Perks and Recs

 March was a struggle, but I finished 19 books! After Zero by Christina Collins This book was a sad tale of a girl with selective mutism who keeps a tally of the words she says each day and feels like a failure if that number is too low. I found the main character Elise to be so relatable. This would be a great book for 5th graders or middle schoolers trying to navigate the social chaos of being young. 8/10 Ash Princess by Lara Sebastian OMG was this book amazing! It's your typical YA fantasy dystopia but with such a compelling storyline. I'm obsessed. 10/10 Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story) by Barbara Ensor I have a rainbow book shelf in my personal library that was lacking some orange so I told my 13 year old nice to "find me an aesthetic orange book" at HPB. This is what she came back with and I am so happy with it. It's a cute retelling of Cinderella told mostly through diary entries. Would be great for early readers or anyone who loves

 February was quite a busy month for me but I managed to read 26 books!  Branded by Eric Walters The story of a teen boy dealing with his school adopting a new dress code, this book was a great quick read! The Orca publishers have so many great low-level-high-interest books, and this would be a fantastic read for a 7th-10th grader! 7/10 Moby Dick by Herman Melville This has been on my to-read list forever but the 720 page length was intimidating. I ended up finishing it in 3 days. Though I found the droning on and on about the whale cumbersome, I enjoyed the overall storyline. 4/10 Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi Booktok finally got me to read this one. I didn't form any type of attachment to Juliette in this book and I found all the other characters to be fairly one-dimensional. That being said, I enjoyed the premise of a girl with powers being locked away and it definitely gives X-Men vibes so I'll be reading the 2nd one eventually. 3/10 Captain America The Winter Soldier: The Sec

 A retelling of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women set in a fictional mermaid universe? Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg with tails? If this intrigues you, try Little Women: Mermaid Edition by Megan Lois Whitehill! Just look that that cover! It's so pretty!  I might even buy a print copy for myself purely for aesthetic reasons.  As a long-time fan of the source material, I was both excited and skeptical about this one, but I am so glad I kept an open mind! Whitehill was able to take all the charm and passion from the original and put her own fantasy spin. The storyline follows the original almost exactly with changes made to reflect the setting (like Meg twisting her fin instead of spraining her ankle at the dance). I particularly enjoyed the author's version of Laurie and found myself in love with him all over again.  I can honestly say I have nothing negative to say about this book, and that's a big deal!  This would be a great read for elementary or middle school students who ar

In January of 2024 I read 25 books! Look Out for the Little Guy by Scott Lang In Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania there is a mention of Scott Lang's book. This is it. It's a great re-hash of the events of the Ant Man movies as well as the events of Infinity War/ Endgame from Scott Lang's perspective. There is also some self-help commentary as well as the comedic tone you would expect from Scott Lang. 10/10 would recommend. Plus, it's a short read! Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow - This is quite a tome and took a while to read. It's the source material Lin Manuel Miranda says inspired Hamilton the musical. I'm a history nerd, so this was right up my alley. If you're new to non-fiction or if you're looking for a quick read, this isn't it. If you want to be submerged in the life of one of our United States Founding Fathers, this is for you. 8/10 only because it was LENGTHY.  Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline - This is a book about a father's choice t