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TW: homophobia, Transphobia, misgendering, blood and gore, police state
Exquisitely written and masterfully told, this is a banger of a western read. I really enjoyed just how unapologetically QUEER this book was. Seriously blown away.
Exquisitely written and masterfully told, this is a banger of a western read. I really enjoyed just how unapologetically QUEER this book was. Seriously blown away.
TW: fatphobia and ableism (not called out)
Alice in Wonderland meets How to Train your Dragon in this hilarious middle-grade fiction about a pacifist boy living in the most brutal kingdom being given the job of Royal Executioner. Also ravens!
Alice in Wonderland meets How to Train your Dragon in this hilarious middle-grade fiction about a pacifist boy living in the most brutal kingdom being given the job of Royal Executioner. Also ravens!
TW: ableism, racism, microaggressions, trauma, abusive relationships, slurs, abuse in medical system, gaslighting
An amazing book about disability advocacy, how to be better allies, and even lessons those of us already disabled can improve on. Must read for all people, esp. parents of disabled kids.
An amazing book about disability advocacy, how to be better allies, and even lessons those of us already disabled can improve on. Must read for all people, esp. parents of disabled kids.
TW: racism, raging fatphobia, misogyny
Wheeeew weee this is a tough one. I'm a big fan of this series, especially the first book. I re-read this one after a decade and boy is there a lot of racist ideas and undertones.
Every evil character has "a crooked nose", the characters from other races are described by their skin tones in such offensive and outdated terms, especially the Princess of an East Asian inspired country. Her traits are she's small, always pointing out she's tiny, each sentence she's mentioned is her petite frame and small feet, and then her skin colour is always mentioned as... We'll, the old and VERY racist colour description.
Honestly, I'm flabbergasted that this recently republished book didn't edit any of those incredibly dated discriptions out. The audiobook was re-release in *2021*. How does ANY editor or publisher not catch this? How does the narrator not catch this as she's reading and not do a spit-take?
Another issue is the fatphobia is rampint. All the undesirable people are only described by their weight and how ugly they are because of it. By the end, the fat women the main character, Abdullah, was going to have to marry get hoisted off (without their concent) on another person so he can marry to pretty 'slim' girl.
Misogyny is pretty bad. There were some great strong and powerful woman, don't get me wrong, Sophie is undoubtedly a feminist icon in my head. However the women needing to be rescued by men in the ending, so much so that one man demands a wife in payment for his help, is incredibly bad.
Lastly, while I'm white as paste and am no expert on South Asian/Middle Eastern culture, but even I can easily pick up there are so many raging stereotypes and outdated racist ideas of these cultures.
The more I write this review the lower my rating goes. The only redeeming quality was Sophie and Howel.
Wheeeew weee this is a tough one. I'm a big fan of this series, especially the first book. I re-read this one after a decade and boy is there a lot of racist ideas and undertones.
Every evil character has "a crooked nose", the characters from other races are described by their skin tones in such offensive and outdated terms, especially the Princess of an East Asian inspired country. Her traits are she's small, always pointing out she's tiny, each sentence she's mentioned is her petite frame and small feet, and then her skin colour is always mentioned as... We'll, the old and VERY racist colour description.
Honestly, I'm flabbergasted that this recently republished book didn't edit any of those incredibly dated discriptions out. The audiobook was re-release in *2021*. How does ANY editor or publisher not catch this? How does the narrator not catch this as she's reading and not do a spit-take?
Another issue is the fatphobia is rampint. All the undesirable people are only described by their weight and how ugly they are because of it. By the end, the fat women the main character, Abdullah, was going to have to marry get hoisted off (without their concent) on another person so he can marry to pretty 'slim' girl.
Misogyny is pretty bad. There were some great strong and powerful woman, don't get me wrong, Sophie is undoubtedly a feminist icon in my head. However the women needing to be rescued by men in the ending, so much so that one man demands a wife in payment for his help, is incredibly bad.
Lastly, while I'm white as paste and am no expert on South Asian/Middle Eastern culture, but even I can easily pick up there are so many raging stereotypes and outdated racist ideas of these cultures.
The more I write this review the lower my rating goes. The only redeeming quality was Sophie and Howel.
TW: near drowning
An exciting middle-grade read bursting with the life and magic of Nigeria. Such a tender story, with bravery, magic, and discovering your family and culture.
An exciting middle-grade read bursting with the life and magic of Nigeria. Such a tender story, with bravery, magic, and discovering your family and culture.
*Thank you to NetGallery and Capstone for the eARC of this book*
TW: None.
Note: I am a non-binary person
This is a simply charming book about a great kid named Riley and a peek into their life at home and school. It is fully of heart, humour, and brilliant interactions. I loved all the fun costume ideas and how all the kids ended up making their ideas come to life.
As a non-binary librarian who used the Mx honourific, it was so personal for me to see myself on these pages with Mx. Aude the school librarian. Not only is young Riley flourishing living as their true self, but seeing my adult self in the pages too? That meant the world to me.
This is an accessable, fun early read for children wanting to read chapter books, but that are small and easy enough to not overwhelm. The illustrations are charming, somehow new but still nostalgically comforting.
TW: None.
Note: I am a non-binary person
This is a simply charming book about a great kid named Riley and a peek into their life at home and school. It is fully of heart, humour, and brilliant interactions. I loved all the fun costume ideas and how all the kids ended up making their ideas come to life.
As a non-binary librarian who used the Mx honourific, it was so personal for me to see myself on these pages with Mx. Aude the school librarian. Not only is young Riley flourishing living as their true self, but seeing my adult self in the pages too? That meant the world to me.
This is an accessable, fun early read for children wanting to read chapter books, but that are small and easy enough to not overwhelm. The illustrations are charming, somehow new but still nostalgically comforting.
Note: I am an autistic/ADHD person.
TW: Ableism, internalised ableism, ABA, war PTSD,
This book had some amazing things going for it. Great and well researched autistic rep, especially with good descriptions of internal feelings Abby was going through and how they affected her outward actions. Also great supports her family had in place - a support service dog named Amigo, a tent with all her favourite things that was her own private place, and her family making a seperate dinner for her with it not being some big deal. Her autism was just a normal part of their lives, and not a big ol' tragedy.
Nearly halfway through is when things started to get dodgy. Abby's teacher gave her an A- for a presentation, praising how it was perfect, but the '-' was simply for NOT LOOKING at her classmates as she spoke. This teacher is never called out. This is the problem with so many people today of asking us autistic folks to do something (AKA, write a report) and we do it perfectly, but then we are punished for doing the right thing the wrong way. This is something we autistic folk face everyday and we are punished for arbitrary aspects that in all respect DO NOT MATTER. Please stop this folks.
This is also the second middle grade book about an autistic girl where autistic folk are compared, one way or another, with dogs. Abby even thinks "If I can train a dog, why can't I train myself?" like it's a sort of "aha" moment, and then goes on to practice ABA therapy on herself...! Doing things that torture herself (being around noise, unpleasantly dirty water, being in crowds) and rewarding herself with gummy bears when she gets through it.
(For those unaware, ABA 'therapy' is the very VERY problematic approach of 'training' the autism out of a person and making them 'act normal' by withholding comfort items or bribing with food, or giving emotional pressure to the autistic person to perform the 'right way' around others. This is proven to be a dehumanising, traumatic and deeply scaring, and every autistic advocate who has had to go through ABA campaigns against it.)
This part made me feel really sick, and mostly because I've FELT that internalised ableism and the craving for peoples approval. Abby's parents praise her for 'pushing herself' when in reality, and she clearly states, she hated every moment of it. Her doing this is serving NO ONE in her family, let alone the most important person, herself. By the end of the book she even says her training program on herself 'worked' and that made me so sad. All her program did was put more pressure that she'll continue to apply to herself all through her life, and increasingly be unable to meet.
This book isn't a COMPLETE write off, as there are positive messages, such as Abby realising she IS putting pressure on herself and needs rest after doing all these hard things. But it was just so soured by encouraging, not just ABA, but self practiced ABA that I can't in good conscious recommend it. Which is a darn shame because the writing was great, the characters fun, Abby a brilliant and smart girl, and I cannot praise the storyline with Miriam's brother more. It handled military PTSD and it's affects on the person affected and their family SO well and the ending solution was so sweet I wanted to cry.
I'm let down, and I wish actually autistic sensitivity readers were consulted before this went to print.
TW: Ableism, internalised ableism, ABA, war PTSD,
This book had some amazing things going for it. Great and well researched autistic rep, especially with good descriptions of internal feelings Abby was going through and how they affected her outward actions. Also great supports her family had in place - a support service dog named Amigo, a tent with all her favourite things that was her own private place, and her family making a seperate dinner for her with it not being some big deal. Her autism was just a normal part of their lives, and not a big ol' tragedy.
Nearly halfway through is when things started to get dodgy. Abby's teacher gave her an A- for a presentation, praising how it was perfect, but the '-' was simply for NOT LOOKING at her classmates as she spoke. This teacher is never called out. This is the problem with so many people today of asking us autistic folks to do something (AKA, write a report) and we do it perfectly, but then we are punished for doing the right thing the wrong way. This is something we autistic folk face everyday and we are punished for arbitrary aspects that in all respect DO NOT MATTER. Please stop this folks.
This is also the second middle grade book about an autistic girl where autistic folk are compared, one way or another, with dogs. Abby even thinks "If I can train a dog, why can't I train myself?" like it's a sort of "aha" moment, and then goes on to practice ABA therapy on herself...! Doing things that torture herself (being around noise, unpleasantly dirty water, being in crowds) and rewarding herself with gummy bears when she gets through it.
(For those unaware, ABA 'therapy' is the very VERY problematic approach of 'training' the autism out of a person and making them 'act normal' by withholding comfort items or bribing with food, or giving emotional pressure to the autistic person to perform the 'right way' around others. This is proven to be a dehumanising, traumatic and deeply scaring, and every autistic advocate who has had to go through ABA campaigns against it.)
This part made me feel really sick, and mostly because I've FELT that internalised ableism and the craving for peoples approval. Abby's parents praise her for 'pushing herself' when in reality, and she clearly states, she hated every moment of it. Her doing this is serving NO ONE in her family, let alone the most important person, herself. By the end of the book she even says her training program on herself 'worked' and that made me so sad. All her program did was put more pressure that she'll continue to apply to herself all through her life, and increasingly be unable to meet.
This book isn't a COMPLETE write off, as there are positive messages, such as Abby realising she IS putting pressure on herself and needs rest after doing all these hard things. But it was just so soured by encouraging, not just ABA, but self practiced ABA that I can't in good conscious recommend it. Which is a darn shame because the writing was great, the characters fun, Abby a brilliant and smart girl, and I cannot praise the storyline with Miriam's brother more. It handled military PTSD and it's affects on the person affected and their family SO well and the ending solution was so sweet I wanted to cry.
I'm let down, and I wish actually autistic sensitivity readers were consulted before this went to print.
TW: racism, colonisation, Anti-Black and anti-Indigonous practices, nuclear testing and fallout, death and infant death.
I learned so much about events that I never knew hapened. I also loved the decolonization in storytelling that Jessie shares in the the traditional way, not the western way. A must read.
I learned so much about events that I never knew hapened. I also loved the decolonization in storytelling that Jessie shares in the the traditional way, not the western way. A must read.
