Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Fight some Nazis! Explore some secret tunnels! Solve some cryptic prophecies! Save those children! Benjamin Weiss and the Divine Prophecy by J.A. Robertson surprised us with just how thrilling and exciting it got! This isn't your run of a mill YA/middle-grade detective mystery. There are some heavy, weighty themes at play in this book, ones that resonate with ongoing situations in the Middle East. Benjamin Weiss (usually just called “Ben”) is an often-bullied Jewish high school student with a unique gift: the ability to have prophetic dreams similar to Joseph and Daniel in Judeo-Christian scriptures. However, he wrestles to comprehend and interpret these dreams. Helping him on his hero's journey are Grady, his best friend, Miriam, his girlfriend, and Rabbi Greenblatt, his mentor. Ben, Grady, Miriam, and Greenblatt live in a community that has been ravished for decades by mysterious, unsolved disappearances, specifically that of 19 children. The baffled police often dismiss tips due to the number of conspiracy theories that have come their way. Everyone lives in fear of when the next disappearance might occur. The only leads that Ben and company seem to have are Ben's confusing dreams and a series of Nostradamus-like prophecies by a Dr. Grimgory made 300+ years before. They are also able to follow the pattern of disappearances to deduce that the next person to go missing will be a girl who fits a very specific profile. The race is on to protect this unique person, stop the alleged perpetrators, and find those who've gone missing in the past! It's a very exciting premise! There are a lot of nuances in this book that may go over the heads of younger readers, but they're important to mention nonetheless. The book doesn't shy away from the tragic and disturbing history of antisemitism, particularly of the Nazis around World War II. This book is a reminder that people still exist who dislike or even hate Jews and that Jews are still often the unfortunate targets and victims of violence. Antisemitism is not a thing of the past. It's not ancient history. It hasn't disappeared. In fact, people suffer from it every day. This book is an important reminder of why we should stand by the mantra “Never Again!” as in, we can never allow a Holocaust to happen again. It is also a reminder of why Jews and Israel must fight and do everything in their power to protect themselves from numerous enemies who threaten their existence. With all that out of the way, we have to say that the first quarter of this book did bore us a little. It was slow and had pacing issues. It seemed to be bogged down by the author attempting to do/show too much. For example, did Rabbi Greenblatt really have to be such a big part of this book? He seems like a character who could've been trimmed out to save time. There were also way too many villain like Shane and Strong Voice involved in this elaborate, over-the-top, decades-long conspiracy. We get it, the author wanted to show that evil ideologies can transcend and carry over for generations, but it got a bit much. The people we really cared about was the trio of Ben, Miriam, and Grady. We were surprised by how much Miriam in particular endeared herself to us as a character. She is a really pleasant person who stands by Ben even when it seems like he's going a little crazy. Similarly, Grady proves to be a great friend. There was one really weak character moment for Ben and Grady in which Grady fell on his bike into a crevice and Ben didn't seem to care at all. A quick “Grady, nooooooo!” or “Grady, are you ok?!” would've sufficed. Instead, Ben just shrugged it off and asked how he could get down there too. Another missed opportunity is simply that the person who ultimately got kidnapped/went missing was the wrong person in our opinion. It was a character who wasn't built up to be rescued, or whom we hadn't emotionally connected with as much as the alternative. Anyway, we came away from this book feeling mostly entertained and satisfied. Could it have been better with a few tweaks? Yes. However, it mostly does what it does well. Although we don't get to know her much, “18” (Gretchen) is a candidate for “Hottest Character.” Also, there is one hilarious bit in which the author shoehorns in Benjamin having a deformed hand just when it's convenient. That made us a chuckle a bit. You can check it out on Amazon!
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Score: 95+/100 (9.5+ out of 10)
Deserts to Mountain Tops is a deep, compelling, and emotionally-charged collection of personal stories by Jessica Buchanan and a plethora of talented, successful, and inspirational contributors! They champion the idea of self-love and self-acceptance. Despite common, overlapping themes and subject matters, every single one of these personal stories is powerful, painful, beautiful, brilliant, and unique in its own way—just like the writers themselves. Now, we have to get this out of the way real quick: this book is full of potentially triggering content. However, we are so glad that this book chose to cover certain subjects that don't get talked about enough. Most of all, we are so glad that there is a book out there that discusses the painful, taboo, yet awfully common plague of eating and body-image disorders. So many of us have struggled with this, personally, at one time or another. There are thousands or even millions of people still struggling with it, bombarded with images of perfect people on Instagram, TikTok, and TV. It doesn't help that there's a fast food restaurant or convenience store on every corner and a diet book for every Benjamin in your bank account. We are surrounded by temptations, and the greatest temptation in the middle of all of this is the temptation to hate yourself and your body. Yet... it's almost as if no one wants to talk about or even acknowledge it. It's like an elephant in the room. Well, you can't solve a problem if you ignore it and never acknowledge it. You can't acknowledge the problem if it's buried, secret, kept hidden, and shrouded in mystery and darkness. Well, the writers in Deserts to Mountain Tops are courageous and brave enough to pull the curtains back and acknowledge the elephant in the room. They're willing to talk about their own personal struggles—their battles, their wars. Not only is that commendable and admirable, but it's also fascinating and inspirational. Jessica Buchanan introduces us to the figurative “desert of disordered eating” and the dark cloud of self-hate/self-abandonment that reverberate in stories throughout the book. Contributor Michelle Ihry discusses her struggles with a mysterious illness that turns out to be Lyme disease. Similar to Growth by Karen DeBonis, this is a story about how our inflictions—as big, scary, and mysterious as they may be—often have explanations and solutions. We just have to keep seeking answers and never taking no for an answer. Don't sit in complacency and denial if you know something is wrong. Seek help! Seek out experts! Don't suffer in solitude and silence. Talk and listen to others who've been where you've been and have suffered as you've suffered. Emily Cartwright tells the haunting story of her obsession with excessively exercising to burn the most calories and lose the most weight. Similar to Dr. Mimi Zieman from Tap Dancing on Everest, it could be argued that Cartwright suffered from exercise bulimia, a form of bulimia in which the sufferer excessively exercises rather than purges to compensate for overeating. One of the best parts of this book is when Cartwright's feet were heavily blistered and even injured from excessive running, and rather than being concerned for the health of her feet, she was more upset that she didn't reach her goal of running at least 17 miles that day. She was literally destroying and punishing herself. We can't help but feel like we've been in her shoes: we've been there and done that. It's a frighteningly familiar feeling. Tracy Interlandi gave us one of the most interesting of all the stories as it really put into perspective how people can minimize us and focus on one thing that we've done or that happened to us, forgetting that we're a complex, diverse, dynamic, and multi-layered person. In this story, Interlandi was the tragic victim of a savage assault by multiple people. Despite being an accomplished and passionate dancer, the assault became all that anyone knew or remembered her for—“Tracy The Dancer was replaced with The Waitress Who Was Attacked.” She longs to be defined by more than her one bad day. This story says a lot about how we're more than the sum of our problems. We're not defined by our problems. We are so much more. Angelique Velez, who seems to describe a body-image disorder (or, at the very least, an insecurity about how she looked), describes the beauty that came out of that struggle. Velez was able to capitalize on her previous obsession to look good, gaining a passion for cosmetics (makeup), even founding a successful cosmetics business that we presume thrives to this day! Delia Sullivan, similar to Sandy Evenson in The Woo Woo Way, discusses the concept of chakras, specifically what Sullivan calls the “heart chakra.” To put this into familiar terms, a house is only as strong as its foundation, and the heart chakra is the figurative foundation of a person. If you hate yourself, refuse to love yourself, and neglect your emotional well-being, how do you expect your body and mind to function? There are some beautiful lines in this section: “The ink flowed effortlessly, like gentle whispers to my younger self” “Live with the broken pieces, and the unbroken will grow bigger and softer with more vigor" Stacia Bissell discusses something that's very familiar to one of us: a traumatic brain injury suffered from a cycling accident. This TBI gave her a number of difficulties including stuttering, dyslexic-like symptoms, extreme noise & light sensitivities, ringing of the ears, and other cognitive challenges. However, she was able to overcome these issues, refusing to accept that she would only be defined by them and that her life's path would be dictated by them. Bissell also gives us one of the book's most beautiful passages: “...to be the roaring campfire I am meant to be rather than the flickering candle flame I was becoming. The fragments of glass will be colorful, and shimmer brightly. They will be reflective of the collective light that represents the interesting twists and turns to my life that have made me who I am. My brain is still injured, and I’ll always have to manage it wisely, but there’s nothing wrong with my heart.” Julie Larkin's story was arguably the most interesting and fun to read, despite the fact that it was probably the most abrasive. Larkin's story concerns how living only to please people can cost us our selves. It also demonstrates how disgustingly superficial the world is. When we're perceived to be beautiful, fit, skinny, and perfect, people treat us differently. It can be humorous and comical at first, but it goes to show how skin-deep society's perceptions of us can be. And society's perceptions are fickle: they change. The same people who were cheering for us and kissing our butts yesterday could be stabbing us in the back and throwing us under the bus the next day. The other thing we liked about this particular story is how we could relate to Larkin's experience with loose and saggy skin (and possibly stretch marks). These are things that people who lose a lot of weight have to deal with, and almost no one talks about or acknowledges it. It can be very discouraging to lose a lot of weight and still be left with literal scars of it. Larkin calls this “sagging secrets of shame.” Another amazing part of this story is that we get two sides of Larkin's conscience: “Shitty Julie” and “Sacred Julie.” Shitty Julie is always telling her how she has failed because she has eaten too much or gained weight. Sacred Julie reminds her that she should be proud of who she is and to love herself. Courtney Whitelock, a twin, gives us this beautiful passage that seems to bring this book full-circle: “I had no idea that naming my daughter Grace would be as significant as it is. I will forever look into her eyes and see a desert, a mountain, and the courage to conquer them both, now and forevermore.” Check it out on Amazon! Score: 88+/100 (8.8+ out of 10)
Welcome to a section of the Land of Quails known as New England! Here we rejoin Queen Vernita, the titular protagonist of Queen Vernita and the Land of Little Rain, as she commits to spending several months in this incredible and very different region, meeting new people, trying new things, and learning about all sorts of flora and fauna. If you're expecting a typical plot-driven or even character-driven story, this probably isn't the book for you. If you're into that sort of thing, check out the author's other books: Dragon's Breath and the worthy sequel, Precious the Baby Dragon. This just isn't that sort of book. We think this book might best be described as an experiential novella. It's a short book about a foreigner/relative outsider being introduced to an unfamiliar place, getting to know new people and new things. We think we asked this before, but... who really is Queen Vernita? Is she an actual royal queen or is her name just “Queen” like Queen Latifa? We ask because it kinda changes the plot and a bit of our feelings about the character. If she actually is a queen in the sense of being royalty, it makes a bit more sense. Assuming she is a queen, Vernita proves to be a loving ruler who—rather than sitting her high-tower giving orders—actually gets down and dirty with her people. She lives among them and learns about them. However, this also begs the question... so who's ruling Vernita's kingdom? She's over here gallivanting and traveling all the time... who's making the executives decisions and tending to matters of the state? Does she have a viceroy or grand vizier tending to these things? Is she married? Is there a king somewhere running the day-to-day operations? Or is this a constitutional monarchy in which the queen really doesn't have to do much because a prime minister and/or a democratic government runs things? We kinda wish we knew so we wouldn't feel like Vernita wasn't fooling around and wasting her time while other sensitive, important matters are going unattended to in her kingdom. It really does seem like it. It kinda seems like Queen Vernita isn't trying to advance a plot or serve a specific purpose. In that sense, she's a bit of a passive protagonist, albeit one who still participates in the more mundane activities happening in the book. Speaking of those activities, they form the core of the book. Queen Vernita isn't about shaking things up. She's isn't about changing the game. She isn't about forcing an agenda or insisting on her own way. No. Actually, she's about leaving things the way that they are and appreciating them for how they are. That's something we can respect and appreciate about her character. Throughout this book, Vernita travels to the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, learning the history and significance of it. She enjoys, rakes, and bags many of the autumn leaves of October. She visits a garden full of different trolls. Yes, really! However, the story that we enjoyed the most in this book was probably Vernita going lobster hunting. There's something about it that was extra engaging. Maybe we were just hungry, but that particular story made us crave lobster! It's also kinda interesting to read how naive Vernita is about these creatures. Remember, she's not from here, she's a foreigner. So, she has trouble telling the difference between the lobsters and crabs. Seeing the illustrations in a few other books this season has really made us appreciate the art/illustrations in this Queen Vernita series. No, they're not extraordinary. It's not going to hang in the Louvre, but you can tell that the author/illustrator put a lot of time and effort into it. At the very least you could say that it's colorful. You can even see the lines and strokes that the illustrator took in creating this. And some of these illustrations are actually very detailed! For example, there's a scene in which a whole bunch of people in a restaurant are eating lobster. Each and every character has a different outfit on. You can even see the texture of their hair. This book does have a few issues in terms of grammar. For one, a comma is missing almost every time that Queen Vernita or another character is addressed. Missing commas have been an issue in this series and the Dragon's Breath series. However, it's nothing major. Honestly, the main issue with this book is how choppy it is. It almost reads more like a list than a story. One moment/month, Vernita is doing one thing; the next moment/month, Vernita is doing another thing. There really doesn't seem to be a rhyme, reason, or direction to any of this. It's just... there. It just... happens. There's no antagonist. There's no villain. There's no problem or conflict other than a brief mention about protecting the environment and not polluting. So that seems to be our main issue with this book and this series. Where's the tension? Where's the suspense? Where's the conflict? It often seems like Vernita is going from place to place and doing one thing after another. None of the people she meets, except for maybe Trisha, is memorable or stands out. They're more like NPCs. They're just... there. Another thing we kept wondering about is how does Queen Vernita realistically fit into the over-arching story of the Land of Quails in which King Teddy and Queen Giggles (from Dragon's Breath and Precious the Baby Dragon) also live. In fact, Queen Vernita is even mentioned in that other series. However, aside from the trolls (which we aren't even sure are actual, fantasy trolls and not just straw/rock figures), New England or even the Land of Rain don't seem to fit with the portrayal of the Land of Quails in the Dragon's Breath series. New England and the Land of Little Rain are very modern. The people there wear modern clothes. They use modern tools and appliances to, for example, cook lobsters with. In contrast, the people in the Dragon's Breath series clearly live in a medieval-fantasy environment in which people use flames and lamps for light. So... is Vernita a time-traveler? Is she immortal? Like, did she survive for 700 years in medieval-fantasy Europe (a land in which dragons live) and then visit New England in the 1900s/2000s? Maybe we're overthinking this, but we do pay attention to details like that. Maybe you can figure it out. Check it out on Amazon! Score: 93+/100 (9.3+ out of 10)
The Crusades were a dark and disturbing time in human history. The Crusaders are often painted as being monstrous barbarians led to do unspeakable acts against their real and perceived enemies. The Muslim Arabs aren't viewed much more positively, often seen as villains—outsiders, others--in their own right. This is how most of the modern world views the Crusades and those involved. Well, Oathbreaker by Dimitar Gyopsaliev doesn't portray them that way. Instead, this impressively-researched series brings humanity, light, understanding, and rationality to what seems like a very inhumane, chaotic, dark, and irrational period in human history. It's so easy to look at historical figures and point out how foolish or terrible they seem in hindsight. However, how might we have acted if we lived there at that time? How would it have been like to be an orphan in a feudal medieval world? How would it be like to come face to face with your enemies—to hear their battle cries, to smell their breath, to have their blood splashed over your skin? How would you react? How would you feel? What would you do in the midst of battle—with your life and those of your comrades at stake? Oathbreaker does a magnificent job at putting forward the idea that the people involved in the Crusades were human beings just like us. They loved. They dreamed. They breathed. They bled. Some were as cruel and brutal as the history books say. Others were honorable, noble, and doing the best they could under unspeakable circumstances. Some got annoyed when the local bard got on their nerves. They developed crushes on women and bonded with their comrades. Oathbreaker reunites us with Peter Longsword and Owen, heroes from the previous book: an orphan-turned-soldier and a Welsh archer. Their regiment is suddenly attacked, leading Peter to act impulsively, leaving the safety of the shied wall to forward a counter-offensive. This results in the death of his friend and comrade, Adam, which haunts him throughout the duration of the novel. Adam's killer, a mysterious masked assailant, menaces Peter, compelling him to hunt them down in retaliation. Furthermore, all of the gold stores are ransacked by the enemy, leaving Peter, Owen, and company unable to purchase safe passage over the sea to return home. They are, in effect, stranded—surrounded by a mixture of friends, foes, and everything in between. Along the way, Peter and Owen encounter Gabriel the blacksmith, pirates, Mamluks, Abal (Shajar al-Durr)—a candidate for “Hottest Character” and Sultan Baibars's daughter; Ivar, Matthew, Matilda, Lady Helen, Captain Jaffar, a giant yet silent slave named Robert, and a colorful host of other characters! This book does a very good job at displaying its epic scope. The author also does a good job at showing movement and motion as the characters travel from place to place, meeting new people along the way. With that said, we were hoping that it would recapture the action-packed and violent nature of its opening again. What an opening! However, this book is more about adventuring than it is about action. Perhaps we'll see more action in the sequel(s)? The thing that we really appreciated about this book (similar to the prior one in the series) is how the book brings humanity back into what history views as a dark, immoral, violent, barbaric time in human history. On that note, we were pleasantly surprised that the Mamluks and other Arabs—despite being the sworn enemies of the Crusaders, especially in the previous book—are not portrayed as irredeemably evil or even villainous. In fact, you have a character like Captain Jaffar in this book, a Mamluk veteran who is arguably the most level-headed, fair, and unselfish character there is. There's also Robert, a huge slave who doesn't speak. Similar to someone like Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile, you can't help but fall in love with this friendly giant and hope for his freedom along with Peter. Not all Arabs are bad and not all Christians are good, and vice-versa. In fact, just as there are good people on both sides, there are wicked, cruel, and morally gray people on both sides including Sir Guido, Lord Broca, Tarin, and Tarik. What's really incredible and somewhat annoying is that Peter Longsword—despite meeting and being surrounded by horrible, terrible, awful people—acts like he's Batman—it seems like he just can't let anyone die even if they deserve it. The best example of this is when he intervenes in Robert killing one of his slave masters who, quite frankly, deserved death more than anyone. We're also reminded that he saved Marco Polo, a Bedouin prince, and many other people. And that brings us to one of the underlying themes of the series: Peter's ability to unite and bring people together regardless of their differences. As Owen points out, Peter is an adopted member of Lady Eleanor's retinue and family (which is why Owen teases him as “your highness”). Owen points out that the silver scarf technically makes him part of their royal family. This makes him, technically, on the Crusaders side. However, after being involved in the saving of Sultan Baibars, he is also technically Sultan Baibar's blood-brother. So, wait a minute... does that technically make the two hottest female characters/love interests (Lady Eleanor and Abal) his... kinda-sorta-not-really-blood-oath/foster sisters? That might be overthinking things, but it's disturbing and humorous to think. Anyway, special among all Mamluks and Crusaders alike, he is venerated by both sides. This really helps to push forward the idea of an eventual peace. In fact, a cease-fire/truce exists throughou t most of the book. The problem is that Peter isn't the only thing the unites the two sides. PIRATES play a huge role in becoming thorns in the sides of both the Crusaders and Arabs, particularly the group of pirates known as Seawolves. This gives truth to the phrase: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” There's also a bit of mystery in this book, not just with the identity of the masked being who slayed Adam but with the discovery of a human skull early on, then the discovery of the wreckage of a ship. All of this seems to be tied to an underlying conflict involving Lord Broca, one of the biggest #$%holes of the series, and Lady Helen. We're given a scene which actually explains the cover art and the presence of the crow—a “rat of the sky”--who Peter is drawn to have a conversation with. Peter is a character who we alternated between loving and hating. There are times when he was frustrating like his careless act that resulted in Adam's death or when he prevented the slaver's death. He also seems prone to moping and throwing tantrums such as when he screams at the bard. He develops the self-defeating belief that everyone he becomes close to will die including Adam, John, and William Longsword. Others always have to tend to him and pick him up, especially Owen who is pretty much the Samwise Gamgee of the situation. This book is also pretty well-written. The author expertly weaves sentences with a special fondness for semi-colons that gave us a kick. One last thing we have to mention is that this book does eventually introduce he titular weapon, Oathbreaker, which may be a candidate for Best Weapon. Check it out on Amazon! Score: 94+/100 (9.4+ out of 10)
Colin Crab stole our hearts last year with his positive, helpful, altruistic attitude! He's the friend we'd all love to have. He's the friend we'd all be lucky to have. Where can we find a Colin Crab? Do you have a Colin Crab in your life? Leave it to Tuula Pere, the most prolific children's author in the history of our contest, to create a great, brilliant, and beautiful character like this. In Colin the Crab Finds a Treasure, Colin is searching for something, and he's not sure what. It seems to be a typical day for Colin, and most of the book follows him as he goes about his day. As the sea town's handyman, Colin is in high demand. He has many chores and jobs around the town including shopping with Ozzie Octopus, helping Mrs. Catfish with repairs, and briefly babysitting Norma Newt's children so she can get some baking done. It's this last encounter with the Newt family that really tugs on Colin's heartstrings. He realizes that he wants a family of his own, and perhaps a partner to have children with. Despite having many around the town who care about and want him around, Colin is actually a bit of a loner at heart. He has no family in town. The others crabs (and his family) live far away. And most of his friends and acquaintances seem to just want something from Colin. You almost get the sense that they take him for granted and take advantage of him. This was apparent in the previous book in the series, in which the animals realized what life would be like without Colin's help. Then, in the turning point of the book, a tidal wave sweeps a lone oyster named Priscilla into his life. Priscilla is alone and injured, so Colin (being a sweetheart) takes her home and cares for her while she recovers. Priscilla reveals that she is able to make pearls, and her newest pearl becomes the centerpiece of the book. Priscilla believes that her ability to make pearls is the only thing special about her, however, Colin sees her as a great friend and values her true treasure: her friendship. Unfortunately, others in the town, mainly Larry the Lobster, covet her physical treasure: the pearl. This creates the final conflict in the book. Colin the Crab Finds a Treasure is every bit as beautiful and powerful as the last book. The illustrations by Roksolana Panchyshyn are gorgeous, some of the best in a Tuula Pere book! The presentation of this book is truly outstanding. Despite the text being somewhat small (which is an issue in some other Pere books like Raspberry Red and Do You See Me in Nature?), the soft background colors and box-framing really help the text to stand out, making this an enjoyable reading experience. Now, there was a time in the middle of this book that it started to drag. That was when Colin was running his errands. There didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to these errands until much later in the book. At first, it just seemed like Colin was just doing stuff. It was only afterwards that we realized that the author was trying to portray how mundane, lonely, and loveless Colin's life really was. Colin clearly had a hole in his heart that needed to be filled. The pairing between Colin and Priscilla is adorable and a candidate for Best Couple! Check it out on Amazon! Score: 91/100 (9.1 out of 10)
Something we've always admired about Tuula Pere and her books is how they're willing to get deeper and darker. While this is far from the darkest of Pere's books, it does explore the topic of war, which mostly occurs in the background. This isn't a violent book, but it is a book about the consequences of conflict and its impact on the civilian populations, mainly that they live in fear and apart from their loved ones (who are deployed). Lullaby of the Valley concerns a war that sparks between two neighboring towns in the same valley. They have a history of friendship and partnership that goes back hundreds of years. Yet, a recent inciting incident (which isn't revealed) has sparked armed conflict between the two former friends. In the middle of this is Grandmother Kaina and her family, including daughter-in-law Amira—whose husband, Karam, has taken up arms and joined the war—and their kids, who live in fear of the brewing conflict, wondering if their father will ever return alive. Grandmother Kaina reflects on a time when everyone lived in peace in the valley, playing together, trading together, and even singing together. The two towns share the same culture, the same language, and the same traditions including the titular lullaby that Kaina holds near and dear, remembering how she used to put Karam to sleep at night with it. Kaina is hurt that her son would choose war and violence to solve his problems after all she taught him growing up. Meanwhile, Amira defends her husband and says that he's trying to protect and provide for them. In an epic climax, Kaina climbs to the highest point and joins another elderly woman at the other end of the valley, Siran, as they recite the same lullaby. The lullaby echoes through the valley, reminding the warring troops (including Karam) about their former friendship, their roots, and commonalities. Many of Pere's books have had anti-war sentiments. War is, generally, not a good or positive thing. People suffer. Lives are lost. However, we would argue that there are times when it is necessary, such as when the fascist powers in World War II threatened peace in Europe and the lives of certain groups of people. It also allowed the American colonies to gain their independence from Britain. At the same time, books like these are a good reminder that war is a last resort and should be avoided whenever possible. It is also a reminder for people to look at the things we have in common rather than what makes us different. Look at what's happening with Ukraine and Russia or Gaza and Israel—people with shared ancestries and cultures. It's really tragic that people can't put their differences aside and instead choose war. However, you could make the argument that the Ukrainians and Israelis have the right and prerogative to defend themselves from those who started the conflict, and to be proactive in avoiding future conflict. We don't really know what sparked the war between the two towns. Maybe one side really did something horrific, leading to a massive loss of life. Maybe, like Amira says, Karam is just trying to protect his people and ensure their future. The book seems to take the perspective that Karam is somehow wrong for doing so. This illustrator, Andrea Alemmano, has frequently wowed us in the past, but that's not necessarily the case this time around. While the illustrations are passable and more than adequate, they lack the oomph of previous works. One thing in particular stands out: how dark everything is. Everything is either black or dark-blue, which might help to highlight the dark tone of this book, but can also be a little depressing to look at. With that said, we always admire what Pere and her illustrators try to do. Every book they make is unique and different. And every book they make takes risks. This cry for peace and reconciliation sends a powerful message out into the world. Check it out on Amazon! Score: 85/100 (8.5 out of 10)
Welcoming Addresses for Various Occasions is a spirited and inspiring collection of church sermons, welcoming speeches, addresses, and even a few poems by Ruby Smith! We were pleasantly surprised by this book. While it doesn't wow you with its presentation (including a rather bland interior and exterior design) or with its niche audience, it may wow you with some of its content. There are a lot of beautiful, powerful, and inspiring passages in this relatively short and condensed book. One Bible story that repeatedly gets mentioned and referenced is the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob and Rachel who gained the ire and jealousy of his brothers who tore his robe of many colors, threw him in a pit, and sold him into slavery in Egypt. There in Egypt, God was able to use Joseph—making him the Pharaoh's second-in-command, putting him in charge of the region's very lifeblood: its food supply. This created an interesting and awkward situation in which the brothers who betrayed Joseph—whom they initially fail to recognize—came to him for aid. Also wrapped up in Joseph's tale (and mentioned in Ruby Smith's book) is how Joseph was wrongfully prosecuted and unfairly treated after being accused of relations with Potiphar's wife. Joseph's story, which again is referenced multiple times in these sermons/speeches, serves as an example of how God is with us and can use us even in the darkest of times and in the darkest of situations. All things work together for the glory of God. In fact, they could even be viewed as opportunities for God and his people to do God's work—to do his will the same way that Joseph was put in place to interpret Pharaoh's dreams and become a patriarch of the Christian and Jewish faiths. At one point in this book, the speaker/narrator talks about how they were diagnosed with cancer. However, rather than this destroying and devastating their faith, it actually brought them closer to God as they now fervently prayed, reached out and was ministered to by a pastor, and made them value/appreciate every moment under the Lord's sky. Here are some of our favorite passages from this book: “Light also attracts bugs” This means that the devil and demons are always waiting to pounce on your happiness, success, and relationship with God. When they see you thriving, they see opportunities to make you stumble, fall, and doubt/lose your faith. Cling to that faith no matter what and don't play into the devil's game. This is also analogous to the people who are wanting you to fail. Don't listen to them and don't let them win. They are crabs in a bucket trying to drag you back down into it. “Prepare in Hebrew means to turn your head” “The purpose of a sermon is to be preached. The purpose of a car is to be driven for transportation. The purpose of a piano is to be played. The purpose of going to school is to get an education. The purpose of all of us as members of [insert church name here[SIC] is to help carry out the vision that God gave to our Pastors[SIC].” “God sees us as victors not victims” There's a lesson about how we all say we want to upgrade to the next network (like 4G or 5G), but we should be wanting to upgrade to God's network: the For God Network. On that note, another lesson talks about how we have an opportunity to connect with the author of the Bible and the universe every day—a reminder to pray and nurture our invaluable relationship with God. Now, there are a few things that hold this book back. We talked briefly about the exterior and interior design. Well, let's get into it. The exterior design of this book features the cover on both the front and back of it. There is no product/book description other than the title itself. In fact, if you look it up on Barnes & Noble, there doesn't appear to be a product description. This really hinders and hurts the marketability and accessibility of this book. There's also the issue that the cover itself features a low-resolution image of the author on top of a high-resolution image of an impressive mountain scene. In other words, it doesn't appear to be professionally-designed. It's ok for a church pamphlet, but leaves a lot to be desired in the literary world. The same can be said for the editing and interior design of the book. First of all, the formatting itself appears to have margins that are too large for the purpose this book was intended for: giving speeches. When giving speeches, you want all of the words to be as condensed as possible so that your head and eyes don't need to shift too much while speaking and keeping track of where you are in a presentation. Another issue that the margins create is that the text gets too close to the median/center/spine of the book. That means that the spine will warp or obscure the text when you flip from page to page. You can try pre-bending the pages to make it easier, but this would take extra prep time. This book is supposed to help you prep, not make it more challenging. Our recommendation is to just have smaller margins. Another issue with this book is that the editing leaves something to be desired. Now, it's not terrible, but we did catch some errors that any proofreader could've caught. For example, “Lord” is capitalized sometimes but not other times. On page 12, the letters “ng” just randomly appear for no reason near the bottom next to the words “play” and “directed.” On page 18, the formatting is faulty as numerous points including between the words “the couple” and “petitioned.” The same problem occurs between “let us know” and “that God stands.” A third incident occurs between “Book of” and “Hebrews.” On page 21, there's a random extra “D” before the word “detaining.” There also appears to be a word or phrase missing before the word “will” and after the word “fear” on that same page. You may have also noticed that one of our favorite passages from the book had a few errors (indicated by [SIC]): “The purpose of a sermon is to be preached. The purpose of a car is to be driven for transportation. The purpose of a piano is to be played. The purpose of going to school is to get an education. The purpose of all of us as members of [insert church name here[SIC] is to help carry out the vision that God gave to our Pastors[SIC].” Here, there's a missing end-bracket after “here” and “Pastors” is capitalized despite it not being a proper noun. However, it's easy to overlook these problems and just be impressed by the addresses themselves. A lot of them have great rhythm, pacing, and beat. A lot of them are alliterative or use anaphora (repetition of a beginning sound/phrase/word). For example, “In this house” is repeated brilliantly throughout page 11. “A view into the faith mirror” is repeated nicely throughout page 12. Lastly, the poems by the author are actually quite good. The last one compares different roles in our faith life to different roles/aspects of an education institution. If you work for a church and need some addresses, this may be a good resource. Check it out on Barnes & Noble! Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
The Woo Woo Way is a fascinating self-help book by Sandy Evenson with some compelling ideas for balancing and aligning your chakras, releasing your stored energy, and living your best life! This book combines spirituality with psychiatry in a seamless and beautiful way. This is ultimately a therapeutic book about mindfulness, healing, and unleashing your maximum zest. Now, admittedly, there were things about this book that disarmed us and put us off initially. However, once we got over the goofy-sounding (albeit memorable) title and the seemingly pseudo-scientific, quack-like premise, we found that there was a ton to like and love about this book! For one, the concept behind this book is actually something the resonates with us. One of our reviewers is a long-time yoga instructor, and the book's ideas about balancing chakras and releasing it as tension from different parts of the body is part of traditional yoga practice. Another of our reviewers is very fascinated with the concept of ruasch, shakti, chi, or spiritual energy. They're also interested in kabbalah, which is arguably another form of this line of thinking. So, this book is something that's right up our alley. Another great thing about this book is that, unlike many positivity/self-affirmation books, it's not a book about somehow deleting or ignoring your negative thoughts or tricking yourself into being happy or being successful. It's a book about confronting, understanding, and coming to terms with all of your feelings, even the negative ones—to be a complete person who is allied with and able to use all aspects/parts of the self. That, believe it or not, is a fresh and unique perspective in the realm of self-help books, many of which just encourage you to be happy when you're unhappy, not sad when you're sad, not angry when you're angry, not anxious when you're anxious, and not depressed when you're depressed. Yeah, that's easier said than done, and the author of this particular book definitely understands and acknowledges that. This isn't a book about fixing, changing, fighting with, or being at war with yourself, it's a book about being at peace with yourself and using ALL parts of your being for the betterment of yourself. Ok, well, let's dive into it... The Woo Woo Way seems to involves balancing and aligning the different chakras spread throughout the body that are normally suppressed by different, hidden blocks. The author has a rather interesting, fitting, and fascinating way of describing the arrangement of chakras throughout the body, describing them as being like areas (or rooms) of a house. That's something that we could really understand and an analogy that we fell in love with. For example, the second (“Sacral”) chakra is described as being like a basement with a water heat and central air. It's not something that's immediately visible or apparent, but it's important and always running in the background. This is where life-force energy is stored, after all. Meanwhile, the sixth (“Third Eye”) chakra is like the attic. This is the high place where you can get the best view of town—or the world around you. It's all about perspective and perception, taking all of your lenses and putting them together to see the big picture. There's a rather interesting story involving the Third Eye chakra in which the author describes talking to a client in the Middle East who, it turned out, had been hiding in a closet because she was video-calling from an active war-zone. This gave the author a bigger, broader, more macro, and eye-opening new perspective of what their client was going through. Not only was the client going through their own anxieties and depressions, but they were going through something else in the background: a literal war. The author has a beautiful line about opening the curtains to let light in, giving you a clearer perspective of things that would've otherwise been unclear or hidden entirely. It's like spring cleaning. When you open the curtains, the light illuminates a lot of things, some of which you may have lost or hadn't seem in years, maybe even some old treasures/gems or skeletons in the closet. Heck, we're kinda in the middle of spring cleaning in our office and we're constantly finding things that we could've used and/or saved money on replacing. But from an emotional perspective, we all have things that we just hide and bury deep down inside thinking that they'll go away. However, they come up in the most random and inconvenient of times. One such example that the author uses is the fear of public speaking. That's an example of a phobia/fear that must've come from somewhere, probably an experience earlier in life in which the sufferer was bullied, shamed, and/or failed. The author talked about a few other things that really hit us between the eyes, especially considering that we've read so many self-help books and autobiographies that clued us in to certain aspects of depression, anxiety, and mental illness. The big one for us was when the author described how we have different shadows inside of us. Some of them are big, seemingly-bad bullies. Some represent our inner-child. All in all, these shadows are not bad or evil. They actually love us and want to protect us. That is why you can't just we can't just ignore or erase our feelings, that would be like ignoring or erasing a part of ourselves. But the thing about this that made us say “AHA!” was that it sounds an awful lot like what Catherine was going through with her multiple personalities in You Will Never Be Normal by Catherine Klatzer. The big, bad bully shadow sounded like the villainous side of Catherine known as Cat, who, it turned out, was only so big and tough because she was trying to protect Catherine from danger (similar to the shadows in this book). Catherine's other personalities, Baby and Tina, seem to reflect Evenson's concept of the inner-child shadows. Ignoring our problems and being fake-positive ignores these shadows and thus the ignores the root of our feelings and selves. It's like trying to build a house without the support beams or strong soil to put the foundation. The idea, ultimately, is to turn your house (body) into a home, to be comfortable with who you are and where you are. One great analogy that this book makes about shadows is that ignoring them is like ignoring the mold behind the wall or the rust on the pipes. It's going to come out eventually. Now, this book makes a huge emphasis on a technique known as tapping. We found this fascinating, but also a little odd. However, we'd be lying if we said we didn't try it ourselves. Tapping kinda makes sense. See, when you stop to tap on your head, your steering-wheel, or your keyboard, it forces you to stop and be mindful. It also kinda reminded us of the concept of NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) in which you can use little movements and fidgeting throughout the day to release energy, usually for fitness purposes. It also kinda reminded us of how some athletes swear by slapping themselves before a strenuous activity to wake themselves up or get the blood flowing. According to the author, tapping is like flipping a switch. This was a very interesting read! Check it out on Amazon! Score: 86/100 (8.6 out of 10)
Her Name Was Lola is an edgy romance novel by Karen Janowsky. It follows the titular Lola Nelsson, a 22-year-old frequently-daydreaming college student who is trying to find her place in the sun, and Dr. Vance Anderson, the stunningly handsome university professor who is known as “Dr. Casanova” on campus due to his promiscuity. Lola, who hasn't had much luck with men (and is explicitly stated to be a virgin), fantasizes about finally finding her prince charming like she's heard and read about in fiction. She is surrounded by rather loving and supportive friends like Naomi who want to see her overcome her inhibitions and find her happiness. With that said, they're also keen to talk her out of making poor, self-destructive choices and are always there to pick her up when she's down, which seems to happen more often than not. Lola is quite a hot mess. She's a very sensitive and emotional person. For that reason, we frequently find her sulking or brooding throughout this story. Vance is a career educator who is on the verge of reaching tenure, another major focus of this story. He seems to have extreme trust issues and insecurities due to his personal life experiences, particularly with his parents and past partners. He is used to people leaving him, using him, and exploiting him. The audience is made aware that he has a reputation: a reputation for sleeping around and never sustaining relationships. He is a one night stand type of guy—void of commitment to anyone or anything other than his career. Well, both characters find themselves in a big, huge conundrum when they experience an intense, sexual attraction to one another! We're not kidding or exaggerating, this book features one of the most intense, prolonged, drawn-out, over-the-top sex scenes we've ever read in a book. It's essentially the Goku versus Frieza on Namek of sex scenes. You could make the argument that its the centerpiece of this book, like Let It Go is the centerpiece of Frozen, because of how over-the-top it is and because it serves as the inciting incident which gets the ball rolling for the rest of the plot. Should a professor be allowed to date or have an intimate relationship with a student? What if they're both consenting adults? Is it right? Is it moral? A similar story-line was featured in Friends, following Ross's apprehension to have a relationship with a paleontology student who crushes on him. So, this is one of those will-they/won't they kinda love stories. It's also a story about forbidden love. Forbidden love stories have a natural attraction and charm for the human imagination. That's partly why Romeo & Juliet and Titanic were so successful—they featured characters from different groups who aren't normally found together, then have them fall in love. The problem is, for such a story to work, your characters have to actually be likable. These two, from our perspective, were painful to read about. Neither of them is likable. First of all, Lola really is a hot mess. She spends a lot of this book moping and being in a puddle of her own tears. She really is a drama queen, and it can be insufferable at times. In another version of this story, Lola could be a villain. Hear us out. Think about those movies and books about a respected man who has an affair with a strikingly-beautiful bombshell who keeps showing up at his office and tempting him to lighten up and have some fun while he's trying to walk the straight and narrow path, whether it be with his family, his job, or both. Well, Lola is kinda that type of character. She's a bit of a home-wrecker, and part of that comes from that fact that she's immature and lacks enough life experiences to know that what she's doing is destroying this guy's life and career. On the other side of this equation is Vance, and Vance is arguably the most unlikable person in this book. He, too, could be considered a bit of a villain. After their intense sex scene, he makes Lola feel like an unwanted, undesirable loser, hides from her like a coward and causes her to leave. Remember, Vance is a person in authority who is much more financially stable and (should be) more mature than Lola is, yet he hurts her. He hurts her like a petty, immature, heartless moron. And he does this more than once throughout the book. In fact, both characters hurt each other at various times, leading each other on, then pulling away for whatever reason. So, now we have this emotionally-vulnerable young woman who claims she is struggling to pay for college pining for this damaged, promiscuous college professor (who his probably old enough to be her father). Vice-verse, we have this college professor pining over an emotionally-vulnerable and financially-desperate student. Vance is not a great guy, in fact he's not even a good guy. Like we said, he acts like a villain. There's one scene in which Lola is having a private conversation with one of her friends about her feelings and what's going on, then Vance just appears behind them and butts in like a stalkerish creep. The way he thinks is also frustrating and a bit scary. One bit reads: “There were people in his life who were important to him. Why should he purposefully tell her anything about his life? She let herself out of his room. She was no longer needed there.” No longer needed there?! Dude, she's not some pillowcase that needs to be washed or replaced. She's not a cup holder on your desk. She's a human being! It's also frustrating how the two of them defend each other to other people, even when they're both in the wrong a lot of the time. We are even explicitly told, “He'd done the right thing” at one point. Well, that's for the reader to decide, not the narrator. With all that said, this book does have some bright spots. For one, the premise is compelling. The writing is actually quite good. There are some eloquent lines like “...those thoughts had settled in his empty chest like old dust” and “We were each on a merry-go-round of our own making.” If you are drawn to books about taboo relationships, you can check this out on Amazon! Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
Jar of Tears is a heartwrenching and powerful novel concerning childhood loss, coping, and grief by Kathleen Templeton! The book follows Miracle Reid (usually just called “Mira” for short) a young girl whose beloved mother, Violet Elizabeth Reid, has recently passed away from cancer. Mira, who believes that mothers can't die until they reach old age, attends the “fake funeral” in complete denial and with heavy skepticism. The novel follows Mira through every step and every stage of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Now, with that said, these stages are never portrayed in a tacked-on or contrived way. There's never a time when we thought that a section of the book was unnecessary or felt artificial. In fact, the opposite. Every moment of this book seems organic, natural, meaningful, and necessary. Every word and page seems organic, natural, meaningful, and necessary. The author made such an extraordinary good use of time. They struck such a perfect balance between time, pacing, and substance. In fact, the first thing we thought when completing this book was, “WOW! That was a pretty dang decent book! Great length too!” It never seems drawn out or outstays its welcome, which is a problem we're noticing with a lot of books this season—they just drag and go on too long. That's not a problem with this book. This book doesn't waste any time introducing us to Mira and the fact that her mom is undeniably, irreversibly dead. That fact hits you like a sack of bricks, and it should. The finality of it is clear, even when Mira keeps insisting that her mother is still alive. While this came across as annoying and childish initially, we slowly gained an understanding and appreciation for Mira's feelings and her fragile mental state. This is going to sound like a strange comparison, but we contrasted the way that Mira (a little girl) handled trauma with the way that Peggy (an adult) from Dream Me Home treated her trauma. With that in mind, Mira was a lot less annoying and a lot more relatable. You might remember us being annoyed with how Peggy was airheaded, scatterbrained, and made extremely poor decisions (and was an extremely bad judge of character) after her trauma. Well, Mira has a right to be naive—she's a little girl who has just lost the love of her life! What's more? Well, it's clear that the author drew from her own personal experiences, losing her mother in a similar manner at the age of nine. Templeton was able to genuinely and authentically portray her experiences—experiences which are sure to resonate with people who've experienced similar things. And that's probably the best thing about this book: how genuine and authentic it feels. It doesn't care if Mira might seem annoying or unlikable for the first part of the book. Are you likable all the time, 100% of the time? Is this an election for Most Likable? No. Rather, the author simply portrays Mira, her thoughts, and her feelings AS IS—just as they are. No filter. No censor. No restrictions. No second or third opinions. No committee. Just Mira. And there's power to that. There's power to reading and hearing the thoughts of a child in her darkest, saddest hour. It doesn't read like an adult writing or interpreting this information. It actually sounds like a child talking to us, telling us how she feels and why she thinks she feels it. Mira is crushed by the loss of her mother. It's a bit of double-whammy as she's forced to move, leaving behind her childhood best friend and home. She does everything in her power—everything in her little hands –to preserve what she had. She cherishes the smell of her mother in the linen, even if it smells a bit like the onions she cooked with. She cherishes her mother's voice in the voicemail. So, when both of these things are taken from her—when the linens are washed and when her mother's phone number is no longer in service—its absolutely devastating. And we feel every ounce of that devastation along with her. Giving the book its name, Mira begins filling a jar of tears, a little empty jar that she cries into. Her goal becomes to cry and fill it with so many tears that she can somehow bargain with God to give her mother back. However, we all know that isn't going to happen. Not in the way she hopes. However, not only does this highlight Mira in the bargaining stage of grief, but it also highlights something that was extremely important to Mira's mother: her Christian faith. It's said that Mira's mother would sing Christian music in the car all the time, even to the embarrassment of her daughter. Violet Reid had faith and had hope—a hope of an afterlife in heaven with God. This is something that haunts and lingers with Mira, seemingly taunting and also encouraging/motivating her. Mira is a huge crisis of faith, blaming God for what happened to her mom and for her continued hurt, sadness, and suffering. She begins to view God as cruel and uncaring. What's incredible is that God's love is allowed to be demonstrated in the form of the many people who reach out to Mira to show her love. They teach her that God's love often works through unexpected people and in unexpected ways. She also learns that terrible things happen for a reason. We see what impact this has on Mira as she uses her personal experiences to help people like Landon to overcome their own grief and find peace and happiness in their lives again. It encourages Jessica's biological daughter, Olivia, to value and respect her mother more after one scene. Mira is also inspired/encouraged to pursue art and even enter the art contest that her mother was so excited about—things that may have not happened had Violet not died. Now, Mira's experiences seem mostly miserable until a wonderful woman at the school named Mrs. Davis approaches her with empathy , compassion, and—perhaps most important of all—understanding. Rather than viewing Mira as a hot mess like others do, Mrs. Davis views Mira as a kind of kindred spirit—someone whose sadness and suffering is linked to and similar to her own. Mrs. Davis gives her a shoulder to cry on, but also—most importantly—an ear to talk to and to express her deepest, darkest feelings and emotions without fear of judgment or retribution. Mrs. Davis may be a candidate for Best Supporting Character! Her impact on the course of the story is paramount. It's a reminder that a little patience and kindness can go a long way in changing a person's life. It changes Mira's perspective from feeling like a crazy person and a victim to feeling like someone with relatable feelings/experiences and a future. It's awesome to see Mira slowly but surely evolve and even act out, even playing a prank after learning that it was something her mother was once known for. The message is clear: it's not over. It might seem like it's over, but the world keeps turning and the sun keeps burning. Check it out and support it on Indiegogo! |
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