Kate Mester
Sweet and satisfying conclusion with some action and suspense. Highly recommend this duo to upper elementary or as a read aloud to kids 8+. Enjoyed both audio versions but would like to see his drawings, I'm sure they're additive.
Particularly loved the music in the first 30/last 30 mins of the audio. The narrator did a fantastic job with the voices, especially notable for her deepening and fleshing out Brightbill's voice as he got older. Like that Brown didn't go for the nearly-tied-up ending. Pure, sweet, feel good loveliness. Would like to see the pictures in the actual book, especially as that's what Brown's known for.
So whimsical and sweet. The tape on the back of Beekle's crown just tugged at my heart. Can definitely see why it won the Caldecott. A few of our schools picked it as the winner, they're so excited for Beekle!
HIGHLY recommend the audio book. The story is gorgeous and the audio narrator is so captivating. Loved Teddy's story even more than Ursula's. Atkinson can really spark magic in the mundane
Taylor excels at world building, and some of her prose is genuinely beautiful, but this book would have benefitted from an unflinching edit - at least a third should have gone. Satisfying ending, though considering how long the book was the wrap up and explanation for Eliza seemed rushed. Kids would really need to love this world and characters to stick with it all the way to the end of ~1500 pages.
Taylor does good fairy tale work and world building, but could certainly use a more persistent editor, as at least a 1/4 could be cut (especially character strands that were unnecessary and then totally forgotten). Not sure why audio narrator only gave 2 characters Borscht-beltish accents but didn't assign accents to anyone else. Listened at 1.5 speed to move it along.
He gave the male characters too many traits and interests and the lone female character, and love interest, was not given any traits or personality. After 5 of his books, I would say he struggles with writing female characters well. There was too much going on here and it took a long while to get over the initial silliness of proving how different Walt & Nate are and settling into a story. The abrupt turn at the end seemed to shock people. I saw it coming but it still felt unearned and the brother's character was unexplored. Think if PTSD/war/race trauma was where he wanted to go, then he needed to weed out at least one other element, either baseball, jazz, or the relationship advice/woohoo women. I'm not sure what kids are hanging in past the first few chapters to read this.
Very much enjoyed that Sonia did the intro herself and Rita Moreno as a narrator was a treat. I'm a little surprised that nowhere in her narrative, even when she was jumping out of time to analyze past events from her current perspective, did she talk about her father's & cousin's addictions as addictions, rather than as personal moral failings. Would certainly think, as smart as she is, that her perspective on that would change with age.
Took a while to get into, and not what I was expecting, but savagely beautiful by the end. Always helps to listen to it read by Toni herself.
Liked hearing him perform his own poems, but weirdly the audiobook was missing a few sonnets (??) so went back to the book. There are a few that I will want to read again, some really powerful pieces here.
Contains spoilers
3.5 I liked Shirin's voice, which felt so authentically angry and teenagery and I appreciated that Mafi set this book in 2002, especially because there are so many (terrifying) parallels to today's political climate. However at it's core it's a slow-moving teenage romance without much plot, so I didn't love it in general. The obsessive & consuming fascination with a new romantic partner person felt right for that age. Interested to hear BOB team opinion.
X got bars!!! Giving it the elusive 6th star. Was expecting to love it but was just stone blown away by it. Not a wasted word, such truth and clarity in characters (I KNOW these kids), and a gripping emotional arc. This story lives and breathes and will be air to the kids that need it. Must try to squeeze so many copies for the library from our tiny end of year budget. Brainstorming good pairings: Long Way Down, Gabi A Girl in Pieces, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, X, so many poetry books, etc.
Definitely my least favorite of her 3. I liked Leah's voice, and HS me would have identified with her a lot, but there isn't really any plot and it feels like a lesser copy of Simon but with bi-girl characters this time. Meh.
Strong 4.5. Thoroughly enjoyable Civil War alt-history/zombie invasion story with a KICKASS and hilarious heroine. Come for the amazing social/political commentary on zombies as allegory for race/immigrant relations, stay for the humor, action, and cliffhanger suspense. Note: For a zombie book the violence isn't graphic, with the exception of one scene where Jane gets a historically accurate punishment, it's really hard to read/listen to. My only (minor) quibble is that Jane's voice and expressions are modern, but that's also part of the fun. Excellent (as always) audio by Bahni Turpin who continues to amaze with her character voice choices.
Love another nuanced trip into Garden Heights. Bri is a great character, flawed and often unlikeable in her choices, but ultimately complexly loveable and wonderful, a truly REAL teenager. The family dynamics are great, as are the very realistic friendships. Thomas does GREAT character work with Aunt Pooh. The dialogue and songs are so accurate, Thomas has very few peers in that area. There were a few plot points that felt too easy (how would Supreme be able to take a minor to meetings/performances without parental permission?!) but overall very enjoyable. As always, strongly recommend the audio by the best narrator in the game, the true GOAT, Bahni Turpin.
Well done but even more tragic than I was expecting. Would like to know more about Ibi Zoboi's reason for writing this and her own story.
2 1/2 stars. I wanted to like this more than I did. Premise was interesting, and I liked the small call outs from others' perspectives, but nothing really happens and I stopped listening to the audio and just skimmed the book because it was relatively boring and the YOLO message was so forced. The characters were not particularly compelling and felt more like paint-by-diversity personality notes than real people. The set-up had potential, the ending was well done, but a nothing of a middle made for a boring reading sandwich.
Fun intro to RBG by millennial reporters. Tried the audiobook but then missed all the pictures and commentary on rulings, so got the book. Would be great in MS and HS libraries. Loved the small details about her life, those are the kinds of questions teens ask about people.
Overrun with relationship drama that gets repetitive, but the art forgery and spy plotlines were fun. The audio narrator makes these stories so much more compelling than the books, I'm just staying for the listening enjoyment.
An updated Holmes/Watson mystery that's fun but would work better if the characters were older and with some edits. Can't recommend without reservations because it's pretty problematic: Has date rape as a plot device, there's oxy use without any real consequences, and uses “spirit animal” unchecked.
Recommend audiobook so you can really hear the beauty in Woodson's writing. Such elegance and beauty on such emotional and occasionally traumatic topics. Teen girlhood so authentically rendered.
Sweet, diverse, and realistic, with the added bonus of a setting I know well. A real homerun of a sophomore book, with huge teen appeal. Would have loved this book 20 years ago, because highschool me surely would have identified HARD with Molly!
Utterly charming and so absolutely “teen”, with great and realistic secondary characters.
Marketed as a “body-positive” book but it's not close to that. Accurate small town representation and decent supporting characters, but nothing very fresh here.