Sprout by Dale Peck

 Title: Sprout

 Author: Dale Peck

 Release: May 26, 2009

 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books

 Contains: Coming-of-age, Drama, Relationships.

Analysis of Book (1-10 on each aspect):

Writing: 10

Plot: 8

Characters: 9

Wow Factor: 8

Summary (from Amazon.com): Sprout Bradford has a secret. It’s not what you think—he’ll tell you he’s gay. He’ll tell you about his dad’s drinking and his mother’s death. The green fingerprints everywhere tell you when he last dyed his hair. But neither the reader nor Sprout are prepared for what happens when Sprout suddenly finds he’s had a more profound effect on the lives around him than he ever thought possible. Sprout is both hilarious and gripping; a story of one boy at odds with the expected.

Review: Sprout was definitely an interesting read. The number one thing I loved about the book was the writing. Dale Peck is amazing, with his metaphors, similies, and way of wording. I highlighted lines of the book I loved and I never write in books. The book is written as if Sprout is just having a conversation about his life to us, and it was magical in that perspective. I really liked the other characters as well: Ty, Ian, and Ruth. The story line was one I don’t often read: Sprout was trying to win a state essay contest, he’s still having problems getting over his mother’s death, and he might just have found love. This book may have been playfully written but it does have a dark side. There’s a lot of real-life problems discussed in this book, including death, abuse, and broken relationships. My one complaint is that it was a tad confusing as I’m still thinking about the end and what it means.

Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn

Title: Gingerbread

Author: Rachel Cohn

Grade: C 

Number of Pages: 205

Edition: Paperback

Year: 2002

Extra Info: First book in the Gingerbread series… the next two books are Shrimp and Cupcake.

Contains: Drama, coming-of-age, romance, relationships. 

Analysis of Book (1-10 on each aspect):

Characters: 9

Plot: 5

Writing: 8

Wow Factor: 6

 

Summary (from rachelcohn.com): After being kicked out of a fancy New England boarding school, Cyd Charisse is back home in San Francisco with her parents, Sid and Nancy, in a household that drives her crazy. Lucky for Cyd, she’s always had Gingerbread, her childhood rag doll and confidante. 

After Cyd tests her parents’ permissiveness, she is grounded in Alcatraz (as Cyd calls her room). But when her incarceration proves too painful for the whole family, Cyd’s parents decide to send her to New York to meet her biological father and his family, whom Cyd has always longed to know. 
Summer in the city is not what Cyd Charisse expects – and Cyd isn’t what her newfound family expects, either. 

My Review : It was good, charming, and fast. The plot isn’t really all that special, but Cyd Charisse definitely is. I loved Cyd and her spontaneity towards anything and everything. She just really does what goes through her mind and sometimes I wish I could do that. I really liked the characters in this book, especially Wallace (hopefully there’s more of him in the next books), and Cyd’s half-sib from her dad’s side Danny. I loved how the chapters were short, so you always have a good stopping point if you’re on the go. The thing with this book is that it was fair overall as in anyone can write from this plot. I expected a lot more coming from Rachel Cohn (having already read Nick & Norah’s). I guess this can be defended by the fact that it’s her first book and she’s gotten better since. Give it a shot, you’ll love the quirky writing, the crazily amazing Cyd, the support characters, and the fact that there’s two more books in the series!

 

Have you read this book? What did you think? Would you like to read this book? Why?