There’s something very comfortable about being inside a Jerry Spinelli book. His storytelling is so smooth. You glide along so easily. In his latest, SMILES TO GO, Will Tuppence is a skateboarder, chess player, stargazer, best friend, and big brother to Tabby. Will spends most of his time avoiding his little sister, who annoys him constantly. She shows up at his weekly game night with his best friends, she tries to steal his skateboard, she even shows up a at the high school party he attends down the street. Will is also struggling with the possible love connection between his two best friends, BT (a rebel guy everyone looks up to) and Mi-Su. When he sees the two of them kissing, Will realizes that, hey –wait, maybe he likes Mi-Su! Would she ever kiss him? The novel takes you on a realistic journey of the emotional ups & downs of teen life. It also has a dramatic event that causes Will to realize the importance of what he already has in his life and to stop worrying so much. A worthy read for sure, especially if you’re a Spinelli fan.
Check out Jerry Spinelli’s website here.
Although I like all his books, STARGIRL is still my favorite Spinelli title. Stargirl just spoke to me in a very intimate way. I think it's because of the way it celebrates someone who was 100% herself without conforming to societies rules (and the teenage society can be pretty darn harsh when you don't conform). Stargirl totally did not care what other people thought. How often do you come across people like that in real life?
Did you know Stargirl societies are cropping up in schools everywhere? Pretty cool. Check it out here. Also, Stargirl is under production as a movie. Wow, can’t wait for that!
Really?
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you liked Smiles to go so much.
We decided not to use it as our book of the month in our jr. high library because, quite frankly, very few of our kids want to read books wherein not much happens and there's a moral at the end of the story -- like Sunday School.
We have a copy in the library, but it rarely gets checked out.
Do kids at your school -- especially the boys -- really like this one?
I always enjoy Spinelli's writing. This isn't my favorite book by him, as I say in the post - I like Stargirl better - but, yes I did like it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the kids, it's a new book, so I haven't got much feedback yet.
It will be interesting to see. Perhaps you'll post an update in a few months?
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