Children’s board books are an important early learning tool for every young child.

Why would grown men in the Chinese government feel threatened by Peppa Pig?

If anyone say the Chinese government is fine, don't believe this person. How could a government be fine while feeling threatened by children books about pink pigs. 

Never have I read a book that so succinctly turns every trope on it's head. I absolutely loved it!

The story is put together fantastically. Each character is amazing in their own right. No one does quite what I expect, even when I thought I had a handle on the way the story was breaking the rules. The family that Luna, Xan, Glerk, and Fyrian make is just adorable. All the people in the Protectorate are dealing with their own issues and making their way through life in ways that are not entirely opposite the norm that I would expectn or entirely the norm either. There's a part of me that feels like it's the way all the old stories should have been written, so that everyone has a little agenda and not all converge nor diverge. History isn't that neat and stories shouldn't be either. At the same time, it was loads of fun to watch the way these characters were like characters we were already a bit familiar with.

Basically, Barnhill did a fantastic job of "making familiar things new and new things familiar" as are the two great powers of a writer according to William Makepeace Thackery or Samuel Johnson. It's been attributed to both on different sites, not sure which is accurate. I listened to it on Audible, read by Christina Moore, who was great. I loved her voices for everyone, especially Fyrian.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I got this book from the library, but how could I resist a title like this? A scandalous sisterhood? Sign me up!

I listened to this one, narrated by Jayne Entwistle. I hadn't had the  time to read through the back cover when I chose it. I was going on a little roadtrip that was about two hours longer than the amount of time I had left on the book I was listening to at its start. I quickly found this wonderful title and downloaded it so I could start when the last one was over. To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be quite an understatement.

The feel of the book was exactly what I expected when I saw the title but not the plot. We're given an introduction that includes how each girl ended up at the school, and that's when you know you will love this book or hate it. I knew I'd love it.

I loved the way each girl at St Etheldreda's School for Girls was addressed; Stout Alice, Smooth Kitty, Disgraceful Mary Jane, Dear Roberta, Dull Martha, Pocked Louise and Dour Eleanor. The girls are resourceful and some are brilliant. As their descriptors indicate, each girl is wildly different from the others but they are sisterhood. They're friends despite being very different and though they get annoyed and irate with each other, they are still loyal friends. They appreciate their differences and even seem to enjoy them sometimes.

What I didn't expect was a murder mystery. There was no way that this lot was not about to be entertaining, but there were some enjoyable little surprises and upsets as well. I had been enjoying the whole story and then was particularly pleased with the end and denouement.

It's a great middle grade book and could be enjoyed by some young adults, but I do feel like there is a bit of an age threshold for it.

Such an adorable collection! It's made for kids, so the poems are mostly short and all cute, as are the accompanying illustrations.I love the ocean, so I really had to pick this up when I saw it.

It's the size of a typical picture book at just 32 pages. The poems felt a little stacked all over each other, but that could have been more the fault of my reader (read in browser from the library) than the book itself. I'd definitely read it again with my son when he's ready for a bit more poetry. As it is we're working through some classics first.