Really good. An excellent breakdown of anti-racism and how to work on it. Reminded me of much of what I did in Project Ready, but for the layperson, not the librarian. The things I learned there are the things we all need to be continually practicing.

This was so adorable. I want to eat the mooncakes! A great, quietly mischievous kid story.

I love the soft pastel of these illustrations. Alma has a very long name, and she gets frustrated when it won't easily fit on a page. Her father tells her the story of all her names, and Alma grows to love her name as a result. Pretty cute.

I'm not sure why, but I tried really hard to be skeptical of this one. Maybe it's because it was recommended to me by friends who didn't enjoy [b:George|24612624|George|Alex Gino|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1423358952s/24612624.jpg|44165520] as much as I did. Maybe it was because I've been surrounded by discussions about authors who didn't come from the community that they are writing about, and I was skeptical about Gephart. Whatever the reason, I went into reading this with the expectation that I would find some flaw. The only diversity-related one I can think of is that the book has mainly white characters, and the only one with a last name that I would assume went with a non-white name was the bully. At this point, however, I'm not 100% sold on that as a flaw so much as a comment on the book--can I really expect it to be everything?

I appreciated the way Gephart interwove the narrative of Lily and Dunkin. Dunkin felt especially real to me, in that his desire to be friends with Lily interfered with his ability to finally be at the top of the social sphere. In middle school, that is so important. I did like that he stood with Lily at times, and I loved the end where they basically talked about all their secrets together. That felt true to me.

There was one scene I didn't like because the character didn't end up getting any consequences for a bad thing he or she did. (Trying to avoid spoilers here). I get why the characters around him or her had sympathy, but I wanted punishment! This is the second book I've written that about this year, so maybe in my old age I'm getting more punitive. I don't know. It wouldn't stop me from recommending the book.

This would be an excellent book for middle school, high school and public libraries nationwide.

So powerful. Essential reading.

This is a very good book. I love Bri, even though (as others have said) I also want to shake her at times because she is driving me nuts. However, her reactions always seem real, and very human.

There's a lot to discuss in this book: socioeconomic status, bussing kids for diversity, love and friendship, what is the power of a song... I could go on and on.

I know a lot of people like this book and it isn't bad! For me, the structure was not my favorite, and that took away from my enjoyment of the book. I am not always a fan of cliffhanger endings in every chapter, and I hate it more when it is multiple perspectives. That is the structure of this book. If I could have read all of Josef, then Isabel, then Mahmoud, it would have worked a lot better for me.

I did enjoy reading three different immigration experiences. I think it gently exposes kids to the isolationist policies that the United States and European countries have had both past and present. Each story was engaging. I just really wish the structure had been different.

I had no idea Paulsen had such an unhappy childhood. The extent that he turned it around and became successful is incredible. His parents are alcoholics, and it's not a stable situation. He turns to the woods for consolation. He also gets lucky with a very kind and nice librarian who introduces him to the world of books, which is more remarkable when you learn that he hated school.

I found this one a little hard to get through. Some of that is due to my fear of horror books, so I didn't want to read it before bed, which is my primary reading time. Some of it was just me having problems with Marigold, although I think those are more problems me-as-an-adult has, rather than teen-me would have (and to tell you why would be a spoiler). Mari's family has an almost too-good-to-be-true situation where her mom is given an artist's residency and a free house for the family to live in, if they relocate to Maplewood. Weird stuff keeps happening in her house, which helps aggravate Mari's anxiety around bedbugs and in general. The tension building in the story is excellent.

I was surprised to love this book. It's a hard book to read--Louisiana plantation in 1860. It traces the racist undertones through three generations of white people--Madame Sylvie, who went from France to Haiti to Le Petit Cottage, her son Lucien, and his son Byron. Madame Sylvie wants to sit for a portrait, over the objections of her family, who see the way the plantation is losing money. No one has an easy life here, but you see the way racism gets in the way of doing things over and over again. Also, this book deals with some tough things. Almost anything you think about slavery is in here (violence, sexual assaults, the idea of people as property.) It's just...so so good.