This audiobook was lots of fun. This book is a cozy romance with a little spice. Really little spice. The archduke runs away from home because he’s been held captive, and things aren’t going well.  His uncle has been running his country so he decides to seek the help of the queen in the neighboring kingdom and hopefully maybe take back his rule. However, when he’s mistaken for a dark wizard, he thinks what a better place to hide then with the queen next door. A big Library that needs organizing and a cast of wild characters makes this an enjoyable read. Both good and evil witches, some that sparkle rainbows, and some that are just up to no good. This was thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. This audiobook also gives you a preview of the next book that’s out late 2025 early 2026. Yes I do want the next book. 

 A kid turned me onto this book with his Letter about Literature. When you start a letter with “My mom ‘s dead, but not by a serial killer”, you know something interesting is going on. This kid was talking about the book 14 Ways to Die in which our main character decides to participate in a social media show. She has one purpose: to find her mother ‘s killer. Her mother was the first victim of a serial killer that has not been caught in 10 years. If he stays on his usual schedule, his 14th person should die soon. This was a fun and interesting murder mystery. The author went to the James Patterson school of writing and there is no chapter longer than five pages. Those chapters may be short, but they help keep the pace of the book moving quite fast. There is an interesting cast of characters, and you feel for Jessica as much as you do for her father and like her viewing audience you too are waiting to catch the killer. This book was pretty good. it’s not the best there is in this area but if you like a Y a murder mystery thriller you’re probably going to like this one. So check it out. 

 This is a board book lesson that food doesn’t come from a grocery store but actually grows from the ground. It looks particularly at asparagus, tomatoes, strawberries, and corn. This book is pretty typical, but I do like the illustration. It’s paper collage and it  works really well for the subject. 

 Why does this book move so slowly? This book was a DNF. Each page is flooded with words. And unfortunately, the story isn’t entertaining enough to keep me flipping pages. 

 This feels like two books smashed into one. Most of the first half is an introduction to different animal characters on their way to school. There is a distinct format and pacing to the first half of the book. Even the artwork is distinct. The pages are mainly white. The character is a sketch and color. However, the last pages are full color. In end all the critters are in the classroom adding and mixing  together. Everything about this feels like two different books. One feels like the first book where they’re all on their way to school and the second book is what happens when they get to school. Except there’s nothing in between the two. It needs a break. It needs to end. I do like the artwork but going from the stark white to the full color is a choice. Also the font size changes between the first half and the second half. And the font size changes because the words almost quadruple from the first half of the book to the second. I like the first half of this book. The first half of this book is a great book. The second half is too wordy. Extremely repetitive. To say the red ladybug and the orange butterfly mix their red and orange color. It is repetitive and almost makes you want to stop reading. 

 Little fly wants to go to space. They aren’t the best student, but they always try and one day accidentally get their wish. This book was nice. It wasn’t spectacular. It feels amateurish. Like a story a student would write as they are honing their craft. It’s not bad and there will be the kids that like it. The artwork is fine. Some of it I really like, some of it’s not my favorite. And often times it feels like multiple styles done by multiple are illustrators. There is a reader for this book. It just doesn’t happen to be me. 

 Five stars. This author reimagined Humpty Dumpty in such a creative way. We meet Humpty, friends Jack and Jill, Little Miss Moffett, etc. And he has a great fall, but he doesn’t crack. The way the author integrates the other nursery rhyme characters and changes up the story works so well. Plus the illustrations are sublime. They are a perfect match to this fun fall book. 

 I’m a little surprised because normally I love this author’s books. This is about Angie and everything they can do in their various types of shoes. The story tries to rhyme and it tries to have a cadence. Notice the word tries. I don’t know if it’s the word choices or the various type sets that make this hard to read. A cadence is a flow. Rhymes work better when there’s a flow. And there is something in this that keeps interrupting the flow. Then at the end, you have a separate poem, called Angie’s secret that has the same problems as the rest of the story. I like the idea and the lesson behind this book and I enjoy the artwork quite well, but overall this would not be a book I would put in my library. 

 t’s great to see books about women inventors. Most women’s inventions especially 100 years ago were often credited to men. In this, we had a woman who was tired of spending hours at the sink and tired of her dishes, chipping, and scratching. Through trials and tribulation, she came up with a machine, patented it, and made sure that hotels. schools, etc. could have a faster way to do dishwashing. Unfortunately, Josephine passed away before dishwasher came into being in most households, but she probably would have been proud of how far her machine has come. 

 This is a fun grade school book. It teaches the basics of how algorithms and computers work. It uses the idea of explaining it to a parent to make it fun. This book does a fantastic job of teaching the beginning of coding and how to think like a computer. The illustrations are bright and colorful and go well with the book. Spiro is known for her science books for kids of all ages and this is another great book in a great series.