Weekend Review: Dancing, Shopping, and The Giver

It's been another busy week.

On Monday, I went to ballet class, volunteered at the library, and went to Irish dance class. This week was the last week of summer dance classes, and so Monday was my last day until fall.

Tuesday, I had Driver's Ed.

Wednesday was park day, and then I had rehearsal for Dracula.Then, because my mom was hosting a "Mom's Night" at our house, my friend's dad picked us both up after Dracula, and we went back to one of the other family's houses, where we joined a bunch of other kids and dads, and we ate dinner. Then, most of the kids and dads went to the driving range to for some golf lessons, but some of us stayed behind and hung out for a few hours.

Thursday, I had another rehearsal, and my mom and I went driving before that.

Friday, my sister had soccer in the morning, and after that my mom and I tried out the city buses. We took the bus to the college,  from there downtown, which is where the library and my dance studio are, and then from there back to where we started, which is a few miles from my house. There isn't a convenient bus stop close to my house, but there is one a few minute drive away. Then, we had an Irish dance performance Friday night in the beautiful Birch Bay state park, on a stage overlooking the water.

Saturday, we went shopping with our grandmother.

Today, my sister is doing a mud run, and then I am going to see The Giver with a friend this afternoon. I'm a bit nervous about The Giver, because I've heard some not so good things, and the trailer wasn't promising, but I promise to write a blog post about it tonight after I see it.

This week, I read two books I really liked: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, and Thirteen Reasons Why. Thirteen Reasons Why is a book I read for the first time probably five years ago, but it was fascinating to read it now, and connect with it in a whole new way. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was a beautiful book that made me so happy and so sad at the same time. I am writing a review of it right now, and it will be published later this week.

Movie Time!

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This year is a big one for teen movies made from books. Divergent came out a few weeks ago, and it was awesome. It was quite close to the book, and while I could nitpick about some of the changes they made, it was overall a really good adaptation. I thought that today I would go over some that are coming out in the next few months, and let you know what I think so far. I am feeling pretty terrible today (I have had this absolutely horrible cough for nearly a week now, and I think I have a fever), and so I decided to take the blogger equivalent of a day watching movies. :)

 I'm only going over movies that already have a trailer.

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

I really love this book, and so I was naturally nervous about the movie. I am really excited now, though, after seeing the trailer, and the clip (both are below). Seeing Shailene Woodley in Divergent also helped me be a little more confidant in her acting, and I think she'll make a good Hazel. The trailer alone make me tear up a bit the first time I saw it, so I expect to cry when I see the movie.

Starring: Shailene Woodley (as Hazel), Ansel Elgort (as Gus), and Nat Wolff (as Isaac)

2. The Giver by Lois Lowry

This one disappoints me so much. I vividly remember reading this book for the first time when I was about ten years old. It was my first true dystopian book, and it fascinated me. I loved the characters, I loved the story, and it made me love a new type of novel. I'll let you watch the trailer for yourself, but I find it to be incredibly disappointing. I hate that they changed the age of the kids, I am unhappy that it didn't start out in black and white (I mean really, this book is so visual, it was made for the big screen. But they're not doing it justice). I am also really confused by what's going on at the end of the trailer. I've read the book. I should not be confused. I think the book is important enough to me that I have to see the movie, but I'm not looking forward to it.

Starring: Brenton Thwaites (as Jonah), Odeya Rush (as Fiona), Jeff Bridges (as the Giver), and Meryl Streep (as the Chief Elder).

3. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is one I have no particular strong feelings about. I liked the book, and the trailer looks relatively true to the book, but it's nothing special. I do hope it's good, because it seems like one that could be done badly, but we'll see. I plan to go see it, unless future trailers look really bad.

Starring: Dylan O'Brien (as Thomas), Kaya Scodelario (as Teresa), and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (as Newt).

4. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

This one I am excited about. The trailer looks good, it appears to be pretty true to the book, and it made me about as sad as it should have (though not like the TFiOS trailer did). I really liked this book, and the movie looks like it will be a good one. It uses some iteresting storytelling techniques, and I am interested to see how they translate into film. I do hope that they don't change too much.

Starring: Chloe Grace Mortez (as Mia), Jamie Blackley (as Adam), and Mireille Enos (as Mia's mom).