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The Oddball Chronicles
Omar Odd is the kid who sits quietly in the back of the classroom with his headphones on. He is the kid who is always picked last for every team he tries to be apart of. He is the kid who's just searching for a little bit of peace and quiet, in a world full of chaotic noise. Omar Odd is a new transfer high school student to the town of Ridgewood. He prefers to live the life of an outsider, but even outsiders find an in crowd. As Omar grows into young adulthood he finds that his life is a series of trial and error. More often than not, he finds himself on the error side of things. With wittiness, luck, questionable judgment, and the help of new found friends, Omar attempts to navigate the road of life while avoiding oncoming traffic. These are his victories, his defeats, but most importantly, his truths. These are, The Oddball Chronicles.
159 pages, Paperback
Published November 12, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 22, 2018
I was contacted by the author and provided a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The Oddball Chronicles are about new kid Omar Odd and his high school flubs, social media storms, and basically being 17 in America.
I like the odd ball chronicles. This book was instantly intriguing to me as a Librarian because I can think of about about 4 different types of readers I can give this book to. We meet Omar, learn a bit about his past, and run straight into conflict before we know what’s happening.
While Omar is presented to us as a quiet kid who likes to fly under the radar and avoid crowds, it doesn’t take long before he’s broken the internet and starting news worth national debate over his school presentation, (that was presumably recorded by some kid from the class) on Christopher Columbus. In his speech, Omar, deviates from the information in the class textbook and explains not only did Christopher Columbus “discover” America, he stole land, slaughtered and/or enslaved those native to the country, and apparently was on board with the child sex trade??? (which is news to me and I’m going to look it up asap).
The conflict that Omar’s speech created was pretty indicative of what we see almost every day on the news and peppered throughout Social Media, I just wish we could have gone deeper down that rabbit hole. We were told that Omar’s speech sparked videos made by others, 100,000 views, and goodness knows how many comments, but I think we readers could have connected more with Omar during this backlash if we could have seen more of what he saw. Then we go to the school, and the parents reaction, to the schools reaction, was pretty confusing. That whole moment of the book was a bit touch and go for me, it felt like there were paragraphs missing, but I really liked what was there.
We migrate away from Christopher Columbus and Omar is simply trying to exist in the world and finally meets some friends! There is a motley crew of three boys and a girl, and crazy shenanigans that make you forget they’ve only knew each other for a few hours. I liked “The Crew” as they called themselves, but I’d love to see more of them, figure out who they are as individuals. Right now we have Thiago the pariter, Russ the quiet kid, Zuri the gamer girl, and Kaz the outspoken leader. I hope that as the chronicles continue, this new friendship builds, and they get in more trouble because it was a hilarious hot mess.
I would also like to shout out one of my favorite lines from the book because the imagery is just darn beautiful. “As Kaz ended his sentence I watched all of my hopes and dreams take a nosedive out of the sky and explode into heartbroken pieces of shrapnel.” Our author really knows how to paint a picture doesn’t he!
3.5 stars
The Oddball Chronicles are about new kid Omar Odd and his high school flubs, social media storms, and basically being 17 in America.
I like the odd ball chronicles. This book was instantly intriguing to me as a Librarian because I can think of about about 4 different types of readers I can give this book to. We meet Omar, learn a bit about his past, and run straight into conflict before we know what’s happening.
While Omar is presented to us as a quiet kid who likes to fly under the radar and avoid crowds, it doesn’t take long before he’s broken the internet and starting news worth national debate over his school presentation, (that was presumably recorded by some kid from the class) on Christopher Columbus. In his speech, Omar, deviates from the information in the class textbook and explains not only did Christopher Columbus “discover” America, he stole land, slaughtered and/or enslaved those native to the country, and apparently was on board with the child sex trade??? (which is news to me and I’m going to look it up asap).
The conflict that Omar’s speech created was pretty indicative of what we see almost every day on the news and peppered throughout Social Media, I just wish we could have gone deeper down that rabbit hole. We were told that Omar’s speech sparked videos made by others, 100,000 views, and goodness knows how many comments, but I think we readers could have connected more with Omar during this backlash if we could have seen more of what he saw. Then we go to the school, and the parents reaction, to the schools reaction, was pretty confusing. That whole moment of the book was a bit touch and go for me, it felt like there were paragraphs missing, but I really liked what was there.
We migrate away from Christopher Columbus and Omar is simply trying to exist in the world and finally meets some friends! There is a motley crew of three boys and a girl, and crazy shenanigans that make you forget they’ve only knew each other for a few hours. I liked “The Crew” as they called themselves, but I’d love to see more of them, figure out who they are as individuals. Right now we have Thiago the pariter, Russ the quiet kid, Zuri the gamer girl, and Kaz the outspoken leader. I hope that as the chronicles continue, this new friendship builds, and they get in more trouble because it was a hilarious hot mess.
I would also like to shout out one of my favorite lines from the book because the imagery is just darn beautiful. “As Kaz ended his sentence I watched all of my hopes and dreams take a nosedive out of the sky and explode into heartbroken pieces of shrapnel.” Our author really knows how to paint a picture doesn’t he!
3.5 stars
July 4, 2019
Omar Odd: outcast, new kid, Internet star, crew member, retail worker, unemployed TV star, friendzoner, truth teller. And this is just the beginning of Omar’s story. The Oddball Chronicles by Michael “Cerealsenei” Williams is about junior Omar Odd, who is new to Ridgewood High School and who takes great pains to remain anonymous and unseen by both his teachers and his peers. Unfortunately, his plans don’t quite work out the way he envisioned; however, unexpected plans are exactly what Omar really needed. Discovering himself through trial and error in school, in the work force, in his family, and in his love life — Omar brings honesty and humor to the growing pains of being a teenager.
Omar’s story is told through “episodes,” much like chapters, but they follow a format more similar to a television show. This format is easy to follow and creates a smooth story that is able to jump forward through time without needing to account for the lost days. Instead, we come across the most important moments in Omar’s current journey and how they connect to each other.
Opinion:
As a student working to receive certification to teach high school English, I was instantly drawn into this story. The whole time I was reading, I was thinking of all the students who would connect so easily with Omar’s character and recognize the realism of his story. I really enjoyed the “truth” of Omar’s inner thoughts — the way he looks at the situations he finds himself in and analyzes them are very realistic. Williams doesn’t hold back on language or details, for this is the way in which 17-year-olds view their surroundings. I also really enjoyed the formatting of this story into episodes rather than chapters. It flowed like a teen drama television show in which each individual episode centers on its own story line, yet certain small details trail throughout. Thus, if you missed the previous episode, you would be missing something BUT nothing that would cause you to misunderstand the overall message or lesson in that episode.
I think teens and those in their early twenties, of both genders, would really enjoy reading this. Also, as mentioned earlier, I could see The Oddball Chronicles (either in part or as a whole) being used as a short story or choice reading for high schoolers in an English class.
Omar’s story is told through “episodes,” much like chapters, but they follow a format more similar to a television show. This format is easy to follow and creates a smooth story that is able to jump forward through time without needing to account for the lost days. Instead, we come across the most important moments in Omar’s current journey and how they connect to each other.
Opinion:
As a student working to receive certification to teach high school English, I was instantly drawn into this story. The whole time I was reading, I was thinking of all the students who would connect so easily with Omar’s character and recognize the realism of his story. I really enjoyed the “truth” of Omar’s inner thoughts — the way he looks at the situations he finds himself in and analyzes them are very realistic. Williams doesn’t hold back on language or details, for this is the way in which 17-year-olds view their surroundings. I also really enjoyed the formatting of this story into episodes rather than chapters. It flowed like a teen drama television show in which each individual episode centers on its own story line, yet certain small details trail throughout. Thus, if you missed the previous episode, you would be missing something BUT nothing that would cause you to misunderstand the overall message or lesson in that episode.
I think teens and those in their early twenties, of both genders, would really enjoy reading this. Also, as mentioned earlier, I could see The Oddball Chronicles (either in part or as a whole) being used as a short story or choice reading for high schoolers in an English class.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews