I Am That Girl: How to Speak Your Truth, Discover Your Purpose, and #bethatgirl by Alexis Jones

I Am That Girl: How to Speak Your Truth, Discover Your Purpose, and #bethatgirl by Alexis Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book, thank you to Donna Compton for giving this to me. There are great chapters, personal stories and motivation galore from the authors and contributors. This will be a good book for teens and adults! Highly recommended.

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Solito by Javier Zamora

Solito by Javier Zamora
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A gut wrenching memoir written and narrated by the author. When he was 9 Javier was going to finally be with his parents in America. Crossing the border was supposed to take 2 weeks; ended up taking 2 months. It was fierce seeing it from a 9 year old's eyes. A must read!

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Before and After: THe Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate

Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society by Judy Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book for the Albright College Zoom Book Club and the stories these adoptees had to tell, as well as those that they met (new family & new friends) was engrossing. There were about 15 stories and this book came about as a result of the novel published by Lisa Wingate-Before We Were Yours which explored the Georgia Tan Adoption Scandal that stole babies from unwed mothers, mothers, parents and placed them with those who wanted to adopt babies. The reunion in Memphis was very special and poignant to all who came. A must read!

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The Sun Does Sine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This audiobook forward was read by Bryan Stevenson & narrated by Kevin R. Free. This nonfiction story written by Anthony Ray Hinton is about his 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He is a good man who is first astonished he is convicted & then remains in angry stony silence for a few years because he can't imagine why this travesty happened to him. But when he begins to let himself turn a corner because his mother and best friend visit him weekly; he also gets involved in reading & sharing it with his fellow prisoners in a book club. Bryan Stevenson is the lawyer who changed things for Anthony Ray---becoming his friend and believing in his innocence. This is a must read that will make you angry and make you cry, but Anthony Ray keeps a positive outlook and believes he will one day be free--but he sees many of his prisoner/friends die in the electric chair as he fights the battle for his freedom.

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Play Like a Girl by Misty Wilson

Play Like a Girl by Misty Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Misty's 7th grade, being the only girl on the football team was so good! She loses her best friend who has changed, is a hit on the football team except for one nasty guy, and has the full support of her stepdad in all things having to do with the football team. I was glad to see Misty was able to have other girls from the cheer squad be her friends. The peer pressure was tough for Misty but she knew who she was (even when she tried to impress her friend who ditches her for a mean girl). A great middle grade graphic novel!

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Spying on the South: Tavels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land by Tony Horwitz

Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land by Tony Horwitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Since I read and Loved Horse by Geraldine Brooks, I decided to read one of her husband's books that he was researching at same time as she was writing Horse. I loved his dedication to Geraldine and this book was a compare/contrast to Frederick Olmsted travels through the South, his beliefs, and his life of abolition and change in career to land planner (as well as other changes in his beliefs, etc). I highly recommend this audiobook narrated by Mark Deakins and Tony Horwitz as it also compares our current political conflicts with Olmsted's time period.

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The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Mongtomery

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved every word & photo in this awesome nonfiction book about the octopuses Sy studied, loved, researched!

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Destiny Finds Here Way: How a Rescued Baby Sloth Learned to Be Wild (Baby Animal Tales) National Geographic Kids by Margarita Engle Photos by Sam Trull

Destiny Finds Her Way: How a Rescued Baby Sloth Learned to Be Wild by Margarita Engle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Margarita Engles' books so much, especially her novels in verse! When I saw she published a children's picture book on a sloth---my granddaughter's obsession---I had to get it for her & me!!! This story, a true story with totally awesome photographs by Sam Trull! What I learned about sloths (2 main types The two-fingered & the three-fingered) was mesmerizing. Along with Destiny's riveting story, the photographs also demonstrate immensely how sloths' are losing their habitat. Children, teens and adults all have so much to learn from this book. I loved Destiny's story but I also enjoyed how Engle showed the reader the important animals, plants & vegetation. The end notes, the map, and important information are a must read as well. Highly recommended for all readers!

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Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality by Eliot Schrefer

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality by Eliot Schrefer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just as I loved Eliot Schrefer's fiction The Ape Quartet series was so so good, I loved this nonfiction book about the animal world and the different kinds of sexual behavior in the animal world. Schrefer uses humor especially in the illustrations, exhaustive research, interviews with field scientists that are very informative and language that is authentic. There are so many animals and history that Schrefer delves into; I was riveted and learned so much. This is a book teens and adults will learn so much from about animals and humans. Highly recommended!

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Yoshi and the Ocean : A Sea Turtle's Incredible Journey Home by Lindsay Moore

Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle's Journey Home by Lindsay Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Moore's nonfiction children's picture book with beautiful paintings of Yoshi's life as a sea turtle with a damaged shell was filled with facts and heart. The story and all the important back of the book facts, and details of Yoshi's journey, a loggerhead compendium filled with pictures and facts on 4 pages, and sea turtle facts and resources will mesmerize all readers! A must read!

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Honeybee Rescue: A Backyard Drama by Loree Griffin Burns & Photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz

Honeybee Rescue: A Backyard Drama by Loree Griffin Burns
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a great book- my granddaughter and I read this nonfiction children's picture book and loved the story, the authentic, beautiful photographs about how important honeybees are and the 2 men who rescue a colony of honeybees and relocate them with a soft vaccuum!!! We were captivated by this "drama" story, we learned so much about honeybees and their honeycomb from one day where they made a new home in a rickety old barn. When the owner realizes this he calls an expert and explains his problem. The reader will love and learn so much about this story as well as the resources at the end of the book "An Interview With Mr. Jon Nelson, Bee Rescuer", Glossary, Author's Note, Sources, Further Reading & Acknowledgments.

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Odder by Katherine Applegate

Odder by Katherine Applegate
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Odder is a sea otter who is attacked and injured by a shark landing her in the arms of humans in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Based on a true story of a program that helps injured sea otters become prepared for their life back in the wild ocean. I loved this novel in verse which beautifully tells a story while giving facts the reader will remember forever --the shark - "he's even lost a few teeth, not that it matters. They pop anew unbidden." The reader meets Odder and falls in love with her friends like Kairi, and the humans who help her; the reader feels the water, the food, life in the ocean and the aquarium in the spare, realistic words. I highly recommend this book to all readers!

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Bear Has a Belly by Jane Whittingham

Bear Has a Belly by Jane Whittingham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From a blog post, this Jane Whittingham book is perfect for my animal loving grandson, and the pictures, photographs of the many different animals AND children each with a different body part highlighted. With activities detailed at the end, this book is perfect for little minds, hands and eyes, the pages are heavy but not board book material, they will stand up to the sometimes rough little hands turning those pages! Highly recommended!

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Animals Move by Jane Whittingham

Animals Move by Jane Whittingham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Including all kinds of animals - pets, farm animals and wild animals, Jane Whittingham gives beautiful photographs on heavy sturdy pages with the many things kids do and animals do such as a little girl is swimming underwater with a corresponding photograph on the right with a baby whale---CALVES SWIM, Children and adults will learn the FUN Baby animal names from the familiar to the strange (echnidas are spiny anteaters, did you know that? their babies are PUGGLES). So take your time and enjoy the many different animal babies rhyming with the way children MOVE. Highly recommended!


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My Broken Language: A Memior by Quiara Alegria Hudes

My Broken Language: A Memoir by Quiara Alegría Hudes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quiara Alegria Hudes' biography/memoir contains her life as a child of a Jewish father and Spanish mother but the world she lives in is what she writes so compelling about---history her activist Puerto Rican mother has told her and shown her over the years. Using stories we learn about her life in North Philadelphia and her time in Malvern, we learn about the barrio, the many players in the life the author wants to know more about and read/write/sing about.

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Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir by Daniel Barban Levin

Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir by Daniel Barban Levin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Awesomely narrated by Jay Myers, this nonfiction account of a modern cult at Sarah Lawrence College concerns Daniel in his sophomore year and how he becomes involves in a cult with his friends. Daniel is friends with Talia, Santos, Claudia, and Isabella and one day Talia asks these friends if her Dad, Larry Ray, can live with them after he gets out of prison and they all say YES! Once in, Larry takes over at first in a small way, then it more insidious and exploitive, yet the friends do not see how Larry is isolating them, humiliating them and turning them against everyone who loves them. So compelling and a must read!

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Empire of Pain: The Secret History of teh Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe I could not stop listening to this awful, compelling nonfiction narrative of the Sackler family and their willful brutishness about their role in the drugs they produced and actively advertised to their sales reps, doctors, and ultimately their users who often became hooked and died. For years, law was after them and for years the Sackler family used legal tactics against the government, district attorneys, and the victims (some were their own employees) that halted for investigations...but as the dying continued and the opioid crisis continued, this author relentlessly interviewed, researched and documented the continued Sackler accountability unearthing many documents, people and victim to finally bring this giant family to admit to their role and try to exact justice for the many who died or became addicted to the drugs the Sackler family created and touted. A must read!!!

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From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jenn LaGarde recommended this last summer and I purchased it right away but it took me a year to get to it----BUT what an amazing book! Taking place in 1982, Vincent Chin is days away from getting married when he and his friends get into an altercation in a bar and what results is his awful death, many ruined lives, and the reality that some people do get away with crimes (not going to jail). This thoroughly detailed & well researched book by Paula Yoo kept me turning the pages with the photos, the newspaper articles and the friends and family point of view. A must read for all---adults and teens will want to read about this pivotal moment in history, and one that continues to happen throughout history.

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Borrowing Bunnies: A Surprising True Tale of Fostering Rabbits by Cynthia Lord

Borrowing Bunnies: A Surprising True Tale of Fostering Rabbits by Cynthia Lord
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to MaryAlice Briggs-Dicker for this awesome recommendation! I love Cynthia Lord and this book will really speak to children about caring for and loving bunnies but also about letting them go to good homes. The pictures and photos were totally awesome. I think really anyone should read this book!

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Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Awesomely narrated by Paul Holes; this audiobook covers Holes' time solving cold cases, serial killer captures and rapist cases. His stories are compelling; his need to solve cases to help the families was pivotal and affected his life, his marriages and his relationships with his children. A must read!

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