(no subject)
After being too depressed to keep reading Solar last night, I picked up Schooled by Gordon Korman. GK was my fav! author when I was a kid, and well into my teens. I read his McDonald Hall books over and over again, to the point where my copy of Beware the Fish! lost its cover.
But, so far, I'm not really enjoying Schooled. Granted, I'm only 60 pages in (I fell asleep reading it last night, and woke up at 4am to turn my lights off, book splayed across my face) and things my change, but it's kinda awful. The "bad" kids, the ones who are working against out hero Cap are almost cartoony in their villainy. There's no real reason that they're being mean to this kid, other than "he's different." And both of the female characters are being mean because they are worried what boys think.
And yes, I'm sure this will all change, and everyone will come to love Cap and all differences are solved. But it just all feels so arbitrary. Sophie doesn't seem to hate Cap because she's had another person added to her life, and had her home turned upside down without consultation, she doesn't like him cause he's weird. It's feeling one dimensional.
But, so far, I'm not really enjoying Schooled. Granted, I'm only 60 pages in (I fell asleep reading it last night, and woke up at 4am to turn my lights off, book splayed across my face) and things my change, but it's kinda awful. The "bad" kids, the ones who are working against out hero Cap are almost cartoony in their villainy. There's no real reason that they're being mean to this kid, other than "he's different." And both of the female characters are being mean because they are worried what boys think.
And yes, I'm sure this will all change, and everyone will come to love Cap and all differences are solved. But it just all feels so arbitrary. Sophie doesn't seem to hate Cap because she's had another person added to her life, and had her home turned upside down without consultation, she doesn't like him cause he's weird. It's feeling one dimensional.