This book was pretty cute! I am not very familiar with Clementine, but you don't need to be to enjoy this book. Waylon is a great character. He's quiet, thoughtful, mostly kind and not sporty. He just is himself. Also, the drama felt so quietly real.

I think this is one of my favorite Carrie Jones books. I love the "Men in Black" aspects of it, and I love the way the cheerleader skills help her fight off bad guys. I was hoping for a lighthearted romp and I got one!

The plot of the book is fine. I can see a lot of kids relating to the adventure, of a boy who has lost everything going after the one thing he has left.

I am left uncomfortable by the multicultural aspects of this book. I think that, at this point in time, if you are in children's literature and just going to use the term "Indian" without naming a tribe, then you're not doing enough. There is enough backlash and blogs to let you know that's not cool. If it had just been the pony, I think I would have been fine. However, I am skeptical that he wouldn't know a tribal name. Ah-Kee also left me uneasy, but I would be willing to concede that point if someone familiar with Chinese-Americans said it was fine.

I thought the text about Irena Sadler was fine. However, I wasn't sold entirely on the illustrations. There are better options for books about Irena Sadler, but if she is a popular topic in your area, or you have a large collection, this would be a nice addition.

I enjoyed this book about Ruth Law, a pioneering female flyer. She made a solo flight from the Chicago area to New York City. She was hoping for it to be a nonstop flight. That did not end up happening, but she was the first to make a solo flight that long. I liked Colon's illustrations. I'm not sure it would be appropriate for the book award list I read for, but it would certainly be eligible for Chickadee.

Yuri is a physics genius summoned to the US to save us all from a meteor heading toward us. He completed high school and college early, and isn't taken seriously by his colleagues because of his age. He happens to meet an American girl his age named Dovie, who helps him learn about connecting to other people. But can he stop the world from ending before he really gets to know her?

I did enjoy the science parts of this book and most of the non-science parts, but Dovie was borderline Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and I just couldn't get away from that. So if that's a trope you don't mind (and to be fair, she's fairly well developed for an MPDG), I think you'll enjoy this story. It was just too much for me.

If you're looking for a brief overview of the background of Harry Potter, this one is great!

I feel like I missed something because I didn't see as much of a connection to the first book as I had hoped. Still, I enjoyed the story of Lina and Ozben. The beginning is a little slow but the second half makes up for it.