Friday, June 3, 2011

Review: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares


Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
4.5 stars

Reasons for reading: 2011 YA Reading Challenge, I loved the authors' other 2 collaborations

Description: "Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?"


First lines: "Imagine this: You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where a favorite author's books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.


What do you do?


The choice, I think, is obvious:


You take down the red notebook and open it.


And then you do whatever it tells you to do."

My thoughts: I'm so behind with reviews! I love all of the Levithan/Cohn books and was excited to see another one. I loved the Christmassy-ness of it and the device of the scavenger hunt. I probably wouldn't be brave enough to follow the notebook's instructions, but I'm glad Dash was! Lily was so excellently Lily-ish - I'd like to know her - and yet she also grows up a lot in the book and develops into a more mature but still Lily-ish Lily. Dash was great in his own way, even if he was, as Lily's relatives described him, brooding. There are so many weird little touches, from a missing majorette boot to a Dash-Muppet. The book is also a love letter to New York during the holiday season, which I'd love to experience someday. That's about all for this one - read it! (Or save it until Christmas, that would be even better.)

7 comments:

raidergirl3 said...

The book is also a love letter to New York during the holiday season, which I'd love to experience someday.

Well put! I didn't have a big desire to visit New York City, but now I want to go to the Strand. I read this over New Years, and it was perfect. I so enjoyed this book - glad you did too.

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John Michael Cummings said...

Dear Tiny Librarian:

Can I interest you in reviewing my new book of fiction, UGLY TO START WITH, published last month by West Virginia University Press?

I've won awards for my writing. If you email me at johnmcummings@aol.com, I'll send you some information.

I would be very grateful to hear from you.

Thank you.

Kindly,

John Michael Cummings

Jojo P. said...

I really enjoyed both Dash and Lily's pages. I loved both of their personalities and just the way both of them thought and felt.


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