salmaa's review against another edition
5.0
procrastinating on hw assignments and reminiscing about my favorite childhood books? me? NEVER
sandraagee's review against another edition
4.0
A number of middle-grade girls in my area seem to be really into Lauren Myracle, so I thought that I should finally get around to giving her a try. The premise of this book (first in a series that I assume is still in development) is pretty cheesy - four girls of diverse ethnic/social backgrounds who are all named after flowers come into their own and discover friendship amongst themselves. It should be too much but gosh darn it, Myracle makes it work. I don't know how she did it, but I was kind of impressed by the end. If I were a 10-year-old girl, I would totally eat this stuff up.
I also got really excited that one of the characters has two mommies, but her parents' sexuality wasn't even remotely a focal point of the story - it was just a side note. That's refreshing.
The pages turn quickly and while the book is peppered with IM chats it doesn't dominate the story. Cute, girly, much more fun than I was expecting.
I also got really excited that one of the characters has two mommies, but her parents' sexuality wasn't even remotely a focal point of the story - it was just a side note. That's refreshing.
The pages turn quickly and while the book is peppered with IM chats it doesn't dominate the story. Cute, girly, much more fun than I was expecting.
impybelle's review against another edition
3.0
A bit of a warning. I'm well over the recommending reading age for this book, though this has rarely stopped me before. I will say that it takes awhile to adapt to the sugar-shock sort of language twisting that goes on in LYB.
Once I got used to feeling like my head was never going to stop pounding (there really is too much of a cute thing), I enjoyed most of the characters. A little too much happens in a short period of time, but it's nice to get different perspectives on the same scene or the fallout from another.
I love V and Yasaman and that probably kept me going longer than I would have otherwise.
Once I got used to feeling like my head was never going to stop pounding (there really is too much of a cute thing), I enjoyed most of the characters. A little too much happens in a short period of time, but it's nice to get different perspectives on the same scene or the fallout from another.
I love V and Yasaman and that probably kept me going longer than I would have otherwise.
myst_ts's review against another edition
3.0
This is a really cute book about friendship and four fifth graders Violet, Katie-Rose, Camilla, and Yasaman. The point of view switches each chapter, and it's among the four girls. I liked this book, but it was a little too young for me now that I'm older. Unfortunately, I couldn't get through the second book because of the same reason. That's why I gave this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars and a 6/10. Younger girls should give this series a shot though!
lazygal's review against another edition
3.0
Myracle's latest is a cross between her TTYL series and Peace, Love and Baby Ducks, and read like the start to the "Beacon Street Girls" series. Her "innovative blend" (per the back cover) of IM, screenplay and text are no longer innovative, but she does use them well.
None of that, however, will stop the legions of Myracle fans from reading this series! As she covers the tropes of finding friends (possibly even boyfriends), standing up to bullies, learning who you are, overcoming differences, Myracle has the ability to subtly teach readers. I did think that the diversity in the "bunch" was, well, obvious (and I wonder if younger readers will also think that).
(Free ARC provided by publisher)
None of that, however, will stop the legions of Myracle fans from reading this series! As she covers the tropes of finding friends (possibly even boyfriends), standing up to bullies, learning who you are, overcoming differences, Myracle has the ability to subtly teach readers. I did think that the diversity in the "bunch" was, well, obvious (and I wonder if younger readers will also think that).
(Free ARC provided by publisher)
amandabock's review against another edition
4.0
Thoroughly enjoyable. Although, I thought the incident with Yasaman's younger sister was totally unrealistic. That's not how young children act. Will be recommending this to girls in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades who like realistic, pink books.
librariann's review against another edition
3.0
Ages 9+
So anyway, after hearing all of the SCHOLASTIC DOESN'T WANT BOOK-FAIR GOING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLERS TO BE EXPOSED TO A SAME SEX COUPLE hubbub, and being appropriately outraged in various social medias (fb, greader, yalsa-bk, etc) I figured the responsible thing to do would be to read the book.
Truth: I didn't think I'd be interested in the book initially, because when I had flipped through the ARC back in July, I was like, ag, chat transcripts, blech. (Sorry Lauren Myracle, but I had to say L8r G8r to your ttyl series) The good news is that the chat transcripts, being broken up by prose text as they are, don't bother me.
Luv Ya Bunches is a fairly textbook fifth grade friendship drama, with mean girls and new girls and popular girls and geeks, but it's well done. It's funny and happens to include a cross section of kids you might come across today in any fifth grade classroom: Muslim techie girl, geeky filmmaker girl, dark-skinned new girl whose mom is receiving inpatient treatment for bipolarism, and - it just so happens - popular girl who has two moms. I love that her having two moms doesn't mean she's teased or picked on. She's popular! And just happens to have two moms!
(Two moms who, BTW do NOT engage in graphic lesbian sex ANYWHERE in the 335 page book. I know you are SHOCKED.)
The funny thing is, the same-sex relationship isn't even what I would pick to be the most Angry Mom baiting topic in the book. (An honor that I award to a headgear sporting girl who gives a straight-from-Wikipedia oral presentation about the Greek satyrs and their talent of balancing wine cups on their erect "penitheth.") Runner-up: the definition of "dingleberry." HEY! I didn't know what that was until HIGH SCHOOL!
All in all, a read that will appeal to many 4-5 grade girls - and probably a few in third grade too - that is one of the VERY few mainstream titles that takes a refreshing "shrug - it's just the way it is" approach to same-sex parents. Here here, Lauren Myracle. And if I were placing bets, I'd say that most girls today won't even realize there's a hubbub to be had.
In conclusion, here's what I said to yalsa-bkers regarding the Scholastic Scandal: "For me, the issue is not so much inclusion in the book fairs (although that is problematic, to be sure), it’s that Scholastic’s editorial process requested the REMOVAL of a character’s same sex parents from the novel. That, to me, reeks of an outdated and biased attitude.
Props to Lauren Myracle for standing up for her book as it was written. I would much rather deal with the problem of whether a book with GLBT content should be excluded from a Book Fair (IMHO, it shouldn’t, but that’s another fight) than be unable to find/purchase for my library middle-grade books that reflect a same-sex parent household."
So anyway, after hearing all of the SCHOLASTIC DOESN'T WANT BOOK-FAIR GOING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLERS TO BE EXPOSED TO A SAME SEX COUPLE hubbub, and being appropriately outraged in various social medias (fb, greader, yalsa-bk, etc) I figured the responsible thing to do would be to read the book.
Truth: I didn't think I'd be interested in the book initially, because when I had flipped through the ARC back in July, I was like, ag, chat transcripts, blech. (Sorry Lauren Myracle, but I had to say L8r G8r to your ttyl series) The good news is that the chat transcripts, being broken up by prose text as they are, don't bother me.
Luv Ya Bunches is a fairly textbook fifth grade friendship drama, with mean girls and new girls and popular girls and geeks, but it's well done. It's funny and happens to include a cross section of kids you might come across today in any fifth grade classroom: Muslim techie girl, geeky filmmaker girl, dark-skinned new girl whose mom is receiving inpatient treatment for bipolarism, and - it just so happens - popular girl who has two moms. I love that her having two moms doesn't mean she's teased or picked on. She's popular! And just happens to have two moms!
(Two moms who, BTW do NOT engage in graphic lesbian sex ANYWHERE in the 335 page book. I know you are SHOCKED.)
The funny thing is, the same-sex relationship isn't even what I would pick to be the most Angry Mom baiting topic in the book. (An honor that I award to a headgear sporting girl who gives a straight-from-Wikipedia oral presentation about the Greek satyrs and their talent of balancing wine cups on their erect "penitheth.") Runner-up: the definition of "dingleberry." HEY! I didn't know what that was until HIGH SCHOOL!
All in all, a read that will appeal to many 4-5 grade girls - and probably a few in third grade too - that is one of the VERY few mainstream titles that takes a refreshing "shrug - it's just the way it is" approach to same-sex parents. Here here, Lauren Myracle. And if I were placing bets, I'd say that most girls today won't even realize there's a hubbub to be had.
In conclusion, here's what I said to yalsa-bkers regarding the Scholastic Scandal: "For me, the issue is not so much inclusion in the book fairs (although that is problematic, to be sure), it’s that Scholastic’s editorial process requested the REMOVAL of a character’s same sex parents from the novel. That, to me, reeks of an outdated and biased attitude.
Props to Lauren Myracle for standing up for her book as it was written. I would much rather deal with the problem of whether a book with GLBT content should be excluded from a Book Fair (IMHO, it shouldn’t, but that’s another fight) than be unable to find/purchase for my library middle-grade books that reflect a same-sex parent household."
sarug's review against another edition
3.0
Luv ya Bunches is like a TTYL for preteens and coincidentally, both books are by Lauren Myracle. Sometimes I find the characters childish but the plot is interesting and I do like the camera and IMing tidbits.