Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux

The Christmas Book Flood by Emily Kilgore | Children’s Picture Book Review

Posted December 5, 2022 by Jana in Children's Book Review / 2 Comments

The Christmas Book Flood by Emily Kilgore
Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux on November 1, 2022
Genres: Holiday - Christmas
Pages: 40
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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This lovely and lyrical picture book, based on a real Icelandic tradition, brings all the sparkle and anticipation of Christmas--and of the joys of reading--to the page.

The northern lights dance,
snow blankets the ground,
it's the Christmas season--so the Book Flood begins!

People plan and they dream,
and they visit the shops
for books to give loved ones, and families, and friends.

And when Christmas Eve comes,
they'll share magical stories,
curl up by the fire, and read, read, read, read...

With gorgeous artwork and a diverse cast of characters, Emily Kilgore and Kitty Moss's The Christmas Book Flood is a surefire holiday classic.

It’s been quite some time since I reviewed a children’s picture book here on the blog, but I couldn’t pass this one up when I saw that it centers around one of my favorite Christmas traditions and has absolutely stunning illustrations! The Christmas Book Flood or, Jolabokaflod, is a WWII Icelandic tradition that I’ve always been in love with. Paper was one of the very few things that were not rationed in Iceland during the war, so people gave each other books as gifts for Christmas. It’s become a tradition that bookish people all over the world have grabbed on to themselves. The idea is to give each other books on Christmas Eve and then stay up all night reading with hot chocolate. My friend group and I celebrated this last year and drew names from a hat. Then we mailed each other books and treats. We had planned to do a Christmas Eve Zoom session and read in companionable silence, but some people were not feeling well and some were too busy with family so we ended up not doing that. But it was still so much fun to receive a couple books to read on Christmas Eve. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading in bed by the light of my Christmas tree. So, of course, this picture book was made for me! And I LOVE it.

The book begins in Autumn, and the illustrations are sprinkled with fall leaves and pumpkins. I could feel the crisp, fall air. The anticipation of the Christmas Book Flood is palpable and the people walk along the dirt streets in their sweaters by the light of the Norther Light dancing overhead. Then the tradition is explained. The book says that “reading is magic–when you have the right book.” I couldn’t agree more! The books explains how much thought people put into selecting books for their loved ones, which I thought was so sweet. I turned the page to a cozy little village street speckled with bookshops and snowflakes, and my smile grew even larger than it was before. I could hear the crunch of the snow as the people on the pages walk past twinkling lights with their packages in tow after a long day of shopping.

How beautiful is this illustration? I’d love to visit this magical bookshop. The illustrations show a cute little girl searching for the right book, when she finally finds one just in time! Her joy is exquisite, and the page turns to reveal a magical scene from inside her imagination. Hot air balloons, a castle, and a sea monster fill the page. Then we turn the page again to reveal a family opening their gifts together and eating festive baked goods. “They pore over treasures and marvel together: new worlds and adventures, etched across pages bound between covers.” What a pretty line. I was delighted to see how this family celebrates together. They pile the floor by the Christmas tree with pillows and blankets and read together. Even their pets have books! Those who can’t read are perched on the laps of those who read to them instead.

This book is beautiful and festive oh, so cozy! The illustrations are full of color and texture, the writing is just lovely, and the love and happiness found within the pages absolutely drips right off of them. I was immersed in this cute little Icelandic town and could practically hear the voices of the townspeople deliberating over their book choices. Upon closing the book I immediately pre-ordered a copy for my personal collection as well as my mom’s. I highly recommend this book to anyone, old or young, who enjoys books and Christmas! And if you choose to celebrate Christmas this year with your own Christmas Book Flood, this would be a beautiful choice to give your loved one, maybe paired with a cute mug and some hot chocolate! Make room for The Christmas Book Flood next to Clement C. Moore’s Twas the Night Before Christmas on your yearly Christmas Eve bedtime story line-up!

All Summer Long by Hope Larson | Graphic Novel Review

Posted June 28, 2018 by Jana in Book Review, Graphic Novel, Middle Grade / 1 Comment

All Summer Long by Hope Larson
Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux on May 1, 2018
Genres: Realistic Fiction
Pages: 176
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher (Mail)
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A coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel about summer and friendships, written and illustrated by the Eisner Award–winning and New York Times–bestselling Hope Larson.

Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he's off to soccer camp for a month, and he's been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it's up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own. At first it's a lot of guitar playing, boredom, and bad TV, but things look up when she finds an unlikely companion in Austin's older sister, who enjoys music just as much as Bina. But then Austin comes home from camp, and he's acting even weirder than when he left. How Bina and Austin rise above their growing pains and reestablish their friendship and respect for their differences makes for a touching and funny coming-of-age story.

I’ve started developing interest in graphic novels over the last few years, which was a major surprise to me because I’ve always overlooked them. More and more have been trickling in from various publishers, and I’m really seeing the graphic novel format take off, especially for younger readers. I thought All Summer Long sounded like a fun, light read and was excited to dig in. Sadly, there just wasn’t enough substance for me and it felt much younger than I would have liked.

I enjoy coming-of-age stories, but I don’t feel like All Summer Long was a good example of one. I suppose the characters go through some changes, but they felt more like normal kid changes than coming-of-age. When a story is described as a “coming-of-age story”, you expect some major growth. Bina is 13, and she’s spending her summer alone while her best friend, Austin, is at summer camp. She spends the summer playing/listening to music, and hanging out with Austin’s older sister. She gets to babysit and go to a concert and deal with all the normal kid drama: fights, heightened emotions, and overreactions. At the end, she seemed to be pretty much the same person she was in the beginning. The story was very, very simple and the characters seemed like cardboard cutouts. There just wasn’t anything grabbing me and sucking me in.

I know I’m the wrong demographic, but I work with kids who are about this age. Actually, my kids are about a year younger and they don’t talk like these characters. They don’t use the word “bae” or say “like” every other word. I feel like the author tried to write for tweens and young teens, but without a real understanding of what those kids are like today. These kids seemed younger than mine until they said “bae”, which people my age (late 20’s, early 30’s) were already saying when these kids were toddlers. It just felt really unrealistic to me.

The illustrations were fun, but too stylized for me. The proportions were off and there were inconsistencies in the looks of the characters from page to page. Sometimes I had a hard time telling some of the secondary characters apart. It was easy to read and the boxes flowed in a nice way. I rarely read sections out of order because I didn’t know which box came first, which has happened to me in other graphic novels I’ve read.

All in all, this one just didn’t work for me. I shut the book and immediately wrote my review because I’m not even sure I’ll be able to remember it. I would choose to recommend other graphic novels over this one.

A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody | Book Review

Posted August 9, 2016 by Jana in Blog Tour, Book Review, Young Adult Fiction / 1 Comment

A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody
Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux on August 2, 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 464
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher (Mail)
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When I made the wish, I just wanted a do-over. Another chance to make things right. I never, in a million years, thought it might actually come true...

Sixteen-year-old Ellison Sparks is having a serious case of the Mondays. She gets a ticket for running a red light, she manages to take the world’s worst school picture, she bombs softball try-outs and her class election speech (note to self: never trust a cheerleader when she swears there are no nuts in her bake-sale banana bread), and to top it all off, Tristan, her gorgeous rocker boyfriend suddenly dumps her. For no good reason!

As far as Mondays go, it doesn’t get much worse than this. And Ellie is positive that if she could just do it all over again, she would get it right. So when she wakes up the next morning to find she’s reliving the exact same day, she knows what she has to do: stop her boyfriend from breaking up with her. But it seems no matter how many do-overs she gets or how hard Ellie tries to repair her relationship, Tristan always seems bent set on ending it. Will Ellie ever figure out how to fix this broken day? Or will she be stuck in this nightmare of a Monday forever?

From the author 52 Reasons to Hate My Father and The Unremembered trilogy comes a hilarious and heartwarming story about second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances. Because sometimes it takes a whole week of Mondays to figure out what you really want.

I have been having a really hard time with contemporary YA novels right now, which has been so sad for me because I have always loved them so much. Am I getting too old for these books, or am I just reading the wrong ones? I’m happy to tell you that I’ve been reading the wrong ones! A Week of Mondays was so cute and so sweet and so swoony that I’ve decided I can continue reading contemporary YA! Phew! As always, my main points are bolded. :)

1. I loved watching Ellie relive her Monday over and over again because I got to see her directly learn from her mistakes. She got to develop and change and discover herself (she even went through a rebellious phase). Honestly, I think we could all benefit from going through something like this.

2. I loved the relationships. I loved Ellie’s friendship with Owen and with her sister. Both relationships are true and tug at the heartstrings. Her sister relationship actually reminds me of the relationship my own little sister and I have.

I so wish I had someone like Owen in my life. They grew up sneaking into each other’s rooms having sleepovers and being camp counselors together every summer. Now they watch law dramas on TV and use courtroom jargon in every day conversations. They remind me of Zack and Jessie from Saved By the Bell, but cuter.

I even enjoyed the exchanges between Ellie and her parents, and the ebb and flow of their coexistence and support of one another.

3. Ellie reminds me so much of my teenaged self: a bit of a perfectionist, someone who bites off more than they can chew, a people pleaser, a worrier, and a hopeless romantic. I loved watching her think through all the possibilities of who she could be, and ultimately how she could be the truest to herself. I loved her inner thoughts and her sense of humor. She’s just such a sweet, down to earth heroine and I really loved her.

4. Oh my goodness, Owen is my new favorite book boy. He is hilarious! He’s got this obsession with using British slang even though he’s not at all British (Codswallop! My new favorite word!). He also loves fortune cookies and hosts the school’s book club. He’s so funny and nerdy and sweet. I love how he unconditionally cares for Ellie (even if he’s having a bad day), and the fact that every time she explains to him that she’s reliving the same day he believes her and even helps her figure things out. He’s just so perfect!

5. As much as I wanted to hate Tristan, I actually liked him for a long time until a Monday showed us how shallow he is. I loved the story of how he and Ellie met, and had fun reading pieces of that at the end of each Monday’s section of the book. I think this goes to show how great Jessica Brody is at writing sweet, magical romances. Don’t worry, though, I’m forever and always team Owen.

6. The romance is adorable. I don’t want to go into this point too much because I’ll spoil things, but young love is so wonderful and new and exciting.

7. This book is funny! Ellie’s thoughts, Owen’s quirks, and other little snippets of teen life just made me giggle and wax nostalgic. I hated being a teenager and, in retrospect, high school was pretty sucky. Most of my friendships were not true friendships and I can see now how much I was taken advantage of by people I thought cared about me. Jessica Brody’s imagination and writing have made me wish I could be a teen again! WHAT!? I wish my high school years were filled with the kind of memories Ellie will have at my age.

8. At times I got slightly tired of reading some of the same passages multiple times, but now that I’m done with the book I don’t even care. I loved reading it!

All in all, A Week of Mondays was just what I needed right now. I loved seeing such sweet relationships, such funny moments, and such great character development. It was a joyous reading experience for me, and I’m so glad I didn’t let my lukewarm feelings about contemporary YA steer me away from this sweet and heartwarming story. I highly recommend this book!

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel | Mini Book Review

Posted October 2, 2014 by Jana in Book Review, Young Adult Fiction / 4 Comments

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux on May 13, 2014
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Retelling
Pages: 248
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher (Mail)
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A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete's nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up--and the troubled beauty trapped between them.

I was very excited for a Peter Pan retelling, as I’ve never read one before and Peter Pan has always been one of my favorite fairy tales. This book and I were not on the same “page”, though. The book’s synopsis mentions magic, but I guess I was hoping for more. Maybe you just can’t expect magic in a contemporary retelling, but a girl can hope. I went through a roller coaster of opinions, but I ended up unhappy. This review is actually very hard to write, so let’s see how it goes.

I was very intrigued by Wendy’s search for her surfer brothers who went missing in a surfing accident, and was looking forward to a bit of a mystery. Sadly, though, this whole aspect of the story ended up being rather lack luster, and such a tiny part of the focus. Readers aren’t even given the opportunity to solve this mystery. Wendy’s search leads her to a cove of “lost boys” who live in abandoned condos and spend their days surfing. I’ve never been the biggest fan of surfer dudes, so the fact that these ones have never grown up made me even more disenchanted. I did like the cove setting, but I never fell for these boys. They were terrible influences on Wendy, and got her involved in things she really should not have been doing, like drugs and vandalism. I liked Pete at first, but he just got weird. Peter Pan is immature in the Disney movie I watched over and over as a child, but his immaturity in this book made me really dislike him after a while. And Jas… meh. He wasn’t as dynamic as he could have been, considering he was meant to be the bad guy.

Oh, the insta-love. Again, I wanted a Peter Pan-esque tale, and Wendy and Peter are not supposed to fall in love in my mind. It would invalidate Peter’s desire to never grow up. In this book, though, Wendy and Pete make out a lot… immediately (even though he has a girlfriend…). And it just felt kind of icky because this is not supposed to happen (Wendy is supposed to be a mom figure to Peter and the Lost Boys!), especially so fast! And then there’s this insta-love thing going on with Jas, too. So we’ve got an insta-love love triangle, two things I’m never a fan of.

The ending infuriated me. I seriously felt there was no point in reading the book. I can’t stand it when that happens, and I feel like I wasted my time. Basically, this book was not for me, which has me SO sad. You just can’t make Peter and Wendy fall in love/lust/weird! Clearly, this is a big deal to me that I didn’t realize before. Haha. I think what made me the saddest, though, is that the fairy dust in this story ends up being drugs. I HATE drugs in books, so I was kind of crushed when I learned of this. The magical dust of my childhood was turned into evil drugs that make people do stupid things. Wendy and Peter don’t fly literally, they fly because they are high. The magic was immediately sucked out for me. That, combined with the fact that I didn’t like any of the characters, and the fact that the one part that actually had me excited (the mystery of the missing brothers) was overshadowed just left me disappointed and sad. Retelling a beloved fairy tale is risky and hard, and I feel like this attempt was not successful.

Plus One by Elizabeth Fama | Book Review

Posted March 24, 2014 by Jana in Book Review, Young Adult Fiction / 6 Comments

Plus One by Elizabeth Fama
Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux on April 8, 2014
Genres: Dystopia, Romance, Science Fiction
Pages: 373
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher (Mail)
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Divided by day and night and on the run from authorities, star-crossed young lovers unearth a sinister conspiracy in this compelling romantic thriller.

Seventeen-year-old Soleil Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller prohibited by law from going out during the day. When she fakes an injury in order to get access to and kidnap her newborn niece—a day dweller, or Ray—she sets in motion a fast-paced adventure that will bring her into conflict with the powerful lawmakers who order her world, and draw her together with the boy she was destined to fall in love with, but who is also a Ray.

Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.

Can we just take a second and look at that cover!? HELLO, Lovely! I was super excited to read Plus One as soon as I read the synopsis, and was even MORE excited when I saw the cover! I tend to really love dystopias, and I also love romantic thrillers, which the book’s synopsis claims that this is. I suppose I was thinking of super super thrillery romantic thrillers like Victoria Holt or Daphne Du Maurier, because I was not thrilled with Plus One. As always, my main points are bolded. :)

1. I’m saying this immediately, because it was probably the biggest issue I had with Plus One. It’s not a romantic thriller. It’s not suspenseful, and I didn’t feel like it was terribly romantic either. I mean, I guess there are some more tense moments when you’re wondering how these characters are going to get themselves out of the pickle they’ve gotten themselves into… but I never found myself holding my breath or gripping the edge of my seat. I think I probably just set my expectations too high.

2. Going along with the lack of thrill, I really did not feel the romance either. We’ve got two characters here, a day dweller/Ray named D’Arcy and a a night dweller/Smudge named Sol. Sol’s brother was promoted to a Ray because of his amazing technological skills. He got married, had a baby, and Sol wants nothing more than to let her grandfather, still a Smudge, see his great-grandchild. So she formulates a dangerous plan to kidnap her niece from the hospital and bring him to her grandfather. But she kidnaps the wrong child. D’Arcy, is a medical intern in the hospital who figured out what’s going on, but feels compelled to save/help Sol instead of turn her in to the authorities.

This is where I struggled. WHY would D’Arcy risk his career and his life to help a girl he does not know AT ALL to kidnap a child from his post in the hospital? I mean, any medical professional in their right mind, you would think, is against endangering their patients and allowing them to be harmed. ESPECIALLY if that professional does not even KNOW the person who is breaking the rules/law.

3. In addition to this romance confusion, what aunt will deliberately put her niece in danger to bring her to her blind grandfather? I mean, this baby is brand new! And she is running around on a hot day carrying this baby in her sweatshirt, dodging bullets. She could feel the baby’s sweat on her skin. When she got it home, she put it in a kitchen drawer and then ignored its cries of hunger, pain, discomfort, and what have you. This is horrible! If she loved this niece so much, why would she put it in such grave danger? And I can’t think of a grandfather anywhere who would condone such acts. Did she not care at all about the baby’s parents or the baby itself? This book is centered around a plot that is dependent on the fact that Sol is incredibly dumb and selfish.

4. I wasn’t really a fan of any of the characters, just because they were making such dumb and pointless decisions. And since the romance wasn’t there, I just did not care.

In addition to Sol and D’Arcy, we are introduced to this rogue group of day and night dwellers (basically they’re out whenever they want to be), with extreme clothing and make-up. One of them is being sexually abused, which really bothered me. I really dislike reading about stuff like that. I never connected with any of these people, and the link they shared with Sol and her family bugged me. I’m not sure why. Things just got really political.

5. The world is never really explained. We’ve got a caste system and all these social rules, but I never knew the why’s and the how’s of it all! These details could have enriched the story so much more.

All in all, I pretty much know I am in the minority here. I’ve seen many raving reviews for this book, and I really don’t understand why. I did not believe the romance, and I was so confused by the plot itself. Because of these reasons, I had a hard time caring and even finishing the book, which is quite disappointing.