Renee

Perhaps this simply found me at the right time, but I adored this book. More aromatic representation is desperately needed, and this was a great version of it while also being a satisfying fantasy adventure that captures middle school almost too well. It definitely hits you over the head with its themes, but I didn't really mind that.

A whimsical, feel good story about found family and beloved childhood books. This book may have been written specifically to make me cry. I loved it. 

I also think this found me at the right time. I am ace/aro and I am trying to figure out how to have a child as a single adult in a responsible way. In some ways, I have never related more to a character than to Lucy.

This is an excellent version of what it is and I enjoyed it a lot! Extremely interesting and I think required reading for fans of the Little House books. I loved them as a kid but they desperately need the context this book provides. I do wish the parts about Laura's youth had been expanded and the parts about her later years condensed somewhat.

I keep thinking about this book. It should be so much more famous! (In the USA, that is. I know Michael Ende is much better known in some places and obviously in Germany.) Truly, in my humble opinion, this is a masterpiece of children's literature akin to A Little Princess, The Phantom Tollbooth, or A Wrinkle in Time.

This book is bananas. It's grotesque and haunting, and I don't know that I would recommend it widely... but it's also brilliant. I think I'd comp this as Dream Girls meets Get Out, but through a white lens and sicker. Yikes. BUT the examination/critique of whiteness here is accurate, brutal, and necessary in my opinion. Some parts are baffling initially. I thought I didn't “get” the story until almost the last chapter and then it clicked, which is pretty impressive pacing. This might be the most perplexed I have ever been by a book and yet it get 4 stars

Honestly I feel like I wasn't smart enough for this book. It was beautifully written, even in translation, and at times it felt like a fever dream. I think it's an excellent book. It's complex, engrossing, and certainly deserves its reputation as a classic. However, it was not a book I especially enjoyed on a personal level.

Absolutely fantastic.
The forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans is underrepresented in literature. I'm so glad this book exists to highlight this important atrocity in such a nuanced, personal, and accessible way. These connected short stories bring each character to vivid life and shows how varied their experiences were, but there is also a sense of a central narrative as we move through time and their collective experiences. 

I'm not going to officially rate this, but my personal rating is 3 stars. That being said, the hard truths Greta communicates here are incredibly important. Her words are concise, powerful, and tragic.

The reason for the 3 star review is that I don't think the presentation of this book adequately communicates its contents. This is a collection of Greta's speeches. Because they were not written to be collectively presented, and because those in power have continued to fail to act on the climate crisis, the speeches are very repetitive and therefore not as interesting after the first couple. However, after reading this I feel compelled to learn more about the climate crisis and how I can act to stop it, which means this book has served its purpose very well. The book receives 3/5 from me, but Greta herself is 10/10 every time.

First a clarification - I thought going in that it was based on the actual story of the Central Park 5, which it isn't, but Amal's story is an echo of thousands of real stories.

I want every person, and especially every American, to read this book. It is a beautiful, well-titled gut punch that emptied me out. I cannot find words to put to the emotions it carries. All I can say is, this book left me hungry for justice, and that is a good hunger to have.

I'm going to go cry now.