Kate Mester
4.75 The only thing I wish this book had was an map of who was who on the fabulous cover image. TLo does have an explainer post on their blog, but for the more casual reader who doesn't read their blog or will look this information up, this graphic would be helpful. I learned a lot more about queer history through the lens of the formulas, challenges, and tropes of RPDR. I always enjoy Tom and Lorenzo's unique voice and their takes and examinations of queer culture. For fans of RPDR but also for anyone interested in learning more about central queer figures and movements throughout the last century.
4.5 Thoughtful memoir about his years growing up, high school, and into college. I appreciated his frank discussion about his first sexual encounters and believe we need more of that for teens and especially queer teens. Will be a great mirror text for many kids, even if he did a little more telling than showing (though he did write manifesto in the title so this was intentional). I could definitely listen to stories about Nanny all day!
4.5 Used the same “something and something” writing convention as her first book, in this case to divide everything into Marvels and Oddities, but it worked much better here. Her characters and dialogue, plot, and style have all improved and jelled together. This book was really well done and the epilogue felt right and earned. It was a chaste romance but with a central focus of activism and speaking out against injustice while also thinking deliberately about making choices that feel right to you within your own culture. Think this will have a wide audience after booktalks and adding it to the potential BOB books list!
Meh. I felt compelled to finish it, but never thought it broke the surface, unlike the searing analysis of class and privilege she clearly intended it to be. The 90s setting really only served to make plot points convenient. I liked the jumping around in character perspectives but felt like overall I was told/led too much for this book to be that thought provoking.
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.
Really resonated as we're isolating as a community during a pandemic that everything can always be so much worse. I liked that everything took place on one night, adding even more tension and helping the reader understand the realities of living in a city in civil war. The only problem with this concept is that we don't learn much about the community other than quick snapshots. The art is gorgeous, intricate and expressive. Would be a good jumping off place for teens/adults learning about this conflict/living in war times in general.
Definitely lived up to the hype! I had only the most superficial knowledge about the Troubles before starting this, so I learned a great deal and was compelled to pause and spend some time looking people and topics up and reading more about the history of this time. I particularly liked the through line of the McConville case as the lens through which this history was viewed. Radden Keefe explains his research and writing process at the end, which I appreciated, and did well in giving people nuance while explaining their horrific actions and choices. The audiobook was well done, hope he reads for more books in the future.
Working through the graphic novel sets I have in the library for SS/ELA classes. Unfortunately I'm comparing this to some of the other graphic memoirs of family conflict/identity and it's not as favorable. Her art is technically fantastic and really striking, but that precision gives it a layer of remove and coldness that is also true in the story. This book seemed to want to be three things at once and none of them were fully realized: an exploration of her own relationship to her parents/childhood, an exploration of her father's history and what radicalized and ultimately killed him, AND an explanation of former Yugoslovian (Serbian/Croation specifically) history and conflict through the lens of her family. The sections are disjointed and lose momentum (but gain lots of text) when she takes you outside of her family history to explain the country history. The ending in particular is confusing, it's metaphorical and surreal and I think I understand it but even I'm not entirely sure, so that's going to leave students frustrated. I think there's a place for this in SS classrooms as students are studying world conflicts but be prepared to have some discussion time built in to handle potential student confusion.
The title definitely needed to be Algeria is Beautiful. The “...like America” part is a red herring, as America is mentioned in exactly one sentence and has absolutely nothing to do with this story. I wonder if this was a weird publishing choice for an English speaking audience. That's really the only flaw with this book, though. Olivia Burton writes so contemplatively and vibrantly about her search for her family ancestral homes and history in her visit to Algeria. The art by Mahi Grand is vibrant and warm and the panels change and flow to match the feel and sweep of the story, with pops of color shown through photographs, such a great visual device. Burton doesn't shy away from mining her family's complex and problematic history, and the first few chapters showing her growing into questioning her family's beliefs and worldviews, with looming wars and deaths referenced through haunting skeletons, are exquisitely done and will resonate with teens grappling with the journey of their identity as they form their own personal beliefs. Would be absolutely great in an ELA or SS classroom, so much to discuss from a personal and historical/politcal standpoint. Her story exposed a massive gap in my own learning and I had to stop frequently to look up information about Algerian history and the war, making it a great pairing in SS classes learning about world conflicts and colonialism.
Anika Noni Rose almost rivals Queen Bahni Turpin in her audiobook performance! She should definitely be narrating more books, she creates fully differentiated characters with tone, accent, and pacing, it's really impressive. I think I would have been a true 4 for this book if I had read it closer to finishing the 2nd book in the series, which I really enjoyed. Too much time had passed and it wasn't until about halfway through that I clicked back in. Characters are great, good to see the origin story of the Shadowshaping powers and tying everything back to the Puerto Rican homeland/El Yunque power narrative, but I didn't think he did a great job actually explaining why those powers fought against one another. His dialogue ranges from spot on to slightly cheesy, but the friendships and romance ring true. A solid conclusion to the series.
4.5 but I'll rate it as a 5 here. The audiobook is EXCELLENT - Acevedo reads Yahaira (I could listen to her perform the phone book) and Melania-Luisa Marte holds her own reading Camino. As a novel in verse, the performance of the verses really lends emotional heft. Acevedo's characters are always so alive and vibrant, and within the context of her story she always hits universal themes: family obligation and the meaning of family, whether it's through blood or choice, what it means to be a teenage girl in the world and how you express “femaleness” in varying ways, voices and who is represented and has a right to be heard. My only minimal critique is that I wanted just a bit more before the book ended. It built to the meeting of the sisters, and a dramatic confrontation between a lurking pimp and all the women in this new family, but I wanted just a bit more expansion of their lives intersecting before the end. I love that Acevedo built this story around a real incident of a plane crash that didn't receive the national attention it should have - I had never heard about it until now.
Took a loooooong time to read, especially now, but was a very satisfying ending. Had more heists and action than Six of Crows because the characters and world were already so well established. Everytime I felt it was too long I also found myself enjoying reading about the characters you know and care for, so I'm not even sure what she would have cut here.
Glad this wrapped in a duology and didn't drag to a trilogy - kept the energy, plot, and characters compelling. As always, Bahni Turpin's audio narrative was WONDERFUL and Jordan Cobb as Katherine really held her own. I really liked the dual perspectives and giving both Jane and Katherine their own intertwined plots. A very satisfying ending to such an enjoyable series. Badass feminist action with some grey area morals, serious fighting, & modern-paralleled race/class nuance. Now that it's not a BOB book, can't wait to booktalk our copies!
Though the central story line is a murder mystery, this is her most joyful book yet! At it's surface, it's a love letter to Brooklyn and 90s hip hop, but going deeper it's about friendships, survival, loyalty, and who has the right to make choices/have their voices heard (spoiler - everyone!). The audio narration is shared between 3 characters, and they were all great, especially the voice of Jarrell. As someone who was a teenager at this time, I loved the walk through nostalgia, but I think kids will enjoy the look into what is now history for them!
Told in an accessible and linear way and framed by Imani's own family history, this would be a good supplement to SS and APUSH classes. The drawings were really great and there's an almost overly exhaustive glossary of terms at the end. Also, one of the most succinct/easiest to understand explanations of redlining I've seen. Just that passage alone would be worthwhile in a class.
I had high hopes for this one, coming from a clipping song and read by Daveed himself! Unfortunately, and weirdly, he reads this like it's a children's book, which is a super disservice to the serious, tragic, and haunting tone of the material. This is a short novella, but I couldn't even make it through all 4 hours of the audiobook without speeding it up and even skipping some super cringey parts. It's incredibly repetitive and the middle parts drag on. Some action picks up at the end but I was so uninvested by then that I wasn't moved by it.
(Trigger warning: abusive relationship) Absolutely beautifully written memoir about a queer abusive relationship. This is the first book I've read by Machado (whose voice I could listen to all day) and I will be seeking out her other writing. So detailed, so thoughtful, and I appreciated the figurative writing and structure so much, as it added the right gravitas to such an intense subject.
2.5 The art was much better than the story line here, so I bumped my rating an additional star for Ellen's excellent & realistic drawings. I understand Colleen's intent, and even the 2004 setting (though not enough was done to ground that setting, so a reader could easily forget that and get confused) but I don't believe a cis non- #ownvoices author did well here. She put in dialogue about a character volunteering their deadname and the redemptive arcs...weren't. I do appreciate an effort to show religion as problematic but not necessarily the enemy, but overall she tried to do too much here and many storylines weren't respectfully or sensitively done.
