Good Morning! Here’s the Monday Morning Blog?
Did you get a chance to touch base with that teen or young adult in your life last week? Check in with them and see what they want for Christmas. They are a hard group to shop for. Ideas are always needed and welcomed.
I also wanted to share that this post is my 300th blog post. Blogging has been a journey for me and it is fun for me to see all I wrote about and learned about since I started blogging.
December’s Theme – Holiday Traditions
This month’s theme is holiday traditions. Sometime adults work hard to make memories for their families. One way that they do is is to create holiday traditions, like making a favorite cookie or watching a certain movie. As a teenager, these events may seem rather boring to them as they would rather be with their friends or interacting with them on their phones. The holidays are a hard time for teens, so adults may need to make those traditions be engaging with our teens.
With this month’s theme being holiday traditions, the book I chose to review is a more up to date version of a holiday classic. One which shows what could happen when a person is so caught up in themselves or money, that they miss sight of what is important at the holidays and outside themselves. The book is The Afterlife of Holly Chase.
Selma’s Book Review
Book Title
The Afterlife of Holly Chase
Author
Cynthia Hand
Type of Book
Teen/Young Adult Fiction
Author Background
Cynthia Hand is a New York Times Best Selling Author of many teen and young adult novels. Before she started writing for teens, she studied literary fiction in college and earned degrees in it. She currently lives in Boise, Idaho.
Summary of the book
This is a current day version of the classic novella of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The main character, Holly Chase, was seen as a scrooge by the staff at Project Scrooge due to her very self absorbed attitude and behavior. After they came to visit her, she started working for Project Scrooge and plays the role of the Ghost of Christmas Past and to visit other scrooges on Christmas Eve to show them how they have acted in their past.
Reaction to the book
It is a fun teen and young adult read for the holiday season. It kept to the themes found in the original A Christmas Carol and brought them into a more current day version of Dickens’ tale. I liked the updated story and the characters were very engaging. I believe this version of the story will be more relatable for a teen reader today.
I would definitely recommend this book to any teen or young adult reader, or that adult looking for a fun holiday read.
Link to the author
If you want to learn more about the author, here is a link to her website Cynthia Hand
Link to the book
If you want to purchase a copy of The Afterlife of Holly Chase,, here is a link to Amazon – The Afterlife of Holly Chase. Or you can pick it up from one of your local bookstores or shop Bookshop.org and have the purchase credited to them.
Looking for a Teen Coming of Age Series?
Both of the books in The Way Series focus on high school and the challenges teens can face. Book one, The Hard Way, focuses on peer pressure and making choices with the approval of peers being a factor. Book two, Shawn’s Way, shows a freshman in high school navigating his way through being the target of a bully. Check out the books tab of my website for more information, Selma P. Verde – Books
Mentoring and Resources
Have you seen these tabs on my website? One is my Mentor page which has some mentor statements related to this month’s theme Holiday Traditions. And the teen resource links that I mention in my monthly Teen Resource post can all be found on the Resource tab or through a link on the Mentor page. Be sure to take a look and let me know what you think!
Have a great week!
