We don’t really do Santa in my family, but my four year old is obsessed with him nonetheless. Of all the (many, many) Santa books we read this year, this is by far his favorite. We both have it nearly memorized by now. I like that it’s cute, clever, and BRIEF. My only wish is that with all the various Santa knick knacks in the book, we could have had at least one Black Santa depiction. Nope, white Santas all the way down. Still, if I had to choose a Santa book to read dozens of times, it would this one, easily.

I could not put this book down. Such a smart, compelling, brilliantly composed look at life with mental illness. I’ll read whatever she writes next, no questions asked.

Liked this one only slightly less than the first due to some predictability, but still all the stars. Such a delicious world and reading experience.

An unabashedly derivative but delightfully modern take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I love what this book is trying to do but boy did it miss the mark. For one, it somehow manages to use outdated/insensitive terms for (and/or speaks disparagingly of) nearly every group imaginable (little people, fat people, homeless people, poor people, the mentally ill, gay people, and Native Americans to name A FEW.) Honestly, it’s like they were trying. Horrifying. Also, the discrepancy in intended age group between the book cover and the content is wild. The cover is like, “8 year olds are my target audience!” and the content is like, “children need not apply!” To top it off, the characters and plot both left much to be desired. As a one-time theatre kid and big fan of middle grade centering lgbtq voices, I was all set to love this one but it was a gigantic mess. I honestly can’t imagine recommending this to anyone, especially when there are now plenty of other far better books on these topics.