Once again, the long time between reading the first book in the series and the sequel had a negative impact on my experience with the book. I will say, however, that I did remember quite a lot from the first book. I just lacked a more immediate connection to the characters and the ongoing plot. I think that Suri set up a really intriguing world and has continued to build on that world and expand it in this second installment in the trilogy. However,
due to my lack of engagement with the characters, and with the macro plot, the book failed to keep me interested enough in the series to go out and pick up the conclusion to the trilogy.
This book is an absolutely incredible study of an indictment of modern evangelicalism, and how that has led so catastrophically to the situation in which Christian nationalism appears to be taking over and destroying from the inside the American government. Many things that Alberta described in this book are far too familiar with my own background and experiences. This familiarity also helped me understand a lot of the points that Alberta
made in this outstanding work. I also gained an even higher appreciation of Rachael Denhollander and her continued work to advocate for victims and against systems of patriarchy. I recommend this book in incredibly highly.
This middle grade graphic novel is, unfortunately, one that I will not recommend. I also will not advise against reading this, but it will definitely not be a go to in my recommendations for my students. The main character, named serendipity, appears to have everything going for her until she accidentally damages a carnival fortunetelling machine. Then everything seems to go against her. One would think that this would be a learning
lesson for serendipity, especially as the author set it up that way, but, in my opinion, serendipity learns pretty much nothing. Thus, I do not recommend this book.
I have read so many books this month and especially over spring break, like this one, that some of them start to blend together. Surprisingly, at least two of the books that I read within about a day of each other involved an octopus and the main character, caring for said octopus as a significant part of the plot. Thus, I struggle to remember a lot of details for this book specifically. By that I mean, that the details I remember, I am unable to say whether they apply to this book or the other
book that I read that involved octopuses. I do remember, however, that this feature featured a character going into fifth grade. As this book is likely intended for middle grade readers, or at least that’s the reason that I picked up the book, I think that this book, unfortunately, is a bit of a miss. Most middle grade readers, even if they are close in age. Do not really want to look back at elementary school events. They would much rather look forward to high school school.
I think that if this author had picked either the modern day storyline or the historical storyline and flushed them out, that this book would have worked a lot better. I understand why the author included the historical timeline because of the connection two events happening in the life of the main character in the modern day storyline. However, the stories did not feel like they really went to get there in a significant way, which made the
plot jarring as it flipped between these two stories.
I have to be honest and a bit that I was not as awake as I probably should have been while reading this book. Thus, I likely missed many of the details. However, what little I do remember of this book did not capture my attention or hold it enough in a way to wake me up a bit. It takes a lot for a World War II book to do that for me.
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