ajsterkel's reviews
812 reviews

One rainy day, a girl named Coraline gets so bored that she decides to find out what's behind the locked door in the drawing room. She discovers an apartment that looks exactly like the one where she lives, but the similarities are only surface deep. Coraline ends up on a fast-paced adventure with a bunch of creepy creatures.

If I had read this book as a kid, it might have been one of my favorite books ever. I loved Alice in Wonderland, and this reminded me of a modernized, urbanized version of Alice. I can see why so many kids are crazy about Coraline.

This is a short book, only about 160 pages, so it's a quick read for adults. The story is a little scary, but I think most kids could handle it.

If I had to find something to criticize, it would be the writing. It's very simplistic, and there is a lot of repetition of names, actions, and feelings. Repetition is fine if it's purposeful, but this didn't seem purposeful to me. There are two paragraphs in a row where every sentence starts with "She." I know that this is a kids' book, and the writing should be clear and simple, but I also know that this author is capable of better writing than what's in this book.

The plot and characters are amazing. Coraline is brave, quirky, and very likable. The world is unique and imaginative. I really appreciate that the author doesn't talk down to his readers. The plot is complex, but he trusts that kids are smart enough to "get it." This is a very fun book.

This is a quick, cute, fun read. It's only about 100 pages, and the margins are huge, so I got through it very fast. The book is a collection of wizard fairytales from the Harry Potter universe. If you've read Harry Potter, most of the tales and characters will be familiar.

There's not much to say about this book because there's not much to the book. The stories are clever, and I loved Dumbledore's commentary. I especially liked that Dumbledore talked about how the stories changed or were censored over time. That made them feel more realistic because there are dozens of versions of real-life fairytales. It's interesting that wizard fairytales are the same.

Mostly, these stories made me miss Harry Potter. Now I want to go reread those.

The profits from this book go to a wonderful charity. It's worth buying just for that.

This middle-grade novel is based on the life of the author's grandmother. Thirteen-year-old Esperanza is a rich girl living in Mexico when her father is murdered. She is forced to flee to California with her mother and work as a farm laborer to support herself and her mother.

This book is set during the Great Depression, but the themes are still relevant today. It confronts the issues of racism, classism, discrimination, immigration, labor strikes, and economic problems. It shows the importance of family and of being kind to people who are different from you.

The characters are well-developed, and the setting is very vivid. Nothing in the book is oversimplified or "dumbed down" for children. I like the Spanish words that are used in dialogue and as the chapter titles. If you don't know Spanish, all of them are translated for you. There are a lot of historical details, but I would have liked the book even more if it had included more historical details.

I did have a hard time getting interested in the story. I didn't think that Esperanza and her family were very relatable in the beginning of the book. The characters become more relatable as the story progresses.

This is a quick read for adults and an educational read for children. It would be great as part of a social studies curriculum. There is a lot of material in it for parents and teachers to talk about with their students.

I realize that my opinion will be hugely unpopular. For the record, I do understand why people love Wonder. There is a lot to love about this book. It just isn't my type of book. It reminds me of cake. One piece of cake is great, but if you try to eat an entire cake by yourself, you'll get sick. This book is so sweet that it made me a little sick. I know that it's a middle grade novel, and those are supposed to have happy endings, but even as a child, I would have had a hard time with all the crying and hugging at the end. I was hoping that this book would be grittier, more realistic, and more honest. The premise is intriguing, but the book is unrealistically sweet and a little simplistic.

Wonder is about ten-year-old August. He is born with a genetic disorder that deforms his face and requires him to have dozens of surgeries. As a result, his parents homeschool him until it's time for middle school. August looks different from other children. At middle school, he faces bullying, discrimination, stares, and whispers. Over the course of a year, August grows up a lot, and the other children learn to be kinder.

The story is told from multiple points-of-view. I like this because it allows the reader to see August from different angles. My favorite narrators are Via and Jack. They feel the most honest to me. Both of them care about August, but they acknowledge that having him in their lives makes life more difficult. This is especially true for August's sister, Via. August requires so much attention that Via feels neglected by her parents. Via and Jack's points-of-view are very well done. Some of the other narrators have voices that sound very similar, so I would have liked them better if they were more distinct.

The sweetness is my main complaint about the book, but I also started to question the motives of August's "friends" as I was reading. The adult characters often tell the child characters to be kind to August. Are the other children friends with August because they like him as a person or because they have been told over and over to be kind to him? I question if the friendships in this book are real friendships. The older girl, Miranda, feels like an authentic friend to August, but I'm not sure about the others. To me, they seem like pity friends who are being kind to August because it's the right thing to do. Kindness is great, but wouldn't August want actual friends and not just people who are kind to him? It really bothers me that August says that he feels like a "mascot" to the other kids. He shouldn't be a mascot to the other kids; he should just be one of the kids.

Then there's the dating thing. Ten-year-olds do date. When I was ten, I remember that there was a lot of pressure to have your first kiss, bring a date to the sock hop, etc. The fact that ten-year-olds date in this book doesn't bother me. I'm also happy that some of the ten-year-olds in the book don't date. When I was ten, I thought that something was wrong with me because I had no interest in dating. I would have loved to read about characters who were similar to me.

This is going to sound hypocritical: it bothers me that August has very few thoughts about dating. He doesn't seem to have any crushes. He doesn't seem to feel any pressure to date. He doesn't seem to have any opinions about his friends dating. He doesn't seem to give much thought to possibly dating in the future. The author puts the other characters in relationships and totally ignores August's romantic life. I didn't like that.

This book is an uplifting, feel-good story with a nice message, so I can see why so many people love it, but it's not my type of thing.

I guess I just don't Get It.

So many people have recommended this book to me, and I finally got around to reading it, but I was pretty underwhelmed. It's not a bad book. Caitlin is an unusual protagonist, but I had a hard time believing this book.

Caitlin is an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger's. When her older brother is killed in a school shooting, she struggles to understand what is happening in her family and her town.

The author does a great job of showing the world through the eyes of a unique child. I don't know much about Asperger's, but I fully believe that something is different about Caitlin. She is the best part of the book. She's smart, funny, and entertaining. There are some really great lines of dialogue.

There are a few things about Caitlin that I had a hard time believing. She loves to read and can read at an adult reading level, but she doesn't understand figurative language. Doesn't she often encounter figurative language while she's reading? I also had a hard time believing Caitlin's counselor. She didn't seem to know much about how Caitlin sees the world. She uses words and phrases that she should know that Caitlin doesn't understand. Finally, I had a hard time believing Caitlin's transformation at the end. She goes from someone who is incapable of understanding empathy to someone who is very empathetic. This transformation happened too quickly for me. In fact, I thought that the whole "Put yourself in other people's shoes" message was handled in a slightly heavy-handed way. I felt like I was being hit over the head with it.

Like I said, this isn't a bad book. It's a very quick read. YA fiction often lacks diversity, so I really appreciate reading about a character with Asperger's. I think this book would appeal to children who are a little bit different from their peers.

I'm sad that this was the last book in this series. I didn't want it to be over. This is one of the best series that I've read in a long time.

This book is pretty much nonstop action from page 1. It's not as humorous as the other books, and Percy isn't as upbeat as he was in some of the other books, but that's understandable because he's fighting in a war. The book still does have some funny moments, and the ending made me happy. The author did a great job wrapping up the Percy/Annabeth romance. The kissing scene at the end was very cute.

Like the other books in the series, there were noticeable typos in this one, and the plot was slightly predictable. I predicted how Luke/Kronos was going to die, and I was right. I also predicted what was going to happen to Rachel, and I was right. Correctly predicting the plot is a little annoying for adult readers, but young readers might not find the series as predictable.

My favorite part of the series (aside from the humor and the twisted mythology) was the fact that there were no good guys in the war. Both sides had major flaws. Neither one would turn the world into a utopia. Percy questioned his decision to support the gods many times. I thought that was very realistic. I liked that Percy used his new status as a respected war hero to try to change how the gods treated their children and the minor gods.

Overall, this was a great series, and I'd recommend it to everyone, especially parents who need books for reluctant readers.

These books keep getting more awesome. Goodreads needs to start offering more than five stars. In this book, Percy and his friends have to find the creator of the Labyrinth to stop Kronos from overthrowing the gods.

This book is darker than the previous ones, and I have a feeling that the next one is going to be even darker. I'm enjoying watching Percy grow up as the series progresses. He's getting smarter. Maybe not about girls, but he's getting smarter about life. He's becoming a confident leader with a very funny self-deprecating sense of humor. 

Besides Percy, my favorite character in this book was Nico, even though he seems much, much older than his age. At times, this series is very predictable, but I have no idea what's going to happen with Nico. He's an interesting anti-hero. I want to read the next book just to find out what he does.

This book wasn't as funny as the others, but that was okay with me. The fast-paced plot and the tension were enough to keep me interested. Like the other books in the series, this one had noticeable typos and editing mistakes.

I'm ready for the last book. I know that it won't disappoint.

This was my favorite book in the series so far. It starts setting up the climax of the series, and it’s a little darker than the previous books. It’s still funny, but it’s not as silly as the first two books. As Percy gets older, his “voice” is starting to sound more realistic. He’s also less . . . well . . . stupid in this book. I love Percy, but he is dumb as a post in the first two books. In this book, he doesn’t walk blindly into obvious traps every few dozen pages, he puts slightly more thought into what he’s doing, and he actually defeats a few monsters instead of just battling the monster until he gets rescued. For adult readers, this book is slightly less predictable than the others.

My favorite part of the series is still the humor. There are some very funny lines. I also like seeing the national landmarks and familiar places as the characters travel back and forth across the US. I don’t know much about Greek mythology, but the modern twists on mythology are always interesting to me.

Like the previous books, this one has typos. Also, the rules set up in the previous books are sometimes ignored when they are inconvenient for the plot of the current book. For example, wasn’t Zeus going to blast Percy out of the sky if he ever caught Percy flying again? Percy spends a lot of time riding magical flying animals around the country in this book, and he never seems concerned about Zeus.

This book does a nice job of setting up the next book in the series. It made me eager to read the next one.

The second book in the series is just as awesome as the first one. There is a lot of action, a lot of funny dialogue, and a lot of clever modern twists on Greek mythology. I got a better sense of the characters' personalities in this book. Annabeth and Clarisse especially seemed like more well-rounded characters. Percy can be a little arrogant, but he's still likable, funny, and relatable.

There were a few times where the characters were saved by the magic of deux ex machina, and Percy still doesn't fully understand that EVERYTHING is a trap, but young readers probably won't be bothered by this.

This book didn't have the same printing issues as the first book. There were no smudged words or ink blobs bleeding through the pages. Like the first book, there were several typos and editing mistakes.

Despite a few flaws, I really enjoyed this book, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

This book is fun. I enjoyed it a lot, and I know that I would have gone nuts over it if I had read it as a ten-year-old instead of as an adult. The author has a wonderful sense of humor. There were several literal laugh-out-loud moments. Percy is a very likable character, and I think a lot of kids can relate to his struggles with school and his conflicts with his obnoxious stepfather.

My favorite element of the story was the fact that the characters' "disabilities" were actually strengths or coverups for something awesome. The wheelchair was actually hiding the fact that the man in the wheelchair was a centaur, ADHD helps kids become great warriors, that type of thing. I thought it was clever, and it sends a good message to young readers.

This book is very similar to Harry Potter, so if you liked those books, you might like this one. For adult readers, a lot of the plot twists are predictable. I was always a few steps ahead of the characters. They kept making the same stupid mistakes over and over (and over). Young readers probably won't notice this as much as adult readers.

If I had to pick something that I didn't like about the book, it would be the editing and printing. There were very obvious typos and errors. The words on some of the pages were blurred or smeared. The ink had bled through the paper in some places. It made me very happy that I'm not dyslexic. C'mon, Disney, if you want to publish books, you'll have to do better.