I dunno, this had some violent parts for a kid's book. As well as some deep thinking about God. I picked this book up thinking, "Oh! Maybe it's about illuminated texts and magical kids!" but was about kids that might be saints but don't go thinking I mean Christian saints, this book was mostly about the persecution of the Jews by the Catholic church in France? I mean, it's not a bad book at all, just absolutely NOTHING like I thought it would be and I felt it dragged in spots.

Not the most exciting or greatest for a Venom comic, but at least there's Spidey!

Okay.... My feelings on this are all over the place. Crap, it's almost time for me to go on desk. Ugh, never write book reviews while at work. You never have enough time!

What a sweet character, which makes for a sweet little book. Don't get me wrong, he is a teen that has to deal with his best friend's recent rape and a father who committed suicide, but his way of thinking and outlook on life and stream-of-consciousness makes for a much-needed fresh narrative.

Gah, I hate being caught up on manga because I can never remember what happened in the last issue that came out more than a year ago! I get so confused!

I was generally lost a lot when reading this book, and I don't know if I was lost because it took me so long to finish, or it took me a long time to finish because I was so often lost. Who is saying what? What was with that sentence structure? What are they trying to say here? Huh? Who are they referring to? Who's that character again??

Then at the very end, did anyone else feel like Carson came out of nowhere being all like, "What? Maggi is seeing another man? But I'm totally in love with her!" Uh, since when? Y'all shared a nice time talking on a school roof and she helped you swap a turkey, but NOWHERE during this book (unless it was lost on me in my constant confusion) did you express anything more than friendship towards her. Instead Carson spent the book just being a manipulative little shit towards all his friends and hardly interacted with Maggi at all. That really got on my nerves when I finally FINALLY was close to finishing this book.

It's nice to have a teen author besides the disgraced Sherman Alexie writing on behalf of Native American teens, but I don't know how many teens will be able to relate with this setting of a reservation in Niagara County, New York in 1980. Heck, how many of them even KNOW who John Lennon is??? I feel this book was written more for adults than teens, and even then, it caters to a very small audience.

A compilation of retold Asian folk-tales and myths by Asian YA authors. Some were great! Some were, eh, but a pretty well rounded compilation of stories. Is it Printz material? Eeehehhhh. I'm heistant to say so. I enjoy the author blurb at the end talking about the original myth and what they brought into with with their modern retelling. Some were weaker than others, so I think with some stronger choices for the stories, they might have a more stronger candidate if they wanted to win Printz with this. Definitely nice to have a good representation for Asian YA and they do have some popular authors in there.

I guess I loved the originality and twists of the first book that this one just didn't live up to it. Don't get me wrong, it's cute, with the author writing as himself and the way this book came to be, but I wasn't as drawn in as I was with Magpie. I guess I was still craving more of that good, old-fashioned, British mystery/detective style!