Saturday, July 17, 2010

Books!

So I forgot to post yesterday, but hey a few hours late isn't bad! (12 hours still counts as a few) No more crafting, and no pics yet, but since all I've been doing is reading, I thought I'd share a review of my favorite book from last week's school books (for YA lit class).

Going Bovine. By Libba Bray. Delacorte Press, 2009. 480 pages. ISBN: 9780385733977 $17.99. Grades 9+

Cameron Smith is an average slacker high school student who gets diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease (or more commonly thought of as mad cow) and is told there is no cure. After talking with a punk rock angel, Cameron escapes the hospital with his dwarf roommate, Gonzo, and starts on a wild cross-country adventure to save the world and cure himself. This adventure is peppered with visits from the punk rock angel, Dulcie, and “dreams” of being in the hospital bed still. Bray masterfully weaves together a serious story about the big questions and issues in life with the kooky antics of trip riddled with hallucinations and an ancient Norse god turned lawn gnome. Not only will this story have readers questioning reality, thinking about their own mortality, and most likely crying, but it will also have readers laughing out loud at Cameron and Gonzo’s adventures. The teenage characters in the novel are realistic in actions and speech, using slang and four-letter words in a natural and unforced manner. Going Bovine is a fabulous combination of Chris Crutcher’s Deadline and Christopher Moore’s odd humor and language.

No comments: