Lynne Rae Perkins

The cover copy: "She wished something would happen"

The moral: Wishes frequently don't come true.

Another lesson: Sometimes a Newbery Medal means jack shit. I mean, it can be stamped right there on the cover, but everything under it makes you wonder if, like, the committee just gets really wasted every so often and gives it to a book that really, really doesn't even deserve to be in consideration. A drunken, "Wouldn't it be funny if we gave it to . . . ?" joke gone oh so very wrong.

This is an show more extremely boring and generic slice-of-life/coming-of-age tale. The author tries to spice it up by occasionally diddling around with the format and her writing style, including some useless illustrations and photographs, and alluding to some literary serendipity crap, but it remains steadfastly dull, bland, and tedious. show less

Boy, young adult books have come a long way since I was a ‘young adult’! Light-hearted yet hyper-realistic, these loosely-connected vignettes follow the hopes and worries of a group of teens in a small town, as well as the journey of the necklace one of the girls loses. The characters experience everything from having a crush on the cool kid to being accepted by your older sibling’s friends; from discovering your talents to the wonder of learning about the power of music. Though it show more takes place in the real world and the characters seem like people you bump into every day there’s also an air of other-worldliness, everything is cast with a shimmery glow. Perkins so accurately conveys what it is to be young today I had to look her up to see how old she is (she’s a grown up). Unassuming without being sentimental—this is the sort of book adults as well as teens will enjoy. show less

The characters who live in this book are at one of the major theory-forming times of life, and they are forming theories about everything from why there are so many black plastic combs lying on the ground to what Albert Einstein would have done if he were born an Eskimo. (Amazing things with blubber and ice.)
They are also saving lives (Debbie), writing songs (Hector), and working up the courage to say, “Hello” (everyone).
I read somewhere that one of the rules of writing romantic teen show more fiction is that there has to be a prom at the end, or a prom equivalent. This is the kind where that doesn’t happen. Well, there is that one time, with Debbie and Peter, but does it count? And will it ever happen again? And what are you supposed to do in the meantime?
If there is anyone out there who has ever wondered about things like this, I want to tell them that it’s okay. Or as Hector says in what might be his best song, even though he hasn’t written the verses yet: "and it’s fine, totally fine, totally fine all of the time." show less

Charlotte's Web is one of my all-time favorite books, so it is high praise for me to say V&J belongs in the same category. Here are some things they have in common:

1. Great read-aloud potential. The voice of the narrator is friendly, wry, and sometimes poetic. The story is not too long and never drags. There are great spot illustrations that help young listeners engage with the characters and setting.

2. The animals are kinda anthropomorphized, but retain essential animal qualities. Violet show more and Jobie watch TV and play games, but they don't eat with a knife and fork or wear clothes, you know? Charlotte was a spider who could read and write, but still caught flies and drank their blood. Zolian in particular was a Charlotte-like character -- a good friend and teacher who understands the ways of the world.

3. It's a wholesome story, but not saccharine. It's the kind of book that makes you want to snuggle up under a blanket and enjoy together. But it might make you choke up a little in the end. show less