Book Review: The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published Jan. 3 2017
352 Pages

Cammie O’Reilly is the warden’s daughter that lives in an apartment above the entrance to the Hancock County Prison. Although her father is active in her life, she is missing her mother. A mother, who saved her only daughter from harm. 

Known as Cannonball, Cammie is about to turn 13 years old and is looking for a mother figure within a shoplifter and a reformed arsonist of a housekeeper. Going through the motions while her best friend begins playing with makeup, Cammie has no idea everything she has ever known or thought of is about to change in the most dramatic way. 

Short Review*

I had issues with this book. The first being Cammie. This is a difficult time in her life and she is learning to find herself, HOWEVER, she is a spoiled brat that is completely selfish and treated one of her mother figures like crap just because she didn’t get her way.  Let me give you an example, you have a housekeeper that you like but you do not like when you are told to do something by them because they are a housekeeper. So you proceed to call her out on it and remind her who she works for. That is Cammie. I get she is a child but she is a child that thinks everything out before she does it. Things like this happen all the time in the book and I was frustrated with it.

The book overall was lackluster. I understand that it is a coming of age book, but almost nothing happens a majority of the time. The tone rarely changes; so everything starts to sound the same. I didn’t appreciate how the main characters was viewed. The book is set for 1959 until the end; so there are things that are to be expected but there were some things that cannot be overlooked such as the view of a black woman.

Beyond that, I felt that Cammie a an adult had no real remorse for what happen, for the life she affected and for the things that was done. I felt a sense of entitlement even after everything was said and done.

I did not enjoy the pace of the novel and I think because of the issues within the book, I lost the purpose of the story.

Overall,

2 Pickles

Book Review: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl enters Mica High with a burst of color and dance. She’s different; nothing like anyone in the entire school. First with name like “Stargirl” and then playing the ukulele during lunch; at first the school is in love with her and then they are not. This is hard for Leo, who has fallen for Stargirl. Leo cannot handle the school shunning him as well as Stargirl, so he tries to make her normal.

What I love about this book is the fact that this girl lived her life on her terms. She was 16 and she didn’t feel obliged to follow the normal of society. She wasn’t trying to fit in only simply be her. She was the definition of not caring what people thought about her . . . that is until she fell for Leo.

He pissed me off. He cared more about what everyone thought than he cared about Stargirl. Granted this is high school and friends or associates are very important but at the end of the book when he went to college, he was still thinking of her and it made no mention of him having a family or even a girlfriend.

Spinelli did a wonderful job of describing how someone different can be bullied or how important image is to some people.

This book gets a perfect score. I was hoping for a happy ending with Leo and Stargirl but Leo was such a disappointment and it broke my heart. “Stargirl” was a quick read but full of so much emotions that it was perfect.

Book Review: Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

goodreads.com

This is my first Jerry Spinelli book and it was a cute, pleasant surprise. Hokey Pokey is a place where there are no adults. But just because there are no adults doesn’t mean the place is ran in chaos; there are rules . . . simple rules like watch out for the huge sock pile it smells gross (lol). But things change for Jack, one of the bigger kids, when his bike is stolen . . . by a girl he hates. Everything is different for him at that point. His friends aren’t the same, he isn’t the same and most importantly, his feelings towards the most hated girl aren’t the same either.

This book is cute because Spinelli was able to make a book, for children or preteens into a book that is very much for an adult.  Getting your bike stolen or anything stolen for that matter is a life changer and Spinelli did a great job with the characters.

The book did dull down for a bit but it wasn’t hard to push through; all books have a slow moment in which you need to see the torture the main character or supporting characters are really going through. The ending was amazing. Not a single flaw in it. It was an aha! moment and it will have you smiling , thinking of your childhood. Wonderful fast read.

This books get a 10 out 0f 10. Spinelli did a great job with transitions and not leaving a single stone unturned.