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Stargirl
Author: Jerry Spinelli This week I’m reviewing another book that I enjoyed. When Stargirl was released back in 2000, it received positive reviews, especially for Stargirl’s character and for the message of nonconformity; and just last year, the book was made into a movie on Disney+. The movie did fairly well and a sequel to it is in development. For many reasons, I found this book fascinating and, just to avoid confusion with my fellow superhero fans, this book has no relation whatsoever to The CW show Stargirl which is based on DC Comics (and getting completely off track, the Stargirl TV show is one that I love and I…
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Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer The book that I’m reviewing this week is one that I think is pretty cool. Cinder is actually a retelling of the fairy tale Cinderella with a sci-fi twist. When Meyer wrote it, she was inspired by a variety of fantasy/sci-fi franchises, including Sailor Moon and the TV show Firefly. When Cinder was released, it was a bestselling book and received positive reviews, most especially for its strong female characters. Meyer wrote three more books in this series, which is called The Lunar Chronicles. I really enjoyed reading this book, most especially since it reminded me of the fantasy/sci-fi shows I like to watch (like the Mandalorian);…
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Willa of the Wood
Author: Robert Beatty Most people who know Robert Beatty probably know him from the Serafina book series that he set on the Biltmore Estate in the North Carolina mountains. While I really enjoyed that book series of his, I enjoyed Willa of the Wood just as much and maybe even more. Willa of the Wood received positive reviews when it came out and was a New York Times Bestseller. There is a second book in the Willa series that was just published the beginning of May; and while I haven’t read the second book yet, I definitely plan to read it soon. I would love to hear your thoughts on…
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Turtles All the Way Down
Author: John Green Since I have been on a reading spree (perhaps even more so than usual due to the pandemic), I’m going to take a little break from reviewing movies and share some book reviews with you instead. This week I am going to review a book that I actually just finished last weekend. John Green is one of the most popular authors in the YA world, and his books have sold millions of copies and have been made into several movie/TV adaptions (sadly this book isn’t one of them quite yet). When it was announced that Turtles All The Way Down was going to be published, people were…
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The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins One of the most popular YA novels of all time, The Hunger Games, was an immediate success when it came out in 2008; the book received critical acclaim for the plot and the character development and, by 2010, the book had sold over 800,000 copies. Two more books followed in the series, making it a trilogy; and a prequel to the series was also released just last year. I have read all three of the books in the trilogy and have really enjoyed them (though I was slightly disappointed with the last book), but I have yet to read the prequel that just came out. I have…
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Pocahontas
As the 33rd Disney film, Pocahontas is a popular movie with some Disney fans yet, sometimes, it’s still not as well known as other movies. When the idea was conceived, the CCO of Disney at the time was hoping it would be nominated for best picture like Beauty and the Beast; and the company even contacted some Native Americans to help with the movie. But, after the movie’s release, the Native American community felt as if the movie was offensive and that Disney didn’t listen to their advice. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the animation, titular character, music, and themes but criticized the historical inaccuracies and…
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The Lion King
As the 32nd Disney animated film, The Lion King is definitely one of the most well-known Disney movies. The idea was conceived after the release of Oliver & Company, and the script was re-written several times, with the original plot of the movie being very different. It was the first Disney film to be based off an original idea, though parts of it were inspired by works like Hamlet. The movie’s production also coincided with the production of Pocahontas and, surprisingly, people thought that the latter would be more successful; but boy were they wrong! The Lion King received critical acclaim for its music, story, themes and animation and it…
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Aladdin
As the 31st Disney film, Aladdin is one of Disney’s most well- known films. The idea for Aladdin was originally pitched by a lyricist, Howard Ashman, and the screenplay went through three drafts before Disney’s president at the time finally agreed to the movie. When Aladdin was finally released, it received critical acclaim for its animation, music, characters, and for Robin Williams’ role as The Genie; and it was a box office success, becoming the highest grossing animated movie up until The Lion King, even though it took many weeks to take the number one spot. I was very excited to review this film as, though I had watched it…
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Beauty and the Beast
As the 30th Disney film (an FYI: I’m skipping The Rescuers Down Under sequel to The Rescuers), Walt Disney attempted to make Beauty and the Beast into a movie both in the 1930s and the 1950s, but he was unsuccessful due to the project being too complicated. Then, after the success of The Little Mermaid, Disney decided that they would revive the Beauty and the Beast project. Originally, Disney decided that the movie wasn’t going to made into a musical but it would have a Broadway theme (as in lots of quality music), similar to The Little Mermaid. When the film was released, it was a box office success and…
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Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth Once again, we are at the end of five movie reviews, so it’s time to do a review of a book that I really enjoyed. The book I’ve chosen this time is Divergent, which was published back in 2011 and was a great success when it was released. The author was just in college when it was published, and two more books followed (it is thus a trilogy), which were both successes as well; also, a movie was released back in 2014, but the movie wasn’t received well by critics. I very much enjoyed this book when I read it, and I enjoyed the 2nd book as…