MADreads Reviews

Orquídea Divina invites the multigenerational Montoya family to her home to celebrate her funeral. The catch is that Orquídea is still alive. The arrival of the magical invitations confuses many of her family members and dredges up painful memories for others. Everyone must attend the funeral in order to receive their inheritance and this strings-attached event is complicated on many levels. The land that Orquídea's home is situated on is infused with magic and the funeral proceedings are hampered by supernatural happenings.

Shannon Chakraborty is back with a new magical adventure (after her Daevabad trilogy) set on the Indian Ocean and introducing a bold, smart, and notorious female pirate, Amina al-Sirafi. Let the sea voyages and the hunt for a kidnapped girl commence.

This book requires a certain mindset and I caution readers to prepare themselves for a memoir of alcoholism and addiction that is stunning in several ways. First, it's hard to believe that Matthew Perry, one of the stars of the television sitcom Friends, is still alive after everything his body has been through. Second, his candid sharing of stories about himself and others surprised me, and probably surprised those he spilled the beans about.

Lola's house is always filled with music--as she says, "If you want to hold on, you gotta sing your songs"! When Lola starts to seem quieter, more uncertain, it's up to her granddaughter to help fill in the silences. This beautiful picture book features a young girl matter-of-factly supporting her grandmother through memory loss while reflecting on and continuing all the meaningful (and multi-sensory) experiences they have shared over the years.

When Georgie was a teenager no one in her small home town expected much of her. She was flaky and aimless. But somehow, after leaving home for California, she managed to make a life as the the personal assistant to a Hollywood power player. The problem is, her boss has suddenly picked up sticks and retired and now Georgie is at a loss. She's used to taking care of every little aspect of someone else's life and has no clue how to do the same with her own. And so she does what all big city gals, who are at a crossroads, do in rom-coms.

When I think of an atmospheric novel from here on out, I'm going to be thinking of Spells for Forgetting. The story of Saiorse Island off Puget Sound and the residents who live there and listen to her calling weaves together magic, belonging and longing, loss and betrayal, and good and evil. On the surface, Saiorse Island is a lovely ferry ride from Seattle with an apple orchard that attracts a tourist crowd through spring, summer, and fall.

"The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides."

Unicorns, human bats, and two-legged beavers have been discovered on the moon!! Really? Well no… but I made you look? Sorry, librarians are supposed to be dispellers of fake news, not shouting ridiculous headlines for the sake of humor in their book reviews. But fake news is everywhere, and if you don’t have a handy, humorous librarian around to help identify truth from fiction - don’t despair! Elise Gravel’s hilarious new graphic novel for kids breaks it down into bite size, understandable concepts: What is fake news? Why do people spread it? How can it be dangerous?

To say that Maxine Justice (fka Eufemia Kolpak), Attorney-at-Law, is struggling would be a severe understatement. She's not had a paying case in forever, her struggling law practice's one employee hasn't been paid in weeks and she's not even sure she has enough money to feed her stray cat. All of which is why she takes a shift rotation in the lower court acting as a public defender - think night court, but even more desperate.

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards at LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience in New Orleans today.

A list of 2023 award winners follows:

Epic is a skate boarding star with tricks and moves so big they earned him his nickname. But when he moves to a new neighborhood, suddenly his tricks aren't so fun without a crowd of friends. He tries new sports to meet friends - football, soccer, basketball - but they all leave him feeling let down. When his father encourages him to try one more ride, Epic kicks, pushes, and flips his way down to the bodega picking up admiring bystanders on the way. Pretty soon he has a whole new crew, ready to kick and push with him. 

This books delivers exactly what it promises - a history of the color blue from lapis lazuli stones used by ancient Egyptians, to blue dye pressed from a snail's foot in Mexico, to crushed and dried indigo plants in West Africa and finally a Nobel Prize winning chemical clue created in 1905. Along the way we learn more nuance about the color's complicated history - how blue was used and viewed, the value assigned to it, and the meaning given to it by people all over the world, even today in the language that we use.

This book opens on August 31, 1955, when Emmett Till's body was found and his mother, Mamie, chose to have him sent home - the braver thing. We then jump back in time to Mamie's childhood, learning about her family, her schooling, her marriage, and Emmett's birth, with each of Mamie's brave choices highlighted. Emmett's childhood comes next, noting his stutter of speech that came from polio, and his trick of whistling to calm him down.

From the Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López, creators of The Day You Begin, comes a new story about using your imagination to soar. Stuck inside on a rainy day, two siblings are told by their grandmother to use their minds, to "close your eyes and take a deep breath, and believe in a thing." No longer stuck in their apartment, they soar over the city, each season escaping from their boredom, their arguments, and their loneliness, just as their ancestors who also flew with their beautiful and brilliant minds. 

All young Owl has ever hoped and dreamed of is becoming a knight, but it was just a dream until suddenly knights begin disappearing from the castle. Taking advantage of this staffing shortage, Owl applies to Knight School and to everyone's surprise, he is accepted! He studies and works hard - even a small shield is tough for him to hold - and after graduating with honor, he is assigned to the Knight Night Watch. Other knights usually fell asleep during these long shifts, but Owl is very good at it. Until one night he hears a strange whooshing sound... 

It is summer and it is HOT in the city. In this incredibly illustrated new picture book by Doug Salati, you can feel the summer heat, sweltering pavement, and oppressive crowds. Past the fire engines, construction crews, and chaotic skateboarders mom and her little dog walk until her hot dog has had ENOUGH. “THAT’S IT!” And lays down in the middle of the crosswalk. Throughout the illustrations, readers will notice little dog’s mom growing grumpier and grumpier as errands progress and doggy drags his feet. 

Caldecott medalist Michaela Goade's new picture book is a gorgeously illustrated tale of family and land that warmed my heart and felt so cozy. 

On an island at the edge of the sea, a young girl learns from her grandmother how to live on the land, picking berries of all kinds from the forest:

"First Dat sailed on a boat, then flew on a plane..." and now Dat is starting a new school where everyone speaks gibberish and he can't understand a word. Feeling lost and alone, Dat soon makes a friend - after all, play is a universal language! Slowly Dat starts to learn new words and begins to feel at home in his new environment. This book shines in the illustrations - all the gibberish is represented by speech bubbles filled with symbols, and while Dat is illustrated in color, his surroundings start out as black and white cartoons.