While the pacing was a bit erratic and some plot points did not get developed well (like, the fallout between Nisrin and Firuzeh), I thought this was good. The artwork was also super cute!

After an Islamophobic attack where her headscarf is violently ripped off, Nisrin begins diving deeply into Islam. But she has a hard, messy time learning about Islam and hijabs in general due to her family upbringing. 

I thought the story conveyed the serious issues in a digestible way for younger readers well. There’s mention of the history of Bangladesh’s civil war and how it affected her family and her mother’s aversion to anything Arab in nature. Overall, worth reading. 

It’s already known that I love superheroes or anything that deals with superpowered humans and morality. This one has a dun antihero who can’t shed his past. I LOVE the costume design and hard-as-nails Reyes. The ending can be a bit of a bummer due to its open-ended nature, but I enjoyed reading this overall.

Some of Maya's basketball gags got old but not a bad volume.

 Overall, I liked this. The story was brimming with tension and real stakes. Matthew is struggling with grief when his favorite nanny unexpectedly passes away (Ruby gives those magical negro vibes, but she’s all right), and isolates himself and becomes gloomy. He’s very nasty to his sister as well. Matthew just wants to hold onto Rubys’ memory, but his mom has to go back to work, so and Ruby's replacement Ms Swan is very unsettling.

I know little boys roast and make fun of each other all the time, but I thought all the friends were overly mean to Charlie. 

 Very cute and unique! The whole story is told entirely in palindromes (spelled backward or forward the words will be the same), which makes the dialogue sound unnatural. But its creativity cancels that out. You can imagine the amount of time it took to find all these palindromes and create a story thread from the seemingly random words. 

Overall, a fairly quick read with a fun gimmick. 

Very cute and informative! Managed to be engaging and I love that the book is internationally-minded with a focus of desserts from all over the world. I also think it was stellar idea to include the dessert history, little skits, science, and recipes in the same book to keep everything engaging.

If you're curious, my favorite sweets are pound cake, especially lemony ones, sweet potato pie, cheesecake, custard, and soft chocolate chip cookies. c: 

 This series is so much fun, but I have come to expect great things from Epic!. They really know how to make a fun, engaging story for all ages. There is a super fun plot twist that I wasn’t even expecting that impressed me. I love this little series so much! It has humor, heart, tension, action, and a ninja cat called Cat Ninja (there’s a difference).  

Sometimes, in stories with animals as the main characters the humans are a drag. But not the case here! The kids in story have just as much character as the animals and are still, realistically, coming to terms with their parents’ divorce. And if it speaks to more of this story’s excellence, the main character, Cat Ninja never speaks outside of facial expressions, and it doesn’t hinder anything. I liked him as a character. 

The cast of quirky heroes and villains all have some snazzy designs, and I can’t wait to see more of Thomas’ creations. Hoot was cute as can be! 

Still, enjoying this series. But the talk about choosing colors got too flowery. Like, what are you actually saying???

The connection between Yatora and Ryuji/Yuka also grows much deeper here.

I know Yatora’s just that stand up of a guy to not want to abandon a friend who is obviously going through it, but their whole rendezvous and heart to heart was giving romantic vibes. But they subverted that, I guess.

 

And I want to throw a turkey leg at the author for ending on such a cliffhanger lol. Overall, this volume was much darker, but still as introspective on the life of an art student and/or innerworkings of art creation.

Read this for my senior capstone class. 
The gist: 

1. Put the client’s interests/goals first. This is not an option; it is the only one. 

2. Don’t listen to react. Listen to listen. 

3. Everyone needs to be on the same page. You and the client should know and agree on what you’re expected to do. 
------------------------

The Quick Guide to Being a Trusted Advisor:  
 

1. Listen to everything 
2. Empathize (for real) 
3. Note what they’re feeling 
4. Build that shared agenda 
5. Take a point of view 
6. Take a personal risk 
7. Ask about a related area 

8. Ask great questions 

9. Give away ideas 

10. Return calls unbelievably fast 

11. Relax your mind