Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)
Unbearable Burden by Krista Isaacson is a heartbreaking, heart-wrenching, emotional memoir about the terminal illness and prospect of losing one's child. It's every parent's worst nightmare, and Krista Isaacson bravely details the experiences of her and her family as they confronted it. This book is very detailed and beautifully written at times. That is encapsulated in passages like, “Her words sliced me open, but I had no time to bleed.” There are some issues with it actually being overly detailed and sometimes drawn-out (affecting pacing), but it is a dramatic, tense, and harrowing real-life tale nonetheless. Krista struggles in the final days of her young daughter, Elora, who was not only born with a cancerous tumor, but who suffered multiple strokes. There are a few pictures in here of Elora as well as descriptions, and it really hits hard. Actually, the details and the pictures that occasionally accompany them hit like a bag of bricks. Yet, they're still so beautiful. You really have to be emotionally ready & braced for this book. You can really feel the sorrow and sadness of the participants. The misery seeps out of the pages of the book and grabs you. It's gripping. We don't mean this in a negative sense (necessarily), but it can be miserable. We've read books about the Holocaust, a child with Trisomy-18, various types of abuse, yet for some reason this book seemed to get us down the most. It's almost like a sick feeling—a profound sense of malaise—perhaps the empathy of loss. And perhaps that's the point. You feel a bit of how Krista feels. You experience a bit of what Krista experienced. The weight of finality seems to be one of the most painful thing about this experience. The author, as we would, reflected on every “last” or “final” experience with their child and mourned not remembering every little detail of these experiences. However, there is hope tucked away in this book, primarily in the author's Christian (possibly LDS) faith. Mormonism isn't overbearing or in-your-face, so it needn't deter non-religious readers or readers of different faiths. However, you do pick it up from time to time. For example, the author quotes the book of Alma (from the Book of Mormon) at least once and there are references to locations in Utah, the home of the LDS Church. Ultimately, this faith gives the author and their family hope of resurrection and a reunion with the lost loved one in the afterlife (or heaven). There is the idea of a “last earthly hug” which implies that there will be a spiritual one in the future. This book might serve as an inspirational book or one on coping for those who are suffering through similar experiences. Perhaps you have a terminally ill loved one and are wrestling with many of the same thoughts, feelings, and struggles. Perhaps you're faced with the unbearable burden of deciding a loved one's fate or on the uncomfortable process of arranging a funeral. This book is a powerful, emotional, moving real-life story. You can check it out on Amazon!
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Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)
The Silver Coin by Mika Matthews is a fantasy/mythology novel that takes place after an apocalyptic war between the Greek gods of Olympus led by Hera and the mortals of Gaia (Earth). The world's human population was decreased to just one billion (by about 90%). The preceding generations consisted mostly of mixed-blooded demigods due to the gods intermingling with the surviving humans. It is implied that—following the trends of classic Greek myth—the gods may have done this in an unscrupulous manner. The main protagonist, Dante, is actually special and spectacular in a very interesting way: he really isn't special or spectacular at all. Unlike seemingly everyone else on Gaia, he isn't a demigod. He is overweight, depressed, and frail in more ways than one. However, what he does have is a strong sense of compassion and empathy. Death and suffering affect him in a way that doesn't seem to affect many of the gods and demigods, who generally turn a blind eye to these things. Dante seems to inherit a very special calling: to become a healer. A lot of this book concerns Dante's quest to becoming a capable enough healer (sort of like a white mage) in order to help his fellow people. Unfortunately, being a foolish mortal, he goes about doing this in probably the worst way possible: by essentially selling his soul to Hecate, the goddess of witches. Anyone who has read Macbeth or Dr. Faustus or who at least watched The Little Mermaid probably knows that this is an incredibly dangerous decision. You don't go selling your soul to demons or large, powerful Gothic women. It usually doesn't work out very well for you. This book definitely seems to have more edginess than The Princess, the Knight and the Lost God or any of the Percy Jackson books. There are several instances in which expletives are used. Death and destruction are taken rather seriously, although there is an afterlife component that does somewhat cheapen that. Also, the psychological and emotional issues that Dante is going through are quite raw. They seem real. And, furthermore, Dante is a character we can get understand and get behind because his struggles and thoughts are very familiar to readers. Anyone who has worked in healthcare or aspired to become a nurse or doctor has probably experienced a lot of the thoughts and feelings that Dante feels. In a lot of ways, this book serves as a powerful analogy for healthcare in general. And, thankfully, this is approached in a tactful, subtle, and non-preachy way. The most interesting thing about this book is how the Greek deities themselves are treated. They seem to have a little extra spice to them compared to other mythology books. It is interesting to see a ripped and jacked Aphrodite, paying homage to her role as a war god to the Spartans. It is interesting to see Hera being large and in charge, although it is strange that she is considered better than individual gods in the areas in which they specialize (i.e. “smarter than Athena, and crueler than Ares”). Similarly, Persephone is presented as a very overpowered character compared to her portrayal in the source material. She is actually portrayed as large and in charge in Hades, even called “stronger” and “meaner” than Hades. At the same time, Persephone might be the best character after Dante himself because Persephone somewhat serves as a foil to Dante. Persephone was simple and weak at one time, similar to Dante, yet became a queen who rules over the dead. While Dante is struggling to save lives, Persephone is forced to embrace death. This is not to say that Hades himself plays no role. His portrayal in this book might be one of the most accurate (to the source material). Hades is not pure evil. He is not the devil. Hades comes across like a grandfather and someone who is just doing his job, as grim as it may be. That's basically how Hades was most of the time in the original myths. Similar to what happened in The Princess, the Knight and the Lost God, circumstances and pent up frustrations have caused the gods of the sky and the lower worlds (the sea and the underworld) to be at odds. There is a subtle subtext to this, possibly serving as a criticism of human-triggered climate change, global warming, and pollution. Now, this book probably needs some work. Its current state is as an unformatted manuscript. There's something about the ending that doesn't seem... finished. That's not to say that the book itself isn't fun and entertaining (it is), but that maybe we're supposed to be expecting a sequel to tie up loose ends and continue the story. One thing we wanted to mention is that it is a little funny and also interesting to see the Greek gods interact with and ponder modern technologies like cell phones and weapons like bombs. Check this out on Amazon! Score: 76/100 (7.6 out of 10)
Marvin the Math Cat & the Mysterious Garden follows two cats, Marvin and Dusty, who feel overwhelmed and disheartened in their geometry class. In particular, Marvin wonders if math is even worth learning at all, even stating that it's not as important as reading & writing. Marvin is then given a series of cryptic messages, one of them issuing a challenge to them to build a patio garden with very parameters. They are given practical reasons for needing to follow these parameters including cost. Each centimeter of fencing will cost the cats something. With some ups and downs, twists and turns, the cats are able to wrestle their way out of this situation and ultimately solve the problem. Unfortunately, the ending does kind of leave a bit to be desired as it's one of those endings that creative writers tend to shy away from. We really don't want to criticize this book. For one, the concept is brilliant. Educating kids about a subject like math via a fictitious story is a really appealing concept to us. Many of us have taught, coached, and/or tutored at various levels. Education is such a powerful thing. Sadly, as this book points out, many children don't see the value of their education or the practicality of what they learn in school. The other thing we love about this book is that it features cats, one of our favorite pet animals. So, the authors combine two things we love: education (math) and animals (cats). The issue really is the execution of this concept. The illustrations are incredibly rudimentary and simplistic, leaving a lot to be desired. The other thing is that it's incredibly wordy and complex, and most of it is crammed into less than 40 pages. Normally, you'd want your book or story to be brief and concise. This book is brief and concise in its number of pages, however, a lot of this book consists of mountains of text. One thing you need to keep in mind with children who say they don't like math or have a mental “block” about committing time and energy to a subject. A lot of them don't have very long attention spans. In fact, it's the opposite: they have incredibly small attention spans. They struggle to focus on any one thing or on any one task for too long. If you make them sit down and read a dense, complex story about two cats trying to figure out a geometric problem, the likelihood is that they're going to lose interest or give up a quarter of the way through. Now, with that said: this concept could be magnificent. With a little work, it could be a 93/100 or 94/100. It would take a rewrite in which the text is massively simplified and illustrations done by professionals. If those things were accomplished, this book would be amazing. There's a quote in this book that we really loved and will probably consider it for our “Special Awards.” The quote is: “Math is life, my dear cats, I hope you now understand that. The beauty is not just in your creation, But in all things in our civilization: The symmetry in your face, Or, a leafy pattern that you trace.” However, this does seem a little bit cheapened by the Mario Bros 2 ending combined with a really muddy and vague cliffhanger that implies a continuation to the series. You can really tell from this quote and the content in general that these two authors are very passionate about math, education, and cats. It turns out that they're both educators and adopted two rescue cats. So these are excellent, fantastic, wonderful, smart people. We really want them to succeed. This book and this series will require a lot of work, but we are confident the authors can find some way to figure it out. Even our most prolific children's authors like Dawn Menge and Tuula Pere have published books that fell short of our high expectations. These are the best of the best and yet even they struggled at times. So it would not be a surprise to us if these two brilliant authors can muster up something great someday! You can check out and support their work on Amazon! Score: 92/100 (9.2 out of 10)
We really ended up enjoying The Princess Who Can't Sit Still, an adorable and inspiring children's book by Cherise Hunt about a precocious, hyperactive girl who copes with being different from other kids. We'll be honest, about 70%+ of the appeal of most children's books is the art/illustrations. Art that's wonky or imperfect in some way can really hurt its appeal. Well, this book is an example of why you should never fully judge a book by its cover or its illustrations. This book has “it” in other areas that matter: heart, soul, relatability, brevity, and intelligibility. We can compare it directly with other children's books we read that had superior art, yet hurt themselves by being overly complicated, overly long, and difficult for the target audience to understand. The art is a bit rough, especially the main protagonist. Both her head and legs seem a bit warped or wonky, as if formed by an unsteady hand. The best illustrated thing in the book, humorously, is the earthworm. However, like we said, this book is able to overcome its less than ideal artwork and be great in other ways. One way in which this book shines is that its text is actually legible and digestible. It appears in blocks and the font is “lifted” and bolded to make it easier to read. Brilliant! We've just gone through two children's books with fonts or formatting that made the text difficult to read. This book isn't like that. The thing we love the most about this book is that it has real-life, real-world applications, particularly for children. ADD & ADHD are serious issues inflicting millions of children around the world. Some of us have suffered from these or know kids who suffer with these. And ADD & ADHD aren't the only issues inflicting children. Some suffer from autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, speech impediments, etc. While these issues aren't the focus of the book, the book's message could extend to these too. The thing is, part of maturing is realizing that we're all unique and different, but that doesn't mean we're necessarily bad, unworthy, unwanted, or undesirable. In fact, being “different” can be a good thing. That's where new ideas and innovation comes from. In this book, you see how the main character is treated because she “acts out” by being overly excited and hyperactive. She is basically reprimanded and sent to detention or time out. We empathize with her. One of the hardest things about growing up in a traditional school environment or an overly strict home is feeling like you're in prison and stepping on egg shells all the time. It's a rough way to live. And it hits kids hardest. This book comes up with a great solution: take a “wiggle” break or have a recess. Getting the wiggles out is such a great concept. It's a very practical solution! If you have some hyperactive kids who need to get their wiggles out, you should check this out on Amazon! Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
The Adventures of Arya & Krishna Betta Fish is such a pleasant, happy, entertaining animal story following two betta fish, Arya and Krishna, as they try to find their parents (who were sold before them). It's a wild, chaotic, fun adventure full of twists and turns! One of the best things about this book is the variety of different fish characters that the bettas ally themselves with. Along the way, Arya and Krishna meet Blake & Sharktooth (two other betta fish), Feo (a catfish), and Ash (a koi fish). They even make a few human friends like Aaron, Annie, and Amer, giving children a few more child character to get behind. After all, the main target audience would probably be young pet owners, particularly ones who own fish. All of these characters are so different from one another and interesting in their own separate ways. Blake & Sharktooth serve as foils to the main characters, being more familiar with their parents than they are while also being of the same species. Despite this, they have their fears of the koi in the pond who they view as potentially dangerous to them. Our protagonists are able to instill them with confidence to confront their fears. Then there's Feo, a very goofy catfish who playfully almost commits bettacide, something that fish in tanks are known to do. We even know of a lucky arowana that did it in a Chinese restaurant. Ash is interesting because of his size and age (being 25 years old). Koi in general are such magnificent fish. We later also meet two other bettas named Amita and Gabe who are also great to meet (and named after the two creators of the book). Another thing that we really appreciated about this book were the various obstacles and things that the fish go through. The fish experience the excitement (and trauma) of being purchased, relocated, captured, and being nearly eaten (by a bear, red-tailed hawk, and fisherman). They experience the temperature changing in their tanks and pond. That is detailed so well, especially for a children's book. We also get excited when they get excited. For example, when the fish realize that they can eat the mayflies in their environment, we're happy for them. Lastly, the illustrations are cute and amazing with the only critique being that proportions are inaccurate sometimes (the bettas are sometimes the size of a person's head). However, that's understandable and fine as it's not supposed to be taken overly seriously or be realistic. This is like a cartoon. It's like Finding Nemo. There's a fish with eyeglasses for goodness sakes. So critiquing realism would be pretty ridiculous. We really liked the illustrations. They must look even better in color! This book was right up our alley. Some of us raised and bred different kinds of fish including bettas (fighting fish)! Ironically, one of Steven Seril's earliest creative stories was “Fish Wars”--a book about fighting fish trying to survive against meaner fish in Asia. Something to note about this book is that it's actually more of a middle-grade or chapter book (at over 100 pages long), but these are short, easy pages. We only found one error (a period outside of the quotation mark), so the writing is quite good. Like we said before, it's surprisingly detailed. Your older kids might love reading this book about two sibling fish trying to reunite with their parents. Check it out on Amazon! |
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