Category Archives: By Genre

Review: Marie Curie: A Life of Discovery by Alice Milani

Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , ,
Marie Curie by Alice Milani

Marie Curie: A Life of Discovery (Graphic Novel)
Alice Milani
Graphic Universe
Published August 6, 2019

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About Marie Curie: A Life of Discovery (Graphic Novel)

In her intensely researched, inventively drawn exploration of Marie Curie’s life, artist Alice Milani follows the celebrated Polish scientist from Curie’s time as a struggling governess to her years in France making breakthrough discoveries. Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences.

With skill and care, Milani traces Curie’s flight from Russia-controlled Poland, her romance with fellow scientist Pierre Curie, and Marie and Pierre’s stunning discoveries of the elements radium and polonium. Throughout this distinctive graphic work, Curie defies doubt and double standards to make an enduring impact on the scientific world.

My Review

Especially at the beginning, I found this book confusing. It had a short section about characters that didn’t come back into the story until much later. Even aside from that, the timeline of the story does jump around a bit. I feel like in terms of understanding what’s happening, if you’re already familiar with Marie Curie’s life, you’ll understand what’s going on much more easily.

Despite those few reading bumps, I enjoyed this graphic novel. I have only read/reviewed a couple of these before. I’m not an experienced reader by any means, so I feel like I can’t rate it in terms of other graphic novel biographies. The artwork was really expressive and helped to create characterization.

I learned a lot of things that I hadn’t known about Curie, too. I had read about her in elementary school, but didn’t know much beyond that she was a renowned scientist and studied radiation. So I hadn’t realized she was Polish and lived at a time when she would’ve been persecuted in her own country. I thought the part of the story that explored gender roles and the way the media portrayed her during her time was especially well done.

On the whole, I think this book would make a great addition to a grade 6 or 7 science classroom. It’s a quick read and I enjoyed it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
Marie Curie is Polish. Her family faced persecution for teaching in Polish during a time when speaking Polish in class was forbidden by occupying Russians.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Shows Marie Curie’s relationship with her husband, but focuses more on the scientific partnership than the romance.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of MARIE CURIE in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: Believe by Julie Mathison

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Believe
Julie Mathison
Starr Creek Press
Published August 4, 2020

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About Believe

Full of humor and wonder, BELIEVE explores the power and limits of the imagination – and how love both breaks and heals our hearts.

Eleven-year-old Melanie knows she’s special. She’s never been bored. She understands the secret language of old houses and makes jewels out of broken glass. Her imagination can do anything — except make friends. It’s 1980, and life as a fifth grader at Buckminster Experimental School is lonely at best, when she’s not dodging Karen, the school bully. Then, Melanie meets Sabrina, who looks like a TV star and acts like a spy, and who doesn’t care what anyone thinks. She teaches Melanie how to believe in herself, and soon Melanie starts living her dreams. She even lands the lead in Peter Pan!

If only she could share it all with Mom. Missing her mom is like trying to breathe with one lung. It’s bad. Sabrina thinks they can track her down, and Melanie wants to believe, but sometimes it’s easier to pretend. Her new life feels like a house of cards, until one day it all comes crashing down and she finds herself with no choice but to face the truth… and let go.

This quirky, heartfelt middle-grade novel about grief and the resilience of the human spirit will keep you guessing until the end.

My Review

Melanie is an incredibly loveable character. I felt immediately invested in her story. Her imagination is wild and lovely. The way she explains relationships and intentions is really clever and moving, too.

Melanie’s imagination lands her the lead role in the school’s performance of PETER PAN. It helps her deal with the bullying of a fellow classmate and find the courage to make a new friend.

She describes and observes a lot of relationships in BELIEVE, too. From watching her dad interact with his friends, to navigating her own complicated relationship with her grandmother, she relates those exchanges with flair.

Fans of THE OTHER BETTER ME by Antony Jon or NOT IF I CAN HELP IT by Carolyn Mackler will definitely want this book in their libraries.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
Most characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A girl in Melanie’s class bullies her– saying unkind things and making fun of her.

Drug Content
Adults drink alcohol in one scene.

Note: I received a free copy of BELIEVE in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

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Bookish and the Beast (Once Upon a Con #3)
Ashley Poston
Quirk Books
Published August 4, 2020

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About Bookish and the Beast

In the third book in Ashley Poston’s Once Upon a Con series, Beauty and the Beast is retold in the beloved Starfield universe.

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

My Review

I’ve been really looking forward to reading this book, and it did NOT disappoint! Just like I did in GEEKERELLA, I love the quirky, nerdiness of the characters and their obsession with Starfield in BOOKISH AND THE BEAST. I love the banter between Rosie and Vance. And I love her best friends and the enthusiasm they put into everything from teasing her about her dad to Quinn’s quest to become Homecoming Overlord.

There was one tiniest bump in my reading road. At the beginning, of course, Vance is a total jerk. It makes complete sense because this IS a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I can tell you now, it’s so worth those early scenes to watch the cracks in his armor form. To watch his heart change and know how big that is.

Another thing that I loved were the references to Beauty and the Beast. There are a couple of places where there references to minor lines in the Disney version of the movie, and some other references to the story as a whole that were too fun for me to spoil them here.

If you’re looking for a pick-me-up book, something light to take your mind off reality for a bit, look no further! I highly recommend reading BOOKISH AND THE BEAST.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Rosie and Vance are both white. Rosie’s best friend Quinn is nonbinary.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently. A couple crude comments.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Some reference to feelings of attraction between two men.

Spiritual Content
Rosie thinks of her mother, who has died, and repeatedly notes that she no longer exists.

Violent Content
Reference to a car accident. Two boys get into a fist fight. A girl punches a boy.

Drug Content
References to Vance getting drunk in the past.

Note: I received a free copy of BOOKISH AND THE BEAST in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: Lobizona by Romina Garber

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Lobizona (Wolves of No World #1)
Romina Garber
Wednesday Books
Published August 4, 2020

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About Lobizona

Some people ARE illegal.

Lobizonas do NOT exist.

Both of these statements are false.

Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who’s on the run from her father’s Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.

Until Manu’s protective bubble is shattered.

Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past–a mysterious “Z” emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.

As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it’s not just her U.S. residency that’s illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.

My Review

As I’ve heard stories about what it’s like to come to the US as an immigrant, I’ve been moved, felt sympathy, wanted to change things. Nothing has ever made me feel like I’ve slipped into someone else’s shoes the way this book did, though.

Manu is smart. She’s vulnerable, yet fierce. She loves her family, but she’s always felt like an outsider who did not belong, even among them. More than anything else, this is the story of a girl who has never belonged not just finding her place, but carving it out of the landscape and building a true family around her.

I really, really like this book. The magic was fascinating, and again and again the story comes back to questions about what makes a person valuable. Is it where someone was born? What gender they are? Whom they love? What they can do for someone else?

LOBIZONA explores all that and on top of it delivers a sizzling romance set in a dazzling landscape. If you like found families, revolution, and unexpected alliances, this is one you’re going to want to grab, fast.

This book is a great fit for fans of WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT or GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Manu and most other characters are Latinx. A few side characters are gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two girls. One scene shows some intense kissing between a boy and girl.

There’s a brief reference to a rape that happened in the past.

Spiritual Content
Because of a demon who fell in love with a human, seventh consecutive daughters become witches with nature-based magic abilities, and seventh consecutive sons become werewolves.

Violent Content
Some intense scenes involving running from ICE and police. Battle scenes. Situations of peril.

Drug Content
Manu takes a medication every month that knocks her out for three days. Some characters drink mate, which heightens their magic.

Note: I received a free copy of LOBIZONA in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

About Romina Garber

Instagram | Twitter | Website

ROMINA GARBER (pen name Romina Russell) is a New York Times and international bestselling author. Originally from Argentina, she landed her first writing gig as a teen—a weekly column for the Miami Herald that was later nationally syndicated—and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Her books include Lobizona. When she’s not working on a novel, Romina can be found producing movie trailers, taking photographs, or daydreaming about buying a new drum set. She is a graduate of Harvard College and a Virgo to the core.

Review: It Came From the Sky by Chelsea Sedoti

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

It Came From the Sky
Chelsea Sedoti
Sourcebooks Fire
Published August 1, 2020

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About It Came From the Sky

This is the absolutely true account of how Lansburg, Pennsylvania was invaded by aliens and the weeks of chaos that followed. There were sightings of UFOs, close encounters, and even abductions. There were believers, Truth Seekers, and, above all, people who looked to the sky and hoped for more.

Only… there were no aliens.

Gideon Hofstadt knows what really happened. When one of his science experiments went wrong, he and his older brother blamed the resulting explosion on extraterrestrial activity. And their lie was not only believed by their town―it was embraced. As the brothers go to increasingly greater lengths to keep up the ruse and avoid getting caught, the hoax flourishes. But Gideon’s obsession with their tale threatened his whole world. Can he find a way to banish the aliens before Lansburg, and his life, are changed forever?

Told in a report format and comprised of interviews, blog posts, text conversations, found documents, and so much more, It Came from the Sky is a hysterical and resonant novel about what it means to be human in the face of the unknown.

From the author of The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett and As You Wish comes the unforgettable story of the one small town’s biggest hoax and the two brothers who started it all.

“A page-turner as engrossing as any classic Twilight Zone starring two spirited brothers who run circles around the Hardy Boys.” – Ben Philippe, Morris Award-winning author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

My Review

I have mixed feelings about this book. The whole situation– the explosion that leads to the alien encounter hoax– is kind of funny. I’m generally a fan of stories in which the characters land themselves in bizarre situations and then have to panic-slash-mastermind their way out of them only to have unanticipated consequences result. So this story definitely scratches that itch for me.

I just… didn’t like Gideon. I appreciated his intelligence. And I sympathized with his struggle to communicate his emotions and his aversion to sticky foods. But all of it seemed so selfish to me. He seemed so selfish. Even the idea that he could perpetrate this large-scale lie without any remorse, because it’s for science! I had a lot of trouble connecting with him.

Even though I didn’t connect with Gideon, I read the whole book because I hoped that it would have the kind of resolution that would make it all make sense and that if he really learned his lesson, it’d be worth the investment in the book.

And he does learn some things and make some changes. There’s growth. One of the things I didn’t like (and I’m going to be vague for spoilers reasons) was that toward the end, Gideon is faced with someone who has committed two different types of crimes. In my mind, one was much more personal and damaging than the other. But it felt like because the other frustrated Gideon more, he prioritized reporting it.

All in all, I thought the idea was fun, and the story was interesting, but this one isn’t for me. If you like goofy heist or prank stories, though, IT CAME FROM THE SKY is one I think you’ll want to check out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Gideon is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys. References to sex between an adult and minor.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Gideon discovers an adult who is drunk and behaving unsafely.

Note: I received a free copy of IT CAME FROM THE SKY in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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Today Tonight Tomorrow
Rachel Lynn Solomon
Simon Pulse
Published July 28, 2020

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About Today Tonight Tomorrow

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.

THE HATING GAME meets NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST by way of Morgan Matson in this unforgettable romantic comedy about two rival overachievers whose relationship completely transforms over the course of twenty-four hours.

My Review

I could not put this book down. It’s funny. TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW is packed with the kind of snappy banter that I adore. It’s thoughtful. The story made me rethink my feelings on romance as a reading genre. And most of all, it’s desperately romantic.

Most of the book centers around a contest called The Howl, in which the whole senior class participates in a kind of photo scavenger hunt all around Seattle. It’s a race to win a prize of $5000, which both Rowan and Neil fiercely need. The contest gave the story a straightforward structure and high stakes. But what makes TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW really magical, though, is the relationship between Rowan and Neil themselves.

I’m kind of a sucker for enemies-to-lovers stories anyway, but this one had this perfect mix of wit, awkwardness, self-doubt, vulnerability, and passion. I cannot say this enough: I. Loved. It.

A Discussion of Romance

A brief note on the views about romance in the story: In the book, Rowan loves romance novels and has written one herself. She muses about the fact that romance as a genre centers women in a way that other media does not, and yet people often treat it with disdain. She discusses how reading romance also made her feel empowered and comfortable talking about sex.

Her love for romance is really woven into the story, so it doesn’t feel out of place or very preachy. It made me stop and consider the way media represents women. My daughter has participated in a local children’s theater group, and often the majority of the speaking roles are for male characters. I feel like this is something where, once you start noticing it, you kind of can’t stop. Ha.

At any rate, I really appreciated this part of TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW and especially the letter at the end from the author which explained some of her own evolution on those ideas.

All in all, fans of THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN ME IS YOU by Lily Anderson really need to check this one out. If you like witty banter and enemies-to-lovers stories, put TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW at the top of your list!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Major characters are Jewish. Side characters are Korean, bisexual, and lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. One scene shows characters discussing having sex and then briefly doing so.

Spiritual Content
Rowan’s family has Shabbat dinner together. References to bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah celebrations and communities of faith.

Violent Content
References to a man beating up a teenager and a girl getting into a fistfight. Some micro and not-so-micro aggressions against Jewish characters.

Drug Content
Neil and Rowan buy cookies with pot in them and get high together.

Note: I received a free copy of TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.