By Ben Philippe
YA novel
My Synopsis:
Teenaged Black French Canadian Norris Kaplan has to move to Austin Texas after his parents’ divorce. He hates everyone and everything until he kinda doesn’t maybe? Cheerleaders, jocks, romance, the whole high school shebang you see in every teen movie only without the lame-o soundtrack trying to make you sing along. (Or vomit)
Why I picked up this book:
Continue reading “The Field Guide to the North American Teenager”
By Cynthia Kadohata.
A book review and commentary.
This young adult story takes place in 1975 in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. I wanted to read it because I have a fascination with history and untold truths and because I highly admire elephants. While I did enjoy the story, I couldn’t help wonder about it being categorized as young adult. The tale is told from a 13-year-old’s perspective, but it is in wartime with unsettling truths and hardships. This book not only tells an interesting story of a young Vietnamese dealing with war in his village but also stirs up other questions about how we educate and broaden the minds of our children. Continue reading “A Million Shades of Gray”
By Chris Kurtz.
At my last library visit, I found a gem of a book that was the one I thought I’d like least of all. The library only had one of the six books I was searching for so I had to browse for good stories instead. I picked up this book because it was small and I liked the illustrations. I read a few pages from the middle and decided I liked the tone. I read the book flap and thought, “This will be a typical cute story. Maybe boring but good for research.” (I write middle grade so I like to read middle grade) I was surprisingly incorrect. Continue reading “The Adventures of a South Pole Pig”
by Jessica Love.
Julián is a Mermaid is, for me, a book about why I love picture books. It’s a book about the innocence and imagination of children. It’s a book about love. Julián sees something beautiful on his way home and feels the urge, the need, to be as beautiful and magical. I’d say more but in case one of the 4 people who read this post actually want to read this book one day, I wouldn’t want to give anything away. I promise you it’s gorgeous on so many levels. Continue reading “Julián Is a Mermaid”
The Story Of a Girl and Her Monster By Jonathan Auxier.
This book has to be my favorite book I’ve read so far in 2019. I love history, I love kid lit, I love monsters, and I love mysteries. This was a perfect combination of all of these wonderful things. Not only that, I have always been fascinated with rooftops and chimney sweeps so this story is basically the story I should have written myself, but it didn’t come to me, it came to Jonathan Auxier. I am so glad it did. I enjoyed every bit of it.
Continue reading “SWEEP”
INGRID E FABER 