libscote's Reviews (6.4k)

This is just a fun read. I love heist books, and this one reads like a kid version of Ocean's 11. DJ is a recovering con kid, and he's started at a new school. His head comes up with plans, but he is trying to go straight. Unfortunately, he gets sucked back in to the arcade ticket marketplace of his middle school, and has to come up with a new team to run cons with. Can he find a team and save his friend? It seems like it has the potential to be a series, but worked fine as a standalone. I loved it so much. 

I wanted a little more depth. It felt a little skimming along the top for me. I like the idea, but I would have wanted a little more meat. 

A funny story about living with mistakes.

Daisy is a mommy now! But will she be the same as a human mommy?

Daisy thinks she's a baby until she's a mom! A bit old school, but still cute.

Has a nice rhythm to read, but I don't think it will be a favorite of my particular story time crowd at this point. 

Maggie has a stutter, and she's very embarrassed by it. Desperate to avoid speaking, a self-inflicted injury sends her to the countryside to live with her grandfather as one last ditch effort to get her to speak before she is institutionalized. There, she grows to love a local forest and the animals nearby, and to learn to trust herself. At the same time, she meets a mysterious snow leopard in the forest. He shouldn't be there. Where did he come from, and where does he belong?

I enjoyed this story a lot about a girl finding her voice and speaking up for animals. I will say that there's are scenes of animal cruelty I found a bit hard to read. Others' mileage may vary.

I almost wish I wasn't binging these for book club. I wonder if I would like them more if I did. This one gave me complicated feelings since it's got stuff about the pandemic and about how we treat the dying and disabled. 

Mo Ryan writes a book about how the Hollywood system as a whole is damaged and how long it will take us to get it back. Powerful, but hard to read. I ended up doing a chapter every few days because I kept getting angry.

An almost wordless graphic novel about a girl visiting her Lao Lao. While visiting, she hears a story about a flamingo befriending a girl (presumably Lao Lao). It inspired the imagination of the little girl to dream about her own flamingo journey. Stunning illustrations.