How to Set Yourself on Fire

Title: How to Set Yourself On Fire Writer: Julia Dixon Evans Publishing House: Dzanc Books Date of Publication: May 8th 2018 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Every wildfire, I feel safe and I don’t feel safe. I care and I don’t care and this is my California. From the concrete walk of the courtyard, I count the…

Circus of Wonders

Title: Circus of Wonders Writer: Elizabeth Macneal Publishing House: Pan Macmillan Date of Publication: May 13th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Have a long look, why don’t you?’’ Nell is unique, graced with a special kind of beauty. But the others cannot understand, they think she is an abomination, a cursed creature, lower than the low….

Mythopedia

Title: Mythopedia Writer: Anna Claybourne, illustrated by Good Wives and Warriors Publishing House: Laurence King Publishing Date of Publication: September 15th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’The Elves explained that this chain, called Gleipnir, was made from six ingredients: The sound of a cat’s footsteps The roots of a mountain The beard of a woman The…

John Lennon (Little People, BIG dreams)

Title: John Lennon (Little People, Big Dreams) Writer: Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara (illustrated by Octavia Bromell) Publishing House: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books Date of Publication: December 8th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections.’’      John Lennon Liverpool, October 9th 1940. A boy is…

The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales

Title: The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales Writer: Kirsty Logan Publishing House: Salt Publishing Date of Publication: March 15th 2014 Rating: 5 stars ‘’The more I loved him, the heavier my heart felt, until I was walking around with my back bent and my knees cracking from the weight of it.’’ Twenty stories, twenty masterpieces…

Captain Tom Moore (Little People, BIG Dreams)

Title: Captain Tom Moore (Little People, Big Dreams) Writer: Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara (illustrated by Christophe Jacques) Publishing House: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books Date of Publication: September 29th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’We’ve fought so many battles and we’ve always won, and we’re going to win again. Please remember tomorrow is a good day and…

The Lost Soul

Title: The Lost Soul (original title: Zgubiona Dusza Writer: Olga Rokarczuk (translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Joanna Concejo) Publishing House: Triangle Square Date of Publication: February 23rd 2021 (first published October 26th 2017) Rating: 5 ‘’If someone could look down on us from above, they’d see that the world is full of people running…

The Emperor of Shoes

Title: The Emperor of Shoes Writer: Spencer Wise Publishing House: Hanover Square Press Date of Publication: June 5th 2018 Rating: 5 stars ‘’We’ve always been citizens of the world. No, that’s not true. We’ve always been outsiders. On the run.’’ Alex is at a crossroads. Working in his father’s factory in China, he comes in…

A Cage in Search of a Bird

Title: A Cage In Search of a Bird (original title: L’illusion délirante d’être aimé) Writer: Florence Noiville (tr. by Teresa Lavender Fagan) Publishing House: Seagull Books Date of Publication: September 15th 2016 (first published August 18th 2015) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Perhaps because I have too much respect for language, I suffer during conversations when nothing…

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Title: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (original title: 82년생 김지영) Writer: Cho Nam-Joo (tr. by Jamie Chang) Publishing House: Scribner UK Date of Publication: February 20th 2020 (first published October 14th 2016) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Help out? What is it with you and ‘’helping out?’’ You’re going to ‘’help out’’ with chores. ‘’Help out’’ with raising…

The International Day of the Girl: Celebrating Girls Around the World

Title: The International Day of the Girl Writer: Jessica Dee Humphreys and the Hon. Rona Ambrose, illustrated by Simone Shin Publishing House: Kids Can Press Date of Publication: September 1st 2020 Rating: 5 stars Nine stories celebrating the International Day of the Girls. Nine girls who demonstrate the strength, the determination, the intelligence, the love…

Lonely Castle In the Mirror

Title: Lonely Castle In The Mirror (original title: かがみの孤城) Writer: Mizuki Tsujimura (translated by Philip Gabriel) Publishing House: Doubleday Date of Publication:  April 22nd 2021 (first published May 11th 2017) Rating: 2 stars ‘’You are all Little Red Riding Hoods.’’ A lonely castle no one defends, a castle standing alone. A young girl is being…

The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets

Title: The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets Writer: Kathleen Alcott Publishing House: Other Press Date of Publication: January 1st 2012 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Skeletons of lovers slumped toward each other in embraces beneath the earth, almost parts of the roots but not quite assimilated, their backs, you could tell, broken. Sad-looking monsters with jugged triangles of…