I liked this a lot and I'd love to see this become a series. It reminds me of like [b:Rookie Yearbook One|15794592|Rookie Yearbook One|Tavi Gevinson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346865753s/15794592.jpg|21516690]... and both remind me of zines. I like the DIY feel of it, but also I kind of wish that this book didn't have Comic Sans in it?? Is that too snobby? Fine.

Font choices aside, this is a cool anthology representing all kinds of American Indian/First Nation voices. Like with any anthology, some of the pieces resonated more with me than others.

I think this is really by Native Americans and for Native Americans--there's not always a lot of effort to explain issues that the average young white reader might not be familiar with. Which on one hand, is fine--I think it's great that there's a book like this that I think will really resonate with young Native American readers. BUT I think a lot of other kids could get more out of this with a little more background information that they might not have gotten from school? IDK. BUT I still think a lot of teens would appreciate the stories/poems in here no matter what?

BUT ALSO I think the cover image and size don't give this book the best appeal... might need to be hand-sold. But it's a good one to have on your radar, if it's not already.

omg first of all, I read these as single issues and I think I'm giving this a bonus star just for the trade being called MAKE IT RAIN

I mean

I need a minute to process that, it's so great

... okay. I REALLY WANTED to like this a lot! Storm!! Hell yeah! And I do like it, especially the first few issues with her and Logan, and the COOL-ASS issues of global development and sustainability that Storm gets to work with!! I'm kinda blah about the crime syndicate stuff with Yukio? But I think I can see where it's going.

Did this book get canceled? I'm so far behind that I feel like it did. (I remember a #SaveStorm hashtag, anyway.) OK I just googled and found a recent interview w/Greg Pak where he says there's "no immediate threat of cancellation." GOOD because I really want to see where this is going!!

http://www.newsarama.com/23165-is-storm-a-criminal-greg-pak-talks.html

also seriously, Make It Rain, I'm literally still laughing to myself about that

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-14-the-shunning/

I don't really understand the appeal of this book but it does have a lot of good desserts in it.

(read as single issues)

Probably five hundred people told me I had to read Lumberjanes and I was like yeah, sounds good, I'll get around to it eventually...

I got around to it! It's so fantastic! HOORAY! You can all say "I told you so!" (some of you already have!)

So fun and funny and such a great group of characters. FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX!

This was a lot of fun! I looved reality-TV-obsessed Claire and her revenge scheme for her jilted sister Miranda. The reality TV plot itself was a great way to armchair travel, and I loved the relationship between the sisters and the ~life lessons~ they learn from their reality TV competitors.

I think this would be a good one for a lot of tweens who are interested in reality TV/romance--Claire is 18 but inexperienced, and the heaviest this book ever gets is awkwardly falling asleep on a boy.

This was cool and quirky. It's a 2015 Alex winner and I think it definitely does have a lot of teen appeal, maybe especially to kids who are interested in gaming/fantasy type things.

It left me wanting to know more about Sean and his mindset? But I suppose part of the point is that Sean himself doesn't know, or can't explain, what happened.

oh man, I messy cried at this one. I was a little skeptical at the premise--historical fiction set in the 80s/90s sometimes just feels to me like an author being like "eh, this is when I grew up, so we'll go with that?" but here, Nirvana/Kurt Cobain felt really important to the story in a way that I think is recognizable to a contemporary YA audience while still being a separate, unique element. You couldn't just swap out Nirvana for some other band and have the story function the same. (I feel similarly about [b:After Tupac and D Foster|1583449|After Tupac and D Foster|Jacqueline Woodson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402530480s/1583449.jpg|1576318]).

Anyway, more than that, I loved Maggie, and her relationship with her family and new classmates all felt so true. I especially loved her travels with Eoin and the way she's changed by the people she meets in hostels.

Just--really powerful and great. A good readalike for Gayle Forman, maybe.

Has some sex (realistically & awkwardly portrayed), drugs, and rock & roll, so I wouldn't hand it out to the tweens.

OK, so when I started hearing buzz about this I didn't realize that the author is currently 15 years old? I knew the gimmick was about a girl who used an old 50s "Guide to Popularity" to try to give herself a personality makeover, but for some reason I assumed it was written by someone who like, grew up in the 90s or 00s, found the 50s book, and then wrote this memoir about this years later? But no, it's ~fresh.~ I think that will make a huge difference in selling it to teens & tweens!!

Anyway, it's a really fun and funny read, with some actual good advice--mostly that pretty much everyone feels shy and awkward sometimes and might be waiting for someone else to make the first move. But Maya also doesn't hold back on writing about times when following this 50s advice got her teased. Interwoven with the popularity stuff are some pretty moving moments involving a beloved teacher's death from cancer, her younger sister, who has autism, and memories of her other younger sister, who tragically died before the timespan of this memoir.

Smart, funny, and relatable. I also think this is a great one for adults who work with kids but don't have kids to read for its portrayal of high school life--how, at least, at Maya's school, some things (cafeteria table claiming) seem about the same as we remember, but others (lockdown drills) are a liiiittle different.

Beautiful and lyrical. Makes me want to re-read [b:Gilead|68210|Gilead|Marilynne Robinson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327936326s/68210.jpg|2481792], which by now I only remember vaguely.

I'm filing this next to Twilight in my "not great, but also not as terrible as everyone says" pile.

Laters, baby.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-15-fifty-shades-of-grey/