13 Gifts

This week I read 13 Gifts, by Wendy Mass. This book would probably be classifyed as realistic fiction. I don't normally like realistic fiction books like this, I normally read stuff like adventure/sci-fi, etc. I read this book because the last book that I read by Wendy Mass, A Mango Shaped Space, was really good. I thought that this book was relatively good, but still a little disappointing. Basically, it's about a girl named Tara going into eigth grade who (long story short) gets sent to stay with her aunt, uncle, cousin, and (unknowingly) a whole bunch of other bizarre characters for the summer. Tara is really antisocial; she doesn't have a lot of friends at school and just doesn't really like to be around people all that much. You get the feeling that she wants to have friends, just doesn't really have good "social skills" or whatever. She likes to sit things out, and watch from the sidelines. When she gets to her cousin's house, another long story short, she realizes that sometimes you have to take a risk for there to be any reward at all. I liked this book, even though it didn't live up to my expectations from A Mango Shaped Space. It takes a little while to get going, and the end has a pretty cool twist, that you half expect is coming but don't really believe it. I would recommend this book to both girls and boys, but probably girls might enjoy it more. The reading level is really easy, and I would recommend it to all of AS. Overall, this was a great book if you normally read this type of genre, and also a worthwhile book to read even if you don't read this genre, you'll probably like it, just, well, not as much.
That's all, folks!