Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Flipped
By Wendelin Van Draanen
212 pp. United States of America
Random House, Inc. $14.99
ISBN 0-375-81174-5

A seven year old girl, Juli, falls for a boy in her class, Bryce—well, maybe more for his amazingly beautiful blue eyes. Perhaps this might not sound as interesting as your favorite romance series, Twilight, or illustrate true love like Romeo and Juliet. But, Wendelin Van Draanen’s new romance novel, Flipped, will definitely flip you off your feet. She has her own unique way of demonstrating a few importances in life.

The way Flipped is viewed definitely differs from most books for two main reasons. First, it’s written alternately between Bryce and Juli’s perspective on themselves, each other and their families. Second, the word choices Draanen chooses are so vivid that it’ll make you feel like the actual character! For example, in the beginning, Draanen describes the first time Bryce and Juli laid eyes on each other. Bryce says, “All I ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave me alone. For her to back off—you know, just give me some space.� While Juli says, “My heart stopped. It just stopped beating. And for the first time in my life, I had that feeling. You know, like the whole world is moving all around you, beneath you, all inside you, and you’re floating. Floating in midair. And the only thing keeping you from drifting away is the other person’s eyes. They’re connected to yours by some invisible physical force, and they hold you fast while the rest of the world swirls and twirls and falls completely away.� Draanen definitely has readers get into the characters� head and feel exactly what they’re feeling. Even though Draanen writes the characters� thoughts right on the page, you’ll be constantly inferring, predicting, and asking questions. This might sound very school-like but I guarantee you won’t even realize you’re doing it!

I guess it’s safe to say first impressions usually impact people the most though are often inaccurate. Not only does this intervene with Bryce and Juli, it also intervenes with me. This is because as the pages starts to build up, the experiences they both face does too. And as the experiences make their way through each of their lives, I soon remember to never judge someone without getting to know them first—especially Bryce and Juli. You’ll see how drastically they change when they become teenagers.

When the curtains finally close, the characters soon realize the true light of themselves, each other, and their families. Bryce, a deceitful coward, who’s only goal was to get away from Juli and have nothing to do with her, flips into someone completely different. While Juli, a courageous individual, is overly obsessed with her ideal Bryce and doesn’t know how he is truly like. Juli will soon see that there’s more to Bryce Loski than she might know. But after all those times he’s mistreated her, how could she ever find it in her heart to accept him? Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out!

It’s not until you’ve finally finish the book until you realize how much you’re able to take out of it. The idea of being you—being genuine and brave—being able to live out loud, is nicely demonstrated in this novel. If you’re looking for some encouragement and inspiration for living out loud, go pick up a copy of Flipped! It might not even be close as the length of The Odyssey, but it’s definitely filled with lots of sparks!