Book Review: It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Ninth grader Craig Gilner is at his wit’s end. It all started in eighth grade when he studied day and night working on getting accepted to Manhattan‘s Executive Pre-Professional High School. This high school was supposed to be his ticket to getting a good job and succeeding in life. Now that he is in ninth grade, he feels like his life is slipping away. He has trouble eating anything more than yogurt and mostly does not sleep. So one night he checks himself into the emergency room because he is considering committing suicide.

It is in the mental hospital that he enters after the emergency room that Craig begins to accept himself as he is. This is also where many of the funniest parts of the book happen. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is more upbeat than Julie Halpern’s Get Well Soon. And while both It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Thirteen Reason’s Why are both about teen depression, Funny Story is focused on recovery and less about the past.

I found this books to be a funny and even though it is long at 444 pages, it is a very fast read.

Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

How heartbreaking it is to be Clay Jensen. Clay, a junior in high school, comes home from school one day to find a package addressed to him propped up against the front steps. Inside are 13 cassette tapes each marked with their own number. Clay cannot believe it when he pops one into the old stereo in the garage and he hears the voice of his dead classmate Hannah Baker. Hannah was his crush and his maybe first love. She also committed suicide two weeks prior to this day. The package also contains a map of the town that Clay follows as he walks around town experiencing Hannah’s story. In Hannah’s own voice she tells about the events and people that contributed to her up to her decision to end her life.

Thirteen Reasons Why captures the way people really talk, and to some extent, the way people behave in high school. While I found some parts near the end of the story to be overly dramatic, I found this to be a really thought provoking book. If you do decide to read it I highly encourage you to have a discussion with a friend or an adult you trust about suicide.

Book Review: Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss

Isabelle, or Izzy as she is know, is going about her regular high school life until in the course of a day, her life changes dramatically. This is the day that she goes to a doctor’s appointment because she has swollen glands and a cold that won’t go away. Even as she leaves the doctor’s office and the hospital, where she goes for a quick test, she and her mother are unaware that anything is wrong. But then the phone rings with news that something is very wrong and she needs to go back to the hospital right away.

What follows is Izzy’s uphill battle with stage IV Hodgkin’s Lymphona. Luckily, the preface inside the book reassures us that Izzy will make it. (I hope I am not giving too much away). Much of the story focuses on Izzy’s treatments and how she gets through them. Side Effects also let’s us see how Izzy’s family and friends are affected by her cancer, and we are treated to the beginnings of a romance between Izzy and Andy, a straight A student who helps her get back on track at school.

All and all this book is a good solid read, and at 143 pages, a fast read. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting problem novel.

Find Teen Holiday Programs at Your Library on the Event Calendar

Find out what activities are going on for Teen and Tweens at the library.

Check out the Event Calendar

Teen Library Crew-Holiday Scavenger Hunt and Party

Please join us for a Scavenger Hunt and Party in the Library!

You can win great prizes then enjoy a Holiday Feast!

When: Friday, December 11th 2009

5:00-7:00pm

Grades 6+

(No Younger Siblings Please)

Drop Off- Chester County Library Front door

Pick Up- Library Back Door

Please register by Thursday, December 10th

Include the number of people coming

Register by phone: (610) 280-2632

E-mail: TLC@ccls.org

Cirque du Freak hit the theatres October 23rd

It seems like YA books are always being adapted into movies. Let’s check out the latest book at the movies : Cirque du Freak.

Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan.
As the story begins Darren Shan and Steve “Leopard” Leonard are best friends who are lucky enough to get tickets to attend an illegal circus. They both love novels and comics about vampires and wolfmen. At the circus they see a show staring a large spider named Madam Octa and man Steve believes to be a vampire, Mr. Crepsley. Is Mr. Crepsley a vampire? Will Darren and Steve betray one and other? Can the spider be stolen and controlled?

This is just the beginning of the first book of a twelve book series , The Saga of Darren Shan. On October 23rd the film Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant was released in theatres. This film is based on the first three books in the seires: Cirque du Freak, The Vampire’s Assistant, and Tunnels of Blood all by Darren Shan.