Monthly Review! June

I hope that you all had a great June! I got a pretty good amount of reading done and I can’t wait to share them with you! Did you guys read anything good last month? I can’t wait to hear form you down in the comments! With that, now onto the books!

The first book that I want to talk about is Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. This was one of my favorite books that I read in June! Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself – but first she has to make it there, alive. 

This was such a cute kid’s book! I’m a big fan of Katie O’Neill (who did the Tea Dragon Society series) so I will read anything by her. Dewdrop is an easygoing, gentle axolotl who enjoys naps, worm pie, and cheerleading. When the yearly sports fair nears, he and his friends—Mia the weightlifting turtle, Newman the musical newt, and three minnows who love to cook—get ready to showcase their skills to the whole pond! However, as the day of the fair gets closer, Dewdrop’s friends can’t help putting pressure on themselves to be the best. It’s up to Dewdrop to remind them how to be mindful, go at their own pace, and find joy in their own achievements.

If you have small children in your life (or are like me and just want to look at the adorable pictures) then I would highly recommend this book! Not only was it cute but it had a good story too!

Next up I want to talk about one of the YA books that I really enjoyed this month. Redwood and Ponytail by K.A. Holt is about Tam and Kate. Two girls that are opposites but are drawn together despite that. Kate is your typical popular, blond haired cheerleader and Tam is athletic and more on the masculine side. But through a lot of ups and downs and dealing with high school, they become more than friends.

This book was really cute but dealt with issues of coming out and figuring out who you are. Do you want to be what everyone else wants you to be or do you want to be true to yourself even if that means burning a few bridges and possibly making people angry?

Next up we have a graphic novel that is really on the nose for what’s going on right now – Lazaretto by Clay McLeod Chapman and Jey Levang. An outbreak at a small American college causes an entire dorm to be quarantined with the students inside, which leads to a violent new social hierarchy within.

It’s move-in day, and students from across the country converge on the campus of Yersin University to start the new school year. But after a looming pandemic strikes the college, a single dorm complex is quarantined with all of the students inside, and what first starts as youthful freedom from authority soon devolves into a violent new society.

I would not recommend reading this book if you are squeamish (or while you’re eating). But, if blood and gross things don’t bother you then this book will be right up your alley! I really enjoyed this book even though sections of it grossed me out a tad bit.

The next graphic novel that I want to talk about is Misfit City vol. 1 by Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith illustrated by Kurt Lustgarten and Naomi Franquiz. Nothing’s happened in Wilder’s hometown since they filmed that cult kids’ adventure movie there in the 80s…Until one day, she and her friends come upon a centuries-old pirate map!

Smothered by her backwater hometown and frustrated by its 1980s cult-movie fame (The Gloomies…have you seen it? It’s a real classic, y’know.), Wilder is pretty sure she’s seen everything Cannon Cove has to offer. She’s desperate to get away from home as soon as she can, and move on to bigger, better, and less annoying things…even if that might mean leaving her best friends behind.

But when Wilder discovers a centuries-old pirate map, she may find out that REAL adventure was in their tiny town all along…and they need each other to get to the bottom of it!

This is such a great graphic novel!! I loved all of the characters and I really enjoyed the wide variety of people that were portrayed. I would highly recommend this to fans of Lumberjanes. This really felt close to that genre of an all female led mystery/adventure graphic novel (like Lumberjanes) so if that sounds good to you then check this out!

Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.

But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it’s all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships.

Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well. 

I’ll admit it. Basketball is not my favorite sport (football is if anyone was wondering). But this book made me care very deeply about one specific basketball team and its players. Gene Luen Yang has a knack for making you care about whatever it is he’s writing about. Dragon Hoops is one of my favorite graphic novels that I’ve read so far this year and I think it will probably still be one of my favorites six months from now. I would highly recommend checking this book out as well as his other book, American Born Chinese.

That is it for last month! Sorry this post is a little late, to much going on right now! But I hope you all enjoyed this post and I look forward to talking to you guys in the comments!