By: Staff Writer Charley Hrobsky
A cup of hot cocoa, a warm fire, a fuzzy blanket, and the book, Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle will be all that is needed this holiday break.
With each author having a short story within the book, it calls for a variety of things to happen. I have been a fan of Maureen Johnson for a while now, and she never disappoints. In her short story, “The Jubilee Express,” Johnson starts off the holiday book with a giggly and fun adventure. The main character, ironically named Jubilee, has a hectic Christmas Eve. I will not give away much, due to spoilers, but let me say, the Fobie Five can be a good thing. “The Jubilee Express,” was, by far, my favorite story out of them all.
The next story, which is written by John Green, is called “A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle.” The main character, Tobin, is a bit of a nerd. This story begins in his house, with him watching a James Bond movie with his friends, Duke and JP. Duke, however, is a lady. I love how John Green has uncommon, may I say, female characters. I felt I could personally relate to the Duke. As great an author as John Green may be, I, personally, do not like the word choice he uses. The characters were generic, like the nerdy kind he usually uses. The plot had a real potential, and everything was good, until they got out of the house. As far as endings go in this book, this story had the quickest ending, which was almost unfulfilling. This story was a foreshadowing of how well the last story would also go.
“The Patron Saint of Pigs,” written by Lauren Myracle, was slow compared with the other stories, and the majority of the story was the main character, Addie, whining about the fact that she cheated on her boyfriend. I did like that Myracle had the supporting characters, Addie’s best friends, call her out on being self-centered though. That was a nice little punch that I did not expect. At the end, everything was resolved nicely, and Lauren Myracle got bonus points from me for her story.
Overall, I would say the book gets four stars. The authors balanced each other out, and with some needing some work, others were perfect. The book is kept interesting by putting little Easter eggs, throughout the book, from each story. The characters were all unique within the book, but readers could tell that the authors have a certain type of characters that they are used to using. Plot was well thought out and was stronger in some places than others. The final ending of the book was beautiful because the three authors, John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle, had all their stories wrapped up like a present on Christmas Even under the tree. Just like I hope this book will be wrapped up in many readers’ arms this holiday break.
