Teen Review: TeenBoat! by Dave Roman and John Green

My name is Jayne. I’m fourteen. I go to CAPA for Visual Arts, but I love to write so much more. Creative writing has been apart of my life for so long now; I feel lost without it. I’m obsessed with everything British, Beatles, Tim Burton movies, and Harry Potter. Oh and cats! I hope you love what I review and I hope you comment and tell me what I could do better. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Teen Boat! by Dave Roman & John Green

I am absolutely in love with Teen Boat! It’s really funny and I think teens will love the weird and quirky behavior of TeenBoat (that’s his actual name!).

So Teen Boat! is about a boy who’s name is the title and can magically transform into a boat. This book is divided up into about five sections and each tale involves TB (Teen Boat!) and his friends. In the first few chapters or stories, TB is in love with this girl who has the same name as the ship that Christopher Columbus sailed. I found this hysterical because of course TB would be the one who falls in love with a girl with the name of a ship! In the next few, we are introduced to Joey, TB’s best friend who is a girl and has a secret. But I’m still guessing as to what it is. There is some Italian involved with one of the stories, when they go to Italy.

Anyway, TB gets involved with Pirates, boat-napping captains, gondolas, and angry jocks. So, if you’re a fan of graphic novels, you’ll love love love this book. And I do know that there is going to be another Teen Boat book in the distant future. So, I can tell you, I’m excited.

I was also surprised that John Green co-wrote this book* because I always took him for a more serious writer (and I didn’t want to read him because of it), but this definitely changed my mind. I hope it changes your mind about him, too.

*Librarian’s note: This is a different John Green, but don’t blame Jayne–I assumed it was THE John Green and told her so. D’oh! Still, “TB” is HILARIOUS.

If You’re Havin’ Lit Problems, I Can Relate to You, Son. I Got 90s Problems, and a Book Is One.

It’s funny to think that just a little more than a decade ago we were still in the 90s, which happens to be my favorite decade (and why wouldn’t it be? just look at how awesome it is). But while the 90s may have been recent, the swelling nature of technological and social change has made many of the challenges kids like me who grew up during that time obsolete.

If you were one of the few kids–like Zack from Saved by the Bell–who could afford the nearly $4,000 it cost to buy one, much less pay for the plan, this is the huge brick you had the pleasure of lugging around.

Enter 90s hunk James Van Der Beek, whose improvised (and very ugly) moment of angsty excess during season 3 of hit teen drama Dawson’s Creek got screencapped and began the 90s problem meme.

Take, for example, the way you learn about and acquire new music. A friend posts a video they just found out about on Facebook and within a minute you’ve downloaded an MP3, right? Not for a 90s kid!

Want more insight into the world of what it was to be an 80s baby and grow up during the 90s? Click here!

So in the spirit of 90s problems, I’ve created a bunch of my own, featuring teens from 90s young adult literature with similar predicaments. If only they were born just a decade later!

Anyway, each one links to the catalog record for the book. Take your best guess before clicking, then read ‘em and weep (for their poor 90s souls)!

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main