Ram Dass on the death of a child: “Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teaching [meaning great suffering] you are receiving?” Not from the tagged book but another compiled by Usher called Grief.

From French writer Colette on finding a letter from her long dead mother: “How strange: one can successfully “hold” oneself very well in the hardest hours. But then, someone makes a friendly gesture behind a window, one notices a blossom which was just a bud yesterday - or a letter slips from a drawer - and everything falls apart.”

I swore I posted this already but maybe I just imagined it? Anyway this is a great read about a girl who has recently moved from China to New York City by a woman who did that in her childhood. It‘s so sweet and the mom pulls the little girl out of bed “like a giant turnip”! 😍

This is of course the absolute least of their worries but it‘s still so sad. It‘s 1975 and Saigon is now under Communist control and her family is trying to figure out how to survive…

LOVE THIS SO MUCH. Book 1 ends on a cliffhanger!

Cool YA sale! Wish I had room to get some of these…https://pangobooks.com/bookstore/heyella

I‘m on page 15 and I already LOVE this and have to get book 2 💕💕💕

These illustrations are so lovely!! 😍 Also this book has very little text - like a few lines every 10+ pages? but it still tells an interesting story 💕

If you love Carle‘s illustrations, you‘ll love this book. It is just so beautiful 😍

This is amazing and deserves all the hype. CW: sexual assault / rape, and repeated mentions of substance abuse (although addiction is not depicted on the page).

Only a dozen pages in and this is just …wow!

Written in verse, this is a fast and lovely read. Started it a long while ago so I‘m glad I finally got to finish it!

Very good so far… 🤩

Great book and stunning illustrations.

This picture doesn‘t do it justice but this book is so beautiful and interesting. Everyone should get a copy! And here is a quote: “Patience is the love of life.”

Slim but good. For me this was a borrow not buy kind of book. It was a little too short but otherwise I liked it.

My pictures don‘t nearly do it justice but I loved this second book in Garlic‘s adventures. Highly recommended.

Oh how I love the expressive little Garlic in this!

So adorable. Very little text but I loved the illustrations!

Thought-provoking and interesting. If you haven‘t read this already, you should get a copy!

Glad I tried one of these but I have to say it was just ok. Limited text and repetition that might help struggling readers. Didn‘t think it was especially funny but maybe some very little kids would. For me this is something to borrow not buy.

Loved this. Not sure how hard it would be to follow if you don‘t know anything about Judaism, but I think the little notes would help those who don‘t know what some terms mean.

I finished this a while ago and found it very introspective and interesting. It was as much about the author and her relationship with her mother as it was about Roy Hudgins. CW for sexual assault, addiction, abandonment.

Picked this up on a Kinokuniya visit when I wasn‘t going to buy anything and then this somehow ended up in my hands? It was weirdly delightful. Highly recommend it if it interests you.

I was hesitant to read this given that I thought this might be too scary a topic for a younger reader, but in the end I was impressed. I thought this was well done. And now maybe I should set a goal to read more Newbery winners next year.

A good, quick read! Sorry for the crap picture but that way you can see the size of the text. Sometimes that helps me get an idea of who I would recommend this to. Could be good for reluctant readers or kids moving from picture books to chapter books. Set in Trinidad with mentions of London.

I was hooked from the translator‘s note… so far I‘ve found this to be funny and engrossing. I‘ll keep you posted!

Enjoyed this middle-grade by a Korean-American author and Vietnamese illustrator. Now for book 2!

I‘ve loved everything I‘ve read by Britta Teckentrup so far! This is a good one for kids or adults who might be feeling a little sad. Beautiful illustrations.

💗

Just finished this on audio and it was so very interesting and of course terrifying as well. Unsurprisingly I had to take breaks from the brutality of everything Vrba lived through, but otherwise found this to be a very engrossing read. One of the best books I‘ve read in 2022.

Just started this one

Really, really good. Finally focused my squirrely brain and finished it… another favorite title of 2022.

I am both hopeful and pissed off while I read this. Also feel like everyone should read it. Glad I‘m finally getting to finish it.

Enjoyed this but not sure if it‘s advice so much as vignettes some readers can benefit from. CW for discussions of bullying and suicide. I was caught off guard by the second topic in particular. While I found those parts hard to listen to, I would definitely read more from him.

Finally got a copy of this and loved it. No surprise. Just passing that on…

“WE KNOW WHAT BOOK YOU SHOULD READ NEXT” is just scary but ok this one was pretty amazing. However CW for sexual assault, addiction, and pregnancy loss. One of the best biographies/memoirs I read in 2022, no doubt.

Interesting as a kind of time capsule from the Beacon Hill neighborhood in Seattle. Now I want to read the second book but I don‘t have a copy. Maybe I‘ll look around for a used copy at some point…

Only 6 people are waiting for this… that actually surprises me. I‘m only a little ways in but appreciate her stance: “No one ever shamed themselves into better mental health.” Very true.

Ok not the best picture but a really lovely book. Highly recommended.

On book 2 and it‘s excellent 😊

So I don‘t know anything about Scotland so this was a tougher read for me… interesting though.

Hysterical so far… 😂

This is a re-read for me. I feel like life has made me into a sugar cookie a lot lately (he‘s referring to unpleasant failure) and I could use some motivation on how to move forward. Enjoying this the second time around too.

Wow. I borrowed this from the library recently and all I can say is: this book is AMAZING.

I managed to wait a whole two days before I bought this. So looking forward to joining the old gang in their third book!

Wow. This was incredibly thought provoking and I enjoyed it in a sense. And now I really have to find something lighter to read!

“Men who start by burning books end by burning other men.”

“Still,” began the ex-hatmaker, “I wonder if spring will ever come.”
The rest of them nodded in agreement.
“Perhaps it never will again,” murmured the woman with bad knees. 😱😱😱

I haven‘t read the original so don‘t know how this compares but this adaptation really drew me in. Highly recommended and I can see why it has won so many awards including a Kate Greenaway Medal (which is why it popped back up on my radar so to speak…). Hope my next read is as good as this!