Will the Pigeon Graduate?

Will the Pigeon Graduate? by Mo Willems

Does this release of this book signify that Mo Willem's daughter has recently graduated? Or is this just an attempt to jump on the "life events" bandwagon. The book is in the typical "pigeon" style. However, the content is different. Pigeon is not really trying to get something. Instead, he is worrying about his graduation and what will happen. At the end, he finally walks over the edge and realizes that he can fly. It is a nice metaphor for life and graduation, told in a "pigeon-style" children's book.

Mariam’s Dream: The Story of Mariam Al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope

Mariam’s Dream: The Story of Mariam Al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope by Leila Boukarim, illustrated by Sona Avedikian

A girl living in a Middle Eastern refugee camp will not take no for an answer. She wants to do something and make the people in the camp happy. She finds that the women enjoy cooking. They start to cook and want to expand to a food truck. She must go through a lot of challenges, especially as she navigates through bureaucracy. After years of work, she finally gets the food truck launched. It is an aspiring story of persistence as well as a look at the challenges faced by refugees.

The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping

The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping by Joseph Torigian

Loyalty to the communist party is key to success in Chinese government. This long biography explores the life of Xi Zhongxun and his experiences living through communist upheaval. He had various ups and downs with relationship to his role in China. It can be especially problematic when he knew there were problems with the implementation of government policies, yet he also knew that speaking up could risk is position. The book provides an interesting exploration of the rise of Mao and post-Maoist China by focusing on one person who was involved in the history in prominent, but not dominant positions. His son would go on to be the leader of China.

100 Goats and Granny!

100 Goats and Granny!  by Atinuke and Lauren Hinds

The kids count 100 of Granny's goats. They go off and do ruckus. The police are mad at this, but defer to Granny. They get all the goats and return them to Granny's farm (with one goat off to ruckus.) It is set in an urban/rural boundary area in Africa, and seems to be most interesting in showcasing the region. The story and illustrations have some potential, but don't quite live up to it.

They Bloom at Night

They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

Life among the poor in Louisiana is hard enough. After a hurricane some deadly algae makes it even worse. The book us dark and forgettable.

The Daddy Book / El libro de los papás (Spanish and English Edition)

The Daddy Book / El libro de los papás (Spanish and English Edition) by Todd Parr

A simple book describes things that daddy does. It can lend itself to doing actions like tickling the kid. This version had text in both languages (but my kid did not want to hear any Spanish)

The Great Chinese Art Heist: Imperialism, Organized Crime, and the Hidden Story of China's Stolen Artistic Treasures

The Great Chinese Art Heist: Imperialism, Organized Crime, and the Hidden Story of China's Stolen Artistic Treasures by Ralph Pezzullo

Westerners had taken many artistic treasures from China during China's period of weakness. These days, China wants it back. What can't be received directly, art has often suddenly disappeared. It has appeared that China's wealthy (possibly with consent of the government) have employed criminal gangs to steal Chinese treasures valuable to them.

There are various conflicting values in play. Should people return appropriated items? Why does it seem that just the ones in power have artifacts returned? What if the artifacts have played a role in the culture that currently possesses them, even if they did not create them? Is it ok to steal back what was stolen?  The book does not make many judgements.

Terror at the Gates: Blood of Lilith, Book 1

Terror at the Gates: Blood of Lilith, Book 1 by Scarlett St. Clair

In a religious society, people are somewhat confined by where they stand. The main character lives in an area of sin. She wants to work for a guy. there are conflicts and some romance. There is at least some plot, though the anti-religion gets heavy.

A Stronger Home

A Stronger Home by Katrina Chen and Elaine Su, illustrated by Delphie Côté-Lacroix

A mom and her son flee domestic violence and live in a number of different houses before moving to a permanent home. The book compares fleeing from violence to fleeing from a typhoon. It does too good of a job of the comparison. Until the very end, it was not clear whether or not they were actually fleeing from a storm.

Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood

Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood by Kate Swenson, Carrie Cariello, Adrian Wood

Autism feels like an incidental topic for this book. The authors talk about social media gathering and come across os mommy bloggers who happened to have kids with autism. They do go into some of their experiences, but the focus is on the mom, rather than the kid. The autistic child, the dad and the other siblings are bit players in this book of a mom's experience. The autistic child comes across as a challenge to "standard mommyhood" rather than a real person. The writers appear to be very outgoing go-getters who struggle significantly with a child that just does not adhere to social norms. This book will be useful for those ultra-social moms who have children with extreme autism. However, this only covers a small fraction of the cases out there.

One of the challenges with autism is that it is a single term applied to a large variety of conditions. The book does acknowledge that there are a number of co-existing conditions (such as ADHD and anxiety). Would it be better to split up autism into a number of unique diagnosis? Some kids have severe developmental and intellectual challenges. Others appear fine, but have social challenges. Lumping everything together just causes confusion. (Perhaps this is why it is becoming more common.) Autistic people tend to be more inward focussed. Even those that appear outwardly social are often less concerned about how others feel. These seems to be the opposite of the LGBT individuals who tend to be very outwardly focussed. They have pride parades and actively advocate for themselves. Autistic people rarely advocate for themselves. Are we missing out on an important part of culture? Were these people significant contributors in families before, but now shoved to the sidelines because they cannot adapt well to the challenges of ever-changing urban society?

The Beasts We Bury

The Beasts We Bury by D. L. Taylor

The heroine of this fantasy has a special ability with animals, but the power is related to killing the animals. There is a boy involved. The leaders of kingdom are bad. There is a duel where somebody is killed. The heroes have values that respect life and don't like what the leaders do. They work to overcome the badness. It is all the typical young adult fantasy romance. The animal part is a little bit different. There is a funny part where the girl asks the boy if she can kill him. She doesn't want to really do that, but wants to come close to see if he can be summoned. In the end, there is a big battle where a guy splits into a bunch of parts to complete the battle. It sitll doesn't help.

Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education

Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education by Richard K. Vedder

Colleges tend to expose liberal ideologies, but institutionally they are extremely conservative. The organizational structure and institutions are very slow to change. Huge amounts of money flow through colleges with little validation of the value returned. Perhaps the only significant crack down has been on for-profit players. These players realized there was money to be made by making some small improvements. However, there is much more that needs to be done. The government provides fast subsidies through various routes. This may be justified for educating the populace and preparing people for careers. However, much of college is an early adulthood social experience. If government subsidizes this, should it also subsidize cruises and other social experiences for different populations? For education, the government has little validation of the value of a degree. The government may spend much more subsidizing a liberal arts degree at a low-tier private college than an engineering degree at a public university, despite the engineering degree enabling much greater career prospects. Schools are incentivized to invest more in "experience" rather than job prospects. College attendance costs have increased at a rate much greater than inflation. Colleges have significant facilities, much of which are highly underutilized. A dose of the free market may be best for colleges. The smaller schools could fail. Loans and other funding can be based on value returned. Innovation can be encouraged rather than letting accreditation bodies focus on sameness. (Why do all degrees take 4 years?) Universities are essentially government entities without regular elections. There are competing goals and missions. Improvements can be made, but will require some gradual approach.

The Forest King's Daughter

The Forest King's Daughter by Elly Blake

All I remember is that this was a typical young adult fantasy romance. A ring has powers, so there must be some Tolkien influence as well. A girl has this ring. She is bound with it and has power. There is family drama. It goes on for a long time.

The Deathly Grimm

The Deathly Grimm by Kathryn Purdie

The second book in the series has the story continue on quests. The authorities in the land feel that they must have done something wrong because they were able to escape. They end up going back into the forest and fighting more battles. I got a bit lost with this one. There was some interesting Rumplestiltskin family. Or maybe that was the previous book. It blurs a bit.

We Are Family (L.O.L. Surprise)

We Are Family (L.O.L. Surprise) by B. B. Arthur

This "book" is more of an advertisement for LOL dolls. It describes the various "families" of LOL dolls. There is no story. Even my daughters who love LOL dolls were not interested in this book.

The Great Dinosaur Sleepover

The Great Dinosaur Sleepover by Linda Bailey (Author), Joe Bluhm (Illustrator)

A kid loves dinosaurs. He is looking forward to a dinosaur themed sleepover birthday party with his best friends. However, they all get sick. He decided to go to bed early. Then in the night some dinosaurs appear. He does various fun activities with the dinosaurs. He takes the dinosaurs to visit his friends. One takes a selfie with them. Then they play some sports games with the dinos and finally sleep in the backyard. In the morning, the kid wakes up after camping in the backyard. His parents assume this was all a dream. Then a few days later a present arrives - a framed copy of the dino selfie with his friend. This is a funny twist to the end of what appeared first to just be a dream. The book includes different types of dinosaurs with some pronunciation helps for the hard-to-pronounce ones.

The Floating World: The Floating World, Book 1

The Floating World: The Floating World, Book 1 by Axie Oh

This book went in one ear and out the other. There is some sort of fantasy world with rulers and thieves. They do some stuff and attack people that they don't like.

Super Agers

Super Agers by Eric Topol

Today, many people are living longer, but are they thriving in these years? This book looks at how we can extend our lives while also living in a way that we can enjoy life. Not surprisingly some of the best treatments are simple - exercise, healthy heating and social activities. The author goes through various conditions and always seems to come back to those same basics. There are also various drug treatments discussed. Many are quite costly. Some seem like great cures. However, there are often consequences in other areas. A lot of coverage is given to obesity and possible drug treatments there. Analyzing genes and finding appropriate ways to customize treatments and use genetic techniques are also helpful. The author is very positive towards AI. We can utilize AI and other knowledge to provide more customized treatments and screening. There are many screening techniques that do not have solid evidence behind them. There are also some that would greatly benefit to appropriate tailoring to the individual. There are many people that live comfortably in their 90s. We can likely increase that further. However, there are also concerns about equity. The rich have access to more drugs and healthy lifestyles. What about the poor?

The Corruption of Hollis Brown

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

Hollis Brown gets beat up all the time. He doesn't have many friends. There are only a few girls that get along with him. He lives in a small town where people have little hope. There is a nearby "haunted" area, Rosetown. The kids go there. One bully beats up Hollis. Hollis leaves with a girl. Later the bully goes alone and comes out with man injuries. Hollis and the girl bring him to the hospital. The bully initially blamed Hollis. Hollis and many of the other kids are suspended. Hollis meets a homeless boy, Walt. Then Walt jumps into Hollis's body and they bury the old body. Hollis and Walt do things together. Hollis learns more about Walt. He had lived and "died" around a century earlier. He inhabits other people's bodies. Sometimes it work. Sometimes (like the previous one), they fight it and can't be together. Hollis and Walt have many internal conversations. Walt normally has control, but lets Hollis do things at time. Once Walt comes into the picture, Hollis starts to become more popular. Walt's friends eventually decide something is up. His friend from Nigeria knows some incantations and do things. Walt and Hollis learn to love each other, and find out details about what happened to Walt's family.

The narration and storytelling is horrible in this book. It has a disjointed storytelling style that feels like it is stutters fram scene to scene. Suddenly the narrative will jump and change to a new key point. The characters are mostly caricatures. Hollis and Walt are the ones that get the most development, but even they don't feel real. This book claims to be "young adult", but author says it should be 16+. The idea could have easily been carried out without the many "triggers". The book as a whole feels more like a TikTok feed than work of literature. 

King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World's Dominant Currency

King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World's Dominant Currency by Paul Blustein

The dollar is the dominant reserve currency today. It has a huge, liquid market with well established court systems and rule of law. It will likely remain the reserve currency of choice unless the USA botches it. With great power comes great responsibility. Most transactions between two countries are denominated in dollars because that is the easiest way to do it. Shutting off dollar access can be used to sanction other economies. However, if this is used too often, it could drive the search for more alternatives and lesson the dollar's strength. There just isn't anything else as good as the dollar now. The book has convincing arguments, but also gives caution to the misuse of dollar strength. There are pros and cons of being a global reserve currency.