Sophie Van Riet

Sophie Van Riet
Keeping the Moon
Sarah Dessen
Realistic Fiction
Just Right
84

1.  Right now, I am reading Keeping the Moon, by Sarah Dessen. I am really enjoying it. I am almost half way through it. I am currently at a part where the main character, Colie, sees a bully from her school. Colie used to be overweight, and get teased for that. But now even though she's dropped the pounds people still find reasons to hate and taunt her.  Colie is staying with her Aunt Mira for the summer and is working at the Last Chance Bar and Grill, which is where she sees the bully, Caroline Dawes.  Caroline Dawes spots Colie and starts telling her friend how nobody likes her and all the things she supposedly does loud enough for her coworkers Norman and Isabel to hear. Norman is a nice guy who lives in Mira's basement. Isabel, is a very confident, straightforward girl who really dislikes Colie for no reason at all really. Colie also has another coworker, Morgan, who is really nice to her and is a friend to her. She makes Colie feel okay when Isabel is mean to her. But at the moment she is not there to help Colie and be a friend to her when Isabel is the opposite. Colie thinks that by hearing what Caroline said about her, Isabel will now have a reason to hate her. Instead, Isabel seems to understand. As they lock up, she brings Colie to her house, which before she would have never in a million years have done. There's a sudden change in heart in Isabel. I guess maybe it's because she feels bad for Colie and realizes she was already bullied enough in her hometown. This is a major epitaph. That's all I've gotten up to so far. The book is very mysterious, because you don't know that much about the characters other than their personalities and that Colie is a target for bullies. I'm looking forward to see what will happen next.

2. I have really been loving this book and I can't seem to put it down.  It isn't your typical Realistic Fiction story. The characters are really well developed, even though the author hasn't exactly given you each of their life stories. The story is in Colie's point of view, so you really don't know why Isabel hates her so much. The author also has Colie start up a thought about something significant that happened to Colie in the past, but never actually tells what happened. This is what makes the book so mysterious and makes you want to read more to find out what did happen. I really love Dessen's writing, but in the beginning you aren't very motivated to keep reading because it's not a very feel good type of story. I do love the setting because it just seems like such a nice place. Another thing that I really like is the wide range of personalities. You've got your nice characters and not so nice characters but they all are very different and have big personalities.  Sarah Dessen is my favorite author, and I've read a lot of her books. I think this is probably my second favorite book of hers and one of my favorite stories in general because the quality of the writing is amazing and i can tell the book is just going to keep on getting better and better.

3. A very prominent theme is bullying. The author depicts how much damage bullying can do.  there isn't just Colie being bullied, but also her Aunt Mira. Colie has been bullied all her life and that has made her insecure. When she was overweight people would chant things about her and make fun of her size. Then as she got older and lost the weight as her mom started working out as well and made her famous business off of her work out routines and advice, she was still taunted. People would use things against her and still call her names for her mistakes. When she goes to her Aunt's house, she is bullied by Isabel who just fortunately for Colie has a change in heart.  But Colie realizes that everywhere you go there will be bullies. Mira is bullied as well. People make fun of her for being overweight and for her eccentric style. You can tell that this really pains Colie because she knows how much it hurts to be bullied. I love the message the author is trying to say. She is showing people what the outcome of bullying is and makes you think twice about ding it.

4.  My favorite character used to be Morgan because she was so nice to Colie and she really had her own personality. She loves everything to be placed neatly and in order but is not the kind of person you would expect a girl like this to be. She isn't just a super nice neat freak, but instead has a big personality that makes you love her. For example: sometimes when people are rude to when she is working at the restaurant, her she throws a fit and exclaims she quits, then goes out to give them a piece of her mind only to have her plan not work when she can't find them. After she puts back on her apron and starts working like nothing every happened. Now, my favorite character has changed to be Isabel surprisingly. I used to really not like her at all but now since I see that she has changed and is really nice at heart, I see her in a whole new way. OI used to think she was just a bully but I respect her now that she starts being kinder and more understanding to Colie. In the beginning i thought she was just some typical bully that Colie has to deal with but now that the author has made this change I really enjoy her and thing there might be more to her that I never saw.

5.  My least favorite character is definitely Colie's mom Kiki Sparks. When Colie was just a kid, she seemed she was so fun and lively but now that she changed so much after she became famous it seems as if she doesn't even care about her daughter anymore.  I can't believe she would just send Colie away to her Aunt that she barely knows. I guess if she was more in the story I might feel differently about her because I might see the things that she does do for her daughter but for what I know of her I don't like her. But I do like her determination and how she does try. When she calls Colie I hear how she wants to make sure that she's okay, but it doesn't seem like if she wasn't she would do that much for her.  I also am very confused on why being famous changed her. I would think she would have the same personality just a different body, but she's changed too much for me to like her.

6.  I have a lot of ideas of what could happen next in the book.  Since it's so mysterious, after each chapter you have a ton of new ideas and predictions of whats going to happen.  What I think is going to happen is Isabel, Morgan, and Colie are all going to become closer friends, and Colie will stop being so insecure.  At least, this is what the author makes you think is going to happen. I hope that this does happen because I would feel so bad for Colie if she never was able to make any friends. I also think Morgan and her fiance might break up. This is because Morgan always talks about him, but whenever she waits for him he never comes. This might cause Isabel to get fed up with Morgan being upset and they could get in a fight. But that is pretty far off.  I can't wait to read more so I can really see what is going to happen, because the book is going to get better and better.