Excellent. Everything the reviews say are true. The audiobook is definitely worth a listen.

Beautiful paper-cut illustrations about a woman sharing her stew with neighbors, before getting stuff back in return. The story feels familiar (minus perhaps the use of Omu, which is a word I learned) but the illustrations really are stunning.

A great story about a girl named Merci who is getting used to middle school, and covers the beginning of the transition from childhood to adulthood. in this case, Merci is noticing that something is happening to her grandfather Lolo, and it seems like her family is keeping secrets, despite always telling her they do not. It also covers a multi-generational family living together, which I enjoyed seeing.

I did really like the illustrations, but the story wasn't quite as much my jam. It was a little bit too philosophical for my taste.

A cute story about pretending to be something else and coming back to being what you are.

So good! A fitting end to the series and the triangle ended the way I wanted. I want to go back to the beginning sometime and read them in order, then go to the Parasol Protectorate.

I love the illustrations in this one. I didn't know a lot about Mr. Santana's life, but I did learn much from this one. pretty cool!

This book covers the race riots of Kuala Lumpur in 1969 through the eyes of a teen. I was not familiar with these race riots, and while they are unique, there is something universal about the "different/other=bad" mentality that seems to go among all humans. In this case, it's Malay vs. Chinese as the dominant conflict, with some other differences (most notably Indian) getting involved. Complicating getting caught in the riots is the protagonist's OCD, which she sees as a djinn that she must keep happy in order to keep her loved ones alive. It was interesting to read about how people dealt with mental illness before it was really understood. I also think it's relatable that the narrator isn't perfect in how she reacts, which is so much more realistic than someone who knows the right things to do.

This is a story about a girl named Zoey, who thinks that her family might finally be in a good situation because they have a neat trailer. It just means living by Larry's rules, and dealing with the fact that her mother has changed, and that she needs to take care of her three younger siblings all the time, limiting how much she can do homework or after school activities. There isn't always money for the laundromat or to fix the washing machine, and Larry's clothing is always the priority. When she is forced to join debate club (by a teacher I assumed grew up in a similar situation), she starts to realize that the situation they are in might not be as good as she thinks, and she may have to help her mother get them out of it.

This story deals with rural poverty, and verbal abuse. There is also a discussion of gun violence (the author founded an organization called GunSense VT). I think this would be eye-opening for most kids and is appropriate for all libraries.

A nice tribute by the author to his father, about friendship.