Summer Reading Recommendation: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

photo by Amazon

If you devoured the twisted ending of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, then you’ve got to read Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone. This YA book is a standout because it confronts teen mental illness head-on and without apology. On the exterior, the protagonist, Samantha McAllister, has it all–a reserved seat at the lunch table with the Crazy Eights, her high school’s most popular girls, a slew of potential hunky hookups, a promising collegiate swimming career, and a potentially explosive secret she doesn’t dare share outside of her family–or her weekly counseling session. Samantha has Purely-Obsessional OCD; her overactive mind whirs nonstop with poisonous thoughts.

     Thankfully, serendipity intervenes, and Sam meets Caroline, a devil-may-care outsider who knows exactly what the popular girl most longs for–real connections. Caroline leads Sam to the underground Poet’s Corner, a secret meeting spot for a group of outsiders bound together by their passion for poetry. Sam struggles mightily to find her balance: Can she join the poetry crowd and still maintain her Crazy Eights public facade? Will AJ, the shy, guitar-playing poet, ever be able to accept Sam into his world?

     I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. I especially applaud Stone for her determination to shed light on a subject that we all need to be talking about–and doing so in an authentic, carefully crafted manner that’s both respectful and thoroughly entertaining. I recommend Every Last Word to mature readers who are at least in the eighth grade. High school and adult readers, too, will find this book is an engaging, thoughtful read that’s generously seasoned with mystery, suspense, romance, and heartbreak. Topics covered include mental health, suicide, depression, bullying, poetry as therapy, and first love. In case it matters, there’s one sex scene similar to Hazel and Gus’s in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars

Watch for more book recommendations shortly. I’ve been reading like crazy. I simply need to spend the time to write the reviews! 🙂

Keep on reading!

Mrs. Rombach

 

Books & Pencils: The Ultimate Screen Savers!

“Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
‘Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before.”
― Shel Silverstein

 

I’m constantly bugging my kids to reduce their screen time (TV, iPod, iPhone, computer, Xbox, iPad). I hope your parents are dong the same. Why, you ask?

When we’re sitting in front of most screens, our brains absorb existing visuals rather than creating them. Imagine instead propping up on a pillow and sipping lemonade from a licorice straw while reading the latest, greatest tome to take the young adult world by storm. In this scenario, our brains embark on their own “virtual” doodling. Your magnificent noggin starts creating colorful, elaborately detailed mind movies from scratch. Wow!

Look at it this way. Your brain is designed to create. So take it on a field trip, away from the hypnotic, ready-made offerings of YouTube and instead wrap your sun-tanned hands around a book. Or a pencil, crayon, or marker. Create something from nothing. Whether you’re sketching America’s next villian-conquering superhero, scribbling out song lyrics in a tattered spiral notebook, or delving deep into a character’s inner being, let your brain go bonkers with imagination.

Like we’ve heard a zillion times, it is far better to give than to receive. Give yourself over to the incomparable powers of your own imagination.

Last week, our family traveled to Walt Disney World, a theme park rooted in one man’s boundless imagination. In between heart-racing rides and cheesing with Mickey and Minnie, I finished up several entertaining books. This week, I’ll begin If I Stay by Gayle Forman, which targets upper-level middle schoolers (like Fault in Our Stars). Join me for this soul-stirring tale of an aspiring musician’s life-altering tragedy. When a car accident leaves her orphaned and comatose, this teen must choose between following the light or her heart. Meet me on the other side and let’s trade comments about this New York Times bestseller (and soon-to-be summer blockbuster). 

These are the books Mrs. Rombach read this past week. Click on the cover to view a book trailer. What book are you reading now

 

Sonnenblick expertly crafts a riveting story of a young cancer survivor’s lifelong struggles. Loved this book! Photo Credit: Scholastic.com

bookcover3

Flinn delivers an easy-to-read contemporary fairy tale bubbling with ample portions of regular-guy heroics, magic, adventure, royalty, and witches. Photo Credit: GoodReads.com

Photo Credit: GoodReads.com

A word collector and stutterer, Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything. First, she’ll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that’s been cast over the town . . . and her mother’s broken heart. Summary and Photo Credit: GoodReads.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Imagine all the wonders still awaiting you this summer. Unlock the creativity in that amazing thinker of yours. 🙂

Mrs. Rombach

 

Read The Giver…..before it hits theaters August 15!

“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”— Henry David Thoreau

photo credit: www.chicagoparent.com

photo credit: www.chicagoparent.com

Fifteen years before The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins’ dystopian plunge into the Capital’s annual district reaping.

Eighteen years before Veronica Roth’s Divergent marched us into a faction-divided post-apocalyptic Chicago.

Before dystopian novels dominated The New York Times bestseller lists, there was Lois Lowry’s The Giver. I fell in love with this book, the 1993  Newbery Medal winner, because it was the first dystopian novel I read simply because I wanted to read it.

In a stringent society where sameness maintains order and memories have been vanquished, 11-year-old Jonas finds himself struggling to make sense of his new Community-ordained role as The Receiver of Memories. Tasked with becoming the Society’s keeper of memories, past and present, Jonas apprentices under the previous Receiver, now The Giver, and is terribly conflicted by what he learns about his Society. Every memory  — from the painful violence of war to the breathtaking beauty of a winter snowfall — are transferred to Jonas with The Giver’s touch. With every memory received, more of the Society’s hidden darkness comes to light.  Jonas begins to see beneath the deceptive layers of societal mandates, and his life is forever altered because of it.

You must read The Giver before it hits theaters on August 15. Young ladies, you’ll be happy to learn that Aussie heartthrob, Brenton Thwaites, the handsome Prince Philip whose first kiss failed to awaken Aurora in Disney’s Maleficent, snagged the lead role of Jonas in The Giver.

By the way, I LOVED everything about Maleficent! I expected a dark, villainous tale of woe, but was delightfully surprised to find that Disney’s original screenplay delivered stunning cinematic artistry, a magically inventive storyline, and a winsome cast of characters. Thank you, Disney, for giving me every reason to root for Maleficent, whom Angelina Jolie played majestically. Don’t wait for the DVD…Maleficent is worth every cent of the $12 I spent to watch it last week. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again in the theaters. So good!

The Giver – Movie Trailer

In my previous posts, I mentioned two other movies, MazeRunner and If I Stay, both young adult books that will hit movie theaters later this summer. Stuff these two books in your beach or pool bag and read the stories before they reach the big screen. After you do, post a comment here. Let me know what you thought of the books.

Give yourself the gift of a good book!

Mrs. Rombach