Zelah Green: One More Little Problem Review

Author: Vanessa Curtis
Release date: December 2, 2011
Publisher: EgmontUK
Most appropriate for ages: 12+
Other titles in series: Zelah Green: Queen of Clean
How I got it: From publicist for review

My name is Zelah Green – and I’m still here.

Summer’s supposed to be good, right? But I’m stuck at home with a lousy laptop, stacks of homework to start and dad being more useless than ever. And then Caro turns up out of the blue, all heavy metal and piercings and attitude and my boring summer’s turned upside down. It’s like she knows just what to say to wind me up, sending my OCD right out of control...
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If you'll remember, I found the first installment in the series to be charming, quirky, and unique. While I found One More Little Problem to be a little less great, I still enjoyed it a lot.

This may sound weird, but I LOVE how small these books are. Though I did feel if it had been just a tad longer we would've gotten to know Caro better (something I was really hoping for), overall the book's size didn't detract much from the story, and I love being able to read one of these in such a short amount of time.

Sometimes I felt like we didn't get as much spunk and quirk from Zelah that we did in the first book, but I was also intrigued by getting to watch Zelah go through her normal life with OCD instead of being a home trying to "fix" her problem. It was fascinating to watch her attempt to navigate through issues with her friends and family as well as tackle dating. (Though, honestly, I found the way she dated to be highly unrealistic.)

As a whole, I enjoyed Zelah Green: One More Little Problem, even if I thought a few kinks could've been worked out.

Plot: Interesting and different enough from the first book.

Characters: Zelah's wit seemed to be lacking, and I never felt like we got to know Caro as well as we could've.

Writing: Light and easy to read

Ending: Pretty awesome.

Kid friendly: There's some swearing, self-harming, smoking, and drinking.

Overall:

I'd flail my hand a little at anyone that tried to talk to me.

This series is fun but also interesting--and the result is pretty darn cool and thoroughly engrossing.

Zelah Green Review

Author: Vanessa Curtis
Release Date: October 1, 2011 (In US.)
Pages: 250 (Paperback)
Publisher: Egmont
Most Appropriate For Ages: 12+
Where I Got It: For review from publicist

My Name is Zelah Green and I'm a cleanaholic.

I spend most of my life running away from germs. And dirt. And people. And I'm just about doing okay and then my stepmother packs me off to some kind of hospital to live with a bunch of strangers. It's stuck in the middle of nowhere. Great.

There's Alice who's anorexic. Caro who cuts herself. Silent Sol who has the cutest smile. And then there's me.

I was so excited to read Zelah Green when I read that description. I mean, who wouldn't be? But when I saw it's size (HUGE font, small pages) I became nervous. How could the author possibly develop the story and unique characters in that short amount of time? Luckily, I shouldn't have worried.

So I have a fascination with mental institutions, which is actually what drew me to this novel in the first place. The people you could meet and the entire experience just sounds like it would make a great book to me. ...Yeah, I know it's still weird. But Zelah Green definitely satisfied my craving for this type of book. Without spoiling the novel for you too much, let me just say that the institution is a different type of one than I'd imagined, and I loved it.

Zelah has severe OCD, which I know very little about besides what I've seen on Monk. But Zelah Green manages to keep the wit and humor that a wonderful protagonist has even though she's sick and going through some other stuff on top of it. Experiencing the story through her eyes is fantastic. Her voice manages to keep this story mildly light-hearted and fun, despite the side character's dark pasts that are revealed to us at different times throughout the book. Because of this, things are not usually spelled out for us, and I actually would've liked them once or twice.

Zelah Green was unique, grabbing, and fast. It's a great way to spend an afternoon.

Plot: Grabbing and different.

Characters: Exciting and different.

Writing: Very good, Zelah's voice really shines.

Ending: I'm interested to see what will happen in the sequel...

Kind Friendly? There was a bit of swearing, and mentions to abuse, death, anorexia, cutting, and (I'm pretty sure) rape.

Should I read it? Contemporary fans cannot go wrong with this one.

Overall:

Side-note: Why is the UK so much more environmentally and ethically responsible than the US? EgmontUK put a page in the back of Zelah Green, saying how their press was dedicated to providing fair conditions for the workers that helped make the paper and other products needed to make the book, as well as being as sustainable as possible. US publishers: take note, cause this NEEDS to be a thing here.

Waiting on Wednesday (49)

This week I'm waiting on....

Zelah Green by Vanessa Curtis

My Name is Zelah Green and I'm a cleanaholic. I spend most of my life running away from germs, dirt, and people. And I'm just about doing ok and then my stepmother packs me off to some kind of hospital to live with a load of strangers. It's stuck in the middle of nowhere. Great. There's Alice who's anorexic. Caro who cuts herself. Silent Sol who has the cutest smile. And then there's me.

Coming July 5th from Egmont

Not huge on the cover, but the description is awesome!