Dear Classmates,

   Recently I finished reading the Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder. Chasing Brooklyn is 432 page realistic fiction book. Chasing Brooklyn is about a Girl named Brooklyn who’s boyfriend Lucca dies. Not only Lucca dies but then does Gabe. Brooklyn has to figure out a way to move on in life.  Chasing Brooklyn is one of the best books I have ever read. Lisa Schroeder has written 25 books most of them being chapter books or young adult novels. 6 of them have been teen/young adult novels. Chasing Brooklyn has won many awards. These awards are 2011 Texas Tayshas Selection, 2011 RWA RITA Finalist, 2012-2013 Missouri Gateway Award Nominee, 2013 Colorado Blue Spruce Award Nominee. This was my first time reading a book by her and it was very good. I would definitely re-read this book again. I look forward to reading more of Lisa’s books.  I had choose this book because the purpose of it seemed interesting.

In the novel Chasing Brooklyn, the main character Brooklyn goes through many tragedies. First Brooklyn’s boyfriend Lucca dies in a car accident. Brooklyn goes through depression for 2 days until she finds out that one of her best friends Gabe also died from a drug overdose. Brooklyn doesn’t want to do anything except for see Lucca which she can’t do anymore cause he is dead. For a little while Brooklyn tries to forget about it until people start reminding her and Gabe starts to haunt her in her sleep which then Brooklyn is scared to go to sleep. Brooklyn doesn’t know how to get through this until Lucca’s brother Nico gets in contact with Brooklyn. Since they are both going through grief  they decide to go with Nico’s lead and start training for a triathlon. Throughout the experience they learn how to trust each other and get through the hard grief together.

I liked the way the author used so much description. Since the author used a lot of description, I feel that it brought out the purpose of the book better. The description in the book made the book easier for me to understand. When the author puts more description it is easier to get to the point which then makes it easier to understand. Also I feel that the description makes the book more interesting. Not only can description make the book easier to understand but it can make it more interesting. The word choices used made the description better which made the whole entire book better.

The character development in this book was really amazing. Before everything happened Brooklyn wasn’t very open and she was shy. Once her life started to change with things happening she began to get more open and would start to talk about her feelings more and let out some of her grief. Brooklyn at first didn’t think she could do the triathlon, until she actually started trying. Brooklyn didn’t want to go to school ever again because of what happened. Brooklyn noticed that by not doing anything and sitting around will only make it worse for her. This is when Brooklyn decided to always remember Lucca but move on from the past. The way Brooklyn changed throughout the book was one of the best character developments I have ever seen/read in a book.

 

The genre of this book is realistic fiction. I think that if the book was a different genre, then the book would be completely different. If the book were fantasy or mystery there would be certain components of the novel that you would have to take out and add in. I’m not sure if the book would be better or worse if it was a different genre. Personally I feel that it would be better. To me mystery books are more entertaining to read. This book was kinda just a story being told so I think it would be better as mystery. Although the novel was really good as realistic fiction I think the author could have added some components that made the story more interesting.

   

Finally I was interested in the passage when Brooklyn says; “Best friends are together through it all. Like soil & roots. One needing the other through chilling winters, scorching summers, through hailstorms & lightning Strikes. They weather it together.” I thought this part of the book was important because after all that Brooklyn had been through she had learned so many things but the most important thing she learned was that there is always a best friend there next to you when you need them. I would give this book a 8 out of 10 because at times it got really confusing about who was speaking and what was going on so I thought the author could have done better with that.

Sincerely,

 Claire Kocis