Brilliant Book Ideas for Everyone: ‘On The Come Up’ and ‘The Good Egg’

When a book becomes a movie, it’s always safe to say the book was better.

And that it’s probably one you’ll want to read.

This week’s literary picks from Anthony Ascione, of Brilliant Books in Traverse City, would be good reads for almost everyone.

‘On The Come Up’ by Angie Thomas

This book comes from an author whose previous work hit the big screen.

“Angie Thomas, who wrote ‘The Hate You Give’ (and) which recently turned into a movie, is getting all sorts of acclaim,” Ascione says. “This is her second book. It follows the story of Brianna, who is a black student at a performing arts school. She’s really into poetry, hip-hop, (and) she wants to follow in her father’s steps, who was a really well-known hip-hop artist who was shot when she was a child… there’s an incident at school where the two security guards treat her very, very roughly and throw her to the ground and accuse her of being a drug dealer. All she has in her bag is candy. And so she writes a rap about that. She uses her art to express her frustration…Every person should read this, especially for black history month. It’s always a great time.”

‘The Good Egg’ by Jory John and Pete Oswald

A children’s book shouldn’t just be for the child.

It should enlighten and entertain the adult reading it.

Here is a darling option everyone can enjoy.

“Jory John also wrote a book called ‘The Bad Seed,’ which is also very, very popular,” Ascione says. “It’s about a sunflower seed that is not so well-behaved, but wants to be better. This book is about an egg who is a very, very good egg. All he wants to do is make sure all the eggs in the carton are also good. But the pressure starts causing him to crack, so he has to learn to take things easy and maybe not be so obsessed with everyone doing everything exactly at all times and maybe learn to have a little fun along the way. It’s another very cute one, the illustrations are adorable. I love how all the eggs have different personalities, they all have names. You really feel like it’s a real universe that they’re in even though it’s set in an egg carton at the grocery store. And I love the super endearing egg character. Everyone wants to try to be a good egg, but it can be very hard, and that’s a fun lesson of Jory John’s.”