the concept is so cool, but the comics felt sloppy smushed together. also why all the random incest??? 🤢🤢

i had so much hope for this book, it really let me down. i’m a big environmental advocate and leftist, so don’t get me wrong, we need so many more guides and action on climate justice. however, this book is not a good example, and is so disappointing, especially considering i found out that the publisher that Teen Vogue partnered with is radical? this book is very liberal, and not leftist, although it acts like it is.

i can’t put my thoughts together too well at the moment, but a review that really summed up some of my thoughts by a goodreads user called ‘Brenmlaws’ says this “Teen Vogue has made some good lefty articles, but this book shows that they are a strictly liberal outlet with allegience to the democratic party and a very vague notion of what it takes to create social change, especially the drastic revolutionary social change that is needed to confront the climate crisis. It does a fair job of pointing out some of the problems, but
does not get past moralism and vague notions of “colonization" to explain the source of the problems. The book is absolutely hopeless in describing any notion of solutions with the name "Alexandria Occasio Cortez" and "the Green New Deal" being seen as somehow managing to do it. We need better books about the climate from the left because of the crazy level of urgency.”

also it felt like it was trying to be a universal read, but focused on america 90% of the time, and any advice on what to do as an individual teen was centred around the presumption you were american, which makes sense since Teen Vogue itself is an american publisher, but still, it felt not useful in the long run or for a long time. 

it’s not a guide, it’s just a collection of magazine articles. it doesn’t allow you to do anything about what it vaguely mentioned, it just is reporting on events which have happened. 

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As many of you reading probably know, I am autistic and physically disabled. Disability advocacy is an extremely important part of my life - both self-advocacy and advocacy on a larger scale (including using this platform to spotlight disabled authors, and using my voice to help break stigmas surrounding disabilities). I’m also big on campaigning for environmental issues.

When I saw this book on Netgalley, I was so excited! I was especially excited that it was written for and by a young advocate, as I myself have grew up as an advocate, where I began advocating for support for military children and families - eventually leading to becoming the youngest (at the time) Points of Light award winner from the UK government in 2013, alongside an local mayor’s award shortly before.

It’s no secret that advocacy is hard, and this book does not attempt to sugar-coat this; instead, it offers detailed yet clear advice on everything from starting your advocacy platform, to staying safe when advocating, to avoiding autistic burnout derived from advocating. As autistic people, our brains and neurological structure work differently compared to neurotypical people’s do, which means that a lot of resources out there for certain activities aren’t applicable to us. Not many resources exist for aspiring advocates, and even fewer exist catered for autistic aspiring advocates, so this book is a god-send!

I would recommend this for any autistics looking to make a difference in their chosen advocacy field, whether that be related to their autism or not! The sheer amount of accessible information and not action throughout this book is outstanding, well done to Hansen.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

“Gaia and Luna” is an retrospective and existential short story following the personified solar system in its attempts to understand and comprehend the vastness of creation as it occurs.

Although I generally do not enjoy science, this book takes scientific concepts and presents it in a beautiful, eccentric and accessible manner, as this is a work of fiction which experiments with the real world, rather than the other-way-around. 

The book’s central theme is the beauty and miracle that is our existence: how life itself is a wonder and a miracle, and although human existence is a speck in Time, it is respected and valued enough for life on Earth to be referred to as “Life”. Along with this central theme, it presents retrospective social commentaries on how we, as humans, build heavy conflict and divide due to systematic bigotry. I enjoyed this element, however some of the comparisons felt almost distasteful rather than detached - the latter seems to be the goal of the author, so I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt due to the book’s positive message.  

An interesting relationship between science and spirituality is deeply explored in such a short little book. As a very spiritual, yet agnostic person, it was amazing to see how the “G”, representative of a non-denominational god, was “gently pulling the strings of creation”. I also like how the ‘G’ was not made to represent a single religion’s god or god-like figure, and instead, acted in a position of general interest over the universe.

Overall, this is a relatively nice book, I would usually say books like this are a short, one sitting read, but the pacing is really slow in this book, so if you are like me, it’ll take a lot longer haha!

feste with a ukulele is all i need in my life

My first encounter with Gareth Hinds’ adaptations was his adaptation of the Odyssey, which I adored. I was extremely excited to see a copy of his adaption of Romeo & Juliet in my local library.

This play straddles the gap between Unabridged and Abridged. Due to the nature of producing a graphic novel, Gareth was unable to implement all of Shakespeare’s original words, however, the graphic novel itself is made up of a large majority of the play, with scenes and dialogue simply shortened whilst compromising the quality of the book.

As an artist myself, I always appreciate good illustrations, and Hinds’ style is just gorgeous. To see my favourite passages displayed with divine artwork was incredible. I wish to see ‘Twelfht Night’ be given the Gareth Hinds treatment one day - it’s one of my favourites of Shakespeare's plays. He also uses a diverse cast to highlight one of the play’s most over-looked themes: that of universality.