Fiona

Mayor Moe, an orange-coloured fathead with the chin of Donald Trump, repeatedly tramples on the rights of local citizens by putting his own desires first and has to be berated back into line by the rest of the city council, mostly Councillor Bug (who looks like a cross between a helicopter and Fred Flintstone's little green alien) and her shrieks of, “That's not fair!” At the end of each tale, there are discussion questions about the specific right that was trampled.

While the content is not terribly clever and the illustrations rather cutesy, the is a useful vehicle to launch discussions not only about civic rights, but also about democracy and the people we choose to represent us.

Thank you to Kids Can Press for the free review copy.

I really struggled to get into this book. Its mostly a panegyric about the iMfolozi nature preserve and nothing really happens. The bits where Mbatha shares stories of his own life are interesting but there's not enough of them to push the narrative along. I agree with the author that nature's awesome and I would much rather enjoy it first-hand than read about it.

Thank you to the publisher who sent me a free copy for review.

Cute and well-executed but not terribly memorable.

This is a sequel to Red Fox Road (which I have not read) and while this novel passes the test of being easily understandable on its own, I found myself struggling to care about Francie cause she has such an immensely heavy backstory. The pacing is glacial and the story is more character-driven than the premise promised; there's far too much set-up and waiting for things to start happening. I would recommend this to anyone who was really into the first book but I wouldn't expect it to tempt a new reader.

Thank you to Tundra Books who sent me a lovely free copy of the finished book for review (I'm sorry I didn't like it more).

Begins with a screed about the failures of modern medicine, touches briefly on information sourcing and the power of crowds (which was what I was here for but it was brief and barely scratched the surface) then proceeds to advocate for eliminating grains and offers a bunch of recipes. Deeply diappointing and not what was promised by the title.

Superb. Freeland composes an exciting biography balanced on the precipice of the horrors in Auschwitz.

This is marketed for fans of Captain Underpants but its nowhere near as good; its absurd but not actually funny. Definitely will not be bothering with the rest of this series.

Just as good as Brusatte's first book. I'm glad he took an interest in mammals so I could enjoy more of his writing without having to hear about dinosaurs again. Highly recommended.

I usually eschew ebooks but my impatience to know how the trilogy ended put paid to that. The final volume did not disappoint, delivering another fast-paced, beautifully illustrated adventure. Now to read everything else this author has done...

An easy read because it's so entirely predictable. All the standard tropes are here and Deibel uses them to decent effect. The pacing is good and characterization is simple. Overall, people who enjoy this sort of thing (Christian romance) will enjoy this but it's not my bag and if I'd realized how much god-bothering was in this I would not have requested an ARC. I was curious to read historical fiction set in Ireland but there was very little history, much to my disappointment; I appreciated the use of Gaelic however.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Simultaneously hysterically funny and enragingly sexist, these comics are the product of thier time. I am glad that I didn't grow up during that era of sexual assault and casual misogyny.

A bit slow to start but a great story about a kid in the midst of cancer treatment. Harrell doesn't skimp on the icky details which makes the health stuff ring true in a way most books for middle grade don't manage. Highly recommended but I would have liked an author's note clarifying how much of the tale is autobiographical.

A great read with lovely characters but I'm feeling pissy about the ending; I would have read the next one anyway but I hate being obliged by cliff-hangers.

I didn't care for the artwork but this was a fascinating look at life in China from the cultural revolution to the present.

I like this original incarnation of Harley and how pg-13 it is.

Not nearly as enjoyable as 84 but it was satisfying to read of Helene finally making it to England.

Mostly an autobiography. The writer has a new theoretical treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and details her quest to come up with it. The book will be of interest to RA patients but, as somebody with a so-called autoimmune disease, I find little of interest here. The REAL puzzle of autoimmunity is why doctors accept the premise so willingly, instead of admitting they don't understand what is happening, and in the process, demonize the patient's immune response.

I liked the quasi-illustrated format; it makes the information very accessible. This book is really about propaganda in politics and focuses exclusively on US politics which is clearly a dumpster fire but I hadn't realized how it came to be that way so this was enlightening.

DNF. This book is really annoying me. I might just be in a mood but it all seems so formulaic and the characters are very stock, so when the protagonist is made a bad driver, I have to nope out. It's such a horrible cliché that women can't drive and makes the character unlikable, when I wasn't endeared by the narrative voice in the first place.

Having not read the first book, I struggled to get into this. The book is choppy and there's no segue between the floraverse and the real world, the characters are just there in the next chapter. I enjoyed learning about Anishnaabe culture and there are some clever concepts plot-wise but the writing is inconsistent, particularly Kinew's action scenes where there's a tendency to tell instead of show. I hope Wab keeps doing kids books because I'm quite sure he'll be turning out blockbusters with a little practice (and a more invested editor?) but this reads like the publisher put this out before it was ready because they knew the author's name would propel sales and I find myself disappointed by the result.

I received a free copy of this book for review.

Maybe it's just cause I'm not a dog person but I didn't love this the way I usually love Ibbotson's works. Still, an engaging and readable adventure.

Such a wonderful sense of time and place, and I do love how Ibbotson delivers such a pretty ending for all but the most beautiful thing about this book is the narrator's connections to other human beings. This is historical fiction that captures the time and doesn't project modern mores on the characters.

Adorable. Leo's is a sympathetically boring character and I enjoyed the messaging about not letting others' labels define us. The story trips along quite well with a strong sense of place and an humorous supporting cast. While it touches lightly on grief, this is a fluffy adventure and such elements are only to counterpoint the happy ending.

Thank you to Tundra Books who kindly sent me a copy for review.

Perhaps “brief” was intended as irony because this does not meet the definition at 504 pages; the visuals are archival photos and drawings (I was expecting a graphic novel-type format but I guess that's on me). This is basically a high school/college textbook full of detailed examples of anti-Jewish propaganda and incidents, with question-and-answer sections inserted at regular intervals. It is not, unsurprisingly, an entertaining read.

I received a pdf of this book from the publisher for review but I never request ebooks so I'm not sure how that happened.

I bought this book because it won the Sid Fleischman Humor Award; perhaps my standards are too high but I was hugely disappointed. There was only one part that was actually funny to me and the writing was a bit choppy (this definitely would have benefited from an extra round of rewrites).