This beautifully crafted story is shaped by a fun rhyming pattern and discusses the meaning, love, and passion behind pride month. I love that the perspective is told from a young child's point of view and also that the child is excited to share in the pride month experiences with their younger sibling. This is a fun story to share with young readers all year round. 

This one definitely felt like a beach read to me. I have seen quite a few people say that they felt the character and plot development weren’t really there, and I think I have to agree. It seems that there is talk of having a part II, so the author definitely could have stretched the story out more to add in needed details and development. 

The illustrations were well-done, encapsulating a cool blue tone throughout and providing multiple two-page wordless spreads. 

This book had the potential to be a really sweet coming-of-age story that combines the struggles of growing up, gaining more life responsibilities, and understanding romance, but I just missed the mark for me. 

Though I didn’t not enjoy reading this graphic novel, I wouldn’t say that it was one of my favorites nor will it be one of my first go-to LGBTQIA+ Graphic novel recommendations. 

This is a well-done nonfiction book for young readers that discusses climate change and planet protection. I love all of the illustrations and images throughout. I think this is something that will really help engage those younger readers who might not be able to nor are interested in the text portion of it yet. I like that the main body paragraphs are written in a big font that is easy to read and understand. It is a fairly long book, so young-young readers might lose interest before the end, but it never hurts for them to browse the pictures, too. Overall a really well-done book that covers a lot of information.

Jerusalem: A Family Portrait is a powerful graphic novel that recounts the war and division between Israel and Palestine. Yakin brings together a story that grabs emotions and explores a major event in our world history. Going into this book, I did not know a lot about the war that divided these two peoples, and even after reading this I still don't know as much as I can about it. However, I can say that I have a perspective on the war that introduced me to the trauma, horrors, and grief that was faced by all. 

At certain points throughout the story, I had a difficult time following whose plotline I was reading, so I do wish there were some more section break pages. Overall, though, I think this book strongly brings an important, tense part of history to the pages of a young adult graphic novel. 

This is a powerful book. 

Within the first handful of pages, Nisrin becomes the victim of a horrific hate crime. Nisrin is attacked while she and her friend walk home from their school's World Cultures Day presentations. There are not many words exchanged during this scene, but the illustrations give power to all that is not said. After this attack, Nisrin spends her summer isolated in her home, fearful of leaving its safety. 

After visiting family before school started for the year, Nisrin decides that she is going to wear hijab and learn more about Islam. This initially outrages her grandfather and worries her mother and grandmother. Initially, her family does not tell Nisrin why her wearing hijab upsets them, and this leads to her feeling as though her voice is not being heard. Self-educating and asking questions, Nisrin becomes more and more confident in the person she is building herself up to be. As her family sees this, they start to tell her more about her family's history, including why they left Bangladesh.

Partnered with beautiful watercolor-style illustrations that bring so much to the words that are written as well as those that are not, this story is one that needs to be shared with young readers. Though this book can be extremely heavy during certain scenes, it brings light to discussions around identity exploration, familial history, and becoming happy in your own skin. Huq has crafted a beautiful story that will touch the lives of many readers in the future. 

**Thank you to NetGalley, author Jessica Kingsley, and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

The Big Book of Pride Flags is a well-written nonfiction for readers of all ages. This book provides information that allows readers to gain a strong understanding of each pride flag and what the colors and designs represent. I like how this book is written in simple language, making it accessible to readers of all ages. I also love the illustrations throughout and the way the book explodes with color and pride. I am looking forward to using this book in displays in the future. 

**Thank you to NetGalley, author David Levithan, and Random House Children's, Knopf Books for Young Readers for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

I love discussing censorship and banned books, so when I saw this book coming out, I was super excited. I was really hoping to love it, and I did enjoy the premise of it, but I just felt like there were too many stories packed into too few pages. 

We read about the story of Donovan and his fifth-grade class who were defending the book The Adventurers because Donovan’s mother wanted to pull it from the classroom; we read about the story of Gideon and Roberto as they navigated new schools, new friends, and new feelings; and we read some of the chapters from The Adventurers, going on crazy and dangerous missions. If the book was longer, I think this tri-perspective could have worked out, but because the book was only 180 pages, I did not feel like I could fully immerse myself in any one story. As an adult reading this book, I think if I struggled to keep tabs on everything, a young reader might struggle with the same. 

This book is very timely and important to current event conversations we are having in the United States right now, I just wish it picked one story to elaborate on and invest in. 

**Thank you to NetGalley, author Robert Broder, and  Patagonia Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

I love the message that Better Than New / Mejor Que Nuevo shares with its readers - the ocean and wildlife need our help. The perspective from which this story is told helps to make it appealing and engaging to the target audience, as well. I feel like I can’t give a 100% review since the app that I was reading this book on messed up the formatting a bit and it was difficult to follow along on some pages. Either way, I think this is a well-done book that covers an ever-important topic. 

**Thank you to NetGalley, author Aditi Oza, and  Yali Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Kesar and the Lullaby Birds is a beautiful story that shares the art of oral storytelling between generations and the loving connection within families. The story begins with Kesar and her family looking for a solution to help the baby, Kamal, sleep at night. The whole village knows that the baby is struggling to sleep, but no one is able to come up with a solution to help her. After hearing a story from her Ba (grandmother), Kesar comes up with an idea that just might help baby Kamal sleep through the night. Partnered with stunning illustrations, Kesar and the Lullaby Birds is a beautiful children’s story that would fit well for bedtime stories, familiar storytelling discussions, and even storytimes.

So…I think I have an unpopular opinion on this one…I didn’t absolutely love and adore it. 

I definitely did not dislike this book. There are some really amazing things that happen, but I think it was overhyped for me and just did not exceed my expectations. 

One of the things that I think was really well done throughout the entire novel was the characters and their development. McQuiston does a really great job of giving each character a purpose and developing traits exactly where they needed to be developed. This is something that gave me strong feelings toward Shara and Chloe. 

I have to be honest in saying that I don’t think I ever truly liked either of their characters. Again, this is not saying that they were written poorly by any means, I just didn’t love them. It is more in a sense of their actions and approach to the entire situation felt over-the-top and I don’t think I would particularly enjoy hanging out with them in real life. This could be ignorance on my end of not growing up in a small, very religious town, and maybe their actions were perfectly reasonable and expected. 

I enjoyed the characters of Ash, Benji, Smith, and Rory

and was kind of stoked at the end when Smith and Rory finally admitted their feelings for one another.

All of the secondary characters added such a nice mixture to the story and created texture throughout the tension that was ever-growing between Chloe and Shara. 

I do have to say that I was a bit confused at some points with the clues because I felt like I had missed a piece of them when the character(s) would read them.

The one that really got me was the clue where Chloe finds she needs to open the piano to get the next note. She read the note, took the action, and then said that she was going to use the key that Shara had left her. I went back to the page where Chloe read the note the first time and did not see any mention of the key…There were a few times I needed to do this and just kept feeling like I was missing small details.

I am looking forward to reading more by Casey McQuiston, I am definitely keeping this book on my recommendation list for interested readers, I just don’t think I’ll be chomping at the bit to read it again any time soon.