YA / MG Read-A-Holics Not-So-Anonymous discussion

Hey, guys! Because of the active discussion we've been having about Number the Stars, Ms. Jackie and I decided that it might be a good idea for us to have a buddy read or group read about the book. As of right now, I know that both of us are interested, and I was wondering who else was? (I'm fine with doing a buddy read with more than one buddy. ;-) )

*If a lot of people decide to participate in this read, I will turn it into a group read, even if we do happen to have another historical group read already going on.

I can't put this book down already. It is bringing back everything I forgot!!! Guys, if you haven't read this book, please pick it up!

Yes, yes, yes! I got the book at 7:30. I was so engrossed that I raced through, and finished at 8:30. (I just haven't yet posted all about it because I was doing my choir homework)

You finished it? I had to stop.

Yes, I did, I raced through it, but I need to go back and read for more details.

Lol

Yeah. It was just so good that I read super fast. (even for me) ;-)

LOL, I'm reading it now!

I'll do it! I just got it last night and started reading it. I love it so far! I have read 13% of it so far (according to my Kobo mini.)

It is a really good book

Yes, it's great! I love Annemarie. She is so sweet!

I know!

Hey, since we now have three people reading this (which is great! Yay!) do you think we should leave it as a buddy read or change it to a group read?

Hmm... Well, either way is fine. Because, right now we're the only three reading it.

Exactly. So I thought just leave it as a buddy read for now and if someone else chimes in, maybe change it?

Well, anyways, I shall now give you my thoughts on the beginning of the book.

Characters: I thought that most of the characters were very good.

Kristi reminds me quite a bit of my youngest sister a few years ago (and actually, she's about the same now) in that she is the cute little sister who just wants to play, which can sometimes get on your nerves, but she is adorable.

Annemarie is also very nice. She's younger than I am, but I can still relate to her, which is nice. That doesn't happen all the time. And I like how she said that she really wasn't sure if she could be brave, and she was glad just to be a normal person. A lot of characters wouldn't admit that. Other than that, though, I didn't see a lot of flaws, other than being annoyed with her sibling, which is really very common.

Ellen is a very sweet, kind, smart character. I like her a lot, but I kind of like her too much. There really aren't many flaws to her. However, you do feel sorry for her. Maybe flaws would have made that harder, and that's why she didn't really have any. Or she was supposed to be the character that everyone should like.

Mr. and Mrs. Johansen were good characters. They are excellent friends to the Rosens, and very good, fair parents. Sweet characters. I really liked Mrs. Johansen, which is probably because throughout the book, we see her more. Mr. Johansen is a very quick thinker, which I like.

Peter is good. I like him. Personally, I figured out what he was about much quicker than Annemarie did, but he was still good.

Lise. Although she was not an actual character in the book, I thought that the way she was depicted was very good. As most families who had recently lost someone would do, they spoke about her as is she was a saint. And it was harder to suspect the secret about her until the end, unlike the secret about Peter.

That is all I'm saying for now. I will have more critiques on other aspects later.

how many other people are in this group? I haven't heard from any of them

There are five members in this group.

Really? okay then, I haven't heard from them.

Yes, there are five people, but only four have participated up to this point, and one has only posted once. Still, we hope to get new members, which is one of the reasons we're trying to get this group to stay active.

how will we get more members?

I don't know yet, but I finished the book!!

wow, I have only read 18% so far. I'll finish it soon hopefully.

It's not really long! That's why finished it so fast

Yeah. Not even 250 pages. Oh, and to answer your question Raven, I try to advertise the group in places I see as appropriate. In other groups, some moderators allow you to link your group and tell about it, so I did that today, in another YA group. And other times, I'll add a link to one of my groups if I'm reviewing a book and it is or was a group read in the group. I only add them to my own reviews, though. And when I create listopia lists or quizzes, I link the group if any book(s) mentioned are being talked about in a group. However, I only do this when I have created the list or quiz, because I don't want to spam another user. Also, if someone sends me a friend request and they seem to be interested in the types of books we discuss in the group, then I message them. For the author fan club I run, I invite people to the group who have rated highly many books by that author.

As for the book, it is a pretty short read if it's not your first time reading it. the first time, you try to soak in all of the details so it takes longer. The second time, you know what your favorite parts are and you just want to get to them! Plus, it is a fairly short book, so if you set aside time to read it, it goes by pretty quick.

So, Jackie, what did you think about it the second time through?

I finished it and loved it.

just wondering, what time is it where you live. Because it is 12:01 A.M where I am!

Hold on, I will leave the link to my review.

eh?

it is 11:11 where I am.

wow. That's interesting. So when it's 1 AM where I am, it will only be 12 Am where you are. okay. I'll be heading to bed soon. But not yet.

Me, too, my mom wants me in bed by mid-night. Because she stays up until I go to bed and has work tomorrow morning and she wants nine hours of sleep.

heh. my mom wishes she could get 9 hours of sleep! She'll probably get to bed at 3 and wake up at 9. in the summer, I like to stay up late.

It's 12: 19 here

huh? I thought you said it was 11 where you are.

Nope

oh! that was Tara that said that! so where I am it's 12:25, same with Ms. Jackie, and where Tara is it's 11:25. okay

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am going to sleep, see ya around 11 am. bye!

fine. maybe I'll stay up till 1.

Bye!

Oh, okay. Yeah, during the school year when she has a whole lot of papers to grade, she'll go to bed at, like, 1 or two and get up at seven to take me to school. (unfortunately they are changing all of the school start times, so I will now have to be there by 6:45 or 6:50, because the bell rings at 7:00. Ugh...)

She just started teaching this class on Monday, so she's getting all of the sleep she can before the papers begin running her schedule.

?????? Seven??

wow, 7 is early!

Yeah. Our school got the earliest start time. (Middle school, ahh...) I know for a fact that there have been and will be complaints, because the elementary school right behind us is starting at 8:00, incredibly inconvenient.

ya know what. I'm going to sleep now. I am SO tired. bye

Bye, Raven! Good night!

So, guys, I just realized that this is a book discussion and we are chatting more than we are discussing the book. So, I am creating solutions. Here is my master plan...

Step 1) We start concentrating on the book.

Step 2) I create a brand new folder- yes, a whole folder- where you can chat to your heart's content. No book talk necessary. That way, we can talk more about books here.

Note: I will not be asking anyone to move all of their posts to the new folder, because that might be difficult. Just keep all of this in mind.