I should have realized from the description that this would not be the book for me. While I appreciated the glimpses Sepetys provided into her own life and her writing process, I ended up skipping all of the sections with writing prompts and challenges. I think that these prompts and challenges are well written but I’m the wrong audience for the book.
Although my first experience with Sumner’s works made me think that I could possibly add her to a list of middle grade authors to follow and perhaps read their backlist, this third book has tempered that possibility. I disliked this one the most of the three that I have read, finding it full of average prose and – in my opinion – an unbelievable schooling situation that the main character finds himself in. I will likely not pick up more from
Sumner unless another of her words is on a list that I have to or choose to read through.
I picked up this book after seeing it on my StoryGraph TBR. I wish I had written this review sooner so that I could remember more details. Wilson-Hartgrove wrote a concise, hard-hitting look at the Gospel, at how so much of Christianity has been manipulated by the patriarchy and white supremacy. I hate how this lesson is needed so much, especially now.
This book felt only a step above average. The main character deals with the separation of her parents as her dad attempts to get a career in comedy going, much to the disdain of his soon to be former mother in law. She, the main character, also has undiagnosed OCD although I think Gurevich dropped the ball a bit on the attempt at a diagnosis. I probably will not pursue other books by this author.
I had no idea that this egregious miscarriage of justice occurred. This black battalion found themselves stationed in Jim Crow Texas in the lead up to US soldiers deploying to Europe to fight in WWI. A domino of events led to the rumors of a white mob coming to attack the soldiers and several attempting to protect themselves only to find themselves court-martialed for insurrection (with several executed) despite the fact that
not only did no one know for sure who participated but also the fact that no insurrection occurred. Haymond handled this story with care and dedication, bringing his personal experience and expertise to the narrative and thus creating a stark, no-nonsense accusation of the so-called military justice system. I highly recommend this book.
I loved Bowling’s exploration of a main character with Tourette’s syndrome. She handled this with tremendous care. I do not remember the main character’s connection to the main character from a previous book which I have read. This book can stand on its own. This main character has to deal with the reappearance of this dad in his life, something he’s reluctant to do because he internalized his father’s previous actions
towards him as well as his decision to leave to have come from the fact that his dad always just wanted to fix the main character. (That sentence was far too complicated.) This book is well done and I will definitely continue to read from Bowling.