Reviews

Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow (Juvenile Fiction)

Simon and his family are processing the trauma of a school shooting that Simon was the only survivor of. This topic brings up all kinds of mixed feelings, and I was initially hesitant whether I could read it. However, Erin Bow does a phenomenal job writing about this topic, and I found myself instantly liking the characters and their relationships with one another. It's an absolute gem that will encourage both tears and laughter. 

One of the reviews I read called this a tragicomedy, and I thought that was strange due to the topic of the book. But the more I listened to it, the more "tragicomedy" made sense. Simon and his parents move to a fictional National Quiet Zone two years after the school shooting. His mom is a mortician, so naturally their residence is in his mom's funeral home. Simon's dad is a Catholic Deacon who has bizarre luck with animals. Add in a peacock who thinks he's the owner of the funeral home, and it was actually pretty hilarious at times. 

The love, support, and hefty sense of humor in Simon's family are all immensely helpful in processing their trauma and PTSD, but there are plenty of rocky moments. Thankfully a classmate, Agate befriends Simon and enlists his help creating fake alien signals (fascinating subplot alert!). Thanks to incredible family support and Agate's friendship, Simon begins to heal and find a place that really feels like home. I thought the writing was exceptional, the audiobook narrator (Will Collyer) did an excellent job bringing the characters to life, and the story with all its varied intricacies was well-thought out.

Expedition Backyard by Rosemary Mosco and Binglin Hu (Juvenile Graphic)

Calling all Skunk and Badger and Peter and Ernesto fans! Here's another adorable animal friendship tale for you. Whether you like calm adventures like mole or you like chasing danger like vole, you will root for them both. There's lots of plant and animal identification going on in this adorably illustrated gem as well. Swamp milkweed seen from the perspective of a mole is possibly better than seeing it in real life and the illustrations of mama opossum taking all her babies and adventurer friends for a ride are fantastic.