Romiette and Julio Author: Sharon M. DraperRomiette and JulioI think Romiette and Julio is just another version of Romeo and Juliet so that's why I give them the rating they deserve a ONE! When they had Romeo and Juliet they killed both of the characters and the person that made this book just made them slightly different by changing their names that really sucks about that book. This book really sucks and we need more than stupid stuff about the same thing we heard by:

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Good for a laughAfter reading this book, I decided to look at the reviews to see what people had to say about it. I expected to find some funny insults and maybe some inconsistencies that I hadn't caught while reading it. I was wrong. I found mostly reviews written by 10 year olds and reviews that were obviously written by english teachers. I'm only going to say it this bluntly once, listen up:

This.
Book.
Sucks.

Sorry if you disagree but it does. A plot thats basically Romio and Juliet with a happy ending, and an author who tries way to hard (and fails) to make it seem modern. I wonder what her thought process was..."hmmm....I KNOW! I'LL MAKE A CHARACTER BLACK AND A CHARACTER HISPANIC! THAT'S MODERN! AND WHILE I'M AT IT, I'LL JUST TAKE THE NAMES OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE ORIGINAL BOOK AND CHANGE THEM SLIGHTLY!!!". Just pure laziness. And as if someone could really be stupid enough to NOT see that this was a ripoff, the characters in the book even say so for you. A few times. Like the time one of them says "have you noticed are names are like Romio and Juliet? I wonder if we'll end up the same". I wish you did. Also, someone really needs to tell the author that "gangbangers" are not gang members. And that I've never heard the phrase "Don't take a dump in my cornflakes" before. Although I use it every chance I get now, just because it's so stupid. Oh, and everyone I know and me hate chat rooms. And seeing how I'm someone the age this book's characters are, and I'm living in the same time period, I think that just goes to show you how inaccurate it is.

P.S.- I actually had someone tell me that the name switching thing was clever and intelligent.

P.S.S.- He was serious.I tried hard to like this book...I really tried to like this book because I enjoyed "Tears of a Tiger." The author once again used dialogue to convey her story, but this time moreso in a journal/chatroom session instead of conversation. Some people hate that type of thing, but I'm such a big fan of dialogue that I like it. But this story was utterly corny and it may have been somewhat my fault. I knew that the story was somewhat like Romeo and Juliet and I hated that story too. But I was hoping that Draper was going to put some edge on it, by adding gangs, interracial relationships, an urban setting, and a guy with multicolor hair.
But even with all this creativity she used, there were so many parts that were overwhelmingly unrealistic. One boy hits another one in the nose hard enough for it to turn blue but in a few seconds, befriends the person who hits them. Two people in a chatroom just so happen to be not only in the same state, same city, and same neighborhood, but go to the same school too. Now this IS a small world and that can happen, but a 16-year-old who happens to have a flower and carries hot sauce to woo some girl he doesn't know, I just can't see.
The instant connection they have is pretty cool, but they go from being cool and thinking each other are cute to talking about how they'll give their lives for each other. Then there are these random zodiac/astrology/remedies for love thrown in by another character. The dialogue was alright at first. "Peaceout" was actually popular when this book was written so although out of date now, readers have to consider the copyright date, although I think it was meant to be two words. But some of the vocabulary was just way too out there and teenagers don't talk like that. I felt like the author was CONSTANTLY reminding me that one character was Mexican by throwing in random Spanish words in a predominantly English conversation. I wouldn't even call it Spanglish because the words were so basic, like "hola" or "chico." Even when Julio talks to his friend, there is nothing that gives me a connection that they share the same heritage. I don't know if the author didn't go so far as to do that because she didn't want to shy off non-Spanish speakers, but if that's the case, don't put it in there at all. And the hot sauce thing was killing me. This boy carried hot sauce wherever he went and I went to a high school that was about 45% Latino. I never saw one Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Brazilian, etc. person carry around hot sauce. That was about as stereotypical as saying a black guy carried around a gold chain.
It was strange reading this book because in "Tears for a Tiger," the author was dead-on, so either she did some serious research afterwards or forgot it before. I got to page 145 and donated this book to my nearby library. After reading "Tears for a Tiger," I bought ALL of her other books, and I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake by doing so. We'll see with my next read. more...


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