Corbie
The author obsessively quotes himself, the first half is filled with toxic productivity, and the rest is all advice you've heard a thousand times before....
This book teaches common shapes using fun animal scenes. It's something that small kids will adore. A few of the shapes seemed a little forced but that's more something that adults would take note of and wouldn't affect a child's enjoyment of the images.
ARC via Netgalley
The publisher did this author a huge disservice by allowing this book to be printed with so many errors. The first chapter alone has so many spelling, grammar and continuity errors that likely prevent the book from drawing readers in. It took multiple attempts at reading this before I could push though to end. The story is cute, but the book still needs major edits.
The Science of Witchcraft attempts to explain details of magical tales in terms of modern science. Overall it's a pretty good book and can be read through or used as reference if you wanted to read based on what stories you already know.
However, there are some chapters that are only vaguely connected to the story they're titled for. The chapters were still interesting explanations of some weird science, but they didn't quite connect back to the witchery they were supposedly trying to explain and instead felt like the book had jumped down a wikipedia rabbit hole and forgot to finish reading the original article.
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.
This book is a collection of 12 stories from emerging African writers. The stories vary in genre and theme, which makes it easy to jump through and find a story to click with. Each writer did a wonderful job with their contributions to this anthology. I think this book could be a good introduction point to people who want to start reading from more African authors since you get a variety of stories that largely deviate from the narrative that large publishers tend to favor from African writers.
Copy received via Netgalley
A cute chapter book for kids interested in science.
Nine year old Zeke with ‘hair that told the weather' has set out to win the class photo contest by getting the perfect winter weather picture and start on his path to becoming a weather warrior like his favorite TV meteorologist. You follow him as he tracks the winter weather blowing in and tries to find a good subject for his photo. Each chapter comes with illustrations and easy to follow explanations of basic weather-related science as well as tips for handling weather changes.
*Advanced reader copy via Netgalley
In this Little People, Big Dreams book we follow as Farrokh Bulsara discovers his love for music, moves across the world and finds a band that would become Queen as well as his new identity as Freddie Mercury. It's brightly illustrated and makes for a great continuation for this series.
*ARC via Netgalley
The illustrations are adorably done and it's packed with fun thing for the littles to do in the winter.
Having done many of these activities myself there's a bit of concern on the content:
‘ask for adults help' for the candy making. For process shown the child should not be helping at all, hot sugar burns are no joke. Since the child won't be much help here I don't think it should have been included. It'll be more frustrating than fun for them.
The compost bottle is a cute idea that lets your kid watch as the kitchen scraps break down, but soft plastics can make the worms sick and there's no mention of making sure it doesn't become acidic, which is especially important if they're getting citrus scraps from the recipes in this book. While it should be cute and educational it's just a torture chamber for the poor worms.
*Review copy via Netgalley
In this short comic we find the main character and author attempting to find the story that they're supposed to be telling. It's a fourth wall breaking identity crisis. The illustrations are well detailed, but the story line is a little flat. A good read, but not one that would likely be reread much.
*ARC via Netgalley
If you've ever asked your parents a simple yes or no question and then gotten a long winded explanation that you didn't ask for, this is that in book form.
The story is simply the father explaining all types of things that people are afraid of and why people would fear this thing. The artwork is quite creative and detailed.
*ARC via Netgalley
Ending the story with them planning to do the exact thing that caused the problem in the first place
This book serves as a great introduction to different kinds of animals that can be pets and some details about the care that they may need. I think it could have benefitted to have a few more details on some pages since some of these animals are given to children as ‘easy pets' even though they have quite specific care needs that often get overlooked, cage/tank size for example look quite small in the illustrations and could give a young reader the wrong impression.
That said, the book does well discussing different types of animals and I appreciate that they pointed out that some animals are shy and some do not like being handled.
ARC via Netgalley
Here we have a story of Donkey the cat having an existential crisis concerning whether or not he is actually a cat. He knew he was a cat because he had been told so, but somehow he doesn't feel like a cat.
The drawings and characterization of each cat is adorable and I think most young readers would enjoy the confusion Donkey experiences in this book.
*ARC via Netgalley
This book is another cute book for teaching children about opposites. There are 13 pairs in this book, each with adorable and goofy animal illustrations. It's very colorful, with the background color changing with each pair, easy to keep a young child's attention.
*ARC via Netgalley
Grandma, who was assumed to be dead, returns home after 67 years. The family decides to have her leave their home but change their tune when she reveals she has ~4 million dollars to her name. But where is the money? And why has she come home now? In this story we follow the out-of-work grandson as he watches his dysfunctional family come to terms with the disappearance and reappearance of the family matriarch and as they try to discover what grandma has actually be doing for the last 67 years.
The author does a good job of covering some pretty dark topics while keeping the overall tone of the book light. It's a fun read that goes by a lot faster than it feels.
ARC of the Japanese edition provided via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.
It's a cute story, but the plot is so overused that it feels like I've read this a thousand times before.
The book was a great read overall, but writing felt a bit clunky during several events as the author tried to blend these three women's stories, the names and stories of those helping along the way and war details that none of those people knew about yet into a single stream.
This book felt rushed and overall messy. I understand that it is a compilation of the authors blog posts, but there didn't seem to be any thought to the ordering of the book. It could be much better, and much easier to read if the posts were placed more clearly into groups. As it is there is no flow.
The author discusses her experiences with her eating disorder and road to ‘recovery' while also discussing societal issues that play into eating disorders. I appreciated that the author took time throughout the book to note when her experience wasn't the norm for many people battling these disorders and address how difficult it can be for people with these issues to be taken seriously when seeking treatment or even just a diagnosis.
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.
The drawings are pretty but you know the meme about how to draw an owl? Because a lot of the instructions in this book are basically that meme over and over again
For being purely black and white they did a great job illustrating and typesetting this book. The high contrast is good for little ones developing eyes so this would be perfect for the little ones during spooky season.
*ARC via Netgalley
The Shape Of You starts by covering the basic shapes and slowly evolves into describing the shapes of more figurative things.
The text is wonderfully thought provoking for a child, but the artwork is also so beautiful that I personally had to go through it multiple times just to look at all the details in the textures used.
*ARC via Netgalley
The book is written in perfectly normal English and the instructions are clear, leading me to believe that the other reviewer read a different book.
So many errors. Mostly editing errors, but at one point the author gives instructions for growing a plantain tree when they were introducing the common plantain... a small garden weed.
This book is perfect for a child who is interested in animals. You get a cute chimpanzee introducing the daily life of a chinpanzee as well as the community structure they live in. It's quite informative while also being an easy read and also has fun facts, games, activities and a quiz at the end of the book that could also make it a good option for a classroom read.
*ARC via Netgalley