#james preller

[picturebookshelf]

A Jigsaw Jones Mystery: The Case of the Ghostwriter (2001)

Story: James Preller -- Art: Jamie Smith

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[catmint1]

In the gathering dark of autumn twilight, a mysterious night awaits…

James Preller, Scary Tales

[scifiandscary]

Better Off Undead by James Preller #BookReview

Better Off Undead by James Preller #BookReview

Title: Better Off Undead | Author: James Preller | Publisher: Feiwel & Friends | Pub. Date: 2017-10-31 | Pages 288 | ISBN13: 9781250066480 | Genre: Kids Paranormal Fantasy | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 3 out of 5 | Source: Library

Better Off Undead

After becoming undead, a boy tries to survive middle school.

Adrian Lazarus has met with a curious fate. He’s returned from the dead…

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Review: I See Reality, Edited by Grace Kendall

Review: I See Reality, Edited by Grace Kendall

Through prose and comics alike, these heart-pounding short stories ask hard questions about a range of topics from sexuality and addiction to violence and immigration. Here is the perfect tool for starting tough discussions or simply as an introduction to realistic literary fiction. In turns funny, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking, I See Realitywill resonate with today’s teens long after…

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Before You Go || James Preller || 199 pages ------------------------------------------------------------ Top 3 Genres: Young Adult / Contemporary / Realistic Fiction

Synopsis: The summer before his senior year, Jude (yes, he’s named after the Beatles song) gets his first job, falls in love for the first time, and starts to break away from his parents. Jude’s house is kept dark, and no one talks much—it’s been that way since his little sister drowned in a swimming pool seven years ago when Jude was supposed to be watching her.

Now, Jude is finally, finally starting to live. Really live. And then, life spins out of control. Again.

Finished: September 23rd, 2014.

Progress: 41 / 50. 82% complete.

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆. [2/5]

My Review: [Under the read more - NOT SPOILER FREE]

Okay. Let’s see. Where do I even start.

Well, the premise of the book is sweet. Teenage boy guilt-ridden for years after little sister’s death he believes is his fault, finally starts to move on, finally starts to fall in love, then suddenly experiences the death of his best friend. Book carries on and concludes with the same love renewed (since it had some issues after said best friend’s death) and a cute message of hope.

Too bad it’s STUFFED TO THE BRIM with internalized misogyny. Fucking christ. I rolled my eyes SO DAMNED HARD.

The only thing that I was pleasantly surprised by was that they didn’t kill the only major girl in the story. Becka is the only prominent female (not including Jude’s vacant mother or dead sister), and as the car accident describing one death was the opening prologue of the book, I was convinced she’d be the one to get killed.

Nah. It wasn’t her. It was the best friend. (And he was black. .. Hum. Maybe it’s not as pleasant as I thought.)

No but seriously though. Lemme try to remember examples. Jude on his back scraping gum off of beach tables, and using it as a vantage point to stare at girls who walked past from underneath. Objectification galore of female celebrities and random girls they see out in public that they don’t even know (“What do you want from the snack bar?” “I’ll take the redhead in lane six, to go!” and “Roberto poked Jude, whistled softly, said that watching the redhead in lane six bend over to pick up a ball was alone worth the price of admission.” ). Describing Becka as being cool and awesome because she “was like a guy.” Jude saying he’d “rather die of hypothermia” after getting drenched in the rain than change into Becka’s batgirl t-shirt. Jude rummaging through his sister’s old clothes and describing their colors as “girl colors.” Describing girls as eye candy and as conquests and with no recognition that they are actually, in fact, PEOPLE.

OH RIGHT and I didn’t even get to the best part. “That’s what I hate about girls. They never say what they mean.” “Yes. But remember, girls are not of this planet. They speak their own language.” ACTUAL BANTER BETWEEN JUDE AND COREY. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

I mean, right before that part I was eye rolling the fuck out of myself thinking ‘ugh if you ever wanted a perfect example on how to treat girls as a different and lesser species, READ THIS BOOK!’, and then in the VERY NEXT CHAPTER, THAT HAPPENED. And it was all because of a text that Becka had sent to Jude, as soon as she dropped him off at his house, only saying “Hey u! What r u doing now?”. Okay I get analyzing a text of someone you like. But generalizing it by saying UGH WHY CAN’T GIRLS JUST SAY WHAT THEY MEAN maybe because she’s an individual just like you and not all girls are of hive mind??

AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED on the fact that almost every time they drove, they were kind of tipsy while they did it. (Except of course for the one time they crashed, and the person driving that time wasn’t even a main character, it was a girlfriend of Becka’s. DOES SHE GET ANY FOCUS? OF COURSE NOT. IMAGINE HOW SHE FEELS. SHE WAS FUCKING DRIVING THE CAR.) DRUNK DRIVING, OF ANY KIND, TIPSY OR NOT, IS NOT FUCKING OKAY. IT IS NOT A COOL THING TO BE PROMOTING. YOU DO NOT IMPLY THAT THAT IS A FUN THING TO DO ON A SUMMER NIGHT.

And. AND. Beckah’s last little bit of interaction right at the end. It was after all this bullshit, right, after Corey’s killed and Jude is a complete asshole to her and a lot of time passes and he ends up at her house at three in the morning just kind of as an emergency 'I need you, can we talk?’ thing. She agrees, and goes and gets things from the house and they take her car to drive to the beach. Okay, more than I would do for someone who treated me like that but, fine so far. They haven’t talked in weeks, mind you, and the last time they saw each other was at a party, and he left with another girl just for mindless sex. And the time before THAT he was extremely nasty to her. So it should be pretty quiet and tense. No, she drinks some Coke and burps and giggles and actually says “God I love burping.” Then she pulls out something from the bag she brought and goes “I made you a sandwich. Here. I hope you like mustard.”

I was like ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS. HOW MUCH MORE OBVIOUS OF A MALE FANTASY IS THIS POOR GIRL. Like. Seriously??

UGH. Ugh ugh ugh. The story is cute. I get it. The message is cute too. Live your life. Don’t let death and the losing of loved ones get you down. Don’t let it consume you. Okay. It’s the entire reason I gave it two stars instead of just one. But I am 100% sure you can get that message delivered in 100% better ways in other books than in this one.

So save yourself the trouble. Find those other books, and read those instead.

[itsmrridho]

Scary Tales: Home Sweet Horror

Scary Tales: Home Sweet Horror

Menyingkap Misteri Rumah Tua

Judul                            : Scary Tales: Home Sweet Horror

cover scary tales home sweet horror

Penulis                          : James Preller

Penerbit                       : Noura Books

Penerjemah                   : Hedwigis Chrisma Hapsari

Editor                          : Aan Wulandari Usman

Tahun Terbit                : Pertama, Januari 2015

Jumlah…

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How I Survived A Night In A Texas Graveyard With R.L. Stine

I was in Austin, Texas, on a Saturday night, scheduled for a reading in the Texas State Cemetery with R.L. Stine as part of the Texas Book Festival. A creepy literature crawl in a graveyard. What mad genius, I wondered, devises such things?

Could you hack a night in the graveyard with horror master R. L. Stine?