Tag Archives: Community

Review: The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,
Moth Keeper by K. O'Neil cover shows a girl looking at a glowing moth as if they're having a conversation. She holds up her hands near the moth, but the moth is flying, as if it just lifted off.

The Moth Keeper
K. O’Neill
Random House Graphic
Published March 7, 2023

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About The Moth Keeper

Being a Moth Keeper is a huge responsibility and a great honor, but what happens when the new Moth Keeper decides to take a break from the moon and see the sun for the first time? A middle-grade fantasy graphic novel about passion, duty, and found family.

Anya is finally a Moth Keeper, the protector of the lunar moths that allow the Night-Lily flower to bloom once a year. Her village needs the flower to continue thriving and Anya is excited to prove her worth and show her thanks to her friends with her actions, but what happens when being a Moth Keeper isn’t exactly what Anya thought it would be?

The nights are cold in the desert and the lunar moths live far from the village. Anya finds herself isolated and lonely. Despite Anya’s dedication, she wonders what it would be like to live in the sun. Her thoughts turn into an obsession, and when Anya takes a chance to stay up during the day to feel the sun’s warmth, her village and the lunar moths are left to deal with the consequences.

K. O’Neill brings to life a beautifully illustrated fantasy world about responsibility to yourself and your community. THE MOTH KEEPER is filled with magic, hope, and friendship.

My Review

THE MOTH KEEPER is the first book by K. O’Neill that I’ve read. I’ve had my eye on the Tea Dragon series, which they also wrote, so I’ve been curious about their books for a while.

One of the things that fascinated me about this book is how many scenes are told strictly through the illustrations in the panels. I enjoyed looking at them and following scenes that way.

The story has a nicely sized cast of characters. I felt like we got to know each of them, and I especially felt like I learned a lot about each character sometimes by reading between the lines or watching how other characters reacted to them.

I liked the background of the story– both the lore about the moon’s spirit and the connection to the village, and also the girl wandering the desert, drawn to the moon. The way the story tied different elements together, and the sense of movement in the panels, especially in the illustrations of the moths.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s kind of a peaceful story about community and a celebration of the importance of spirituality.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Characters have some animal characteristics. Anya has fox ears and a tail. Her best friend Estell has rabbit ears and a tail.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The spirit of the moon gifted the moths to Anya’s village to care for and to bless them.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) by Livia Blackburne

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Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other)
Livia Blackburne
Quill Tree Books
Published July 18, 2023

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About Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other)

You’ve Got Mail gets a YA twist in this rom-com that spotlights the power of activism and community organizing in the face of gentrification.

Clementine Chan believes in the power of the written word. Under the pseudonym Hibiscus, she runs a popular blog reviewing tea shops and discussing larger issues within her Chinatown community. She has a loyal, kind following, save for this one sour grape named BobaBoy888.

Danny Mok is allergic to change, and the gentrification seeping into Chinatown breaks his heart. He channels his frustration into his internet alter ego, BobaBoy888, bickering with local blogger Hibiscus over all things Chinatown and tea.

When a major corporation reveals plans that threaten to shut down the Mok’s beloved tea shop, Clementine and Danny find themselves working together in real life to save this community they both love. But as they fall hard for this cause—and each other—they have no clue that their online personas have been fighting for years.

When the truth comes to light, can Danny and Clementine still find their happily-ever-after?

My Review

This is such a cute story, and yet, I’m hesitating to call it cute because I feel like that undersells the deeper, more thought-provoking parts of the story. The internet-enemies-to-lovers part of the story is super cute. The exploration of what it means to celebrate Chinatown, Chinese heritage, and how to do that in an authentic yet modern way was very cool. I loved that we got to see both Clementine’s heart as a blogger writing about tea shops in Chinatown and also how some of the thoughts in those posts made Danny, the son of tea shop owners, feel.

Having both Clementine’s and Danny’s perspectives added complexity and nuance. It allowed us to see both the good in their intentions and the harm in their flaws. I’m sure that was not easy to write in such a natural, genuine way, but Livia Blackburne really succeeded at that.

The descriptions of tea and all that Danny and his dad would do in order to find the right suppliers, to store, prepare and serve tea in a traditional way… I loved learning about that. And the descriptions of the tea also made me really want to try things. (Okay, maybe not the Mocha Iced Oolong Cinnamon Latte, but some of the other things!)

I think readers who enjoyed THE CHARMED LIST by Julie Abe or middle graders who liked IT’S BOBA TIME FOR PEARL LI and are ready to age up into young adult books should add this one to their lists!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Clementine and Danny are Chinese American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some references to internet trolls saying cruel, racist, and hurtful things.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of CLEMENTINE AND DANNY SAVE THE WORLD (AND EACH OTHER) in exchange for my honest review.

Review: No Perfect Places by Steven Salvatore

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No Perfect Places
Steven Salvatore
Bloomsbury YA
Published May 30, 2023

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About No Perfect Places

From lauded author Steven Salvatore comes a YA about twins whose incarcerated father dies and leaves behind a life-changing secret.

When their father was imprisoned for embezzlement, twins Alex and Olly Brucke lost everything except their strong bond with each other. But after their dad dies unexpectedly, the twins start to fracture. Alex is spiraling, skipping classes to get drunk or high. Olly is struggling with a secret his dad ordered him to keep: they have a secret half-brother, Tyler.

So when Tyler shows up in their lakeside town for the summer, hoping to get to know his siblings, Olly hides the truth from Alex. But as Alex and Tyler start to form a friendship, the lies become harder to juggle. If they can’t confront their father’s past and fix their relationship, Olly and Alex each risk losing two siblings forever.

A thought-provoking novel about grief, family secrets, and figuring out how to belong against the odds.

My Review

Okay, so you know how there are just certain authors whose books just hit you deep? Steven Salvatore is one of those authors for me. I have loved all of their books so far, and I’m both delighted and unsurprised to say the same of NO PERFECT PLACES.

The relationship between siblings absolutely melted my heart. The wildly different experiences and feelings they each had for their father made perfect sense from each character’s perspective. Alex’s destructive grief was heartbreaking. As was the wreckage from Olly’s protective need to try to control everything.

And let’s not skip the romantic relationships because this, again, is something Salvatore does SO WELL. Olly and Khal have this great balance in their relationship. It’s not that things are perfect. It’s not even that they have their whole relationship figured out. They are always on the same side, though. I loved that. Alex has a whole rollercoaster-on-fire of romance, and while it hurt to read some of those scenes, I felt like they were so well done. As Alex begins to process her grief and process her feelings about herself, she begins to see the relationship in a different light. The change felt organic and had me cheering for her so hard.

I also want to say that the romantic storylines never stole the show. They were absolutely subplots, and they stayed in their lanes, so I felt like the story struck a great balance there.

Another thing (yes, more!) that Steven Salvatore does brilliantly well is how they present art within a story. In AND THEY LIVED, they told us the story of Chase’s college animation project.

In NO PERFECT PLACES, we get Olly’s journey of creating a short film to submit to a contest. The movie scene descriptions are great, and I loved how the final product echoed the themes of the larger story.

All in all, such a great book. I loved it so much. It’s the story of three siblings and their journey through a very particular kind of grief, and the community they build which helps them heal.

Content Notes for No Perfect Places

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Olly is gay and uses he/they pronouns. Alex uses drugs and alcohol to numb her grief. She also experiences domestic violence at the hands of a partner. Olly’s boyfriend is Iranian American and Muslim.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Boy/boy kissing and boy/girl kissing. References to sex, and some brief explicit statements about sex.

Spiritual Content
Brief references to Muslim faith. Alex and Olly both says “goddess,” as in “Oh my goddess.”

Violent Content
A man dies while denied access to medical care. Some scenes show domestic violence and emotional abuse in a relationship. A boy punches other characters and attacks them with few consequences. A girl punches a boy after he slaps her. In one scene, a girl overdoses and dies. A girl knees a boy in the groin after he tries to grab her.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol, smoke pot, and use other drugs in a few scenes. It’s shown in a way that highlights the destructiveness of the behavior. A girl dies of an accidental overdose.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of NO PERFECT PLACES in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Don’t Ask If I’m Okay by Jessica Klara

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Don’t Ask If I’m Okay
Jessica Klara
Page Street
Published May 9, 2023

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About Don’t Ask If I’m Okay

Heartfelt and bittersweet, this coming-of age story explores the tender space of healing where grief meets love

A year ago, Gage survived a car accident that killed his best friend, Hunter. Without the person who always brought out the best in him, Gage doesn’t know who he is. He likes working as a fry cook and loves his small-town friends and family, but they weren’t in the wreck and he can’t tell them how much he’s still hurting. He just wants to forget all his pain and move on.

So when his stepdad shows him a dream job opening in one of his idol’s restaurants, Gage knows this is his chance to convince everyone and himself that he’s fine. To try to push past his grief once and for all, Gage applies for the job, asks out a crush, and volunteers to host a memorial for Hunter.

But the more Gage tries to ignore his grief, the more volatile it becomes.

When his temper finally turns on the people he loves, Gage must decide what real strength is—holding in his grief until it destroys him, or asking for help and revealing his broken heart for all to see.

My Review

My friend recently asked me what things are common to the books that I love. I think she asked what makes me love books or think they’re good or something more in that vein, but it started me thinking about what the common denominators are in the books that I tend to love and enjoy.

For me, one thing that comes up over and over is stories that explore the value of community, whether that’s in a friend group, family, or found family. I also love stories that wrestle with grief of some kind, because I think we don’t talk enough about that. And the relationships between characters are also really important to me, so I tend to love books with banter or compelling dialogue of some kind.

I feel like DON’T ASK IF I’M OKAY really hit all those marks for me. I loved Gage’s friend group and especially the way they functioned as a support group/community to help one another through dark times. My favorite scene was after they’ve finished watching part of a movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and they need to go do something. One friend turns to Gage and says, “You have my sword.” Another tells Gage he has his bow. A third says, “And my Suburu.” Which straight up made me laugh out loud. So great.

I also cried through some of the scenes in which he’s caught in this spiral of grief. He’s listening to some bad advice about what grief looks like and how he should feel instead of healthy counsel, and I could just feel how much it was hurting him to believe that toxic stuff.

Which made his journey from that moment so much more powerful and meaningful.

The only thing that I’d say caught me off guard with this book is that for some reason I thought the story was going to be about him getting a new cooking job and starting that job and how that helps him. Pretty much the whole story takes place in his hometown. I loved his small Idaho town, though, so that was great. For some reason I was expecting something else from the book, but I’m not unhappy with the story I read.

On the whole, I think this is a great celebration of the importance of a support network and of emotional vulnerability. I loved it and I would definitely read more by Jessica Klara.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white. Gage has panic attacks and PTSD-like symptoms resulting from a car accident that killed his cousin and best friend. Minor characters are POC and LGBTQIA+.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to making out.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Gage experiences some explosive feelings of anger. At one point he shouts at a younger cousin. A veteran visiting Gage’s house is triggered by a gunfire-like sound. Gage experiences slivers of memories from the car accident, including seeing his cousin’s lifeless face. In one scene, Gage throws a man out of a restaurant after an altercation that began when the man made inappropriate comments to a girl who was working as his server.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Daisy Woodworm Changes the World by Melissa Hart

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Daisy Woodworm Changes the World
Melissa Hart
Jolly Fish Press
Published November 8, 2022

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About Daisy Woodworm Changes the World

When her social studies teacher assigns each student a project to change the world for the better along with an oral report, Daisy fears the class bully—who calls her Woodworm— will make fun of her lisp. Still, she decides to help Sorrel fulfill his dream of becoming a YouTube fashion celebrity despite their parents’ refusal to allow him on social media.

With the help of her best friend Poppy, and Miguel—the most popular boy in school and her former enemy—Daisy launches Sorrel’s publicity campaign. But catastrophe strikes when her parents discover him online along with hateful comments from a cyberbully.

If Daisy has any hope of changing the world, she’ll have to regain her family’s trust and face her fears of public speaking to find her own unique and powerful voice.

My Review

There are a lot of original things about this book. Daisy has three terrariums in her room. One contains hissing cockroaches. Another has millipedes. The third, I think, has stick bugs? I wish we’d been introduced to her pets and her interest in insects a little sooner. Eventually, it does become part of the story, and I felt like I got to know her a lot better once I saw her love for them and her knowledge about insects in general.

I really liked Daisy’s relationship with her brother and the layering there. While she sees herself as championing his dream, at first she doesn’t realize that she’s also trying to control him. As she pursues the YouTube channel and faces mistakes she makes along the way, she also has to face mistakes she’s made in her relationship with her brother.

Daisy also has some chances to reevaluate judgments she’s made about others, too. I liked the arc of her relationship with Miguel. They both have mistakes to apologize for, and in order to work together, they have to find ways to forgive each other.

I also liked Daisy’s parents. While their Poop Fairy dog cleanup business sometimes makes them seem a bit silly, it’s clear they love both kids and are trying their hardest to care and provide for them, even though they don’t always get it right.

On the whole, I think DAISY WOODWORM CHANGES THE WORLD is a sweet, heartwarming story of family and community. Readers who are interested in insects or stories about family dynamics will want this one on their shelves. I think fans of CHIRP by Kate Messner should check it out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Daisy has a lisp. Her brother and other minor characters have Down Syndrome. Daisy’s best friend is Indian with two moms. Another friend is Latine.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently. Daisy’s parents own a small business in which they scoop dog poop, so there are a few conversations and jokes about the job.

Romance/Sexual Content
Daisy has romantic feelings for a boy in her class. References to Daisy’s best friend crushing on a girl. References to kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Both Daisy and her brother experience some bullying. A boy in Daisy’s class makes fun of her lisp and her love for bugs, calling her Daisy Woodworm. Strangers leave hurtful comments online about Squirrel, Daisy’s brother.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of DAISY WOODWORM CHANGES THE WORLD in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Morning Sun in Wuhan by Ying Chang Compestine

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Morning Sun in Wuhan
Ying Chang Compestine
Clarion Books
Published November 8, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Morning Sun in Wuhan

What was the pandemic of the century like at the start? This swift, gripping novel captures not only the uncertainty and panic when COVID first emerged in Wuhan, but also how a community banded together.

Weaving in the tastes and sounds of the historic city, Wuhan’s comforting and distinctive cuisine comes to life as the reader follows 13-year-old Mei who, through her love for cooking, makes a difference in her community. Written by an award-winning author originally from Wuhan.

Grieving the death of her mother and an outcast at school, thirteen-year-old Mei finds solace in cooking and computer games. When her friend’s grandmother falls ill, Mei seeks out her father, a doctor, for help, and discovers the hospital is overcrowded. As the virus spreads, Mei finds herself alone in a locked-down city trying to find a way to help.

Author Ying Chang Compestine draws on her own experiences growing up in Wuhan to illustrate that the darkest times can bring out the best in people, friendship can give one courage in frightening times, and most importantly, young people can make an impact on the world. Readers can follow Mei’s tantalizing recipes and cook them at home.

My Review

Not going to lie– I love that this book included recipes! I want to try all of them. The game Mei plays, Chop Chop also sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve played a game called Plate Up before which sounds way less sophisticated than how Chop Chop is described to be. Still, I had to laugh when different things happen with Mei and her team members in the game, because it reminded me of things that happened during my own kitchen/cooking game play experience. Haha!

I also really loved the community aspect of the story. I remember reading about the city of Wuhan being shut down during the pandemic, but I didn’t really have a grid for what that was actually like. We get to see the growing fear and uncertainty through Mei’s eyes, but we also get to see the way that she joins other community members to help those in need by delivering food and caring for her neighbors.

MORNING SUN IN WUHAN isn’t a super long book. I think it took me less than two hours to read altogether. The pacing is pretty smooth, and I loved Mei and her friends. It was easy to invest in their stories and hurt along with them and cheer for their victories.

All in all, I think this is a great book for kids who are curious about what the pandemic has been like in other places or are looking for a story about a young chef or gamer. I think readers who enjoyed HONESTLY, ELLIOT by Gillian McDunn will love this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Characters are Chinese. Mei’s mother has recently passed away.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Mei witnesses people getting angry as they shop in the last few minutes before the city shuts down.

Drug Content
None.

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