bookishrealm's reviews
3761 reviews

For some reason I can't seem to keep my hands off of picture books that deal with death and loss. I thought that this was simply going to deal with two cats that meet each other and live together, but it's so much more. I also loved that this picture book explored the theme of acceptance especially since the one cat was older and white and the other cat was younger and black. I may be reading too much into it, but the symbolism that I got from this book was amazing. My eyes were not awed by the artwork, but I can understand why and how it was granted the Caledcott Honor. This is a great tool to use for children if they are dealing with emotions related to death and loss and how that can be difficult for everyone, but I also think that it's a good tool in illustrating that there is life after we lose someone. It hurts, but eventually we can move on and continue with our lives. I highly recommend this picture book.

This was a difficult one for me to get into. The artwork was beautiful, but I didn't feel great about the content. It was extremely detailed and I do not really have an interest in the scientific history behind the grand canyon; however, I feel like this will be a great book for any child that could be interested in discovering more about the Grand Canyon, it's weather, and the animals that lived there. This is also a great source for vocabulary exploration. I, even as an adult, was unfamiliar with some of the vocabulary used in the book and learned quite a bit and even researched out difficult it would be to hike to the bottom of the grand canyon. If any child is doing research or simply wants to know more about the grand canyon then I would definitely recommend this book.

This book was HILARIOUS! From the cover I had no idea that I was going to enjoy it. It came out in 2017, but it definitely has an older look to it. I've heard the jokes that go "why was six scared of seven? Because seven ate nine." I was really happy to to see that this joke was the basis for the book. The play on words literally made me laugh out loud. I enjoyed the fact that the author decided to include numbers as well as letters. I think that this book does attest to the fact that sometimes we don't feel special and that it can take someone reminding us that there are attributes about us that do make us stand out in ways that are different from everyone else. It was a fantastic book and I definitely recommend this for parents who are looking for fun ways to teach their children numbers as well as books that make readers laugh out loud.

This comic book was phenomenal! I was pleasantly surprised and shocked about how it pulled me in. I don’t know if anyone else got these vibes but it did slightly remind me of The Wicked + The Divine. I don’t know if it was the storyline or the artwork. Speaking of the artwork!!! It was beautiful and rich I’m so many beautiful colors. I can’t wait for the next volume and I will be doing a full review.

Update: Here's my full book review as posted on my blog - https://bookishrealmreviews.blogspot.com/2019/05/two-can-keep-secret-by-karen-mcmanus.html

Phew. This book had me on the edge of my seat. I had no idea what was going to happen next. The theme of killing homecoming queens is a bit cliche but I must admit that this author knows how to effectively make you think one person is guilty when they’re really not. Another issue I had with the book was the point of views. The voices were very similar so I constantly had to check to see who’s perspective I was reading from. But I didn’t know who was actually responsible for the death of the girls and the last line of the book....completely blew my mind. Definitely give this one a try.

This was a strange first issue and to be quite honest I didn’t really like it. I was confused on the main characters perception of super heroes. She seemed to be all over the place and it pissed me off that she came from such a good background yet she wanted to intentionally create chaos just because she thought it was a way to get powers. It was crappy to hear her say stuff like that when her closest friend was clearly getting abused by her father and lived in a rough household and environment. I don’t think this series even goes past issue #2 but I definitely won’t be reading it.

Eh...I didn't like this one. At all. I've heard so many good things about it, but I really really didn't enjoy it. The main character Rose was really really mean to Windy and considered her to be immature when really Rose wasn't mature either. She threw around sexual slurs so easily and judged other people so easily. I would have had more empathy because her family was going through a lot, but I still didn't feel like there was an excuse for her behavior. In fact, her behavior is never reconciled and it pissed me off to know that she would probably continue on having the same thoughts and opinions. The only redeeming quality of this graphic novel was the artwork because if they artwork wasn't good I would really give it only half a star. I'll be exploring this one more in a full review on my blog. I'll be sure to upload the change here when it goes live on the blog.

This was a cute picture book that captured rhyming schemes and the after affects of mistakes made when trying to help friends. It’s a funny picture book and it definitely made me laugh out loud.

I originally gave this 5 stars. A lot of shit changed. Full review to come.

Full review: http://bookishrealmreviews.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-is-for-elizabeth-series-blog-tour.html?m=1