Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste

 (The current list) 

I swiped this one off of the Dekalb Library's new YA display mostly because the cover art is just so cool. It feels like a shallow reason to pick up a book, but packaging is a large part of book promotion. People get a little sniffy about that, but illustration and cover art are very important to the success of new books. There are a lot of new books out there, and getting the attention of readers is difficult. 

Of course, the most amazing cover art in the world won't help if the book isn't also good. In this case, the story is quite good. Coal is a foster kid who's bounced around a bit. Tom has been his foster father for the last three years, but one day has a kind of psychotic break and is convinced there are people after Coal. Protective services come and Coal ends up with the McKays who are a large and boisterous family. They seem like good people, but it's a hard adjustment.

One day, he nearly gets shot by some old guy in the neighborhood. While trying to get away he realizes that he's turned invisible. Not his clothes, but still, a pretty cool super power. However, for a foster kid who has just shifted families, Coal has to figure out what this new power means all on his own. 

The plot is a touch predictable, but this is offset by the by the way that Baptiste addresses real-world issues. It's unflinching, but also avoids feeling preachy. The invisibility seems to work on a metaphoric level  as well. All in all, it's a great read and I'm planning to get a copy for my classroom library.

No Bake "Cookies"

 It is so hot right now. Nothing will keep me from cooking, but a sweet treat that didn't involve turning on the oven definitely appealed in this weather. As it turns out, these are delicious but so rich that it's more like candy than cookies. My original batch took the cookie idea seriously and made 24 cookie-sized confections. However at this size, they are almost overwhelming. Next time I make them, I'm going to aim for a much smaller size and try to get 62 out of the recipe.

No Bake Cookies

• 1/2 c butter
• 2 c sugar
• 1/2 c cocoa
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c peanut butter
• 3 c rolled oats

1. Warm butter, sugar, cocoa, and milk in a pot over medium heat. Stir until sugar is completely melted and ingredients are combined. Bring to a slow boil and boil for 1 minute.
2. Remove from the heat and add vanilla and peanut butter. Stir until fully combined.
3. Add mixture to rolled oats and stir until oats are fully covered. 
4. Drop by the Tablespoonful on wax paper and let sit until chocolate fully sets. (At least an hour - the big size I made took close to 3 hours.)

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage (2025 NF #7)

 (The current list) 

I'm tickled that I've done so well with nonfiction this year. It's never been that I don't like nonfiction. I just tend to get distracted and without a strong narrative thread to keep me focused, I have a tendency to put nonfiction down and lose track of it. 

Historically, the one area of nonfiction that I do read consistently concerns food. I like reading cookbooks and books about food production and politics, so it's surprising that it took me as long as it did to read A History of the World in 6 Glasses. I've had sitting in a stack for at least 10 years and it's right up my ally.

Really, this is a sort of general history of human development filtered through the lens of beverages. It's interesting because we've been creating alternatives to water almost from the very beginning. We take the availability of fresh, clean water for granted in the Western world. However one of the first things that happened when we started settling into semi-permanent and permanent villages was water contamination. This led to immediate problems. 

For all the legitimate issues in the modern world with alcohol, it did render water safe to drink in ancient time. So beer, wine, and other ferments were one of the first achievements of human development that allowed for large human settlements and ultimately birthed civilization. 

Standage moves from beer in ancient Mesopotamia and wine in Greece, through distilled liquors that fueled European exploration. Fun fact: distillation was perfected in the Arabic countries for use in creating perfumes. Who knew?

From the alcoholic beverages, Standage moves to coffee, tea, and soda. Thanks to college class on Bach, I was already familiar with much of the material in the coffee chapter. It was still a good overview and added information about the coffee houses in England and the rest of Europe. In fact, coffee was tightly involved with scientific development and the exchange of ideas in many areas. 

Tea pretty much funded the British Empire for about a decade. Soda was, it turns out, tied strongly to the idea of American capitalism and patriotism. So, all in all, a really interesting read. 

Defekt by Nino Cipri

 (The current list) 

This one is the sequel to Finna and I actually read it back at the beginning of April. My memory of it has gotten quite foggy but I actually liked it a great deal more than I did Finna. While the setting is the same and several of the side characters are the same, the main characters are completely different. 

Defekt is about Derek. From the beginning, it's clear that Derek is an odd ball. He works 18 hour shifts at the LitenVarld and lives in a tricked out packing container that sits in the back of the parking lot. He's bizarrely naive and loyal to the store. He doesn't seem to know how to interact with his coworkers. All of his mannerisms are practiced in front of a mirror. 

If it seems like he might not be entirely human, then you are definitely on the right track. In the last book we learned that LitenVarlds (basically Ikea) create thin places in the barriers between alternate universes. In this book, we learn that these thin places cause the occasional object to mutate and become sentient. This causes obvious problems, so once there are enough mutated objects in a store a special team is sent to destroy them. Derek's store has a mutated object problem and Derek is tapped to help the removal team. However, when the team arrives, Derek notices that they all look like him. 

It really felt like Cipri found the groove with this story. While, you don't really have to read Finna first, it would probably be a good idea. The world building in Finna helps to understand what is going on in Defekt.

Strange Pictures by Uketsu

 (The current list) 

Here is another book that I picked to fulfill a category on the Centennial Challenge. This is a novel I found on the new book shelf that is translated from Japanese. 

I didn't really know anything about it before I picked it up, but apparently this was apparently a bit of a sensation in Japan. The author has successfully hidden his or her identity and only shows up on youtube with a mask on and disguising his or her voice. It's more gimmicky than I usually go for but the mystery itself was quite good. 

The book is basically organized around four interconnecting shorter mystery stories. Each story involves a drawing produced by a character in the story. There are actually a lot of illustrations, it's a pretty visually interesting production.

The firsts story involves a series of drawings created by a pregnant woman just before she dies in child birth. The second story features a picture drawn by a young boy before he disappears and figuring out the drawing is key to finding him. The third story is about an art teacher who is brutally murdered after hiking to the top of a mountain. His mutilated body is found with an enigmatic landscape sketched on the back of a receipt. The fourth story ties everything into a single narrative. A young girl who is confined after killing her mother is asked by a therapist to draw a picture.

The writing style is a little sparse and quirky, but it's worth the effort. It's an unusual and interesting mystery

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

 (The current list) 

I picked up this one off of a library display for the sake of Dekalb's centennial challenge. Then I had to rush through it because someone else requested it. While I do like mysteries, I'm always a little hesitant to pick up a new one. A poorly crafted mystery is a true disappointment. 

However, I needed a book from a library display for the challenge and You Are Fatally Invited seemed the most promising of the books on display. I later realized that it would have also satisfied two other categories as a debut book and one that features several unreliable narrators.

You Are Fatally Invited is borrowing heavily from a couple of Agatha Christie's novels. It features a group of mystery/thriller authors who are all invited out to an island retreat to theoretically work on their novels. However people start dying at a quick rate and each of the attendees is hiding something. 

If that sounds like the plot to And Then There Were None,  that's because it essentially is. The set up is virtually the same. The narrative bops around to each of the guests' points of view and its clear that they aren't just lying to each other; in some cases they are lying to themselves. One of the main points of view, Mila, is particularly annoying in that she keeps addressing her monologue to a mysterious "you." Second person narrative is tough to pull off and Pliego wasn't entirely successful. That being said, the character intrigue was well plotted and well designed. Pliego dropped loads of pop culture references which were fun to decode. 

Overall, this was a good worthwhile read. It's particularly impressive for a debut novel. 

Abbadon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

 I finished this one back at the end of March and tragically some of the details are getting a little fuzzy. Notably, this is the first of the series that isn't a reread.

In the first book, the protomolecule ends up on Venus which leads to a mysterious protomolecule craft that sets up a big ring on the edge of the solar system. To the crew of the Rocinante, that big ring seemed like a whole universe of trouble and after all they'd been through it felt like a good time to lay low. So they flee to the exact opposite side of the solar system. They are about as far away as they can get from the thing. 

Of course, events conspire to thwart their good intentions. Mars decides to contest the ownership of the Rocinante which means it's grounded until the ownership can be resolved. A documentary crew offers to pay their legal fees which is how the Rocinante ends up heading to the mysterious big ring while being followed around by cameras. 

This is also the book with the Clarissa Mao plot line which greatly benefited from a close POV that revealed her thinking and experience.

This season of The Expanse was full of things that didn't quite make sense such as how did the film crew end up on the Rocinante? Or why does Amos call Clarissa Mao, Peaches? There were more. The best thing about reading the book is that a lot of those weird little details were explained. 

Stone and Steel by Eboni Dunbar

(The current list) 

 Some time around the end of the school year I discovered that Dekalb public library was  celebrating it's 100 year anniversary with a book challenge. The challenge is to read 100 books in 2025 that each satisfy a specific category. You can see the list here. I love a challenge but some of the categories are harder to satisfy than others. It being a library challenge, they have helpfully provided lists.

I found Stone and Steel on a helpful list for "read a book that is less than 100 pages." Turns out that it's rather difficult to look specifically for novellas, so I needed some help. 

This was a pretty good little story about a woman coming back from war only to find that the queen she was fighting for wasn't protecting the people. When Aaliyah tries to confront her queen for the good of the people, she's branded a traitor.

It's a well developed fantasy world with interesting characters. The relationships were nicely complex and the protagonist, Aaliyah, is easy to identify with.

My biggest complaint is that Dunbar crammed a three book series into 92 pages and it irks me. The whole story felt rushed and abrupt. It needed more space to breath. I can only hope that Dunbar will some day go back and expand this out into a full series

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

(The current list)  

In recent years, my school has started to accept students with more sever disabilities. We've always been a special needs school, but over the past couple of years we've seen students who functionally cannot read and some who's developmental maturity places them as much as 10 years behind. As a result, I've been on a hunt for reading material that more meets the needs of those students. It turns out, a lot of really good children's material aimed at the 8-12 set has been published in the last 10 or so years when I was distracted by other things.

When You Trap a Tiger is an example of this. It originally came to my attention when it was assigned in my son's fourth grade class. His whole class read the book. 

When You Trap a Tiger is a blend of Korean folklore and a family drama. Lily and her sister, Sam, get uprooted from their home in California so that their mother can move in with their grandmother. Being kids, the sisters are upset about being moved away from their home and their friends. Sam in particular is angry.

Lily is shy and more than a little bottled up. She loves her Halmoni (grandma) and feels like everything about her is a little magic. When they were really little, Halmoni used to tell the girls stories about magical trickster tigers. In these stories, the little girls trick the tigers and become the sun and the moon. Lily loves these stories but she and her sister remember the moral very differently

It soon becomes clear to Lily that something is wrong with her Halmoni. That's when a tiger shows up and offers to save Lily's Halmoni if Lily will do a task for her. 

I really liked the book. It had me in tears by the end. It did the good job of blending in magical realism to a story that was essentially a family drama. I also really appreciated the way it ended. I won't deliver any spoilers, but it was very satisfying without being cloying or over sentimental. 

The Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming

(The current list) 

Ok. This is embarrassing. I love this series. I love this series, but when I try to categorize it for my friends, the best descriptor I can come up with is "demon smut with a really good story."

Don't get me wrong. I'm not prudish and I certainly don't judge people's taste. There's nothing wrong with reading a bawdy romance novel from time to time. However, generally I read a romance novel in about a day. I enjoy it while I'm reading it, and then I forget about it. The stories are fine, but they are really a vehicle for a lascivious scene or two.

In this series, it's the stories that are so fun. The bawdy scenes are. . . graphic. Full check on the lascivious content, but honestly I like the world that Lemming has built. The mixture of a demon society with a human one where the demons are not inherently bad is kind of cool. 

This one is the story of Brie, the introverted cheese-maker, and Felix, the werewolf. Brie likes her romance novels and hanging out with Cinnamon's (from the first book) family. So when she gets some unwanted attention at the tavern, it's not too surprising that she throws the drink this guy was trying to force on her straight at him. Unfortunately for Brie, the unwanted suitor is good at dodging and is also a piece of trash that spiked the drink with a love potion. Instead, Brie manages to peg it right into the back of Felix's head. Felix is instantly in love. He swears it is genuine love. Brie's pretty sure it's going to wear off.

In the meantime, young women are going missing from all the villages in the area. The demons know it isn't them but the villagers are suspicious. 

Like I said. It's a lot of fun. However, be warned, the sex scenes are graphic.

Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris

 Another TBR.co recommendation and one that honestly had me rolling my eyes when I read the back of the book. My recommender's letter didn't really help either. 

The basic premise is that the Harkers from Dracula had a kid as did Prof. Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes. Both young women are working for the "Royal Society for the Study of Abnormal Phenomena." Samantha Harker is a researcher with a dark secret and Dr. Helena Moriarty is a field agent who has a hard time keeping her partners alive. 

Samantha finds herself assigned along with Helena to a new case out of Paris tracking down what appears to be attacks from some kind of beast.  It's not that straight forward though and the two must navigate the Parisian underworld and near constant attacks. It becomes clear from the outset that there is more to the attacks than a simple beast. All the victims are men who are each conducting an affair with a young woman. Different young women for each man. Either Paris has suddenly sprouted an entire pack of werewolves (which are extinct - obviously) or something else is going on.

So, the setup is ridiculous on the face of it. However, beyond that, this is actually a very well plotted mystery. The supernatural elements actually add to the mystery logically. To my mind, a good mystery should present all the clues in a way that the reader can figure out the solution before the reveal. However, if it's well written, a reader won't always arrive at the right conclusion. Strange Beasts managed to tick all the boxes. While the culprit wasn't a complete surprise, there were enough interesting red herrings written in that I admit to having been distracted.

All in all, a highly enjoyable read

Tamale Pie

 I suppose it is no grand secret that I fell behind in my blogging. However, because of that lag in reporting, I've actually made this recipe about four times. I had an inkling that it would be particularly good since there were cards in the boxes for the same recipe but from different eras. One was typed, one was hand written, but both were from my great aunt Joan. 

In all honesty, I've never had tamale pie before, but it's one of those dishes that shows up in all the big general cookbooks. Joy of Cooking has a version. Betty Crocker has had it in several of their books. There are vegetarian versions. It's just one of those dishes. It's not quite ubiquitous but it's definitely part of the fabric of American home cuisine.

This version is quite good, although I've messed with the ratios a little. My version is in the ()s. It really does matter what cornbread mix you pick, so find one you like. Most of the variety has to do with with the sweetness. I'm partial to Krusteaz, but at some point I'll try mixing up my own cornbread from scratch.

Tamale Pie

• 1.5 pound ground beef (1#)
• 1/2 pkg. taco seasoning (1)
• 12 oz can corn  (3 c. frozen corn)
• 1/2 chopped green pepper (3 poblanos)
• 1/2 chopped onion (1)
• 1/2 c. sliced olives (1 15oz can drained)
• 1 c shredded cheddar (8oz)
• 1 16 oz can tomatoes (1 28oz can)
• 1 pkg. cornbread mix 10 to 12 oz

1. Brown ground beef.
2. Add onion, pepper, and tomatoes and simmer until the tomatoes begin to break down and turn saucy.
3. Add rest of ingredients except corn bread mix.
4. Place ground beef mixture in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish or casserole
5. Mix up cornbread according to box directions and cover the top of casserole
6. Bake at 400 degrees until cornbread is fully cooked which can vary on the timing. I generally find it takes 20 to 30 minutes.

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

 I finished this one back in March. It's the sequel to Red Rising which was recommended to me by a student. 

The series is set in our future and humanity has spread through out our solar system. However, after a revolution sometime in the past before the beginning of the series, humanity has settled into a strict caste system based on color. Gold is at the top and rule over the other castes. Red is at the very bottom. Over the generations, the castes have become more than just titles, they've all been genetically altered to better succeed at their roles. Our protagonist, Darrow, is a red. His people have been lied to for generations. When Darrow finds out the truth, he joins the resistance and allows them to turn him into a Gold to infiltrate the highest ranks of the leadership.

In the previous novel, Darrow wins a kind of insane training program that was reminiscent of the Hunger Games. Golden Son opens with Darrow in command of a space ship and seemingly just moments before winning a triumph in the next phase of his education. Everything seems to be going perfectly for Darrow. 

However, the tables are turned and victory turns to defeat. Darrow's failure puts him in a politically bad position as his sponsor abandons him and the future seems bleak.

I found this book intensely frustrating. Darrow makes a lot of obviously stupid decisions and it really got under my skin. It's not a bad book really, just irritating. My students loved this book though and I guess I can see why. I went on to read the next book in the series that I will review a little later.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

 This one was a TBR recommendation and I read it over about two days. My recommender this time really didn't seem to put too much time into the letter explaining the selections so I was a little surprised how much I liked two of the three of them. 

I like intrigue novels. I'm a sucker for them actually, which is something I only really realized in the last few years. Intrigue isn't really its own genre and can show up anywhere. In this case it showed up in a work of fantasy modeled off of ancient imperial China. This world is built of warring kingdoms and ruthless rulers. It's dark and gritty and there's no expectation of happy endings. 

It starts like a fairy tale. Xishi is a peasant girl born in a tiny village in the kingdom of Yue. She was born with incredible beauty which she hides behind a veil until one day a mysterious stranger shows up to ask Xishi an important question. The mysterious stranger asks Xishi to marry the king of the rival kingdom of Wu and spy for the Yue. Of course she says yes and becomes a princess.  

At that point it stops being a fairy tale and turns into a court intrigue. Xishi becomes the king's courtesan and must navigate a foreign palace to feed information back to the Yue. What I liked about the story was how complex the characters were. Xishi was conflicted. The king of the Wu was a monster but he was also just a lost young man who yearned for love. 

Not to drop a spoiler, but I really respect an author who can create a satisfying ending that isn't necessarily happy. I really enjoyed the book. 

June List

Hello June! I have, as is inevitable, fallen behind on my goals. In all honesty, it was a crazy busy year. Teaching is always a challenge, but some years it feels like we never have a breath. This was one of those years and as a result, a lot of my personal goals had to take a back seat. June is an opportunity to start pulling things back on track. So, this month there is a reset list of 15 fiction and 10 nonfiction titles. I'm also planning to produce a post a day until I'm caught up with the backlog. Some of the books I'm reviewing have been waiting long enough for a post that the review is likely to be a bit weak, but bear with me. 

June List

1. The Most by Jessica Anthony (Library - Newly Added)
2. The Last Windwitch by Jennifer Adam (Library)
3. Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste (Finished 6/28/2025)
4. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (Finished 6/12/2025)
5. Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson
6. The Wild Robot Series by Peter Brown
1. The Wild Robot (Finished 6/9/2025)
2. The Wild Robot Escapes (Finished 6/18/2025)
3. The Wild Robot Protects (Finished 6/18/2025)
7. My Life in France by Julia Child (Finished 6/23/2025)
8. Dead Girls Don't Dream by Nino Cipri (Library)
9. The Chinese Cookbook by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee (NF)
10. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Leviathan Wakes (Finished 1/9/2025)
2. Caliban's War (Finished 1/25/2025)
3. Abaddon's Gate (Finished 3/31/2025)
4. Cibola Burn (Finished 6/28/2025)
5. Nemesis Games 
6. Babylon's Ashes
7. Tiamat's Wrath
8. Persepolis Rising
9. Leviathan Falls
11. Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford (NF)
12. Stone and Steel by Eboni Dunbar (Finished 6/10/2025)
13. Studio Ghibli Cookbook (Finished 6/21/2025)
14. The Girl From Everywhere Heidi Heilig
15. J.W. Wells & Co. Series by Tom Holt
1. The Portable Door
2. In Your Dreams
3. Earth, Air, Fire and Custard
4. You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps
5. The Better Mousetrap
6. May Contain Traces of Magic
7. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
8. The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
16. YouSpace Series by Tom Holt (Fantasy)
1. Doughnut (Finished 3/5/2024)
2. When It's A Jar (Finished 7/6/2024)
3. The Outsorcerer's Apprentice (Finished 1/15/2024)
4. The Good, the Bad and the Smug (Finished 1/1/2024)
5. An Orc on the Wild Side (Finished 6/9/2025)
17. Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff (Library - Newly Added)
18. When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller (Finished 6/2/2025)
19. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Library - Newly Added)
20. A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (Library - Newly Added)
21. Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Finished 6/17/2025)
22. Smithsonian American Table by Lisa Kingsley (NF)
23. Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding edited by Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land (NF)
24. I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming (Finished 6/24/2025)
25. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery (NF)
26. You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego (Finished 6/15/2025)
27. Project-Based Writing by Liz Prather (NF)
28. The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab
29. The Writing Rope by Joan Sedita (NF)
30. All Better Now by Neal Shusterman
31. A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage (Finished 6/13/2025)
32. Africa Risen edited by Shree Renee Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight (Library - Newly Added)
33. Strange Pictures by Uketsu (Finished 6/16/2025)
34. John Cleaver Series by Dan Wells
1. I Am Not a Serial Killer (Finished 5/15/2025)
2. Mr. Monster - (Finished 6/3/2025)
3. I Don't Want to Kill You (Finished 6/24/2025)
4. The Devil's Only Friend  (Finished 2/17/20250 )
5. Over Your Dead Body
6. Nothing Left to Lose