YA Book Club recap by Kara Eng, grade 11
Summary:
My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.
For February, YA Book Club read Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.
Everything, Everything is not necessarily original. Many members of YA Book Club were able to predict big plot twists and, in one case, the entire plot. There was nothing spectacular about the plot, but there was a general consensus that the writing helped redeem the novel. We favored Carla and Olly and disliked Maddy’s mom. We tried to put ourselves in Maddy’s shoes and agreed that her lifestyle would be impossible for us. The idea of freedom and familiarity with it was heavily discussed. We enjoyed the way that the novel was narrated and the illustrations interwoven throughout. We disagreed on what role character development played. Some argued that it felt like peripheral characters were underdeveloped while others said that it was more authentic to Maddy’s character/universe. We wondered at the medical and legal authenticity of the novel as well. Unfortunately, not many of us were too familiar with some of the medical and legal issues in the novel. But, from our perspectives, some of the events/practices did not seem very reasonable.
Overall, YA Book Club gave Everything, Everything an average of 3.6/5 stars.
This meeting was moderated by Kara Eng, grade 11, from the Teen Advisory Board.