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| Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier |
"Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.
The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They're classmates from her new school in London, the school where she's starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know--unless they actually arein her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute..."
I'm not quite sure what to think of this book. There were some things I really liked and some things I couldn't stand. I will admit I was expecting more. I loved this author's Ruby Red , with it's snarky yet charming main character and the many exciting adventures, but this one didn't hold quite the charm for me that Ruby Red did.
Things I liked:
*Another snarky and funny main character.
*Little sister Mia. I laughed out loud several times at her antics.
“Liv, stop it!" hissed Mia. "You look like a lovelorn sheep!"
I gave a start. "As bad as that? Oh, that's terrible." I added - and I was to regret it in the course of the day - "If you see me looking like that again, give me a nudge or throw something at me. Promise?"
"With pleasure," said Mia, and three hours later, because she always kept her promises, I was black and blue around the ribs and had been hit by assorted flying objects: several chestnuts, a spoon, and a blueberry muffin.”
*I loved the relationship between the sisters.
*I liked the character of Grayson, although I'm sure we will find out many more things about him in the coming books in the trilogy.
*I thought the concept of sharing dreams was pretty cool (although I would definitely be putting a lot of safeguards around MY door).
Things I didn't like:
*Bad teenage behavior throughout! Guh, I could go on another Raven Boys rant - which would be apropos because this one actually reminded me just a little bit of that book.
*How many outrageously gorgeous students can GO to one high school?! I got so tired of hearing about perfect features and hot looks. When the 4 beautiful boys are spotted walking down the school hall in perfect unison, I pictured a slow motion take of Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie walking down the corridors of Forks High School and kind of giggled to myself.
*The dream-theme was pretty interesting, but the demon-theme was not very believable. Actually, I guess that is a good thing for me. But I feel like it was meant to be very atmospheric and dark and it didn't make that impression on me.
*The main character seemed to really have her head on straight, which made it so annoying when she started to agree to do the stupidest things.
*There was a mild romance, but I never really believed in it or felt it.
Now let's talk about the ending. What?! Until the last page and a half, I was thinking, Hmmm, why is this a trilogy? It seemed to be having a good ending. Then, BOOM! Okay, now I see why there needs to be another book.
I think middle schoolers will like this book, but I don't think I will recommend it to them because of all the bad behaviors.
Areas of concern:
*A lot of bad language! Never the *f* word, but tons of others.
*A lot of teenage drinking and partying. One party was going on in the pool house with the teenagers, while the teenager's dad was throwing an adults-behaving-badly party in another part of the house.
*Dysfunctional families abound. Is there one good, loving family in the whole book?
*A lot of talk about teenage sex. One of the main plot points is that they are having trouble finding a teenage virgin to conjure up a demon.
Things I liked:
*Another snarky and funny main character.
*Little sister Mia. I laughed out loud several times at her antics.
“Liv, stop it!" hissed Mia. "You look like a lovelorn sheep!"
I gave a start. "As bad as that? Oh, that's terrible." I added - and I was to regret it in the course of the day - "If you see me looking like that again, give me a nudge or throw something at me. Promise?"
"With pleasure," said Mia, and three hours later, because she always kept her promises, I was black and blue around the ribs and had been hit by assorted flying objects: several chestnuts, a spoon, and a blueberry muffin.”
*I loved the relationship between the sisters.
*I liked the character of Grayson, although I'm sure we will find out many more things about him in the coming books in the trilogy.
*I thought the concept of sharing dreams was pretty cool (although I would definitely be putting a lot of safeguards around MY door).
Things I didn't like:
*Bad teenage behavior throughout! Guh, I could go on another Raven Boys rant - which would be apropos because this one actually reminded me just a little bit of that book.
*How many outrageously gorgeous students can GO to one high school?! I got so tired of hearing about perfect features and hot looks. When the 4 beautiful boys are spotted walking down the school hall in perfect unison, I pictured a slow motion take of Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie walking down the corridors of Forks High School and kind of giggled to myself.
*The dream-theme was pretty interesting, but the demon-theme was not very believable. Actually, I guess that is a good thing for me. But I feel like it was meant to be very atmospheric and dark and it didn't make that impression on me.
*The main character seemed to really have her head on straight, which made it so annoying when she started to agree to do the stupidest things.
*There was a mild romance, but I never really believed in it or felt it.
Now let's talk about the ending. What?! Until the last page and a half, I was thinking, Hmmm, why is this a trilogy? It seemed to be having a good ending. Then, BOOM! Okay, now I see why there needs to be another book.
I think middle schoolers will like this book, but I don't think I will recommend it to them because of all the bad behaviors.
Areas of concern:
*A lot of bad language! Never the *f* word, but tons of others.
*A lot of teenage drinking and partying. One party was going on in the pool house with the teenagers, while the teenager's dad was throwing an adults-behaving-badly party in another part of the house.
*Dysfunctional families abound. Is there one good, loving family in the whole book?
*A lot of talk about teenage sex. One of the main plot points is that they are having trouble finding a teenage virgin to conjure up a demon.
Suggested Ages:
Booklist - Grades 7-10
Kirkus Reviews - Ages 12+
School Library Journal - Grades 9+
*Mrs. Duke is going to have to side with School Library Journal on this one.
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