This book made me realize I'm not a dog person (sometimes) bc by the fourth near-miss with Laika I was so over it, I was rooting for her d3ath, ok. A dizzying, maybe overstayed story. It was a propulsive read but I didn't care much for Emma bc she felt too surface level and I was kinda annoyed by her. And there were a lot of cringe moments here: the author intruder being a neckbeard, alt-right, Andrew Tate listening, 4chan incel caricature; Taylor Adams describing Jules hair as "Karen haircut" (?), and the damn dog stuff that kept diminishing my enjoyment but it wasn't a terrible experience and it was sorta fun.

Content Warnings

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

God, that ending brought me close to tears. What a beautiful, hopeful story. The people wanting to make access to this book unavailable (looking at you Floyd County Public Schools in Virginia and Jodi Farmer) to little kids who need to read it are and will be irrelevant to history as the nameless and faceless shat-on bully from Wishtree. Imagine focusing on such a minor, and botanically accurate, point of the story and saying it's "indoctrination at its finest" (like sending your kids to a private Christian school isn't?! but I digress) when the story is about much more. It's about love and acceptance. It's about community and kindness. It's about not let hatred blossom. It's about friendship, and overcoming imposed obstacles to achieve that friendship. It's about, unfortunately, some people never leaving their biases and prejudices behind but still living harmoniously. It teaches kids that disagreeing and arguing with someone doesn't preclude you from still being friends. That you can have a thousand differences and still share something special with someone, nourishing the shared bond you have like Red and Bongo do. It's about how small and irrelevant bullies, racists, Islamophobes, transphobes, xenophobes, and all other hateful people are, that they are not worth exploring and giving page time to. They're not even worth giving names to, and throughout the story names and naming conventions are so important.

Maybe this book can be accused of being simplistic and too wishful, but I think kids need these kinds of stories so much. It sets on the topic and then a discussion can be had about how idealistic it is and if a neighborhood can work being that welcoming. Or why can't people be like Samar's classmates and teachers and neighbors from Wishtree's neighborhood. It can also open up the topic of rules and rule breaking, and when sometimes, out of self-preservation or any other reason, breaking "the rules" is necessary and maybe even justifiable, like in Red's case when they break the "not talking to humans" rule.

Reading this book requires an open heart and an open mind. As an adult/parent, it requires abandoning authoritarianism and letting your kids have differing and disagreeing opinions. That doesn't mean they'll love you or disrespect you any less for it. Who knows? Maybe the kid will reject the messaging you're throwing a fit over on their own and not like the book. Maybe they'll think the story is silly and boring and too goody-two-shoes. But you won't know it until you let them read it. (Though Jodi Farmer's kids were not even gonna read it anyway bc they don't attend Floyd Co. public schools so I don't get why she's sticking her nose where it don't belong!) And look, if Katherine Applegate had come up with the tree thing and taken it out of her butt maybe I'd get it but this is true, real life science wtf 😭 Saying nature facts is "indoctrination" tells you all you need to know about this ignorant Jodi person.

Anyway, I LOVED this book and thought it was super adorable. And Charles Santoso's illustrations were absolutely formidable and precious! The cutest animal babies ever 🫶🏻 I love Katherine Applegate and her writing, so all the ignorant transphobic haters can take a big, fat deposit on their heads. Iykyk lol

Content Warnings

City by Clifford D. Simak

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book goes to weird and pessimistic humanity-hating places but I enjoyed the pretty writing so much. Mr. Simak really knew how to write evocatively. I had no expectations for this book and that helped bc it ended up blowing me away. Yes, most of the sci-fi concepts are dated but that gives it a quaint feel that reading it now clashes with the frothing pessimism in its lines and makes for an interesting read.

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_fallinglight_'s reviews 419 reviews

_fallinglight_'s reviews
419 reviews