Review: Noggin by John Corey Whaley

Noggin

By: John Corey Whaley

Pub. Date: April 8, 2014

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Pages: 356

Source: Edelweiss

Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t.

Now he’s alive again.

Simple as that.

The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too.

Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.

Oh well, you only live twice.

I received this galley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Edelweiss and Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

I loved this book. I fell in love with absolutely everything. Noggin is so original and different then anything else out there. The writing was perfect and the characters, each and every one of them was written wonderfully. Each one was so relatable and fleshed out. I couldn't get enough of this book, which is why this review is so hard to write. I just want to gush about it and fangirl over it instead!

Five years ago, Travis was dying of cancer. He and his parents decided to try an experimental surgery which would freeze his head and maybe, 40 or 50 years down the line, his brain could be transferred to someone else's body. Turns out medicine advanced a lot quicker then anyone could have expected and now Travis is back, his head attached to a boy named Jeremy Pratt. Travis is still a 17 year old and he feels like he just took a nap, where his high school girlfriend is engaged to another man and his best friend has his own life in college.

Travis had the most realistic voice. Everything was so hard for him to deal with, but he handled everything in such a great way. Sure, some things he did was a little immature and his ex girlfriend and best friend would get angry. But Travis is still technically 17. For him, he took a nap and woke up to everything being different. His friends and family actually had to deal with his death, so him being back was equally as hard for all of them.

There were so many funny parts to this story, much more then I would have imagined. For being kind of a dark story, there was so much light. I think Noggin could be enjoyed by everyone because it is so much more than just a young adult book.

And that cover! The cover is just absolutely perfect and really captures the story perfectly!

This is my first book I've read from John Corey Whaley and now I can't wait to read his first book, Where Things Come Back!