rinnyssance's reviews
439 reviews

I've been listening to Charlamange Tha God on the radio since Wendy. At first, I despised him. Then, I grew to respect him. As the years have gone by, I started to like him because he grew as a person and a radio personality I appreciated that. So when he announced he was releasing a book, I thought, "cool." Then I heard it was titled "Black Privilege" and I thought, "Oh boy." I hadn't dug into the press releases regarding the book at all. Nor did I read any other reviews before reading on my 12-hour flight. So I had no expectations before reading besides what I hear on The Breakfast Club and the few episodes of his podcast I'd heard.I have to say, I was very impressed with this book. I like to think of it in two parts, it's an autobiography and a self-help book. So I'm going to review it in these two parts.

Autobiographically, the book was very honest and relatable. I appreciated that he was honest about all of the mistakes he'd made in his childhood, and all the failures he had to overcome in the space of his career. I loved the tone of the anecdotes, which read just like Charlamange, and was humorous throughout. If you've somewhat followed Charlamange's career, this is a good look inside of what his life was like and why and how he got to where he is at this point. I liked that he didn't make any excuses for any stupid things he'd done, nor did he disrespect anybody else involved in the stories he told. I was surprised at some parts of the story, interested and fully immersed in the story, and in others, I was laughing nonstop because something was relatable or amusing.

As far as the self-help part of the book, I felt it was pretty common self-help advice you can find in any other book. Although, I don't think his target audience is a self-help audience, so I see the value in the message. That made a difference to me. I've read plenty of self-help books and I've never seen one that targets the specific audience Charlamange appeals to, and I'd say he tied all of his wisdom in well. I was especially impressed with his ability not only to use "respectable" anecdotes to moralize a lesson but ones that are less conventional as well.

For anybody put off by the title, I would say you're missing out. The book has little to nothing to do with the title at all, and in fact, the author never talks about "privilege" in the book at all. The book is more about opportunity and his unique journey toward his calling and the lessons he learned in between getting in trouble with the law, getting fired, taking a leap and moving away from everything he'd known and becoming one of the most popular radio hosts in the country. If you let the title turn you off to the book completely, you'll miss out on a real gem.

Charlamange used to seem like a huge jackass to me but after reading, I realized just how much he has grown to be a better person while preserving the essence that made him a radio star. The book is tactful and well-planned. A quick and easy read for people who are pressed for time. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did not think I would be giving this book five stars but here I am.

I have been trying to teach my kids about how people have different abilities but wasn't quite sure how to explain to preschool-age children (or younger) that some people cannot see or hear. I had some difficulty with this but this book is very good. First of all, I want to start by saying the illustrations are wonderful. The colors are really appealing. I really enjoyed the page where they explained what Cinnamon sees. Prose-wise, I loved the way they described her eyes as "pearls." Neil Gaiman has written other books I've either enjoyed or intend(ed) to enjoy but haven't read (yet). I love his writing style and think he's pretty funny. There were so many humorous parts to the book that I laughed out loud at some points. I am starting to realize I love children's books that offer a good story, as well as amazing illustrations that give me an opportunity to discuss what the kids see in the image and the implications beyond the picture as well. This will be a wonderful book to teach my kids about what it means blind, what they may see, and what they are able to do. I will continue to search for books similar to this one.

I do want to warn that someone gets eaten (not shown, just mentioned in passing). But I didn't care about this detail. I actually appreciated it.

This is the second book I read from this author. I enjoyed this one as much as I did the last one. The only thing that I do notice is that the story is a little too long for the intended age group. The last book I read from this author was about worry, this one is about frustration. We follow a character who is frustrated a lot of things are not going as well as he'd like them to throughout the day. He tries different coping mechanisms (counting to ten, taking four deep breaths) but those things aren't working. I liked the attempts to explore ways to calm down. That was a good lesson. Twitch's whole day was ruined. I like how the book shows that sometimes things that happen earlier in the day can upset your whole entire day. It's something good to stop and talk about with the kids while you read. Twitch eventually entered a contest, didn't do as well as he did, and only won the third prize. I loved how they explained the actions of his frustration (complaining, blaming, despair, so mad he could cry). He sees a squirrel modeling better behavior in response to not doing so well, or things not going his way. And he, of course, takes a lesson from this. I liked the end and how positive it was. The lesson was to take your failures and find something positive out of them. There are lessons in there. Though this book can be too long for preschoolers, I still plan to read it because of how well the last book went.

One thing I've learned about life sciences is that you can learn a lot about how to do right by looking at what went from. This is why we've been reading many books on play therapy and occupational therapy to be able to notice when and where intervention is needed and how to mitigate the issues at home before or even without the extra professional help. There definitely needs to be way more research done on SPDs. I personally find that all young kids have some sort of minor sensory issues that can follow them their whole life. This book provided very simple games and activities that require little to no equipment, that require you to think on the fly, to help your kid learn to tolerate or properly react to certain sensory sensations. There is so much to learn and read about SPDs. We loved this book because it covered ten kinds of sensory disorders and play therapy for children who feel too much or too little. I learned a ton

Anyone can read this book in about twenty minutes. I understand that the physical copy is around sixty pages, but the .pdf I found was less than twenty. It took about half an hour to read. Adichie is a very convincing writer, and her points of feminism can be easy to swallow for everyone. Her essay talks about the ways that all of us unknowingly engage in behaviors that highlight society's expectations of women compared to men. I think it's a good primer for someone who does not know what feminism is, or who wants to understand why we should all be feminists.

Three stars because I loved the illustrations. But both I and the child I read to was bored with the story. I don't know if it's because it has too many words, or because it was longer than I expected. It just wasn't interesting. There were a few side characters with little purpose or dialog. They were introduced and shown as illustrations and nothing more. I didn't understand why they were written at all when Fig and Stick were more than enough to solve the mystery. Perhaps this is based on a television show or a series that I lack context in. But even if that were so, there were just a lot of unnecessary characters and plot points that did not advance the story at all and distracted me pretty easily.

Cool. Nothing to really say about it. It's plant physiology from a long time ago, pretty much.

I wanted to like this book because I see all of the good reviews, but I don't. It reminds me of the self-absorbed poetry from Tumblr where there is no true depth and a bunch of confusion. I admire the fact that the author wrote a book. I don't think I could ever give an author of poetry one star. But I wish that there was more to what I read. I flipped the pages and felt nothing.