Savvy's Reviews
Not sure you want to dig into that new book? Let Savvy do the hard work for you! Here's her latest review!
As many of you might know, I am currently in grad school for Library and Information Sciences and have a class called Materials for Adolescents. If you follow us on Instagram @AsheboroLibraryTeenZone you can get updates and follow along with the over twenty titles that I’ll be reading for that class.
Along with reading a ton of amazing YA books, I, of course, have to do assignments, projects, and discussion boards to go along with them. Recently, one of my discussion boards reminded me of something important that I think we should all remember.
When responding to a classmate about the graphic novel we had to read for class I was reminded that not every book we read needs to be taken so seriously. The graphic novel in question is Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell.
“This one, while great to look at, fell really flat for me. It was too predictable and cliche. Faith Erin Hicks’s work was this graphic novel’s saving grace. That and the beyond dreamy setting. (Alright, alright… I love autumn okay?!) This graphic novel, unfortunately, left much to be desired.
“I do, however, appreciate all that Rainbow Rowell does for the LGBTQIA+ community, which is why I still support this book. A bisexual main character, an interracial love story and a positive message gave this book exactly what we all needed from it. It’s a very progressive and positive image that I’m glad to see more and more of in the graphic novel, juvenile and YA genres.”
I responded to our discussion post with exactly that stating that, yes this book is wonderful, but was it groundbreaking… no. But that is honestly not the point of this novel or any novel for that matter. A classmate had this to say about the same graphic novel:
“Loved this book and the story that it told. The story was easy to read and was a quick read. The story itself was sweet and a good representation of a friendship between two teenagers, who happen to be of the opposite sex. Story moved along quickly and it captured how the female lead encouraged the male lead of the story. It shows the simplicity of friendship and of how life can be if you let it.”
This brought a whole new light to the way I look at this graphic novel. It’s simple. It’s possibly not meant to be groundbreaking. It’s meant to be read as a simple little love story between two friends that warms your heart for a little bit. It’s a quick little read that can be revisited again and again and again.
Coming to this realization has me thinking that we all might need this little reminder now and then. Some books, most books, are not meant to be taken so seriously. We cannot put so much weight on every single book we read. I am guilty of thinking that every book I read could possibly be my next favorite book of all time. But sometimes we are meant to simply enjoy it and move on.
So my message for y’all today is, don’t put so much pressure onto a book and don’t take it so seriously.. Don’t hold it so high until you’ve read it through. Let a book simply warm your heart or put a smile on your face for a moment and then let it go. I think we would all enjoy quite a few more books if we just remember that most of them are just books not life changing works of art. Books are meant to take us away from reality for a moment in time.
They are meant to comfort, thrill, and challenge us in different ways. Some do this more so than others, but all of them are worthy of conversation and review. So let these books take you away and escape into a new world for there are countless others out there just waiting to be discovered and many more waiting to be written.
