TW: parental abandonment, bullying, ableism

The STYLE the COLOURS I'm in love! So awesome to see autistic author's be able to bring their autistic characters to life!

TW: ableism, bullying

I loved the first book, and this one is definitely good too, but Onyeka kept making the same mistake repeatedly, with each time becoming more frustrating and it really affected my enjoyment.

Also the underlying ableism really got to me too, with underlying similarities with real world disabilities, but they are always 'cured'.

TW: none

Such a fun and goofy read! The audiobook version performance was one of the best I've heard. I'm definitely reading more from Pseudonymous Bosch!

TW: racism, colonisation, mentions of death

Honestly one of my books of the year.

Colonisation erases already-known truths of astronomy that indigonous people discovered far before western astronomers 'discovered' them. This is a brilliant anti-racist history of the stars as told by indigonous Elders and Knowledge holders, aptly recorded (with permission).

TW: death, murder, war, parental abandonment, homophobia, abuse, rape, ableism

I'm so happy to see such a brilliant book addressing religious trauma in relation to queerness. Others I've read have all fallen short (and only focused on white evangelical people) where as this one hits home in every right way.

I do wish there was any mention of bisexuality or transness and how it was/is perceived of at the time.

One and only (HUGE) gripe being the abhorant ableism (especially to cleft-lip being reffered to as a curse). This was very disappointing and hurt a lot. I hope the author will make strives to better understand ableism and how to address it in future books- as she so expertly addressed homophobia in this one.

TW: Death, murder, blood, homophobia, internalised homophobia, toxic masculinity, mentions of racism, sex (on page)

Genuinely think this must be a me thing as so many of my fellow reviewers seemed to love this book. For me, I just never found our protagonist likeable. I don't think I found ANY character likeable save for Riley. As for the mystery, all arrows pointed to the culprit, and you are almost wondering if they are the 'red herring' considering all characters are guessing that's who it is. Turns out...it was them! So...not much mystery.

It definitely does show rather than tell, the effects of toxic masculinity. but honestly, I just really didn't enjoy it. Again, this probably is just a personal thing as I generally hate stories with 'bro' characters and this book was pretty much 90% that.

TW: death of past pets (not main cats), cats hunting/playing with prey

This is a favorite book I listened to constantly as a child as a book on tape from my local library. What I would not give to find a copy of that audiobook again! It was so expertly performed and narrated.

A charming collection of discoveries and observations by the author on her life with cats. The star often being Sasha, a charming tomcat.

TW: Misogyny, cultural insensitivity (racism), animal abuse, ableism and ableist slurs, fatphobia

As with most anthologies, this is difficult to rate, as some stories were wonderful and others I would have DNF-ed and tossed across the room if they were standalone.

First though, the criminally under-credited paintings by Iris Compiet. They. Are. Breathtaking. Beautiful, creepy, eerie, and absolutely a perfect tribute to the creepy illustrations of the Alvin Schwartz's original collection. Why did the artist get no credit, aside from the fine print in the copyright page? This is a crime and I will not stand for it!

On to the stories. We had some stand out ones, my favourites being:
The Carved Bear by Brendon Reichs
Strange Music by Kim Ventrella
The Bottle Tree by Kami Garcia
Mud by Linda Addison

But we also had some duds, and I'm not talking disappointing scares, but ones that perpetuated so many uncomfortable tropes or stereotypes that I had hoped an updated anthology from 2020 would fix (as I know Alex Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark had it's fair share of dated materiel).

Lost to the World by John Dixon: "She was very pretty, even though she wasn't smiling"
Ugh.

The Bargain by Aric Cushing: I'm white as the driven snow and stalest cracker, but golly, I do not believe the author read up on what actually happens or one does on Día de los Muertos.

Brain Spiders by Luis Alberto Urrea and Rosario Urrea: This one I really felt could have had some great horror, but the horrible ableism and racism by the antagonists went way to far for me to be comfortable, plus the horrible use of a person from near Chernobyl being 'diseased' is not something kids need to further stigmatise to young readers.

Hachishakusama by Catherine Jordan: As far as I can tell, Catherine Jordan is not Japanese, and while in the right hands a non-Japanese person could write about Japanese urban legends, this one missed for me. The main character, Kobe's family comes from Japan but now live in New York, but he cannot pronounce Hachishakusama? Also I think the author meant to cover the more common spelling of Hasshaku-sama, I do not know where the alternate spelling the author uses comes from. Aside from the name of the yokai, the Hachishakusama in this story isn't the same as the Hasshaku-sama I did my 5 min research on. This story would have been better if the author had just made up her own monster.

TW: racism, racist slurs towards East Asian peoples, an extreamly racist caricature (used importantly in the story to call out these stereotypes) blood

This was so well storyboarded, drawn, lettered, and just a perfect example of convergent storytelling done right. Definatly check the trigger warnings before reading. This is honestly such a good book!

TW: small town unacceptance, parental issues, parental abandonment

A sweet, fluffy, but emotional, queer romance manga with so much heart. Bring Tissues.