Fiona
Schu explores story as: healer, inspiration, clarifier, compassion, and connector, and offers numerous books for each category. A great resource although I skipped over much of the discussion about specific books because I have too many books to read already and its just gonna result in me finding more books I want to read.
I expected this to be a graphic novel but it's more like a picture book. The plot is odd and I enjoyed the ending but the whole thing feels unpolished. But maybe that's because I was expecting another Zita the Spacegirl; as a picture book it's quite good.
The pacing and story arc of these little tales is rather inconsistent and the resolutions are sometimes unsatisfying. I quite enjoyed the one about the ugly policeman and it was fun to see Wodehouse write female narrators.
A sweet story about loss and connections. The characterizations are strong and the pacing is brisk, with short chapters so the tale doesn't get too bogged down in feelings (which my poor heart could not take right now).
I received a free copy of this book for review from the fine folks at Tundra Books.
Takes a long time to get going (the titular hero doesn't even make an appearance until 50 pages in) but the premise is marvelous and the array of characters make this amusing and delightful.
The plot is good and the resolution caught me totally off guard. But the writing is very heavy-handed; there is no subtlety to the storytelling and all the characters feel contrived. I don't see myself reading more from this author even though I would not call this badly done.
Sweet little story that trips along at a good pace. Definitely a book for kids who like books
Boring in a soothing kind of way, rather like Ford himself (apparently). While I appreciated this as primary history since Rumsfeld was there for these historical events, he is a shit writer and his modifiers are more than misplaced (“importantly” is not a word to be inserted willy-nilly into a sentence).
I was expecting hard core science but there's 50 pages of recipes and little new (to me anyway) research.
Pretty standard fare and it really lacks Pilkey's usual cleverness that I expect based on Captain Underpants and Dogman. Santat's illustrations go from picture book to comics for the action scenes which I liked and makes it a good option for younger readers.
Readable but pretty meh. I'm a fan of Porter and enjoyed hearing her political experiences but I get the feeling this book is more about making some extra ducats than having a message or story to tell. It's a bit disjointed and jumps around unexpectedly.
This could have been an enjoyable read but instead I spent two-thirds of the book wondering when the story I had been promised was going to start as the back of the book presents it as: in 1991, a girl from Dubai moves to Dartmouth with her family. The first third of the book takes place in Dubai, the second in Pakistan where they go to visit family, and the last third, the family finally (at long last!) arrive in Canada. I guess this is mostly autobiographical and a reflection of the author's own life but from a narrative perspective it just drags. That being said, Mona is an entertaining character; the book is basically The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole meets Are You There God? Its Me Margaret and its fairly amusing.
Thank you to Tundra Books who kindly sent me a free copy for review.
Opting out at chapter 6. I found Kavita annoying in the first book and I need soothing reads rn.
Explains things adequately but amateurish and in need of an editor. Far too many pointless asides and quotes from historical figures; this book would have been much more useful and accessible without such filler. The recipes are not terribly well-written either.
I liked the premise and message of this (i.e. fame is not as important as making people happy) and Megabat is a rather endearing character but the “bat language” really grated at me, especially the use of ‘kwirls' in the text like it was a real word.
Thank you to Tundra Books who kindly sent me a copy for review.
Very simplistic art but I liked its minimalism. More conceptual than narrative and definitely not my thing cause I like plots.
I wanted to keep an open mind but this is terrible and I have better things to do with my precious time. Lawton should have hired an editor for this self-published trash. DNF.
So I guess there's a sequel planned and I am so down for that.
Reread before starting the sequel: still a damn good read but I'm bothered by a bunch of little things, like how there's too many secondary characters to keep track of.
That proved quite clever at the end. I like these autobiographical type graphic novels especially when the characters are portrayed as the little assholes kids are at that age.
Adorably disjointed. I like how simple the illustrations are and the attitude of the protagonist and the facts about real sea creatures.