Travel to Tomorrow- A Book Review

Dominique Book Review teenage book, travel to tomorrow

Travel to Tomorrow by Angela Sage Larsen is set in 1955. It talks about a group of girls who were given the social studies group assignment of presenting their findings about living as a teenager 50 years into the future. What they didn’t expect was that they woke up one day 50 years into the future – 2005. Their lives drastically change when they realized that their families are not the same as before. Most of them are much better off and live in bigger houses with all the modern amenities. The family compositions are still the same however they are not able to do things like try out for a sports scholarship which wasn’t even in existence in 1955.

Everything in Beverly, Mary, Judy, Ann, and Maxine’s room remain 1955ish while everything else and everyone else has been fast forward and living in the future. The girls continue their lives as high school students and attend the same school. However they “stand out” from the others due to their dated dressing and thinking. They still move around in the same circles and get a chance to know the boys that they were interested while back in 1955.

The story ends as a mystery as the girls have yet to be teleported back to 1955. I guess that one would have to read through the whole 5 book series to know the ending.

The author made an attempt to link the past to the present in Travel to Tomorrow and exposing the girls inner feelings through their handwritten diary entries in certain chapters of the book. There is also a display of comradely through the girls as they stick together in the future to find a sense of normalcy to their changed life.

I personally found the story a bit draggy with it’s 21 chapters. I’m not really into girly girl books and was not really captivated by the plot. In all it was quite an interesting read for me and I’m sure a teenage girl would enjoy reading it too.

* Disclaimer- I received a review copy of this book. Opinions are 100% my own.

May 15, 2011

Scary School – A Book Review

Dominique Book Review K-12, kids book, scary story

Scary School by Derek the Ghost is one of the most entertaining kids storybook which I have read in a long time. Derek , the eleven-year-old ghost introduces his school- SCARY SCHOOL with all the fun and interesting characters in it.

The book starts of by the introduction of the new kid in school Charles Nukid and his hilarious first day at Scary School. As the story progresses the reader is slowly introduced in the subsequent chapters to the vampire teachers, dinosaur librarians, and zombie classmates. The students in Scary School are a mixture of humans and monsters who have teachers who can’t wait to eat them or send them to their death.

Things in school start to get extra scary when the Scary School was selected for the annual Ghoul Games- a junior Olympic event between all the scary schools around. The winners of the self -selected sports get to eat the losers. The human pupils at the school were facing a major disadvantage against the monsters however with careful planning and execution they prevented ending up as dinner for their opponents.

I love how the author cleverly weaves in snippets of information about things that were to happen in later chapters. Like in the 1st chapter Derek mentioned “I know things seem hopeless for Charles, but in Chapter Six you’ll see how he manages a very lucky
escape!” It really draws me into the story and increases my anticipation to know what will be happening to Charles later on in the book. The author really knows how to hook the reader.

The fun and quirky illustrations also captured my attention and made it easier to visualize the happenings around and inside Scary School.

Even though the book is recommended for 8-12 years old I sat down with Monkey Boy to read through the opening chapters of this book. Being a typical 7yr old, I wanted to know first hand if he liked the book as it was in a different genre from the ones that he normally reads.

He enjoyed reading about the funny names like Mr Spider Eyes and Dr. Dragonbreath and mentioned that how cool it would be if he too had the chance to have a dragon or a vampire as a teacher. He didn’t have much difficulty reading the book and enjoyed the story. He was laughing hard while reading about the various antics the teachers carried out to while “dealing” with the students.

I’ll definitely recommend this book to any parent seeking for a fun and interesting read for their child.