Ten Things I Hate About me by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Jamilah Towfeek hides her Lebanese-Muslim background from the other kids at her Australian school "to avoid people assuming I fly planes into buildings as a hobby." She dyes her hair blonde, wears blue contacts and stands by when popular kids make racist remarks. Passing as "Jamie" is fraught with difficulties: she can't invite friends to her house, lies to cover up her widower dad's strict rules and reveals her true self only to an anonymous boy she meets online (her e-mail address is "Ten_Things_I_Hate_About_Me"). Tensions at home and school culminate when the band she plays in at her madrassa (Islamic school) is hired to perform at her 10th-grade formal. Abdel-Fattah (Does My Head Look Big in This?) follows a predictable pattern and uses familiar devices, such as the understanding teacher ("If [your friends] don't know the real you, then you've already lost them"). On the other hand, the author brings a welcome sense of humor to Jamilah's insights about her culture, and she is equally adept at more delicate scenes, for example, Jamilah's father recounting memories of Jamilah's mother. For all the defining details, Jamilah is a character teens will readily relate to. Ages 12–up. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

My blog is a little different from the rest, because I am allowing myself to abandon books. Unfortunately this is the first book i chose to abandon.

Ten Things I Hate About me was a story from the point of view from a Lebanese Muslim who has two different lives. Jamilah lives in Australia, where people are surprisingly racist towards minorities! They taunt, and exclude Muslims from groups and parties. So in order to go to those parties and FIT in, Jamilah turns into Jamie and dyes her hair blond and gets blue eyed contacts. Jamilah's mom died and ever since then her father, who drives a taxi even though he has a PhD, because of racial tensions, raises Jamilah, her older brother and older sister. This causes the dad to be all strict on everybody because he wants to make everybody (his friends) think that he is doing a good job raising his children without their mother.

The characters were interesting, but it seemed like every time Jamilah got close to one of her friends, it kind of fell apart, thanks to her father's rules about not partying and also because she is too ashamed to bring her friends home.

I stopped reading the story a little after she e-mailed the stranger who I'm pretty sure turns out to be "goldfish." I stopped reading because I felt as if the character was repeating her problems over and over and over... after i while i yelled, "I GET IT!!"

I was really excited about reading this book, but when i finally sat down and read it, it was nothing special, it was actually boring! I bet in the end Jamilah finally does get to meet or see the mystery boy, doesn't go out with the jerk, whose name i forgot, and is allowed to go to a party. I hope this author starts to change her style in books because it seems like she is stuck on one topic.

Ten Things I Hate About me is NOT WORTH READING (according to me)

Stars: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Agree or disagree please comment in my comment box!

The Comeback by Marlene Perez

Grade 8 Up—Sophie is one of the most popular girls at Kennedy High, and she's always in the top three of the school's weekly hotness poll. She has the best-looking boyfriend, cool friends, and anticipates getting the lead in the school play. Then a new girl, Angie, takes all of those things, leaving Sophie with a lesser part in the biggest thing that semester: Kennedy's production of The Taming of the Shrew. Now the former it-girl is on the outside looking in, while rumors about her circulate and she plummets in the hotness ratings. Sophie is a shallow, mostly unlikable character whose only goal is to get back her reputation, even at the cost of Monet, a friend who inexplicably endures almost anything while the misguided Sophie learns what is truly important in life. The plot has potential but falls flat. A quick read with little substance.—Julianna M. Helt, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA END

The Comeback, was a book from my to-do list. It wasn't my first choice but it was in the library. The Comeback was an absolute good book. Not great! I LIKED Sophie! She was determined to get her popularity back at any cost. Even though she was an absolute jerk at first, I was actually glad that she actually started changing for a little while, Monet, was kind of weird, the character was all about doing the right thing, she didn't really stick up for Sophie. But i think it was weird how Monet and Sophie stayed friends after everything that had happened in the story! I was also surprised how they didn't drift apart at first when Sophie first became popular, since Monet's character was all against popularity and all about being yourself, and not going to the School dances, etc. I ABSOLUTELY HATED most of the characters in the story. I hated Sophie's ex, and all those "friends" who betrayed her. I hated that girl Angie! But I do have to admit that all of Sophie's actions towards Angie, was NORMAL! well at least for me! The only Characters I liked were Sophie and Dev.

The comeback was a very quick read, I read the whole book in a matter of hours. The plot was lost a couple of times, and I think that the title of the book should've been different like: Revenge or something like that because it seemed like the whole book was focused on revenge! The end of the book I could see coming from the descriptions of Dev, it was really obvious what was going to happen. Monet acted like a jerk when she started catching up about Sophie's plan too. I hated how fake the whole story was, because I don't think that someone would be SO obsessed about her popularity that she wouldn't catch on, that she didn't have friends! Some parts were just cheesy, BUT I'll let you guys find out if this book was worth it because to me...

The Comeback was NOT WORTH READING!!!

Stars: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Agree or disagree? Then write about it in my comments. In the end, I encourage you to read the book! And see it for yourself.

I'm starting this blog stuff, because the truth is... I secretly LOVE
reading! I'm currently a 14 year old, female living in New York City!
So here's the deal, I'm going to tell you what's worth your time, what
you should find out for yourself, & what you shouldn't waste your time
reading!

    What I see in blogs who start out and I will say too: Im a huge
fan of laurens crammed bookshelf so I used her privacy policy as a
guide, but I'm not stealing anything!! That's why I'm crediting her!

I, the author of What's Worth Reading, DO NOT collect, keep,
or save any of your or ANYONE who views/visits my blogs personal
information. Although, I cannot protect you from freaks who like that
kind of stuff, So I would like you to consider this when posting a
comment: If you want to be COMPLETELY! Safe than you should post as
anonymous or if you want to be safe but not COMPLETELY!! Then you can
create a blogger/open ID, this will make sure you are safe for the
most part. Another thing, DO NOT POST YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION on MY
BLOG! I don't care where you live, how old you are,etc. Providing
viewers this information will put you at a BIG risk, and maybe some
trouble! I am not and will not be part of, because I just warned you.
If you enter one of my contests you have to be 13 years old an
older to be able to post your email, anyone younger you have to give
me your parents email! This is a general rule that most websites go
by! And it counts for those who's birthdays are close 12 is 12! 13 is
13!! There's a difference you can wait.
Parents, if you have any questions or concerns then e-mail me
at: whatsworthreading@gmail.com
(fans can email me from that website too.)

I'm starting this blog stuff, because the truth is... I secretly LOVE
reading! I'm currently a 14 year old, female living in New York City!
So here's the deal, I'm going to tell you what's worth your time, what
you should find out for yourself, & what you shouldn't waste your time
reading!

What I see in blogs who start out and I will say too.

Sent from my iPod