Songbird

by Ingrid Laguna

4.5 out of 5 🌟A wonderful and emotional story about hope

‘Songbird’ is a name Jamila was called by her best friend Mina back in Baghdad, Iraq. Now she is in Australia, a new country away from her friends and family, speaking a foreign language she doesn’t fully understand. Jamila is trying hard to succeed in school and fit in among her peers despite all difficulties. Singing is her way to escape from troubles, allowing her to be happy and careless again. Jamila’s life is hardly resembling all other middle-grade stories, telling about fear, war, and longing for a missing family member whose whereabouts are unknown. Her experience shows the everyday struggle of thousands of children that often goes unnoticed by colleagues and teachers.

The story was captivating and deeply emotional, I felt Jamila's pain when she struggles to communicate and was missing her loved ones abroad. My personal experience as an immigrant is very different from hers but I know what an effort is to express oneself in a foreign language and what does it mean to miss someone who lives far away. The novel teaches about the power of love, friendship and how important are tolerance and kindness toward people.

I was in great admiration for the book’s design, the font is stylish is easy to read and visual accents was a pleasant addition to the reading experience. I read the novel in one sitting because I just cannot stop. I was cheering for both Jamila and her mum. It was pretty short therefore there are only a few other characters are none of them isn’t fully developed. I’d love to hear other voices —like Jamila’s friends and family and their life stories. I loved and was longing for more.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Zombies of the World by Ross Payton

A Field Guide to the Undead 4 out of 5 🌟 Let's talk pseudoscience 'Zombies of the World' pretends to be a non-fiction encyclopedia of the undead around the world. The book consists of a few parts. My favorite was field guide, where (just like in other field guides!) each species is described with a schematic picture, characteristics, range of occurrence, and conservation status (yes, some of them are endangered species!). There are also zombie encounters in history, a survival guide, chapters about the science of undead, social studies, and many more. As a consequence, this title is an eclectic mixture of everything that is currently known about zombies in the universe created by Ross Payton and it's served with grave seriousness that makes me laugh more than once. I greatly enjoyed the illustrations of each zombie species with their cartoonish gruesomeness. Since the book is a mixture of sources, also graphical design differs from chapter to chapter, and the rest of t...

The Wolf in Underpants Freezes His Buns Off by Wilfrid Lupano, Illustrations by Mayana Itoiz and Paul Cauuet

5 out of 5🌟 Great family time Reading this title was absolute bliss! Both I and my almost-9-year-old were having a lot of fun it The Wolf in Underpants Freezes His Buns Off . The whole book can be read in several minutes but I could spend hours just looking at the illustrations! Graphics in that book are stunning and full of humor and amount of details can you discover something new with each re-read. There’s another aspect to The Wolf in Underpants… that I adored, it’s not just an interesting history but an educational one. About sharing and our social responsibility to people who were less lucky in life and why we should help them. We need more great books like this one. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own

The Secret Explorers and the Lost Whales by SJ King

4 out of 5 🌟 Learning if fun! 'Secret Explorers' is a new series about a group of children from around the world with scientific expertise in various topics from space through dinosaurs to volcanos. Each volume brings a new mission to resolve with the help of the most knowledgeable explorers in a particular topic. 'The Lost Whales' book takes place in the South Pacific Ocean and the chosen explorers for that mission are Connor the marine expert, and Roshni the space explorer. As always, the role of sidekick will be revealed during the mission. 'The Secret Explorers' are packed with action and useful information about the given topic. At the end of each book, there are a few pages with iconographic and schemas to sum and explain all the scientific data used in the story, the glossary, and a quiz to test the knowledge. In 'The Lost Whales' readers get to know about... yes, whales but also the ocean's ecology and global warming that poses a real danger...

What would Ula read?

Search This Blog