Grasshopper Jungle

[Julie]

I'm still thinking about this book, months and months after I finished reading it. So crazy, so ambitious, so impossible to describe. I don't know that it was my most favorite book of 2014, but it certainly made a lasting impression (and I did love it, absolutely. A lot.)

So happy to see it honored by the Printz Committee.

[Sara]

I agree! The narration was incredible. I read it but now want to pick up the audio version!

[Emily]

I had very conflicted feelings about this one. There were moments where a turn of phrase literally took my breath away, but there were moments when I was so upset about the way women were portrayed and the way mental illness was portrayed.

[Julie]

I have mixed feelings about this one. Smith writes a compelling story about the world ending, with so many odd twists and turns - from 15 year old sexual orientation questions, to scientific oddities in jars, to grasshopper-men hatching from infected humans. I loved his sense of humor and the realistic conflicts the main character faced with his best friends.
I read about half of it in one sitting, then got bogged down. He digresses from the main conflict so many times that I got impatient and starting skimming. I just wanted to find out how it would end. And the ending was anti-climactic!

[Pat]

Personally, I didn't care for this one, I'm not one for giant, people-eating, bugs or obsessing over sex, but it is one that will appeal to teenage boys.