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Additional Resource - this link contains various reviews of people who have read the book- this helped me in my project because it showed me other people's perspective

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I probably had unreasonably high hopes for this book just because of its author. Maniac Magee was my favorite book when I was a kid, and it remains my favorite preteen chapter book to this day. But Stargirl didn't move me the way that first taste of Jerry Spinelli's work did. In fact, I was so underwhelmed that I had little interest in finishing the book, but it was a fast enough read, so I stuck with it.

The execution itself isn't bad. The character of Stargirl could easily have become a paper doll, one of those (usually female) characters who is so untouchable, so up-in-the-clouds perfect that she lacks any sort of dimension and can't be taken seriously. So, I'll give Spinelli that much--he conveys Stargirl's sincerity well. Additionally, she's deep. She has actual reasons for behaving the way she does, and they're actual, complex reasons that involve intelligence and creativity. I appreciated that she got enough floor time to actually explain her reasons for doing things, rather than just being a mysterious saint. Ultimately, though, Stargirl's earnestness can't disguise that she's just another Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

I have to remind myself that most readers of this book will be young enough that they haven't been beaten to death with this tired trope in hundreds of romantic comedy/tragicomedy/dramedy-themed books and movies. Boy--who is nice enough, but a little inhibited, a little in need of some inspiration--meets outrageous, free-spirited, earthy girl who changes his life forever by teaching him to stop caring what other people think and be silly and really live, man. I swear, I thought to myself at the very beginning of the book, "Any minute now, she'll be outside dancing in the rain," and then five pages later, she was outside dancing in the rain.

Some of Stargirl's actions made me uncomfortable, too. I know she's supposed to be the shining, free-spirited light among all the dull, uninspired conformists in the high school drone factory, but just because she has good intentions behind her actions doesn't mean they are all necessarily good ideas. Stargirl goes to a lot of trouble to reach out to people, and she does it without asking for any kind of thanks, but having someone sing "Happy Birthday" to you in the middle of a crowded room or broadcasting your love for someone without talking to them first has always struck me as somewhat inconsiderate. Some people just don't want that kind of attention, and nothing is more traumatic for them than having all eyes in the room on them, completely without their consent. It's true that Stargirl is portrayed as completely innocent, and it's highly possible that she lacks the necessary social filters to understand why being serenaded with "Happy Birthday" isn't always a desired gift, but it made me less sympathetic toward her. It kind of reminded me of those guys who propose to their girlfriends on the Jumbotron at a sporting event--it's arrogant to assume that everyone else wants exactly what you want, and ultimately, regardless of your intentions, it makes the gesture about you, not the other person (while all eyes are on that person, obligating them to behave gracefully even if they're going to pieces inside).

A more succinct way to summarize the last two paragraphs is this: the Stargirl character is inspiring but not original, and the heavy-handed message of Everyone Needs to Lighten Up and Be More Appreciative of Each Other is well-intentioned but shortsighted.

Otherwise, the story was all right. Stargirl might lack social filters, but Leo behaves like a complete ass to her, resulting in the story's somewhat bitter ending. I think this was a fairly realistic portrayal--he cares too much about the approval of the many to show support for the one. And I did appreciate the story's lack of a sugary, upbeat ending in the name of resolution. I like a protagonist with regrets. Leo doesn't seem to have changed much--for all his obsessing over Stargirl after she leaves, one gets the impression that if he got a second chance, he would still care more about fitting in with the crowd than about treating her well--but at least he gets to spend the rest of his life wondering about the one he pushed away. (Even that falls into the MPDG, too-good-for-this-dull-world cliche. Of COURSE he has regret. She's gone, so she'll always be exactly as she was at sixteen and he can idolize her and righteously lament how perfect she was and how stupid he was.) But Stargirl doesn't deserve the shitty way everyone has treated her, and she is probably at her most realistically human when she changes herself out of desire for Leo's acceptance. Likewise, Leo is at his most realistically human when he embraces the "new" Stargirl, then rejects her when she stops conforming. The journey to maturity sucks.

I'm probably taking this all way too seriously. The book was ok; I wasn't as wowed by it as most reviewers seem to have been; I should probably lighten up. But I've given my opinion.

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I probably had unreasonably high hopes for this book just because of its author. Maniac Magee was my favorite book when I was a kid, and it remains my favorite preteen chapter book to this day. But Stargirl didn't move me the way that first taste of Jerry Spinelli's work did.

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Spinelli Biography - Jerry Spinelli was not your average child. He was a unique, free spirit and liked to do things his own way. When he became a writer, he had many people turn him down. But when someone finally accepted him, his life changed forever. He married his wife, Eileen, and they now have 6 children

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Jerry Spinell

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Other works

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Jennifer Niven

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Biography - Niven started writing at a very young age. She was only 10 when she wrote several songs and biographies. By 2000, she started writing professionally and hasn't stopped. This link includes many of her interests. (Fun Fact, Violet's GERM Blog is a real thing!)

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By the time I was ten, I had already written numerous songs, a poem for Parker Stevenson ("If there were a Miss America for men, You would surely win"), two autobiographies ( All About Me and My Life in Indiana: I Will Never Be Happy Again), a Christmas story, several

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Other Work

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Additional Resource - Includes various ratings and reviews

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Jump to navigation The parents' guide to what's in this book. Previous Next Heartrending love story told by teen dying of cancer. Intense '80s romance is a fabulous pick for mature teens. Gripping, unsentimental look at teen in coma.

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Kiera Cass

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Cass grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Virginia. Her interests include boy bands, deserts, and office supplies.

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Kiera Cass is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Selection series.

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Additional Source - Includes summary, reviews, and background information

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Plugged In exists to shine a light on the world of popular entertainment while giving you and your family the essential tools you need to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which we live. Through reviews, articles and discussions, we want to spark intellectual thought, spiritual growth and a desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

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Plugged In exists to shine a light on the world of popular entertainment while giving you and your family the essential tools you need to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which we live.

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Other Works

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Additional Source - Review with criticism elements. Article author believes that the book is very predictable

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THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass | Kirkus Reviews

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It's a bad sign when you can figure out the elevator pitch for a novel from the get-go.

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Lois Lowry

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Other Work

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Lowry was born in Hawaii. She married a naval officer so she moved around very frequently. Her children grew up in Maine, where she constantly scribbled and wrote in her notebook, which contributed to her passion of writing. she now lives in Massachessetts.

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Additional Source - Includes parent and adult reviews of the novel

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Parent reviews for Number the Stars | Common Sense Media

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Read Number the Stars reviews from parents on Common Sense Media. Become a member to write your own review.

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Additional Source - This is a novel guide for students. I used the before you read pages to help me better understand the novel

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John Corey Whaley

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Other Works

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Whaley was born in 1984. He attended Louisiana Tech, where he exercised his passion for English. he later became a full time author and now has written several best-selling novels

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John Corey Whaley (born January 19, 1984) is an American author of contemporary realistic novels for young adults. His debut, Where Things Come Back, was published by Atheneum Books in 2011 and Whaley won the Printz Award from the American Library Association in 2012, recognizing it as the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit." In 2011 the National Book Foundation named him a 5 under 35 honoree. His second novel, Noggin, was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Whaley was born on January 19, 1984. He grew up in Springhill, Louisiana and graduated from Springhill High School in 2002. He then moved to Ruston, Louisiana, to attend college. After college, he taught public middle and high school English for five years in Louisiana before becoming a full-time author.

Whaley holds a B.A. in English and an M.A.T. in Secondary English Education from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana.

Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, his knowledge all disappears.

In the summer before Cullen's senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling tries to validate the spotting of a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Cullen's hometown of Lily, Arkansas. His attempts to find the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker bring a flurry of press and woodpecker experts from all over the U.S to the previously tame and static town. However, the townspeople of Lily hope that the woodpecker who was brought back to life will put some life back into their town. All the kids start getting woodpecker haircuts, everyone eats the new "Lazarus burgers", and everyone shares their cheer about the woodpecker, everyone except for Cullen, that is. Cullen sees the town's preoccupation with the Lazarus woodpecker as an absurd carnival with John Barling as the carnival's crazy ringmaster. Nothing is more startling though for Cullen and the people of Lily, Arkansas than the realization that Cullen's sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.

While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, searches for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax.

Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls, "that damn bird." It's about the dream of second chances and things coming back.

Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn't.

Now he's alive again. Simple as that.

The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy's body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he's still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she's not his girlfriend anymore? That's a bit fuzzy too.

Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.

Oh well, you only live twice.

Highly Illogical Behavior

Sixteen-year-old Solomon Reed is agoraphobic. He hasn't left the house in three years, two months, and one day, which is fine by him. Seventeen-year-old Lisa Praytor has her sights set on the second--best psychology program in the country (she's being realistic). But is ambition alone enough to get her in? Enter Solomon. Determined to "fix" Sol, Lisa steps into his world, along with her charming boyfriend, Clark, and soon enough the three form an unexpected bond. But, as Lisa learns more about Sol and he and Clark grow closer and closer, the walls they've built around themselves start to collapse and their friendships threaten to do the same.

Awards and recognition

The U.S. Young Adult Library Services Association recognized Where Things Come Back with the annual Printz Award that is open to all books published in the U.S. for young-adult readers. Naturally Whaley also won YALSA's award for new authors (debut books), the 2012 William C. Morris YA Award.

Where Things Come Back was chosen as a Publishers Weekly Best Book 2011.

Whaley was selected by the National Book Foundation as a Top 5 Under 35 Author for 2011.

Whaley and Where Things Come Back are included on ABC Children's Group's New Voices 2011 Top Ten List for Teens.

Whaley was named a Spring 2011 Flying Start Author by Publishers Weekly for his debut novel, Where Things Come Back, which also received a starred review from the publication.

SIBA, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, named Where Things Come Back as one of its Spring 2011 Okra Picks.

In 2008, Whaley was also a semi-finalist for the 1st. Annual Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award.

2014 California Book Awards Young Adult Finalist for "Noggin"

2014 National Book Awards NOGGIN was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

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John Corey Whaley (born January 19, 1984) is an American author of contemporary realistic novels for young adults. His debut, Where Things Come Back, was published by Atheneum Books in 2011[2] and Whaley won the Printz Award from the American Library Association in 2012, recognizing it as the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit."[3] In 2011 the National Book Foundation named him a 5 under 35 honoree.

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Additional Source - Review of the novel with several opinions and critiques.

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As far as I can recall - and it's been a while - being a teenager is confusing. You have to wrestle with all sorts of issues related to your identity, and the biggest struggle is simply feeling comfortable in your skin. That's why the premise of John Corey Whaley's young adult novel "Noggin" - outlandish as it is - has such wonderful resonance. It takes the idea of being alienated from your own body and makes it literal.

When 16-year-old Travis Coates was dying of leukemia, he chose, as he puts it, to have his head "chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado." Five years later, thanks to surprising medical advances, doctors sewed his cryogenically preserved head onto the corpse of a stranger, and woke Travis up. Holden Caulfield meets Frankenstein's monster.

Let the complications ensue. First, Travis has to get accustomed to all the new parts below his neck (the body's former owner died of brain cancer, but was otherwise healthy). On the upside, his replacement body is taller and has a knack for skateboarding. Second, Travis has to adjust to a new world. He has been gone for only five years, a quarter of Rip Van Winkle's nap, but now his former girlfriend is engaged to another guy and his best friend - who confided he was gay to Travis when Travis was dying - is back to dating women.

And then there's his unasked-for fame: the paparazzi, the fan mail, the screaming women, the detractors who say he's a spawn of Satan, the fanatics who see him as a thawed version of Jesus. And everybody hoping to get a peek at his infamous neck scar. Not to mention Travis's parents, who are just as emotionally unequipped for all this as he is. "I wondered if she'd ever smile again without crying, or if this had become her default setting," Travis says of his mother. "Maybe I wasn't the only one who needed a reset button."

Whaley's first book, also for teenagers, was "Where Things Come Back," winner of the 2012 Michael L. Printz Award. That book's plot wasn't quite as bizarre, but already you could see the quality of Whaley's unconventional imagination. With "Noggin," Whaley is straddling two genres. Its most obvious allegiance is to the category of teenage romances featuring supernatural characters. But "Noggin" actually owes more to the John Green genre, which I like to call Greenlit. Green is the master of first-person, funny-sad young adult novels. His most popular - "The Fault in Our Stars" - also has a main character who is battling cancer.

The good news is, Whaley can just about keep up with Green. Whaley has a gift for detail, describing a hospital through its noises: "Beeps, footsteps, the tearing of plastic, spinning wheels on carts, 'Wheel of Fortune' on the neighbor's TV. These were the sounds I died to, and these were the ones that welcomed me back."

He can be very funny, as when Travis says of his friend's wardrobe, "I'm not even sure where one buys pleated bluejeans, but it was possible and he proved it every day." And, like Green, he can choke you up, as when he tells how Travis's friends staged a year's worth of holidays in one night so he'd get to experience them all before he died.

"Noggin" is not perfect. It occasionally feels repetitive, and Travis's new best friend is of the crude-but-lovable variety, which seems a little overfamiliar now. But for the most part, Whaley's themes - such as the question of whether we can ever let go of the past - and characterizations are strong. Whenever I finish a novel with a high concept, I do a little test and ask if the book would hold up if the conceit were magically stripped away, if you removed the gimmicks and were left with only the emotional skeleton.

Would I still enjoy "Harry Potter" if it were about a nerdy nonwizard at a regular old boarding school? Probably, because the characters are so wonderfully drawn. Draco Malfoy is a loathsome weasel with or without a flying broom. On the other hand, imagine "Twilight" without vampires or werewolves. Deadly.

As for "Noggin"? Well, if it had no time-shifting or cryogenics - if it were about a kid who, say, returned to school after a couple of years abroad - I'd still recommend it, thanks to Whaley's prose. But the transplanted head is a fine bonus.

A. J. JACOBS is an editor at large at Esquire magazine and the author of "Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection."

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As far as I can recall - and it's been a while - being a teenager is confusing. You have to wrestle with all sorts of ­issues related to your identity, and the biggest struggle is simply feeling comfortable in your skin.

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Additional Source - This is Whaley's website. It includes background info, facts, and reviews for his novels!

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This is the official website of author John Corey Whaley.

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https://www.canva.com/design/DAC2IZGGutQ/PLX33tRL8LKOz0mvm4kUdA/view?utm_content=DAC2IZGGutQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

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Additional Source - Includes various ratings

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Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli | PenguinRandomHouse.com

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A modern-day classic and New York Times bestseller that celebrates the power of individuality and personal expression from beloved Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli. Stargirl. From the day she arrives at...

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Additional Resource - Article I used for my criticism vlog. Includes an in depth review of the novel

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REVIEW: ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES|| QUIRKINESS FOR THE SAKE OF QUIRKINESS SYNDROME

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All The Bright Places was... Almost a waste of time?? It was one of those books when I was expecting A LOT. I kept thinking, "Oh the good part's coming up after this," and then it was five pages to the end and the GOOD PART NEVER CAME.

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https://youtu.be/rurytEV_7QU

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https://youtu.be/YK-1_RwFbtM

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https://youtu.be/c4RpfTlR95Q

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Vlog Link - disclaimer - when i add extra clips of my personal life they are just for fun and to give the video a real "vlogger vibe!" :) They are not related to the novels, they are simply for enjoyment :)

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Vlog Link - disclaimer - when i add extra clips of my personal life they are just for fun and to give the video a real "vlogger vibe!" :) They are not related to the novels, they are simply for enjoyment :)

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https://youtu.be/c4RpfTlR95Q

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https://youtu.be/c4RpfTlR95Q