A heartbreaking story about a young boy who follows his brother across the Sahara. They then travel in a leaking boat across the Mediterranean, in an effort to make a new life and reunite with their sister in Italy.

There are many sad stories of lives lost along the way, dodging violent gangs, forced to trust conmen who steal their money, and hiding from the police since they don’t have ID or travel papers.
A lot of their refugee companions die on the road, and the story is mostly serious and sad, but there are some light moments with humor and a blazing hope that spurs the characters onward.

While I enjoyed reading the story and it tugged at my heart, there a couple of liberal/left ideas about immigration in the book that I did not agree with. Most of the book is a straightforward story-telling though, so the two leftist bits didn’t bother me much.

I love the soft art style. The colors are beautiful, and I love how clean each panel is, without a lot of clutter in the background. It makes what is important stand out clearly.

This is such a beautiful book about broken lives. It truly touched my heart.

Not really sure what to think about this manga series. I like it okay, but I don't love it. I think the artwork is lovely, but the monsters are gross. I like the characters, but I don't especially care about them. I thought the plot was interesting, but now I'm not sure if I even remember most of it. It's a middle of the road manga. I enjoyed reading it, but I probably wouldn't read it again.
I have never read the Infernal Devices novels, so I'm sure that the novels must be better, with more depth and scope for the plot and characters.

This history book is full of colorful illustrations and photos, and a lighthearted writing style.
I was immediately drawn to the beautiful cover and the gorgeous layout.

However, I did NOT find the information to be reliable or accurate, and the conversational writing style was too cutesy and fake for me.
The author often cites things as fact which are only theories, or gives his personal opinion on events instead of relating them impartially. Many of his conclusions are erroneous, and I did not appreciate the silly introductions to each chapter.

I did love the beautiful illustrations and colorful photos!
I would not recommend this book for anyone who is interested in reading actual history rather than personal opinion and propaganda.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

I have enjoyed rereading this one again and again!

I found this book really helpful and inspiring!
I like that there are useful and practical things you can do to learn and grow and become your best, most authentic self. It's not just an inspiring theory, but a real tangible way to live with actual measurable goals to change your life and deal with your fears.

This book did not resonate with me as much as her other book, [b:Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself|16158168|Mind Over Medicine Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself|Lissa Rankin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392244424s/16158168.jpg|21998567], but I still found it really compelling, and I will be using some of the techniques to live a life without fear.

I got so bored in the middle that I almost DNF'd it. But I took a break, came back and kept going. I just can't connect with any of the characters. Their dialogue is cheesy and boring. The plot is boring. There are too many supporting characters for me to keep track of. Ugh.
Not a fan of this.

I wasn't quite as bored with this last book in the trilogy. The plot had some better scenes that kept me a little more interested, but there were still too many supporting characters to keep track of, and the dialogue is still cheesy and dumb most of the time.

I liked the ending. Love triangles are so easy to resolve when you're immortal. haha!

I was impressed with this inspiring story of a woman who didn’t listen to anyone who told her she couldn’t run a marathon. The simple story-telling style and the beautiful illustrations makes this the perfect book for young girls.

This incredible book about Apollo 11, features the most amazing pop-ups I have ever seen in my life!!!
Every time I turned the page, I was oohing and aahing over the beautiful graphics and the intricacy of the pop-ups. There is a pop-up of the Apollo 11 rocket that is at least a foot long, and it blasts up from the page!

As if the gorgeous pictures and pop-ups weren't enough, the story of the moon landing is also marvelous and full of interesting details. If you can tear your eyeballs away from the exquisite photos long enough to actually read the story, it is a delightful and easy to read history of the entire moon landing journey from start to finish. I loved how Buzz Aldrin tells the story from his own perspective!

And as if the interesting story AND pictures AND pop-ups weren't enough, there is ALSO an insert with a paper model of the Eagle lunar module complete with assembly instructions for putting it together!

I'm going to give this book to my niece as a Christmas gift, and hope it inspires her to do amazing things! It sure inspired me!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This fun book gives problematic scenarios, and encourages the reader to find solutions by using engineering and science! The problem is set with a description of a place or difficulty, and then various people of different professions give their original solutions, and finally the engineers give a solution, and you can decide which one is best!

There are a wide variety of professional people from different areas giving imaginative solutions on each page; a marine biologist, a teacher, a librarian, an architect, a nurse, a plumber, and dozens more in addition to the actual engineers.

For instance, how would you get a book across the yard to your neighbor if you are quarantined with the flu? You could use a rope pulley to send it across from window to window. You could strap the book to the back of a dog. You could wheel it over on a toy truck pulled by a string. The possible solutions are as varied and interesting as the professionals who give them.

If you wonder all the time about how things work and how they could be improved upon, then this book would be perfect for that curious mind!

Personally, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, because most of the problems/scenarios didn't give enough information. Like what tools or supplies are available to you? What is the distance between the houses? How much does the book weigh? Who is there to help you, or do you have to complete the task alone?

Every scenario was very sketchy and lacked basic information. While that left more room for the imagination and allowed the solutions presented to be quite diverse, I didn't like the confusion that this created. I would have preferred more clear boundaries to the problems.

It's still a wonderful and fun book that really gets the mind churning with logic and ideas! This would be perfect for kids ages 6-12.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.