"Umm...

Did I read the same book as everyone else?

This one took me FOREVER, and I just kept reading, hoping some brilliance would pop up so that I could forgive all of the bad that came before. That never happened. In fact, the end of the book made me so angry that I even bothered to finish.

To begin, my dude needs an editor. Immediately. This book could have been half the length, easily. The entire middle was full of a muddled, messy, confusing, meandering path full of "clues" that were nonsensical and never amounted to anything other than the ramblings of a girl who may or may not be a figment of the main character's imagination. The entire "mystery" of the book (is Grace real?) is strung out the entire time, and then, at the end..does not matter.

I could probably rant for days about how the overwrought, pretentious sentence fragments scattered throughout the book often made no damn sense.

I have degrees in English and Literacy. I teach Language Arts. I genuinely had to look up the rules on prepositional phrases because I felt like some monumental shift that I was unaware of must have taken place (nope).

So many "sentences" did not even meet the most basic grammatical standards (subject verb object, anyone?). I got so mad about this that I started asking anyone around me to read specific lines and make sense of them. Spoiler alert: they couldn't.This one sentence made me so irritated that I almost rage quit:

"Patch sought a stream that shone like polished glass shattered over rocks that humped from the bed so sandpipers had a spot to fish from."

What does that even mean?!


Verb tenses shifted incomprehensibly. Chapters began with only pronouns and no names, which meant that I had to constantly seek out clues as to who I was reading about at any given time. The ONLY thing that made me feel better about being grammatically gaslit through the entire book was the author's endnote, in which he admits that he is terrible at grammar *dramatic inhale.*

All that aside, the story itself is just... a mess. It has too many moving parts. There are too many characters, too many pieces that I was supposed to care about, but I just did not. The story felt cheesy, ridiculous, over the top, and honestly, kind of derivative of a lot of better stories. It reminded me of Stand by Me mixed with The Notebook mixed with The Shawshank Redemption. Doesn't that sound crazy? Good. Now, throw in some pirates and abortion/adoption stories for extra fun, and you have this book that tops countless best-of-2024 lists, and that made me feel incomprehensible amounts of literary rage. 🙃"

"Jane Mount is known for her bookish art. If you want a customized print of a stack of your favorite books, Jane Mount is your go-to artist. In her first-ever children’s book, Mount takes pieces from her childhood, adds in some of her own bookish art, and creates a story of a young girl who finds that books are her best friends. But, can she also find other kids who feel the same way she does?

Lotti is totally fine sitting quietly somewhere and reading a book. She doesn’t need to talk nonstop like her parents do at dinner. She would rather just read a book. She doesn’t need to draw all the time like her brother does. She just wants to read. The same thing happens at school. All her classmates are playing at recess, but she would rather sit by the building and read.

With Mount’s trademark book stack illustrations, Lotti shares with the reader some of her favorite books and how they have helped her escape. Then Lotti starts to wonder if books could help her make friends too. When Lotti shares a stack of books, she also shares some of the reasons why she liked those books. So, I am giving you a full warning, reading this book will grow your to-read list!

The end of the book includes an author’s note and a cookie recipe perfect for sharing with friends or maybe at your next book club meeting after school. It’s the perfect gift for the bookish child (or adult) in your life."

"I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher for my honest opinion.

This book is all about books! In this mini-memoir from the author of Bibliophile, we follow Lotti and her journey to figure out how to make human friends. What I really love about this book is that Lotti doesn’t have to give up her love of books to start getting alone with her brother or making friends. In fact, by reading certain books, it changes her prospective on her brother and helps her feel brave enough to talk to kids at her school. Mount also gives a lot of really great recommendations of books for kids, including classics and modern classics or award-winning books. A wonderful book for a bookish kid, shy kid, or even a kid trying to get into reading. "