Kate Mester
It took a bit for me to get back into the world, but when I did I really appreciated how Older grew this book beyond magic and spirits to show how school for teens of color often feels like an incarceral experience. I enjoyed Sierra's character and family growth and continue to appreciate how the idea of magic in this book is inextricably linked with family history and love for elders. A solid continuation that teens will continue to enjoy. Plus, Izzy's raps were great, and again, Anika Noni Rose KILLED the audio!
Surprised this was published by Scholastic's Graphix, becuase it is solidly YA and not MG. Really apprecited how his art told the story as much or more than the text and his adding in explanations of how he conceived of the art and his choices. He's brutally honest with his family, and you fall in love with a grandmother that's an alcoholic and abusive but also incredibly loving and caring. His is a complicated story and I appreciate his sharing it with readers.
Narrators did such a great job giving life to the characters. So beautifully written, I wanted to continue spending time with Benji and Red. Will be happy to learn more about Cooter and Elijah in Elijah of Buxton.
Really liked how the story focused on a few main siblings of the 13 Turners but also journeyed back into vignettes about Francis and Viola and how their relationship to each other and to the house shaped the family. Flournoy truly makes this family live and breathe.
Gorgeously colorful and fluid illustrations that move with the poem and add to it's verbal liveliness. Not enough back matter to truly know more about this real-life drummer, but an uplifting tale beautifully rendered.
I can't really say I enjoyed this, as enjoyed isn't the right word. I found this book well written, interesting, and compelling, and Aza had a unique voice and perspective. The John Green hyper-literate verbal teen trope was still in effect, along with a few zany plot points, but the central premise was interesting and thoughtful and personal.
A quiet but lovely book. Definitely recommend the audio as it really enhanced the experience to hear the authentic Farsi. I appreciated the matter of fact discussion of depression as an illness like all others and the work Khorram's doing to destigmatize the diagnosis.
The premise and first half were so good, and the writing is great throughout, but the second half of the plot dragged with a lot of telling and overly wrapped up character connections. I was emotionally invested in Wash for almost all of the book, but the other two main characters didn't draw me in. Dion Graham's audio narration was excellent, but I switched to the book at the end to finish. I was so excited for this to be on next year's BOB list, I'm curious to hear what the kids will think about it.
Read like Printz-bait and felt very similar to other Printz books (And We Stay). Understand that it was meant to be atmoshperic and prose driven over plot, but I didn't love it. Will recommend it to kids and know a few who will love it.
I wonder if I've just aged out of empathy for the main character, and if teen me would have liked this more, since I went through such a Sylvia phase. The supporting characters were better than Jam. I suspected she was making Reeve up, and once the truth came, it just made me angrier at her privilege.
Fast moving and intricate and compelling for such a long book. Definitely on the upper end of YA with the content.
Good introduction to Braille and his work through lens of his childhood. Like that the Braille alphabet was included on endpages, but actually having some of the text in Braille would make a stronger book.
I just went to a few street lit sessions at the Black Caucus of ALA (American Library Association) that were truly fascinating, and Tyrell was one of the books the panel recommended for teens (since it's a much lighter version of true street lit). I think through the sessions my views on promoting street lit really changed. I can think of so many teens I would recommend Tyrell to, and I think I'll also try to read Booth's next book, Kendra.
The conceit of having Destiny narrate the book didn't work here like it did in Book Thief. Here the remove just made the story seem flat and I wasn't ever emotionally invested, even though horrific things are happening and I should have felt moved. She doesn't give the reader any time to know the characters before placing them in immediate danger. I have a teacher planning to use this for Lit Circles paired with Salt to the Sea, Refugee, How Dare the Sun, etc. and I'm curious to hear what the kids think about the story.
Good but overly long. Better than the breathless YA publishing oversell (claimed as the new Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor & Park) would have you believe.
SLJ warned me, but I did it anyway: Definitely don't get the audiobook, the narrator can't do accents at all and a few parts are almost unlistenable because of it. As reviews have said, the opener is a real breathless action movie scene, but the story downshifts from there, explaining events in reverse. Think it will be an easy sell for booktalks, but didn't personally love it. Interested to hear kid opinions!
Listening to the book, the breakout story of one character written in second person and then a few asides from Sherm was jarring and felt like an interruption. However, as the structure settled in, I thought the stories coalesced beautifully and it was a lovely tale of the growth and change of middle school female friendships. Stead's writing remains a true pleasure to read.
NC HS BOB has second book on reading list (which always drives me nuts) so need to read this first! Once the plot started going de la Pena really moved. Very realistic apocalyptic violence, with dead bodies and murder, etc. so certainly for older teen audiences. Other than Shy, the characters felt like stereotypical tropes, which is surprising coming from de la Pena. Think teens will be sucked into the fast pace and the ending is such a cliffhanger they'll want to read the second.
I can see why this won the Printz: for creativity alone. At the end, I honestly couldn't decide whether I liked it or not, but it was still a fascinating page turner where I was constantly impressed with Libba Bray's writing, language, and imagination. I wouldn't put it in a junior high (too many drugs, sex, and fucks) but I would surely give it to high schoolers, and recommend 8th graders to find it. This is a great getting-boys-who-don't-like-to-read to read book.
Probably a 2 1/2. The description of the circus was fun to read but the characters felt flat while the pace of the book plodded and her writing was repetitive in spots
Learned about many charities I hadn't heard of, and adding a few to my donate to/volunteer with list. Giving personal narratives introducing the work of all the organizations while consistently rooting the work around research and results was incredibly engaging and effective. Also, Olivia Wilde had a compelling audio voice.
The graphic format works well here, especially because the story is already such a standout and 20 years later is still so strong and relevant. Great update that will hopefully bring more teens to this powerful story. Will need multiple copies for the library.
His art is always enjoyable and the story was interesting, but I much preferred Hazel's character to Katie's. His aim of exploring the hardships of “adult” life would have been better served with a stronger, more likeable protagonist.
2.5 Not particularly well written with very little character development, especially with the secondary characters. Other books have done this and better. But, it's raw and real and there can't be enough books reflecting realistic experiences to teens in an unsanitized and everyday way, plus the cover is gorgeous, so it has saleability.
The audiobook was really well done, with the Broadway actors reading Evan & Connor & singing for Zoe. What listening to this made me realize, that I suspected from the play, is that I don't actually like the story. I enjoyed the Broadway spectacle and the songs, but I find centering Evan's story over Connor's kind of gross. The book, written by the authors who wrote the book for Broadway, give voice to Connor's side of the story more, but even that was not enough for me to enjoy this story a second time through.