Book Thoughts: Just One Day

Title: Just One Day
Author: Gayle Forman
*Imported from tumblr*

This book taught me three things about myself: 1) I want to be the kind of person who says yes. 2) I’m lucky to be studying something that I actually love. And 3), I always knew I wanted to travel Europe, but now I extra-special want to travel Europe.

In Just One Day, good girl Allyson Healey is in Europe for a student tour. On the last day, instead of heading back to London with her best friend, she spends just a single day in Paris with a Dutch actor she’s just met, and she falls a little bit in love with him. It’s just one day, but it turns into a year of self-discovery, finding out who she truly is and who she is capable of being. Also, some seriously cool tie-ins to Twelfth Night and As You Like It, but not hitting you over the head with it.

Europe and sassy friends and adventures and well-incorporated Shakespeare and a deeper understanding of life. Definitely, definitely read this one, guys.

Book Thoughts: The Wednesday Wars

Title: The Wednesday Wars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt

The Wednesday Wars is written for a little bit younger audience than most of the books I read - it's set in seventh grade, not in high school. The only reason I picked it up was that my Dad, who read it for a YA Lit class he teaches, insisted that I would love it, and I agreed to give it a try. Turns out Dad was right - The Wednesday Wars was fantastic. I adored it.

Holling Hoodhood (which, by the way, I think is a completely ridiculous name) is convinced that his English teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him. He's the only person in his class who isn't Jewish or Catholic - which means that instead of going to Hebrew School or Catechism on Wednesday afternoons, he has to stay with Mrs. Baker. And she has a nefarious plot in mind: she's going to bore him to death with Shakespeare. Or so Holling thinks, anyway. But her plan backfires, because it turns out Shakespeare isn't so bad after all.

There is so much about this book that is just delightfully funny and adorable, from the escape of pet rats Sycorax and Caliban to Ariel's bright yellow tights (you'll understand if you read it). But there's a whole other level, too - Holling's family issues and the Vietnam War. Parts of The Wednesday Wars had me laughing hysterically and parts of it were heartbreaking. The characters are just wonderful - Holling is a fantastic narrator and I want Mrs. Baker to be my English teacher. I loved this book so much.

If you're a fan of Shakespeare, read this! If you're not a fan of Shakespeare...read this anyway! The Wednesday Wars is an adorable, wonderful book and I absolutely loved it. Even if you don't normally read more-like-MG stuff and prefer to stay in the realm of older-YA, I think it would be pretty impossible to dislike this one.