jess

Tender, beautiful story of what it means to be family. Heartbreaking and sweet.

The magical realism of Simonopio lends wonder.

This middle grades book has some outstanding mythology and storytelling. Probably a good one to go through multiple times. Once to read and the next to enjoy the story already knowing the world and its gods.

There are a couple of plot surprises that readers might anticipate but are still satisfying.

The detail of this story is strong enough to bring the reader in without getting to weighed down.

As we rolled past the 43rd anniversary of this eruption, I read my first (extended) historical account of it in this book.

Largely, I thought this narrative was useful, informative, and gave insight that we don't hear often.

However, I didn't enjoy the actual writing. About a third of the book is a biography of the Weyerhausers, which is interesting, but feels unwarranted. Surely more of the text could have been used to help us readers get into the head of Governor Ray, who must have been quite a character.
In addition to that over extended or imbalanced attention, we get some tiny details about some of the people who perished that are completely unnecessary or do not propel their story forward.

I say, go ahead and read this. It is worth the few hours.

I didn't like this last book as much as the others, but there are a lot of interesting things happening.

What an exciting sequel.

I did not expect some of the things that Hank set out in the world in this book.

There are layers upon layers of how my mind was interpreting this book after I would set it down. Still now, writing this review months later, I can feel it. The characters grapple with big, big life questions in different ways. While we may not, yet, have Carl influencing our world, we do have the power to change our own stories. Yes, those stories are now influenced by the lightning-fast pace of communication and potential for massive communication for good or ill, but they are our stories nonetheless.

I don't think this book would make sense without reading An Absolutely Remarkable Thing.

These books are very on brand for Hank Green - a little technology and science, a little quirky, and a whole lot of optimism.