliar with Buffy allow me to enlighten you: Regular California teenager Buffy Summers discovers she is the chosen one, destined to bring about the end of vampires and evil in general.

Catfish is a new documentary taking the world (and internet) by storm and I highly recommend that everyone see it. The story begins when Nev Schulman (a photographer in NYC) has a picture of two dancers featured in the New York Sun. A few months later, Nev receives a package from a small town in Michagan containing an oil painting from 9-year-old Abby, an aspiring artist who used Nev's picture as inspiration.

I approached Mockingjay with a bit of apprehension. You know when there is something you really love you worry that the author/creator might ruin it with one swift stroke of the pen? That is the anxiety I felt leading up to the release of Mockingjay. How could you possibly end a series as great as the Hunger Games? Would Katniss survive? What would happen to Panem!? Although I liked Mockingjay it was certainly not a satisfying book.

So this weekend I went to see possibly one of the best movies ever!!! I might even go so far as to say that this is the best book-to-movie adaptation I have ever seen. But before I start fawning over it I will give you a quick background. Scott Pilgrim vs the World is based on the Scott Pilgrim books by Bryan O'Malley which I have blogged about before. Like all the classics this is the story of boy-meets-girl. 23-year-old Scott Pilgrim lives in Toronto, Canada.

I read It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini years ago but the story has always stuck with me, I think it was something I could really relate to. It's about a guy who is at the top of his class at his public school. He is a pretty competitive person (at least academically) and he desperately wants to get into this very elite prep school, probably more for the challenge of getting accepted than actually going.

The Everafter by Amy Huntley This would be a good read alike for people that enjoyed Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. Like that book, the subject explored is what happens to a person after they are dead. As the book begins the only thing that Madison Stanton knows for sure is that she is dead. She doesn't remember dying and she doesn't really remember her life.

I just finished one of the best series of graphic novels I have ever read, the Scott Pilgrim series. It began when I saw a preview for the upcoming movie and I thought, "gee, that seems interesting." So I checked out the books, I had no idea what I was in for. Although the series starts out a little slow, and it takes a little bit to recognize each character on site (helped by handy name tags every so often), it picks up quickly.