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20 Ways to Draw a Cat and 44 Other Awesome Animals: A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers by Julia Kuo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know that this is a pretty high rating considering
a) it's not even a real book (at least by some standards, as it's partly labeled as a sketchbook )
b) at least 1/4 of it is blank... there's blank space on every other page at least.
c) most of the illustrations aren't even in colour.

However, the four stars I gave this book is not relative to others; my personal satisfaction regarding this book was insanely high for almost no reason, except that I really really like looking at the gorgeous illustrations and designs.

I knocked off a star because I didn't particularly like how it's designed as a sketchbook; the paper is not suitable for drawing, and I had thought it would be good as a reference book when making your own designs or copying these, but not to draw in.

Perhaps I'm somewhat biased as I received this book FREE from my school library's book fair book raffle, so I'm super pleased with that :3

Also, just to note, but I read the Chinese version of this; physically it's not much different though, with just an addition of the Chinese name for the animal under each page's heading and a Chinese introduction.

Obviously you have to look out because this book contains barely any words (I would say, fewer than 50 in all, except for the introduction/preface thing), so you may not find this purchase worth it (if you are buying...?) As another reviewer said, this book doesn't contain any how-to instruction, and it seems that some of the designs were produced with graphic-design software, which is pretty hard to replicate by hand. However, it's still a very nice book with pretty illustrations, so.....

More about the pictures:

I really liked them :) Even in (mostly) black and white, they were really inspiring at least to me. Clean lines and not cartoony looking, while still being creative-and-sketchy.

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Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (Good and Bad Review)

I first picked up a Sarah Dessen novel at the unreasonably small library at my school, since it seemed fairly interesting. This was last June and I was fairly new to the YA romance scene; now, I have been told that this first book was one of the best by Dessen. If so, then it unfortunately set my expectations "unrealistically" high. This book was The Truth about Forever, and you can read my review of that book here.

As I said, I guess I sculpted my expectations for Along for the Ride based on The Truth about Forever. It wasn't as though I'd only read one Dessen book-- I'd read two others besides: Someone Like You, which I disliked but thought was the exception, not the rule, and Dreamland, with its excellent writing (even with its topic making me uncomfortable.) Anywho, Along for the Ride was just not for me.

Bad:

1. Maggie & Co. are cardboard-cutout characters, vastly disinteresting. Mostly, I hated selfish and inconsiderate Leah (who just cares about going where she wanted ((TALLYHO))). Auden, the main character, was right in her first-impressions-judgement of them: They ARE superficial. Obviously, Maggie has more to her than meets the eye, but still: It's just her, and frankly it's not enough. (Think 4 Kaitlyns from The Fault in Our Stars, but one of them is quite intelligent.) Additionally, their taste in boys says it all (kind of), and makes them seem even more shallow, even Maggie, if such a thing is possible (it is).
2. Jason. I understand that he was made to be unlikeable, but STILL. Weirdly enough he said things like "I wouldn't blame you if you were to never speak to me again," showing his emotions. I think he cares for Auden but expects too much from her: to wait until he himself has time for her, and sit idly, skipping a lot of fun/parties, when he doesn't. Also: is he Jason from The Truth about Forever? While this is kind of unlikely due to timing, they have similar personalities, and I have heard that Dessen commonly includes characters from other books into new ones, reprising their roles. (But usually, MCs from other books get small roles in new books, so...)
3. Auden's actions? Like, specifically, Jake. >.>
4. Sarah Dessen's book formula. Like, I understand that you are supposed to look at books separately from each other, especially if they are not part of a series, and treat them independently. But one has got to wonder if Dessen is just really really really overusing all her plot elements.

Good:

1. Eli? He's quirky for sure, but.... the way he just opens up to  Auden & no one else, especially seeing that Auden is NEW TO TOWN, is really kind of unnerving. I love the laundromat-pie thing, though. It really adds an extra dimension to the Eli/Auden relationship (whatever it is).
2. Heidi. YES YES YES. Auden was condescending about her in the beginning but that only made me love her more when she turned out to be..........nice.
3. Auden....... but only sometimes. I'm glad she has a good relationship with her parents (Even if said parents are consistently make mistakes/use poor judgement regarding decisions).
4. Auden's brother, Hollis. Agh! He's lucky, lucky, lucky, and quirky, and kind of a spoiled kid, but he seems to be a genuinely nice guy with an interesting personality (even if he just keeps sapping money from his parents).

Opera A to Z by Liddy Lindsay

Opera A to Z: A Beginner's Guide to Opera by Liddy Lindsay
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The following review was first posted on NetGalley. Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book! :3

I had a hard time enjoying this book, although I suppose that I'm in the target age range. Was it because of how difficult it was to relate to the subject matter? Perhaps, although I consider myself as being more open-minded among my peers...

I expected the paintings to be a big plus. While obviously the whole picture book thing was discounted because I read it on a Kindle (third generation, so it's still black-and-white), I looked up the author's website shortly afterward, and the paintings were not spectacular as some other reviewers on Goodreads have said-- in fact, they looked somewhat pitiful and amateur.

I mean no disrespect to the author by saying this; in fact, the writing was very informative. However, I was quickly bored, without any deviation from the almost monotonous structure to keep me interested.

I do give this book two stars, though, for the content, although I would not read this again.

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The Danger Box by Blue Balliett :)

The Danger Box by Blue Balliett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Danger Box. Ahhh <3
Just kidding.

i picked up this book when I saw it at the library for a number of reasons:

1) Ooh that's an...... interesting cover. Rather reminds me of this one, another personal favorite:
2) Ooh Blue Balliett!!!! I read her book Chasing Vermeer and thoroughly enjoyed it in fourth grade and I assumed that that meant that her other books were all equally entertaining. Alas!
3) Ahh the blurb is so.... intriguing!
4) Omg dat TITLE~! It just sounds amazing and interesting and VERY mysterious.

So there were a lot of things that I felt had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped it would.

Firstly, the main character, Zoomy, is the son of an alcoholic and a migrant worker. His father is the alcoholic, Buckeye, and he did not claim Zoomy, leaving him under the care of his parents (Zoomy's grandparents). "Zoomy" turns out to be the name of Buckeye's childhood 'invisible friend.' I felt like that concept could be developed a little more, like maybe some special link with Buckeye's childhood friend that becomes a special link between estranged father and son.

Secondly, Zoomy has pathological myopia (he's legally blind), so he wears incredibly thick glasses. This does affect the way he sees, as mentioned in the blurb; but, it doesn't play as big of a role as I had hoped it would, nor is the 'affected way he sees' the way I had anticipated, either. Surely he is almost blind, but most of the time anything related to his eyesight comes up it's usually when he's saying "I can't see! What's going on?" or some other version of that.

Also, I never really understood what the Danger Box really was. In the preface in the beginning of the book, something about "Everyone has their own Danger Box" was mentioned, which really heightened my hopes, but in the end, it seems that the Danger Box is just a box full of treasures and memories?

Additionally, the plot was disorganized, for the most part. I would have liked to know more about Lorrel, the "mysterious girl who doesn't fit in", and her family, as well as her life before in the city.

Really, my major disappointment was that it was never really clear what (view spoiler)[ the "players" hired by "Mr. Zip" were hired to do. (hide spoiler)] It had all sounded so thrilling, so exciting, so mysterious, in the beginning of the book, but then it really fell flat for me.

However, I would probably consider reading "The Wright 3" and "The Calder Game" just because I thoroughly enjoyed "Chasing Vermeer" and those books are (i think?) sequels to it.



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Quickie Review: The Good Earth

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ahh <33
This book is kind of long, so it has a lot of ups and downs. I didn't find this particularly good, because Wang Lung in general is not really an interesting character. It may just be my bad memory, because I read this almost a month ago, but although I plowed through it, I didn't read any parts that jump out at me in particular.

Sigh, I really wanted to like this book as a friend recommended it to me with glowing reviews. I guess I'm just not as cut out for these kinds of books....

Best part of this book: (view spoiler)[ I would say that the best part of this book was the part where Wang Lung and his family go to the south to try to live city life when their rural village town is stricken by drought therefore famine. (hide spoiler)]

Favorite Character: My favorite character would have to be Wang Lung's mute and mentally disabled daughter. She does not have a name, but is Wang Lung's especial pet, and he often says to her: "Oh, poor fool! You poor little fool!" in a way that is meant to be a compliment.



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Quickie Review: The Wide-Awake Princess

The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So.......... I found out that this has a sequel! Squee~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway. I rather liked this book, even though I found the part about the knight a little more than unbelievable. It's been almost three months since I read this, though, so please forgive my bad memory! Anyway, I always love fairytale retellings, different perspectives, etc. But once in a while I think that it would be fun to have a girly fairy tale heroine... I think that we tend to reward more 'tomboyish' girls nowadays and I'm just like.... what's wrong with girly girls, you know? Like, they don't have to be super 'delicate' and 'fragile', because that's annoying, and I get that. But honestly I wouldn't have thought that Princess Annie would have been the exact opposite of Gwendolyn.

Also. Another thing that bugged me was the thing about Annie that makes her so "special": (view spoiler)[ her gift that makes magic disappear in her presence (hide spoiler)]. It's an..... interesting twist, I suppose, although how that would work I have no clue, because (view spoiler)[ it's not like she has a gift for "un-magic", she just has NO magic (hide spoiler)]. I would have expected Annie to make a bigger deal out of it, or at least be more concerned that she wasn't as "good" or whatever as Gwen. Instead, Annie is all like, "Lalala I really couldn't care less."

So, that's all I really have to say about this book. A little bit of a disappointment if you ask me, but I would definitely read the sequel, and........ does this series have a third book?


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Quickie Review: The Menagerie

The Menagerie by Tui T. Sutherland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I found this book to be very entertaining. The premise is simple, and at times cliched-- but it was enjoyable, in the least. Although I prefer deep, thoughtful, well-written books, I still like a good light read now and again, so this book was perfect for it!

I don't read much fantasy, mostly because not much of it interests me (vampires? zombie? ghosts? goblins? ugh.). But I decided to give it a shot because it sounded okay.

I didn't like the main character, Logan, mostly because it was like, (view spoiler)["Oh, you have a superpower. Great, you're suddenly better than someone who's been training all his life!!!" (hide spoiler)], even if Logan really couldn't help it and it wasn't his fault at all....

I am SO DONE with totally precocious main characters. Hello? They should have flaws too! UGH.

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Quickie Review: An Abundance of Katherines

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. just......wow.

This book's title has always intrigued me, and I'm so glad that I decided to check it out.

This book was just beautifully written and thoroughly entertaining. I'm sure that if I look closer and scrutinize it as I have in some of my other reviews I am sure to find some mistakes, or some part that is faulty in some way. And sure, some of the language just did not sit well with me. But the characters were so quirky and fun, and I was on Colin's side from the beginning. I wasn't sure about Hassan for a while, but he grew on me, too. And Lindsey! Oh, she was such a delight to read about.

The part about the factory wasn't very clear, I think, and at first I thought Hollis was Lindsey's adopted mom or stepmom or something because Lindsey calls her by her first name.......

But if I step back and think about it, I can't honestly say that this book was perfect. Still, it was a refreshing and interesting read, and I think that it was funny and amazing enough for me to really really like it.

So........... I found this book to be an enjoyable and good read (ha-ha, see what I did there?) and I would recommend it to many other readers.


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Escape from the Forbidden Planet by Julie Anne Grasso

Escape From The Forbidden Planet by Julie Anne Grasso
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The title is a bit misleading. Most of the book is not about the forbidden planet, much less the escape from it. In fact the first mention of a so-called forbidden planet was page 104, which was the start of chapter 21!!!!!!!

The book was kind of quirky in an endearing way, using words like "higgledy-piggledy" and "bearnaise". But, and this might just be because of cultural differences, but there was this sentence:

"'Caramel, you have had a long day and tomorrow we will go to our cardamom harvest so you need to be fresh.'"

Uh.............. what?

And there was a part where(view spoiler)[ Caramel revealed to her parents that she was super gifted, and they were just like, "Well done honey, BUT WE WERE JUST WAITING FOR YOU TO REALIZE IT. Hahahahaha." (hide spoiler)] Uhhh. That was SO not convincing.

And then there was the (view spoiler)[kidnap scene (hide spoiler)]. I got the feeling that that was supposed to be incredibly suspenseful or something, but all it was was really really fast paced and I couldn't understand a word of it. That totally took away from the whole "suspenseful" thing going on.

Also there was a bit where Micah, one of Caramel's friends, kept saying, "Haha, I know you know that it means _____ but you sounds so SINCERE!!!"

Uh. That was sooo annoying, because the whole time Caramel didn't know what it meant and she wasn't trying to be funny....

And the book was sooo full of coincidences, like the thing about (view spoiler)[ Richard Reynolds being employed by the Alexanders (hide spoiler)].

At one point Kirra (another one of Caramel's friends) said "Hoh K". (sic)

Ummmmmmm what?!?!?!

Read the following sentence:
"This is why Isabel had to remove her brother and live in exile on her own planet."

You would think that Isabel was living in exile, right?! But according to the book, it's referring to her brother!! Uh...... someone call the grammar nazi.

And the character Sass didn't do anything for me. She was just there, but not in a particularly good or bad way...

So the bottom line is, this book was enjoyable but there were a lot of frustrating or confusing bits. It's a fast and light read, though, so I would probably recommend it.


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The Encyclopedia of Me, by Karen Rivers

The Encyclopedia of Me by Karen Rivers

One sentence review-summary:

I kinda hated this book. Two stars, because some parts were memorable, but the whole thing was frustrating as a whole.

Summary:

This is the story of Tink’s summer leading up to her eighth-grade year. Written in the style of an encyclopedia and narrated by Tink, who writes it when she is grounded to have something to do, Tink reveals the complex emotions of a young teen.

Setting:

This book takes place in the present day. The location is not specified.

Main Characters:

Tink Aaron-Martin, a biracial soon-to-be eighth grade girl.

Freddie Blue Anderson, Tink’s Swedish best friend.

Ruth Quayle, an unpopular girl who likes to skateboard and who turns out to be an unlikely friend for Tink.

Kai, the extremely cute boy with blue hair who lives next door to Tink and who skateboards as well.

Thoughts:

The friendship between Tink and Freddie Blue is incredibly frustrating. Tink becomes concerned with what BFFs should feel and letting that dictate her emotions. “Freddie Blue is my BFF! I should be happy if she has a boyfriend first! I shouldn’t even care! But I do.” Definitely not a sign of a healthy friendship. Also, I think that Tink idealized Freddie Blue. Examples of this include Tink frequently saying, “Freddie Blue would never do that to me.”

Secondly, for goodness’s sake, Tink! You’re going into eighth grade. You sound like a fifth grader! Subject matter aside, if you add Tink’s personality with a childish love of paperdolls you could easily create a nine-year-old.

I think that Tink’s idea of her role in her household differs from her parents’ and in many ways Tink doesn’t like being labeled. I don’t think that she tried to defy the label but she openly disliked it. She couldn’t help being a Peacemaker. She wished her parents’ expectations were different.

Tink’s decision to switch to Isadora is ironic, in a way. When she was four, Tink probably begged to be called Tink, yet nine years later, she says, “You shouldn’t let a four year old choose her own name!” But she has a new identity now. That’s great. Obviously, frequent identity changes can be a problem (hint hint Mclean from “What Happened to Goodbye” by Sarah Dessen). But for Tink it’s actually healthy, like a breath of fresh air.

So while I had been very excited about reading this book initially, it fell flat for me.

Also the constant footnotes were SO annoying. Many times I would miss the note, only to find a parade of small text at the bottom, and the I would search and search for the note.

The whole “I’m writing an encyclopedia about my life so I can get famous” thing kinda failed to be honest. At times Tink says completely out of line things like “Don’t tell ___ I said that,” etc. If she actually plans on publishing it, which she constantly assures us of, then those people, like Lex or Freddie Blue, would probably know anyway.

I feel as if Rivers did not flesh out the characters much as far as appearances go; that, or she is under the false impression that soon to be eighth grade girls wouldn’t want to describe people. Quite the opposite! I am going into seventh grade but I know some people who are a grade older anyhow. I honestly don’t know what Freddie Blue looks like, besides that she is Swedish and has “expensive gold streaks in her hair.”

I don’t think Tink is like any other black girl I’ve known. If not for the parts where she talks about about her afro and her father, I would have thought she was a white girl. With all due respect, Ms. Rivers, you cannot just add an ‘interesting’ heritage to an otherwise Plain Jane character and just expect it to work! Tink has got to have a voice!

Besides having blue hair, what doe Kai look like? Even if Tink knew little about him, she would certainly be able to describe him, especially after mooning over him!

We don’t know much about Seb except that he has autism and therefore gets to do anything he likes. Tink is therefore understandably jealous.  Her jealousy may be understandable, but it definitely isn’t excusable, and he ‘he gets everything easy, why can’t I’ attitude just further proves how immature she is.

Recommendation:

I would recommend this book to teen girls with a taste for drama.

Quickie Review: Dead Girls Don't Lie

Dead Girls Don't Lie by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

This book was an honest-to-goodness, nail-biting thriller. It was very frightening in the descriptions of the gang activities. I felt that this book was very well-written. Although I myself am not an avid fan of thriller-mystery-suspense type books, I have wholeheartedly recommended this book to my friend, who loves that genre. I would recommend this book to fans of the Pretty Little Liars series. The friendship between Jaycee and Rachel was done well and realistically portrayed. All in all, I liked this book, although I would not read it again.

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Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Setting

This book is set in futuristic New Beijing, in the year 125 T.E., at time when humans, cyborgs, and androids all coexist.

Summary (no spoilers)

Prince Kai wants to get his android Nainsi fixed—by none other than the most gifted mechanic in New Beijing, Cinder! But while in the local junkyard looking for pieces of metal to use with her stepsister, Peony gets letumosis, or the plague as it’s known, a sickness that is spreading like wildfire across the Eastern Commonwealth. Adri sends Cinder to the cyborg draft, where scientists use cyborgs to test for cures for the plague. That’s when everything changes….

Characters

Cinder, the 16-year-old protagonist, is the most gifted mechanic in New Beijing, and an adopted cyborg from Europe with an ambiguous childhood.

Iko, Cinder’s android with a unique personality, is also Cinder’s best friend.

Peony is Cinder’s stepsister who is a victim of the plague. She is also the excuse that Adri has to get rid of Cinder.

Prince Kai is the prince of the Eastern Commonwealth, as well as being Cinder’s love interest.

Dr. Erland is the head researcher for the cyborg draft with a secret of his own.

Adri is Cinder’s stepmother who despises her cyborg stepdaughter.

Queen Levana, the Lunar Queen, who is an enemy of the Eastern Commonwealth.

Thoughts

This book is a modern retelling of Cinderella. As such, the plot at some points became a little bit predictable. However, I really liked how only one of Cinder’s stepsisters was mean, as opposed to both in the original Cinderella fairytale. Although I believe Cinder was a fantastic book, there were a few confusing parts. For example, once, Dr. Erland was explaining something to Cinder (I’m trying not to spoil too much), and Cinder just took a long time to process this information. Instead of coming off as being shocked speechless, however, Cinder just seemed a bit unresponsive.

Also, I wasn’t satisfied with the ending. I understand why Marissa Meyer made it into a series (with this subject matter, who could resist?), but I still expected some sort of closure. And so the ‘cliffhanger’ ending became more like a marketing gimmick, instead of a literary prop. And if the next book in the Lunar Chronicles, Scarlet, stars a different fairytale main character (namely, Red Riding Hood), how will there ever be enough space for Meyer to tell Cinder’s ending AND Scarlet’s story?! With a series like this one, with each book starring a different protagonist (while, admittedly, the same antagonist), I would have expected there to be a fifth and final book explaining what happens when the four girls join forces (as in the juvenile fantasy series Sisters Eight). I guess I’ll just have to read the rest of the series—when it comes out—to find out!!

Girl Out Loud, by Emily Gale

Girl Out Loud by Emily Gale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I actually quite liked this book. I give out 2-star and 3-star ratings literally all the time, but this one made it to 4 :)

Where do I start with this? There were parts of the book I didn't like. But I think I'm a bit of a "hopeless romantic" (I'm not sure if I'm using this correctly), so I dislike reading books about people receiving very harsh treatment or anything like that. Let me elaborate: when a character gets treated unfairly by another, i.e. bullying, child abuse, harassment, etc., it makes me VERY uncomfortable, even if the case is very minor. But I digress.

The reason I mention that is because our main character Kassidy's dad has a sort of disorder. It's not very detailed in the story, and at parts it was so vague that it got to the point where I was wondering if the author even bothered to do any background research at all. But I understand that living with a parent with that disorder would make it hard for Kassidy to talk about it, and I don't blame her, so............that makes it all right.

I don't understand why Char, Izzy, and Kass, not to mention Luke and Cass(ian), all have family problems. Really? Is it that serious in their area? And Kass's family, apparently, has problems with both parents. But I see how living with Kass's dad could have caused her mom to do the things she did. (Trying not to spoil too much here (: )

One thing I really loved about the book was (view spoiler)[ the conflict between Char and Kass about Dream Boy, a.k.a. Cass. (hide spoiler)]

I also loved how, in the end, because of what was going on with their mom, Raff and Kass became closer to each other. It seemed so sweet.

But it also seems impossible how Raff gets away with every. single. thing. he does. Really? That seems really odd, considering how uptight the parents are with Kass, who is two years older.

I wished that there could have been more descriptions of how Kass didn't stand up to her father's outrageous demands.

I know that the (view spoiler)[ Gorton's fish sticks (hide spoiler)] incident was one, but then they didn't describe any of the other failed Operation: Stardoms, such as the Mensa IQ Test and Youth Orchestra.

And it was so unfortunate that nobody realized that Kass had tried to rebel against her father, more than once. Deep down inside, she didn't want to let him down, I think, because that might unleash his inner "monster". (Something they refer to as GTD or something that I never quite managed to understand, *shrug*)

Anyway. That's it for this book.
~Dana


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Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings (Threads, #1) by Sophia Bennett

Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings, Sophia Bennett (Chicken House, 2011)
Length: 304 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Children's Books
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Plot:

Nonie's a freak for fashion. Eco-conscious Edie blogs to save the world--and get into Harvard. Starter-starlet Jenny just landed a small part in a big Hollywood blockbuster. When they meet a Ugandan refugee girl who's an amazing designer, the three trendy London teens--and Crow, the incredible fashion designer-- combine their talents to raise awareness for the crisis of the Night Walking children.

{adapted from Goodreads summary}

Thoughts:

I had mixed feelings about this book.

I didn't like the cover design.

I know, I know, very superficial of me, but I sincerely doubt that either Nonie, Crow, Jenny, or Granny would approve of this book cover.

Anyway, "don't judge a book by its cover" right?

I don't believe that the world Sophia Bennett spins is very believable. Look, there's a girl who's just starred in an absolute Hollywood blockbuster! Plus she's got a famous father!

And ooh, look, there's that twelve-year-old tween from UGANDA who catapulted to huge fashion designer in around six months!!

This might be the life of a couple of rich kids, but as far as we know, Crow is not rich.

I'm not denying Crow the years that she spent studying fashion. But what about Jenny?

Let's see:

According to her best friends, who probably wouldn't lie and turn their backs against their best friend, Jenny

a) is not that good at acting on set (Remember, there was an agent searching for a girl for Kid Code? Jenny did well in Annie.
b) does not AT ALL enjoy being on set OR on tour, especially at awarding events.

There is really no reason at all that Jenny would be on the set of an enormous blockbuster hit, if she doesn't enjoy it at all.

Furthermore, Jenny went and did a screen test for a movie in Hawaii, not even thinking about her best friends she was leaving behind in London, just so she could be with a boy who was not only too old for her, didn't even care for her at all!!

Nonie, I think, was the most developed character in the story, and even then, she wasn't really fleshed out. I felt that the scenes describing Nonie having a "new idea for a minidress, so she took all of her fashion books onto the floor and studied them" could have been elaborated a LOT more.

For example, in the story, Crow is the only one portrayed as having any real fashion success. In the end, Nonie actually has to be the business coordinator and manager for Crow.

And it just wasn't fair that Nonie's mother kept spending time with Crow and not with Nonie, as Edie had pointed out.

I also felt that Jenny had been very unattached from the other two while abroad. They couldn't really be best friends, could they?!??!?!?

Just kidding. But still.

I didn't understand why Edie put what Nonie and Jenny were wearing onto her "Saving the Environment and Invisible Children are Important!" website.

There was no reason, besides that she found it interesting, which I'm pretty sure she didn't. Edie was always the straightforward, honest, and, according to Nonie, boring one. She doesn't have a lot of style, based on the descriptions of her clothing choices. So there's no reason why Edie would be interested in her friends' clothing choices.

And why in the world did Nonie get upset when Edie was trying to design a logo for a T-shirt?!?!?!?!?!

It's a T-shirt, Nonie!!!!!!

They are really quite un-fashionable!

At least the commercially-produced-for-merchandise are. I mean the kind that Edie's trying to sell.

They're just plain T-shirts with logos on them.

~~~~~~~

Anyway,  ta-ta.

xoxo~ Dana