The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann -- student review (ages 9-12)

CYRM Awards

Our book club has been reading the books nominated as part of the California Young Reader Medal awards. Each year, students across California vote on their favorite of thee nominated books.

Our book club tries to take this beyond a popularity contest and practice evaluating the books we read thoughtfully. We talk about how well each book develops characters, plot, setting, and theme. We talk about the language, the pacing and the emotions in each book.

Here's a review by one member, Emily S. I'm hoping we have more reviews to come!

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann
review by Emily S.

Recently I’ve been reading the California Young Reader Medal books that have been nominated this year. Recently I’ve finished The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann. This book is filled with excitement, adventure, twists, magic, and surprises.

The book is about a thirteen year old boy named Alex Stowe. Alex is creative he is good at drawing usually that is a good thing, but in Quill the town Alex lives in creativity is a way to get sent to your grave. Alex gets sent to his grave awaiting his death. But to his surprise a eccentric magician named Mr. Today saves Alex and the other Unwanteds.

I like this book because it is filled with fantasy creatures, surprises, twists, excitement, magic, and adventure. Something that I think could improve is the beginning. A few people say that the beginning is boring or dull, because it doesn’t have much excitement in the beginning. In fact it made me a tiny bit impatient because many people told me it was exciting. If you read the beginning and think that it is boring or dull try reading to page 25 and then see how you like the book.

In conclusion this book is a great book especially if you like the Hunger Games, Harry Potter or other fantasy books about magic.

I like this book trailer made by Mrs. Bunda's class:



Thanks, Emily! It was really interesting to hear your opinion about this book. The pacing in a book is so important. It isn't easy to establish strong characters, but also hook readers right from the beginning. Thank you for your thoughtful review.

The Unwanteds
by Lisa McMann
Aladdin / Simon & Schuster, 2011
Amazon
your local library
ages 9-12

The review copy came from our school library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2014 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books