Lauren Myracle "TTYL"

I recently read Lauren Myracle's book TTYL. No wait, that's a lie. I read it last week. But it was so good, I just had to read it again. :)

I've read other books by Lauren Myracle called "The Winnie Series." These books (titled Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Thirteen Plus One) follow Winnie's life as she transitions from preteen to a teenager. Why am I bringing up these books? Well, the last book (Thirteen Plus One) wrapped up just about every plot in the series, so it's to be assumed this is the last book in the Winnie Series. :(



But TTYL is like a continuation of the Winnie Series! It's true! Winnie, who is based on the author Lauren Myracle, would be Angel. Dinah, Winnie's shy friend, would be Zoe. And Cinnamon, Dinah and Winnie's risk-taking friend, would be Maddie. If you've read a later Winnie book and TTYL, reread TTYL. There are references and hints that these are the same characters. :)



On Amazon.com, many people (and by people I mean control-freak mothers and their control-freak teenage daughters) who think this book should be banned for it's language. Banning books is not a practice I approve. I feel that the language of this book is not an issue. I happen to read books with swearing (though this one tops all others in that category) but I do not swear online or to my friends. Most kids I know who swear are the ones whose parents made it a big deal. So if your kid is yelling $#*^ all the time, don't blame the book. It's almost as immature as the swearing. /:/



The moral of the story is that some people are not trustworthy. If you see the signs, don't ignore them to keep a positive view of the person. They show this message with the plot that all three girls have bad judgement with their people. Angela has a hard time noticing when her boyfriend is interested in someone else, Maddie starts trusting Jana (the popular girl) and Zoe starts flirting with a teacher. I was happy with the Zoe plot, at first, because I knew Lauren Myracle would teach kids exactly what to do when you're in a relationship with a pedofile. :D



But, [[SOMEWHAT-SPOILER ALERT]] I was wrong. The girls decided that they couldn't tell Zoe's parents, since they would freak out (NO DUH!) I won't reveal Zoe's last date with the teacher, but I will say the two other girls ruined any romantic moment they might have had to save Zoe. While I like that they helped Zoe, I would have preferred that they told the parents. It is mentioned in the beginning that this teacher flirts with other students, so just because he and Zoe are over as a couple doesn't mean he won't go after other students. 8(

Other than the Zoe ending, I did enjoy this story. It's very funny, very interesting, and worth your time. TTYL (lame joke!)

Review of "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine

             "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine is about an eleven year old girl named Caitlyn, who has aspergers. This is not the only problem she has to face, though, her mother died when she was three and her brother was killed in a school shooting. Throughout the book, she tries to find Closure as well as make friends.
             I assumed that most people who read this book wanted to know if anyone with aspergers found the book an accurate representation. I certainly did. While reading this book, I felt a connection that I knew only a few readers would also feel. Caitlyn was me as a fifth grader. At that time, I remember stuffed-animaling (I just called it "making things blurry") and playing with candy (Easter M&Ms to be exact. They looked like animals, so I would pretend they were and set them up in a barn.) and not looking people in the eye. I also never colored my pictures, but it was because I couldn't color inside the lines. I absolutely hated gym class (still do, but not that strongly) and recess was fun but too loud. And I was also glad that the kid with autism (which is not the same as aspergers) was in a different classroom because I always heard her screaming across the room. I don't think anyone besides my mom knew I had aspergers, or understood it. They just thought I was weird.
           I also recalled some sad memories of my own while reading one of the ending chapters, in which Caitlyn deals with people constantly teasing her and she doesn't understand it. The book explores my childhood to the point that I felt as though, instead of making up a character, Kathryn Erksine followed me around when I was in fifth grade. I loved that the book was able to hanfle three subjects (aspergers, school-shooting, dead family member) however, I didn't like the ending nor the author talking mostly about the school-shooting topic in the end. But I still recommend this book to those who have not read it.
           By the way, I never found my aspergers to be a "problem" or "disability." Because of it, I was never interested in popularity or status, and I have my career as an artist and writer ahead of me. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it took me so long to understand people, but I've mostly Got It by now. :)