Kate Mester

2.5 No plot to speak of, other than a TBC at the end, but we met the parents and that was fun, including Ripley's famous Abuela. These are all starting to feel like filler and that's a bummer because they're so stinking cute.

Really well done and incredibly well-researched. The end notes explaining his research and choices were so additive. I knew some of this story but not all, so Backderf's research helped to fill in my knowledge gaps, making it easier to draw continued modern parallels to how this massacre happened. I appreciated that he spent a lot of time giving voice to Bill, Sandy, Allison, & Jeff and also included information about the other students who were shot. As a warning, the scenes of the shooting are very realistically graphic. This would be good for upper highschool to adult and would pair well with Deborah Wiles' audiobook of her novel-in-verse, Kent State.

Some stories worked better than others, but even with different authors and artists, the Lumberjanes are always just fun

I'm usually bored by revolutionary war stories, but the magic of Sheinkin is he can take a normally historically boring story and turn it into a thriller. He wasn't as successful here as his never works (most particularly Most Dangerous), but it was interesting. I'll consider it background learning before seeing Hamilton!

Unfortunately did not like the art in this one, way off from the brand style and therefore distracting and detracting. The story was cuteish, think maybe it's time to wind these down on a high note.

Highly underwhelming, and the audiobook didn't redeem it. I almost quit half way through, but decided to stick with it just in case it got better. Despite really like Tamki's graphics, it sure didn't get better. The plot, in that there was any, was predictable and pedantic, Monty was written like an angry 12 year old despite being 16/17, there was a lot of girl-on-girl hate, much of which was unwarranted, and her character was highly unlikeable but not in a redeemable or understandable way. Will not be recommending to students.

Wish the art didn't change for coda chapter, liked the style there less. Some of the writing is getting lazy but the central ideas are still sound.

Penultimate volume, felt rather bloated. We've traveled 10 other volumes, let's get to the reveals!

Mehhhh, these have definitely lost the plot and much of the charm, which is a bummer

Story by about Trombone Shorty is interesting, but what makes this 5 stars is Collier visual interpretation of TS's life and music. I heard that the detail that set last year's Caldecott committee over the edge was the piece of tape on Beekle's crown - so innocent and poignant. Here, it must have been the spread with TS's friends holding their cobbled instruments. Collier has given all the boys hovering translucent crowns. It made me gasp, its such an arresting image and artistic interpretation of the story.

Teens (and adults) will LOVE this book! He covers the history of men's and women's basketball while serving an exciting through line story of the Bishop O'Dowd High School 2014-2015 baseketball season (I teared up at the last game, he builds such realistic excitement and emotion), offers a window into many of the main high school player's lives, and frames the story with his own meta-moments about his writing process (not sure as many kids will connect to this piece but some will and adult readers definitely will) and how his storyline decisions and who/what he includes will affect the reader. The only downside is it's a brick of a book, at 430+ pages hardback, and that visual thickness might initially put some kids off, but booktalking this will be an easy sell and kids will definitely feel accomplished that they've tackled such a thick book, and then spread the love on to other kids! Will definitely need to purchase multiple copies.

Wow. Crushingly beautiful in every aspect - the portraits, the use of colors for their dream stories, the free verse, the intentional naming. Deserves a spot in every elementary library collection.

This needs to be paired with Game for Swallows for full context. I like that this book was a generalized quick snapshot of Zeina's life during the war and a little bit of how it shaped her after. We see some of the same community members again - Chucri & Ernest - and meet a few others like Mr. George that helped her family daily.

Good continuation of the series. Patti was a solid character in Ghost and her expansion story was fully realized. Didn't like it as much as Ghost, but maybe that was because it lacked some of the dramatic zing. Still very well written and very real and relatable.

Another SS bookset graphic. A quick but surface history of the DDR (I learned what that was!) and East/West Berlin through the lens of the author's parents. A really quick read and a good starting point for teens for this area of history. The art was simple but effective.

Even with giving myself a little refresh of the plot from the first two, there were lots of plot threads here that didn't make sense or weave into any larger story. Have always liked the weirdness and Ba's art, but this felt needlessly scattered.

This improved upon Leviathan. The plot was more interesting and faster paced and the slang wasn't as grating (or maybe I was just used to it).

Heartfelt and real. I appreciated the framing story of Joel as an adult now asking his son about a fight. I liked his visual style and it marries really well to his text. Fights has real appeal for upper MS and HS, get multiple copies.

Beautifully written and moving. Framing the story around her cat Maci (Bosnian for cat) that was her emotional guide throughout the war while she was a teenager will really resonate with the teen audience. She doesn't shy away from the true horrors and brutality trying to survive during a war/genocide and I appreciate that she was so vulnerable and honest to share her personal experiences. Front and back matter give context to the Bosnian war and her writing process. A unique perspective on a conflict and human experience that I learned more about and know readers will as well.

The colors were gorgeous and the message good but this wasn't subtle and had some clunky dialogue. A good book if you need kids to clearly understand theme!

Funny middle grade feminist take down of princess stories. Adrienne's skewering of the first prince to call her fair had me lol'ing. A definite must add to any MS GN collection.

Liked that the art was done in greens/blues/grays with the exception of Mera's hair. Think middle/high schoolers will like this even without knowledge of the Aquaman universe (I have none of that) because it's about defining a sense of self outside of parents and cultural expectations. I do find that, like with many superhero origin stories, you just have to suspend disbelief and want of plot sense to go with what's happening.

3.5 A reviewer called this 25% Spiderman 75% Jason Reynolds, and that's highly accurate. Lot to love here, and an easy booktalk for teens (our holds list is already long after only 2 talks), but it's not my favorite JR. All the great hallmarks, though: Real characters, complex racial/socio-economic issues, great portrayals of friendship. I'd read more in the series to see where he takes it. As for the audio, though I liked Guy Lockard for his other books, he does a HORRIBLE job with a few voices here. First one by him I had some trouble listening to.

I adore this series, it's consistently smart and sassy and sweet and hysterical. The audiobooks are a real treat. Hope Turnage keeps giving us more tales of Mo & Dale. Have recommended this series to upper ES/lower MS and kids always love it.

Interesting, weird, and at times annoying (especially Cullen's habit of starting most of his thoughts with, “when one is...”), this would have to be matched up with the right kind of high school/8th grade kid, most lkely a boy. I've matched it with one odd-duck (in the best way) 8th grade boy who liked it alright and one high school boy who really didn't connect with it at all. I can see why it won awards from adult reviewers, I just think it'll be a hard sell to the intended audience (actual teen readers), and the book trailer that was aiming for mysterious but landed on pointlessly absurd doesn't really help.