The book I recently read is Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper. This is a take-off of William Shakespears’ book Romeo and Juliet it has a very powerful message which is where ever you go in life there are going to be obsticals in your way. This book is based on an African-American and a Texan-American. And the trials and tribulations that they have to go through to show there true love for one another. The way they met is similar to the way my boyfriend and I met in real life, over the internet. He was on a teen chat room trash talking Cincinnati after his parents forced him to move there do to his problem with gangs in his other school. What he did not know was that “Afroqueen” the person we later find out to be Romiette and “Spanishlover” the person we soon find to be Julio would be soon going to the same school, and share a common interest in many things. This book had me captivated from the moment I picked it up to the moment I put it down in all reality I have read this book at least 5 times but the last time I read it was early 2008 and missed reading it. This is my all time favorite book ever and I would definitely recommended it to anyone actually if you like reading realistic fiction books then your going to love reading this book. This book can teach people a lot and the one thing that I learned which is extremely sad is that bullys and gangs there going to be around for a long time and frankly I do not think there is anything that anyone can do about it. A lot of brave people put there life at risk each and every day and try to stop all of this violence from happening in the streets that way hopefully you might not have to pick up your life and move millions of miles out of state because you are scared for the well being of you and your family. Out of all the books, I have read this month this has to be the best one. I have also this month read the book First French Kiss: And Other Traumas by Adam Bagdasarian. This book was too inspirational but it didn’t give me the same message as Romiette and Julio which was to never let anything or anyone stand in the way of you and your love.
Romiette is a 16 year old black girl, whose mother owns a very popular African culture shop in Cincinnati. Julio is a 16 year old Hispanic boy who just moved to Cincinnati from Corpus Christi, Texas. Despite going to the same school, Romiette and Julio meet in an online chat room, where Julio shares the woes of his new life in Ohio, and where Romiette makes him feel more alive than he ever felt in Texas. After meeting in the lunch room at school for the first time, Romiette and Julio begin talking online every night and eating lunch every day. Their relationship sparks the interest of the local gang, The Devildogs. The Devildogs are angry with Romiette that she would even think of socializing with someone of a different race, let alone actually dating one. Romiette and Julio make terrible decisions throughout the entire book to make The Devildogs look stupid, like playing music and dancing like idiots on the table in the lunch room when The Devildogs were trying to intimidate them. A teen would NEVER do that. These stupid scenarios also, lead to horribly thought out revenge taken by The Devildogs. The dialogue used throughout the book between the teenage characters is so completely unrealistic and laughable that it was hard to even finish the book. The slang used is completely outdated and even then, its doubtful that teens even used to talk that way. The gang violence is also laughable. If this was a real gang, Romiette and Julio would have been in a lot more trouble than they were. Its highly unlikely that a real gang would consist only of high school students and that not a single cuss word was used during any of the confrontational scenes in the book. Overall, the book was a horrible depiction of what life is like in an inner city high school and the relationships between teens, and teens and their parents.
What do You think about Romiette And Julio (2001)?
I had to read this story for middle school summer reading and I hated it when I'm actually an avid reader. I mostly read YA fiction so this book felt not only short but empty.Dialogue is off. I am Hispanic and I never talk like Julio, who seems to be teaching a spanish class using a basic Spanish word every other sentence he says. I know that Destiny and Romiette are African American but the corny way they keep saying 'girl' or 'girlfriend' to refer to each other feels forced. Also, there's too much dialogue and no description in this book. The author keeps telling you things but doesn't elaborate or show. In my opinion, Draper took the easy way out for everything. She had big Bard shoes to fill and fell short. For instance, she cared about her characters in the wrong way. Instead of making them different and distinctive, she made Julio and Romiette the same person and in Ben and Destiny's weirdness, they were sorta the same eccentric character too. Everyone talked the same, there was not a way to differentiate. So Draper cared about them enough to not kill them off and give them a TOO GOOD HAPPY ENDING but not enough to give them personalities that are unique. Also, Romi is said to be independent but at the end, she is saved by Julio anyway. And no one getsto slowly meet who Romiette is. Right at the beginning, Draper takes the easy way out again and basicsly spells out who she wants Romiette to be in a thinly veiled diary entry that feels like a character profile.I didn't like this book and I LOVE books. Just imagine a kid who hates reading having to swallow this book down. They might never read again. Romiette and Julio is far from the story that has survived ages. It's the type of story that if I even remember it by next year, I'll only remember how much OK was written in it.OK?OK.
—Aby
It seemed like a really good idea, and Draper is a very good author but kerplunk! This book was a failure. It is very sexist (e.g. when Romi and Julio go missing the men do all the actual searching while the women give the men coffee and take phone calls.) I also thought it was very cheesy the way they kept on using Spanish in the book. I have Hispanic friends but they either talk fully English or fully Spanish, not a mix of both. It was like she was trying to teach you Spanish. and also their way of talking. "What's up, girlfriend?" "Girl, he so fine!" "You was out cold." "Hey, I been chillin' out in the woods all day-you know what I'm sayin'-nothing else to do." Gag! And she kept on using the work "OK" which is good once in a while, but since the word is capitalized it got annoying and stood out on the page. What ever happened to alright?I hated the way Romiette depend on Julio for everything. I wanted to shake her and scream "You are your own person!" And ***SPOILER*** of course it had to be Julio who saved them, while Romi was busy drowning. And speaking of the end... Can you believe they didn't die?!?!?!?! If you are going to knock of Shakespeare at least do it right! Jeez. It was cheesy and sexist beyond belief.
—The New Maria
This book aggravated me so much. The fact that it started off with a dream that basically just told the readers how the climax was going to act out (let's not mention her ability to see the future). Then it goes off into her journal where she is basically just making a character bio on some role play website. And the way everyone talks literally makes me want to cry because I am a teenager myself and I am also from the rio grande valley where Julio is from and nobody talks like that. There are n
—Serenity Jaruboon
