Barracoon is a beautiful and haunting story of the last man alive in his time with memories of being free in Africa and sold as a slave to the United States. This is a haunting account of the love Cudjo had for his culture in Africa and the sadness he encountered in the United States in his slave days and beyond. My heart ached for him at each tragedy he encountered, and when I thought I could feel no worse for him, Cudjo would tell of yet another tragedy in America, and another. Zaora Neale Hurston gives voice to Cudjo's narrative in his own vernacular, spelling his words as she heard them. I feel like I was listening to this man's story with my own ears. It took some getting used to in order to not have to slow down to understand his unique voice, but I could understand everything. I found all of the introductions and footnotes to be helpful in the story, even if they were somewhat repetitive. It gave me a framework from which to build on while hearing Cudjo's own story.

Oral histories are a treasure.

What a beautiful book! I am thrilled to share this book with my students and to teach from it in the coming semester. Melba's story of perseverance is one that we can all appreciate and strive to emulate. I was initially a bit disappointed to see that this book does not cover much of Melba's experience at Central High School, but then I learned that that was the subject of her previously published book, Warriors Don't Cry. I have put that next on my reading list for this month.

Coming from the same author as The Hate U Give, this book has a lot of hype to live up to. I am extremely happy to say that this book lives up to the hype and then some.

I was thrilled to receive an Advanced Reader's Copy of the book from a friend who works at a bookstore just yesterday. Although this book can be considered quite the tome at 464 pages, I read it all today. I simply couldn't put it down. This book has it all; action, suspense, family drama and love, friendship drama and love, school issues. It's an excellent teen saga. The emotion in this book is drawn out in such a way as to make this book very easy to relate to, regardless of the reader's background.

Bri wants to be a rapper like her late father, "Lawless". Over the course of the story she finds success isn't always as simple as working hard and that it often comes with difficult choices and plenty of ways to make mistakes.

The best thing about Angie Thomas's characters is that they're realistic. Her teenagers are real. They make poor choices and have to deal with the consequences. The adults often have the same problems. No one is perfect in this world, which is what makes this book such an excellent mirror for some of the problems facing our society, our schools, and our students.

I'd love to say more, but I don't want to spoil the book. I feel safe in saying that this book is every bit as relevant as The Hate U Give. However, it stands on its own, in its own merit, as a masterpiece.

This was my favorite Harry Potter book for so many years while I was growing up. Sirius Black was my favorite character. I'm not sure either of those statements still hold true for me, now that I've grown and can see characters as rounded and thus flawed. Still, I ADORE this book. It will always have a special place in my heart. I've read my copy of it so many times that the spine has cracked and some of the binding will probably slip loose in my next reading. It's my most well-read and well-loved book.

I remember reading this book in the 6th or 7th grade and thinking it was the best thing I had ever read. Unfortunately, at 28, the book doesn't live up to the hype my 12 year old self gave it. This was purely a nostalgia read for me. Now that I'm grown, I can see the writing for what it is; average. I love the story idea here, but some of the execution left me wishing to be finished with this book quickly, and it's not even that long! It also ended on a terrible cliffhanger with little build up. I felt like this wasn't a complete story. I like that we get so much set-up to Everworld at least. I think this book was a victim of its time. Books for young adults or middle grades weren't supposed to be over 200 pages, and that was for a trade copy paperback. Harry Potter hadn't yet broken that rule. So, Applegate tried to fit what could have been 300 or more pages of a truly detailed and breathtaking story and cram it in to too tight of a space. This resulted in an odd, disjointed feel. There wasn't enough showing and too much telling, which I think was for the sake of brevity. I didn't care for the sentence fragment, colloquial writing style this time around, but I ate it up when I was the target age.

I wanted to finish the series and never got past the second book. So I'm doing a favor to my sixth grade self and reading them all this year. Right now, I'm still okay with that commitment.

This book was so full of angst. I think of it like a much calmer version of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock in that way, although this is not the story of a kid thinking about murder/suicide. It does, however, have a mental health focus.
I am not familiar with the musical to be able to compare the two, but in its own right this is a wonderful Ya novel about feeling alone and invisible, even in a crowded room. It's about friendship and the hardships of life. I feel like anyone can easily relate to the novel, even if they haven't been in Evan's exact situation.

This book was so slow to get into. If it weren't for the audiobook and my reading challenge, I would have DNF'd it around the 20% mark. But, I soldiered on and found a pretty decent story. There were so many characters for me to keep track of at first and such length between their POV chapters that I probably did not get some of the nuance of this book. I feel like I'd have to read it again to get everything from it, and I don't quite want to make that investment. The story had a satisfying conclusion, the historical setting was nice to visit. The writing, however, felt sluggish, but maybe that's supposed to mirror the river around which this story is centered. I'm not sure. Overall, a decent book. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Margaret K. McElderry Books for providing me with an electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest view.


If you have enjoyed the recent rise in popularity of fairy-tale retelling, it's time to move into the world of mythological retelling, specifically with Medusa. A lovely mix of fantasy and realism, The Cold is in Her Bones will prove to be a book you just can't set down. Peternelle van Arsdale's style mirrors that of a fairy tale and she will hold you spellbound for the entire journey of this book.
This book begins with something akin to once-upon-a-time. Many years ago a girl named Hulda lived with her parents and her most beautiful sister. Everything the pretty sister did was perfect and everything Hulda did was "wrong". Hulda found companionship with animals, specifically snakes, who gave her the comfort that her family refused. But when a snake is seen burrowed into her hair, Hulda is believed to be demon-possessed and her family turns on her. The village sees fit to try to freeze the demon out of Hulda and they leave her buried in the snow for three days, hoping the demon will flee and they can be left to bury Hulda in peace. However, Hulda awoke with a vengeance, returned to her village, and cursed those there and those yet to come so that they could never find a moment's peace.
The story then switches to a young girl named Milla. Milla's parents love her brother best and seem to put a careful and calculated emotional distance between themselves and Milla. In all her life Milla has only ever met five people; her parents, her brother Niklas, and the neighbor couple, Trude and Stig. Milla tries only to please her parents, but it seems she never quite can. Things do begin to look up for Milla when Trude and Stig's granddaughter comes to live with them in the hopes that she will one day marry Nicklas. Milla finds a friend in Iris, who loves telling stories. That bond is put to the test when Iris's mind is taken by the demon.
The Cold is in Her Bones is heartbreaking and hopeful and heartbreaking again by turns. It is breathtaking throughout. I cannot wait to bring this to my classroom library upon publication. I've already talked it up and am expecting a line of students vying for the first read.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Margaret K. McElderry Books for providing me with an electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest view.


If you have enjoyed the recent rise in popularity of fairy-tale retelling, it's time to move into the world of mythological retelling, specifically with Medusa. A lovely mix of fantasy and realism, The Cold is in Her Bones will prove to be a book you just can't set down. Peternelle van Arsdale's style mirrors that of a fairy tale and she will hold you spellbound for the entire journey of this book.
This book begins with something akin to once-upon-a-time. Many years ago a girl named Hulda lived with her parents and her most beautiful sister. Everything the pretty sister did was perfect and everything Hulda did was "wrong". Hulda found companionship with animals, specifically snakes, who gave her the comfort that her family refused. But when a snake is seen burrowed into her hair, Hulda is believed to be demon-possessed and her family turns on her. The village sees fit to try to freeze the demon out of Hulda and they leave her buried in the snow for three days, hoping the demon will flee and they can be left to bury Hulda in peace. However, Hulda awoke with a vengeance, returned to her village, and cursed those there and those yet to come so that they could never find a moment's peace.
The story then switches to a young girl named Milla. Milla's parents love her brother best and seem to put a careful and calculated emotional distance between themselves and Milla. In all her life Milla has only ever met five people; her parents, her brother Niklas, and the neighbor couple, Trude and Stig. Milla tries only to please her parents, but it seems she never quite can. Things do begin to look up for Milla when Trude and Stig's granddaughter comes to live with them in the hopes that she will one day marry Nicklas. Milla finds a friend in Iris, who loves telling stories. That bond is put to the test when Iris's mind is taken by the demon.
The Cold is in Her Bones is heartbreaking and hopeful and heartbreaking again by turns. It is breathtaking throughout. I cannot wait to bring this to my classroom library upon publication. I've already talked it up and am expecting a line of students vying for the first read.