Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

You just boarded a flight to New York.

There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.

Why I'm Waiting: This sounds like a book that's going to make me anxious from start to finish!

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

We went past praying to deities and started to build them instead...

The shadow of Godolia's tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. War and oppression are everyday constants for the people of the Badlands, who live under the thumb of their cruel Godolia overlords.

Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolia prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first, Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within.

As the clock ticks down to their deadliest mission yet, a direct attack to end Godolia's reign once and for all, Eris and Sona grow closer--as comrades, friends, and perhaps something more... 

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sundays

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon!

Jack Nevin’s clever trickery and moral flexibility have served him well his entire life—making him the perfect assistant to the Enchantress, one of the most well-known stage magicians in early-twentieth-century Europe. Without Jack’s steady supply of stolen tricks and copycat sleight-of-hand illusions, the Enchantress’s fame would have burned out long ago—not that she would ever admit it.

But when they’re forced to flee the continent for America, the Enchantress finds a new audience in Seattle at the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She and Jack are set to make a fortune until a new magician arrives on the scene. Performing tricks that defy the imagination, Laszlo’s act threatens to overshadow the Enchantress and co-opt her audience. Jack has no choice but to hunt for the secrets behind Laszlo’s otherworldly illusions—but what he uncovers isn’t at all what he expected.

What makes Laszlo’s tricks possible is, unbelievably, a boy that can seemingly perform real magic. Wilhelm’s abilities defy all the laws of physics. His talents are no clever sleights-of-hand. But even though Laszlo and Wilhelm’s act threatens to destroy the life Jack and the Enchantress have built, Jack and Wilhelm have a near-instant connection. As the rivalry between the Enchantress and Laszlo grows increasingly dangerous and dire, Jack finds he has to choose between the woman who gave him a life and the boy who is offering him, love. It's a new star-crossed romance about the magic of first love from acclaimed author Shaun David Hutchinson.

HAPPY READING!!

New E-Mail Platform

Okay, so a little bit different kind of post today for everyone. Feedburner is shutting down its email option starting in July. Which is a bummer because it was pretty hands-off since it worked directly with Blogger to send out emails. It's also why there have been some glitches with the emails not arriving at their usual time, and posts sitting in my drafts being emailed out and then disappearing. So sorry about all of that.

I've also run into the issue of not being able to download to my current list of everyone who gets the email. I don't know if this is because of my actual computer, my wi-fi, or a Feedburner issue. I know that everyone who wants to continue to keep getting Bookish Whispers updates will have to sign up again. As of today, there is a new sign-up option sitting to the right, on my sidebar. I'm moving to MailChimp because honestly, it's the only one I found that I felt I could trust, and that seemed fairly easy to run.

On July 1 all post updates will come via MailChimp, and there might be a few hick-ups that first week. Please bear with me as I learn how to navigate this new server. I've been testing it out with friends, and I think I know what I'm doing. But, best-laid plans and all that. 

So please if you want to keep up to date with everything bookish that I'm doing and reading re-sign up for the emails. You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter! Those links are also on the sidebar. All blog stuff makes an appearance there, and Instagram gets a few extras!!

Hope y'all have a good weekend, and for those of you in the PWN stay cool. This weather is strange and unusual, and not the kind I enjoy.

HAPPY READING!!

Heartstopper Vol 3 - Review

Author: Alice Oseman

Genre: Graphic Novel / Romance

Format: Hardback

Pages: 384

THIS SERIES! I wasn't expecting to fall in love with this as much as I have. Alice Oseman has created a beautiful love story, and all three have been hard to put down. I adore both Charlie and Nick and watching as the relationship starts to grow. Not only is the artwork fantastic, but this story makes me feel as single as I am.

As I rolled into the third book I have to say that Oseman hasn't lost steam where the story is concerned. School is finally out and Nick and Charlie on a school trip to Paris. This volume really focuses on the boys navigating their very new relationship away from the comfort of their own personal space, and that includes how to tell people they are dating. I loved how Oseman handled this and I think it's a wonderful message. 

I don't want to give too much away so I don't spoil things, but this volume does hit on some heavier topics. There isn't anything graphic or detailed, but self-harm is mentioned as the boys are learning how to talk to each other. Personally, these moments are my favorite in this volume. Things are perfect between these two. What they have is new and they are both making mistakes, but Nick and Charlie care a lot about each other. So instead of fighting, they learn to be better at talking to one another about how their feeling. 

It's just beautiful okay. There are some sad bits in this book, but it's all so heartwarming and adorable. I devoured this book. Though, I'm nervous to head into the fourth book because things seem like they are about to get rocky before they get smooth again with Nick and Charlie. I also realized my library doesn't have the fourth volume. So that might be the excuse I need to finally buy the whole series for my shelves.

But seriously, I don't know how Alice Oseman hasn't written three books that have toyed with my emotions like this. I may not survive the next book in this series.

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

It's November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana's in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it's guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it's to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she's named after, Charlie has her doubts. There's something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn't seem to want Charlie to see inside the car's trunk. As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she's sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie's suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?

What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse played out on night-shrouded roads and in neon-lit parking lots, during an age when the only call for help can be made on a payphone and in a place where there's nowhere to run. In order to win, Charlie must do one thing--survive the night.

Why I'm Waiting: This sounds like a movie my friends and I would have seen in high school! So excited for this book.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened—by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. So Theophilus makes a plan to put his wife back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum.

The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line—conveniently labeled "crazy" so their voices are ignored.

No one is willing to fight for their freedom and, disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose... 

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sundays

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon!

If ye give not willingly, the Lords will rise…

In 1913, Henry Hamilton disappeared while on a business trip, and his sister, Sorrow, won’t rest until she finds out what happened to him. Defying her father’s orders to remain at home, she travels to Tidepool, the last place Henry is known to have visited. Residents of the small, shabby oceanside town can’t quite meet Sorrow’s eyes when she asks about her brother.

When corpses wash up on shore looking as if they’ve been torn apart by something not quite human, Sorrow is ready to return to Baltimore and let her father send in the professional detectives.

However, after meeting Ada Oliver, a widow whose black silk dresses and elegant manners set her apart from other Tidepool residents, Sorrow discovers Tidepool’s dark, deadly secret.

With this discovery, some denizens of Tidepool—human and otherwise—are hell-bent on making sure Sorrow never leaves their forsaken town.

Lovecraftian dark fantasy gets a modern treatment in this terrifying debut novel. 

HAPPY READING!!

Death on the Nile - Review

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery

Format: Paperback

Pages: 354

I love the Hercule Poirot series and not just the books. I've seen the movies and binged watch the BBC Series. In fact, it's the actor from the series I see now when a book another book in the series. I have yet to finish the entire series yet, but I was excited when the book club I'd joined on Instagram announced this as one of their first books! I had originally read Death on the Nile back in high school, and for the life of me, I couldn't exactly remember what happened to Linnet Doyle, or even who had done the thing. So I was excited to see if I could jog my memory of how the whole mystery unfolds, or if I could solve it before the end of the book.

Spoiler alert: neither of things happened. 

Death on the Nile takes place after Hercule Poirot has officially retired from being a detective, but of course, murder finds him anyway. Even when he is on holiday trying to relax and take in the wonders of the Nile. 

What I like about this book is that we get a bit of background on all the characters before we even get to Egypt. This way outside of a few characters who join in the middle, I felt like a grasp of who was who. Even who was a little shifty and up to no good. I also really like that Poirot has interacted with most of the "suspects" before the murder even takes place. Having the ideas that he's already formed about these individuals affects how he sees the crime unfolding. And, also adds to the twist and turns in places as Poirot weeds what might have happened, to what did happen. 

I also really like that we got an idea of what kind of person our victims were, especially the main victim, Linnet. It allows the reader to start looking out the cast of characters and make assumptions as Poirot and Race unfold the mystery. My theories definitely blew up in my face during the last fifty pages or so. Though one of them was headed in the right direction, honestly I never would have gotten here. Because who would have thought of that! WHO?!

Agatha Christie, clearly. This is why she is the legend she is today. That ending was crazy, but people do weird things for money. And, deadly things.

Personally, I thought the pacing of the book was really was good. I read this book in chunks throughout my work week. It's an easy book to pick up and put down. I never felt like I needed to backtrack at any point because I forgot anything. Even with so many people I was able to keep them all clear as they came and went with the story. Once the murder happens and things start to unravel, the book becomes hard to put down. Because at that point I want to know if I'm right, if I'm wrong, who's the man Race is after, and about a hundred other questions that came along through the first half of the book.

It's a solid murder mystery that's engaging from beginning to end. I'm rarely let down by Christie as an author, and even less by Hercule Poirot's stories!

Also, can we talk about how this is probably the best movie poster book cover version you could ask for? It's not any of the actors, just a photo of the boat on the Nile. I wouldn't have known it was the movie poster version if it hadn't told me. 

HAPPY READING!!

Miss Peregrine's 10 Year Celebration!

Happy Friday my Nerds, Worms, and Dragons! This month I've teamed up with Quirk Books to celebrate 10 Years of Peculiar Children! The Miss Peregrine series has been going telling the story of strange and unusual children for a decade. In fact, the last book in this series, The Desolation of Devil's Acre was just released earlier this year! And, if you couldn't tell from the above gif, the first book was turned into a major motion picture.

In total there are 7 books in the Miss Peregrine universe, six full novels, and one novella. I read the first book about six years ago according to Goodreads. It was a book I'd discovered at the local library and I remember really liking the series. Ransom Riggs does an amazing job of creating a Tim Burton-like world that sucked me right. But, for the life of me, I couldn't really remember much about the book itself, except for the basics. I remember Miss Peregrine and the children with superpowers, and I remember the main character being hunted because of his Grandfather. 

I even went back to read my review to jog my memory, and basically, it told me that I liked it. Not much to go on. But thankfully Quirk books had my back and sent me the first three books in the series.

Once I finish my book club I'm going to jump into the first book in this series! I cannot wait to dive back into this world and rediscover everything I loved about the first time around, and this time I will finish the series! 

The whole month of June is #PeculairMonth in celebration of the series turning ten. So if you love the series join on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag and show of your Peculiar stack! And if you haven't read the series and are a fan of Tim Burton, creepy kids, young adult books with a strange and usual twist, then pick up the first book from your local library, or bookstore, and check Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children!

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

Perched high atop a seaside cliff in Ireland, a lonely Victorian mansion is a home to Temple House School. And at Temple House, nothing is ever as it seems.

Louisa is the new, brilliant scholarship student. Finding most of the other students at the all-girls Catholic boarding school as icy and unfamiliar as the drafty mansion, she forms a fierce bond with the intense and compelling Victoria, an outlier and student provocateur.

Their close bond is soon unsettled by the young, charismatic art teacher, Mr. Lavelle—igniting tension and obsession in the cloistered world of the school. Then one day, Louisa and Mr. Lavelle disappear.

There is no trace of either one. It’s the unsolved mystery that captivates the whole country. Year after year, the media revisit it, and the conspiracy theories persist. Now, on the twenty-fifth anniversary, a journalist—a woman who grew up on the same street as Louisa—delves into the past to write a series of articles and uncover the truth. She finds stories of jealousy and revenge, power and class. But will she find Louisa and Mr. Lavelle, too?

Because remember—at Temple House, nothing is ever as it seems.

Why I'm Waiting: I mean you had me at creepy boarding school, everything else will just be a bonus!

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

K.J. Parker returns to the amoral world of Prosper’s Demon with a wry, sardonic novella that flips the eternal, rule-governed battle between men and demons on its head.

An anonymous representative of the Devil, once a high-ranking Duke of Hell and now a committed underachiever, has spent the last forever of an eternity leading a perfectly tedious existence distracting monks from their liturgical devotions. It’s interminable, but he prefers it that way, now that he’s been officially designated by Downstairs as “fragile.” No, he won’t elaborate.

All that changes when he finds himself ensnared, along with a sadistic exorcist, in a labyrinthine plot to subvert the very nature of Good and Evil. In such a circumstance, sympathy for the Devil is practically inevitable.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here! 

For most of us, our own funeral is an afterthought or, even worse, an anti-thought—something we avoid thinking about altogether. This book will change that negative thinking forever! After all, planning one’s funeral is an act of love and an important part of good mental health. Now readers can make sure their sendoff is exactly what they want it to be, whether a somber reflection on who they were, a drunken bacchanal for a life well-lived, or a peaceful adieu to their earthly existence.

This practical yet cheeky guide offers a plethora of advice and inspiration, from budgeting for the big day to selecting a burial outfit to choose a memorial theme. Morbid and pragmatic questions alike are answered, including:

• What is the most eco-friendly burial method?

• Should I write my own obituary?

• Do I really need a will?

• Can my body be shot into space after I die?

• What can be cremated with me?

• And, perhaps most important, how do I avoid being buried alive?

It’s Your Funeral! presents every stage of the legacy planning process—both material and digital—to ensure that one’s wishes are recorded for posterity before venturing to the Great Beyond. So get ready to dig into curious facts, strange stories, and helpful worksheets that cover everything readers need to know to make death the best time of their life.

HAPPY READING!!

Heartstopper Vol. 2 - Review

Author: Alice Oseman

Genre: Young Adult / Romance

Format: Hardback

Pages: 320

This series. THIS SERIES! I sat down to start this on Monday morning thinking I'd read it throughout the day as I did this and that around the house. Lies, nothing but lies. The next thing I know I've finished the book and it's no longer morning, and it's in between lunch and dinner. Because there is not a good place to stop. Not a single one. Which, grant you is a good thing in the sense that adore Charlie and Nick. It is also a bad thing because I'm trying to save money and the wait for the third volume is so long!

But, let's crack into my thoughts!

Okay, so I was a little worried that I'd forget what happened in the first volume because I read it about thirty books ago. But, Charlie and Nick stuck with me, and as I read the first few pages it all came back to me. I thought the issues from the end of the first volume were handled very delicately and very honestly. After all, these are teenage boys, they aren't going to make the right decisions all the time. However, it's nice to see them have actual emotions and addressing them, and dealing with them. I think it's something that should more normalize. 

I also like how quickly the boys resolve the cliffhanger as well. We aren't spending half the next volume wondering: will they, won't they. I'm not a fan of that in romance. So I was happy that was able to overcome this hurdle and move forward in this next series. 

On that note, I really liked the hurdle that this volume tackled. Coming out to yourself is hard enough, doing it with friends and family has to be even harder. Everything could go wrong. This is why I adore that Charlie is so understanding that Nick needs time to sort all these new things out for himself. Charlie doesn't rush Nick, doesn't make demands, and he's understanding that this isn't about him, or even them. Consent to important in all its forms!

Now that being said. I'm not a huge fan of Tao. There is a line between being a good best friend and controlling. And, Tao is walking the line very finally. Like I do understand that your friend was hurt just the year prior. So you don't want them to get hurt more. But, on the other hand, you just can't come at people like that because honestly, that whole bathroom scene screamed more jealousy than friendship. But! I think Charlie handled it like a champ. 

I'm also really glad that Nick finally opened his eyes to the bull his "friends" were throwing around. Do I wish it had happened sooner? Yes, but so does Nick. Sometimes someone you care about has to be the target of those hurtful things to realize just how terrible people are. So I'm glad Nick got there. I'm so glad Nick is getting a happy ending all around as well. Mostly because he's like a big puppy dog and needs to be protected at all costs.

I just love this series okay! It plays with my emotions and I only want good things for Nick and Charlie. ONLY GOOD THINGS!

HAPPY READING!!

Book Box - Night Worms

Hello Nerds, Worms, and Dragons! So for the past four months, I have been receiving the Night Worms book subscription box. This is a horror/thriller monthly subscription box that comes with two, or more, books and a goodie bag. Prior to signing up I kept seeing these boxes on Instagram and thought I should sign up. However, when it comes to the Horror Genre I'm such a picky reader. Mostly because I've been let down so much that I normally stick to the authors I know I like and rarely branch out. But, I finally slid over to the Bookstagram side of the 'Gram, and then I was seeing more and more of these boxes. Plus, the books sound really good, and some were hard to find. So add all that into the fact the ladies who run Night Worm are local. Who doesn't love supporting a local small business?

So I thought as a birthday present to myself I'd give it a go, and if I don't like it after a couple months, I'd cancel. Well it's June and I'm still signed up, and I cannot wait for the Jully box. I have no idea which books are coming, but they sound amazing!

I love that things in the goodie bags are also from small businesses because now I have a list of places to spend my adult money! Also, the coffee and the tea have not disappointed, always a plus since we consume a lot of both in our house.

So if you're a fan of the horror genre, I cannot recommend giving Night Worms a chance. Not only do they do some mainstream, popular, books, but they also include a lot of indie books. In the last few months my Horror TBR has grown so much it's a little out of control. I have so many goods I'm ready to read, and with the days getting longer, I need to crack a few of them open. I love reading scary stories on our patio!

If Night Worms sounds like your cup of tea click the images above (or here) to head over their website! The July boxes are sold out, but the August theme is right around the corner!

Any of y'all have subscription boxes you're ride or die with? 

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

Science is a force for good in the world—at least usually. But sometimes, when obsession gets the better of scientists, they twist a noble pursuit into something sinister. Under this spell, knowledge isn’t everything, it’s the only thing—no matter the cost. Bestselling author Sam Kean tells the true story of what happens when unfettered ambition pushes otherwise rational men and women to cross the line in the name of science, trampling ethical boundaries and often committing crimes in the process.

The Icepick Surgeon masterfully guides the reader across two thousand years of history, beginning with Cleopatra’s dark deeds in ancient Egypt. The book reveals the origins of much of modern science in the transatlantic slave trade of the 1700s, as well as Thomas Edison’s mercenary support of the electric chair and the warped logic of the spies who infiltrated the Manhattan Project. But the sins of science aren’t all safely buried in the past. Many of them, Kean reminds us, still affect us today. We can draw direct lines from the medical abuses of Tuskegee and Nazi Germany to current vaccine hesitancy, and connect icepick lobotomies from the 1950s to the contemporary failings of mental health care. Kean even takes us into the future, when advanced computers and genetic engineering could unleash whole new ways to do one another wrong.

Unflinching, and exhilarating to the last page, The Icepick Surgeon fuses the drama of scientific discovery with the illicit thrill of a true-crime tale. With his trademark wit and precision, Kean shows that, while science has done more good than harm in the world, rogue scientists do exist, and when we sacrifice morals for progress, we often end up with neither.

Why I'm Waiting: This sounds both fascinating and icky. So I'm all in!

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.

But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.

As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all. 

HAPPY READING!!

The Wild World Handbook - Review

Author: Andrea Debbink

Genre: Middle Grade 

Format: Paperback

Pages: 231

Huge thanks to Quirk Books for my copy of this in exchange for my honest review!

The Wild World Handbook: Habitats is the first in a series about how young kids can do their part to save not only the city they live in but the world around them.  At first glance, it's bright, colorful, and the mix of illustrations and hands DIY is enough to pull you, readers, in. Even as an adult I was excited to jump into this one. And, you know what, I learned a few things along away. I was even impressed by what I remembered from school, way back when.

I have to say my favorite thing about this book is how Andrea Debbink doesn't talk down to the target audience, Middle-Grade readers. The language isn't too adult. I think most younger readers would be able to follow along, and Debbink does a good job of explaining certain things they may not have heard before. It's also a good way to get kids to do their research if they don't know something. Because that is the whole point of The Wild World Handbook, to learn. 

The illustrations are a great addition to each chapter. It's a fun and colorful way to bring some of these places alive for younger readers who haven't seen these places before. All while putting to point conservation comes from more than just those in the science field. Art has inspired people to change the world as well. These illustrations are nice to break from pages and keep readers of all ages engaged in what's being told to them. 

Sometimes with nonfiction, my mind wanders. Even when I'm enjoying the topic. So the illustrations gave my brain something more to focus on.

I also really how easy Debbink makes it for these young readers to get involved. They are told about these amazing and beautiful places, and that they are in trouble. But, here are some easy ways to help in your own community. Whether it's learning about the plants and animals around them, or raising awareness to help save the rainforest or the polar icecaps. Debbink gives the younger readers ways to help the world around both locally and globally. And, there is always a reminder to make sure your parents or guardians are helping you. 

The DIY projects were also a really great edition as well. They engage with readers, get them outside, or building things. Something that includes the reader's family or friends. I also like the biographies that were included with each chapter of people changing the world around them. How one little thing has a ripple effect across the whole world.

Lastly, I really like how Debbink kept this book light-hearted and positive despite this book is about how we haven't really taken care of the world around us in a long while. Debbink throws in so many positive stories and hope along the way that it makes you excited to get involved, and even gives you a little hope that things are slowly changing for the better. That everyone can do little things to help save a world on both a large and small scale.

The Wild World Handbook is good for young readers who wanted to know more about the world around them. For older readers who want the same. I could make a huge list of all the places this book could be used. It's a wonderful place to start if you, or your young reader, want to start doing your part to heal the world around us.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here! 

Ten years ago, disaster struck the remote town of Indigo Falls. A horrific event drove the residents underground, into shelters that keep them safe from the danger on the surface. No one speaks about what happened that fateful day, but even the youngest still remember the fear and, most of all, the searing pain when sunlight touched their skin.

Now, a handful of families inhabit this bunker together, guided by a charismatic leader named Dr. Imogen Moran. There are many rules Dr. Moran has instilled to govern life belowground. You must always tell the truth. You must avoid the light of the sun. You must never touch skin to skin.

But the most important rule, the one that was drilled into their heads from the moment they hatch slammed shut all those years ago, was at the very end of the list. It rattled around in their skulls when all was silent, echoing in the quiet, lonely dark.

You must never go outside.

HAPPY READING!!