Completely Full Bookshelf

I'm back!!!  I really wish I hadn't dropped off the face of the earth quite aggressively for two months, but alas, here we are. In that time, I've: Been so busy that it's really a wonder how I function at all (yet I do!) Been addicted to various  amazing  albums of music ( Midnights by Taylor Swift,  Inner World Peace  by Frankie Cosmos, and Swimming Lessons  by Genevieve Stokes) Done my usual therapy routine (hooray for achingly slow self-improvement!) Played several shockingly gorgeous mobile games I've played before ( Monument Valley , Monument Valley 2 , and Assemble with Care ) and one I haven't ( Florence ) Listened to three tracks from the  Monument Valley 2  soundtrack on loop ("Interwoven Stories," "Child," and "Power of Two") Laughed really hard on some video calls with friends Pondered my future intermittently and with great trepidation (my trepidation is greater than your trepidation, so take that ) Felt like a weird cr...

Happy New Year's, everyone! I hope every one of you enjoyed your holidays, and I wish all of you a happy, healthy new year—I'm mildly petrified to see what 2022 has in store (considering our hope for 2021 lasted exactly 6 days), but I know we'll all be able to handle whatever's in store! By the way, January 1 is an important day in the kidlit world—it's the day the finalists in the Cybils Awards are announced! You can view all of the finalists here —it's truly overwhelming how many great books were selected. And now that Round 1 is over and the finalists have been announced, Round 2 begins, which means I start my term as a Round 2 Judge for Elementary/Middle-Grade Nonfiction! (If you're curious, you can see which books I'll be reading here .) I encourage you to go check out the finalists—some of them were nominated by bloggers I know, so make sure to see if your nominee was selected! Moving into my review, I have been so spoiled lately, because I have j...

This week is shaping up to be INSANE. Besides my plan to attend three different Halloween parties (no comment), I am taking a creative writing course, and I have a short story that is due this Sunday—and I'm planning to write something pretty long that I haven't actually started drafting yet (I just have the outline), so I kind of need to get moving on all that. It probably won't be that bad to write—I just don't want to do it! I just want to go read books and play Animal Crossing  and NOT stay up late—seriously, I stay up 20 minutes past my bedtime and then I am noticeably exhausted the next day. College, y'all—it's a thing. Moving along, today we have a review of yet another truly AMAZING graphic novel (we've been on a great stretch following The Girl From the Sea  and Other Boys )—today's book is Nimona  by ND Stevenson. I wasn't sure if this book was MG or YA when I started it, but after reading it, I am quite sure  this book is better for a YA a...

Before we get to today's post, I'd like to mention that I shared another original poem this last Thursday, "On summer" —check it out if you're interested! Also, I have the winners of the Summer 2021 Book Giveaway to announce! The winner of Everywhere Blue  by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz is... Danielle! The winner of Fighting Words  by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is... Rosi (a fellow MMGM blogger)! The winner of the signed copy of Invisible Emmie  by Terri Libenson is... Shaye (a fellow #IMWAYR blogger at The Miller Memo) ! And the winner of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe  by Benjamin Alire Sáenz and Are You Listening?  by Tillie Walden is... CarloShmarlo! Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks so much to everyone who entered! Moving to the review, I'm excited to have a review today of a ridiculously fantastic YA graphic novel, On a Sunbeam  by Tillie Walden! This book has somewhat mature content as well as complex themes ...

Not to be a week behind on traumatic national events (sigh), but today (Monday) is the last day to enter in the 2021 Books by Asian-American Voices Giveaway , which I am holding as a response to the hate crimes committed recently against Asian-Americans. The linked page also has a set of valuable resources, so check it out! With that, today, I am recommending the YA graphic novel A Map to the Sun  by Sloane Leong. As usual, a reminder that this book is young adult (YA), not middle grade (MG), and contains some mature content. Also, TRIGGER WARNING  for arson and relationships between adults and minors. (I feel like the trigger warning really does set a certain tone for the rest of the post, but I certainly don't want people reliving any trauma, so here we are.)            As we all know by now, I love graphic novels, so I was thrilled to see a recommendation for a new one from the wonderful #IMWAYR blogger Sue Jackson, who blogs about an impr...

Welcome to February! This month, I'm doing something a bit unconventional with my reviews: I am reviewing four graphic novels (that's not the unconventional part, obviously ) that all feature witches/supposed witches/other related spookiness. I noticed I had a ridiculous volume of books like this on my to-be-read shelves, and since there's no time to review spooky books like February*, I'm getting started on this unusual adventure with a delightfully bizarre graphic novel: Snapdragon  by Kat Leyh. *Actually, there is a much better time to review books like this, but it wouldn't be the first time my Halloween reading occurred during not-Halloween.           I've seen many bloggers enjoying this graphic novel over the past few months, and since I love graphic novels, I decided to finally pick up a copy and see what all of the fuss was about. Snapdragon 's protagonist, Snapdragon Bloom (or Snap for short), lives with her single mother in a trailer park right n...