#2023Book66
This continues to be one of my favorite books to teach.

#2023Book65
Based on the cover, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book much. But I'm glad I gave it a try. The story follows multiple generations who live and work the same farmland, showing how the characters interact with each other and the land around them. There was one character death that deserved more time, but other than that, I enjoyed everything about this book.

#2023Book64
This is one of the few books I read after watching the movie, but it didn‘t affect my enjoyment of the story at all. Although, enjoyment might be the wrong word, considering the subject matter. This book is very well-written and I felt so deeply for the main characters.

#2023Book63
Everything Tiffany D. Jackson writes is like a punch in the gut. I had to force myself to put this book down every night and go to bed, because I wanted to stay up to finish the whole thing in one sitting. I needed to know how it was going to end.

#2023Book62
I love the way the writer took the main plot and kept branching off into seemingly unrelated flashbacks and side plots. I knew they would eventually have to come together, but the way everything finally led back into the main plot was incredibly well done.

#2023Book61
The main story is great and maybe one or two of the side plots. But overall, there is way too much going on in this novel and way too many characters to keep track of.

#2023Book60
This novel is pretty short, but it definitely packs a punch. And despite having been written almost 100 years ago, the issues still remain painfully relevant today.

#2023Book59
The writing in this book is absolutely gorgeous and the plot and characters were original and extremely interesting. I wish I had read the book, though, instead of listening to the audiobook, because there were several times I realized I wasn‘t really following what was happening in the story.

#2023Book58
I really liked getting to know the characters in this book. A few stories, though, seemed to end way too quickly without giving the characters enough time to be fleshed out properly.

#2023Book57
This was a fun read and actually included recipes that regular people can easily make.

#2023Book56
I loved the premise of this story and the characters. However, there were so many characters introduced in such a short novella that none of them really got the depth they deserved.

#2023Book55
I love books that cover multiple decades, frequently switch between characters, and involve dysfunctional families. So this book was right up my alley and I loved getting to know the women in the Sunshine family.

#2023Book54
I loved everything about this book! The characters were great, the plot was a fresh take on an old idea, and the writing was both beautiful and humorous.

#2023Book53
I loved the characters, but the world-building seemed inconsistent, which made it difficult to keep track of some of the characters‘ movements and conflicts.

#2023Book52
I love Gyasi‘s writing. The characters were well-developed and realistic and while everything they went through was heartbreaking, the story still held onto a hopeful tone.

#2023Book51
The chapters that actually dealt with the “clobber verses” were interesting and full of important information. But the chapters about Colby Martin‘s personal journey felt a little too “look how great I am” for my taste.

#2023Book50
The writing is good and I‘ll likely read more of Lee‘s work. But the main character in this one was such a whiny jerk that I didn‘t really care whether or not he got what he wanted in the end.

#2023Book49
This book felt painfully true to the coming out experience that so many teenagers face. And the pain and anxiety the main character feels about how to come out to their friends after being rejected by their parents was handled with care and honesty.

#2023Book48
I'm a sucker for a fairy-tale retelling, especially when they get dark and gritty. My big complaint about this one is that the big battle at the end was too disjointed which made the action kind of difficult to follow.

#2023Book47
I loved this main character! Her struggles felt so real and her emotions were written so strongly. I will definitely be reading more of Callender‘s work in the future.

#2023Book46
Danez Smith might be one of my new favorite poets. They have a way with words that hits deep and hard, and I highly recommend the audio versions that they narrate themself.

#2023Book45
I really liked the two main characters and was excited that the stakes in this book seemed so high. But then the resolutions were always kind of a let-down because their successes felt too easily won.

#2023Book44
I liked the plot for the most part and some of the characters. But there were so many characters and several of them seemed kind of interchangeable to the point where I was starting to wonder if they were same character just going by a nickname or something.

#2023Book43
Most of the artwork is great, but some of the main characters look too similar, which makes it a little confusing at times. The story is a modernized take on the Hades/Persephone myth, but not necessarily an original plot.

#2023Book42
Surprisingly, I liked this one more than the first book, though it was also too predictable. And, once again, the side characters were the most interesting part.

#2023Book41
This book was the perfect ending to this trilogy. Plot lines were wrapped up nicely, but in realistic ways that didn‘t get too sappy.

#2023Book40
This didn‘t quite live up to the hype for me, mostly because it was too predictable. And, as often happens with these types of books, the side characters were way more interesting than the main characters.

#2023Book39
I liked the main plot and most of the characters. A few of the side plots weren‘t as interesting, though, and the ending felt kind of rushed.

#2023Book38
This will forever be one of my favorite books.

#2023Book37
This might end up as one of my new favorite books. The characters are entertaining and feel incredibly real. Their relationships with each other make you want to root for them, and the end is absolutely heartbreaking.

#2023Book36
This is one of the few books I like less every time I teach it.

#2023Book35
I didn't really like this book when I read it in high school. Re-reading it as an adult, though, I have a new appreciation for the relationship between George and Lennie.

#2023Book34
The potential villains were the best part of this book, but we got to see so little of them that it almost didn‘t feel worth it.

#2023Book33
Of all the books I‘ve read about the Rwandan genocide, this one was the most informative. The only thing that kept it from getting 5 stars, though, is that it occasionally slipped into a “both sides” type of argument.

#2023Book32
While I still liked this book, it didn‘t pack the same punch re-reading it.

#2023Book31
I was a little worried about this sequel at first, but it quickly became one of those sequels that adds so much to the original story. I loved getting to learn more about some of the side characters from Dread Nation, and the character development for everyone was expertly done.

#2023Book30
Despite this being a YA romance, I liked the interactions between the main character and her family and her best friend way more than the relationship between the main character and her crush. But I did like that the ending was somewhat open instead of perfectly wrapped up and unrealistic.

#2023Book29
Everything I read about the genocide in Rwanda only makes me angrier that it took so long for anyone to do anything to stop the murders. Wamariya doesn‘t hesitate to describe her emotions and feelings surrounding her experiences and the people around her through it all. There‘s a good chance I‘ll end up teaching this book someday, because it‘s something more people need to learn about.

#2023Book28
I‘m definitely not the target audience for this kind of book. I‘ve never been big on space-based science fiction, and this one has too many characters and plot lines to follow. The writing is good and enjoyed some of the plots, but overall it just wasn‘t for me.

#2023Book27
I'm always surprised by how much I end up loving books that involve zombies. I'm never surprised by how much I love books set around the time of the Civil War. Combining those two elements and throwing in a badass heroine made this one of those books that I would have read in one sitting if I hadn't been reading it out loud to a classroom full of juniors.

#2023Book26
The title really does say it all, as only the obscenely wealthy would have to deal with these issues. Overall, this was a pretty solid ending to this trilogy. I do wish we‘d gotten more about the grandmother‘s past, though, as she was easily the most interesting character.

#2023Book25
Every time I read this book, I enjoy it a little bit more. While I'm not sure my students got much out of it, I still find myself surprised by the lengths the boys in this book go to in order to survive and assert their dominance over the others.

#2023Book24
This was a solid sequel with strong character development and a great storyline. The relationships were well-crafted and the conflicts were believable. I can‘t wait to see what happened to these characters in the next book!

#2023Book23
I love Beukes‘s writing and her refusal to shy away from the grotesque. I‘m also always a fan of books that cover multiple points of view. What I liked best about this book, though, was the constant time jumps between chapters so I had to really pay attention to keep track of who was currently in danger.

#2023Book22
I love the characters in this series and their adventures are always a fun read. But I still wish everything didn‘t work out quite so easily for them all the time.

#2023Book21
We need more stories about female friendship! Especially when one of the females is a grouchy old lady who is super nosy but also just wants to be left alone.

#2023Book20
The more Oz books Baum put out, the more he seemed to forget his own previous world-building and rules.

#2023Book19
I‘ve always been a sucker for a “buddy road trip” comedy, so I quite enjoyed this one. I also liked that it was set up to be a potential romance but then took a hard left turn away from that and was mostly about friendship.

#2023Book18
Dorothy was again the main character after stepping into the background for several books, and the group‘s adventures were more fun to read about this time. However, once again, the new characters were pretty annoying.

#2023Book17
I‘ve always loved memoirs, especially those about people with mental illness. But what really hit me with this book was how closely her justification for getting tattoos mirrors my own.