Review to come...

A very quick read for teens to get some perspective on what someone their age might be going through in Nigeria where the Boko Haram are making young women their slaves and husbands as they murder and kill from village to village. It's a sad story, but the tone of voice it has, through the main character, is short, concise, and surface level, almost like someone in shock. Which I would be if I had to go through what she goes through. This story was created from interviews with girls and women who have been kidnapped and rescued from the Boko Haram, with short chapters, like stream of consciousness writing. It reminded me a little bit of the writing from "Land of a Thousand Goodbyes" with the young man trying to survive among the Taliban and Daesh, but this book is much better written and therefore a better way to hold a teen reader's interest as they read about the true story of the lives of their peers in Nigeria.

Do you like Hatchet? You'll like this book as much as I did then. It's basically Hatchet. Just add a dash of revenge to the end of it and a female main character and boom: you get this book.

Starts out really cute and good, but ends kinda silly and ridiculous... Good for pretty much any age, really!

The artwork is really fantastic, and it's a very original story and the characters are all well rounded with their own little back story. I enjoyed how all the characters, all the humans, were women. No explanation, no apology, no real history as to how it got that way, or how we were finally able to get our shit together and travel to deep space, it just is. It left me a little confused at first and I had to get my bearings, but once I stopped puzzling over the futuristic landscapes and started getting into the stories of Mia and Jess, I really began to fall in love with the characters.

"She proofreads [his] personal expression essay.... and it's how he cured his loneliness at his old school through nonconformity and inconsistency. Separating himself out led to confidence and a sense of superiority that itself felt like an achievement, he writes. It bothers her, the ego in it, the way he builds himself up in his mind to look down on others."

"He calls. When she sees his number appear, she recoils, as if she's just seen a poisonous creature. After that letter, she doesn't want to even touch her phone. The ringing stops. And then starts again. Stops. Starts ... She has to deal with it. As much as she doesn't want to get near it, it's her job to get the creepy thing out of the house once and for all."

"She doesn't love him. He's acting too frightening to love, and her lies are another rejection, but she's in an impossible bind she can't fake her way out of. She is tired. He's wearing her out. Enough is enough? Enough is never enough."

"...I don't know if my country will protect me and my rights, as a female, as a person who wants to be safe from violence. It has not shown me that it will protect me, from males more powerful than me, from people who hate and intend to do harm. It has shown me that I am less than, that I am not worth being protected. It has shown recklessness with my well-being."

Intrigued by these quotes? Or made queasy with how similar they are to thoughts you have had? Too similar to someone you've known or know? Whether you're intrigued or disgusted or horrified or saddened by these quotes, do yourself a favor and read this book.

I picked these quotes because they are too eerily-sickeningly- close to thoughts or experiences I've had in the past about someone I dated. Thank the Lord he never had a gun, but whether the abuse is physical or mental, never feel you deserve it! Never let yourself be controlled by someone with actions of violence, shows of intimidation, pointless arguments, or manipulative and blaming words.

It was cute but, even if this is a children's book, you can't mess with the character history! The ending of this book ruffled my X-Phile feathers.

A quick little tale about a man who weighs a pound less every day he wakes up. What happens when he weighs nothing? A strangely....UPLIFTING tale.

I remember reading The Arrival a long time ago and I love the artwork, but this book is even better. Again, Tan's artwork is amazing. He has that painterly style I would kill for where his subject can be a gray, dismal city but his brush strokes and dabs and dots of color that shine through so beautifully! His writing is also unique and fun to read, but with sad undertones as each tale has to do with an animal, and it never seems to go well for said animal, and the human(s) doesn't seem to realize this until it's too late.

So if you're looking for an illustrated book of short stories for ages 12+ I would totally recommend this one.