3 stars A powerful coming-of-age story. This novel-in-verse takes a young poet, a forbidden love interest, a strict, religious mother, an apathetic father, a secretive brother, a supportive best friend, and an encouraging teacher, mixes them together, and presents a story of hardship, hope, and healing. This book tackles so many issues such as mother/daughter…
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5 stars A beautifully-told journey of the struggle between two worlds, friendship, grief, and acceptance. I loved every page. Pulling from her own life experiences, LaRocca creates a truly fantastic story. This novel-in-verse strikes to the core. It perfectly captures the struggles of its main character. Though the book is relatively short, it covers so…
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5 stars It feels slightly odd reviewing this audiobook as it isn’t quite a traditional audiobook. Prelutsky’s poems are set to music complete with a banjo, mandolin, saw, percussion, fiddle, slide trumpet, guitar, bass, keyboard, and kazoo. This makes the it feel more like a music CD than a book, but provides a wonderful listening…
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4 stars A hilarious collection of poems that taps into the whimsey, humor, imagination, and oddity of childhood. Great for those who enjoy Shel Silverstein or as an introduction to poetry. These poems are wonderful to read aloud and are paired with fun drawings from James Stevenson that really bring them to life. Throughout the silliness, there are also…
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4 stars A delightfully simple story that lists what humans need in splendid poetic style. Through the illustrations, the reader watches a life unfold. Jasu Hu pulls from her own life story and depicts her artistic journey, celebrating homecoming, happiness, and the cyclical nature of love and life. Though it is simple, it is beautiful….
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4 stars Fantastic collection for readers and writers. This books brings together various comics from Snider previously featured on Incidental Comics as well as in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other publications. This is a book about the love and frustrations of reading (and by extension, writing). Nice read for fans of Debbie Tung‘s Book Love and other comic…
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4 stars A fascinating collection that explores the would-bes and what-ifs of fairy tale villains. These stories provide alternate explanations and prequels to give insight into the thinking of some of the most notorious villains in the fairy tale world. From the troll under the bridge and the giantess in the sky to the woman…
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2 stars Okay collection filled with passion and perspective. I think this is best experienced when performed by the poet himself. Reading it, it was often difficult for me to get the right rhythm and flow of each piece. For me personally, I didn’t really connect with the poems. There were wonderful descriptions and images…
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4 stars A lovely illustrated edition of Neil Gaiman’s poem, “Instructions”. First published in A Wolf at the Door: And Other Retold Fairy Tales, “Instructions” provides the reader with tips, tricks, and reminders pulled straight from fairy tales, myths, and other stories. The illustrated edition adds even deeper meaning to the poem, incorporating further references into…
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1 star A disappointing read from a book with such a catchy title and lovely cover. Loved the idea but the execution did not work for me. For me, this book tries to do too much. It is part memoir, part poetry anthology, and part poetry analysis with some facts and quotes from other poets…
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