WOW! I hate I waited so long to read this book. This is a high fantasy graphic novel. Hawke and Grayson are twins. They are grandchildren to the ruler of their land, and cousin to Reyden, who is next in line for the thrown. On the night of the blessing, a rarely seen militant cousin Mirelle, invades and kills grandfather and Reyden. The boys run and find a hiding place in the wind. This world has a “nun” like society called the Communion of Blue. These are the ladies who spin the blue that make the tapestries, that keep track of all the ruling families. Each year after the night of the blessing, they take in new initiatives, and that is where the boys hid, as initiatives, as girls of the communion. The thing is, for Grayson, it is not hiding. Grayson loves life in the communion, and knows that they are Grayce, not Grayson. The Twins hatch a plan with help of another cousin, who is a member of the communion, to take back their land, their, thrown, and to let the world know that Reyden was NOT a traitor. That Mirelle, was not only a traitor, but that she had help from a member of the communion. This was a fantastic book. Not just for the fantasy elements, and adventure, but for the story of Grayce’s transition, and how easy and accepted it was. There is everything to love about this book. It is sure to go into history and become and new classic, and a staple of children’s collections for a long time to come. 

 

This book was a treat to read. Five kids are called to the principal’s office to be interrogated. They had to wait for an interpreter because not all the kids speak English. There was apparently an incident and the principle wanted to get to the bottom of it. All these kids think they are in trouble but shouldn’t be. We hear the story from each of them in turn until the end. This book shows the casual racism that can be apparent in school. How people assume someone is ‘dumb’ because they don’t speak the language, or that they are low class, or someone beneath others because of a language barrier. It also shows how, particularly Latinx people are seen as foreign, even when born in the us, or how many see them all as “Mexican” in a derogatory sense, when they come from all over. These five kids start out as strangers but form a friendship because it is others who think they should be together. It is others who think the only way they could do good in the community is to be the janitor. This book has such a heartwarming message of love and acceptance for all people. It shows it with words, and with illustrations. One thing that made this book outstanding, is the authors didn’t pick a language. They present all words in both languages. The reader could tell when the kids were speaking English, or when they were speaking Spanish, but nothing was left out. This book makes itself a standout by being inclusive. It facilitates in learning other languages, rather than creating a guessing game of what is being said. I loved this book and hope to see it on library and book store shelves for many years to come. 

 

This picture book was lovely. Peanut loves to be themselves, and has so much fun doing the things they love, that their friends often join in. When Peanut decides to enter a  rhythmic gymnastics competition they even turn a tumble into a triumph. All kids could learn from this book. Do what your heart loves, and others will love it with you. 

 

I was quite enjoying this book. The story is about a child who is playing outside and gets “caught”. They realize it’s their inner voice that is invisible trap. They have worked themself up making something small like a snagged shoelace, bigger than it is. I really like the message in the book. However, I do not like the hidden religion. He was up in the tree and hears voice that basically tells him to calm down, and you’ll see the solution, and I read that as the internal voice, but further into the Story it says his father’s voice was with him, but the father was never introduced in this book. The reason I say this is hidden religion is his father and the way it’s worded with have faith in your father and faith in his plans that he’s always with you, and that he’s an expert who always intervenes. This could mean the real father and young readers may take it that way, but this reader sees it as hidden religion and that throws the rest of the story off. 

 

This story is told in two perspectives, that of Lucas, the closet autistic, popular boy, and Jeremy, the first year in transition at high school where he once was the most popular cheerleader. The story isn’t just about Jeremy‘s transition. This story would be a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers trope. And it’s OK. There are times where it’s really hard to like Jeremy. Jeremy is angry all the time. They constantly want to seek out revenge and do psychological harm to Lucas for an offense Lucas didn’t know took place. Lucas was in his own world. Dealing with the death of his older, considered perfect brother. This book is the competition between the two to become homecoming king. They go to an elite school for people with money.  Besides Jeremy not being the most likable character, I find this book is way too long. Over 9 1/2 hours.  The audiobook has points where it just drags and one wonders “is this over yet”. Lucas isn’t a bad character. He’s confident on the outside, but not on the inside. Both of them make stupid decisions throughout the book which could be very typical of high school, and this is a YA novel. However, all of that together makes this a messy book that while one does enjoy it they were also ready for it to end. 

 

This book was not at all with that what I was expecting. It was quite fun and very interesting. It is a memoir about Michael and his girlfriend, Coconut and how she tries to turn them vegan. Michael is a veteran and Coconut is a nurse. She goes down the vegetarian/vegan tunnel that leads to animal rights activism. She wants Michael right there beside her. But for Michael, watching the bloody documentaries and reading the horrible books about slaughterhouses, don’t convince him. What they convinced him of is that Coconut and he might be getting too far apart. So, he hatches a plan to get her to like meat again. This book was quite funny, but you could feel the heart, and you could feel the real experiences of a veteran who could relate his day-to-day life to what he experienced over in the Middle East. I really like that this had a happy ending. It always felt like it would, but with the title and the subject it could have gone the other way. Apparently, this author has a few other graphic novels illustrated by somebody different and I think I’d be interested in checking them out. 

 

This was a fun non-fiction graphic novel for the earliest chapter book leaders. In it, we follow Bert the beetle as he tries to find a home. On his journey, we learned about various other insects, and what their homes look like and how they come about. This was a lovely, and that many kids will find interesting. 

 

This is a story to not only explain what Vitiligo is but also help kids feel better in their own skin. Awais is going to a new day at a new school and is very worried that people will make fun of his white patches of skin. However, a friend recognizes that differences are great and helps Awais gain confidence in himself. This book is a little overly long and while not preachy it definitely is a topic book. It’s a good book and I think kids would like it however, I’m not sure they pick it up without a specific reason to do so. 

 

This book is really silly, and kids are going to love it. Armadillo is lonely he throws a party for his friend, and they ask will there be cake? Will there be music? Will there be games? When Armadillo says yes, he thinks of these party items differently than the other animals do. But everything works out in the end. There is a cadence to this book which is nice, but sometime is a little tongue twisty, and it rhymes really well, but there are a few harsh rhymes, like every time they rhyme jaguar. This is because while the rhyme works, it throws the cadence off but overall it works. The illustrations are wonderful and fun and I could see going back to this book over and over again. 

 

Pretzel is a pug who loves to pop. Pop in this case means fart. If you’ve ever had a pug, you know they are very good at this. And this story is about Pretzel popping off so much that it annoys her family and they don’t want to be with her until she stops farting. I don’t like this book. Farting is a natural body occurrence and the fact that the family does not want to be with someone until they quit.  Farting is a natural bodily function and I think by having this lesson that if you fart too much nobody wants to be around you is a very bad idea. Secondly, this book is way too long. It has parts where it rhymes which I’m not sure if it’s accidentally or meant to be, but then added to the parts that don’t rhyme.  It’s a giant mess. If someone wants a book about really stinky dogs that love to fart check out Walter his books are much better both in art style and in story.