xangemthelibrarian's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this story. The cover art does not do the story justice. Bradley, Edelle, Jasper, and Keiko were all immediately loveable beans. ESPECIALLY Keiko. She is literally a quiet goth kid hatching outlandish revenge plots to make her friends feel better, and I can feel my inner teen SCREAMING to be just like her. Hunter was harder to love. I'm still not sure I sympathize with him at all. Yes, he's dealing with Alopecia. He's losing his hair. But the dude is a meat-headed prick for 95% of the story. Not a fan.
Overall, this was fantastic. I was all in for the entire ride from start to finish.
Overall, this was fantastic. I was all in for the entire ride from start to finish.
drewsbooklist's review
4.0
Such a cool basis for the unique stories of each of these middle schoolers! Definitely would recommend this to just about anyone who was in school during the pandemic since it takes place during/right after it. Particularly for tweens and (younger) teens, and adults who work with those ages!
I love the idea of setting a book like this within a virtual reality world, it really expands the options of possible settings, and the descriptions of them were so vivid. I think that a lot of tweens and young teens could really benefit from learning the lessons that the main characters do, and even as an adult this was a great reminder. I just wish we could have done VR school like this at my college instead of zoom
I love the idea of setting a book like this within a virtual reality world, it really expands the options of possible settings, and the descriptions of them were so vivid. I think that a lot of tweens and young teens could really benefit from learning the lessons that the main characters do, and even as an adult this was a great reminder. I just wish we could have done VR school like this at my college instead of zoom
the_chronic_bookworm's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"The pandemic was rough on everyone, especially since school went from being a fun place where you could hang out with your friends to a bunch of heads in small rectangles all trying to talk at once. For Bradley, Edelle, Hunter, Jasper, and Keiko, that’s about to change."
Virtually Me is told from the alternating viewpoints of three teenagers; Edelle, Bradley and Hunter. The teens are returning to school after the pandemic and each has chosen to attend VR school rather than in person school. Though they have different reasons for attending a virtual school, their decision has something to do with how each of them views their outward appearance. Bradley was uncomfortable with the way he looked and wanted to get away from the bullies at school. Edelle's mom forced her to attend because she wanted to distance her from the peer pressure to look a certain way. Hunter decided to attend virtual school because he had developed alopecia and he was uncomfortable with the way he looked.
This middle grade read shows the topics of bullying, peer pressure, and social anxieties from a teens POV. While VR school is definitely cooler than Zoom classes it is very relatable to any young person who attended school during the pandemic.
As the students experience the fun of VR games and dances they also find themselves struggling to figure out who they are, how to fit in, and how to be a friend. Each learns a much needed lesson that all teens today can benefit from!
This book is well written, the characters are fun and relatable, most importantly, the plot contains valuable life lessons wrapped up in a fun and exciting story that young readers will gravitate towards. I highly recommend this for every middle grade reader in your life!
Virtually Me is told from the alternating viewpoints of three teenagers; Edelle, Bradley and Hunter. The teens are returning to school after the pandemic and each has chosen to attend VR school rather than in person school. Though they have different reasons for attending a virtual school, their decision has something to do with how each of them views their outward appearance. Bradley was uncomfortable with the way he looked and wanted to get away from the bullies at school. Edelle's mom forced her to attend because she wanted to distance her from the peer pressure to look a certain way. Hunter decided to attend virtual school because he had developed alopecia and he was uncomfortable with the way he looked.
This middle grade read shows the topics of bullying, peer pressure, and social anxieties from a teens POV. While VR school is definitely cooler than Zoom classes it is very relatable to any young person who attended school during the pandemic.
As the students experience the fun of VR games and dances they also find themselves struggling to figure out who they are, how to fit in, and how to be a friend. Each learns a much needed lesson that all teens today can benefit from!
This book is well written, the characters are fun and relatable, most importantly, the plot contains valuable life lessons wrapped up in a fun and exciting story that young readers will gravitate towards. I highly recommend this for every middle grade reader in your life!
lazygal's review
4.0
So many books are coming about about Life During the Pandemic, and this book uses it as a way to also explore a virtual school experience (which, obviously, could have been written about before, but why would students enrol? the pandemic just makes that part easier). It's definitely one of those experiments in education, with no expense spared in terms of features and ways to customize the school -- there's even physical education via games!
Our three main POVs are coming for different reasons, either hiding something or looking for a new start. It's pretty obvious how all of that is going to pan out for our crew, because that part is fairly standard. It was also obvious to me why we only got those three voices rather than all of the JaVaHuDa team. So mostly, this was a three star but I'm bumping it up because the way in which school was approached was clever.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
Our three main POVs are coming for different reasons, either hiding something or looking for a new start. It's pretty obvious how all of that is going to pan out for our crew, because that part is fairly standard. It was also obvious to me why we only got those three voices rather than all of the JaVaHuDa team. So mostly, this was a three star but I'm bumping it up because the way in which school was approached was clever.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
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