Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Jason Reynolds ILLUSTRATOR: Alexander Nabaum GENRE: Middle-grade story collection. RATING: 4.5 stars. A wonderful collection of ten stories all set around a common theme of children walking home from school. The characters overlap in a few of the stories but the main character(s) are distinct for each tale. This isn’t a typical children’s anthology and these are the reasons why: 👉 So many authors steer clear of "taboo" topics -- parental illness, deaths, abuse, bullying, homosexuality -- and make children's fiction goody-goody happy experiences. Not Jason Reynolds. 👉 So many authors will try to incorporate higher level vocabulary in their works so that the book ends up as an "educational" experience for its young readers. Not Jason Reynolds. A tardigrade isn't called a tardigrade, it's a water bear. That's indicative of an author who knows what his readers enjoy. 👉 Show me one author who can write a story around boogers and still make it

Author: Jane Davis Genre: Contemporary Literary Fiction. Rating: 4.5 stars. This was a tough one to review. I’m still at a loss about where to begin. My usual “Nutshell” summation escapes me. So I’ll just start by saying: I LOVED this book, but it is not for everyone. Read on to see if this book will work for you. Story: The story comes to us from multiple perspectives and over multiple timelines. Ayisha, July 2010 onwards – A high school teacher, the story begins with her discovering that one of her colleagues, Jim Stevens, has been stabbed in broad daylight in the school grounds. There’s a big group of stunned students surrounding him, but no one wants to confess what happened. Ayisha chooses Shamayal, one of the students, to assist her in providing first aid to Jim until medical assistance arrives. But when she later discovers that Shamayal and Jim are friends, she wonders if she should report her colleague to the educational authorities. Why does she hesitate? What makes her, a str