This book is heavy and emotional, but it is extremely eye-opening and so important for people to read.

Land of the Cranes is a middle-grade novel written in verse that shows the horrific conditions of detention centers on the Mexico-United States border. The perspective is from nine-year-old main character Betita, and she shares the stories of families who have crossed the border, become detained, and fought for freedom.

The story begins with hope and love as Betita explains why her father says humans are cranes. She creates beautiful picture poems about being a crane to explore life. The first few poems are about her life in East LA with her Mami and Papi, but as the story unravels, Betita creates poems about the injustices that take place. She writes about her Papi being deported to Mexico after his work was raided and the many days and weeks without him at home.

Betita takes us with her as she fights for her and Mami's life in the detention center. The story takes place from 2018-2019, and she talks about the real political climate in the United States and what impacts it has had on the immigrant populations. Betita's story is emotional, raw, and heartbreaking and something that young readers should be aware of barring the recent political climate.

Betita, her Mami, Tia, Tio, and cousin drive down to see her Papi when they find a safe location. In the mix of trying to get there, the family misses a turn and is forced to cross over the Mexico-U.S. border, and many of them did not have passports because they were seeking political asylum in the United States.

The U.S. government refused to provide asylum to Betita and her Mami, so they, along with their Tia, were forced into the detention center until their case could be brought to trial. Betita finds out her Mami is pregnant, so she now feels responsible for all three of them.

Detailed in a poetic verse, Betita talks about the injustices that occur at these detention centers: frigid temperatures; cages they are kept in; horrible, moldy food they are expected to eat; unsanitary bathroom areas; lack of clean drinking water; an hour outside each day; no hospital on-site; physical and emotional abuse from guards; racism; classism. The list went on and on, and it was heartbreaking to read about these individuals who have to fight for their lives just to be treated with human decency.

One thing that held me back as a reader was the structure of the verse.  **I did read an ARC, so some of the content I read may be different from the final copy.** With that being said, it felt a little choppy at some points, and I found myself having to reread some sections two to three times.

This is a story that I would recommend to readers in a heartbeat. Raw. Emotional. Shocking. More people need to read about these atrocities and more people need to speak out against them. Land of the Cranes is a perfect way to start that conversation. 

The cover art for this book is beautiful and emotional. Very fitting for this story.

This story is cute and funny. It makes for a fun read-aloud for young readers because of the silly writing and the goofy cast of characters. However, I didn't really love this one. I can see this being a fun read-aloud for young readers, sure, but it is not one that I would want to turn to all the time. I think the writing was a little weak, and the story didn't really go anywhere. 

**Thank you to NetGalley, author Maria Isabel Sanches Vegara, and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Similar to what I stated in my review of Sanches Vegara's book Malala Yousafzai, this story of Mary Anning is inspiring and informative. The story is written in such a way to appeal to young readers. The topic of paleontology is explained in a way that young readers can understand, and they get a glimpse of the amazing ground Mary Anning was able to cover. 

The illustrations are unique and fitting with the story. They bring the words to life and show readers the wonders of discovery. 

I am looking forward to learning more about this series.  I love that this series brings recognition to amazing women in past and recent history written in a way that is understandable and engaging for young readers! I also really enjoy the addition of the timeline and highlighted a quick biography at the end. It can help show young readers that these stories are about real individuals who have done amazing things.

 **Thank you to NetGalley, author Maria Isabel Sanches Vegara, and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.** 

This is a wonderfully informative, kid-friendly book that tells the beginning history of Malala Yousafzai. The writing for this is definitely directed towards young readers, as the more difficult topics (i.e. gun violence and Malala being shot) are kept general while celebrating what she accomplished in more detail. 

The illustrations complement the story beautifully. They are colorful and bright and help bring to life the words on the page. 

I love that this series brings recognition to amazing women in past and recent history written in a way that is understandable and engaging for young readers! I also really enjoy the addition of the timeline and highlighted a quick biography at the end. It can help show young readers that these stories are about real individuals who have done amazing things. 

This is not one of my favorite Eric Carle books, but I still enjoy reading this one nonetheless. Head to Toe is an engaging and interactive story that prompts readers to move their bodies like animals (i.e. turning head, wiggling toes, waving arms). 

I always love Carle's illustrations, and this story has beautiful colors incorporated throughout. 

I think it is a nice story for younger readers because of the simple writing and the prompting of body movement. I can see this being a storytime read in the future. 

This is a cute story that follows young Rosie Revere on her journey to discover her confidence. Andrea Beaty has created a series that showcases young girls who are ready to run and explore their STEAM dreams. 

The illustrations are fun and the writing style with the rhyme scheme adds an engaging, fast-paced aspect to the story. I can definitely see myself incorporating this into a storytime in the future. 

 **Thank you to NetGalley, author Judith Koppens, and Clavis Publishing for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.** 
 
This is a cute story that is great for young children who may be starting school or daycare for the first time. I think this book shows a coping strategy for children to use if they feel like they miss their caregiver while they are at school. It also can give caregivers a strategy to use if they have a child who is showing similar symptoms as Mila. 

I don't think, however, that the voices of the young characters seemed realistic. The ideas they proposed to make Mila feel better and the ways in which they spoke to her seemed too mature for preschool-/kindergarten-aged children. 

I am interested to view the final copy of this story, and I think it could be a beneficial read in a pre-k welcome day. 

 **Thank you to NetGalley, author Sara O'Leary, and Penguin Random House Canada: Tundra Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.** 

This is a really cute story about adventure and inspiration. Ruby is a loveable character who loves exploring her ideas and creating adventures with her imagination. 

This story seems like it will be really relatable to many young readers as they grow and determine what they want to do in the future. Ruby tells the reader about all of the careers she wants to explore, like architect, doctor, or astronaut. 

The illustrations are a wonderful addition to the story, as well. They are bright, vibrant, and colorful, emphasizing the inspiration behind this story. 

One issue with this story is that it seemed to be a little scattered and unorganized. As previously stated, I love the idea behind this but some points of the story did not feel like it was pieced together in the "correct" spot. 

I am excited to see a final copy of this story, however. 

**Thank you to NetGalley, author Julia Cook, and the National Center for Youth Issues (IBPA) for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

This is a unique and cute story of a young boy who is trying to understand why learning can be difficult at times. Just as Wade is about to give up, his FANTABULOUS brain shows up to better understand how they can work together. 

The rhyme scheme in this story is a nice way to make a more difficult topic interesting and engaging to young readers. I also think the illustrations are fun, bright, and interesting to look at. 

I am a little worried that the content leaves out the uniqueness of how individuals learn in that the brain comes to Wade and tells him that all he needs to do is use the Brain Toolbox and Brain Trainers to fix his learning. This can seem a bit uninclusive to individuals who learn differently from how the book portrays it. However, I think if the emphasis can be placed more heavily on each individual having their own Brain Toolbox to help them learn best, in whatever form that may look like, that could really improve the inclusiveness of this story. 

Overall, this is a cute read about a topic that many youths seem to struggle with, and it is written in such a way to make the story informative yet still silly. 

I received an eARC of Migrations from NetGalley and I started reading it back toward the end of summer. I really wanted to give this book a chance because I kept feeling like it was going to change pace, but it sadly never did. This was such a slow read and the topic itself was not super engaging to me either. I will maybe pick this up in the future, but most likely not.