A guest review from Teen Room Staff Brandon!

After a long hiatus, it appears that Teen Staffer Brandon does still possess the ability to read, and he has to say he enjoyed this last book; but enough of third person Brandon. I read the graphic novel Wolverine: Prodigal Son. It is written and illustrated in a more American art style, thus appealing more to western readers of graphic novels. It maintains some of the styles of the Japanese manga genre as well.

The story line follows nothing of the Wolverine known to American television and movie viewers; it takes a look at his years before Charles Xavier. Logan, a troubled teen, is attending the Quiet Earth Martial Arts School. He has grown tremendously since arriving, but as of late relies upon his hidden “abilities” far too much. He can heal nearly any wound almost instantly, and also has extendable claws hidden behind his knuckles. No one at the school knows about his claws, though. His teacher decides if he passes the fabled Trial of Wind, Wood, and Water. As a reward, his teacher takes Logan to New York City, where he faces his toughest fight yet. After being soundly defeated, he unleashes his claws in a desperate attempt to win. His master subdues him and they flee the gym in shame. As they roam The Big Apple in the wake of Logan’s fight, the duo is attacked by a mysterious group intent on capturing Logan. The sensei sacrifices himself to save Logan, who returns to the dojo to find it in flames. The only student left alive is the daughter of the sensei. She and Logan embark on a quest for revenge, only to find the attacker of the dojo to be a former dropout of the school. Logan battles him, and uses his powers to defeat the attacker. The book concludes with the sensei’s daughter, Tamara, and Logan heading off into the distance looking for her father and the mastermind behind the attack.

I enjoyed the crisp artwork and fast-paced, action-packed story. It is a visual thrill ride from start to finish. I also think it would appeal to a reader who would like to try manga, but isn’t quite ready for the Japanese type.

--Brandon

P.S. Welcome back to the blog Brandon! We missed your reviews!

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A guest review from Teen Room Staff Brandon!

The prize: $25,000. The hack: Take one “deadbeat” senior and turn him into Harvard-acceptable material. This is the bet that Eric, Max, and Schwarz have taken with the notorious hackers, the Bongo Bums. Max, the risk-taker of the group, immediately agrees without the consent of his group-mates, and the bet is on. Eric, the voice of reason, immediately reprimands Max for his foolishness, but eventually decides he is in for the “hack.” Schwarz, a 16 year-old genius and freshman at Harvard, is easily persuaded, and goes along with both of them. The term “hack” takes on a different meaning in this book, one more akin to prank, but much more sophisticated.

The Bongo Bums choose, Clay Porter, school terror, as their candidate for Harvard. Max approaches him and offers a cut of the prize money if they pull the hack off. He agrees, and the hacking begins. The book follows the standard application process timeline of Harvard, from the application to the interview, to finally, acceptance. The story digresses nicely with several different storylines for each character, which of course are woven into one book.

The book is told from a third person point of view for the first portion, but then switches to first person when the crew meets Alexandra Talese, also a Harvard hopeful, who unfortunately happens to be working for the Bums, in exchange for them hacking the Harvard network and guaranteeing her acceptance. Several people who have read the book have found this to be confusing, but it wasn’t a problem for me at all. I believe Hacking Harvard was a very good novel that displays the corrupt system known as college admissions. But it is purely fiction, and must be taken with a very large grain of salt.

--Brandon

P.S. Do not attempt any of the hacking described in this book. You will probably end up in jail.

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A guest review from Teen Room Staff Brandon!

For Max, summer arts camp at Yale University is another opportunity to hone his acting skills, both on the stage and with the ladies. For Olivia, it is an opportunity to escape her home life and write her musical, based on her current hatred of men, thanks to her father, who she walked in on while he was fooling around with one of his students. A true ladies man with a plan of conquest for summer camp, and a young woman who has sworn off men for the summer? These two have to run into each other; and they do, quite literally. Max and Olivia meet on the train to summer camp, when Max accidentally runs into Olivia. He falls in love, and she figures she’ll never see him again.

Once they arrive at camp, they meet their roommates, for Max, the eccentric guitar-playing Zeke; and for Olivia, (who is staying in a suite) Mimi, Callie, and Trish. As it turns out, Zeke and Trish are from the same town, so the guys end up spending quite a bit of time with the girls, and Max uses it to try to get to know Olivia better.

As the story progresses, so does Olivia’s musical. Her musical, Castration Celebration, is strikingly similar to the events of real life, and no one but her knows until she asks Zeke to write the music for it. While Zeke has Olivia’s manuscript, Max reads it and realizes that Olivia has feelings for him. As the summer ends, Olivia accepts her feelings for Max and they get together. They continue a short correspondence via email, but that’s were book leaves the story, and their relationship, up in the air.

Castration Celebration was a hysterical novel. It employed two separate stories, the novel, and the musical being written by Olivia (which was distinguished by a different font), and wove them together nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed C.C., but I do believe it is a title geared towards older teens; with many sexual innuendos and jokes more appropriate for older ages.

--Brandon

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A guest review from Teen Room Staff Brandon!

Jamie, a.k.a. “Punkzilla,” is on a mission. His mission: to visit his brother Peter before he dies of cancer in Memphis, Tennessee; not an easy trek for a fourteen-year old boy who has gone AWOL from his military boarding school. As he journeys to Tennessee, he writes his deepest thoughts in the form of letters to his friends and family: his brother, his mom, his dad, and his best friends Branson and Buck Tooth Jenny. Punkzilla chronicles important events in his life, as well as the events of the bus trip from Portland, Oregon to Memphis. He tells his brother of his times working for Fat Larkin stealing iPods and iPhones to make a quick buck. In turn, Peter tells Jamie about his cancer and how it feels to near the end. Intermingled between the main letters of Jamie and Peter are Jamie’s letters to and from his other family and friends.

Punkzilla was interesting content-wise, but the writing style really turned me off from this book, so much that I couldn’t even finish it. It is written primarily in the style that a fourteen-year old writing on a Greyhound would write. This means the book has many run-on sentences and is written more so as if it was spoken word. This makes reading the book a little bit troublesome at times.

--Brandon

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