Kathryn's Inbox

Jane Hayes has a secret. She is infatuated with Mr Darcy. Or, at least, the version of Mr Darcy that is played by Colin Firth in the 1995 BBC adaption of Pride and Prejudice. When her wealthy great-aunt stumbles upon this secret, she takes it upon herself to bequeath Jane an all-expenses paid trip to Austenland, a Jane Austen style theme park where visitors can cosplay as regency era women and live out their Jane Austen fantasies.  It is just a pity that Austenland does not quite meet up to expectations. Jane finds herself in the middle of a miserable holiday. And she's no closer to finding her own Mr Darcy. Or is she? Austenland is a short and lightweight read. Although the premise sounded fun, this one failed to match my expectations. All of the characters were fairly one dimensional falling into the very good or very bad stereotype, with little to no reasoning for their actions. In fact, even Jane's embarrassment over her interest in Pride and Prejudice  seems more pitif...

Shannon Hale's third autobiography Friends Forever opens with young Shannon starting eighth grade. It is her second and final year at middle school. She's managed to break away from 'the group.' While she has a group of close friends, she's learned a valuable lesson about getting along with everyone and trying to include others as much as possible. That said, being in eighth grade comes with complications. Although she is a very talented writer, she wants to excel at other things, like drama, debating and even running for class president (against Jen, no less,) but she rarely succeeds at these things for reasons that are not always her fault. Meanwhile, her friends all have issues and insecurities of their own, and can be rather insensitive. This makes things very hard for Shannon, especially when her own issues with mental health come to the forefront. Written with a great deal of sensitivity, this one tackles just how hard life can be in middle school. Shannon is ...

Picking up where Real Friends left off Best Friends sees Shannon starting sixth grade as a part of the in-crowd, and as the best friend of Jen, the most popular girl in the school. Unfortunately, sixth grade is still full of problems--among the group there are rules that seem to change constantly, and plenty of spying and backstabbing. Shannon finds herself caught between two worlds, of wanting to be loyal to the lessons she learned about being the good kind of popular kid, who lifts others up, and wanting to be loyal and accepted by her group of friends. Eventually, after some humiliating life lessons she finds herself at a crossroads. And maybe, just maybe this time she will be able to make the right decision. This was an entertaining but heartbreaking graphic novel. Although intended for middle grade readers, plenty of adults will find Shannon's situation relatable as this sensitive pre-teen struggles against the tide of mental illness, changing friendships and peer gr...

This middle grade graphic novel certainly packs a punch for realism. And that's no surprise, considering that it is an autobiographical account of author Shannon Hale's experiences at Elementary School in the 1980s. All young Shannon really wants is a friend. She finds one in Adrienne, but as they get older, Adrienne wants to expand her social circle, which leads her to becoming friends with Jen, the most popular girl in their grade and the leader of 'the group.' From here on the author recounts her experiences with the group--their rules and complexities--and Shannon's experiences as a kid who wants to hang on to her friendship with Adrienne but who doesn't want to be a part of the group. Suddenly, every day at school is like torture, where Shannon doesn't know if the other girls will talk to her or not, if she'll be teased or not and what lies ahead. Meanwhile, life at home isn't great either. The middle kid in a family of five, Shannon often f...