4 stars A gorgeous book to immerse yourself in. Beautiful artwork, a captivating story, and wonderful lessons and messages. Reminiscent of Kay O’Neill‘s The Tea Dragon Society. Gentle fantasy with fantastic artwork. This book is so much more than pretty pictures and Xu accomplishes a lot with a relatively simple story. Sophie’s insecurity is easy to relate…
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3 stars Overall, a good collection of short poetry. Various topics are covered and themes quickly emerge including recognizing one’s worth and letting go of what hurts you. One issue I generally have with poetry of this nature is that the short format often fizzles out. Too often short poetry feels like the beginning of…
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3 stars I have loved seeing the recent flood of materials about Ada Lovelace and was excited to find a picture book among them. Hers is a fascinating story. The combination of creativity and original thinking with an interest in math and science makes for some truly remarkable accomplishments. I really enjoy learning more about…
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5 stars Absolutely hilarious! I usually have a poker face when I read but this one had me grinning and, at times, even laughing out loud. Loved Fahmy’s style of humor and the way she pokes fun at various issues to bring them to light (stereotypes, misconceptions, ignorance, lack of representation, microaggressions, racism, etc.). There’s…
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4 stars A fascinating non-fiction picture book about the life and work of Margaret Lowman, aka “Canopy Meg”. The book gives an overview of her childhood, education, scientific discoveries, and conservation work all while providing interesting facts about the rainforest and animals/plants that live there and quotes from Canopy Meg herself. The illustrations are beautiful,…
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3 stars A good collection of poems on a variety of topics formulated to follow a fairy tale arch. Topics covered include family, romantic relationships, breakups, love, self-harm, eating disorders, and abuse. There are a lot of hard topics in this book, but also many points readers can relate to and empathize with. For me,…
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3 stars A cute story that shows how friendship transcends personality type. Peter and Ernesto are two very different sloths. Ernesto is curious and wants to find adventure. Peter is more reserved, but also kind and brave when someone needs help. The two sloths go on their own journeys and learn a lot along the…
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5 stars An absolutely fantastic read. Right from the start, the story begins with a powerful basis. One that is sadly relatable for many in America. When presented with an assignment to “trace your roots” and draw the flag of her ancestral land, the narrator is unable to do so. She goes to her grandmother…
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5 stars Jaw-droppingly beautiful. A stunning, heartwarming story about family, love, and acceptance. This book was a pleasure to read. As soon as I finished, I wanted to pick it back up and do it all over again. I find when I really love a book, my review tends to be short. This is one…
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2 stars I really wanted to like this. I’m fascinated with the various iterations of Barbara Gordon. After absolutely hating that notorious scene in The Killing Joke, I was interested to see how a teenage Babs would become Oracle. The story omits the Joker plotline (thankfully) and instead gives a vague story about interrupting a…
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