Court
Oh Sonia thank you for writing something that encourages curiosity and can help kids see themselves (or their family & friends) and assert themselves.
All kids belong in the garden of the classroom.
I don't love that she used Autism Speaks, but I don't see any harm in this book. I also see in her acknowledgments that her brother is a doctor so I looked him up to find out that he specializes in asthma and allergies.
Topics she covers: diabetes, asthma, nut allergy, autism, Down syndrome, ADHD, Tourette's, a kid who uses a wheelchair, blindness (a kid who has a guide dog and another who uses a cane), deafness, dyslexia, stutter
I like how she connected the topics by asking questions.
Terms I needed to look up and their meanings, because I didn't realize the author had a glossary in the back:
Nikkei: of Japanese lineage (literally) and often used to refer to Japanese people who emigrated from Japan and their descendants
Nisei: a person born in the US or Canada whose parents were immigrants from Japan
Issei: first generation Japanese immigrants to countries in North America and South America
(Thanks Wikipedia for spelling this out for me: issei are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are nisei (ni, “two”, plus sei, “generation”); their grandchildren are sansei (san, “three”, plus sei, “generation”). )
I think it's interesting – fitting – that the main character has a Japanese first name with an American last name while many that she is surrounded by have American first names and Japanese surnames.
This made me cry. I have a soft heart for this period of history. A building in my hometown has a plaque talking about how the building was returned to the Japanese family after their period of displacement. I regret what my country did out of fear and incensed that it then has the nerve to turn around and use it to support the model minority myth.
I really liked how Kiku talks to her mother after her experience and puts her experience into action.
This was well written and I like the art.
Only one little thing niggled me: this teenager in around 2016 had a grandmother who was a teenager in the early-mid 1940's. Huh, I dunno how that generational math works. But it helps a little that the book mentions that Kiku's mom was the youngest of four and I guess it's possible that Kiku's mom had her later in life but it does stretch my suspension of disbelief as she dropped out of college in the 70's and Kiku is born around early 2000's. It doesn't matter to the story, it's just something I had to get out of my brain
3.5?
The art and atmosphere were fantastic. Charlie's character was great. Yet, the story feels like it's missing something or that I missed something.
I'm fine with ambiguity, but I would have liked more of Astrid and how and why she had this connection with Charlie. Had they known each other when they were really little, did Astrid have a crush on her?
I loved listening to Mel Brooks talk about his life. I think he hits all the right things and has good pacing and organization. The story about the first names sounded familiar. In 2017 I had listened to it as part of [b:Laughter Therapy: A Comedy Collection for the Chronically Serious 57459837 Laughter Therapy A Comedy Collection for the Chronically Serious National Public Radio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616163104l/57459837.SX50.jpg 89967748]. Early in the book I loved hearing about how he had seen a Frankenstein movie and how he was afraid to sleep with the window open. So his mother explains to him that the monster would have to travel all the way from Transylvania and that once he got to their house he'd be much more likely to eat the people on the first floor. In addition to being funny and interesting I enjoyed hearing about some of my favorite movies and actors – Gene Wilder warms my heart and Madeline Kahn is amazing. It was a great mix of familiar and novel as I know some of Mel Brooks' movies (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Men in Tights, Space Balls) but not others (High Anxiety, Silent Movie). I'll probably end up seeking them out eventually. 2,000 Year Old Man is brilliant and my father and I most frequently quote the Fifteen Ten! Commandments! bit when we have dropped something. Since Mel is talking about his childhood and his projects that were part of my childhood and young adulthood the whole thing is tinged rosy. It made me want to talk to the people I had enjoyed the movies with, mostly my dad, my husband, and theatre friends. It also made me want to sing or listen to some of my favorite musicals. For me this was a good mix of personal and private life. I saw some other reviews that mention he omits his first marriage and doesn't talk about his kids much. I liked how he spoke of Anne Bancroft and loved hearing about his childhood and army days.
The art is fantastic. I love the various palettes, the dynamic layouts and sense of motion, and that each setting feels like its own.
However, I lacked sympathy for Gloopy. He was annoying, he felt inconsistent, and I don't know what he added to the story. I get that Bloom needs a companion mechanically as it gives him someone to talk to, helps with his character development, and gives him a foil. But ugh Gloopy.
Loved how ‘they' was used for Bee's pronouns and is asked if they're Bloom's parent.
I also loved at the end the changing of the pronoun I vs we.
The concepts and topics of being an outsider, being lonely/being a friend, community, taking care of others was addressed.
I have mixed feelings about the pacing. After the initial establishment of Bloom and Bee's world and then of Goopy's it becomes a frenetic crash into and out of various settings often in a state of chaos. Part of this is wonderful, it's exciting, but here's the mixed part you, like the characters, don't know what's going on. How/why did they change settings? Was it the necklace, if it was the necklace did it ever do that when Bee had it? It seemed random (even convenient) for their shift into another place.
4-5
I'm unsettled on the score, haha
This is a bundle of so many things that I like and a few little nit picks
I enjoy Odenkirk's voice. So much so that I'm tempted to rate this a 5 to help the algorithm tip anything else Odenkirk might narrate my way.
Love the mix of biography and philosophical thought.
I loved hearing his admiration for comedy and his willingness to explore other things. Bob Odenkirk's is not one note and that makes me happy.
I appreciated the perspective of the skit writer as I more frequently hear from the stand up or essayist. I liked hearing about SNL, Odenkirk's sejour was not without unpleasantness but he takes lessons from his experience.
I also love Monty Python (looking for John Cleese's book Creativity)
Do I have the correct idea of who Andy Dick was? Eh after briefly double checking, I do have the correct idea. Comedians aren't always admiral people. I need to get over my bias — I also don't love Sarah Silverman but I don't need to in order to hear about Odenkirk's anecdotes.
I find it somewhat interesting the cohorts that celebrities, especially those with a comedic bent, form. So I like when the author names off other people and familiar things.
I love the section where Offerman discusses mental health, addressing anxiety and reaching out to trusted others.
I very much appreciate Offerman acknowledging his privilege throughout the book.
UCSC is my alma mater so I loved how he talked of the forest of a city that captured my heart.
The joke about a specific set of bird species at the farm in the UK, I thought was hilarious. I also have a soft spot for cows and loved the whole chapter about the UK farm.
A fun, slice-of-life travelogue. Which is enhanced by knowing most of his of children's books. I hadn't realized that Willems wrote for Sesame Street, but the back flap says he's a six-time Emmy Award winner for it.
I haven't traveled nearly as extensively as Willems, but I have been to Thailand. Touching down in Bangkok, then traveling by sleeper bus down part of the peninsula. It was fun to see some of the overlap of our experiences about 20 years apart. I had also been there during the king's birthday, Willems talks about candles, we sent off lanterns.
I love the characters and the setting, I love that it didn't take itself too seriously, and it struck this fantastic balance of cozy (a divorcée graphic designer, a stylish barista bestie, in a small town, with a cat, a beloved uncle, references to Bambi and Narnia, etc.) and creepy that slides to horror and back.
The only drawback was the pacing, but that just might be the nature of the genre.
I also wished that Kara (LOVED her nickname of Carrot!) had investigated the otter carving a little sooner, but she got there.
Read at: https://getinkspired.com/en/story/1246/another-terrible-thing/
I think that the snippets such as ‘40_Stories_Final.indd 28 6/18/12 5:38 PM Another Terrible Thing 29' (that occur four times) are perhaps errors. Either way it broke the cogency.
I feel like this had potential, it had pathos and emotionality, characters that were well crafted in a short amount of time, and held my interest. I just kept waiting for it to go somewhere. It's very possible that I completely missed something; a twist, a point, an ending. It just feels like a scrap of a story.
I love the concept of spine poems but not the execution.
My relationship with poetry can be kinda iffy. I don't feel like two lines is a poem, feels like a fragment. Some of the quotes and factoids were fascinating, others were seemingly random —although it's entirely possible that I just missed the connection — while others still just weren't interesting and come off as ‘filler'.