5 stars An absolutely fantastic read! Beautifully-written with gorgeous illustrations. This is a lovely book. One of the aspects of the book that I really liked is that the hijab is not presented as an obstacle of any sort in the story. It is not something the characters are embarrassed by or learn to accept….

2 stars For the most part, the book was good. In comparison to the first book, the plot is much faster as there is not as much buildup and world building needed. There is quite a bit of explanation as to what happened in the first book so this could be read as a standalone…

3 stars A nice collection of fairy tales. It contains the stories, “Snow White”, “The Frog Prince”, “Three Wishes”, “Toads and Pearls”, “Red Riding Hood”, “The Three Great Noodles”, and “Hansel and Gretel”. The book does not adhere strictly to the originals nor are they reinvented into completely new tales. Instead, as Jenkins writes in…

3 stars While I love reading Neil Gaiman’s work, sometimes I am left with something I don’t entirely know what to do with. This is one of those times. As I’ve only read the graphic novel format, I don’t know if all of the text is included in this adaptation, however at times I felt…

3 stars A unique concept with interesting results. Overall, the book was pretty good. I think its important to take into account how it came about and the way it was written. The pacing was rather fast and meandering, which is understandable given its writing process. Likewise, there isn’t much character development and I didn’t…

3 stars A few years ago I read the third book in this series (not realizing it was a series, just so captivated by that cover). I recently saw my library had the audiobooks of the previous books so I thought I’d listen to them for some quick entertainment while driving. Overall, this was a…

4 stars A fantastic retelling of Mean Girls in the style of William Shakespeare. This book is clever, hilarious, and a delight to read. This book is such a fun way to combine classic literature and popular culture. The unique blend makes Shakespeare’s style of writing more understandable and approachable for modern readers as the…

4 stars A great story to share with young readers. These women’s journeys are inspiring and show what hard work can accomplish. While it is unfortunate that they were unrecognized for so long, it is wonderful to see their stories told in a variety of formats (picture books, adult non-fiction, film) in recent years. Overall,…

3 stars I am so torn in how to rate this book. While there were aspects that I absolutely loved, others things haven’t aged well. One thing I loved about this short, fun, whimsical book is that each chapter reads like a short story. There isn’t necessarily a plot that goes all the way through…