[REVIEW] Too Many Tamales, by Gary Soto, illustrated by Ed Martinez

(Buy it HERE.) **This book is also available in Spanish as ¡Qué montón de tamales! Thing I said approximately 337 times while reading this book: Awwww, my HEART! 🎄⠀Christmas is a great time to create, remember and celebrate childhood memories and this beautifully illustrated picture book is great for all three. Little Maria is feelingContinue reading “[REVIEW] Too Many Tamales, by Gary Soto, illustrated by Ed Martinez”

[REVIEW] Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo

(Buy it HERE.) 🛫⠀Yano Rios is on a flight from NYC to Santo Domingo when a mechanical error causes the plane to crash. There are no survivors, and his teenaged daughter Camino is devastated when the anticipation of her father’s yearly visit turns into unspeakable grief and sudden financial insecurity for her and her aunt.Continue reading “[REVIEW] Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo”

[REVIEW] The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

(Buy it HERE.) You know what the weirdest thing about being an adult is? It’s that nobody ever really tells the whole truth. We’re told not to lie for our entire childhoods, then we grow up and realize almost no-one is ever entirely honest about what’s really going on with them.👡⠀Take, for example, the protagonistsContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez”

[REVIEW] The Land, Mildred D Taylor

(Buy it HERE.) In the run up to the January release of All The Days Past, All The Days Yet To Come, I did myself a favor and re-read all the of books in the Logan Family Saga by Mildred D. Taylor. The evocative 9-book series follows a Black American family in Jim Crow-era MississippiContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Land, Mildred D Taylor”

[REVIEW] Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu

(Buy it HERE.) “The question is: Who gets to be an American? What does an American look like?“~Willis Wu, Interior Chinatown⠀🥋⠀Imagine if Spike Lee was Taiwanese-American and wrote novels in strange, semi-screenplay format. That’s the best way I can think of to describe this book and the way it shifts through unreliable realities while alternatingContinue reading “[REVIEW] Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu”

[REVIEW] A Mercy, Toni Morrison

(Buy it HERE.) ⭐⭐⭐*whew* This ain’t it, y’all. Toni Morrison was a genius and everything she wrote is brilliant in some way. But now that I’ve said that, I honestly feel that when you place A Mercy next to the rest of Morrison’s oeuvre it’s like parking a hooptie in a lot full of Ferraris.Continue reading “[REVIEW] A Mercy, Toni Morrison”

[REVIEW] The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, Sun-Mi Hwang

(Buy it HERE.) ⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5) “The important thing is to understand each other. That’s love!” This book follows Sprout, a pathetic old laying hen with a big heart and a dream. She survives a terrifying coop cull and embarks on a new life in the fields as a free hen. Her lowly circumstances don’t keep herContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, Sun-Mi Hwang”

[REVIEW] Odd One Out, Nic Stone

(Buy it HERE) ⭐⭐⭐/5Courtney loves his best friend Jupiter. Jupiter loves girls. New girl Rae isn’t sure who she loves or how she feels about it. Odd One Out explores their individual perspectives & the questions they have about their emerging sexualities & relationships.⠀🏳️‍🌈⠀I love how casually diverse this book is. Race, culture and sexualityContinue reading “[REVIEW] Odd One Out, Nic Stone”

[REVIEW] When My Brother Was An Aztec, Natalie Diaz

“When My Brother Was An Aztec/he lived in our basement and sacrificed my parents/every morning. It was awful.” Natalie Diaz’s When My Brother Was An Aztec is a legit masterpiece. Go read it, now. Books of poetry are sometimes navel-gazing, self-absorbed bores but this one is simply amazing. I slurped it down in two shortContinue reading “[REVIEW] When My Brother Was An Aztec, Natalie Diaz”

[REVIEW]No One Can Pronounce My Name, Rakesh Satyal

(Buy it HERE.) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5⠀ This book is easily my second favorite read of the year so far after Girl, Woman, Other. It’s funny, touching, warm-hearted, and surprisingly deep. It’s also ferociously well-written. (One chapter made me close the book, say WOW, & sit for a while with the words.) I can’t believe I’ve never heardContinue reading “[REVIEW]No One Can Pronounce My Name, Rakesh Satyal”