Buzzing by Samuel Sattin
Buzzing is more of a 3.5 as an averaged out score than either a 3 or a 4. I enjoyed seeing the changes in the illustrations to show the emotions, feelings, and how our main character is reacting. This is clever and a unique way of helping us see the situation. However, I never felt any one character was overly fleshed out and none felt “real” and more of a bit of a cliché. At the same time there are a lot of good pieces […]
Glitterland by Alexis Hall
The truth was, somewhere down the line, between the hospitalisations and the drugs, I’d somehow lost the cornerstone of humanity: the ability to pretend, to counterfeit the basics of social interaction, to smile when you didn’t feel like smiling, to seem like you cared about other people when you lacked the capacity to care about yourself. So that left me, graceless and wearied, pretending to pretend. ― Alexis Hall, Glitterland It’s difficult, sometimes, for me to understand that I have the power to hurt someone. […]
The Deepest Breath by Meg Grehan
The Space Between by Meg Grehan
Meg Grehan came on my radar recently with Baby Teeth. I was intrigued for many reasons; I had read another book titled Baby Teeth and wondering how it compared. I was interested as the cover was romantic, old fashioned, but screamed modern. The colors were both perfect and overly done at first glance. And finally, it was a novel in verse, and I am always curious to see if they read as poetry or flow as a novel. And while it was not my OMG […]
The Dreamway by Lisa Papademetriou
I do not remember how I found out about The Dreamway by Lisa Papademetriou but find it I did, and an interlibrary loan is how it came to be in my possession. I would have loved this as a 10-to 13-year-old. The story is cute, but not overly cutesy. There is enough fantasy to grab the fantasy reader, but enough reality to grab them, too. The sibling story is interesting. The narrator’s disability does not come into play a lot (and in fact could be […]
The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures by Noelle Stevenson
The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures is not for everyone. It took me some time to get through Noelle Stevenson’s memoir. Before I go into the details, I will say, read this book as many times as is needed. This is not an easy read, not just because of the themes, but because of how it is written. A graphic novel is not always the best way to present yourself but also, what better way for an artist to do just that? […]
When Sadness Is at Your Door by Eva Eland
This is going to be a very popular book. It is going to win awards for context and for the illustrations. It will be talked about, promoted and probably go out of stock for a while at vendors/publisher. If you have not read this book people are going to think you have two heads. And it is going to be one of those books that if you do not like it, people will think something is wrong with you. BUT do not be afraid to say […]
