Reviewed by Susan Evans Matthews, M. Ed. (School Counselor)
Nominee for the 09-10 Truman Reader's Award, this young adult fiction book features Vassar Spore, the child of perfectionists, who gives up a summer of preparing for Advanced Placement courses to join her grandmother in the wilds of Southeast Asia. There are some great descriptions of SE Asia locales (to be expected as the author is a travel writer as well) and some curious plot twists. This books is geared for the 6th to 8th grade reading level. ( )

Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

With a name like Vassar, you would assume that the person would have her entire life planned out. And you would be absolutely correct. With the help of her goal-oriented parents, who have predicted which Ivy League school their daughter will attend by naming her after it, Vassar Spore has a plan, both in school and out, that will set her for life.

From the A(A)P classes to having a criteria to choosing her best friends to her extracurricular activities during her summer at the Advanced Latin Camp, Vassar not only has what it takes to be valedictorian, but to be the most perfect, well-rounded student Vassar (the college) has ever seen.

Of course, plans will always be interrupted. Out of nowhere Vassar's Grandma Gerd telephones and announces her gift for her granddaughter's sweet sixteen birthday: a paid trip to Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos.

Sure, this may sound like the best birthday present that anyone has ever received, but not for Vassar, especially since she already planned out her entire summer to where she will get the 5.3 GPA that she has been wanting to grasp ever since she heard it was the new 4.0. Vassar knows for sure that her parents will say no to the gift, and she doesn't mind at all.

But with a little blackmail, Grandma Gerd gets Vassar's parents to agree to the trip. It's always nice to have a family secret for leverage. Before she knows it, Vassar is on a plane, set for an exotic trip with her crazy grandmother. What Vassar doesn't know is what will be in store for her, especially how this trip will show her the side of life that isn't always about plans and futures but what is in front of you right now.

Hilarious, unique, and very charming, CARPE DIEM shows what it really means to seize the day. Vassar Spore may not be like most of us, but her adventures and the obstacles that she must face are still endearing and will have readers at the edge of their seats. A must-read for the summer! ( )

This is a quirky book, but I really liked it. Vassar Spore lives with parents who are planners and organizers, and as such her life is planned down to the minute, including how she will already become the valedictorian of her class, even though she is a junior. Her parents tell her she doesn't have time for romance or anything outside of the curriculum until...her grandmother sends her a ticket to Malaysia to stay with her for the summer. This results in a wild, unplanned trip, culminating in a trek up a Laotian mountain. Things are definitely out of Vassar's control, and it is chaotic but fun. This is definitely a coming of age book, and there are some unexpected twists, but it was good. Very refreshing and funny and unusual. ( )

This was a very sweet teen romantic comedy. The protagonist is your typical prep school student soon to be valedictorian who has solid life goals with some parts TBD (to be decided) so you know there is a glimmer of hope for her. Mix her up with an eccentric blackmailing artist grandmother, an unlikely hero, and South East Asia and you know the summer is going to be life altering for this girl. It all plays out in a satisfying read. ( )

Based on everyone else's reviews and mine, I'm not sure we read the same book!

The Good: The characters were cool. You got your hippie internationally traveling Grandma, your Asian cowboy love interest, your over-bearing all-or-nothing parents, you super smart (but different) friends, and your over-acheiver main character.

Vassar got into really interesting situations. Even though they did not make me laugh out funny, but they did make me smile.

Umm... I can't really think of anymore good thinks to say about this book.

The Bad: Vassar really got on my nerves. In my opinion, I felt that she was too much of a smart ass to be relateable. Although she does mature eventually, we were already 2/3 into the book before we saw that change! I just wanted to smack her so bad.

Not only is she a smart aleck, the girl bought food sanitizer from someone off the street (that is just retarded), brought 10 jumbo bags with her ON A TREK (you'd think someone that smart would know what a trek is), and just complained about the heat on almost every single freaking page (of course it hot, it's Asia in the summer!).

Don't get me wrong, I love character growth as much as the next person, but Vassar is just out of my empathetic range. I just can't find her relateable.

Another thing, almost all the reviews were saying how wonderful the descriptions of the scenery were... Really? Sorry, but I just don't see it. Maybe it's because I'm Asian and I already knew about the cultures there, but I thought most of them really boring and I wished the author could've toned it down a bit. Sometimes, when I wanted more misadventures in traveling, I got descriptions of a temple.

Also, "The Big Secret" was really predictable. I didn't guess exactly what it was, but I got the main idea early on in the book. And that is no fun at all when you can guess the big mystery that early.

Overall: I thought this was going to be a fast-paced, exciting read with relateable characters who just leap off the page. That was not what I got. IN my opinion, Carpe Diem was very boring and it just frustrated me so much because it could've- no, should've been so much better!

Grade: C ( )