Completely Full Bookshelf

Hey everybody! I'm back with a short book review of a graphic novel that I've been making my way through over the last few weeks! And then I've got some random thoughts for you, because we've always got room for random thoughts in our lives. These specific ones are about Taylor Swift's new album! So let's do this! Middle Grade: Mexikid A Graphic Memoir Written and illustrated by Pedro Martín Graphic memoir · 2023 Recommended by  Lisa Maucione  and  Cheriee Weichel Add it on Goodreads  ·  Preview the illustrations · · · The publisher says: · · · NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER • An unforgettable graphic memoir about a Mexican American boy’s family and their adventure-filled road trip to bring their abuelito back from Mexico Pedro Martín has grown up hearing stories about his abuelito—his legendary crime-fighting, grandfather who was once a part of the Mexican Revolution! But that doesn't mean Pedro is excited at the news that Abuelito is coming to live with their ...

Before we get started, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving—ours was very peaceful, and it was when I actually finished reading the book I'm reviewing today! Also, I want to quickly mention an album of music I've been enjoying lately. Aimee Mann, who I first started listening to around 2 years ago, just debuted a new album called Queens of the Summer Hotel , and it is awesome! You can go read  this interview to learn about it, but just know that it's brilliant and worth a listen (or several)! (And especially a listen in order, since the order really matters.) Finally, I have the winners of the Holiday Picture Book Giveaway to announce! The first winner is... Danielle! Danielle will be receiving a copy of Eyes That Kiss in the Corners . The second winner is... Carlo! Carlo will be receiving a copy of A Map into the World . The third winner is... Patricia (a fellow MMGM blogger at Children's Books Heal )! Patricia will be receiving a copy of A Big Mooncake for ...

Before we get to the review, I'd like to share some random tidbits with you all. First of all, exciting news—I'm going to be a Round 2 Judge for Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction for the Cybils Awards this year!!! You can click here to see my full announcement post. Next, I apologize for being so behind on replying to my own blog comments—I'm trying to prioritize reading other people's posts and commenting on those, but my schedule has forced me to leave some gaps in my usual blogging routine, so I will try to get caught up at some point. Speaking of my schedule, in my personal life, I recently had the rewarding-but-draining experience of helping to coordinate a big project that was a massive pain in the neck for days on end but ended up being a lot of fun for a lot of people—so definitely worth it, but also quite exhausting! Another random thought—is anyone else waiting semi-impatiently for the sequel to Awkward , Brave , and Crush  by Svetlana Chmakova? Her website...

I hope everyone is doing well this week! I took an hour on Friday morning to listen all the way through Billie Eilish's new album of music, Happier Than Ever , and it was SO GOOD!!! If you'd like song recommendations, I recommend "Getting Older," "Billie Bossa Nova," "my future," "GOLDWING," "Not My Responsibility"/"OverHeated" (which are kind of a pair), "Your Power," and "NDA"/"Therefore I Am" (which I also think work better as a pair). Also, I keep forgetting to plug my Thursday Thoughts posts, so I'll do that now—a while back, I discussed two fun non-kidlit books I had recently read , and this past Thursday, I posted another original poem called "An evening walk" ! Moving on, I've got an interesting and RIDICULOUSLY LENGTHY blog post for you today about my favorite book of all time: Goodbye Stranger  by Rebecca Stead. I could probably have shortened this post, but in...

So that was a week. It took *checks notes* 6 days for 2021 to become even worse than 2020 was, thanks to a group of rioters breaking into the U.S. Capitol building in order to halt the certification of President-elect Biden's victory and allow President Trump to continue to hold the presidency—all at his encouragement. I've heard people say that Trump was going to incite violence sooner or later, the way he was riling up his base, but I don't think anyone actually thought the violence would happen. I have no useful insights to offer up after this nightmarish event, but I am glad to see that democracy remains at least mostly intact despite Trump's intentions. And it's strange, because had this awful event not occurred, Wednesday would have been a stunning rebuke of Trump—Democrats officially took a majority of the Senate after flipping Georgia (not the first state I would have expected to flip, but Stacey Abrams really is just that good!). President-elect Biden is p...