All posts by Kasey

About Kasey

Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.

Review: Star-Spangled Jesus by April Ajoy

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Memoir, Nonfiction, , , , , ,
Star-Spangled Jesus by April Ajoy

Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith
April Ajoy
Worthy Books
Published October 1, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Star-Spangled Jesus

A hilarious and eye-opening account of leaving Christian Nationalism behind to follow Jesus better.  

April Ajoy wouldn’t have called herself a Christian Nationalist when she performed her original song “America Say Jesus” on the Jim Bakker show, or when she participated in Jesus Marches across America, or when she posted cringe-worthy videos on YouTube to campaign for Mitt Romney. April just considered herself a good faithful, Republican, and determined to make America a Christian nation once again.

But as her view of the world widened, Ajoy began to see cracks in her steadfast beliefs and recognized the ways her conservative politics and religion were intertwined in her mind. Did God really bless America? Is it actually by His red, white, and blue stripes that we are healed?

Ajoy, TikTok influencer and co-host of the Evangelicalish podcast, shares funny stories from her time deep within Christian nationalism, exploring how aspects of evangelical culture such as purity pledges, product boycotts, Satanic panic, and end-times theology have all been exploited to advance the Christian Nationalist narrative. She also illuminates the ways nationalist thinking has infiltrated our churches and political arenas, shaping not only modern evangelical culture but also American public policy and international relations.

Part memoir, part guidebook, part call to action, Star-Spangled Jesus explores how the fight to make America a “Christian nation” has damaged us all and shows how one woman left Christian Nationalism and why America should too.

My Review

Well, this was a cathartic read. Whew. Yeah, I did not know that I needed the validation of reading someone else experiencing some of the weird stuff that you grow up with in the Evangelical movement. The book is also pretty hilarious.

I’m close to the author’s age, so we had some similar experiences growing up in the Evangelical church. Some of the stories she tells—even the cringey ones—resonated with me a lot more than I’m comfortable admitting. Wowza.

I cackled through Ajoy’s stories about her fears about the rapture and heaven. It’s weird how deeply those ideas can get into your head and how they play out when you suddenly find yourself entirely alone at home.

It was also validating to read about the questions Ajoy asked herself on her journey. She encountered information or situations that went differently than her upbringing in the church led her to expect. Instead of ignoring those signposts, she began asking herself hard questions about what those things meant in the context of her faith.

I am encouraged to see people like April Ajoy boldly sharing the experience of taking a hard look at faith and carving a path forward through deconstructing harmful ideology. We need voices like these.

If you were raised in the Evangelical movement or a church that uplifts Christian Nationalism but have walked away from those ideas, I think you’d enjoy this book. I also think people who have never had this experience for themselves but are curious about what it’s like and want to read about it in a funny, that-was-then kind of way will find a lot to love about Star-Spangled Jesus.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
April is a white Christian woman married to a nonbinary person.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief, vague references to sex. (April relates once worrying about the world ending soon and thinking that she wants to have sex before she dies.)

Spiritual Content
Lots of discussion about Christian faith, beliefs, and practices.

Violent Content
Brief references to the 9-11 attack. References to some homophobic ideas that April was taught and believed as a teen and young adult.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

The Game of Silence (Birchbark House #2)
Louise Erdrich
HarperCollins
Published June 13, 2006

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Game of Silence

Winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, The Game of Silence is the second novel in the critically acclaimed Birchbark House series by New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich.

Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior. One day in 1850, Omakayas’s island is visited by a group of mysterious people. From them, she learns that the chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island and move farther west.

That day, Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, could be in danger: Her way of life. Her home.

The Birchbark House Series is the story of one Ojibwe family’s journey through one hundred years in America. The New York Times Book Review raved about The Game of Silence: “Erdrich has created a world, fictional but real: absorbing, funny, serious and convincingly human.”

My Review

It’s easy to see why this series has won the awards and received the acclaim that it has. The author welcomes readers into the story of a young Ojibwe girl as she navigates changing seasons, life as a middle child, and the recipient of a powerful gift of dreams.

Omakayas learns about medicine from her grandmother. They collect plants for different purposes and help others who fall sick or become injured. She watches her older sister growing up and falling in love, though she doesn’t fully understand what’s happening and feels shut out of her sister’s thoughts and feelings sometimes.

The relationships between characters strike the perfect balance between presenting information as a child would understand it and offering clues that older readers will interpret to more fully explain what’s happening. This is especially true of the relationships between female characters, such as Omakayas and her older sister, her mother, and her grandmother.

The story also includes characters who don’t fit the traditional expectations for women or men. One example is a woman named Old Tallow, who lives on her own with several dogs and is a renowned hunter. Another instance is Omakayas’s cousin, Two Strike Girl, who refuses to help with what she terms “women’s work” and impresses the tribe when she brings down a bull moose with a single shot. The tribe leaders sense that she could become a great leader, or she could make choices that put her life or the lives of others in danger. They feel it’s important to nurture the girl’s strong spirit and understand her path will look different than the others’.

Readers who enjoy mid-nineteenth century history, especially American history, will enjoy this clever, beautiful story about community, family, and finding one’s own path.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Omakayas and her family are Ojibwe. Most characters in the book are Ojibwe.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Omakayas witnesses and participates in spiritual practices and rituals of her people. Her family are friends with a priest who serves at a church in a nearby town, but they do not share the same beliefs. There are references to other tribe members who practice Catholicism.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone hunts and shoots a moose. Omakayas helps her grandmother, a healer, remove a frostbitten finger from someone in their care.

Drug Content
Some tribe members smoke tobacco in a pipe. Vague references to alcohol. (No one drinks alcohol on scene.)

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

The Whispering Night (The Luminaries #3)
Susan Dennard
Tor Teen
Published November 19, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Whispering Night

The forest is more dangerous than ever in this highly-anticipated, pulse-pounding, and swoon-worthy conclusion to the bestselling Luminaries trilogy.

Winnie Wednesday’s future is looking bright. Hemlock Falls is no longer hunting the werewolf, she and Erica Thursday are tentative friends, and Winnie finally knows exactly where she stands with Jay Friday.

With everything finally on track, Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive. Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task—one that threatens everything and everyone Winnie loves.

As Winnie fights to stop new enemies before time runs out, old mysteries won’t stop intruding. Her missing father is somehow entangled with her search for hidden witches, and as Winnie digs deeper into the long-standing war between the Luminaries and the Dianas, she discovers rifts within her own family she never could have imagined.

What does loyalty mean when family and enemies look the same?

My Review

I’ve followed this series from the beginning, and wow, has it been a wild ride. I love Winnie Wednesday so much. She’s smart and artistic and deeply loves her family. The tension between her and Jay– so fun.

I wasn’t really sure at the end of the second book how the author was going to pull all the loose threads of the series together in this last book, but I think everything came together nicely. Through the whole series, there has been this fear of and undercurrent of a Diana plot, but I don’t think we really get to see that explode across the page until this final installment.

I was so ready. Or, at least, I thought I was. I had ideas about where the story would go, and I was right about a few things. But there were a lot of elements that surprised me, too. I like the way that Winnie’s community connections, even those she has felt distanced from, matter in the way that things play out. Her town feels like a small, close-knit community with rivalries, agendas, and politics. Those tensions feel very real. The loyalty beneath those tensions feels real, too.

I’m glad I stuck with this series all the way to the end. It was a lot of fun. Though the story is pretty high-stakes and serious, there’s a lot of humor between the lines or in the ways the characters relate to one another. I love that.

This is a great series for people who like a fantasy story that’s anchored in the real world with the addition of magic and monsters. Think, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (but minus the are-they-or-arent-they-related component).

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white. Winnie has a diverse group of friends.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of swearing, including a few F-bombs.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. Magical monsters spawn at night in the mist of the forest near where Winnie lives. Someone transforms into a werewolf. Someone casts a curse on Winnie, so she can’t speak about certain topics.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battles with monsters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: In Want of a Suspect by Tirzah Price

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

In Want of a Suspect (A Lizzie and Darcy Mystery #1)
Tirzah Price
HarperTeen
Published November 12, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About In Want of a Suspect

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that London’s first female solicitor in possession of the details of a deadly crime, must be in want of a suspect.

The tenacious Lizzie Bennet has earned her place at Longbourn, her father’s law firm. Her work keeps her busy, but luckily she often has help from (and steals occasional kisses with) Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a stern but secretly soft-hearted solicitor at Pemberley.

Lizzie is hired to investigate a deadly warehouse fire, and to find the mysterious woman who was spotted at the scene moments before the flames took hold. But when the case leads her to the sitting room of a woman Darcy once proposed marriage to, the delicate balance between personal and professional in their relationship is threatened.

Questions of the future are cast aside when the prime suspect is murdered and Lizzie’s own life is threatened. As the body count rises, and their suspicions about what was really going on in the warehouse grow, the pressure is on for Lizzie and Darcy to uncover the truth.

Lizzie and Darcy are back for more suspense, danger, and romance in this first in a duology spinoff of the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries!

My Review

It turns out that a cozy mystery was a great pick for me to read this month. I enjoyed the early 19th-century London setting and the investigatory prowess of Lizzie and Darcy. The murder mystery had just the right number of twists and turns for me.

Also– if you asked me before I read this book whether I needed a book in my life in which multiple heroines of Jane Austen novels appeared, I probably wouldn’t have had an answer. Now, I realize it’s something I absolutely needed in my life. My favorite scenes from the book were the ones in which characters from other Austen novels appeared. Lizzie, Elinor, and Marianne solving a mystery together?! YES!! With my whole heart, yes.

As with Pride and Premeditation, I struggled when the two main characters did something that seemed decidedly different than something either would do in the original story. Once I invested in this mystery enough to imagine these as different versions of Lizzie and Darcy (more a multiverse representation than a reimagining, if that makes sense?) then I deeply enjoyed my reading of the book.

If you like a good, cozy mystery set in London during the Napoleonic Wars (I love that Price included this detail), I recommend this one. If you’re new to Tirzah Price’s reimaginings of Jane Austen novels, Sense and Second-degree Murder is my favorite.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Lizzie and Darcy are white. The story delves into prejudice against the French, with whom England is at war during the story. There is some xenophobia and anti-French comments and behavior.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to murder. Lizzie and Darcy see a warehouse on fire from a distance and learn that someone perished in the blaze. They see the body of a murdered woman in a park.

Drug Content
References to alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

28 Books Still on My Fall 2024 Reading List

Lists, Middle Grade 8-12, News and Fun, Young Adult/Teen 12-18

28 Books Still on My Fall 2024 Reading List

What happened to the fall? Is this what a reading slump feels like? These are the questions I’m asking myself this weekend as I finish up this post about my lack of fall 2024 reading and prepare it to go live. Whew. It has been a wild month, y’all.

One of the really terrible things that I’m learning about myself is that when my anxiety level peaks past a certain point, I almost physically cannot read. It’s like my eyes and brain simply do not cooperate. I start the page taking in letters, words, sentences, but within a line or two, I realize I’m not reading anymore. My gaze is just sliding down the page like neglected ice cream down a cone in the summer heat we Northern-hemisphere-dwellers miss right now.

It’s only gotten that bad a few times, but every time it does, I panic. Do I give up my blog? Email publishers and authors and sob into their inboxes? (I do not do this, but the fact that I consider it also kind of scares me?)

I have found Zen Coaching to be a helpful practice during these times as it helps me reconnect to my body and approach accepting what’s happening right now and what I can do to support and acknowledge it.

Right now, it seems like the need I have is for slowing down, which means the list of books I want to read this fall but haven’t picked up yet is much longer than usual. I’m hoping that I will still get to several of these before the year ends, but I’m probably past the point of being able to read them all, sadly.

Anyway, here’s the list of books I still want to read this season. Let me know if you’ve read them or still have them on your fall 2024 reading list!

Note: This post contains affiliate links that do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. Thanks for using them to do your shopping.

Middle Grade Books Still on My Fall 2024 Reading List

Thea and the Mischief Makers by Traci Badua

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Two Filipino goblins wreak havoc at Thea’s Stunt Warrior summer camp. This sounds like loads of fun!

Published October 15, 2024 | My Review to Come

Vanquishers: The Rise of the Wrecking Crew by Kalynn Bayron

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Boog and her friends are ready for more vampire-butt-kicking adventures in this much-anticipated conclusion to one of my favorite MG series.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Sylvia Doe and the 100-year Flood by Robert Beatty

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A hurricane and a flood. Magical creatures. A girl with no knowledge of her history discovers an unexpected connection with a mysterious boy. Sounds incredible.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Camp Twisted Pine by Ciera Burch

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A spooky summer camp story (with an inclusive cast) in which campers go missing. I loved another book by this author, so I’m desperate to read this one.

Published September 17, 2024 | My Review to Come

Keeper Chance and the Conundrum of Chaos by Alex Evanovich

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: This one looks like a good fit for fans of Percy Jackson (that’s me!) Something about the book summary reminds me of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog. I definitely need to make time for this one.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Freedom Fire: Black Girl Power: 15 Stories Celebrating Black Girlhood edited by Leah Johnson

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Every time I see even just the cover of this book, I want to drop everything and read it. What a timely collection of stories. That title says it all.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

Wingborn by Marjorie Liu and Grace Kum

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I have been waiting for this one since the moment I finished Wingbearer, the first book in the series. I can’t wait to see where the adventure leads next.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: The first time I saw a social media post about this book, I immediately ordered a copy. Teens playing a MMORPG and drama ensues, you say? I must know more!

Published October 22, 2024 | My Review to Come

House of Elephants (Witchlings #3) by Claribel Ortega

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: This is another series I can’t get enough of. Seven and Thorn face prejudice from their community and loads of new witchlings into the Spare coven. I know they’re smart enough to make it through, but I gotta read it anyway.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Ruta Sepetys is one of those authors that brings history beautifully (and tragically) to life. I love the historical moment this book centers on and the fact that it’s about a brother and sister duo.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Take It From the Top by Claire Swinarski

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Since her debut, Claire Swinarski has been a must-read author for me. I love the sensitivity she brings to her stories and the exploration of complex relationships and emotions. This one alternates between two former best friends, relating the story of what happened between them.

Published November 19, 2024 | My Review to Come

My Vampire, Your Werewolf by Paul Turbin

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: This is outside the norm of a book I’d normally pick up, but I am really fascinated with the idea of this series. It reminds me a lot of conversations my nephews might have, and maybe that’s why it has been climbing my reading list.

Published September 3, 2024 | My Review to Come

Wishbone by Justine Pucella Winans

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I still think about one of Winans’ other books on an almost weekly basis, so I cannot miss this one about the unexpected consequences of wishes.

Published September 17, 2024 | My Review to Come

Note: This post contains affiliate links that do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. Thanks for using them to do your shopping.

Young Adult Books Still on my Fall 2024 Reading List

Warrior of Legend (Heromaker #2) by Kendare Blake

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I’ll be honest. I’m really on the fence about reading this book, but not because I don’t expect it to be great. I don’t know if I can handle it emotionally. Ha. The characters faced such huge odds in the first book, and I really invested in them, and I’m scared not all of them are going to make it through to the end, especially considering our main girl’s superpower is to aid heroes who will die. Oof.

Published October 29, 2024 | My Review to Come

Drown Me with Dreams by Gabi Burton

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I enjoyed the first book in this series, but I’m super intrigued about where it looks like the story is headed next. I think I remember Carrick, the best friend/betrayer, and I really want to know what Saoirse discovers on her quest. I’m sure it’ll upend everything she thinks she knows.

Published August 20, 2024 | My Review to Come

Guava and Grudges by Alexis Castellanos

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Rival bakeries! Is there anything I love more in an enemies to lovers rom com? This sounds a bit like Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho, which I liked.

Published September 3, 2024 | My Review to Come

Fortune’s Kiss by Amber Clement

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Best friends Mayté and Lorena enter a high-stakes magical game. Will their friendship survive? Will they? I need to know.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Whispering Night (The Luminaries #3) by Susan Dennard

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I’ve devoured this series so far, and even followed some of the “Sooz Your Own Adventure” social media posts by the author, which were hilarious. The first and second books left me with so many questions about the town next to a forest that spawns monsters and the people responsible for keeping them from escaping. I have to know how it all concludes.

Published November 19, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Dagger and the Flame (City of Fantome) by Catherine Doyle

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I became a fan of Catherine Doyle through her MG series, The Storm Keeper’s Island and stayed for the magical-twins-separated-at-birth trilogy she cowrote with Katherine Webber. Sign me up for this rival assassins/enemies to lovers novel stat!

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Glass Girl by Kathleen Glasgow

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A novel about teen alcoholism by the author who nearly wrecked me with You’d Be Home Now. I cannot wait to read this.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I loved the first book in the Secrets of the Nile series. I didn’t realize when I read it that it would become a series, so when I saw this continuation of Whit and Inez’s stories, I was thrilled.

Published November 5, 2024 | My Review to Come

Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Adiba Jaigirdar’s contemporary romance novels have been a smash hit with me, so as soon as I saw this book announced, I put it on my reading list. Two girls played by the same boy team up to compete as partners in the European Young Scientist Exhibition. Love and smart girls? Yes, please!

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

Our Deadly Designs (This Dark Descent #2) by Kalyn Josephson

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I love that this series is a duology because I truly don’t think I could wait another year to find out what happens to Reid, Mikira, Ari, and Damien. It looks like it’s going to be a wild ride.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Shadow Road by J. D. Kirchner

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Dragon-like monsters invade, leaving two heroes responsible for saving humanity. Has there ever been a better time to read an underdog story?

Published October 15, 2024 | My Review to Come

This Dark Paradise by Erin Lukens

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Described as “perfect for fans of Hotel Magnifique“– That’s me! A magical island with a hidden curse? A bisexual love triangle? Count me in.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

In Want of a Suspect by Tirzah Price (Lizzy and Darcy #1)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Elisabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy return in a new murder mystery filled with Jane Austen’s beloved characters. A cozy mystery sounds like exactly what I need right now.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

Heir by Sabaa Tahir

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A new sweeping fantasy from the author of An Ember in the Ashes. Do we even need to know more?

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A trio of semidioses (demigods) must take on the Obsidian gods and return the sun to the sky to save the world. I’ve loved the rich worldbuilding in Aiden Thomas’s books, so I’m super eager for more!

Published September 3, 2024 | My Review to Come

Do you still have books on your fall 2024 reading list?

There are too many good books coming out much too quickly for me to keep up. Are you like me? Are there still books that came out in the fall of 2024 on your reading list?

If you’ve read any of the books on my list, please let me know what you thought about them by leaving a comment.

Review: Night and Dana by Anya Davidson

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Night and Dana
Anya Davidson
Graphic Universe
Published September 12, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Night and Dana

A creative coming-of-age story for the climate-change generation
Dana Drucker fights boredom in her Florida beach town by crafting special-effects makeup―the more gruesome, the better. But when a messy prank with Dana’s best friend Lily gets the wrong kind of attention, the girls have two find a new creative outlet or leave high school without graduating.

To save their shot at diplomas, Dana and Lily join a community college film class. It gives Dana a chance to keep practicing her monster makeup, as she and Lily start work on a horror movie inspired by local ocean warming. And a search for filming locations puts Dana in the path of Daphne Ocean, an activist and self-proclaimed water witch―the perfect kind of inspiring outsider. But when filming starts, Dana finds herself growing apart from Lily, who doesn’t seem to need her closest friend much anymore.

Soon, tempers are flaring, and Dana’s pushing away old friends and her new mentor. But as everything starts going up in flames, Dana also begins to forge her voice. Night and Dana is a creative coming-of-age story for the climate-change era, a graphic novel about making art and growing up when it feels like the world is on fire.

My Review

One of the things I like about this graphic novel is how the story blends Dana’s monster makeup and climate change activism. At first, I wasn’t sure how those two themes would dovetail together, but as the story unfolds, merging those two ideas makes so much sense. I loved how that happened.

I also like the pacing of the story. Some scenes show things happening in real-time. Others feel more like diary entries, with maybe one illustration for reference and a longer block of text describing what happens between scenes. This helped highlight the important moments while briefly showing transitions between them.

The one thing that did not work for me was the illustrations of Dana’s little brother. I don’t know if it’s the art style or the proportions of the illustrations themselves, but he didn’t look like a little kid, so that made some of the scenes kind of weird.

Other than that, I enjoyed reading the book. It’s probably not something I would have been drawn to if I saw it on the shelf, but I am glad I read it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Some characters are queer.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Dana’s best friend begins dating a nonbinary person. A boy and girl kiss. A couple of panels show Dana in her bra. References to sex.

Spiritual Content
One character calls herself a witch and shows Dana a ritual in which she wishes for something (positive) to happen.

Violent Content
Dana and her best friend stage a car accident with makeup to look like a serious eye injury. Protestors stage a “die in” and are arrested. Later, a group of protestors disrupts a parade. References to police using force against unarmed protestors. Red tide leaves fish and other sea creatures dead on the beach.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.