One of these days I will eventually get caught up with these reviews. Of course, I could help myself with that endeavor by reading less but we all know that’s unlikely to happen.
Originally I planned for this post to cover the first two weeks of December, all of the books except for the historical fiction books. I severely underestimated how many books I would read over my marathon trip. (Traveling to California and back as well as a ridiculously long layover on the way back provides a lot of audiobook listening time.)
Now for the reviews
I’ll start with three middle grade graphic novels. I started reading them during the time that I give my students to read each day. This helps me get through the slight backlog of graphic novels I have purchased to go in my classroom. So far, the three I have read recently are definite winners.
This was either the October or November pick for the Comix Kids subscription (a definite win!). I really liked this slice of life story with a black, middle grade boy navigating his new reality, divorced parents. Most of the panels take place in the car which serves as a staging ground for tough conversations, conversations in which both the main character and the parents make mistakes but work through it. I also really
liked the simplistic style of the art which allowed the content to shrine. The book has been on my classroom shelves for less than two weeks and several students have already read it.
I found yet another winner with this book. The main character and her father start the novel moving to Florida for his job. (The mom is not in the book. I do not remember if any character mentions why.) The main character, who loves math and puzzles, finds herself at a new school where every choice for elective classes are full except for Swim 101, something she finds herself terrified of. Through the novel, she not only learns how
to swim but also ends up on the swim team (sometime I assume to be more common to have in Florida) and growing in her relationships with new friends and with her father who has his own fear of water. This was yet another win and an instant hit with my students.
In this book, the main character gets to pick out a puppy for her birthday, something she has wanted for ages. Unfortunately, the visit goes completely wrong when she has a severe allergic reaction which leads to the discovery that she’s highly allergic to all animals with fur (dander) and feathers. Through her journey of learning how to navigate life safely she gains a new friendship and learns what her place is in her family as the oldest
daughter with twin brothers and a new sibling on the way. I really liked it and hope that my students will too.
Between the Goodreads Choice Awards Historical Fiction books and my trip to California for the marathon, I got through an anticipated read.
I knew I would love this book before I even started based on my first read from this author, The Magician’s Daughter. The anticipation did not let me down. Parry takes a world we know, post-World War I Europe (specifically England) and weaves in the world of magic and faeries in such a believable way that it would not surprise me to find that the world Parry created is the world we currently live in. The main
character finds herself at a magical university that she scratched and clawed her way to attend so that she could discover a way to cure her brother who suffers from a faerie curse inflicted on the battlefield where a faerie door opening went horribly wrong. She has just one problem. As a result of that battlefield disaster, all the faerie doors have been sealed and any research on the topic explicitly banned. The main character (whose name I do not remember) ends up making unexpected friends who also share in various ways, her obsession with the faerie doors. Their activities that first year lead way deeper than any of them ever expected. The narrative explores ingrained prejudice with the magical families desperately holding onto power, how they manipulate the narrative, and how that can change a person. H. G. Parry has become an auto-buy author with her backlist rocketing up my TBR.
Now for all the books that I read over my four day trip to California to run CIM, the California International Marathon.
Mom read this first so I knew I was in for a treat. Reading this via audiobook narrated by the author is not only the best way to consume the narrative but should be the mandatory method. I jest about the mandatory part but stand by my format recommendation. Stewart has such an engaging, captivating voice. I also appreciated his candid honest throughout with purposeful reflection on the mistakes
that he made, mainly in relationships. He included honest reflections on how he messed up and how realizing that changed him for the better. I definitely recommend this memoir.
I have read a couple other books that Meadows has cowritten with two other authors so this makes my first experience with one of her solo works. I really enjoyed this work. The main character is a middle school girl with a limited friend group who lives with her grandmother after the tragic death of her parents. She also runs an anonymous social media account inspired by the random wrong number text she keeps
receiving. At the start of the book, she is in the midst of heavy regret over telling her friend, a typical, popular toxic “friend” that she is the one behind the anonymous hit social media account. The narrative starts to move forward with the introduction of two new kids, siblings, to the small town, and a wrong number texter that she develops a crush on. Some of the things that Meadows sets up in the narrative could have gone completely wrong but Meadows makes sure to model safe internet use and makes the grandmother a responsible, involved adult in the main character’s internet activities. I definitely recommend this book.
When I read the first book in this series, I did not know if I would necessarily continue reading the series. Then I ended up getting eARC copies for books 2 and 3. Although, in my opinion, the series lulled in book two, the momentum returned in this entry. In this entry, Anna and Colin venture away from the magical house, Ravenfall, that they call home to visit Anna’s paternal aunt and cousin so that she can learn more about her Jewish
heritage. Of course, they end up discovering a mystery involving Anna’s family and prejudice against Ravens, guardians of the supernatural world of whom Colin is one. I think that Josephson struck a perfect balance between Anna and Colin’s perspectives with each fully growing into their unique types of magic. I do not know how many installments Josephson plans but I am invested now.
I have had this book on my TBR since picking it up at my first visit to the Book Warehouse back in March. Erika Lee writes with authority and clarity as she chronicles the history of immigration and xenophobia, two concepts inextricably linked in America since before the United States became a country. Lee employs solid objectivity as she lays bare the unavoidable bigotry rooted in American history. I highly recommend this book and hate how relevant it still is.
I have enjoyed every Nicki Pau Preto book I have ever read. This one is no exception. Although I have seen her YA books talked about frequently, I was surprised to see this on NetGalley when I originally requested it. The main character, Vin, finds herself at the end of the line when it comes to magical boarding schools having been shipped off by parents who seem to care far more about their research than her. (I hope that Preto
explores this more as the series continues.) Her magic keeps getting her expelled so if this “last chance” school doesn’t work, she’s completely out of luck. When she arrives, she finds a school and friends, that defy her expectations. Preto does not break new grounds with this narrative but she does not need to. This installment lays the groundwork for this magical world hidden within our mundane world while building a solid cast of characters with the introduction of a plausible villain at the end.
I went into this book with middling expectations not because of the book but because of how a lot of recent Fairyloot selections have gone for me. I’m happy to say that this book worked for me. Sophie Kim created such fascinating characters in the two leads. I also appreciate the fact that both of the characters are immortal beings, a gumiho and a fallen god, rather than the human with a limited life span against a
hundreds or thousands of years old being. I also really enjoyed the mystery dynamic which brought the two characters together, her to divert attention from her friend and herself for the deeds of the Scarlet Fox, and him working as a detective to solve these crimes to earn back his place in the pantheon, a portion of this deal involving killing the Scarlet Fox. They have fantastic banter throughout, especially at the beginning of the narrative when they truly dislike each other. (I’m not sure that I would go all the way to say that they hated each other but they definitely did not have fond feelings toward the other.) I definitely will continue with this series.
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