papercraftalex's reviews
356 reviews

I read this for the disability readathon and I really shouldn't have. Throughout multiple stories, it perpetuates the idea that physically disabled people have it easier than people with mental illness. Like many anthologies, the quality of the stories varied widely, but unfortunately the subjects did not. The stories were mostly about anxiety and depression, with a sprinkle of OCD, bipolar disorder, and eating disorders. The only story in this collection about schizophrenia was about someone's abusive mother, which perpetuates very harmful stereotypes. That's not the worst one though! The editor was reprehensible for including "The Alchemy of Healing" by Emily Mayberry. The story is about a school shooting survivor who blames school shootings on mental illness (I thought the point of this collection was to destigmatize mental illness) and then advertise her appropriated scam business. Another story was a veteran's narrative of living with PTSD, which would be great to include if the veteran telling the story wasn't racist. He said "My little blond-haired daughter deserves a father who lives in the present." So she only deserves that because she's blond? You took that opportunity away from other dads. "I will not let Iraq win." They didn't, thousands of people's lives are destroyed, because of you.

The only stories I feel are worth reading are CODA by Meredith Russo, What We're Born With and What We Pick Up Along the Way by Heidi Heilig, and Call Me Crazy by s.e. smith.

This was an absolutely stunning graphic novel that was basically multiple stories in one. I love fairy tales, and the author had such a creative spin on all of the ones he included. I especially loved his explanation in the back of the way he chose to illustrate them. Speaking of illustrations, this book is beautiful! The use of color was reminiscent of On a Sunbeam and really added layers to the story. It was so short, but absolutely packed a punch. 

I have liked Lovelace's previous works, but I really didn't enjoy this one. It lacked identity; it seemed like it was supposed to be based off Persephone and juxtapose healthy and unhealthy relationships, but it didn't end up very strong. Her Girls Are Some Kind of Magic series had concrete stories and her Things That Haunt series was deeply personal, but this one felt so flimsy. The poems also felt weaker. Many have complained about their cliched lines before, and it didn't bother me until this collection because it's usually surrounded by more poetic language. This collection just didn't do it for me.

Going into this book, it's important to know it's not *really* about He-Man. He-Man is a blip in this story. It's about how capitalist propaganda is destroying children's imaginations and has been since the '70s. It presents a very clear path from the start of military propaganda, to how Chiquita bananas used propaganda to launch a coup in Guatemala, to Disney changing our laws and ruining our minds. Brown definitely isn't saying we shouldn't enjoy this programing, he's trying to get us to see how it's manufactured to manipulate us into buying merchandise. I wish it was longer so it could have the chance to go more in depth. This is a necessary graphic novel for our current climate and I absolutely recommend it. 

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first collection of Perkovich's that I've read, and it definitely won't be the last. It's a very intimate and experimental collection. I really loved the lines "There is always the prodding/Always the pinning/The pining/The pawing, pecking, prying/Never the permission" from "my teeth have teeth of their own—After Shriya Bajpai." She incorporates vulgarity in a few of her poems in a way that reflects the constant sexual harassments of women. Comparing these poems to the ones she writes about consensual sex and sex work, it points out the hypocrisy of society saying we need to be sexually open and sexually closed at the same time. She also writes about generational trauma, motherhood, and the abuse she's suffered throughout her life. It's stunningly beautiful and real and I absolutely recommend (though please check the CWs). 

I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ableist, racist, vulgar, pretentious bullshit

My library has the other two books in this collection, Chickenology and Pigology, and I'm always recommending them to our child patrons, but I have yet to read either. This one makes me want to read them as soon as possible.

It's a very cute and informative look at sheep. It shows many different aspects: sheep products like wool, milk, and cheese, phrases and mythology involving sheep and wool, breeds of sheep, anatomy, how to take care of them, the history of shepherding, and more. It's a perfect book for science minded children (and adults!) and I highly recommend!

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

First and foremost, this book shouldn't be banned. While there are some explicit scenes, none are beyond the capability of teens or any worse than what they are absolutely seeing online.

With that out of the way, this book was unfortunately a disappointment. It makes for a decent memoir and George Johnson definitely has a way with words, but the manifesto part fell flat for me. They don't really acknowledge their privilege growing up as a middle class person, nor do they address their father being a cop except for at a brief line at the very end. If they wanted it to be representative of all queer people, then they should have gone more in depth with these topics. They also handled trans issues incredibly poorly. They deadnamed and misgendered their trans cousin, and says that they identify as queer now rather than gay because he's attracted to trans people. These sections left a very bad taste in my mouth. They also constantly call themself effeminate in a very negative way and never really deals with hating the feminine parts of themself. 

I like how they discuss being sexually assaulted. Going through almost the exact same thing as them, this part felt more like the relatable, helpful discussion they were trying to achieve in the rest of the book. I also loved the way they talked about their grandmother being such a guiding force in their life and how that is incredibly important for Black and queer youth.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book, but read if you're interested with these criticisms in mind.

I have not yet read the original of this, but I definitely plan to after reading the graphic novel. It is a stunningly haunting story about cyclic violence. The art really added a lot to the story, especially the unique lettering. I recommend this to all.