Book Review: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

We All Looked Up
by Tommy Wallach
Series: Standalone
Publication: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on March 24, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Contemporary, Dystopia, Coming of Age

Before Ardor came, we let ourselves be defined by labels - 
the ATHLETE,
the SLUT,
the SLACKER,
the OVERACHIEVER.
But then we all looked up, and everything changed. They said the asteroid would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end. Two months to really LIVE.

Book Review: Wildlife by Fiona Wood

Wildlife
by Fiona Wood
Series: Six Impossible Things/Wildlife #2
Publication: Poppy on September 16, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Coming of Age, Friendships

A semester in the wilderness?
Let me survive it.
Hey, let me enjoy it.

During a semester in the wilderness, sixteen-year-old Sib expects the tough outdoor education program and the horrors of dorm life, but friendship drama and love that gets complicated?  That will take some navigating.

New girl Lou has zero interest in fitting in, or joining in.  Still reeling from a loss that occurred almost a year ago, she just wants to be left alone.  But as she witnesses a betrayal unfolding around Sib and her best friend Holly, Lou can't help but be drawn back into the land of the living.

In this tender, funny story of first love, good friendship, and going a little bit wild, Fiona Wood introduces two unforgettable girls who discover that before you can be true to yourself, you have to figure out exactly who you are.

Winger (Winger #1) - Andrew Smith

Winger

by Andrew Smith

Illustrated by Sam Bosma

Series: Winger #1

Publication: Simon & Schuster on 

Format: Paperback, 464 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Coming of Age, Humor, Sports

Jacket copy:

Ryan Dean West's life is complicated.  He's a fourteen-year-old junior at Pine Mountain, a boarding school for rich kids.  He's stuck rooming with the biggest jerk on the rugby team in the dorm for miscreants and troublemakers.  And he's totally in love with his best friend, Annie, who thinks of him as a little kid.  As Ryan Dean tries to get a handle on school, life, and rugby, he finds himself muddling through a lot of decisions and making some major mistakes along the way.  But nothing can prepare him for what comes next.  And when the unthinkable happens, Ryan Dean has to find a way to hold on to the important things - no matter what.

Winger was the most entertaining book I've read in a long time.  Ryan Dean's personality draws you into the book from page one (as he contemplates life with his head stuck in a toilet).  Always very humorous, author Andrew Smith does not disappoint.

Like many others, I for one love books that take place at boarding school.  With parents out of the question and supervisors not much of a threat, you know these kids are going to be getting themselves into a whole lot of mischief during the semester.  Ryan Dean West was definitely not an exception as for his junior year at Pine Mountain, he found himself living in O-Hall, as the jacket copy describes it, "the dorm for miscreants and troublemakers."

The reader follows along Ryan Dean as he journeys his way through high school, as he constantly struggles with being the "little kid" of the grade.  His age often sets him apart from others, and does so especially when Annie's in the question.  Throughout the story, we get to follow along as Ryan Dean untiringly pursues her.

One of the greatest parts about Winger is that as the reader, you truly feel as if you're inside of Winger's, Ryan Dean's, head.  Author Andrew Smith did not leave a single thought of this fourteen-year-old boy's mind out of the text, so every reader is guaranteed to a good laugh!  I myself burst out in hysterics more than a couple of times.

Another awesome part about Winger was that Ryan Dean West's drawings were included periodically between chapters.  These illustrations, comics, and graphs were all too entertaining to look over and read.  However, be prepared that not all of the story is quite as good-natured and fun as the pages make it seem.

So all in all?  Pick up Winger and you're in for 448 pages of amusing dialogue and entertaining plot all dispersed with the occasional a whole lot of hilarious (sometimes perverted) fourteen-year-old boy thoughts.