I had mixed feelings about this book. Was it a page turner? Yes. Was it INCREDIBLY dark? Absolutely. I was cringing at times. Did I also think the thirteen year old narrator was incredibly stupid at times? Oh yeah. I'm not interested in giving away spoilers at this time, but there were quite a few times I was appalled at how little thought went into some of Jemma's actions (although, come to think of it, maybe that is typical thirteen year old behavior.) I'm not sure it's really a good choice for the MSBA list, because of its darkness. i think it has a limited audience.

Although third in the series, you don't need to have read the others to understand this one. A cute tale about an inn that caters to alien guests and the mishaps that happen.

I enjoyed the story. I can see Debbie Reese's points, however, about how the story is problematic. And once you see that, it's hard to unsee it and appreciate the story for what it is.

A quick overview of the lives of the First Ladies.

I think this book will be a hit because it's Oregon Trail + cannibalism and other gruesome deaths and injuries. What's not to be fascinated by? I did wonder, at the end of the book, why it was called the Donner party when the book focuses on the Reed family instead. It wasn't fully clear to me, and may not be fully clear to kids. I would suspect that James Reed made for a better story line.

I really liked this historical fiction account of one child, Sarah Margru Kinson, who was taken aboard the Amistad and eventually returned back to Africa after a long legal battle. I had no idea there were children aboard the Amistad, and the account, along with the illustrations, details the terror of that experience along with the (few) moments of joy that occurred.

I don't know that I fully understood the underpinnings of the magic (how do they know where the binding points are)? However, I did find the story hard to put down and I am intrigued enough to read more of the series.

Is it horrible that, even though I loved the storyline, I could not get over the fact that the strong female character has a keyhole cleavage cutout? What is the point of that? How does it. Help. Her do anything? I don't even think it is historically accurate. It distracted me from what I would consider otherwise a very engaging tale.

Very cute story. A little young for MSBA, which is how I received the book.