Tan's art - surreal, alien, with geometric character designs and an evocative sense of scale - elevates a text which is such an on-the-nose allegory fTan's art - surreal, alien, with geometric character designs and an evocative sense of scale - elevates a text which is such an on-the-nose allegory for colonialism that it feels flat, feels something worse even than didactic: simplistic. ...more
Fantastic, literally and descriptively: a lot of that big, strange Tan art, which means rich colors and rambling dieselpunk dystopias, existential andFantastic, literally and descriptively: a lot of that big, strange Tan art, which means rich colors and rambling dieselpunk dystopias, existential and nihilistic vibes. Like basically all depression metaphors, the happy ending is utterly unearned but still satisfying. Some picture books aren't really for kids, and I don't mind that - they can be graphic short stories, briefly evocative and particularly visually indulgent because of the constrained length. Rules of Summer is still the best Tan, though; he can get so unsubtle, depression here, conformity in Lost & Found, to say nothing of his really message-heavy works, but Rules of Summer plays up the weird to good effect. ...more
I could have sworn I'd read this as a kid, but nothing beyond the premise feels familiar, so - maybe not. Is it good, now, as an adult reader without I could have sworn I'd read this as a kid, but nothing beyond the premise feels familiar, so - maybe not. Is it good, now, as an adult reader without the apparent benefit of nostalgia? It's fine. Clayburgh plays up Mrs. Frankweiler's crotchety-old-lady voice in the Simon & Schuster audio narration, and takes a conceit I'd love - intrusive narrators are delightful - and renders it a little overdone. The sense of potential of living at the museum, getting private access to an infinitely rich, infinitely wondrous, liminal space, is phenomenal; the rest of the plot kind of misses me. There are fun characters and clear arcs, but a sort of conservative bent: eldest female child rails against her social position and wants her life to have value and meaning (relatable!); returns to status quo with a petty, selfish secret (...do not want).
Don't read the afterword unless you want more social conservationism and some irrelevant minutiae....more
After the death of their young son, the family home of Starve Acre is a bleak, haunted place. Haunted in what way, dead for what reason, is revealed pAfter the death of their young son, the family home of Starve Acre is a bleak, haunted place. Haunted in what way, dead for what reason, is revealed piecemeal, taking an increasingly speculative bent. I like the atmosphere here, folk horror set within the bleakness and threatening fecundity of late winter turning to spring. But there's something about horror novels about the destruction of typical family units that always misses me. I swear I'm not trying to be contrarian, I get why it's such a fertile topic for horror, but it doesn't scare me and I'm much more team (view spoiler)[nursing a demon-hare baby (hide spoiler)]. So: fine, but not memorable....more
Sometimes a classic single-handedly explains an entire genre/set of tropes, doesn't it? And not just by popularizing them, but by embracing them with Sometimes a classic single-handedly explains an entire genre/set of tropes, doesn't it? And not just by popularizing them, but by embracing them with such ridiculous enthusiasm that it still feels like an indulgence today. This flagged a little for me at the midway point, which is equal parts no Long John :( and the vagaries of plot, but it's a dozen actiony set pieces and every pirate trope one could want wrapped in a phenomenal atmosphere, and revives when Long John Silver returns to the page. What a character! - larger than life, and then rendered deeply alive. I've seen Treasure Planet umpteen times, and kept thinking, yeah, no wonder they could borrow the premise, but the real gold is the likeability of this character. ...more
A Cinderella retelling with a literal bent: Ella is cursed by an overly ambitious fairy to be obedient, and this curse only becomes more of a liabilitA Cinderella retelling with a literal bent: Ella is cursed by an overly ambitious fairy to be obedient, and this curse only becomes more of a liability after her mother dies and Ella is thrust into the wider world. This is one of those childhood classics that missed me, so I'm delighted to be charmed by it, even without the benefit nostalgia. It's not perfect - the body shaming in particular feels like the thing one hopes we wouldn't put in MG/YA now. But I'm a sucker for the logical, daily, petty consequences of the fantastic and speculative, and this is all about that: Ella must obey any command, intentionally or unintentionally given, feasible or infeasible, safe or not at all, and has developed a rebellious, independent personality as a result. Unfortunately, the curse's resolution, which thematically satisfying and empowering, doesn't sell me; within the framework of mundane, realistic consequences for magical elements, the curse breaking feels insubstantial and too easy.
Nonetheless, a delight. Playful, spirited, set in a distinctly strange and quirky world, and it gives me that same feeling as the premise of Dungeon Meshi or Beastars or a Pokemon Nuzlocke: wait, if that were a real, living part of the world, wouldn't the ramifications be a mess and an half? Yes! Turns out: yes.
(The audiobook, narr. Eden Riegel, blindsided me with first person Ella-/little girl-voice and I almost DNF'd three minutes in; but, to my surprise, it's not grating and works great.)...more
3.5 stars. This is the inspiration for the film Edge of Tomorrow: A Japanese grunt soldier in a war against extraterrestrials finds himself trapped in3.5 stars. This is the inspiration for the film Edge of Tomorrow: A Japanese grunt soldier in a war against extraterrestrials finds himself trapped in a time loop until he can figure out how to, literally, win the day. It's a light novel, which means: short length, abrupt voice, and exaggerated, tropey characterization, particularly in the female characters. It's very readable - light novels often are - are more than a little cringey.
But I'm a sucker for time loops, and this sure is one. The sci-fi justification for it gets messy, but the protagonist's relationship with his loop is joylessly pragmatic, intruded upon by crucial, unwelcome, distinctly non-pragmatic social elements. The film adaptation is particularly invested in the asymmetrical social experience of a time loop; the book, too, but its questions and answers are different, which makes the two "versions" of this narrative both worth checking out. I liked this! The loop is well-paced, willing to skip ahead and take shortcuts, and the book really hits its stride when Rita is brought into the (haha, pun intended:) loop. ...more
3.5 stars. Like many readers, The Witch of Blackbird Pond is the Speare I grew up with, but this would have been an easy book to imprint on if I'd enc3.5 stars. Like many readers, The Witch of Blackbird Pond is the Speare I grew up with, but this would have been an easy book to imprint on if I'd encountered it at the right age: a sort of walking tour of the French and Indian War from the fictionalized perspective of a real girl captured in an Indian raid in 1754. Speare maintains period-appropriate prejudices between all social groups, but the protagonist's exposure to a diversity of peoples, classes, and cultures forces her to grow increasingly open-minded. Not perfect, which is to say both that it's dated and that the protagonist doesn't make a complete transformation, but a lot more sensitive and tasteful than I feared. And there's a certain degree of wish fulfillment both in being forced to encounter such a diversity of cultures and in the protagonist's persistence, survival, and increasing adaptability....more
3.5 stars? A fox causes consternation by spying on the secrets of his neighbors. The weird cover art is almost indicative of the tone, here: Williams'3.5 stars? A fox causes consternation by spying on the secrets of his neighbors. The weird cover art is almost indicative of the tone, here: Williams's illustrations are desaturated neutrals and shadows shot through with the distinctive red of the fox, a delightful contrast; but his fidelity is slippery, a little comic, a little uncanny, despite the fluffy, soft textures. MWB's depiction of the world and its secrets is evocative in that simple, precise, playful way she has: "Even his rabbit smell was frozen to no smell, as he crouched there, invisible as something that does not move or smell or look like much." Her endings are often surprising, and this is no exception. An inadvertent trickster, the foolish, cunning fox settles down with his secrets and forgets them posthaste. A weird one! It feels a little off-kilter, but intentionally so.
I wish I could read the Charlot edition, since I loved his work so much in Two Little Trains; from the few spreads I could find, it has a totally different atmosphere, minimalistic line illustrations of the secrets, the fox's changing face a bold, saturated splotch of color in reaction to each one....more
3.5 stars. Two child-gardeners plant and tend and harvest a vegetable garden. It's hard to imagine this in any other style: MWB is at her very most de3.5 stars. Two child-gardeners plant and tend and harvest a vegetable garden. It's hard to imagine this in any other style: MWB is at her very most detailed-list-of-things here, and Elliott's art is similarly intricate, carrot by carrot, cabbage by cabbage. Cute, certainly dated, this has strong teachable vibes and not much actual story, but I also kind of love it for its charm and its unerring commitment to the concept....more
A white cat who loves the day and a black cat who loves the night try to win each over to their side of the argument. I struggle with picture books abA white cat who loves the day and a black cat who loves the night try to win each over to their side of the argument. I struggle with picture books about cats for the usual reasons (not true to cats; idealizing outdoor cats), but when I can compartmentalize a little, like here, they also charm me. Weisgard's art is fantastic - I'm a sucker for picture books with minimal use of color and a lot of movement and texture, and this is that: the round, sweet silhouettes of cats set against daytime and nighttime scenes, vibrant and diverse, and I even like how Weisgard draws people! MWB has a knack for the dark and for brief, evocative descriptions ("The night was soft and dark around them. And the silence was big in their ears."); for engaging fear and setting it aside without condescension; and with endings - a story about how everything has its own unique beauty ought to end with both cats loving both times, but, no, night wins out, the night world quiet and all their own, and I love that for them. ...more
This was too young for me. It's probably suited to its audience, but the lack of narrative also means a lack of movement and wonder. But I do love HurThis was too young for me. It's probably suited to its audience, but the lack of narrative also means a lack of movement and wonder. But I do love Hurd's art, the lineless style and limited color palette belying a surprising complexity of shapes....more
Per the title, this is constrained to Priscilla Presley in the context of Elvis. There's one pre-Elvis anecdote, and the post-Elvis content is almost Per the title, this is constrained to Priscilla Presley in the context of Elvis. There's one pre-Elvis anecdote, and the post-Elvis content is almost entirely in relation to Elvis. The level of detail varies wildly: early stages of the relationship are presented in minute detail; later years are more amalgamated, an impressionist overview; Elvis's death and beyond are lightly sketched, and entirely omit her stewardship of the estate after Elvis's death.
And that's ... fine. The lens through which Priscilla Presley interprets her relationship - the age gap, the grooming, the fame and drug use and infidelity and drama and decline, the love - is her own lens, somehow both open-eyed and idealizing, sorrowful and forgiving, and the efforts to remediate a salacious public record make for an innate, obvious bias. It's simultaneously manicured and authentic. I respect that choice, as it goes; it also feels like only one fraction of the story, and if I cared more I'd seek out other biographies for more complete portrait.
The audiobook is read by an author, and her giggles sprinkled throughout are as campy as Graceland and Elvis's public image, so ill-timed when paired against clear evidence of bad behavior that it's almost commentary, highlighting the incredibly intentional lens the author is turning on her subject....more
Herman takes a novel approach: to ask survivors directly how they envision justice and community response in the wake of abuse. This made me realize hHerman takes a novel approach: to ask survivors directly how they envision justice and community response in the wake of abuse. This made me realize how large the specter of a vengeful victim looms in my mind and the harm that that stereotype perpetuates. Herman finds consistent threads throughout her interviews, pointing more towards admissions of culpability and social change than retribution. Thoughtful; perforce difficult to enact, because alternative models to the current legal system are still in development.
And not taken far enough. Herman's treatment of sex work and pornography doesn't extend the same grace; here, she categorically refuses to listen to the people who actually experience the damn thing. Radical feminist fingerprints are all over this, and makes me more aware of other limitations that Herman wants to deny, particularly the focus on a specific model of sexual abuse of female victim by male perpetrator that she wants treat as universalizable across other axes of power while rarely making the effort to account for them....more
Part memoir, part academic theory, this is the story of coming through academia to also become a podcaster, and about podcasts as a tool for feminist Part memoir, part academic theory, this is the story of coming through academia to also become a podcaster, and about podcasts as a tool for feminist scholarship as praxis. Ish. The fluid, shifting nature of these essays means it's a little of all of the above, none in exhaustive detail, but still building engaging arguments about both the limitations and strengths of podcasts and other forms of media that hinge on storymaking and sentimentality. The decision to put footnotes at the end of the text in an audiobook was a poor one, but McGregor's reading is otherwise, unsurprisingly, fantastic. I wish this were ... more; I have an impulse to call it slight, which isn't quite right; more like: there's a lot of threads at play here, but the focus on memoir makes for limited "solutions" (if that's the goal) to the issues it raises, a light touch that leaves many of its subjects in airy limbo and returns the focus back to McGregor's own attempts at radial self-care and feminist work, which makes the ending sudden and a little, well, sentimental, and perforce unsatisfying.
But the actual reading experience is thoughtful, intentional, stimulating, and (although I've only listened to Witch, Please) I would be hard-pressed to not enjoy McGregor having thoughts about the world and her place in it....more
There are two versions of this. The Cooney illustrations are black, white, and red, with a lot of tonal variation between the spreads, some cute, someThere are two versions of this. The Cooney illustrations are black, white, and red, with a lot of tonal variation between the spreads, some cute, some wondrous (the deer!), some rendered piecemeal, some full tableaux with backgrounds. Set against that is MWB's simplistic text: a list of things, a call and response, with minimal narrative movement. It's probably best for very young readers. Likeable (really, that deer illustration's beautiful) but not hugely memorable.
The Dillon is very different. The art is doing a lot of heavy lifting, here: the owl asking each animal where they've been provides an overarching narrative, and each panel is a full-color, wildly creative inset narrative, ex. the toad up the road has been going on a roadtrip with a few fairies. It's a fascinating reinterpretation, vibrant and quirky and probably excessive; I wonder, paired with the very simple text, there's no ideal readership. But do I like it? Oh, yes....more
I don't know that there could be a version of a walking, talking scarecrow making frightful faces which isn't a little creepy and, indeed, this is preI don't know that there could be a version of a walking, talking scarecrow making frightful faces which isn't a little creepy and, indeed, this is pretty creepy. Creepy-cute, or just unsettling? I didn't like it (especially the straw-stuffing functioning as teeth no thanks), but it's vibrant, and certainly not boring, and copying the faces would probably be fun for a kid.
The ending (the protagonist isn't censured for sneaking out to use his fierce faces in the field) intrigues me. It should be refreshing, but there's commentary here about the scarecrow child being raised into the family business, taking the initiative to prove his usefulness, and therefore earning his place while still young which ... is probably bigger than my quick review of a picture book allows, but feels gently dated, a product of MWB's era and a relic by the time this was published in 1998....more
Dogs aren't allowed at the zoo, so this one dresses up as a little girl to get inside. A deeply silly premise, but the list of zoo animals with evocatDogs aren't allowed at the zoo, so this one dresses up as a little girl to get inside. A deeply silly premise, but the list of zoo animals with evocative, scent-heavy descriptions is very MWB. Cute, and I love the panel of the dog and owner mirroring each other's body language; but not particularly memorable....more
A young racoon pesters his mother: when can I go out at night? Nevermind the cover; Williams's illustrations are black and white, accented with burnt A young racoon pesters his mother: when can I go out at night? Nevermind the cover; Williams's illustrations are black and white, accented with burnt umber. This is one part the coziest possible illustrations of anthropomorphized animals doing domestic tasks, and one part a gentle but atmospheric embrace of the night, filled with nocturnal activities, changing with the light of the moon, secretive but not scary. "If you want to go out in the woods and see ... what color is the night" - it's a fine balance and not quite struck for me, the adult reader who always wants a picture book to be 10% weirder or creepier than it is, but it intrigues me....more
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