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howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)
Assigned reading for MLIS 7421: Multicultural Youth Literature.
The Diary of Laura's Twin tackles an interesting concept that I hadn't heard of before, but have now learned is actually a fairly common practice in Jewish communities: "twinning", or learning about a child of the same age from the Holocaust days to commemorate them during the Jewish child's Bar/Bat Mitzvah. I think this is such a fantastic idea, so reading about it as the plot of the story was actually quite interesting.
While I didn't particularly enjoy the writing itself, as it was definitely on the younger end of middle grade stories, there's a lot of good discussion going on in this book. Laura's kind of a brat in the beginning, but she grows a lot as her life is put into perspective and she grows to count her blessings a bit. My favorite aspect of the entire thing was actually her friendship with non-Jewish Nix, who starts the book pretty heartless in regards to the Holocaust as a whole, putting Laura into the interesting position of learning that sometimes, just because a friend seems like a 'good' person, doesn't mean that they empathize with your experiences or see outside of the bubble of their own privilege. Of course, Nix grows and learns from her mistakes, but the entire scenario revolving around her reaction to Laura's "twinning" experience is pretty insightful and could offer a lot to young readers.
The Diary of Laura's Twin tackles an interesting concept that I hadn't heard of before, but have now learned is actually a fairly common practice in Jewish communities: "twinning", or learning about a child of the same age from the Holocaust days to commemorate them during the Jewish child's Bar/Bat Mitzvah. I think this is such a fantastic idea, so reading about it as the plot of the story was actually quite interesting.
While I didn't particularly enjoy the writing itself, as it was definitely on the younger end of middle grade stories, there's a lot of good discussion going on in this book. Laura's kind of a brat in the beginning, but she grows a lot as her life is put into perspective and she grows to count her blessings a bit. My favorite aspect of the entire thing was actually her friendship with non-Jewish Nix, who starts the book pretty heartless in regards to the Holocaust as a whole, putting Laura into the interesting position of learning that sometimes, just because a friend seems like a 'good' person, doesn't mean that they empathize with your experiences or see outside of the bubble of their own privilege. Of course, Nix grows and learns from her mistakes, but the entire scenario revolving around her reaction to Laura's "twinning" experience is pretty insightful and could offer a lot to young readers.
Sofia just wants to fit in, like any new girl would. High school is a big, scary world - especially when you're a military brat, moving every six months. When she makes new friends with the popular girls, she's over the moon. When they ask her to spy on the weird kid, Brooklyn, she's wary. When they ask her to help them perform an exorcism on Brooklyn, Sofia begins to realize that something is very wrong here.
After all, everyone has their own sins to confess.
Mean Girls meets The Exorcist?
I wanted to love this book. The book itself was unique: a hardback without a dust jacket, that looked more like a Bible than a YA book, though the gaudy matte pink ruined the effect a bit. YA horror isn't something I find good examples of frequently, though, so when I saw this on sale on BookOutlet, I naturally had to grab it!
This book was so. damn. annoying. The narrator felt very shallow as a character; she knew what was happening was wrong, but kept going along with it because she wanted to be "accepted", blah blah blah, typical teenager bullshit. None of the characters ever received any real fleshing out; to be frank, there was probably more backstory around the narrator's stroke-affected grandmother than anyone else.
I figured out the ending somewhere around the 30% mark, which always puts a damper on things, but I try not to let that bias my review. The violence throughout the second half varied between really cringe-y in a good way, to cringe-y in a bad way, and by the end of it, I just felt like I'd wasted a couple of hours of my life. I won't be picking up the sequel and would not recommend this title.
After all, everyone has their own sins to confess.
Mean Girls meets The Exorcist?
I wanted to love this book. The book itself was unique: a hardback without a dust jacket, that looked more like a Bible than a YA book, though the gaudy matte pink ruined the effect a bit. YA horror isn't something I find good examples of frequently, though, so when I saw this on sale on BookOutlet, I naturally had to grab it!
This book was so. damn. annoying. The narrator felt very shallow as a character; she knew what was happening was wrong, but kept going along with it because she wanted to be "accepted", blah blah blah, typical teenager bullshit. None of the characters ever received any real fleshing out; to be frank, there was probably more backstory around the narrator's stroke-affected grandmother than anyone else.
I figured out the ending somewhere around the 30% mark, which always puts a damper on things, but I try not to let that bias my review. The violence throughout the second half varied between really cringe-y in a good way, to cringe-y in a bad way, and by the end of it, I just felt like I'd wasted a couple of hours of my life. I won't be picking up the sequel and would not recommend this title.
This book's title is self-explanatory, as it is literally a compilation of exchanges occurring between booksellers and customers - most of them having occurred in Jen's own shop, but quite a few of the exchanges were submitted by readers of her blog, which was an interesting addition as I had actually visited a couple of these stores and it added a neat familiarity. Some of the conversations are endearing, some of them are very odd, and most of them will simply make you roll your eyes and wonder how people can be this damn stupid.
I gave this book 3 stars not because it wasn't funny - it was, and it made me snort a few times - but because it wasn't spectacular. I'm glad that I checked it out from the library, because I don't feel like it would have been worth actually purchasing, as most of these exchanges just struck me as variations on any other retail horror story. I think I read it in half an hour or less, and I definitely wouldn't ever reach for it again. That said, if you can check it out from your local library or borrow it from a friend, go ahead and give it a read on a boring afternoon when you need a chuckle. Just don't expect too much from it.
I gave this book 3 stars not because it wasn't funny - it was, and it made me snort a few times - but because it wasn't spectacular. I'm glad that I checked it out from the library, because I don't feel like it would have been worth actually purchasing, as most of these exchanges just struck me as variations on any other retail horror story. I think I read it in half an hour or less, and I definitely wouldn't ever reach for it again. That said, if you can check it out from your local library or borrow it from a friend, go ahead and give it a read on a boring afternoon when you need a chuckle. Just don't expect too much from it.
I can't say I enjoyed this one as much as volume 1, but it was still a damn enjoyable graphic novel! It's so interesting to watch how differently the story unfolds from what I'm familiar with on the television show. I have to say that there are a lot of things I strongly prefer in the show (like, um, Beth's existence?), but I'll definitely be continuing the series to watch things progress in their original intended way.
DON'T LAUGH AT ME! I had to read all 600-some-odd freakin' pages of this thing, so heck yeah, I'm putting it on my reading challenge.
I digress. I hate textbooks (who doesn't?), but this was a shockingly easy and interesting read. Would I have ever picked it up if it wasn't required for grad school, no, of course not, but if you're looking at picking this book up for your LIS program or something, just rest assured knowing that it is nowhere near the worst textbook you could be stuck with.
I digress. I hate textbooks (who doesn't?), but this was a shockingly easy and interesting read. Would I have ever picked it up if it wasn't required for grad school, no, of course not, but if you're looking at picking this book up for your LIS program or something, just rest assured knowing that it is nowhere near the worst textbook you could be stuck with.
I had DNFed both the regular and graphic novel versions of this book before, but with the film coming out this year, and the book being voted in as a BOTM for Life & Lit, I figured I would give it one more chance, so I picked the graphic novel up from the library and set to it. Unfortunately, even with forcing myself to finish it, I kind of hated this book. The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because I can appreciate the fact that it was very unique for its original time of publication (the story, not the graphic novel specifically).
1. The story is boring AF and I never stood a chance of connecting with any of the characters or actively caring about why their mission existed in the first place.
2. Holy hell, why does nobody talk about how drenched in religious overtones and patriotism this book is? That's honestly, like, 90% of the subplot: religious quotes and references, and patriotic rambling. I am in no way at all bashing on religion or patriotism, so don't get me wrong! If that's something that appeals to you, by all means, you do you! But those are two tones that I genuinely strongly dislike 99% of the time, and it caught me entirely by surprise in this book because I'd never heard anyone mention it. It did not make for a good reading experience.
So, at the end of the day... I dunno. If you liked the original story, sure, it's a good graphic novel to pick up - but do I recommend it to anyone who hasn't read the original book or seen the movie and enjoyed the plot? Nahhh.
You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!
1. The story is boring AF and I never stood a chance of connecting with any of the characters or actively caring about why their mission existed in the first place.
2. Holy hell, why does nobody talk about how drenched in religious overtones and patriotism this book is? That's honestly, like, 90% of the subplot: religious quotes and references, and patriotic rambling. I am in no way at all bashing on religion or patriotism, so don't get me wrong! If that's something that appeals to you, by all means, you do you! But those are two tones that I genuinely strongly dislike 99% of the time, and it caught me entirely by surprise in this book because I'd never heard anyone mention it. It did not make for a good reading experience.
So, at the end of the day... I dunno. If you liked the original story, sure, it's a good graphic novel to pick up - but do I recommend it to anyone who hasn't read the original book or seen the movie and enjoyed the plot? Nahhh.
You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!
This was my first assigned read for my summer master's degree program course, Multicultural Youth Literature, and I have to say it was a solid start to the reading list! I won't be doing full reviews for most of the books on my reading list, but I did enjoy this one enough to give you a quick rundown. (Unfortunately, I just don't think the pieces in this collection were meaty enough to give a story-by-story breakdown like I usually do with anthologies.)
Open Mic is a short anthology collection of a mixture of nonfiction and fiction own-voice stories about being a teen of color in today's world. There are sad stories, happy stories, funny ones, and downright infuriating ones (in the sense of, "How do we live in a world where people still treat each other this poorly?!").
My notable favorites were:
All of the stories in this collection are worth a read, though, and I strongly encourage you to pick it up! The teens represented in the anthology range from black, Asian, Latinx, Haitian, Indian, and more.
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Time to start my first assigned read for my summer MLIS course! I haven't had assigned reading in a veeeeeery long time...
Open Mic is a short anthology collection of a mixture of nonfiction and fiction own-voice stories about being a teen of color in today's world. There are sad stories, happy stories, funny ones, and downright infuriating ones (in the sense of, "How do we live in a world where people still treat each other this poorly?!").
My notable favorites were:
Why I Won't Be Watching the Last Airbender Movie by Gene Luen Yang:
A very short comic about how boycotting the whitewashed A:TLA film adaptation landed Gene his role as the creator of the incredible A:TLA graphic novels! This one struck me especially, because I've been a huge fan of A:TLA since the day it first aired, and, well... there is no movie in Ba Sing Se!
Brotherly Love by Francisco X. Stork:
A piece that felt as though it could've been fiction or nonfiction, regarding toxic masculinity and homophobia in a Latinx family, and the love that siblings have for one another. This one was absolutely precious.
All of the stories in this collection are worth a read, though, and I strongly encourage you to pick it up! The teens represented in the anthology range from black, Asian, Latinx, Haitian, Indian, and more.
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Time to start my first assigned read for my summer MLIS course! I haven't had assigned reading in a veeeeeery long time...
Assigned reading for MLIS 7421: Multicultural Youth Literature.
I love children's nonfiction books about important historical figures, because I think it's so important that little ones are taught not only fairytales, but real-life matters and history, too. Harriet is certainly a woman that every children should be taught about and inspired by, and I loved the twist in the sense that this book traces her life backward, before coming full circle 'round to her as a peaceful old woman, basking in the freedom she risked her life for.
I love children's nonfiction books about important historical figures, because I think it's so important that little ones are taught not only fairytales, but real-life matters and history, too. Harriet is certainly a woman that every children should be taught about and inspired by, and I loved the twist in the sense that this book traces her life backward, before coming full circle 'round to her as a peaceful old woman, basking in the freedom she risked her life for.
Assigned reading for MLIS 7421: Multicultural Youth Literature.
The idea behind this is great - teaching children to love and accept one another regardless of differences - but be aware that this is an incredibly simplistic children's books. I would definitely gear this towards toddlers, not children nearing chapter book ages. On a side note, the artwork of the children's faces is slightly terrifying and I am not joking at all when I say that I believe it would frighten some of the more sensitive little ones.
The idea behind this is great - teaching children to love and accept one another regardless of differences - but be aware that this is an incredibly simplistic children's books. I would definitely gear this towards toddlers, not children nearing chapter book ages. On a side note, the artwork of the children's faces is slightly terrifying and I am not joking at all when I say that I believe it would frighten some of the more sensitive little ones.