Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Graffiti Moon
Cath Crowley
Release: February 14th, 2012
Pages: 272 (hardcover)
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: Netgalley

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

Mini-Thoughts: In one night, everything can change. It begins innocently enough, with Lucy and friends searching for Lucy's favorite street artist, and Ed's stuck as an unwilling guide. Both Ed and Lucy have their own distinct voices, personalities, and hobbies¹. I found Lucy's odd, melodious voice to be slightly more fascinating than Ed's, but they both were intriguing and unique narrators. The story itself is interesting - filled with adventure and fresh outlooks on life. Graffiti Moon is simply a story that everyone should read.

Highlights: Graffiti Moon is filled with beautiful, breathtaking prose. There's a sense of realism and authenticity that makes it easy to relate with the characters and enjoy the story. Everything is described using vivid words. Poet's few pieces of poetry mixed in with the narrative was wonderful - each piece was lyrical, memorable.

Lowlights: Mostly predictable, like many realistic fiction novels. I wish Poet's limited and brief interruptions in the POV had happened more often.

Rating: 

1 Lucy's hobby is so cool!

Tagged by Mara Purnhagen Review

Book: Tagged

Author: Mara Purnhagen

Age: YA

Release date: March 1st, 2010

Pages: 208

Source: Author

Summary:

Can Kate Morgan stand up for herself -- without being labeled a snitch?

Kate is just as confused as her best friend, Lan, when she arrives at Cleary High to find the building's been "tagged" with a life-size graffiti mural. Could the culprit be one of their friends or classmates? And is the kind-of-amazing creation really vandalism, or a work of art? She's tempted to stay out of it -- mostly because, as the police chief's daughter, she's worried about being labeled a snitch. But when the same mysterious graffiti starts appearing throughout the state, putting more pressure on the authorities to catch the vandal, her investigative instincts kick in.

Now Eli, Kate's favorite coworker at the local coffee shop, is MIA. With Lan preoccupied with her own boy troubles, Kate needs to figure some things on her own. Like why she can't stop thinking about Eli. And what she will do when all the clues about the graffiti point to someone she's close to...

Review: Tagged is fun, sweet, and a tad bit mysterious.

Nothing ever seems to happen in Clearly, until the graffiti art of a gorilla appears, everything changes. Debates break out in classes about whether or not the graffiti is really art, and I found these discussions to be a great interest point.

Kate was a fun, likable, and realistic character. She is just your typical high school girl, looking for her own passion in life. Kate's a good student, and she gets along with her family. I was a bit worried she'd be boring considering how much of a vanilla character she is, but she kept my attention easily. The pacing of the story is quick, making this one an easy book to just sit and read straight through.

I enjoyed the relationships in the novel, whether it was between Kate and Lan, Kate and Eli, et cetera. The story felt very realistic, which is always a plus. It felt like I'd seen a few plot bits before, but I still found myself enjoying the novel immensely.

Highlights: Lan, Kate's best friend, and her struggle being the only Vietnamese student on campus. Lan's got attitude and sass, it really made me enjoy her character more. I also loved the question that is posed throughout the story. As I also stated above, I felt the relationships were really what made this story awesome because it gave it a realistic touch.

Purnhagen created a fun story that's a lighter, enjoyable read, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Lowlights: I disliked the inclusion of the whole MTV's Sweet Sixteen or whatever (just a personal bias). At times I also disliked how the mystery culprit was not really a mystery. A few chapters in and it's easy to make your own guess, and be right. And then, you never really find out why the gorillas.

Rating: