Lila Danisa

Though the title is "The Boy Who Asks a Gazillion Whys", the main focus discussed in this book was about gravitation. Which was completely fine but I just thought the book would answer some "whys" kids frequently asked, especially STEM related.

The analogy of gravity giving us hug was surely excellent. My son understood it better than any explanations he had heard about gravity before.

However, to be frankly honest, we (my son and I) were not the fans of the illustrations. They were more like animation and kinda overwhelming for our eyes.

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"Not every question has an answer yet. That's why we need curious minds like yours."

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This book smoothly encourages the (young) readers to keep asking questions, no matter how silly they may sound. This point was also what I adored the most from this book. I want my son to keep his curiosity and freely ask questions like the boy(s) in here.

Thank you to Barbara Pinke and NetGalley for the ARC.

What a great book to teach little ones about good oral hygiene! What make it even better was the using of dinosaurs terms which most kids like (or scared) and made it easy to understand, at least for my 5 years old son.

The storyline and the words used in this book were easy and fun to read. My son especially loved the adapted names of the dinosaurs that suit perfectly with the importance of brushing your teeth and the analogy of go to the dentist as catching those dinosaurs (or dinomites) was also so creative.

The last time my son went to the dentist (in January 2026) he still uncomfortable sitting by himself, but this book made him excited to sit by himself next time he has dentist appointment (July 2026).

Thank you to Nat Gibson, Gibaria Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

LOL that was funny! Randomly funny to be exact 😅🤣

The story and the characters were so random. They were effortlessly and innocently funny. Weird but still make sense. I really can't explain it, but the randomness in this book was somehow make sense.

The illustrations were super cute. I don't know nothing about illustration styles but this one reminded me of doodles. Street art doodles to be specific.

Personally I think that the black, pink, and white as the only colors in the illustrations were so refreshing. Fit perfectly with the absurb-ness of the story and the characters too.

When I finished reading this book the first time, I thought that this book was safe for my 5 years old son. So I read this book to him and he also liked this book. He found the story funny too. At the end of the story, he said that maybe he also has wolves within him like Jake. He wants to control those wolves so it wouldn't explode and hurt someone else.

Thank you to Michael Grover, Astra Publishing House, TOON Books, and NetGalley for the ARC.

The ending argghhhhh!!!! Give me volume 2 now!!!!!

I watched and loved Marsupilami cartoon so much when I was little. I remember every Sunday morning, me and my sister patiently waiting for Marsupilami on national TV channel. Safe to say that watching Marsupilami cartoon is one of my core memories. That's why I was so intrigued by this book. And what a different the story was between the cartoon I know and this book.

Personally I loved the storyline so much. I hated that François, his mother, and Longtail (the Marsupilami) had really tough life, but the storyline that brought them together was so well delivered albeit sad and heartbreaking. I really can't wait to read the next volume because the ending in this book was totally a cliffhanger. I curious on how the author would turn the story around and I really hope François, his mother, and Longtail got their deserved happy ending.

The illustrations were superb. I loved them so much. Perfectly fit with the gritty storyline and the background time of 1950s.

Thank you to Zidrou, Oni Press, Magnetic Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was fun!

Brume reminded me so much of Masha from Masha and The Bear (Russian preschool animated comedy series). Like Masha, Brume so energetic kid. She was annoyingly cute and (over) confident.

This book is the second volume of Brume adventure. Despite me have not reading the first volume, I caught up with the storyline easily.

For me the storyline was good and adventurous, percent for young readers. However, I spotted one big plot hole. At the beginning, Brume said she couldn't read. But in the library, she perfectly could read one of the book. Even my 5 years old son spotted that plot hole when I read this book to him.

The ending has open-ending which indicates more adventure for Brume. I definitely would love to read more of them.

Thank you to Jérôme Pélissier, Astra Publishing House, Hippo Park, and NetGalley for the ARC.

To be really honest, I needed to reread this book like 3 times and looked for underlying meanings and messages before I read this book to my 5 years old son. Because this book was so metaphorical with deep messages. I am 31 years old woman was having hard time to decipher the underlying contexts, really curious how 5 to 8 years old take on this book since this book target audiences are those in that age range.

As for my own 5 years old son, he found difficulty understanding this book. I encouraged him to discuss what his opinions about the story. We reread this book so many times to finally aligned his takes on the story with mine. We concluded that this book mainly quest was to not hold anger. You definitely can get mad at someone and/or something but you need to let it go in healthy ways so it's not eating you up from the inside. My son and I also believed that this book wants us to freely express what we feels.

I am not 100% sure whether what we (my son and I) think about the story and its messages are correct or not. This book was actually (really) hard to understand, even for me. Maybe it's just my comprehension that not in right level to understand this book. Either way, I definitely will reread this book in the future (with my son, of course) to get better understanding on everything going on in this book.

The illustrations were giving painting vibes. Full of soft colors that frankly kinda gloomy (and sad) for children books.

This book definitely is not the kind of children books I usually read to my son. But it was actually fun reading experience since this book opened up long discussion with my son.

Thank you to Beatrice Alemagna, Astra Publishing House, Hippo Park, and NetGalley for the ARC.