BOOK REVIEW: Lucky Jonah

Looking for a book to add to your summer reading list? 10 year-old Jameson recommends Richard Scrimger's new novel, Lucky Jonah, about an insecure, bullied boy who's life is suddenly changed by a magic camera.

What did you think, Jameson?

I thought the book was very interesting, in many different ways. I liked a lot of the parts, but some parts really stood out to me. One of those parts was the way the author describes Jonah, because after the first few pages I knew Jonah very well. I knew what he looked like, I knew his family, but most importantly, I understood basically where Jonah was in life. Another part was when he was describing the people Jonah turns into. I just feel the author (Richard Scrimger) is very talented in describing people. My third favourite thing in this book is the parts where he changes into people. It's so fun to think what if I had the camera, who I would turn into? Because it would be cool to experiment seeing something in seven different perspectives, and I also enjoyed predicting who he would turn into next and what is the person's perspective going to look like.

There was not much I didn't like about the book, but the one part I didn't like was near the end of the book where I felt sort of lost. I felt this way a few times here and there, but near the end was when I was confused the most. But then after a few pages I was back on track.

Who do you recommend this book to?

I think lots of kids between the ages of 10 to 14 would want to read this. I feel it's a little more mature because of the smoking, kissing, and Jonah thinking he's gay. There's nothing really wrong with that stuff, but I feel 9 is just too young. I also feel people over 15 won't really be interested about a camera that is from the dollar store and can change you into other people. I think the part that kids would like is how everyone is different and how cool it is that a camera can do that, and because they could imagine who they would want to be and what different people Jonah will be.

Thanks for the review, Jameson. Sounds like a great read to us!