#YA literature – If Mermaids Wore Suspenders

escape room Moira Katniss 2.jpg

Both fictional characters are spunky, determined, and creative, but when it comes to logic puzzles who would really be faster? Would they even make it out?

Escape rooms have become really popular recently, and it’s not hard to see why. The idea is that you and your group have to solve a certain number of interconnected puzzles in order to shut off, for example, a device that will cause the world to get sucked into a black hole if not disabled in 60 minutes (no pressure). The puzzles you have to solve include Continue reading “Who Would Win an Escape Room Faster: Moira or Katniss Everdeen?” →

Books

Why “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” Makes Me Feel Like a Fake

March 26, 2016 Aubrey Leaman

One of my favorite poems is “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. As a poem that focuses on death and hope (or perhaps more accurately, defiance), it fits well with the story in which I discovered it: the YA dystopian/romance Matched series by Ally Condie. There’s just something about it, particularly in the context of the story…

Here are the first few lines:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Why do I like this poem, though? The Continue reading “Why “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” Makes Me Feel Like a Fake” →

Books, Judging the Book By Its Cover

What Happens When You Actually Judge a Book By Its Cover?

August 26, 2015February 23, 2019 Aubrey Leaman

From dark twists on Peter Pan to time traveling heists, book covers can make you imagine all sorts of things.

I chose five intriguing covers of books I knew nothing about from Goodreads and imagined what stories the pages might contain. Below are my ideas next to the actual Goodreads summary. What other stories do you think could match these covers?

Thanks to Tasha for tagging me (warning: I may or may not have taken this idea and run with it in a not-necessarily-intended way)!

1) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere Neil Gaiman

My Ideas: This title reminds me of “Neverland” from Peter Pan, especially with that picture of the clock tower on the cover (good ol’ Disney!). So I’m thinking this is some kind of darker spinoff of the J.M. Barrie novel (please please please).

Meet Brandy, a youth destined not to be happy and carefree for much longer… Mysterious clues and messages start to pop up around him, his name carefully inscribed on the front and inside describing things only he could ever know about his life. Gradually, they lead to the terrifying realization that he has been trapped in a place called “Neverwhere” for years. Like Neverland, Continue reading “What Happens When You Actually Judge a Book By Its Cover?” →