Book Reviews #4 – 2021

You Don’t Want a Dragon! written by Ame Dychman, illustrated by Liz Climo

I wanted this to be as cute as the first book, You Don’t Want a Unicorn, as I usually love Ame Dyckman’s books. However the book fell flat with the exception of the “this is where charcoal comes from” bit, as my son was amused by the poop joke and we both liked the image of a dragon scooting across the floor like a dog. The basic premise of this book is that the boy finds out that mythical creatures do not make good pets, and it is much easier to have a normal pet like a hamster, but watch out if they accidentally ingest some unicorn poop, then the fun happens. Recommended for ages 4-8, 3 stars.

Horrible Bear! written by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Zachariah O’Hora

*Originally read 5/16/16, re-read 2/13/21. The author/illustrator of Wolfie the Bunny are back with another cute book. A young girl manages to crash land her kite in a bear’s cave, where he promptly rolls over on it in his sleep. She thinks he is a “Horrible Bear!” and loudly proclaims this, while being really mad and stomps all the way back home. Meanwhile the bear wakes up to discover the kite and is upset that she would think that, and becomes angry himself and plans on showing her a piece of his mind. Once the girl arrives at home, she realizes that she acted rashly and she meets bear and apologizes, as does he. Now they are friends. Wolfie and Dot from the previous book make an appearance as a bat and a stuffed animal. I love O’Hora’s brightly colored bold illustrations, esp the girl’s red curly hair! Recommended for ages 3-6, 4 stars.

Evolving Vegan: Deliciously Diverse Recipes from North America’s Best Plant-Based Eateries – for Anyone Who Loves Food by Mena Massoud

I’m always on the lookout for good plant-based dishes, and figured this one which highlights some of the best vegan/vegetarian restaurants on the East and West Coasts was a good place to start. The cookbook also has some of the author’s personal recipes as well as those of his mother, but nearly all of them seem easy enough to make at home with one or two exceptions. It featured some seriously tasty-looking recipes for Breakfast Wraps with Scrambled Tofu, “Crab” Cakes, Blueberry Muffins, Banana Caramel for Pancakes/Waffles, Tokyo Turnips (this is not a vegetable I have tried, so interested in trying out a new thing), Chick’in Schnitzel, “Meatballs” and Pasta, and Bamya (Okra Stew) from the author’s Egyptian mother’s kitchen. I’m also super curious about the No-Bake Maple Pecan Pie and if the Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownies are any good. Highly recommended, 5 stars.

The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2) by Rick Riordan

*Originally read 12/6/11, re-read/re-listened to 2/17/21. I have been waiting for months to get my hands on this book, and I finally got this past weekend. I had no idea it was a book about Percy Jackson, though the title should’ve given me a clue. It was a very quick read, as the story was so interesting, I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.

In this second book in the Heroes of Olympus series, Percy wakes up after being asleep for 8 months and has amnesia. He is discovered by the wolf-goddess Lupus and sent along to the Roman demigod camp, Camp Jupiter. It is here that we meet our other two heroes, Hazel and Frank. I liked that these two were multicultural, African-American and Asian respectively. Percy, Hazel and Frank all end up going on a quest to free Death (called Thanatos, 2nd in charge of the Underworld after Pluto) from the clutches of an evil giant resurrected by his mother Gaea. Will Percy remember who he is and what he has done? Will he be able to save Hazel and Frank? Will they be able to free Death in time to save Camp Jupiter? To find out, check out this action packed adventure by Rick Riordan. Recommended for ages 10+, 5 stars.

Re-reading (or re-listening in this case) with my son Jan 10 – Feb 17, 2021: My son couldn’t wait to start this one after the first book in the series. He thought it was hilarious, and I think this might be his favorite Rick Riordan book so far!

Spring Stinks: A Little Bruce Book written and illustrated by Ryan T. Higgins

I loved this one but wished it was more of an actual story (thank goodness there is another Bruce book coming out soon!). This book is about our grumpy friend Bruce and Ruth, the ever vibrant bunny oh-so-willing and able to show Bruce the smells of Spring. The wet moose smell was hilarious, and the Beeline gag that came next was as well. But this is definitely for toddlers and preschoolers as it ended so quickly. Recommended for ages 2-5, 3-1/2 stars.

InvestiGators: Take the Plunge (InvestiGators #2) by John Patrick Green

My son was so excited to share this with me, as he has been waiting to read it for months (and devoured it in a day or so on his own)! This one was way sillier than the last one. Mango and Brash are back and they are trying to track down Crackerdile, the saltined villain. He sends the combinotron code into a Robot, which turns into a ghost and starts combining people with the last thing they touched, making for some interesting combinations – I’m looking at you Banana Hands! The A team get blamed for Crackerdile’s mischief and end up on actual cleanup duty, while the B team (that’s B for Badgers) gets a crack at it. The InvestiGators end up saving the day and get everyone turned back into their proper selves, but it kind of ends on a cliffhanger. I am curious to see where the next one takes us! Recommended for ages 7-11, 4 stars.

Owls are good at keeping secrets: An unusual alphabet written by Sara O’Leary, illustrated by Jacob Grant

I randomly discovered this one while browsing for holds at my library. I thought the colorful illustrations and the quirky “facts” that went with each letter were adorable, like “quails get tired of being told to be quiet” and the title one “dragons cry at happy endings”. I also loved the foxes loving to take pictures and how that “fact” was used more than once in the illustrations. I think it would be great to use for a storytime. Recommended for ages 3-7, 4 stars.

Dinosaurs are not extinct: Real facts about real dinosaurs written and illustrated by Drew Sheneman

Ok I will admit outright that the majority of the reason why I loved this book was for its illustrations, which were comic-y and hilarious. Plus it’s about dinosaurs. The book drives home the point that despite the dinosaur extinction due to the massive asteroid “the size of Mt. Everest” hitting the Gulf of Mexico at 4o,000 mph, dinosaurs still survive today in the form of the 10,000 species of birds. This was a cute and informative little book and my son and I enjoyed it. Highly recommended for ages 6-10, 5 stars.

Bips and Roses (Zoey and Sassafras #8) written by Asia Citro, illustrated by Marion Lindsay

I discovered this Zoey and Sassafras book by accident at the library while collecting holds, but I’m so glad I did. My son and I love the series and I have been reading it to him for a few years now. I love that the characters are smart and lovely and the main character uses the scientific method to solve magical creature problems. In this volume, Zoey must learn how to save not only the forest roses but also tiny magical creatures named Bips that live on the roses and help them attract baby hippogriffs which need the magical forest roses to survive. The book did a great job talking about symbiotic relationships between the Bips, roses, and hippogriffs, as well as per usual how to use the scientific method to conduct experiments and solve the problem. Zoey has to figure out a way to create more Bips in a short amount of time before the hippogriff eggs hatch? Will she be able to do it in time? To find out, read this adorable addition to the Zoey and Sassafras series! Recommended for ages 5-9, 4 stars.

A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey

Lila Reyes has had a bad year. She lost her grandmother, best friend and boyfriend without a couple of weeks and she is devastated. Her parents don’t know what exactly to do to help her so they send her from Miami to her Venezuelan aunt’s bed and breakfast in Winchester, England to recoup for the summer. She’s decides to help at the inn’s kitchen and only gets told off by the cook. She quickly is introduced to Orion Maxwell, whose father owns the local tea shop, and is determined to cheer her up. So he becomes her friend and personal tour guide around Winchester and England. Orion’s got issues of his own to sort out, namely an out-of-control younger sister and a mom in an assisted living facility with dementia. And despite Lila not wanting to be in England at first and longing to get back home to her family and ex-boyfriend, she comes to enjoy the simple pleasures of the English countryside and its attractions. She begins to wonder if things could be different for her in her future. Will she go back home to Cuban Miami and be with her family? Or will she chose a different path? To find out, read this charming semi-romance about starting again. Overall I really enjoyed the storyline and all the Cuban food made me crave it so bad that I will definitely be finding some in the future. Recommended for ages 13+, 4 stars.

Book Review #3 – 2021

Helga Makes a Name for Herself written by Megan Maynor, illustrated by Eda Kaban

I thought this book had moxie, from the quick glance at it while looking for holds the other day at the library, so I decided to give it a try. It was an adorable story about a Viking girl named Helga, who dreams of being a Viking Warrior with her pet wolverine Wolfie, even though as her parents say she’s “just a farmer’s daughter.” But she is not letting anyone or anything stand in her way, so when she hears that famous Viking maiden Ingrid is hiring new warriors for her crew, she runs away to try out. And she does really bad, but she is so enthusiastic that Ingrid hires her and calls her “Helga the Howler” and they go on many adventures together and afterwards Helga gets her own ship and has them on her own. I like the girl power aspect and despite the fact that she wasn’t the best candidate, she still did her best. Recommended for ages 5-10, 4 stars.

Anonymous Noise Vol 18 written and illustrated by Ryoko Fukuyama

Goodreads synopsis: “Nino Arisugawa, a girl who loves to sing, experiences her first heart-wrenching goodbye when her beloved childhood friend, Momo, moves away. And after Nino befriends Yuzu, a music composer, she experiences another sad parting! Luckily, Nino reunites with Momo and Yuzu in high school, but things haven’t played out the way anyone expected…With Yuzu back in Japan, In No Hurry’s yearlong hiatus is over! As the band sets out with excitement and trepidation to perform on Rock Horizon’s largest stage, how will Yuzu reconcile his past with his present? There’s no turning back once everyone’s secrets are laid bare!”

This ending was so disappointing. I mean I’m glad the band got back together and managed to do a concert at the summer music festival and play on the giant main stage finally, which took up about half of the manga getting through that, but I am unhappy that Nino choses Momo to end up with (I frankly didn’t think he was worth her time, despite my love of meganes (glasses-wearing anime characters) and the fact he reminded me of my favorite one from OHSHC – Ouran High School Host Club – Kyoyo Ootori) and Yuzu to do music with forever. I mean they end up close friends but Yuzu needed her and was actually in love with her, whereas I was never sure if Momo actually was past when he was a little kid. Recommended for ages 14+, 3 stars.

Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of Ancient Myths by Helen Morales

I originally got this book to read on the side of the book I was going to pick for book club, as we were talking about social justice and I wanted to focus on women. But I started reading it and liked it so much I’m using it for book club instead. The book is about how ancient Greek and Roman mythology, stories, plays, and books have influenced how America specifically reacts to women, i.e. by subjecting them to things like dress codes, blaming them for their own rapes/murders and the fact that men can’t stop themselves, and gay/trans people in general. The plus side to all of this is how modern writers are taking ancient source material and using it to their advantage to create something new, i.e. using the story of Antigone to create “Antigone in Ferguson” to talk about police violence and shooting of African Americans or Sara Uribe’s “Antigona Gonzalez” to talk about Mexican immigration, or even The Odyssey Project to introduce lower income students to the possibility of going to college. I liked that the book was a combination of modern issues and Greek mythology and stories. Highly recommended, 5 stars.

Set during the Communist scares of the 1950s in San Francisco, seventeen year old Lily Hu is a timid Chinese girl whose life was going much the same way it had always done until she discovers a picture of a male impersonator named Tommy Andrews performing a place called the Telegraph Club in her local newspaper. Something stirs inside of her and she begins to question herself and what she wants in life. Lily must contend with FBI agents threatening to deport her father and taking away his passport for not giving up a fellow Chinese man who may or may not have been a Communist. Lily ends up going to the club with an acquaintance from school named Kathleen, who soon becomes something more, even though at first Lily is not sure what that is or means. By the end of the book, she is more sure about who she is, how she identifies, and who her real family is.

Well this was an intriguing book, especially for one that came about from a short story Lo did for the “All Out” anthology. I thought the book was really well-written, and was very thoroughly researched, as you find out if you read the author’s note in the back and she talks further about things like the Chinese in America, the 1950s, and Lesbians, Gender, and Community. Malinda Lo also had an extensive bibliography in the back for people that were interested, which I always appreciate. I did like it that Bill Konigsberg gave it kudos on the back of the book (and I really loved his book “The Music of What Happens”) and this novel does give an excellent portrayal of the blooming of first love.

I normally really like slow burn stories but this one was just too slow. Literally nothing, not even hand holding, happened for over thirty chapters (with some super tiny text). And yes I get that it’s set in the 1950s and it was totally illegal, but not even when they were alone did anything happen. Even after affection happened between the two girls, the story was still insanely slow pretty much up to the very end. And there was an epilogue but even that was a bit unsatisfying as it is so open-ended. As another Goodreads reviewer named Adri on Jan 30, 2021 has said there are some trigger warnings: “Some exploration of racism, deportation, xenophobia, homophobia, underage drinking, some graphic sex, brief mention of miscarriage, some use of outdated racial and social epithets (relevant to time period), some exploration of familial estrangement and disownment.” Overall, I really liked the book. Recommended for ages 14+, 4 stars.

The Duke and I (The Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably heard of the Netflix show “Bridgerton”. And if not, here is a brief summary. Daphne Bridgerton is the fourth oldest of the eight children of Vicountess Violet Bridgerton. And she is very eager to marry her eldest daughter off to an eligible bachelor. This, however, is a problem for Daphne because though she is friends with a lot of the men, she has not accepted a decent proposal yet. Simon Basset, the newly returned Duke of Hastings, is not prepared for the London Season and the horde of mothers trying to offload their daughters onto him. He proposes a fake courtship with Daphne after meeting her and being charmed by her, that will attract the right sort of man for her and free him from meddlesome mothers. Only their feelings get in the way, and they begin to be attracted to each other. Where the book differs from the show, is that the make out session in the garden happens a lot earlier in the book and Anthony, Daphne’s eldest brother and ever the valiant protector, threatens a duel and Daphne realizes she loves him and they get married. Then the fun starts. I saw the Bridgerton show first and then decided to check out the book to better flesh out the characters, which it definitely did (especially Simon). The author really gave the background for exactly why Simon hates his father and doesn’t want kids. I did like how much influence Daphne actually had on him to change his mind. If you don’t want spoilers on Daphne’s continuing story in the second epilogue, don’t read it as it does tell about certain other characters and who gets married to whom! But I found it fascinating to know what happened next to them. 4 stars.

The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal (The Adventure Zone #3) written by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Travis McElroy; illustrated by Carey Pietsch

If you have no idea what The Adventure Zone is, you’re missing out. The awesomely hilarious group of graphic novels are based off a comedy D&D podcast led by Clint McElroy and his sons Griffin, Justin, and Travis documenting their gaming campaigns. I’ve not listened to the podcasts, but the graphic novels are definitely five stars!

The first one, Here There Be Gerblins follows the incredibly crazy adventures of the fabulous Taako elf wizard extraordinaire, Merle the gruff dwarf cleric, and the overeager Magnus the human warrior as they go from simple guards to an otherworldly experience as artifact hunters. The story was very adult with a healthy sprinkling of cursing and some things proceed about as well as you think they would, aka very badly.

The second one, Murder on the Rockport Limited, continues the story of the three reluctantly recruited and slightly inept relic hunters. The Goodreads synopsis says that they “wildly careen through a D&D railroad murder mystery. This installment has a little of everything: a genius child detective, an axe-wielding professional wrestler, a surly wizard, cursed magical artifacts, and a pair of meat monsters. You know, the usual things you find on a train.” This one was just as funny as the first one, maybe even more so, as the characters have had more of a chance to develop and are more comfortable in their own skin. My favorite character was Jess the female dwarf wrestler.

Petals to the Metal have Taako, Merle, and Magnus going to a Fantasy Convention at the beginning of the comic, which kind of cracked me up as Taako dresses up as Ross from “Friends”, Magnus dresses up as Taako, Merle is Ursula the Sea Witch from “The Little Mermaid”! The chief sends the boys searching for an artifact called the Gaia sash and gives its wearer control over nature. They must take it from a female thief named the Raven, but have their butts handed to them the first time they meet her. They pair up with Hurley, a female halfling who teaches them how to basically do illegal street racing so they can beat the Raven, aka Sloane and Hurley’s former girlfriend before she went all mad with power. There were a couple details that cracked me up that made the graphic novel a bit more special/nerdy, like Merle “Barry White-ing” the vines so that they open a building up for him, all three of the guys singing “Greased Lightning” getting ready for the big race, the introductions for the magical and non-magical items, Griffin the Game Master’s commentary, and Garyl the spirit steed – esp his interactions with Gnash, the Bugbear. Once again, a 5 star book from the McElroys!