I'm a little torn here. I've read plenty of good books in May, but it's hard to choose one to talk about. I think I'll go with a different approach and talk about one I won on Goodreads, SURPRISE THERE (sarcasm), that is a Middle Grade book. Hold up, before you roll your eyes and close your browser, read the rest of this post, hear me out!
I normally don't read middle grade novels because, well, they don't appeal to me. Don't go yelling at me, "It's because they're for middle grade aged readers!" Bologna! If Young Adult books were only read by YA aged readers, well, you can only imagine! But, I won the book The Dreamcatcher Adventures: Greedy Jack Wallace by Adam C. Veile and let me tell you, it really surprised me at how good it was! Veile even signed the book and sent me a personal message on goodreads to top it off!
Anyway, the book is about a boy who faces things most kids his age face, girls and bullies, then moves onto him dealing with things like foreclosure on his house. Veile has managed to intertwine subjects usually meant for adults into a kids book so that they can relate too. It's sad that in today's time kids that age actually have to deal with things such as this. Blake, the main character, even talks about what it would like to live on the streets!
The storyline was actually really compelling, and even managed to address things like death in a way that younger kids can understand while not being completely freaked out. The idea of the dreamcatcher that Veile uses is something really unique that I had never heard of. Blake is so realistic, you'd think the book was written by Blake himself. The suspense, yes there's suspense!, is so good I actually found myself not able to stop reading!
There's so much more that I could say about this book, and if you have any questions feels free to comment, but I would like to keep this post shorter than book length. I find myself actually interested in reading the second book when it comes out. (The first cleverly set up a storyline in passing conversation that could be stretched into a series.)
I highly recommend this to anyone that would like a quick read or even to those of you who have kids, you could read it to them if they're younger or have them read it. Definitely worth picking up!
Have any of you ever been surprised by liking a book in a genre or subject matter that you normally don't gravitate towards?
I think its good for all writers to read all genres--it's just easier to explain and understand when an adult says, "I read it because I have kids." Or you can say, "I read it for research." This is always acceptable. Lol.
ReplyDeleteI actually got hooked on a couple of MG and chapter book series after I read them for work. Honest. I was a bookseller. AND they were very well-written, entertaining, and engaging. Perfect for getting kids of all ages to fall in love with reading. :)
I don't know if I've actually read any MG (unless you count the first few Harry Potter's.) I'm sure I'd probably like them, but there's so many other great books I want to read that I don't know if I'll ever get around to it! (Sort of like a few classics I have on my shelf just waiting...) But I'll definitely recommend this one to my kids!
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about this was it was a really fast read. I'm not sure if it's because I'm normally a fast reader, but I'm sure you could finish it in just a few days!
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