Saturday, May 14, 2011

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

Title: Flipped
Author: Wendelin Van Draanen
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: YA Fiction
Rating: Love
Alerts/Warnings: None
Premise: Juli Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. Ever since she saw Bryce's baby blues back in second grade, Juli has been smitten. Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird--after all, what kind of freak raises chickens and sits in trees for fun? Then, in eighth grade, everything changes. Bryce begins to see that Juli's unusual interests and pride in her family are, well, kind of cool. And Juli starts to think that maybe Bryce's brilliant blue eyes are as empty as the rest of Bryce seems to be. After all, what kind of jerk doesn't care about other people's feelings about chickens and trees? (goodreads.com)

Opinions: I love books on perspective and this is one of my two favorites. (The other one is going to be reviewed soon. So I won’t keep you in suspense for long.) Every other chapter you flip between Bryce and Juli. You get to read the same experiences from each others eyes. When I realized that I was going to be getting the same stories over again, I admit, I was hesitant. But Wendelin Van Draanen did a wonderful job blending the stories and mixing them up enough that it was compelling and interesting and not dull at all. I also love how the characters grow in the book. They change their perspectives in a way that is interesting and realistic. Flipped is a very interesting look at how we view others and ourselves and how that perception can change.

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