This was quite fun and well done.  The Extincts are a 007 like team that are out to save the world.  They get sent on a mission to find and save a Siberian Unicorn horn.  Yes that is a real thing.  That is one of the things that makes this books so much fun.  While it is completely fictional, there are info bits and real life interests hidden in-between the story panels.  Some topics covered are the unicorn, towns in Siberia, and the Batagaika Pit (which I had never heard of until now.)  This book does a nice job of sneaking in the non-fiction bits that will interest a reader in more information, while also offering the standard back matter of info on instinct animals, experiments etc.  My only complaint about the back matter is, the book lists ways to help save the world and one is to stop using disposable plastic water bottles, and on the next page has an experiment that uses a disposable full plastic water bottle, and a disposable plastic cup.  I think in terms of what this book aims to accomplish, they need to change that out. 

 

Hallmark is known for its holiday movies, and now they have books to match. Lacey is a face character at a major Florida theme park.  She is a princess.  She has always wanted to be a theme park princess and her reasoning is sound.  At one princess tea party in the park she meets Grumpy Baseball Hat dad.  Turns out this grump is a prince of a small country on the French Riviera.  He is making his little girls dream of being a normal child come true for her 7th birthday, which includes a trip to the land of fairytales and fake princesses.  This book is everything you expect a book from Hallmark to be.  Its troupes include instalove, prince/commoner, and widowed father.  And while the reader knows what is going to happen in this book, after all it’s exactly what the reader wants to happen, it’s the fun of getting there.  It’s the story that makes the reader smile and their heart happy.  My main complaints are it’s only 8-12 days, and the books specifically mentions a PINK princess dress and they used a yellow dress on the cover.  Other than that, this book was everything I wanted when I started it. 

 

Waiting is not a pleasant thing. It’s something most kids find really hard. This book is just a long weight of a child and their grandparent. Advanced readers and adults will probably figure out what they’re waiting for. But it’ll probably be a big surprise to the kids. This story has an unusual cadence but it flows nicely it doesn’t intentionally set out to rhyme which is good because the cadence still flows even when the accidental rhyme pops in. This book is well done it’s perfect for the topic and the illustrations are lovely. They are unusual in this type of book but I think the way the artist uses simple lines and their color to express the feeling of waiting is absolutely perfect. This book is great not just for the people waiting and his situation but for any leader who hast to sit and wait. 

 Five star read. This book is so much fun. Darwin is a dinosaur he loves to dance. He tries to get his friends to join in but the attention he really grabs is his parents. The parents can’t dance it’s just not possible until his parents bust a move and makes the possible probable. Then grandma Joe swings in and the fun is just there! The old-school dances they go through from the jive to the Kid ‘N Play, it’s spot on, it’s perfectly illustrated and when the parents do the dirty dancing lift you’re busting out a smile and  laughing. The book rhymes quite well but it does have a few cadence issues but not enough to dim this star. This is a five star read you need to check it out I want to see what this author does next. 

 

Something has happened in this little child’s world. We don’t know what has happened but there is grief and sadness. Sometimes in the sadness you just want to be by yourself and away from the things that remind you or make you feel pressure. And our main child decides to dig a tunnel. The tunnel is under his bed and out to the night world. While out in the night world he sees his mother in the living room with his aunt and the sadness that emanates from the pages both from the words and the illustrations can be felt by both the boy and the reader. It helps all realize that sometimes you may need solitude but you always need your family. This book is wonderful for its simplicity. Its nonspecific and it could be anything. It could be troubles at school, it could be money problems, and it could be a death in the family. There are so many things that could bring about the situation that symbolizing how it feels works tremendously well. They are children that need this book so hopefully every library will have a copy. 

This story embodies its title. It’s just a list of who all can like the color pink and who can’t. The illustrations of what really make the story you have as much diversity as can possibly be put in both by skin tones and abilities but it all works. I do wish with in this they would’ve said pink is for girls and pink is for boys and pinks is for these animals. But just saying pink is for pilots and pink it’s for tigers and pink it’s for cats and it does work. And it brings Aerosmith to mind because pink is my new favorite flavor. 

 This graphic novel was completely not what I was expecting. The A stands for both acme as well as Ace or asexual. Most of the book deals with an eighth grade Jay that has pretty severe acne. They were some of the last people to get acne in their school. They just want it gone and they go to a doctor and go on a very trying regiment to make it all go away. Throughout the eighth grade year, the class schedule, the changing of friends, and the effects of the medication, life is hard. Sometimes it’s the hardships that a personal growth. I quite enjoyed this story and watching the character grow up. I liked watching them except themselves and discover that they are ace. I even liked their concerns over their acne and how it affected their self-worth. This is something I think many students would feel and understand which would make it a great book for any middle and high school to have. 

 I am still floating existentially out of my body after the new lyrical work by Jason Reynold.   This long form poem is excellently and brilliantly illustrated by Jason Griffin.  This story is a reminder to breath.  It looks at the cycle of news that never seems to stop.  The way the news effects people differently, but also how it is seen through the eyes of one. The mask mandates are seen through new eyes.  It is just so hard for this reader to express how fantastic this work not only read, but made one feel.  It’s all about FELL.  And live, and hope, and pray, and survive.  And most important, BREATH. 

 This story, told in alternating viewpoint of Chamika and Devon, is a look at a high power, elite school, and what it will go through to remain that way.  The beginning of this book is very reminiscent of other dark academia books like Stags by MA Bennett.  Things happen similarly, except there are no guns involved. 

 

Chamika and Devon are the only two Black students at school.  Chamika has wealthy immigrant parents, while Devon is from the poor side of town. Chamika has had it relatively easy to the casual observer, but only her and the reader know that she tries so hard to be perfect.  She will not let anyone make her feel “less than” because of her skin color, or her “new money”.  Devon is the smart gay nerd who barely survived his fist school, only to get a dream scholarship to this new one.  But the nice school, doesn’t mean Devon’s life is nice.  He still has to help mom pay the bills sometimes, watch out for the bullies, drug dealers, and even friends that will pound him into the ground with the least provocation.  

 

While books like Stags make class or society distinctions that cause the dark episodes, Ace of Spades, all comes down to race.  “Social Eugenics”.  This is not a topic that I was ever taught about in school, but find that this book opened a window to explore more in-depth and real life cases of this practice.  Of people purposely being held up to get shot down.  This book gave the readers a lot to think about, both in current and future actions. 

 

One thing the author really did well was set the story.  They never come out and say where the school is, the reader just assumes.  I assumed it was Chicago as I live in Illinois.  However, the author purposely wrote so that anyone can see a place they recognize. 

 

This book was an interesting and entertaining read.  It brings forth conversations on actions of people and their consequences, and opens doors to find ways to fight practices like illustrated within the pages of the book. 

 

TW: Racism, Sexism, homophobia 

To be honest, was this book as good as the first.  No.  However, it was a very satisfying read, and a great ending to the story.  There is a little heart break, a little just deserts, but it works out as it should in the end.  I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion to this story, and will be recommending the duology for years to come.