Reading Circle: October
During my student teaching experience, I found that the one thing I really wanted to get my students to do was to want to read on their own for enjoyment. That was a hefty goal, I soon realized. I figured the only way I could even expose them to the wonders of books was to incorporate as many excerpts and as many samples from as many books as I could during my lessons. I read to them The Fault in Our Stars, The 5th Wave, Pride and Prejudice, Love that Dog, Divergent, Les Miserables and so on. Before I knew it, I had students in line to borrow different books from my little personal library. I had students coming in after powering through a book in two nights and wanting to tell me what they liked about it or didn’t like about it and then asking me for more recommendations. Since then, I have been trying my hardest to read a lot so that I can keep up with my students and be able to always have a recommendation up my sleeve. I read a lot of YA lit for that reason, and let me tell you, there is some really good YA literature out there these days. I do try to brush up on my classics, too!
I really liked this book a lot better then Anderson’s other novel-Wintergirls. I felt like the story line was easier to follow because there wasn’t a ton of description to get lost in. I think this is a very applicable plot that many teenage girls could relate to in one way or another and that Anderson tackles a tough subject with class and honesty. I liked the literal application of speaking as Melinda’s coping mechanism.
I keep going back and forth over how I feel about this book. I knew that there were two other books that went along with this book and without really thinking about it, thought that this book was the first in a trilogy. This was where I went wrong-this book is a stand alone story with two companion novels-not sequels! So, this book takes you on a complete journey and that was something I didn’t realize at first, so I was really surprised at how long the story was! I’m just not used to that! I would get frustrated and confused that the author kept pushing the story along and wondered when it would end in a cliff hanger, not realizing that she was going to end the story all the way. If I was to sit down and read this again with that understanding, I think I would enjoy the story more.
The action is fast paced and there are some good twists in the plot line. I think the character development was realistic and believable. I liked the romance, too. I think this story was really balanced out and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy and action.
