Spill Zone vs The 57 Bus

               Led by the Mighty Annabel Preece, we have devised a new and improved way to have everyone contribute to our blog. A doc has been created where we can all record our thoughts about the books we are reading, and then viola!, instant comments for our blog. So what you are about to read is a compilation of many people's different thoughts on these two books.

Spill Zone

The Spill Zone, to my surprise, was a pretty good read. I think that junior high kids will love it - meat puppets, monsters, lots of cussing. What’s not to enjoy?
Oh, the marketing. Scott Westerfeld obviously signed a multi-book contract.
I am certain that the sequel is already written. Unfortunately, it left this installment of the book feeling incomplete. I got to the end and felt like I was introduced to intriguing characters, an imaginative setting and conflict and then…. well nothing.

I just found this book so strange. The story was too bizarre for me, plus the creepy Raggedy-Ann doll was over the top.

Why are so many graphic novels so… weird. I’m not really sure what to say about this book. Sure, the whole environmental spill/cover-up was interesting (big, bad government… again!), but not interesting enough to make up for the flat characterization. Nope. This book was not for me.

The graphic novel is visually jarring, as if someone had put to pen and ink their jagged and off-centre nightmares. It attempts to adopt the requisite grit and toughness of the dystopia genre, and I appreciated that the most heroic and “tough-as-nails” characters are females--both human and human-made.There’s a lot of good things going on with this book, and I would be interested to pick up the sequel and see where the author takes this tale.

The 57 Bus

This book is an excellent reminder that public incidents/crimes are never singular

moments but rather an outcome of larger and more important stories.

LOVED THIS BOOK!

Having just finished 57 Bus, all I can say is WOW! Truthfully I was not aware of the

story of Sasha and Richard prior to reading the book. The style of Slater’s nonfiction

narrative, made the book so compelling. It allowed me to develop compassion and

empathy for both people, which under the circumstances of the type of crime that was

committed, I normally would not have had. With the world we live in today, I think this

book should be a mandatory read for all high school students.

I know I haven’t gotten into the heart of the book yet after reading 100 pages or so,

but the one thing that has been sticking in my mind has been “security.” And not the

gun-toting, wall-building, “boots-on-the-ground” version we’ve come to be familiar with,

but those socio-economic intangibles like accessible education, family stability,

opportunities for youth to engage in meaningful and life-building activities gainful

employment for all. The kind of security that not only allows you to develop into the

person you were meant to become, but to dream about and work on the person you

could become…

...even though I read 57 Bus back in April, the story has stayed with me; it is not

something one soon forgets

It shows the reader that most true stories are very multidimensional and should never

be judged solely by what you read in the newspaper. My heart broke for both of these

characters. To be a victim of such a random crime was agonizing for both Sasha and

their parents. But the book showed that to be the perpetrator in a crime can also be

agonizing - a fact that many of us often forget. The disparity between these two families

was also front and center. Sasha had so many opportunities simply because of who they

belonged to in life. Richard, although loved, was not so lucky. I also appreciated the

impartiality of the author as she didn’t seem to favour one side over the other. Lord

knows we need more balanced stories in our lives.

There you have it. Many of our opinions on both of these books. Perhaps Ben sums up most people's feelings when he writes, I feel 57 Bus hits on such relevant topics. I’m not sure if 57 Bus, craft-wise, takes the reader anywhere they haven’t been before, but in my opinion, and in this case, provocative and pressing subject matter trumps stylistic risk.