For a book written in 2017, about a futuristic Taipei society, it feels eerily like today.  This book starts with the heist of a high society girl.  She is kidnapped for money.  However, the money isn’t for nefarious reasons, but so that a group of young people can infiltrate high society in order to make society better for all.  You see futuristic Taipei is polluted so bad that the Mei (poor people) have a life expectancy of just 40 years, and most don’t even make it that far.  They die from the brown smog they breath every day, that is not helped much by a mask, by the polluted water they drink, and the lack of food.  Its so polluted that no part of society remembers the blue skies.  But our gang of young people know that the reason the government won’t do anything about the pollution is because the big corporations are paying the legislature to look the other way and someone, mainly them, have to stop it.  Not only that.  People are sick.  Sick of things we think of as easily curable like pneumonia, but also of a new strain of avian flu.  This flu has a mortality rate of 80%.  But only the poor suffer because the Yo (rich people) have these special suits that not only protect them but do some other neat things as well.  I really enjoyed this book.  I was not expecting it at all.  Based on the cover I was expecting a space book, but I am very happy with what I read.  This book does have a sequel,  Ruse,  but book ends on a nice point that does not require a book two, but you will probably want to read it anyway. 

 

This is a lovely beginning biography of the father of modern fantasy. All the main points of his young childhood are hit: growing up, losing parents, getting married, going to war, etc. My favorite part of this book happens to be the illustrations. They portray the real person and his fantasy life in a very wonderful way. A stand out addition in this long running series. 

 

Overall, I like this book and the message but especially the ending falls a little flat. Norton, is I believe a dog, and he’s found the perfect sweater that they love. But bear loves it so much they get one of their own,  so now the two are identical. Norton is unique so he has a scarf then Bear has a scarf.  Next comes the hat, and the a flower, etc. Norton wants to be unique , they do not like Bear following in their footsteps. But they both learn that even though you may look identical you can be very different. The illustrations are lovely and the story is interesting but there’s just something that makes it feel flat but can’t tell you what it is. 

 

This book is supposed to help break the habit of sexualizing nonsexual things. Like how a dragon isn’t always male or a unicorn isn’t always female etc. They have just been portrayed that way in modern media. The author does this by saying if a one thing is Miss or Mrs. or Mrs. but never actually explains what that means. Sometimes it’s Mr. but once again what does that mean? You’ll have one animal saying hello to another and another animal going “oh but I’m not a”,  “but I am a”,  and there is no explanation. There’s also no representation of nonbinary. So overall I think this is a nice try not quite there. 

 

I don’t know if this galley is purposely missing most of the illustrations or not but I’m not impressed. The thing about a picture book is it needs the pictures to help tell the story, so reading the story without pictures is very lacking. There’s no movement just a plethora of words dumped on the page. Without the pictures to help move the story along this is boring and uninteresting. 

 

Art is the eye of the beholder. In this book Pippin the dog wants to paint their portrait and they go through various art styles trying to find the one that’s right for them. In the end they learn that you have to find the art within yourself to really find yourself for self-portrait. The book started out very narcissistic which I didn’t care for and then got a little “lecturey”. Overall, this book was not for me and not what I would put in my library but it’s there for someone. 

 

Many of us spent so many months inside hidden away from others that reemerging is an anxiety inducing event. And that is exactly what it is for Pina. They have run out of cheese and the only way to get more is to walk down the road into town and to the cheese shop. The task is daunting but doable and with a little anxiety busting can be repeated. The story is a great one that is heavily needed in our current times. The illustrations are phenomenal. It’s hard to tell if they’re drawings or clay figures or anything else. It reminds me of Oscar worthy short story illustration. And I would love to see this turned into an animated Oscar story 

 

What did I just read? The book starts out with Lizette wanting to tell a lie just because she can. So they tell a lie and that lie becomes a reality. The lie is that they are going are going to the mountains and instead they go to molehill.  They make a fishing hole and have a campfire. The whole day turns out to be a perfectly fun day.  Lisette gets back and tell her mom to remind her that she shouldn’t lie. Talk about a confusing moral point. If you could leave out the point of the lie this would be a fun and entertaining book. However, to have a lie with no conflict resolution just a bad moral to teach. This is a pass for me 

 

This story has cute written all over it. Little polar bear is just out playing when they went into Hugo a scared little hair. They go on a grand adventure and Lars even get stuck inside a police station and only his friend can help him out. I love these books I love the illustration they are a wonder to share for any age. 

 

Lars can make friends anywhere. His new friend is Sasha the tiger who just wants to see the ocean. But as usual for Lars he got a little lost. But new friends along the way will help Sasha find home and Lars make it back to his dad. Love these books! I love the heart. I love the sentiment. I love the illustration. They just work.