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 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!