libscote's reviews
6298 reviews

I was expecting lighthearted essays, maybe along the lines of a Samantha Irby book. What I got instead what a series of essays critiquing and interpreting the world through a feminist lens. I enjoyed it, but oh did I have to think hard about it. 

I can see why this was sort of a one-shot series of 5 comics, but I enjoyed it.

I read this book because it appears on the NYPL Banned Book Club for Teens list, and I am a little confused about why it was banned. Is it because it illustrates what immigration is like? The post apocalyptic environment? Is it the super slow burning barely hinted at Sapphic romance? Mystery to me. 

I ended up liking this book as a way of thinking about faith and what it means to follow a god that seems to have abandoned you. I think that way of communicating was so interesting. I also liked how Xochitl realized that people were often using her and her gift as a way of just getting away with being bad. It is so slow though, so I can understand why people give up on it.

I think the story itself is sort of eh but the illustrations and color choices really bring it to life. You feel the heat and the coolness based on the palette. 

It's not a sad dog book! YAY! Emma is full of wonders and dreams and this is quite cute.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one at first. I think I'm more into the illustrations than the story. I'd love to know how Winston selected which dictionary entries to highlight. And his drawing of puddle? Stunning. It looks like it's drooping over words at one point, a 3D effect on a 2D page.

A beautifully illustrated story about going through the process of grief. 

I didn't know a lot about Walt Whitman, and this book gives an overview of his life, mostly during the Civil War, and how it intersected with Abraham Lincoln. The art is beautiful. I found it a little slow and I'm not sure kids will enjoy it as much as I wish they would. 

Alice is an unschooled child who has moved ten times in her ten years. As her parents fix the houses they live in, the college her mother works for sells them at profit and moves them to a more dilapidated building. This particular building (which Alice's mother swears will be the last one) is next door to a condemned building that draws Alice's eye. Not only could it be a project for her, but it has spirits living in it! And they need help becoming settled ones. Alice is determined to help them do it.

As an adult, I struggled a bit with whether the house Alice and her family was living in could really be considered livable (but I also have read "Eviction" by Matthew Desmond and I am aware that the threshold for that is lower than I think.) I also had some questions about unschooling that I think more research would answer for me. It's a good story overall.

Emily Carroll's art is fantastic as usual. The story is compelling and you feel the creeping sense of dread. The ending is a bit ambiguous, and I did go back and forth about that for a while in my head. Still, it's always worth exploring an Emily Carroll adventure.