The Invisible Parade, by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio

     A new picture book from the author who brought us wonderful fantasy books like the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows books. Leigh Bardugo is arguably one of the best, and best known, fantasy writers working today. Her books are written mostly for young adult readers, but she also has some adult books, and now, with The Invisible Parade, a picture book!

    John Picacio is an award-winning artist who specializes in science fiction, fantasy and horror art. Together, he and Bardugo have created a delicious picture book around the theme of Dia de los Muertos. Main character Cala has recently lost her grandfather and is not at all interested in helping her family prepare for the coming Dia de los Muertos. She goes along with the celebration, but is in no way part of the fun or meaning of the holiday. She gets separated from her family in the cemetery and meets four mysterious riders who help her find her true self again.

    It's a picture book, so it isn't very long. Bardugo is more than capable of creating a wonderful Dia de los Muertos story, which was the reason this book was added to the school library collection. But Picacio's artwork is the superstar here! The art is dark, and dreamy, and smooth, and moody...it is wonderful, and fits the story perfectly! In fact, the artwork makes this book amazing! As soon as I finished it, I started over again, so that I could really take in the art and how it creates the perfect mood for the writing and overall tale.

    A picture book may not be what you want to add to your personal book collection, being that you are probably in your teens by now, or close to it (or maybe just past it!), but go find this book at your library, check it out and take it home. One time through is not enough to appreciate what this book is...give it several read throughs, and give the artwork time to take your imagination on the wonderful journey that awaits you here! 5 paws!

A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcy Little Badger

     The third book by author Little Badger, a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, but the first I have read by her. A Snake Falls to Earth won a Newbery Honor as well as appearing on many best books of the year lists, and getting starred reviews in Booklist (one of my favorite book review magazines, and one I trust very much). All that said, I was really excited to read this book, especially as a small way to celebrate Native American Heritage Month (November)!

    However, I also have to write what I feel about this book, now that I've finished it. I liked it, and some of the characters have stayed on my mind since I read the final page. At the same time, I found the story to be very, very confusing, until I got to about page 120. That's a lot of pages for someone to read before the story starts to make any kind of sense, right? I'm glad I stuck with it, because it was a good book. But I also found myself looking forward to finishing so I could start something new...that isn't a very good sign.

    So, I my canine advice is to trust the reviews, to some degree, but also prepare to get pretty far into the book before things start to come together. Here is something that will help (and it's not a spoiler!); the chapters alternate between a girl named Nina, who begins the book as a 9-year-old but grows older each time we hear from her, and Oli, a cottonmouth snake who can also appear as a human. Knowing that Oli was a snake who could transform into human form early in the story would have helped me understand a lot more a lot sooner! I hope it helps you, too. In fact, in the Cottonmouth chapters, Oli and his friends are all animals that can become humans when needed. It is a cool part of the story as it goes along, but it took me a long time to figure that out. Maybe it's me...I'm a pretty literal reader!

    There are not enough teen and young adult books by and about Native people, and this book is a nice addition. However, not the easiest to navigate nor is it my favorite. If you'd like some amazing books in this genre, check out anything by Peter Bruchac, Sherman Alexie (although his books are mostly for older teens and adults, or one of my favorite books from last year, The Firekeeper's Daughter, by Angeline Boulley (also for older teen readers, but really good). I may give one of Little Badger's books a try in the future, but I will need a break after this one for a while. 3 paws and a wag.

Rhythm & Muse, by India Hill Brown

     My human met Ms. Hill at a conference two weeks ago, and from the sounds of it, she is very much like this book of hers - very nice, approachable, smart and funny. Rhythm & Muse is not her first book, but she is still a new-ish author and I have not yet read any of her other stories. I don't know why if they are anything like this one, which I found really engaging and easy to read!

    Rhythm & Muse is a romance story about two teens, Delia and Darren, who attend the same high school and who know each other, but only casually. Delia has a weekly podcast that seemingly everyone listens to and loves, and she is popular, beautiful, and has no trouble attracting romantic attention. Darren is a quiet kid, with a singing voice like non other, but he would rather live inside his own head than put himself out there for the world to critique and judge. So he keeps his talent mostly to himself, and doesn't allow Delia to know she really has his attention. That's where Darren's friends come in, and the book unfolds with a wonderful blend of romance, honesty, humor, reality, and of course, music!

    I liked the book until I was about half way through it, then I found myself not wanting to stop reading! I couldn't wait to find out if or how Darren was going to finally let Delia know how much he likes her...or if he was ever going to! As a total package, I wouldn't say this book is "amazing" and it may not win a lot of awards...but as a romance book goes, it's wonderful! Usually when I want a good teen romance I go straight to Sarah Dessen - she has been writing  romance novels for a very long time, and definitely knows what she's doing! Even Jaquelyn Woodson has some very real and honest feeling relationships in all of her books. India Brown holds her own in the romance department, and I would recommend this book to anyone open to a nice, fun, real romantic book! 5 paws!

When We Flew Away, by Alice Hoffman

     The Diary of a Young Girl is the real life journal of a Jewish girl named Anne Frank. The book is famous for her simple, beautiful and terrifying account of her two years spent in hiding with her family while the Nazi's of Germany systematically searched for and moved Jewish people to labor - or concentration - camps, where 6 million of them would eventually die during the course of World War 2.

    Veteran author Alice Hoffman's latest release, When We Flew Away, is the fictionalized account of Anne Frank in the few years leading up to her capture by the Nazis during World War 2. Hoffman tries to create Anne's world in the years they go into hiding in Amsterdam. The Frank family fled Germany when Anne was four years old to live in the Netherlands in an attempt to evade the growing Nazi threat to Jews and others deemed "less than". When We Flew Away attempts to create the setting of Anne and her family in the two or three years leading up to their hiding in an attic to survive the growing Nazi hatred.

    Hoffman shares in the author notes at the end of the story how she is a member of a Russian Jewish family who had successfully fled Nazi persecution to land in New York City, and how reading The Diary of a Young Girl at the age of twelve had changed her life. She recommends that every person read that book, and I second that feeling - if you have never read Anne Frank's diary, you should read it at some point. It is life changing. But for all of Hoffman's good intentions, and for the importance of this story being told and retold and remembered by all of humanity so that it never happens again, When We Flew Away misses the mark. Not in the sense of the urgency and horror  - and the hope - of the overall story, and the fact that this really happened, not all that long ago, and that we need to be vigilant, all of us, so that it never happens again. Even though all of this is imbedded in the story, Hoffman really seems to stumble over what to write and how to bring Anne's pre-story to life.

    Before Anne Frank received the infamous journal for her 13th birthday and began writing what would become The Diary of a Young Girl, not a lot is known of the details of her everyday life. She wasn't famous or anything, so there would be no reason to know the in's and out's of her every day living. In trying to create that world, Hoffman repeats a lot of thoughts and sentiments, to the degree that I wondered while I was reading if anyone edited her book before publishing it. It's like she knew what she wanted to do with Anne's story but had little idea how to do it. Which was surprising as Hoffman has authored many books.

    When We Flew Away is a good story, but more so because Anne's story is so important. I recommend reading Diary of a Young Girl. If you are moved by it - and you will be - read Hoffman's book if you want to explore Anne's life further. But don't be disappointed if you come away just wanting to the read her diary again. I give this book 4 paws, because the subject matter is so critical to all of us and a story every person (and dog!) should know. However, with different subject matter, the best I could offer this surprisingly clunky book would be 2 or 3 paws. A great idea for a book, but disappointing in its completion.

Lalani of the Distant Sea, by Erin Entrada Kelly

     Author Erin Entrada Kelly is one of those writers who I will read just because she is the author - I have read enough of her books to know that she is exceptional and knows how to tell a good story! Kelly is also one of a very few writers who have won the prestigious Newbery Award more than once. Even once is amazing, but twice? So, when I find a book by Kelly, I add it to my stack of books I want to be sure and read! Do you have a stack (or list) of books that you want to read next?

    Lalani of the Distant Sea was published in 2019, so not her newest offering. About halfway through the book I had to search for other reviews of it, because I wasn't really understanding where she was going with everything. Once I learned that this book is based on Filipino folklore it made much more sense to me - not because I know anything about Filipino folklore, but because I was struggling understanding all of the different character names, creatures, and imagery. Once I learned that there was a basis for what Kelly was writing about, it helped my super-sophisticated dog brain embrace the rest of the story.

    Lalani is a 12-year-old girl who has found herself living in a largely hopeless world, surrounded by strong, mean men. As the story unfolds she has choices to make, ultimately choosing to find a better life instead of staying with what she knows, even if what she knows includes dear friends. The book is full of new and fantastical creatures, at times making it hard to follow, but as an entire book, Lalani is wonderful - a strong, smart, courageous young woman!

    Kelly's newer titles, the ones that have won Newbery Awards, were much easier for me to follow, understand, and enjoy. Don't get me wrong, Lalani has some beautiful writing and is a very good book...but again, until I learned that a lot of it is based on folk tales from the Philippines, I had to really make myself keep reading. In short, I liked the book, but this is not one I'd recommend to a reader who didn't know any of Kelly's other books. It's like she was perfecting her craft on this one, and that perfection appeared in Hello, Universe and The First State of Being. 4 paws for Lalani, but if you haven't read any of her later titles, try one of those first!

Astronauts, by Jim Ottaviana & Maris Wicks

     The full title of this graphic novel is Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier. The writer and illustrator also created the book Primates, which is very similar in style and  probably isn't terribly surprising. Both Primates and Astronauts are good but pretty specific in their subject matter, which isn't a bad thing, but it means that their audience might not be as broad as, say, the audience for Raina Telgemeier books (Smile, Sisters, Guts, etc.). 

    Astronauts tells the story of women and their difficult and long path to be included in space exploration in the United States. In the early days of NASA, to be considered for a job as an astronaut, you had to have been a fighter pilot. But back then women were not allowed to be fighter pilots, which kept them from being considered as astronauts. Of course that old way of thinking was driven by men, mostly, and thankfully that has changed some in the last several decades, but only because some very smart and very determined women fought hard for that change. The result was (is) that women have now flown space missions into outer space and been very successful contributors to space exploration and space science. 

    As a graphic novel, Astronauts is well illustrated, but I found the story a little choppy. The authors include so much detailed history, including the history of Russia's push to have women in the space program, that the story gets a little bogged down and tedious. Overall it's an important story, and a good story to be told in the graphic novel format. But I don't know if this book, start to finish, is going to appeal to very many readers outside of those who are really interested in the history of women in the space program. It's a good story, and inspiring, but needs a little more personality to it. 

    If women's history interests you, and/or space exploration and space science, you'll probably want to own this book! If not, you might enjoy it, but I'm not sure if it will be one you go back to read again and again. 3 paws and a wag.

Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell

     This book arrived on the shelves in 2023 or 2024, and I have watched it since, seeing all of the wonderful good reviews it gets, paying attention to all of the positive press it receives. Finally, finally, I was able to get my paws on a copy to read for myself. Could this book really be that good? 

    Impossible Creatures is book 1 in what is currently a 2 book series. Author Rundell has written several other books, but I have not yet read them nor heard of her before this book appeared in every bookstore I visit. This is a story I could not possibly explain in this short blog, but I can say it is a magical world she has created, with magical creatures both known and new. This book has dragons and centaurs, ratatoskas and nereids. The setting is a group of islands that exists outside of human knowledge, but right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The mythical and magical creatures that live there do so because humans cannot see it or find it on their own. But the archipelago, the group of islands, is in danger...

    I don't read a lot of fantasy stories, because on the surface they don't appeal to me as much as other genres (such as historical fiction, for example). Yet I usually find the fantasy books I read are really good, and I wonder why I don't read more of them (books like The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, one of my favorite books of all time, of any genre!). I also don't usually read book 1 in a series and then read book 2, and when I do, I rarelyread them one after the other. I think this may be an exception...The Poisoned King just came out in September, and I admit I may have to go find it and read it next! 

    Do yourself a huge favor and read this book! 5 paws!

Spirit Week, by Ira Marcks

    If you are a fan of scary books or the horror genre, it's possible that you've heard of author Stephen King. He's not an author for kids or teens, but older teens sometime read his stories anyway (hopefully with some parent permission). They are intense, scary, well-written...he may be the King of Horror!

    One of King's most famous books is called The Shining. It takes place in the mountains of Colorado outside of a tourist town called Estes Park. The book I am reviewing here today, Spirit Week, also takes place at a hotel in the mountains of Colorado, outside of Estes Park. Spirit Week is about a possibly haunted hotel where a famous but older author of horror stories lives. One young photographer has been invited to create a film about the hotel, and along the way his trip to Estes Park has other people involved.

    Spirit Week is well drawn, but I found the storyline difficult to follow. The first part of the story is clearly a reference to Stephen King and The Shining, and I even checked the author's notes at the back of the book about half way through reading it to see what Marcks had to say about these references - I thought maybe Marcks had written a graphic novel tribute, of sorts, to The Shining or King. I was "horrified" to find no reference or mention at all...really?!? The second half of the book was not The Shining, but I'm not really sure what it was. On one page the characters were outside in the snow at the hotel, and the next page they were going into a mine. The storyline tried to make sense of this sort of transition, but it did not work for me. By the time I had less than 75 pages to read, I just wanted to finish the book so I could start another one. That is not a good sign, or the sign of a good book.

    I give Spirit Week 3 paws, and that is a little generous...I did enjoy the artwork. But using someone else's story as your own, to the degree that Marcks did, should require some mention or reference to the book and author being written about. In all, not a terrible graphic novel, but there are far too any great graphic novels out there for you to spend a lot of time on this one. Darn.

Water, Water, by Cary Fagan

     Water, Water by author Cary Fagan is a very unique book, indeed! Rafe, a young boy and the main character of the story, wakes up one morning in his bedroom, which happens to have separated from his house and is floating in what appears to be a vast ocean. He has his dog, Buddy, with him, but no one else seems to be around. There is no reason given for why his room has detached from the house, why the world has suddenly turned to water, where all the other people and creatures of the planet have gone, or what he should do next...which is, I think, the beauty of this short book! Rafe manages to keep floating on his room, but different problems present themselves along the way (where should he and Buddy pee?), and together try to figure things out as best they can. Other objects come and go into the story, and eventually other people do, too. 

    This book is quite unlike any I have read before, and this dog has read a lot of books! I kept expecting the entire room-floating-on-an-ocean-of-water thing to become this wonderful metaphor, and maybe it's supposed to be, but if so, I still haven't gotten it. But that was part of the fun of this story as well! Not knowing what the overall purpose of the story was...when all the time I was waiting to discover the point of the story, I was drawn into Rafe's life and situation. And then, just as it had started, it was finished!

    This is a short story and you could probably read it in one day, possibly even one sitting. Expect to be surprised, but don't expect the usual story lines that other books follow. Just read, and enjoy (the story and the cool artwork, which adds to the overall effect)! Overall I was surprised that it didn't go where I thought it might, but then I realized that made it better! 4 paws! 

Rules for Vampires, by Alex Foulkes

     I know it's barely September, but I was in the mood for something spooky when this book rolled up to my kennel! Rules for Vampires is the first of a two-book series (so far!), and it was delightfully scary! Leo is an eleven-year-old vampire, who is heading out for her first-ever "feeding" by herself. What she stumbles into is an orphanage, with one particular orphan preparing to kill the orphan master. The orphan master is very, very mean, and Minna is finished being mistreated by this evil man. But the "live" world and the "dead" world collide in very unexpected ways. Quickly vampires are fighting ghosts, and then ghosts and vampires are fighting together to stop another, seemingly unstoppable ghost, which goes against one of the rules vampires are supposed to follow: never ever fight a ghost!

    This book is a lot of fun, but don't get me wrong - it isn't "fun" like Goosebumps, but quite scary at times! Although it isn't "scary" like a Stephen King book would be...more like a Neil Gaiman The Graveyard Book scary, or The House in Poplar Wood by K. E. Ormsbee scary...just scary enough for readers your age, but probably too scary for your younger siblings!

    I enjoyed Foulkes' writing. She uses words and phrases that make my brain think I know what is coming next and then she writes something else instead! The "something else" is usually funny and clever, and it makes the entire book easier and more fun to read. For instance, Leo the vampire sleeps all day and is awake all night - she is a vampire after all! So she never remembers "yesterday", but she does remember "yesternight". Fun, right? Anyway, I suggested to my human that he recommend this book to kids looking for something new and scary to read as autumn approaches. I'm giving it a spooky 5 paws!