Looking through my years of reading Dan Santat‘s books, I realize that every single one of them I have rated five stars. This does not break that streak. This book was fantastic. It was a love story. It was an adventure story. It was a story about finding yourself. And Dan does that all through an autobiography in graphic format about going to Europe for the first time while in middle school. There is so much heart and love in this book and that Dan added the pictures at the end and the envelopes with Amy with the letters going back-and-forth… It was just perfect. You come away from this book with a smile on your face, just wanting more and going man is this author good. He can tell a story not just to keep kids entertained and interested but to keep adults entertained and interested as well. This author already has a Caldecott Medal now he’s going for Newbery, and I hope he gets it. 

 

The test is finally come to figure out who can make it into the hunter’s guild. This book doesn’t go all the way through the task. Its 130 pages of Hunter’s Guild and the last 70 pages were two stories that have nothing to do with this book. One story is about hermit crabs that grow and start taking human houses, and the other one is romantic comedy. I had someone ask me if the series was canceled and it feels like maybe it should be. Nothing happened in book 2. They didn’t even finish the test which only lasts for two hours so to me this volume was unsuccessful and I have no desire to read the rest. 

 

This is truly a beginning, chapter book. It has a few words and big lines for those that are past Dick and Jane, but not quite to Mary Pope Osborne. Frog and Toad have lasted for decades for a reason. They’re classics. Their stories are about friendships and hope in sunny days. The book I was reading is older than I am, and yet it still has steam power in today’s very full book globe. I love Frog and Toad and kids will continue to love frog and toad well into the future. 

 

Out of all the Stone arch readers I’ve read the season this one is the best. Moopy has shown up in other books, but they never said he or she. They are very adamant about saying Moopy  is a “she” in this book, which is her origin story. It’s about how she makes new friends and destroys her own house. I don’t like this book, I don’t hate this book, it’s just meehhh. I was hoping for something better from Stone Arch. 

 

If you wanted a TikTok version of the return of the Jedi here it is. This book shortens a two-hour movie into 20 pages fit for someone just beginning to read. The illustrations are really what make the story and a kid could follow it if they had seen the movies, otherwise the story severely lacking. 

 

This was a lot of fun. A young boy is raised to always do, not only what is parents ask, but what anybody else asks of him. He is so good at this, but it gets him sold to a demon. His parents needed the money to live a lavish lifestyle, and they knew their son would do it, so they sold his soul to the demons. Turns out it’s actually a good thing and now there’s a human in demon school trying not to get caught and become food for his classmates. This book was fantastically fun. It moves really fast and is great for grades five and up. Our main character is 15 years old is learning to make friends for the first time in their life. I want more books in the series sooner rather than later. 

This was a fun romp.  It didn't go where I was expecting but I enjoyed the ride and cant wait to read book 2.

It was boring and confusing.

 

Stamp from the beginning, has been a very important book in our modern society. So important that they made both a young readers addition, and a kid’s edition. Now they have come out with a graphic novel edition to help all readers, understand how racism began at the same time our country did. How from the very beginning of colonialization, the thinking of one race of people is better than other, has been stamped into everything that our country has grown up around. This book does this through looking at five key historical figures, and what they have done to burden or to help society as a whole in this endeavor to be anti-racist. The way this book was turned into a graphic novel is phenomenal. How the artist and the author bring forth the idea of antiracist versus segregationist and that both are a form of racism, had this white reader thinking “maybe I am doing things wrong”. This book starts out with a fantastic comic of a white woman going into a black school to teach all the kids, and now they’ve all passed. And how it’s a good thing. A.k.a. the Dangerous Minds situation also known as white saviorism. It helps people realize that this is a form of assimilation. That by saying things like stop, pull your pants, talk right, etc. is assimilation.  What is talking right? Too many it’s talking “white”. So, lots of fantastic ideas and history in this book that is not taught other places. Whether read in graphic novel, or any of the three other versions, this book should be read, and should be considered part of a curriculum on the history of our country. 

 

Overall, I like this book, but I am confused about the message. From the title and in many parts, it seems like a transgender story, but it’s not. The donkey believes they are a cat because they’ve been raised with cats, and they come when all the other cats come. The books message is you can be whoever you are and whatever makes you happy. But it could be a confusing story for a transgendered child because it never settles if that is or is not OK.