Slice-of-life set in Key West, Florida. Very charming. Turtle is a no-nonsense girl who has been sent to live with her aunt while her mom is whooed by a smooth-talking salesman and trying to make ends meet two years after the Great Depression.

I enjoyed the cast the characters, and all the mini adventures were fun. Even the emotional moments were well-done to me. One nitpick: I thought the conclusion with Slowpoke, an old friend of Turtle's mom, was very open-ended and unfinished (is it elaborated more in the book version).

I would've liked to see him take Archie's place.

a little disbelief.

this is set in 1930's (United States). would Pork Chop's brown-skinned Latino family have fit in back then??? Idk maybe things were different for them.

 

 In this sequel (there’s a recap of the last book), Moth is still growing in her witchery(?) and her confidence. She doesn’t hate herself, but she wants to be more likable to others, to have more friends and to not be the butt of all the jokes. Her mom and Charlie, her friend, don’t quite understand her either. When she finds a magical necklace which brings out a cool, charismatic side of her, it eventually spells (badum tsk) trouble. 

Good message. Super cute artwork and some funny, quirky lines. I’m glad the story acknowledges it’s insensitive/comes off a bit callous to tell people to get over being bullied, especially racialized bullying, so quickly. It’s normal for middle-schoolers to be insecure and make fun of others at their own expense, but it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Yuri (Yor's brother) really needs to go touch some grass, but, still, I love this series. It manages to stay fresh and oh-so heartwarming. This little fake family is getting closer than ever, and the arrival of a love rival(?) is more bittersweet than annoying.

 Silly but has some heart. The ninjutsu is a lot more grounded than what you usually see, so there are no power-ups or Naruto runs. I liked Rena’s struggle with social anxiety, and her friend Sidney who has to live in an actual bubble. The story’s rather simple but has, at least, one nice plot twist. 

 This volume was very cute (especially with Komi’s lil cousin who tries to hide her feelings), and you can see actual progression in Komi’s communication skills. I’m talking whole sentences, y’all. Tadano is still a regular-degular blandboy who is kind, but somehow Komi and he are rather cute.

feel a little bad for Manbagi, chick who tans too much, because she’s crushing on Tadano, but he only has eyes for Komi. Oh well, waiting for that drama!

 

 I like how some of the characters are reoccurring in other short stories, really makes the New York setting feel real. Some stories may not really blow you away, but I acknowledge it’s very hard to set up a romance with convincing characters and chemistry in only a few pages. Overall, not a bad collection. 

Looking forward to the Netflix series for this! 

I liked this one. It’s one of those “lack of communication ruins everything” stories … but fun. Tammi and Kareem were interesting, and I wanted to know what caused their fallout so badly. Ms. Jackson has this tendency to slowly feed you the plot in her stories (Monday’s Not Coming, Grown, etc). It’s annoying lol but certainly one of her author trademarks. 

This one was okay, but JJ’s narrative and dialogue felt so unrealistic at times. Maybe he’s got the range for it, I guess but

I just don’t believe the average, 16ish boy is going to care about how women should be able to breastfeed in public without scrutiny. Some of the teenaged boys I’ve known would’ve been straining their necks to see a titty pop out.

 

As always, I love Woodfolk’s ability to make us care about characters in few words. And her character descriptions? Stellar. The conversations between Nella and Joss flow so easily, even the flirting. Loved how soft Nella was. 

This one felt a little dry even though it takes places in a library and involves books. I didn’t care for Tristán. He wasn’t much beyond a ladies’ man. Lana’s insecurities about finding love and worries about growing apart from her friend were relatable.  

I enjoyed this one. The dialogue/narrative was strong and entertaining, and I definitely understood Kayla’s FOMO (fear of missing out). Love triangle vibes. 

Surprisingly gets philosophical. 

 It’s always difficult to rate memoirs (technically, an essay collection) because it’s literally someone’s life, but learning about Quinta’s was very fun and engaging. I really felt that chapter about seeing your parents as humans who make mistakes and don’t have it all together (they have their own insecurities, traumas, life experiences, etc) though you don’t always need to listen to them. 

I loved insight into Quinta’s life and mind. Some chapters are super funny like when a high-school-Quinta and her friend went to a store to buy some razors for a fight or very sobering like the chapter on a family member of hers being murdered and how isolating it felt to experience that. The collection ends with some 2020-centric essays discussing the pandemic, George Floyd, Americans panic-buying, etc. Overall, a very fitting collection! 

I look at the Shia LaBeouf references (yes, Even Stevens was a fun show.) differently now, especially after FKA Twigs spoke about what she went through in their relationship  :/