Great read! Probably my favorite of the "multicultural" YA books I've read so far. Violeta is a hilarious protagonist. This was a very funny read. Loved the high school scenes, loved the crazy Cuban-American family, and loved the little non-pedantic look at Cuban history.

Let's be real, this was written by a 14-year-old girl. It's not a great book. But it's a great STORY and Bethany Hamilton is a total badass. Still--you'd be fine to skip the book and watch the movie.

Oh man, the protagonist of this book was an awkward little dude. This book was medium-funny.

Cute & fun read! I, too, loved Little House on the Prairie and was half-intrigued, half-terrified of the hardcore frontier camp Gen's family has to attend. I loved the covert text messages Gen sends out and liked the discussion of the way technology makes us feel connected. Even though Gen couldn't really talk to her outside friends often, just sending the text messages made her feel better, and I think that's true. The camp mean girl/boy situation is pretty standard-issue, but still: cute and fun and will make you appreciate electricity if you don't already.

I'd read this before, a few years ago, and I was pleased to return to it for class. So good. So funny, so subtle, so sad. ILU Marjane Satrapi.

I read this awhile ago but Emilia pointed out that I did not review it!! UMMM it is really cool and innovative and way ahead of its time! Toward the end it got a little hard to read but what can you do! Except keep reading it! Yeah!

Yes! A great, fun YA book with a Muslim protagonist. Lebanese-Australian Jamilah doesn't want people at school to think she's a backwards terrorist, so she dyes her hair blonde and calls herself Jamie, while living a secret double life in the local Muslim community, where she plays darabuka drums and studies Muslim history. The ending is a little predictable and her emotional revelations are a little bit forced, but it doesn't really matter. It's a good read with a unique voice.

This felt very forced to me. I was disappointed, because I love her books for adults. I felt like she was going, "OK, it's for kids, so I have to dumb it down, right?" Which is too bad because I think YAs should have a good book to read about migrant farm workers. I am sure there are some out there.

Super funny, quick read. It read like a blog. Does this guy have a blog? BRB going to Google. Okay I guess he doesn't. Anyway, just a super funny, realistic memoir written by a high school kid in the late 90s. I connected with it a lot since he was a pretty nerdy high schooler, as was I. Nothing too profound here, but a very funny, enjoyable read.

Here is the NYT column that spawned this book, I guess.

This book was like whatever. Maybe two and a half stars. Why is it so popular? I DON'T KNOW.