My emotions are all over on this one. What a great read Michelle. I am so glad I chose the audio version of this. Well mostly Michelle has a nice smooth pentameter and voice, at times the emotion really comes through

At the beginning of the book, I felt a soothing to my soul. A soul that has been in turmoil due to the current political climate. But then again, at the end, my heart was heavy once more as the stark differences were highlighted.

I liked how this read, it wasn’t a pure chronological telling of her life, she would weave stories back and forth over time, much how it would happen in a real life instance—one story reminds you of another.

This is not a book entirely about Michelle, much of it is about her husband and his rise to president. But then again, when you are married to someone, lives tend to blend together. Sometimes I felt it was too Barack heavy, which is why the four stars. Don’t get me wrong I loved hearing it, but I wish the story was more Michelle’s than reading as 44’s presidential achievements.

So much of what Michelle talks about with regards to disparity rings true.

Great overview of books that can be included in a library collection. Some of the books were a stretch to be included and some were only included because they were the "first". That does not always mean they are still topical, or what kids/teens are going to reach for. The quantity, and quality of LGBTQAI+ has come a long way.

Each book listed has a synopsis, followed by some questions that can be used for discussion. Sometimes there are links listed that give program ideas, but most were just author websites.

The book does breifly cover why this collection is needed in our libraries, and also a little bit on making the library and programs more inclusive.

I gleamed some info about the different genres and why they are attractive to teens.

Even if you don't drink alcohol, it's a quick fun read. Some puns, some stories to relate the beverage to the novel it's related to. Some of the concoctions though were a bit off the wall.

I love love love how this ended!!!!!!
This book brings in more peril and betrayal and even more butt-kicking awesomeness of Irene. The development of the characters' relationships has been well crafted, as they deepen over each book in the series.

You never know what exactly is going to be the sequence of events, and there are enough twists to keep you from guessing the outcome.

Finally, Genevieve Cogman delves deeper into the architecture of the Fae, Dragon, and Library factions. And you realize they aren't all that different

This is the best book in the series so far. I feel we get away from Harry being a little bit whiny, to a story that has more depth and more action, showing more aspects of the realm.

The illustrations, again, are quite impressive, but seemed to be fewer in number than in the previous books.

What a powerful telling. The narrator, Bahni Turpin put such emotion into the audio, that at times, I jumped from the intensity, or sat stunned from the softness of the hurt and pain.

Angie Thomas wrote a fictional narrative of the all too often tragic news stories of officer involved shootings of young African Americans. With as much realism as you could get, this could, in fact be a true story.

The injustices in society are real, and this story shows many, many of them. Many of them are highlighted in the main character Starr. How she has to talk/act differently around her school friends, vs how she is at home. How she does the right thing, but still gets caught up in the exploitation of the news. How she loses her voice, because she is scared for her own life.

This one is going to stick with me for a while and ruminate in my brain.

It is not a straightforward book for a white american woman. There is Nigerian culture here that I know/knew nothing about that oversees the whole story. So I spent a fair amount of time determining whether this was a book about lore or mental health. Maybe it is both.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:


The majority of the book is narrated by other selves that reside with Ada. If you were an outsider looking at Ada, you would assume that she was suffering from multiple personalities, self-mutilation,self destructive behavior, as well as being bisexual and transgender. That's a lot going on in one person. But the basis of this book is in an ideology that each person is born with other selves that return to the other side while born, but occasionally that does not happen, and what ensues is generally madness in the person of "the flesh".

This is a very different look at the cause of multiple personality disorder and the section of selves, in relation to "the other side"

I know I am not getting all of this correct, and I do apologize to the author for any inaccuracies due to my lack of knowledge of the culture.