Book Review: Grace Unplugged by Melody Carlson
About
Grace Unplugged: Grace Trey is an eighteen-year-old singer as passionate about her
Christian faith as she is her phenomenal, God-given musical talent. Both traits
come from her father, one-hit wonder Johnny Tray who found Jesus after losing
his chart success two decades ago.
When Grace encounters her own music break of a lifetime, the sudden dive into
the "real world" puts her deeper beliefs to the test. Pop
superstardom is just within reach but appears to require some spiritual
compromise. Will Grace reject her faith, or will she own it?
Grace Unplugged is based on the motion picture of the same name starring
AJ Michalka and Kevin Pollak.
My
Rating: 4
1/2 out of 5 stars
My
Opinion: I
wasn’t sure what to expect of this book. My mom handed it to me and told me it
was good and usually, quite honestly, our tastes in books and otherwise are
very different. Which is why I was surprised when I loved it.
This is a Christian inspirational book based on the movie
under the same title. The beginning was a bit slow (why I only gave it 4 ½
stars instead of 5,) but after that it got right into things. It was exciting
and fast-paced, but not so fast that you get lost.
Grace
is a usual teen, but with an amazing faith in God and an amazing musical
talent. She is part of a music group that plays in her church, of which her dad
runs. She tends to go her own way with the music, which frequently results in
her getting in trouble.
I won’t go into too much more detail, so that if you read
the book it won’t be spoiled for you.
But this book is fantastic; though I’d say the book is geared to more
mature almost teens/teens because of scene with some underage drinking and
other adult issues.
As
Grace’s life goes into a roller coaster, I found myself feeling like I just
couldn’t put it down. I stayed up late to finish this book and I am glad I did-
it was a fantastic read! It feels very real life, very true to what could very
well happen. It had family and faith aspects, without being boring, which is
awesome.
I’d
definitely recommend this book to anyone!
Elliana
Penwell, signing off!
Book Review:
‘Smile’ by Raina Telgemeier
About
Smile:
From
sixth grade through tenth, Raina copes with a variety of dental problems that
affect her appearance and how she feels about herself.
My
Rating:
3 ½
out of 5 stars.
My
Opinion:
Okay, I’m going to be perfectly honest; I’d never read any
of Raina Telgemeier’s work before this book. I originally thought it was a book
with ‘real’ writing; simply just pages of words. But when I opened it up, I
realized it was a graphic novel. I like graphic novels, so I did like that
fact. It had a nice drawing style, and the first couple pages did grab me and
pull me into the world of Raina (the main character).
Telgemeier has a nice style, and I liked the plot. It was
attention grabbing, but not overbearing, but it was also believable. Raina fell
on the ground near the time of her Girl Scout’s meeting; and it messed her
teeth up, resulting in several long years of dental work.
About midway through the book, I was unsure if I wanted to
continue reading it. There were a few semi-objectionable topics, in my opinion,
in the book: such as: boys/crushes, bullying, and sibling rivalry. I decided to
keep reading it, though, and I’m glad I did- it was quite enjoyable, even if
there were some things I didn’t like.
There was no total conclusion to the book. It had sort of
an open ending, if you catch my drift. (Spoiler warnings) Raina ended up
getting new friends and learning that her teeth didn’t change whom she was, and
that she was still a good girl to hang out with.
Raina dealt with the things a typical almost teen/teenager
deals with; the ‘cool factor’, friend troubles, puberty, and feeling half grown
up and half like a child. One problem I had with this book is some of the
characters were sort of shallow; they didn’t have any real depth to their
personalities.
Otherwise, though, I would recommend this book to kids
around 11/12 years old and up.
Elliana Penwell, signing off!
