The 2011 Junior Book Crew graduated just this Monday. It is a pity I never got to meet any of them though I am proud to have read some of their very wonderful compositions. The Fully Booked Zine's editor-in-chief gave several of them an exercise, which had to do with being able to write with integrity and honesty, and being able to find something positive in a book that they would not ordinarily pick up from the shelves. They were instructed to be as truthful as possible.
The idea was to choose something from their favorite genre, but on a topic they weren't too fond of.
I have decided to publish their work as is: no edits; all the charm of their handwritten book reviews preserved. Here is a picture of the 2011 Junior Book Crew during their graduation. There are 2 batches: the first for those ages 11-13 and the second for those 14-16.
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| The 2011 JBC ages 11-13 |
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| The 2011 JBC ages 14-16 |
I really love the way Derick del Rosario (age 11) wrote his review on Legends of the Dark Crystal Volume 1: The Garthim Wars (Legends of the Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars) (v. 1) by Barbara Randall Kesel (Author), Heidi Arnhold (Author). He even included illustrations! Bravo, Derick!
The next review is by Erinn Oleta (age 13). It is on the book Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator: A Mystery by Jennifer Allison.
Read on, folks! For somebody who says she doesn't like mysteries, she sure gave me a pleasant surprise!
The editor-in-chief of the zine was particularly pleased with this essay done by Mikki Yam (age 13), who professed a love for the music section and Justin Bieber. She was given a book on Tori Amos (who couldn't be any further from Justin Bieber), a singer she had never heard of, entitled, Tori Amos: The Authorized Biography: All These Years by Kalen Rogers. She was pleased that Mikki was actually open to discovering a new artist, and that she actually "sorta liked" Tori Amos.
To be fair to Mikki, she was allowed to listen to one song of this artist before writing her essay.
The next essay is also music-related. It is written by Elias "Miguel" Pascual (age 16). Miguel loves indie music, and he's definitely no Bieber fan. Miguel was fortunate that we had just run out of stock of Bieber-related reading material, and so our editor decided to give him a book on Lady Gaga, entitled Lady Gaga: Queen of Pop.
Miguel's piece was undoubtedly sincere, displaying a true love for music, and he has quite a way with words.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
