Juli Baker, it is so Hard to Find a Personality with Charm like Yours to Me

“The first day I met Bryce Loski, I flipped. Honestly, one look at him and I became a lunatic. It’s his eyes. Something in his eyes. They’re blue, and framed in the blackness of his lashes, they’re dazzling. Absolutely breathtaking. ”- Julianna Baker.

If you want to try reading your first novel in English, I strongly recommend you Flipped. It’s a book written for children (Although it is for children, adults can also have fun in pure children’s thought and power) by first person narrator. Also, recommend you the film Flipped based on this novel. By the way, the music of the film is fantastic.

It is a crime to miss such a book and a film.

This book is about a love between 2 children and family education of each. A girl (Julianna Baker) got hit by a boy’s (Bryce Loski) dazzling eyes as the first paragraph said. But beneath the surface, who was he? A coward? It seemed like that at the really beginning. The boy constantly got annoyed by the girl’s chase. First annoyed, and then be deeply into her. They two both were impacted by their family. Juli’s father told her to get beyond his eyes and his smiles and the sheen of his hair-look at what’s really there, while Bryce’s grandfather gave instructions and kept hope on that his grandson was not a coward.

This book is organized in two lines-Bryce’s views and Juli’s opinions towards the same things are alternately arranged by chapter. As a reader, I found it hard to avoid yelling for I saw how misunderstanding occurred for their views differed, for they just saw one aspect of an event. For example, Garrett (Bryce’s friend) knew Juli’s uncle was retarded and said an apple isn’t far from its tree. In the back of heart, Bryce became angry for his didn’t knowing Juli at all, but politely replied, “Yes, you are right”. The talking was under Juli’s eye. Definitely, there was impossible for her to read Bryce's mind-You didn’t know Juli at all. Seeing is believing? No! There could be an exception!

Juli Baker is the biggest shining point of this novel.

To Juli Baker: it is so hard to find a personality with charm like yours to me.

I envied Juli so much. She basically saw everything as a gift from God- that sycamore tree, her lovely family. And she acted as a model student at school. When you pay careful attention to everything around you and try to feel them, you may have a good knowledge of how to tackle problems. Why a man says one thing to a person, and says the opposite to another? Is he/she a bastard? Or it is just a strategic avoidance to protect himself/herself? If you put yourself in his/her shoes, you may find out. And in this way, win some experience to deal with various people.

Love is character blind? Not for Juli. Falling in love with Bryce at the first sight, she later analyzed his movement-did not making a stand for sycamore tree protection, throwing away her eggs-for-free and ect. and asked her inner self- is he still my cup of tea. She once got confused for this and intended to get over him. But don’t forget, from scratch, Juli was so into him for couple years that she helped him in examinations by cheating, sniffed that water melon smell from him (kind of wired), took it as a responsibility for her to get rid of Shelly Stalls (Shelly Stall once thought herself as Bryce’s girlfriend). Only a girl with a crystal clear and intelligent mind does dare to love and to hate.

Be the change you want to see in the world. That was classic Juli. Salmonella poisoning was the reason why the Loski refused to eat Juli’s eggs-for-free. But where salmonella started? They thought it came out from the Baker’s yard full of turds and messy bushes. Then how Juli changed her world after knowing it? She hatched a heavy undertaking-fixing up her yard by trimming messy braches, building up fences, buying weeds, watering new saplings. By the way, Bryce granddad’s help made lots of sense.

What I envied most is that she has a struggling but warm and positive family. A father kept taking care of his retarded brothers for a long time. A mother tried hard to meet ends meet. They were a pair of kind, responsible parents, who would say something good about each other to their daughter even when they just finished a combat. Two dream-chasing brothers struggled on their music road. When fall down, get up rather than give up.

There is nothing good about Bryce and his family? Definitely not. You can find it yourself when reading.

Besides, Could there be some activities like “The Basket Boys” in my future life? Bidding a dreamed boy to share lunch together must be exciting and enjoyable!

Bidding is in progress:
Minimum bid is fifty RMB. And the sky is the limit.
“Do I hear fifty?”
“Fifty!”
“Fifty-two!”
”Sixty!”
“Sixty going once. Sixty going twice. Sold to Sunny for sixty RMB”

Actually, it could be awkward when no one bids you. I once took part in an activity of an NGO. A girl selling her 24 hours was being bid. At first, nobody raised his hand, so she made a more detailed clarification about the benefits. After a while, finally, there was a hand raised up. I think if you are under bid, it would be better to ask your friend to bid you in case of no biding at all!