Carpe Diem | Carpe Diem | Autumn Cornwell

Super Young Adult read! | Carpe Diem | Autumn Cornwell

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	• Carpe Diem Autumn Cornwell Feiwel & Friends, 2007 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Angieville: CARPE DIEM

Vassar Spore's parents named her after one of the most prestigious women's colleges in the country. Unsurprisingly, she grows up a goal-oriented perfectionist intent on winning a Pulitzer Prize and marrying an MIT grad. In steps Vassar's bohemian grandma who demands she spend the summer with her backpacking across Southeast Asia. This plot line could have easily slipped into the predictable too-serious-girl finds there's more to life than book learning...and even though I did predict one key surprise correctly, Cornwell won me over with her genuine love for her character and the region of the world she was exploring. Her wonderful sense of adventure lent the story a freshness I wholly enjoyed. Lastly, Hanks the Malaysian Cowboy Bodyguard alone is enough reason to read the book. "Hanks plural, not singular." Love that cowboy.

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Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem is a delightful, quick, intense read. This gentle geography lesson underscores struggles experienced between a free floating artistic y and the structured, insulated life style/personality. Living in the moment is something we all struggle to do, and when the pressures of adolescence are compounded by intense adult expectations, the joy of life can be squeezed to a trickle. Our young heroine, strong of purpose and lofty of goals that please both her and over involved parents discovers the joy of creating one's own journey and the value of relationships.

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Super Young Adult read!

You just know when you have your entire life planned, Murphy will make an appearance and slap you `upside the head.' That is exactly the problem sixteen-year-old Vassar (named after the college) Spore has. She and her parents are over achievers and believe in life planning to the inth degree. Vassar's grandmother Gerd (whom Vassar has never met) has other plans for her.

Grandma Gerd, a bohemian artist who travels the world, calls Vassar's parents to set up a six- week summer trip with Vassar through Southeast Asia. When the invite is declined, blackmail enters the scene and suddenly Vassar's summer has been decided, even though she is adamantly opposed to the plan.

Vassar is forced to travel (with ten pieces of luggage--because you must be prepared) to meet her grandmother in Malaysia, determined to find out about The Secret. And she's decided she's not going to enjoy the trip. I mean, how much fun can six weeks of bathrooms that consist of a hole in the ground be?

Along the way Vassar learns to look at life from another perspective, gets a new name, learns to appreciate her strange grandmother, meets a Malaysian cowboy, experiences the adventure of a lifetime, faces danger and learns that sometimes living in the moment is the right and best thing to do.

Oh, the Malaysian cowboy is quite a hunk and does not go unnoticed by Vassar. And the family secret? Well it is a dilly and it changes Vassar's life forever.

In a time when a great deal of young adult books are, in my opinion, trash, it's a delight to find a gem of a book for kids. Carpe Diem is a gem. I loved the plot, enjoyed the characters (although Grandma Gerd really `ticked' me off sometimes) and appreciated that the author could draw me in so completely to Vassar's world.

This book is so much fun, I recommend you give it as a gift to someone else who is searching for good, fun young adult books.

Armchair Interviews says: Carpe Diem is not to be missed. Adults and kids will enjoy it.

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Courtesy of Teens Read Too

With a name like Vassar, you would assume that the person would have her entire life planned out. And you would be absolutely correct. With the help of her goal-oriented parents, who have predicted which Ivy League school their daughter will attend by naming her after it, Vassar Spore has a plan, both in school and out, that will set her for life.

From the A(A)P classes to having a criteria to choosing her best friends to her extracurricular activities during her summer at the Advanced Latin Camp, Vassar not only has what it takes to be valedictorian, but to be the most perfect, well-rounded student Vassar (the college) has ever seen.

Of course, plans will always be interrupted. Out of nowhere Vassar's Grandma Gerd telephones and announces her gift for her granddaughter's sweet sixteen birthday: a paid trip to Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos.

Sure, this may sound like the best birthday present that anyone has ever received, but not for Vassar, especially since she already planned out her entire summer to where she will get the 5.3 GPA that she has been wanting to grasp ever since she heard it was the new 4.0. Vassar knows for sure that her parents will say no to the gift, and she doesn't mind at all.

But with a little blackmail, Grandma Gerd gets Vassar's parents to agree to the trip. It's always nice to have a family secret for leverage. Before she knows it, Vassar is on a plane, set for an exotic trip with her crazy grandmother. What Vassar doesn't know is what will be in store for her, especially how this trip will show her the side of life that isn't always about plans and futures but what is in front of you right now.

Hilarious, unique, and very charming, CARPE DIEM shows what it really means to seize the day. Vassar Spore may not be like most of us, but her adventures and the obstacles that she must face are still endearing and will have readers at the edge of their seats. A must-read for the summer!

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

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Expect the Unexpected

This was an amazing book about the adventures and transformation of an overachieving uptight teen. Vassar Spore recieves a mysterious package and phone call one evening from her eccentric Grandma Gerd. She has been invited to travel with her through Malaysia. To anyone else, this would sound like a dream come true, but to Vassar, it is a disastor and her goals for the summer are gone.On the bright side, this gives her a chance to find out "The Big Seceret" that forced her parents to allow her to go. Vassar is changed forever during her travels and has the experiance of a lifetime. She falls in love and finds she is stronger than she ever thought. The unexpected twist at the end adds so much the the storyline and characters. I reccomend this book to anyone and everyone.

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?I?ve got my entire life planned out for the next ten years ? including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize,? claims 16-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, daughter of overachiever parents, who in true overachiever fashion named her after an elite women?s college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar?s parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia.
On a journey from Malaysia to Cambodia to the remote jungles of Laos, Vassar sweats, falls in love, hones her outdoor survival skills ? and uncovers a family secret that turns her whole world upside-down.
Vassar Spore can plan on one thing: she?ll never be the same again.

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