Sorry I have been massively busy. But I did get my #boospinbingo card ready. @TheAromaofBooks
Sorry I have been massively busy. But I did get my #boospinbingo card ready. @TheAromaofBooks
5 ⭐This picture book is amazing. It tells the story of a child who must evacuate because of the fires in California. This child‘s mother had to evacuate Vietnam because of the floods decades years ago. This book connects both stories together and impart a of feeling of everything will be OK. The artwork is a master class. The effect of the colored pencils makes one feel like you‘re looking at the children‘s drawings.
4 ⭐This was a fun middle grade graphic novel about changes. It‘s about how people you know and love change but are still themselves in ways that counts. For our main character Mia, her best summer camp friend is now going to get to be her all the time friend because they‘re moving into the same school. But things are not how Mia planning. One friendship is cracking, school is changing, and it now matters if things are cool or crazy.
4 ⭐This book reminds me of the days of Twilight. Our main character Rotem is a “Sunhead”. She is a fan of the Sunrise vampire romance novels. No one else understands her devotion to these books until she makes a new friend who finds them just as wonderful as she does. This book takes place in Israel, which for the most part doesn‘t matter, except for the parts when they‘re talking about American schools and having to learn a second language.
2 ⭐ I fully understand why kids like these books. And I will go on letting them like them. They don‘t have the staying power that people are going to be able to quote in 20 years. Not my type of thing and not my type of book but to each of their own.
3.5 ⭐95% of this book takes place in 24 hours. There is a group of six teenagers who are on an E-sports team, but they need to be down to five. They are having a contest to decide which get to play in next week‘s tournament. Big prize money is on the line. However, nothing goes according to plan when Cristal gets a message from a special app on her phone saying play my game or your sister dies. What proceeds is 24 hours of Cristal playing
4 ⭐ Another fantastic Lieberson book. This time we follow Sarah, who is the daughter of a single mother. Her best friend happens to be a boy, and they have been friends for as long as she can remember. However, she at that age where she starting to have feelings, and it just so happens, she has feelings for her best friends other guy friend. Sarah must come to terms with where her friendship is with her current friend, and if she can or is
4 ⭐ One of the reasons that I like these books is that even though they‘re a series, they can all be read independently. Each book takes place at approximately the same time and a reader can see each of the kids the important events in their lives. In this case, Brianna has been asked by her mother to be bat-mitzvah. While she‘s dreading it, she‘s also finding out more about herself, and why she likes her family religion.
4 ⭐ This sequel does not suffer from the second book slump. It gives you a mystery and it just keeps on going. Pip is winding up her first podcast for the mystery Sal‘s brother and Addie. There‘s been a little bit of backlash on the podcast because well, it‘s the Internet. But now her friend, Connor‘s brother, is missing, the police won‘t search for him. Pip is the only person who can help. This book continues the ideas and the characters
4 ⭐This was a book about being yourself. Friends are hard to make it at any age but when you spend your life constantly being the new kid, making friends can be hard to do. Coming into a new school three weeks after start makes it even harder. This is a sweet graphic novel about not only being a good friend but about being yourself. It‘s got a great message and a fun story for any age.
2 ⭐ This was a DNF. I started and stopped at least 4 or 5 times all throughout 2023. I‘m surprised I couldn‘t get into this considering how much I adore and love both the original book and the movie. I think part of it for me was the illustrations. And while they are fit for the topic because they‘re so brown and dreary, they seem disheartening, instead of hopeful and enlightening. This is a great introduction , but original novel does it better
Okay. I think I am ready for Feb. it‘s needs color but it works for now.
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
I honestly do not think I can finish another book this month. It was a great kick off to the new year, but no bingos. Bummer.
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
3.5 ⭐ I listened to this is a full cast audio. The audiobook is incredibly well done. However, the last hour was missing on my digital download. Thank goodness for TBBS as they helped fill in the last hour. I was a tad sad. None of the libraries around me, had Promise Boys on audio! This is a mystery about a prep school that has some very, strict rules. The idea is to teach boys to be “men”. However, this is not a happy go lucky school,
3 ⭐This is the first in a long series of books on money matters for kids. It spends a lot of time focusing more on the story, so it rhymes quite well and has a nice cadence. The illustrations are soft and lovely and feel like they stepped out of an animated show. This book gave an idea of all the ways people earn income. That was interesting, but I hope that there‘s deeper information in the following books in the series.
4 ⭐This is exactly what the title implies. This is a “Waldo” type of book, but instead of finding Waldo, you‘re finding various things under the letter of that page. The illustrations are fun and the author illustrator even talks about how while they‘ve left the images black-and-white so the reader could find joy in coloring them. This is well done, and I can see it getting checked out over and over again.
3 ⭐This book is fine. It sets out to do something and it does it. It is a tad bit long, but this isn‘t a “read before bedtime” type of book. This is an informational book about different feelings and how to talk about those feelings with other people. This book serves its purpose.
2 ⭐The team behind this book spent so much time, drafting words about a kid‘s right to happiness, types of happiness, etc. that they didn‘t spend any time on the story. All the front matter should be in the back of the book. This book is heavily loaded front and back with extra material. That extra material is important and serves a place so make this a nonfiction book. The fiction story is severely lacking, and the illustrations feel rudimentary.
4 ⭐ This is a wonderful book that gets into the heart of how emotions work. The book does not shy away from using real scientific words and languages. It also uses a 70‘s style art to help illustrate what‘s going on. It all works together quite well to make not only an educational book but entertaining one as well.
2 ⭐ This story is entirely too long. It feels more like a story that should be told than a story that should be read. The illustrations are lovely, but it‘s a fight to get to the end and the illustrations are not enough to redeem it.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐5 ⭐
This book is sad but lovely. Unfortunately, books like this are needed. It teaches children how to deal with a hole left behind when a friend is no longer there. The illustrations are beautiful, the words rhyme with perfect cadence, and the story while sad has an uplifting message of remembrance.
4 ⭐This is a picture book that does not take itself seriously but takes it‘s topic seriously. We start by meeting a very small dinosaur called Smallasaurus, and all the dinosaurs in this book are purposely not factually named. This is a book about the food cycle and that sometimes people are food. It‘s interesting, but it‘s not the best book. It will have its people that love it, and people like me who are more meh.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐5 ⭐This book will fit perfectly with “Paperback Princess”. We have a knight who is determined to find a dragon to fight. But the knight is a guy does not pay attention. Our knight even finds a damsel in distress. While the night is too braggadocios to realize what‘s going on, the princess is going to save the day. This book was lots of fun. The illustrations are bright, vibrant, colorful, everything a kid wants in a book.
4 ⭐Ding. Norgay was a mountain climber. He started out as a child who just loved to look at Mount Everest and knew that that it was his mountain. He was the Sherpa helping Edward Hilary reach the top of Mount Everest. It took 20 years, but he did it. This is when I think Little People Big dreams is at its best. When it introduces us to people that are not in standard school history books.
4 ⭐This book is lovely. It‘s exactly what you expect from the title. It is the narrator telling you how all people are the same but different. I really enjoy the illustrations. They‘re all lively, they‘re realistic, but at the same time soft and illustrated. All together it just works. The book is a little long and heavily repetitive but still a great example of the type of story it is.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐5 ⭐This story could be a Pixar short and have everybody in the theater crying. It needs a different cover, and it ends abruptly at the last page. But overall, this is an amazing work of quiet imagination. Of a child‘s nighttime theory becoming an adventure of a lifetime. This story is wonderful and deserves a chance to flourish.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐5 ⭐ This book was lots of fun. It feels, and looks like it was written by a child, but reads like it was written by an adult who knows how to tell a story. Put those two things together in this is a magically wonderful read. Taking it a step further, the author made this a “choose your own adventure” type of book and it all works together incredibly well.
2 ⭐ The author puts their bio at the front of the book, and I wish they wouldn‘t. It mentions their writing accolades makes it more depressing when the book isn‘t that great. In this book Gracie is a puppy with a new litter looking to attract her new home. The story is stilted in many places, and then ends abruptly. It doesn‘t have any flow. The illustrations are interesting but look like something someone would do for a school project.
4 ⭐This is a fun and educational book about a young girl and her dyslexia. She must talk herself into asking for help and then getting the help that she and her “Lexi” need. This is a great book to help others understand dyslexia at a young age.
4 ⭐ This book is fun and it‘s about the gross substances in one‘s body. The illustrations are fun, but I do wish the cover was punched up a little bit more. This book is interesting entertaining and kids will really like it, but without a more engrossing cover kids will never pick it up.
⭐2 This book is both an exploration and a history lesson of reality TV. It‘s seen through the eyes of a character who loves and wants to be part of reality TV. Unfortunately, the obnoxious lesson and the comparing of reality TV to fine art was heavy, handed, and boring. Therefore, this is a DNF
2 ⭐The best thing I can say for this graphic novel is that the illustrations are amazing. It has that kitsch 1950s feeling with a modern twist. The story is a 1950s spy/space tail with comedic overtones and aliens. The people who wrote this have included heavy German accents, and it is hard to keep track of the plot and what is going on. And while the illustrations are amazing, whoever chose to letter the red words top of black bubbles are
4 ⭐ For a book I could never get into, I surely do love the graphic novels. At the end of the last book Catherine went home because her dad had medical issues. She‘s down on herself after seeing Levi kiss another girl and she does not want to go back to school. But her dad is smart and won‘t let his issues get in her way. This book is both about Levi and Catherine but also the Simon/Snow fanfiction that she writes.
4 ⭐ This book was great. Are you up with the Beach Boys and Good Vibrations? That song played in my head the entire time I was reading this. As an adult, I found myself talking about good vibes: Bad vibes, good vibes, and vibes others give off, but what exactly are vibes? This book attempts to explain that in a way that children can understand, and it does a fantastic job. It takes a feeling of energy and gives it a definition and an
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐5 ⭐Wow. This book is simply lovely. It‘s about a kid who is afraid but finds a way to conquer their fears and shine. The story is fantastic, but the artwork knocks this book into the next level. The artwork is very different than seen nowadays. At the same time, it has a classic feeling of old-time picture books: like the Little Funny Woman or Story A Story, or even a Fool in the Flying Ship.
3 ⭐I would not consider this a first book of dinosaurs.r, this is more like a second-grade nonfiction book. The layout is not my favorite. The cover is better than the pages. The information is good and there are a lot of different dinosaurs then normally seen in these types of books. While this was a nice book and kids will love it, I thought it was just meh.
4 ⭐ This book is depressingly happy. It is about a little puppy Holly who is adopted at Christmas and as they get older and the parents realize that Holly is a pit-bull and not whatever they thought they were getting, they leave her on the side of the street abandoned. Holly just wants to make friends and have a human in her life, but no one will let her because she‘s a pit-bull and Pitbull‘s are deemed dangerous.
4 ⭐Like most Happy Yak books, this is a call and response book. This time is a Monster who‘s ready to sleep under the bed, but the reader is supposed to want him to sleep on the bed. While I did enjoy this book, I don‘t think that the reader will always give the answer, the narrator is expecting. It‘s because of this I don‘t think this book is as successful as other Happy Yak books. It is still a fun read, and the illustrations are perfect.
3 ⭐This book is just like the many many others in its series. The illustrations are soft and adorable, and the story is just telling you all the good things about having a grandson. One of the things that annoys me about this book is, it‘s always four lines per stanza first three lines rhyme, and the last one doesn‘t. It annoys me and takes the enjoyment away from this otherwise lovely book.
3 ⭐ This book is typical of the series. The illustrations are fun and eye catching. The rhymes are not bad, but can be harsh at times. For people who love this series this is another book that will be in demand at the Library counter.
4 ⭐A young girl has a school assignment to find five words that describe themselves. What I like about this book is that the girl is bilingual and comes from a bilingual family, and the book waits to explain some of the words until the glossary at the end. Most of them can be figured out with story context or illustrated clues, but I love how this has been done. I also love how this book shows that just because you get down
2 ⭐This book is overly long. Plus, it‘s gendered when it doesn‘t need to be. Normally you would see little purple tractor and think maybe the tractor was the girl but the author heavily uses he pronouns. Since we are talking about tractors, and except for saying mom and dad, they never gendered anything else. There‘s no reason for them to gender the tractors. It could‘ve been big red, big, yellow, big green, little purple.
3 ⭐The best word for this book is interesting. The story is hard to describe. It‘s basically where a fungus would be or how would it look in various types of environments, locations, or places. When I read this book, it makes me think of Fungus horrors like “The Last of Us“, where a fungus takes over the world and destroys all humanity. It‘s not the purpose of this book, but it‘s what comes to mine. I found the info at the back of the book way
3 ⭐This book was very interesting, a little sad, and a true story. It is about a young, immigrant girl, who stopped speaking. Particularly she stop speaking English. She sees how hard her mother has it trying to learn English and get around in an English world , when she doesn‘t speak English. And her little act of rebellion of not speaking English lasted for decades. This book doesn‘t have a happy ending, and it doesn‘t tell you how to stop
2.5 ⭐Usually, I like these yoga books, but this is one of a few exceptions. First off, the story is overly long. It was about self-love, finding your calm, learning to breathe, all the stuff you expect from a yoga story. However, it took so long to get there, and then the conclusion while nice was a quick wrap up. As always the illustrations in these books are phenomenal but I would pick this up because I liked the other books
4 ⭐This is the type of biography for children that I wish “Little People Big World“ would write. This book happens to be about Minda Dentler. She was the first disabled woman to compete and win an Iron Man world championship. This story starts with how Minda lost the use of her legs, which was polio, and how she was adopted and came to the states, and how her parents always told her she could do anything as long as she could figure it out.
4 ⭐ This book was odd, but enjoyable. It‘s set up as a graphic novel of a news report by a very stupid sea creature. A star is out on the beach, trying to find the geoduck. But doesn‘t know what a geoduck does. A crab comes along, and it‘s trying to help the sea star, but the sea star takes everything the wrong way. So the crab has to educate the sea star and the news reporter on what a geoduck is, and where to find them.
2 ⭐ This is exactly what you expect from the title. It takes place in Tokyo, and a man is pregnant. Not a trans man, a biological man. It starts by telling you that genetics has changed and for the past 10 years men have been able to get pregnant. Our main character is single and has become pregnant and we as the readers see their pregnancy in context of society. This pregnant man is treated almost as if he was a pregnant teenager in the US.
2 ⭐This book is just sad. I cannot finish it. It‘s a memoir of a woman who is constantly wanting to run away from home, but has return home when her mother with dementia falls ill. She has to do what she can to take care of her mom while laminating her brother‘s death and her sisters indifference. These two can‘t get along. Most of this book at the halfway point has been how she feels about her mom and a little bit about her mom‘s history,
4 ⭐ This book was fun and informative. It introduces children to the art of henna, and why it‘s done. A little girl joining her first henna party and picking the names to have hidden in her art. The story was lovely and the illustrations are amazing. There‘s nothing like a little education with your entertainment. This book would be great for Library events where they having an henna artist or to look at various South Asian cultures.