conversations.from: human
conversations.value: a description for a book titled Crap Kingdom about Tom, Chosen, Kyle with the genre: Teen & Young Adult, Literature & Fiction
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Gr 7-10-Tom Parking figured his life was too normal for him ever to be whisked off to an alternate world like a character in a book or movie, much as that would please him. Then his estranged father shows up in the guise of Gark and takes him, via the used-clothes donation box, to an unnamed kingdom of salvaged junk to be their Chosen One. When the teen's reception by the king is less than enthusiastic and he winds up being assigned to the Royal Rat-Snottery to prove his worth, Tom decides to return home to consider his options. He focuses on trying to win the attention of beautiful Lindsy Kopec instead of trying to be the salvation of a "crap kingdom." But when his friend Kyle takes his place as the Chosen One, wins over the king, and acquires magical powers, Tom can't help but be jealous. To add insult to injury, the soul that inhabits Tom's body whenever he visits Kyle is the brave and confident type of guy he always wished he could be. Everything comes to a head when Tom is captured by an enemy king and forced into the army that is bent on destroying the unnamed kingdom. When his friend's life is in jeopardy, Tom discovers that there is much more to him than he has ever given himself credit for. Put this one on your list of good reads for guys.-Cary Frostick, Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first three paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Crap Kingdom
  He couldn't argue with her. She was a good mom. That was also a problem. Kids in movies and stories who ended up being the Chosen Ones had parents who were dead, or at the very least, awful. If they were alive, they spent that life locking you, their child, in closets. Tom's dad wasn't dead or awful. He was just in California.
  Why did she have to care so much? Couldn't she be just a little more neglectful? Couldn't the food she made be just a little colder or blander? Why didn't she ever snatch it away from him and fling it against the wall for no reason? She cared so much about him having the opportunity to go to a good college and find a satisfying career, but what about his opportunity to ride a winged beast at the head of a ragtag force of fantasy creatures battling tyranny in a faraway land?
  He turned his head and looked at his reflection in the mirrored door of his closet. Neither man nor beast nor shadow creature was going to pass through the mirror and spirit him away. The mirror was just a mirror and he was just a tenth grader and there was nothing remarkable about him in this world and that meant he'd probably never get to find out if there were any other ones.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about Tom's, trying, pulling.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Crap Kingdom
  He couldn't argue with her. She was a good mom. That was also a problem. Kids in movies and stories who ended up being the Chosen Ones had parents who were dead, or at the very least, awful. If they were alive, they spent that life locking you, their child, in closets. Tom's mom was single, but she was trying her best and pretty much pulling it off. Tom's dad wasn't dead or awful. He was just in California. 
  Why did she have to care so much? Couldn't she be just a little more neglectful? Couldn't the food she made be just a little colder or blander? Why didn't she ever snatch it away from him and fling it against the wall for no reason? She cared so much about him having the opportunity to go to a good college and find a satisfying career, but what about his opportunity to ride a winged beast at the head of a ragtag force of fantasy creatures battling tyranny in a faraway land?
  He turned his head and looked at his reflection in the mirrored door of his closet. Neither man nor beast nor shadow creature was going to pass through the mirror and spirit him away. The mirror was just a mirror and he was just a tenth grader and there was nothing remarkable about him in this world and that meant he'd probably never get to find out if there were any other ones.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: four more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: It hadn't gone poorly immediately. There was the afternoon where they made out, and they even got to make out a little bit when Tom was actually present in his body, which was great. Then they heard the garage door open.
  Tom gathered up the sixty or sixty-five cents that had fallen out of his pockets onto her bed, trying to do it in a manner that indicated he didn't care about sixty or sixty-five cents, that the money was meaningless to him but she was going to have to sleep there sometime, and she didn't want change flying everywhere, now did she?
  Going downstairs, Tom had to pretend like he'd seen her house before even though he actually hadn't. It was big and elegant, the kind of house people who buy each other Lexuses for Christmas in commercials have. Lindsy's father was in the kitchen, actually wearing a suit, actually setting down a briefcase. He was opening a bottle of wine when they walked through.
  He shook Tom's hand and invited him to stay for dinner but Tom declined, citing some awkward, poorly thought out combination of homework and a family obligation. If he'd been able to express the real reason, it would've been something like: I think your daughter will let me make out with her now whenever I want to so I need to leave now before I ruin it.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last four paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: They had come out of a cave onto the top of a grassy hill. Below them was a valley of tiered lakes, one flowing into the other, bodies of water stacked on top of each other, somehow defying gravity. Great arches soared into a golden sky. Stalactite palaces hung down from them, with floating gondolas darting between their upside-down towers. Everything seemed to be made of frozen honey that refused to melt in the ultra-brilliant sun.
  Had she followed them? What would she think? How would Tobe explain this? He hoped he told her the truth, whatever the truth was. There had been enough lying all around.
  Moments later, they were seated in the grass beneath the rich amber sky, and Tobe began. "Once, a long time ago, I was what's called the World-Finder General. It's one of the top positions in the All-World Federation. The World-Finder is in charge of finding new worlds that have not yet been made aware that there are other worlds out there, and peacefully bringing them into our organization. At least, that's how I did it. There have been other World-Finders who were more, shall we say, aggressive. And I like to think I'd still be doing it, but I made a mistake. I think you can sympathize with that."
  Tom didn't know where to start. But he knew that not knowing where to start should not prevent him from starting.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: They had come out of a cave onto the top of a grassy hill. Below them was a valley of tiered lakes, one flowing into the other, bodies of water stacked on top of each other, somehow defying gravity. Great arches soared into a golden sky. Stalactite palaces hung down from them, with floating gondolas darting between their upside-down towers. Everything seemed to be made of frozen honey that refused to melt in the ultra-brilliant sun.
  Had she followed them? What would she think? How would Tobe explain this? He hoped he told her the truth, whatever the truth was. There had been enough lying all around.
  Moments later, they were seated in the grass beneath the rich amber sky, and Tobe began. "Once, a long time ago, I was what's called the World-Finder General. It's one of the top positions in the All-World Federation. The World-Finder is in charge of finding new worlds that have not yet been made aware that there are other worlds out there, and peacefully bringing them into our organization. At least, that's how I did it. There have been other World-Finders who were more, shall we say, aggressive. And I like to think I'd still be doing it, but I made a mistake. I think you can sympathize with that."
  Tom didn't know where to start.