Botany, Travel, and Art, Oh My!
In case you’re not aware, I’ve been doing more bookish content and book reviews over on Youtube, if you’d like to check it out. This review is included in my May Wrap-Up video.
Full disclosure, I was given advance access to the audiobook form of this novel on NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review
Greetings, guys, gals, and non-binary pals! While the main bulk of the blog will remain botany and botany-adjacent, but I’m going to start adding more book reviews to the mix too. We’re going to start here. They’ll show up in Youtube videos eventually too.
Full disclosure, I was given advance access to this graphic novel on NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. The title image to the left is an affiliate link to the book’s Amazon page. Anticipated publication date is August 17, 2021.
Star Beasts is an adorable middle-grade graphic novel by Stephanie Young that takes you through the adventures of the Condor and her crew. The Condor’s inhabitants are from the Earth branch of a vast intergalactic network of beings. There's some intrigue, some touching moments, and some high-impact action.
I was rather reminded of Homeward Bound, meets Star Trek... sort of. It was a great time and really helped me out of the reading slump/weird headspace I was in for the last little bit. I will admit the ending was slightly cliché and slightly annoyed me because it was a bit cliché.
Looking at the cover art again, there’s a lot of references to the rest of the story. Overall, it was genuinely great and I'd definitely recommend it and rated it 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In honor of Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I'll be participating in the Asian ReadAThon hosted by WithCindy, over on Youtube. Connected to this are giveaways, charity, and the overarching intent to get more people reading the works of Asian authors. And not just during May.
A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston, Illustrated by Silvia Long and geared toward children aged 5-8, or Kindergarten reading level. This book is designated as children’s non-fiction. This book goes through different types of seeds and gives examples of each. Unlike some children’s books the illustrations are photo-realistic botanical watercolor paintings.
We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines and kids, Illustrated by Julianna Swaney is written for children aged 4-8, or first to second grade reading level and designated as children’s non-fiction.
The story details the beginnings of a garden from the perspective of the author’s children, starting with a humble fern and growing from there.
The Bad Seed by Jory John, Illustrated by Pete Oswald and is written for children aged 4-8, or Preschool reading level. It’s designated as children’s fiction. The story explores the themes of isolation, pain, and how it can fester and cause additional damage, far and above what the initial pain was, both to the individual themselves and those around them.
The book is described as a mix of The Hunger Games and The Handmaid's Tale, but with bees and while I've not read either, from what I have heard and seen that would be accurate. The story itself was engaging and well written. However, while it is well written and engaging, describing insect society in a manner that you would a human society gets rather grim, incredibly fast.
