I picked this up on impulse because I liked the cover and some of Lidia Yuknavitch's other works. I didn't realize until the end that this is based on a TED talk, but once I saw that detail I was like, oh yeah that makes sense, for what this is, which is sort of a collection of memoir-ish self help-ish essays with long quote-testimonials from other misfits.

Yuknavitch's main thesis is that pretty much everyone thinks of themself as being a misfit in some way but only a few people are actually fucked up enough to be REAL misfits, like for example if, like Yuknavitch, the death of your infant daughter leads you to have a mental breakdown which leads to you being homeless for several months. And also people who aren't real misfits should have more empathy for the real misfits, which sure, I buy that. It's certainly encouraging for people who have been through the kind of severe trauma Yuknavitch and her fellow misfits quoted here (mostly her students and fellow writers) have been through.

I dunno; it's a short read with some beautiful writing, but also...I haven't watched her TED talk yet but maybe you could just watch that and get the same effect?

This is a really refreshing, nuanced story! I loove Bijan as a character/narrator, he's such a funny and self-aware kid. I liked seeing him excel at basketball and yet navigate the difficult terrain of "popularity" combined with an array of race/religion/class-based micro- (and macro-) aggressions. But also, it's funny! A great pick for fans of contemporary realistic YAs in general but also, I think sporty enough to hand to teens who just want sports books! (Which is tricky because there aren't as many YA sports books are there are MG ones, but most kids don't just...stop liking sports after a certain age.)

I LOVE summer camp and summer camp stories, even stories about a girl who does NOT like summer camp. Which, to be fair, Vera's summer camp sounds pretty brutal. I love the honesty in this memoir(ish) graphic novel--in another book we'd see Vera learning a lesson and befriending the girl who liked her art, but Vera never quite gave up on wanting acceptance from the older, popular girls, and there's something to that. This is funny and cringey and intensely relatable.

Also the art is SO good and expressive, I loved it. And I died at the knockoff American Girl doll named "Complicity".

Naturally I'm going to say it's a good readalike for Raina Telgemeier fans. It's also a great match for the raw ambiguity of Shannon Hale's graphic memoir Real Friends.

I don't read a ton of mystery/thriller type books but I saw Karen McManus at an event and was inspired to pick up her book afterward--she seemed very funny and cool, and "the Breakfast Club with murder" is a p good tagline tbh!

I read this very quickly, it's definitely an entertaining page turner. In the nature of the Breakfast Club all the characters are kind of teen tropes ~with a twist~.

Spoiler

I'm not totes sure how I feel about the major twist being suicide? Like from a mystery POV: well, I was surprised! From a ~portrayal of mental health~ POV... I don't know? I do buy that a depressed person who spent a lot of time reading about school shootings online and such might come to this conclusion? I kind of wanted to know a little bit more about Jake's whole deal? Like damn, guy?? I dunno, maybe it wouldn't have worked with the pacing and all but I guess I could have stood a slightly longer epilogue to kind of unpack the whole thing??

I also appreciated that the use of technology in this book seemed...reasonable. Also at least attempted to brush up on some issues of privilege--overachieving Bronwyn's family is obsessed with not being seen as Colombian "drug dealer" stereotypes, vs white Nate who...is a drug dealer.

Anyway, definitely would recommend for fans of Pretty Little Liars and other YA thrilller-types; also probably a good pick for a lot of ~reluctant readers~ looking for a page turner.

This was exactly what I wanted it to be, funny and messy and #relatable.

Definitely an interesting story; the movie was better. (The movie's big climactic finale was entirely fictional but uhhh it's a better story that way and I'm not mad about it.)

The writing here is fine. It's very straightforward and occasionally repetitive. Still, a quick and interesting read.

This is a really sweet and funny ending to this trilogy. <3 Nate!

YIKES THO

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-108-my-sweet-audrina/

[b:Mountains beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World|10235|Mountains beyond Mountains The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World|Tracy Kidder|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320524223s/10235.jpg|1639628] is one of my favorite books, so when I saw they had created an edition "Adapted for Young People" I bought it for our library's teen collection & was eager to read it and see how it compared to the original. I didn't do a side-by-side reading or anything but I definitely remember certain favorite bits that were cut out--such as the part about Paul Farmer's love of People magazine. One on hand, I think details like that might be some of the most appealing to young readers. On the other hand, I'm also pretty sure that a lot of the more complicated medical, political, & historical information was cut. As is, there's enough to give "young readers" a good taste of what an inspirational figure Paul Farmer is without getting too tangled up in details of Haitian history... of course, I personally think most young readers would benefit from getting the fuller picture from the adult version, but this was a quick read that overall captured the essence of the original story. Hurrah!