In an effort to get caught up with reviews, the next few recent reads will focus on my ARC reviews with much simplified reviews going up (on Goodreads and Storygraph) for all the remaining books.
I really wish I could have enjoyed this book more. In fact, I came close to disliking the book. Aesthetically, the artwork is not my favorite. Additionally, I had a difficult time figuring out the actual ability level of the main character in this book, ie was it a reasonable goal that she aimed for to obtain the solo in the showcase at the end of the summer camp. Also, the relationships did not feel adequately explained. Some of the aspects were
endearing, like the childish “armpit farts.” (Yes, I did just say that. No, I would not actually appreciate those. Rather, they made the main character more relatable.) Ultimately, I do not recommend this graphic novel.
This book had an intriguing premise along with the promise of decent representation for the autism spectrum. Unfortunately, this book verged away from the mystery and into fantasy, almost without warning, towards the halfway point which muddles the path of the narrative. The first portion of the book settles heavily into the main character struggling with going to a new school, one supposedly better for her, as well as her predilection for solving ciphers which becomes essential for
the plot. When the fantastical comes up, it feels like a hard right turn that takes the narrative in a direction the stretched the suspension of disbelief too far. I will continue in the series since I have an audio review copy from Libro.fm but likely would not if I did not have that free copy.
While I wish that I had written this review much closer to the time of reading, that does not change the fact that much of the book did not stick long term in my mind. Miller has absolutely beautiful writing. I found myself intrigued from the start. As the book continued I found myself a bit disengaged from the main character but still engaged enough to continue reading to see how Miller would take the main character of the journey
through finding herself between friends and how that changed her. This book was interesting enough but not enough to stand out amongst many other similar plotlines.
I typically appreciate reading memoirs because of the glimpse that they give into the author’s life and the ability to gain empathy for a story not my own, especially for those that have vastly different experiences than my own. Unfortunately, not all memoirs work, like this one. As I read, I kept wondering when I would learn the piece of information that helped it make sense as to why this particular author landed a book deal for her memoir. To be perfectly clear, I fully believe that everyone
deserves to tell their story. My questioning came from a more analytical point of view. Then came the latter portion of the book when the author meets her husband and starts their relationship. She mentions some of the issues with their relationship but glosses them over with a brush making everything okay because they have a perfect love story. TL;DR Her husband was her significantly older boss while she was an intern, currently married and they got married around just a year after he divorced. Yeah. Not cool. At all. Also, the author mentions actions that her mother took against her, her twin, and the other children in the family out of anger, mentioning this abuse in one chapter and moving on, never to really mention it again. Finally, the synopsis shows up no where in the text of the memoir. I do not recommend this book.
Coming on the heels of a memoir that I did not particularly care for, I definitely appreciated this book. I did have a bit of hesitation at the beginning because the author does read the introduction/prologue. As someone with recently developed reading skills, the narration does not flow smoothly, which I understood. That particular cadence does make an audiobook difficult to listen to. After the prologue, a different narrator picks
up the story. As James tells his history of learning to read, his vulnerability in recording that prologue section increases my appreciation for the book. As an English teacher and avid reader who has no memories of learning how to read, I highly appreciate what I learned from this book about just how much this skill affects everything in our lives. I could not recommend this book higher than I already do.
While the age of the protagonist is a bit younger than I typically read (I would categorize this book’s target audience as upper elementary school), I still really appreciate what Jaigirdar did with the story. In the story, Nadia travels to her family’s home in Bangladesh, something she does not look forward to because she had anticipated spending her summer, as well as her first Ramadan fasts with her best friend at home in
the United States. Now she faces the challenge of the oppressive Bangladeshi heat, competition with her cousins about who can fast for the most amount of days, as well as attempting to write a spectacular article so that she can become the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper when she returns to the United States for the start of fifth grade. I love the normal representation of Ramadan, the age appropriate explanations of how Muslims partake in this religious tradition as well as how Jaigirdar uses the typical competitive behavior of children to teach Nadia about the meaning of her religious traditions.
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