Super Gay by Jessi Hersey

Genre: Early Reader / Graphic Novel
Pages: 21 pages
Published Date: September 22, 2022
Publisher: Onenesslove Publishing LLC
Series: First in series
Rating: 4 out of 5 
Age: 1 – 6

DISCLAIMER:  I received an advance copy of Super Gay from the publisher through NetGalley for the purposes of writing an honest review.

This story is meant to be a simple read for those just learning to read, from ages 1-6, and for children with special needs.

Meet Madison (she/her) or also known as Super Gay. She is here to help young readers understand pronouns. She also wants everyone to know that love does not have to look a certain way. This short, but very colorful book pride themed book is great for readers that are just starting to read or being read to.

Kids in preschool and kindergarten will find this book very useful. They will get a better understanding of what pronouns are and how to use them. Not only does this book teach pronouns, it also presents them and the people they are attached to in an accepting way. If we can teach kids that love is love and it shouldn’t matter who you love, then the world will be a better place.

This is the first book in the series. The second one in the series is currently in the works.

#LGBTQIAchildrensbookSGPronounsPrek #NetGalley

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

Genre: Young Adult / Speculative Fiction
Pages: 272 pages
Published Date: February 15, 2022
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Series: None
Rating: 5 out of 5 
Age: 12 – 17

DISCLAIMER:  I received an advance copy of Bitter from the publisher through NetGalley for the purposes of writing an honest review.

This is a companion to the National Book Award finalist Pet.

Bitter has been in and out of Foster care all her life. That is until she is chosen to attend Eucalyptus, a special school where students of all backgrounds get to study their interests. Bitter’s focus is art. The school is a sort of haven. With what is happening outside the walls of Eucalyptus in the town of Lucille, Bitter is more than happy to stay in the safety of the school. Outside in the city of Lucille, protests and injustices pull Bitter in many different directions. Old friends are trying to get her outside and be a part of what is happening around her. A new love interest pulls her away from what she loves. And then there is her creative passion for her art. What will she decide, and what will it cost her?

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Scout Is Not a Band Kid by Jade Armstrong

Genre: Graphic Novel / Music / Middle School
Pages: 246 pages
Published Date: April 5, 2022
Publisher: Random House Children’s, Random House Graphic
Series: None
Rating: 4 out of 5 
Age: 8 – 12 

DISCLAIMER:  I received an advance copy of Scout is Not a Band Kid from the publisher through NetGalley for the purposes of writing an honest review.

Scout will do anything to see her favorite author, Pristine Wong, at Almontefest. Pristine Wong is doing an exclusive autograph signing at the event, and Scout wants to meet her before Wong retires or, worse, dies. The problem is that her father thinks the trip would be too far away for someone her age to travel to meet an author. So she needs a plan. That plan is to join the Holy Moly Grades Seven Eight Band since they will be going to the same place for a competition. What could go wrong?

Well, first, Scout knows nothing about playing an instrument, and she can’t even read music. She also has some old friends that don’t seem to support her in her quest to meet her favorite author. How could they, since Scout keeps this part of her life to herself because she knows they will make fun of her.

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After the Spring by Hélène Aldeguer

Genre: Graphic Novel, Political
Pages: 136 pages
Published Date: November 19, 2019
Publisher: ‎ IDW Publishing; Illustrated edition
Series: None
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

This book is the story of four young Tunisians (Saif, Aziz, Meriem, and Chayma) after the events of the Arab Spring, which took place in 2011. Two years after the “Jasmine Revolution,” Tunisia is unstable and facing economic hardship – taken from the back cover. As the situation becomes more severe and calls to activism in the streets

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Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti

Genre: LGTQIA+ / Graphic Novel / SCI-FI
Pages: 352 pages
Published Date: February 8, 2022
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Series: None
Rating: 4.7 out of 5

DISCLAIMER:  I received an advance copy of Across a Field of Starlight from the publisher through NetGalley for the purposes of writing an honest review.

Across a Field of Starlight is a face-paced, science fiction graphic novel with two non-binary characters at the center, Fassen and Lu. When they were younger, they met after Fassen’s ship crash-landed on a planet that Lu (and others from their community) were exploring. Although it was forbidden to talk with each other – Lu lives in a passive society, and Fassen fights against the Empire – they became fast friends.

Fassen wanted to get back to their people to help fight, but they were from a different solar system, and if Fassen left, they would never see each other again. From a crashed ship, Fassen found parts they needed to contact their word, and Lu figured out a way they could stay in touch as they grew up. But their communications needed to remain a secret, or the Empire would find Lu’s home and take it over as it has done with so many others.

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The Apartment by K.L. Slater

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Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 266 pages
Published Date: April 28, 2020
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer 
Series: None
Rating: 3 out of 5

** spoiler alert ** Freya has been bounced around the foster care system her whole life. This has caused some major trust issues that she is trying to deal with. When her husband leaves her for one of her friends, Freya and her daughter, Skye, must sell their house and move to a more affordable place.

While looking for apartments on an ad board in her local coffee shop, she starts talking with a man, Dr. Marsden, who has an apartment that sounds perfect for her and Skye. Maybe too perfect. She cannot afford it, but Dr. Marsden tells her that she shouldn’t worry about the price, as they are looking for a tenant who is “just right”, not the money.

After Freya and Skye look at the apartment, they decided that this would be their new home. But after they move in strange things start to Freya. She hears cries coming from her daughter’s room when her daughter is at school; she hears sounds coming from the apartment next to her’s, but no one lives there. The other tenants seem a little off, as do Dr. Marsden and Audrey Marsden – the managers of the apartment complex. Is Freya going crazy or is something evil happening?

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The Nest by Kenneth Oppel

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Genre: Middle Grade / Fantasy
Pages: 244 pages
Published Date: October 4, 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 
Series: None
Rating: 4.7 out of 5

“Sometimes we really aren’t supposed to be the way we are. It’s not good for us. And people don’t like it. You’ve got to change. You’ve got to try harder and do deep breathing and maybe one day take pills and learn tricks so you can pretend to be more like other people. Normal people. But maybe Vanessa was right, and all those other people were broken too in their own ways. Maybe we all spent too much time pretending we weren’t.”

Steve is an anxious kid who worries about germs, lists, and has a little obsessive compulsive disorder. When his brother is found to be less than healthy and not getting better, Steve’s problems seem to come to a head. He knows what it’s like to be different and he doesn’t want his younger brother, Theo, to have to deal with the same problems he has. Steve wants him to be healthy. Then one night, “angels” come to him in his dreams and tell him that they are there to help his brother. Later we find out that the “angels” are wasps and Steve has been talking with the Queen Wasp. She tells Steve they are there to make him perfect. All they want is for Steve to help them and if he does, they will then work on him to make him perfect. Can Steve turn the “angels” down? Can he tell his parents when they have so much to deal with already?

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Cry Pilot by Joel Dane

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Genre: Science Fiction / Military Sci-Fi
Pages: 415 pages
Published Date: August 6, 2019
Publisher: Ace Books
Series: Cry Pilot Series (Book 1)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

So I have been hearing a lot of good things about this series and particularly the first book, “Cry Pilot”. Now I will start off by stating that I have not read a lot of Sci-Fi books, but that’s not saying that I dislike the genre. I love sci-fi and I liked this book, just did not love it for reasons that pertain to me.

The story is set in a future where the Earth has been devastated by three A.I.’s that no longer exist, but may have left something behind. Something so terrible that there is no way to stop them. Maseo Kaytu wants to join the military to help fight, but with his criminal past he knows that he is unable to become military. The only way to be a part of the military, he volunteers to become a ‘cry pilot’. This is a suicide mission where only six percent of the the volunteers survive, but he figures out a way to cheat the system and beat the odds. After he does this he is assigned to a squad where he grows and bonds with his fellow recruits, but can the hide his past and still keep the trust of his new friends?

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Lethal Agent by Kyle Mills

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Genre: Adult Fiction 
Pages: 370 pages
Published Date: September 24, 2019
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
Series: Mitch Rapp
Rating: 4 out of 5 

 

Mitch Rapp is back to take down one of America’s greatest terrorist – Sayid Halabi and hopefully stop a bioterrorist attack on America. He must do this while navigating a Mexican cartel, an anthrax scare, a toxic presidential election, and the candidate that may one day hold him and Irene Kennedy accountable for what she sees as the current administration’s biggest failure. 

Sayid Halabi, the antagonist of this story, isn’t that much different than any of the other Middle Eastern Isis terrorists that Mills (and Flynn) created in previous books. All he wants in life is to do Allah’s will and take down the evil West – and Mitch Rapp.  

The only problem I have with Lethal Agent is that Kyle Mills seems to have lost his way with Rapp in this book. Mills falls on the stereotypical spy/agent storyline that we all know too well. A top agent, who has been doing everything for America, loses their way, goes bankrupt, is now running from the law, and wants to work for an illegal, corrupt organization that he plans on taking down. Or, in the case of Lethal Agent, Rapp joins an illegal, corrupt Mexican drug cartel to find its link to Sayid Halabi, hopefully, so he can kill him. And surprise, Carlos Esparza, the leader of the Mexican cartel Rapp wants to join, has only a little (very little) doubt that Rapp may be deceiving him. Esparza will, of course, look the other way, because what does he have to lose? Oh, and Esparza knows who Rapp is and what he does and how many people he has killed. Mills even touched on the unbelievableness of this storyline when a character stated, “It’s really incredible. This is dangerous to the point of being insane. I mean, we’re talking about a ninety-nine percent chance the cartel just tortures him to death for stealing their product.” But with Rapp, he makes it by in that one percent.

Another stereotype of this storyline is Esparza’s second in command, Vicente Rossi, who doesn’t trust Rapp but can’t do anything because he is not in charge, and he doesn’t want to upset his boss.

Now with that said, I do like the character of Christine Barnett – the Senator who is the frontrunner of her party and who will probably become the next president. Mills created in her a style that you loathe right from the beginning, but how could you not when she is planning on taking Rapp and Kennedy down.   

I am giving Lethal Agent 4/5 stars and not lower, because of the story itself. Mills can spin a narrative very well. He knows how to bring in many significant characters as well as the kitchen sink and not lose his way in telling the story. I enjoyed this Rapp novel and cannot wait until his next one comes out. 

    

Unicorn of Many Hats (Phoebe and Her Unicorn Series Book 7)

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Genre: Middle Grade, GraphicNovel 
Pages: 178 pages
Published Date: March 20, 2018
Publisher: Andrews McMell Publishing
Series: Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure
Rating: 5 out of 5  

DISCLAIMER:  I received an advance copy of Unicorn of Many Hats from the publisher through NetGalley for the purposes of writing a review.

In Dana Simpson’s latest Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure, Phoebe (along with her unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils) is trying to navigate the fourth grade world. Summer vacation is coming to an end and school is starting. Phoebe has a new teachers. She is trying to make friends with Dakota – someone she does not like. She is trying to get the older kids (fifth graders) to notice how cool she is. All of this is hard when you have a unicorn that only thinks of herself and how “distractingly beautiful” she is. 

My daughter was very excited to get this new book since she loved all the previous adventures. She has read this book three times so far (and we have had it for a day). She and I laughed throughout the book. She and I keep going back to certain parts of the book and reread them out loud to others in our family. Dana Simpson captured the life of a fourth grader perfectly. Although Phoebe wants to fit in, the book stays true to the series – being yourself.

Not only is the story entertaining, but the illustrations in the book are amazing. I love the bright colors and Marigold’s house is someplace I want to live – oh yeah, we finally get to see Marigold’s house. And I would love to have her piece of furniture made of “beautiful, half-forgotten visions of a better world”.

I would defiantly recommend this book and the complete series to both kids and parents. The humor that helps move the book along is not lost with kids. Parents will enjoy Phoebe as well as her unicorn’s unbridled vanity.

#UnicornOfManyHats(phoebeAndHerUnicornSeriesBook7) #NetGalley