Book Review: Don’t Call Me Baby, by Gwendolyn Heasley

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Sabrina C.

Her whole life, Imogene has been known as the girl on that blog. Her mother started the blog about her daughter before she was even born. She has been blogging about Imogene’s personal life for years. Since Imogene is fifteen now, she decides enough is enough! She doesn’t want to be part of her mother’s popular and embarrassing blog. She just wants a normal life where random strangers don’t know when she lost her first tooth, got in a fight with her best friend, or even had her first crush! She wants to be totally away from the blogging world.

However, it isn’t as easy as she thinks. When Imogene gets assigned to start her own blog for her English class, she refuses it right away. She soon realizes that this may be the perfect opportunity to end her mother’s blog forever.

In my opinion, I could’ve gone either way with this book, meaning that it’s fine if I read and it’s fine if I didn’t. This isn’t a must read book. It had some good parts and some bad parts. The only thing that I really didn’t like was the nicknames for Imogene and her mother. On the blog, they are known as Mommylicious and Babylicious. I just think that’s too silly, but other than that it was okay. I wouldn’t recommend this book to people who are 13 and up, but that’s who the author recommended. Overall, I thought this book was cute for a younger audience, but again that’s just my opinion. Some other eighth graders may enjoy this book– it just came out last month, so you’ll find it in bookstores everywhere.

By Sabrina C., 8th Grade

Book vs. Movie: Divergent

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Rachel L.

The night Divergent was released, I was there, excited and anxious with anticipation.. I went in with high expectations, as I have been in love with the book series since it was first released in 2011.

So perhaps it was my unrealistically high expectations of a book that I am thoroughly devoted to and invested in that contributed to the fact that I thought the movie was a big disappointment. People who I have talked to that did not read the book first before watching the movie have told me that they thought it was great, and maybe if I’d never read the books before watching the movie, I would have felt the same way.

Let’s start with how startlingly different it was from the book. I know book to movie adaptions are difficult to accomplish, but in this case it was significantly different. First off, they left out very important scenes from the book- scenes that are pivotal and important for the rest of the series. They also changed scenes– and not little scenes. Major scenes that, too, would affect the whole series.

-Edward. He barely has a presence in the movie (I think his name shows up on the scoreboard for a second?) and there is no book scene where he gets stabbed in the eye by Peter.

-Will and Cristina?!! It hardly shows their relationship, they’re pretty much portrayed just as friends, which is problematic, because in the books, it affects the plot and characters (especially Tris and Christina) in major way.

-There’s no Visiting Day in the movie, and some important information is found out from that scene. In the book, Tris never meets her mom in the shipping yard.

-Rachel L., 10th grade

Event Recap: Author & Illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi Visits Mission Viejo

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Phillip Xiang

Ever heard of The Spiderwick Chronicles? Of course you have. Its world-famous author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi came to the Mission Viejo Library this week as part of the promotion for his most recent book, The Battle for WondLa.

As we soon found out, Tony has a very lighthearted and humorous attitude. Only when the kids were laughing hysterically and the parents struggled to keep a straight face, did he begin his speech. We started off with the importance of imagination. Imagination is what has taken humanity so far, producing the technology and literature we love. I find his view very fitting, as he is an incredibly talented artist. In fact, so much that his love of art paved the way for literature.

When he was a fifth grader, Tony hated book reports (no surprises there). The empty and infinite lines of words bored him, only interrupted by occasional pictures. The pictures! That was what he looked for in every book. Unfortunately, his teacher turned down his report on the comic book, The Invincible Iron Man. However, they did make a deal, which we still appreciate today. Tony was to illustrate a scene, a work of art created from seemingly monotonous lines of text, for extra credit. Suddenly, the words appeared as instructions for how to imagine with. And so his love of literature was born.

In his newest series, The WondLa Trilogy, Tony incorporates a lot of artwork. At the start of each chapter, a picture (drawn by himself) covers the entire page. Before writing anything, he first drew illustrations of the characters and scenes. He created the protagonist, Eva Nine, to fit the needs of the storyline. His many illustrations inspired the actual story, and are beautiful in a simple way. The pictures help guide us readers’ imaginations, with around 100 in every book. As Tony puts it, that would be his childhood self’s ideal book.

As for the series he was here to promote, The WondLa Trilogy, you all really should go read it. It’s extremely interesting and original. It tells of Eva Nine, who has lived in an underground bunker for her whole life. A robot mother has raised and trained her to prepare for emerging into the world. When the Sanctuary is blasted open by an intruder, Eva finds that the world is completely different to her studies, totally alien. She sets off into the strange wilds, with only the word WondLa promising a hope to strive for.

At the end of the event, I was thoroughly impressed with Tony DiTerlizzi as a writer, illustrator, and speaker. His talents are boundless, and will continue creating more masterpieces for us to obsess over. Try out his books! The unique combination of art and stories make them a great read for anyone.

-Phillip X., 8th grade

Book Review: Moonglass, by Jessi Kirby

Posted on May 8, 2014 by The Kungfu cook

Moonglass is a really good book. Even though it looks thin, it is actually a long read.

In this book, Anna Ryan and her dad are moving to the beach where her parents supposedly met. Still faced with the reality of her mother’s death, both she and her father still mourn their loss. Still mad at her dad and herself, Anna finds out that they moved into the house next door to her mother’s old cottage. As Anna meets new friends and becomes acquainted with a very special lifeguard, she unravels the mysteries of her parents’ past.

Finding out secrets about her dad’s past and the reason behind her mother’s suicide, Anna’s life starts to make sense for once in a very long time. She fights to forget memories of her mother’s death but also yearning to be closer to her mother, she finds that balance of tranquility out in the waves. Trips on the beach searching for sea glass allow her the time to think and figure out the things of her parents’ past. But as she finds out more and more about her parents’ past, she finds it harder to cope with the pressure that she is under– except when she is in the water where the tide washes away her emotions leaving her at peace.

To find out the secrets of her parent’s past you are just going to have to read the book. Enjoy everyone!

-Christina B., 7th grade

Editor’s note: This book actually takes place in Crystal Cove, which is very local to us here in Mission Viejo! Visit and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped right into the pages of this novel.

photo by Allison Tran

Four Reasons NOT to Read the Divergent Series

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Leila S.

The Divergent series by Veronica Roth offers three very unique novels. However, despite how much I liked, no LOVED, them, there are still some drawbacks to the series. You may want to consider the following if you are thinking about reading the series, if you have not already. Here are four reasons NOT to read these books:

#4. The books are each SOOOO long. The shortest book of the three is Divergent, at 487 pages. Wait a second– did I say the length of the books was a bad thing? Because it isn’t. The books kept me captivated throughout the whole series. The length of the books did not bother me at all. It just gave me a chance to stay immersed in the dystopian world even longer.

#3. Your outside life will SUFFER. At least mine did. I read them on a road trip over Spring Break, and let me just say, my sister was not pleased to see my nose in a book practically every second of the trip. I read at restaurants and at the pool. In fact, Divergent rode in the bicycle basket all around the town. Insurgent weighed down my backpack on a hike. And Allegiant kept me company on the long drive home. So much for that quality family time… I was a little QUITE isolated from them. But you know what, it paid off. I don’t have any regrets… Well, almost no regrets. My sister insists that she saw a waiter wearing a fedora fall backwards into a pool, but because I was deep in the Dauntless compound with Tris and the other initiates, I never saw a thing!

#2. Your heart WILL break. In at least one part of the series, you are practically guaranteed to cry. However, sometimes you need to cry. It adds interest to the story. That said, just don’t read that part of the book in public, unless you want to be seen with tears streaming down your face.

#1. Ummm… The final reason NOT to read Divergent? Honestly, I can’t think of another reason. If you are a younger teen, the romance aspect of the later books might be a little too much, but that depends solely on the reader. Other than that, I can’t come up with any other reason. That just goes to show how much I enjoyed the books.

As you can see, it was really hard for me to even come up with four reasons not to read Divergent, so I guess the conclusion you can draw from all of this is that, in my opinion, these books are worth reading. The moment you finish one book, you find yourself tearing into the next book. Each of the books truly hold your interest.

(P.S. To those who have read the books, yes, there is a reason that I chose ‘Four’ as the number of reasons, and I’m sure you know why…)

-Leila S., 8th grade

Book Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Nighttime, by Mark Haddon

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Miranda C.

The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Nighttime is a realistic fiction book by Mark Haddon, telling the story of autistic teenager Christopher, who, after finding his neighbor’s dog stabbed with a garden fork, decides to emulate his fictional hero Sherlock Holmes by searching for the murderer. Christopher’s father disapproves of him investigating the case, and what was a simple mystery about a dead dog leads to discoveries about his family, neighbors, and his own place in the world.

The major strength of this book is the unique voice of the main character. Christopher is a mathematical prodigy, but is distressed by loud noises and struggles to understand the emotions of others. His narration is often frustrating to the reader, such as when he breaks off from the plot to explain a math concept or his system of counting different colored cars, but he is also very sympathetic as a character often frightened and confused by his irrational surroundings. Christopher dislikes metaphors and jokes because of their inconsistent multiple meanings, but his literal-mindedness leads to some witty observations about the irrationality of social norms. Though the book takes place in modern London, from Christopher’s perspective it becomes a different world full of distractions and absurd rules.

I would recommend this book to anyone 14+ (for language and thematic elements) who enjoys mysteries and unusual narration.

-Miranda C., 12th grade

Book Review: Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, by John Grisham

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Satej B.

Lawyers, lawyers, lawyers… paper, work, suits. Seems boring, right? Well, try reading Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer and your prospective of being a boring lawyer will change.

The story starts of as Theo is in school. He gets a grant from the judge to bring his class to the court to see a live session. Except… something is wrong. The side against Pete Duffy, the accused, has a very, very weak argument… Is there anything that anyone can do to help them?

First, let me tell you the story of Pete Duffy. Pete has an $1,000,000 price on his wife so that if she “accidentally” dies, he will get all the money. And then coincidentally, she is found strangled to death in their own house, the prime subject is Pete. But why would he kill his own wife… possibly for the money?

Now you know the story, but during the course of the book a twist occurs. A man saw something… this would change the whole game, the whole story. It will affect everyone, including Theo……It will be big.

I won’t spoil it for you guys but this is a great book to read, hopefully you can read it. They are also more stories, because this is a series.

-Satej B., 7th grade

Book Review: Shelter, by Harlan Coben

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Kaelyn L.

Shelter is the first novel in Harlan Coben’s first young adult series, “Mickey Bolitar.” Mickey, the main character in this novel and the series’ namesake, is featured in some of Coben’s adult crime novels as the main character’s nephew. After these adult books became such a hit, the author then began writing this series in order to tell Mickey’s story.

Mickey Bolitar witnessed his father’s death and sent his mother to rehab. He is then forced to move in with his uncle Myron and switch schools. To top off a great year, the sweet girl he meets at his new school, Ashley, goes missing. He makes it his mission to find her, no matter the risks. After looking for clues, though, he begins to realize that the risks are much higher than he realized.

Mickey follows Ashley’s trail, which leads him into a seedy underworld. The more he uncovers about Ashley, the more he realizes that she is not the sweet, innocent girl he thought she was. In the process, he also uncovers things about his father that he never expected to find, as well as a conspiracy that makes him question everything he thought he knew.

This novel will leave your heart pounding and your anxiety level sky-rocketing. It is fantastically written, with characters that are relatable and a storyline that makes readers beg for more. It is a good read for both pre-teens and teens alike, as it contains little questionable material. Some parts are a little intense, however, which might not be suitable for younger readers. Overall, Shelter by Harlan Coben is a must read for anyone with a taste for riveting mysteries and unforgettable adventures.

-Kaelyn L., 10th grade

We Need Diverse Books

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Allison Tran, Teen Services Librarian

When you’re looking for your next read, do you like to read about someone just like you, who’s going through the same things you’re experiencing? Or do you like to read about someone totally different, in a part of the world you’ve never seen? Either way is valid. It’s important to have a variety of books on the shelves so all readers can see themselves represented, or learn about something new.

But did you know that out of 3,200 books for young people published last year, only 93 of them were about black people? 69 books were written about Asians or Asian-Americans, 57 about Latinos, and only 34 about Native Americans. Does that seem right to you? (See the full study at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center.)

There’s a grassroots campaign happening to bring awareness of the lack of diversity in youth literature, and we here at the Mission Viejo Library Teen Voice are throwing in our support. We need diverse books!

Please click to enlarge the following photos and read what our teen bloggers have to say.

Wenqing Z., 11th grade

Nicole G., 10th grade

Allison Tran, Teen Services Librarian

And sometimes, we need the simple wisdom of Success Kid…

Mission Viejo Library Teen Voice

Teens tell you what's what!

Monthly Archives: May 2014