My teen daughter appears one afternoon with a blue book in her hand and says, “Mom, read this…you’ll like it.”  So what do I do? Immediately, I log onto my Amazon account, and buy my own copy because when your teen is reaching out to you, you jump…(trust me parents of babies or toddlers, exhausted, with stains from strained carrot baby food or baby vomit, you will jump).

So, two-days later, thanks to Amazon Prime, I receive my blue-colored tear-jerker of a book.  I couldn’t stop reading it, or crying.  I would intermittently stumble into my daughter’s room, my face covered in tears and snot, and I’d ask “Why are you making me read this???”

I have a weakness for Young Adult novels. I do. I’m sorry if I just lost some credibility in your eyes.  I read the “Twilight” series along with my kid (and mom, ahem), we were into it…we wore the “Team Jacob” or “Team Edward” shirts.  I enjoyed “Perks of a Wallflower” and the “Hunger Games” too…but there was something about this story, which seemed to have resounded with many given the cult following it’s received.

That said, after reading this novel, which I enjoyed tremendously, I taught it to my 8th graders, which extended my love of this novel.  I started a movement among middle-schoolers who all wanted to read this novel.  Yay for reading!  I’m still riding the wave of effective teaching, when June 5th comes and my kid and I went to see an early showing of the blessed movie…

and it was okay.  It wasn’t the book, but it was faithful to it.  It covered the basics.  And yes, during the last twenty minutes all that could be heard other than the film, were teenagers and women sniffing, crying and blowing their noses.  Buuuut, it wasn’t the book.

Book receives: 5 snaps!

Movie receives: 2.5 tissues 🙂