Showing posts with label John Green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Green. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Book Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green Reviewed by Tyler L.


Although Paper Towns was written by an author I highly respect, John Green, the novel ultimately concluded with a bad taste in my mouth. The novel follows a male senior in highschool, Quentin Jacobsen, as he embarks on a self discovering journey with his two best friends, Ben and Radar, to find his childhood crush, Margo Roth Spiegelman, who's gone on a mysterious hiatus from her average life. Throughout the clues and planning, Margo entrusts Quentin to find her before going through with a choice that will change her life forever. It deemed quite difficult to genuinely enjoy this novel through its uneventful plot and deceiving ending, however, if I must claim to have a favorite section of the novel, it would be near the ending when Quentin finally identified the location of Margo. This was the most standing out section of the novel because of how Quentin and his friends were tasked to create a well-thought out plan in less than a few minutes. Furthermore, the character Radar truly resonated with me because I can respect the way his mind works and how he's the brains behind the adventure, but it was only at this moment in the book that he was capable of showing the readers his capabilities in calculating and organization.

To faithful readers of John Green, I would recommend this book to his fanbase. However, as a reader of book of his, The Fault In Our Stars, I held this novel to a high expectation and was very disappointed. The novel had a bland and boring novel that required very little critical thinking. The book revolves mostly around mystery and problem solving, however, with the uneventful plot, it can be difficult to pay attention to the mystery itself. If mediocre mystery with a twist of teenage angst intrigues such readers, then this book is for you. John Green's other works are quite plentiful in literature, however most of his work are thought provoking and dense with analytical thinking, but with this book, it proves to be slightly different from his other books. It would be enjoyable to read this book if a fan of John Green wants a novel that is less complex and at a lower level of comprehension. The novel itself doesn't affect the reader's daily life in ways that his other work does; the novel is a plan story, nothing more, nothing less. Overall, Paper Towns by John Green was just another book on the shelve. The plot was boring, and the reader is bound to be unsatisfied with the ending of the book, not because of the decisions that Quentin makes, but because of how over analytical he was about the mystery. The book was simply held at a high expectation for me, and the expectation was not met. Perhaps it would've been a good if Paper Towns was the first book of John Green that I've read.

Monday, September 25, 2017

Banned Book Week!

We at Boston Arts Academy actually love Banned Book Week; it is how we find books to add to our reading lists!

The Top Ten Banned Books of 2016 were: 
  1. This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
    Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, drug use and profanity, and it was considered sexually explicit with mature themes
  2. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
    Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint
  3. George written by Alex Gino
    Reasons: challenged because it includes a transgender child, and the “sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels”
  4. I Am Jazz written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
    Reasons: challenged because it portrays a transgender child and because of language, sex education, and offensive viewpoints
  5. Two Boys Kissing written by David Levithan
    Reasons: challenged because its cover has an image of two boys kissing, and it was considered to include sexually explicit LGBT content
  6. Looking for Alaska written by John Green
    Reasons: challenged for a sexually explicit scene that may lead a student to “sexual experimentation”
  7. Big Hard Sex Criminals written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky
    Reason: challenged because it was considered sexually explicit
  8. Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread written by Chuck Palahniuk
    Reasons: challenged for profanity, sexual explicitness, and being “disgusting and all around offensive”
  9. Little Bill (series) written by Bill Cosby and and illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood
    Reason: challenged because of criminal sexual allegations against the author
  10. Eleanor & Park written by Rainbow Rowell
    Reason: challenged for offensive language
We are also taking part in the American Library Association's Rebel Reader Twitter Tournament! 
Rebel Reader Twitter Tournament

Participate by: 
  • Taking a selfie with a banned or challenged book
  • Share a video of yourself talking about censorship or reading from a banned or challenged book
  • Post a quote from a favorite banned or challenged book
  • Share a story about an educator who helped you learn the power of works
  • Take a photo of a completed ALA Banned Books Week coloring sheet
  • Take a photo of yourself with any Words Have Power swag
  • Share a link to your local library's homepage or book selection policy
  • Tweet some love at a banned author from this list: twitter.com/OIF/lists/banned-authors/members
Use the hashtag #rebelreader and don't forget to tag @baa_lib 



Check out our displays and read a Banned or Challenged Book
Habibi
Challenged for "nudity" and
being "sexually explicit"

And Tango Makes Three
Challenged for being "anti-family"
and due to "homosexuality"

Being Jazz
Challenged for "homosexuality"
and "sexual education"

Eleanor & Park
Challenged for "offensive language"

My Mom's Having a Baby
Challenged for "nudity"
and "sex education"



Drama
Challenged for "LGBT content"
and "offensive political viewpoint"

George
Challenged for "LGBT content"
and "sexuality"

TTYL (series)
Challenges for "offensive language"
and "religious viewpoints"

Two Boys Kissing
Challenged for "explicit LGBT content"

Beyond Magenta
Challenged for being "anti-family"
and for "sex education"

Nasreen's Secret School
Challenged for "religious viewpoints"
and "violence"

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
Challenged for "offensive language"
and "sexually explicit"

Pride
Challenged for
 "sexually explicit content"
*note: Brian K. Vaughan is
often on the banned lists!


It's Perfectly Normal
Challenged for "violence"
and "sexual content"

Scary Stories (series)
Challenged due to being
"unsuited for age group" and "violence"
*note: original artwork ONLY,
not the updated versions

I Am Jazz
Challenged for "sex education"
and "portrayal of a transgender child"

Lush
Challenged due to "drugs"
and "sexually explicit"

Captain Underpants (series)
Challenged for
"offensive language" and "violence"