I'd been meaning to read this book since it first came out almost two years ago. I took it home two summers ago planning to read it while school was out. I did not. Then I planned to try to read it last year before I went to the big ALA Convention in New Orleans this past summer and had the chance to maybe meet the author. I did not. I didn't get to meet her, although I did go see a panel she was a part of. Maybe if I'd read the book, I'd have made sure to get to meet her, but of course her lines were really long, so without having read her book, I didn't plan out getting into her line early enough. I will definitely want the chance to meet her, next time there is a chance. I ended up finally reading the book shortly before the movie came out this past fall. I have to say that I loved the book and they did a pretty good job with the movie. Some of my favorite parts were of course left out of the movie. Like, as I read, so many different times I would get the theme song from The Fresh Prince of BelAir stuck in my head. That was not inserted into the movie as much as I'd have liked it to be. As you would expect, they left other things out of the movie, as well as changing some things. While I get some of the things they changed, I don't agree with a couple of them from the end of the movie. Like the part with her younger brother and the gun and the cops, don't like that change or agree with it. I do get why they left the end without the moving part in the movie. Even though in a way, it kind of defeats the way the ending should go according the book.

A great book, a great story, a great new author that I can't wait to read more by!