Review: Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

Rating: G

Genre: Graphic Novel, YA Fiction, Children

Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Page Count: 208

Stand Alone

Publisher: First Second

Published: August 7, 2007

 

 

Richly endearing and full of surprises, Robot Dreams follows an ill-fated friendship between a dog and robot. After a Labor Day jaunt to the beach leaves Robot rusty and immobilized in the sand, Dog, unsure what to do, abandons him. As the seasons pass, Dog tries to replace his friend, making and losing a series of new ones, from a melting snowman to epicurean anteaters. Meanwhile, Robot passes his time daydreaming, escaping to better places...Through interwoven journeys, the two characters long to recover from their day at the beach. 
Although its adorable characters and playful charm will win over young readers, Robot Dreams speaks universally to the fragile nature of friendship, loss, and redemption.

 

Review:

PROS:

1. Recently I've been in a huge graphic novel binge (if you couldn't already tell) and once again, I stumbled upon this one while looking for more to read. I thought the cover looked really cute so I took a chance on it. Here's my review:

 

2. The first thing I noticed about this graphic novel was the fact that this book had no dialog at all. The story was told strictly through the illustrations which I thought was actually pretty cool and very different than other graphic novels that I've read. I really loved that it was completely focused on the characters and pictures to tell the story and it was actually a really great read because of that. After reading it, it's hard to imagine it having dialog because it's really great without it. 

 

 

3. Speaking of the illustrations, I really loved it needless to say. I thought the art was honestly adorable and very simple. I loved the pastel and muted colors used in this book because it honestly added to the whole story. I also really liked that the hues became even more muted when the characters (specifically the robot) was having thoughts or daydreaming and made it easy to determine what was actually part of the story and what was just imaginary. It was a lot of fun to look at the art too!

 

4. Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It wasn't my favorite graphic novel but it was still really cute and even emotional to a certain point. I think I might've teared up a bit. I recommend this one for all ages, however, and not just young adults. I think this is a really great read for a child of any age who might want to get into graphic novels and or if you know or have a child yourself and want a quick book to pick up. I read this one in a little over fifteen minutes so this one is perfect!

 

It's also an awesome book to pick up if maybe you're just a tad bit behind on that super important, life or death reading challenge of yours and need something to catch you up!

 

I didn't give this book a five-star rating because I would've loved it to be just a little longer and actually made me tear up and I don't know how I feel about a "children's" book giving me the feels. So many feels.

 

 

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I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you would like me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

 



Music Matching Monday: Fairest

For this book, I wanted to find a song that I thought would almost be a theme song for Queen Levana. In this bridge in the series of The Lunar Chronicles, we get to see more of a backstory for the evil villain and discover how she came to be the cold and heartless ruler we all know and honestly love to hate. If you've read this series already, then you know exactly how cruel Queen Levana can be, considering she did try to kill a baby just because she wanted to stay the princess. Queen Levana, despite how ruthless she is, originally started out as a girl looking for attention. Before she knew it, she was caught up in a web of lies that she kept spreading to not only gain more of that attention but to also build a name for herself. A lot of things played a role in the queen's life to make her into the coldhearted villain she is and I feel like this song is quite the fit for her. Enjoy!

 

 

EVERYBODY'S FOOL by Evanescence



My Extremely Belated 1-Year Blogiversary!!

 

Hey bookworms! So this morning, I was wondering when exactly I posted my very first blog post and what it was and I saw that it was in fact on June 9th, 2014 when I first started The Bookworm Central! And to think it all started with just a small (very boring) movie review! I still remember writing it like it was yesterday. Shall we take a look at my old posts? Specifically my very first post being the movie review and my very first book review!

 

 

                                           

      Famous by Todd Strasser                                                     TFIOS Movie Review

 

If you read these two reviews then you can obviously see how different my current and newer reviews are from the majority of my old ones. I've honestly come so far with my book reviews and my blog in general! I eventually started making this blog not only for book reviews, but for book-to-movie news and reviews, fun playlists, book tags and more. I'm so happy with where my blog is now and I can't wait to see where my blog goes next! In just a year, I've not only grown as a blogger but also as a teen just wanting to share her thoughts on some very cool books and other cool stuff.

When I first started my blog, I was a little scared to be reviewing books and giving my honest opinion about books that I read because I wasn't sure how people would take it. I learned along the way that honesty about my opinions was what people actually wanted to hear. I've made so many new friends on the blogosphere as well as on bookstagram and Goodreads! I love each and every one of you for checking out my blog even if it was just one time! Read on bookworms! See you guys in the next chapter! 

P.S. I wanted to do something special for my very belated blogiversary but I wasn't sure what to do! If you guys have any ideas, please let me know in the comments!!

 



Review: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Contemporary, Mental Illness, YA Fiction

Score: 4 1/2 stars

Page Count: 448

Stand Alone

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Published: May 19, 2015

 

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

 

Review:

PROS:

1. Over the past couple of weeks, I fell out of a contemporary mood because of all the ones I was reading in June. I kind of got tired of that genre but I still really wanted to pick this one up. I decided to try just one more contemporary and read it and see what it had to offer. I was more excited to read this one because of the fact that our main character has a mental illness that I haven't seen in a book, like, ever. Maybe that's just me but hey, I wanted to shake things up a bit! That and I'm a sucker for that type of story. Here's my review:

 

2. Obviously, I was really impressed with the set of characters in this book. I really loved them for many reasons. One was that our main character, Alex, is schizophrenic and has to try her best to hide her "problem" from the rest of the school including her new friends. I really loved seeing a character with a mental illness that I've never actually seen before in a YA fiction and that was what originally made me want to pick this book up in the first place before it was released. Alex has to struggle with her illness and decide what was real and what was purely her hallucinations. I also fell in love with her friends and family. Her friends were those that I wished I could have in my life. They were very loyal and goofed around a lot with each other and just made a really awesome group of supportive friends. Alex's parents were also very supportive and loving towards her and her sister and that was really nice to see. Usually I don't get attached to a character's parents in books but her mom and dad were quite a different case.

 

3. This book was completely character driven but also had a bit of an interactive element to it. The character development was so great that the entire book could've lacked a plot and I still would've probably loved it. Other than the development, the book was also part mystery and a psychological read. You as the reader had to follow Alex as she tries to determine what she imagines and what's really reality and had it's incredibly surprising moments that literally had my mouth hanging open. I really loved getting to not only get to know the characters so much more with each chapter, but it also kept me incredibly entertained trying to figure out the mystery of what Alex and her friends had to uncover in this book. It was a contemporary with a little bit of edge if you will.

 

4. I really loved how everything in this book came back around to Alex being schizophrenic. Alex tried to hide her illness from her friends because of it and she also had to struggle with training herself to see the difference between imagination and reality. Even the romance and mystery that played big roles in the book came back to the fact that she was schizophrenic which was awesome because you never forgot that about Alex. I love that I constantly reminded me of her illness and I guess that's why Alex was such an interesting character to me in the first place. She was constantly doubting herself and her theories because of her illness and she was also driven by it as well. I loved that the book stayed to the theme of Alex and didn't wander off into a weird layout.

 

5. I loved the way the entire story played out and how it wrapped up as well. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride with all the mystery, surprise, heartbreak, shocking truths and also a bad case of the feels going on but it was fabulous nonetheless. It was a seriously entertaining read that I know I'll be picking up again in the future. It's a perfect summer read and also a great rainy day one. I recommended this to any YA lover who's looking for something a little different for a contemporary. The mystery was intriguing, I read it in just a couple of sittings and the romance was sweet and gave me so many feels that I couldn't even deal. Yep, it was that good!

 

The reason why I didn't give this book a five star-rating was because I want more. I need more of this book, like, right now. Sequel anybody?

 

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I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you would like me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!



July TBR and Challenge!

 

So this month I really want to get to some books that I've been meaning to read for a really long while and I'm very happy with my choices for this month because it's pretty much every genre ever within just five books! I'm not really not in the mood for contemporary at the moment (yeah, I know, it's summer aka contemporary season) but I didn't want to completely cut out that genre this month so I chose a couple that looked more interesting than the others I have. Here's my TBR! But first, my TBR challenge for July:

 

Read a funny book.

Choice: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

 

 

Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia (currently reading)

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (THG #2)

 

What are you reading this month???

 



June Book Haul!

 

So I bought quite a few books this month and I don't exactly know how to feel about it. I did do pretty good throughout the year with not buying so many books so I guess I deserved to binge a bit in June! Here are the beauties I bought this month:

 

 

500 Writing Prompts- Barnes & Noble- $7.99

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia- Barnes & Noble- $17.99

 A Court Of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1) by Sarah J. Maas- Barnes & Noble- $17.99

P.S I Still Love You (TATBILB #2) by Jenny Han- Barnes & Noble- $17.99

Sea Of Monsters (Percy Jackson #2) by Rick Riordan- Library- $1

The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson- Library- $0.50

Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank- Library- $0.50

Only The Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls #4) by Ally Carter- Half Price Books- $8.99

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Collector's Edition)- Target- $15.99

The Name Of This Book Is A Secret by Pseudonyms Bosch- Library- $1

Disney's Alice In Wonderland by T.T Sutherland- Library- $1

Life Of Pi by Yann Martel- Library- $1

The Bobbsy Twins: Own Little Railroad (1950 edition) by Laura Lee Hope- Library- $1

Theodore Boone: The Abduction (Theodore Boone #2) by John Grisham- Library- $0.50

Theodore Boone: The Activist )Theodore Boone #4) by John Grisham- Library- $0.50

The Blank Book by Lemony Snicket- Library- $0.50

The Truth Behind The Series Of Unfortunate Events by Lois H. Gresh- Library- $1

 



June Wrap-Up!

 

So this past month has been one awesome reading month for me! I read a total of 16 books (seven novels and nine graphic novels) and I have to say, I'm very proud of myself for that! Most of the books I read this month were also really great reads with only a couple of books falling short. Here's my complete wrap-up for the month!

 

 

 

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen (favorite of the month!)

The Heir by Kiera Cass (The Selection #4)

Miki Falls: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter by Mark Crilley

Houdini: The Handcuff King by Jason Lutes

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki

Death Note vol. 1: Boredom by Tsugumi Ohba

The Last Time We Goodbye by Cynthia Hand (2nd favorite of the month!)

Peanut by Ayun Halliday

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Lola and The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (reread) 

Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Adventures Of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks

Disney's Alice In Wonderland by T.T Sutherland

 

I'm so happy that I was able to read so much and complete my TBR challenge:

Read a book set in a place you've always wanted to visit.

(Lola and The Boy Next Door)

 

So what was YOUR favorite read of the month??

Let me know in the comments! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!