I would love to live in Hungry Hearts Row. So much good food in such a small space! Lots of different styles of cuisine are represented. I was silly in returning the book before I made a list of my favorite stories, but I really liked the Filipino one, the one with the halal truck and the comet, and the opening story about finding healing. The fact that they are all loosely connected is great too.

So almost every story in this anthology is excellent, but I have some questions about the Native representation. It doesn't list what tribe the "Indigenous Gastronomy" restaurant is affiliated with, instead seeming to be some mishmash of all tribes, which I don't really like. Based on other stories, I would guess that this takes place somewhere in Virginia, which would make the buffalo decorations not really accurate. In the story written by Roanhorse, there is a Native teen from a reservation that is in Texas, but that teen wasn't involved in creating the restaurant either, just brought in as summer help. Roanhorse is no stranger to criticism from Native voices as well, as seen here: https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2020/01/rebecca-roanhorses-race-to-sun-review.html

Unicorns, bright colors and cheer -- what's not to love?

By far her best cookbook. Love the stories, and it actually seems like meals you could make, rather than just fancy snacks for a gathering.

I'll be honest: I wasn't excited about reading this book. Although I first loved "Wonder" when it came out, after reading the opinions of different people with various forms of disabilities, I came to feel that the story wasn't as good as I originally thought, that Auggie was more of a prop for people to react to than an actual character. Seeing a "Wonder" sticker on the front of this book didn't make me excited for it.

The story is okay. I have a hard time with all the miraculous animal saving that happens. The art was definitely not my favorite, and I felt like the older Julien character again goes into tropes of miraculously good and kind.

Obviously the Sydney Taylor committee really liked this book, since they gave it an award. I found this tweet thread to cover a bit more of my opinions: https://twitter.com/MagpieLibrarian/status/1222231205791371265

One of my favorite storytime books.

I loved this one. Will definitely be one I purchase for myself.

This is a beautifully written book. I had seen the movie of Practical Magic, although I've never read the book, so this is my first exposure to Hoffman's gorgeous writing. I know Ava will stay with me a long time, as well as Etti and Marian and Victor and Julien and Lea. For me, Ava most of all intrigued me. (Forgive any spelling errors, I listened to the book). I also would like to know more about Jewish mythology, because some of those things were new to me. It sounds like there is a foreword in the book that explains a little bit about it that is not in the audio, so I am interested to see that as well.

I would give this a 4 or 5 for the writing, but alas, any time Maine landmarks were mentioned, I was taken out of the book (I realize this is just a me problem). I thought Violet was an excellent character, a girl who suffered some trauma with a brother who needed help and it was all so well done. I really felt for her and I got the similarities to Twelfth Night. I also really liked the ways Orion and Liv were characterized, and even Felix and Mariah got some knowable traits. Also gotta give it up for bisexuality being fine.

Steven Jenkins and Robin Page hit it out of the park again in this book about animal camouflage. There will be a two-page spread describing the type of environment some animals might hide in, with cut-paper illustrations of a hidden animal. The following two-page spread will show the animal, identify where it is in the picture, and give a little bit of information. There is also usually a scale illustration, but there isn’t an indication of whether it is to scale of an adult or child. Full body shots appear to be adults, but the hand shots seem to be ambiguous. The end of the book gives more information about each animal.

Patrons who love animal books or cut-paper illustrations will love this title. Best for ages 6-10.

Reviewed here: https://mslbookreview.org/look-again-secrets-of-animal-camouflage/

Hello, Dolly! Is this a great collection of some of the most talented leading ladies to hit Broadway over the years. Sometimes the actress’s first name is used for the alphabet letter, sometimes the last name, and sometimes it’s a character that multiple women have played. (such as Dolly in Hello, Dolly!) One instance (Z), does take a letter from the middle of a name so we end with Liza Minnelli. I love Emmerich’s illustrations, which often use props and the most famous costumes from stage productions. There are two men mentioned, Bob Fosse and Stephen Sondheim. Part of me wishes they had stuck to only women, but I also appreciated the roles highlighted, so that’s a bit of a mixed bag.

This is likely not a book you will read during storytime to teach the alphabet, but would be better with older children who are interested in musical theater or by parents who want to share their love with their children. Short biographies of each featured performer are included at the end. The target audience is likely ages 7-12.

Reviewed here: https://mslbookreview.org/a-is-for-audra-broadways-leading-ladies-from-a-to-z/