Title:  Chat Room

Author:  Kristin Butcher

Publish date:  2006

 

3/24/08:  I just finished reading Chat Room.  Overall, I thought it was a pretty good book.  The main character's name is Linda.  She is a high school student who becomes a participant in a chat room with other students from her school.  She has a "friend" named Janice, who tends to be a very negative person.  Linda makes attempts to stay positive when she talks to Janice, but somehow Janice always finds the "negative" part to every situation at school.

 

When Linda joins the school's chat room, she ends up writing back and forth with one person, in particular.  Of course, she tries to figure out who the person is and tries to get "clues" as to who the person might be.  She thinks she knows who it is and also gets gifts from a secret admirer--like flowers and notes left at her locker.  As I was reading this part, I kept wondering who her secret admirer was and wondered if it was the same person as her chat room friend.  I don't know a lot about chat rooms, but I haven't always heard positive things about them, so I was a little worried about how this story might end.  The story has a positive ending and I think the Linda learns a lesson about chat rooms and also not "jumping to conclusions" about her first impressions about people.

 

I also found myself wanting to help Janice become a more positive person.  I kept wondering about her and what might have happened to her to make her seem so negative to people.  Linda really tries to show her how to make friends and is somewhat successful by the end of the book.  One question that I kept asking myself as I read was "Did something happen at home to make Janice react so negatively all the time?" or "Did someone treat her badly at school to make her react the way she does to certain situations?"  The author gives some clues, but kept me wondering even after I finished the book.

 

Although I thought this was a good book, it wasn't the best book I've ever read, (it certainly wasn't the worst book either).  I like the way the author kind of teaches the reader a little lesson about "true" friendships.  The main character learns who her secret admirer is and realizes how lucky she is to have such a friend.  I was totally wrong with my predictions about who her secret admirer is.  The author went in a totally different direction than what I expected!

 

I would definitely recommend this book to other people.  First of all, it taught me a little bit about chat rooms.  I didn't know anything about them, so I was glad to finally learn a little bit about them.  I think that people who participate in chat rooms or have a curiosity about them would surely like this book.

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