Did not really enjoy. Just sort of blah. Oh well.

I loved this one so much. Pokko gets a drum and it's the biggest mistake her parents ever made. I just love the illustrations, the text, the way it all works together. One of my favorites of this year.

I read this for my Smith Book Club, which is doing a talk about Morrison's work in general. I had already read Beloved, so I decided sort of randomly to read this one next (honestly, it was looking at a bunch of those "30 to read by 30" lists and finding a Morrison book listed that wasn't Beloved.) It feels weird to have picked a book about a black man's experience for my women's college alum book group, but I think there is still enough to share and find in common with her other work. I did enjoy it, as Morrison's writing is so beautiful. There were parts that I ended up going to SparkNotes to look at, because I was a bit confused and since I was listening, not looking at the text, I wanted to make sure I was hearing it correctly.

Text is fine, love the color story and most of the illustrations.

A cute story about a worried potato and flamingo.

When I am not telling everyone to read "Pokko and the Drum", I am telling them to read this one. I just love it. I would like to be brave like Truman someday.

I enjoyed this one. I apologize for any spelling errors, I listened to it so I am guessing.

In this fantasy, the premise is based on a myth that a sun god fell in love with two women and they both chose him, and now the upper class gets the same: one man with two wives: one to be his partner mentally (premara) and one to be his partner romantically (segunda). It takes place on an island, which is surrounded by a wall. Those outside the wall are starving and the closer to the wall you are, the worse off you are. Danielea, the main character, was raised outside the wall and then smuggled in by her parents for a better life. She is at the top of her class, and stayed mostly alone aside from one tormenter Carmen. Of course, her life gets more complicated when the resistance, La Roz, admits that they know that she is from outside the wall and engage her as a spy.

One thing I liked is that it gradually made Daniela think about the country she lived in. She saw some of the problems but didn't think they could be changed. I also thought the romance in the story was well done. I really thought the narrator did a great job as well.

I read this one almost in one sitting. It's a play on Beauty and the Beast, and it was so fun. Harper has cerebral palsy and her family is struggling in DC, but she's doing the best she can. She gets kidnapped to the world of Emberfell, where she meets Rhen, aka the Beast. He's basically given up on his curse and his people and does the bare minimum of what he can do. Harper comes along and inspires him again. There's an even sorceress, and a trustworthy captain. There's a twist at the end that sets it up nicely for a sequel.

I have not read "A People's History of the United States" by Zinn, but now I want to. This book really opened my eyes to many things I had missed, or had not really thought about, when it came to this history of our country and its indigenous peoples. I follow Dr. Debbie Reese on Twitter and I always think she has interesting and true things to say, and this was just as good. I especially loved the "Consider This" or "Do This" sections to further follow thought trains.

A lot of really good stories and poems about resistance and micro-aggressions and what they do to us. I could see a lot of teens being inspired by this.