Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Paul Castle SERIES: Pringle & Finn, #2 GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: December 1, 2023 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: The “Pengroom” Penguins return in another adorable picture book. Sweet story, gorgeous illustrations. Somewhat similar to the first book in vibe, which is fine because the first book also was lovely. Much recommended. Plot Preview: Pringle and Finn still love making cakes, but they have now moved on the birthday cakes. For each of their animals friends, they make memorable birthday cakes that reflect their taste. Each cake contains a special ingredient. Then comes a very special day, and a very special delivery, requiring a very special “birth”-day cake. After enjoying ‘The Pengrooms’ , I just had to jump to the next book in the series. The main characters in this book are the same, but the story works well as a standalone, so you needn’t read the series in order. The story is somewhat similar to that of the first boo...

AUTHOR: Mike Rampton ILLUSTRATOR: Guilherme Karsten GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 14, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A Q&A-styled nonfiction for middle-graders. Contains some interesting questions and some equally interesting answers. Given the title, I expected the questions to be more whimsical and wacky, but these are far and few between. Informative. A good gift option if you are looking for a different kind of encyclopaedic book covering multiple subjects. Author Mike Rampton’s daughter once asked him a question he couldn’t answer. This simple incident led to a wonderful and worthy revelation – there are no silly questions. Thus began the ideation of this book, wherein the author noted more than 200 “silly” questions and the answers for each. I love that the book begins with two “silly questions” right on the title page, questions of which most book-loving readers would surely enjoy the answers. Questions are unfortunately not given enough...

AUTHOR: Lily King GENRE: Literary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 30, 2025 RATING: 2.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary fiction focussing on a young woman, the men in her life and how they affected her path. Begins shaky (probably because the key characters are young adults and didn’t resonate with me), but gets a bit steadier as it progresses. Not as whimsical as the cover suggests, but the title is the good fit for the plot. Thought-provoking, but also dragged, pretentious and unnecessarily depressing. Those who have read ‘Writers and Lovers’ might enjoy the secret connection this book has to its plot, but this is written as and works as a standalone. Recommended, but not to all. Plot Preview: In the senior year of college, our unnamed first-person narrator meets two students in her Literature class: Sam and Yash. The trio become good friends, and engage regularly in battles of the intellect through banter, discussions, and card games. The boys nickname the narrator “Jordan”, an...

AUTHOR: Trung Le Nguyen GENRE: YA Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2025 RATING: 2.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A YA graphic novel focussing on stress, grief, burnout, and “love”. The themes, the cover and inside art, and a couple of the characters were praiseworthy. But the rest of the execution didn’t work for me. This is a slightly outlier opinion. Plot Preview: A year ago, over-active Angelica, aka Jelly, faced a mighty burnout and withdrew from all extracurricular activities. Now seventeen, she is ready to get back on track, and decides to begin one step at a time. When the reputed local theatre selects her as one of the interns for an upcoming production of a fairytale retelling, Jelly is thrilled. Not because she has a job to focus on, but because she can finally meet Per the Bear, the mascot of the theatre whom Jelly has been secretly DMing since a year and finding comfort in their supportive responses. Who is the stranger behind the bear costume? Was their connection just...

AUTHOR: Lily King GENRE: Literary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: March 3, 2020 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary fiction focussing on… as the title suggests… writers and lovers. Takes some time to get to the point, but goes mostly well once all the threads become clear. Interesting flawed characters, beautiful lyrical writing. Would have worked better for me had the ending not been so desperate to offer a HEA. Plot Preview: 1997. Thirty-one-year-old Casey Peabody was once a golf prodigy with dreams of becoming a successful writer. But now, still coping with the death of her mother a few months ago and buckling under student loans from her college days, she stays in a small room next to a garage and works as a waitress. However, she still hasn’t given up on her novel, the one that has been in the making since the last six years. When two men enter her life more or less at the same time, Casey is forced to ask herself some tough questions about what she wants for her future. The s...

AUTHOR: Emma TRANSLATOR: Una Dimitrijevic SERIES: Un autre regard, #3-4 GENRE: Graphic Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: March 3, 2020 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphic novel highlighting certain feminist and social issues in modern society. This volume collects books 3 and 4 of the author’s feminist comics series. The tone is much more aggressive this time and the content is also too text-intensive. While this raises some good points, I didn’t like it as much as the first volume. Author Emma runs a podcast as well as creates comic strips aiming to generate insightful queries and discussions on contemporary societal culture. She has published four books in her “Un autre regard” series, the latter two of which are combined in this English edition. I don’t really have much to add on this as most of my review for the first volume, "The Mental Load" , is applicable to this volume as well. The main content is divided into nine topic-wise chapters, with a much greater focus ...

AUTHOR: Emma SERIES: Un autre regard, #1-2 GENRE: Graphic Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 23, 2018 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphic comic highlighting several systemic social and feminist problems in modern society, especially but not only related to women and women’s rights. This collects books 1 and 2 of the author’s feminist comics series. As the tagline indicates, this is “feminist”, and in the right way, not in the male-bashing way. Some of the topic choices were unexpected, but most left a mark. The translation didn’t satisfy me a few times. A worthy read, nonetheless. Author Emma is a Parisian running a successful podcast as well as creating comic strips that make us question many things society takes for granted. She has published four books in her “Un autre regard” series, the first two of which are combined in this English edition. The book works like a social manifesto, making a call for action not through unjustified aggression or finger-pointing, but throu...

AUTHOR: Terri Libenson SERIES: Emmie & Friends, #1 GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel. PUBLICATION DATE: May 2, 2017 RATING: 2.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade graphic novel featuring chronically-shy Emmie and outgoing Katie. Clever use of two distinct art styles and storytelling styles to narrate their first-person POVs. But certain writing choices stop me from rating this higher. First of a series; can be read as a standalone. Plot Preview: Emmie is a thirteen-year-old girl suffering through middle-grade with only one best friend Brianna to support her through her chronic shyness. Emmie never opens her mouth to speak in school, and as such, most students don’t even realise her presence around them. As she loves art, she prefers doodling to useless subjects such as maths. Katie is in the same class as Emmie, but is her opposite in every way. She is athletic, smart, and very popular. Their paths cross when an embarrassing note written by Emmie falls in the wrong hands. Will ...

AUTHOR: Megan Wagner Lloyd GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel. PUBLICATION DATE: March 7, 2023 RATING: 2.75 stars. A middle-grade graphic novel about a young girl in a large family. Enjoyed: 🎨 Eleven-year-old Avery's portrayal. Loving and helpful despite her frustrations. 🎨 The younger siblings. Really adorable, but I'm glad they aren't in my house. 😅 🎨 The realistic depiction of the struggles and joys of being one of many kids in a large family. I am sure kids from large families will relate to Avery’s dilemmas. 🎨 The fact that both parents are shown taking care of the kids. 🎨 The art. Cute enough for a middle-grade book. ( Though I must say, the depiction of a house with seven kids was utterly unrealistic. It was impossibly neat and clean! ) Wanted more of: 🖌 Avery’s artistic endeavours. Though she is passionate about art, we barely get to see her work. 🖌 A focus on the financial constraints of such a large family. The parents are never shown struggling anytime, wh...

AUTHOR: Nic Minnella SERIES: The Guardian Cats, #2 GENRE: Middle-grade Paranormal Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: September 20, 2025 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade paranormal mystery involving curious kids, dangerous time travel and cantankerous cats. Great concept but complicated execution. Gets quite dark. The second book in the Guardian Cats series, but independent in storyline and characters. I did like it somewhat but am not sure how easy it would be for kids to follow. Plot Preview: 2019. Thirteen-year-old Sybilla (whom everyone calls ‘Billie’) has always been the weird one in her class. Her fondness for historical clothing doesn’t help her reputation. With historian parents who are also antique aficionados, Billie has always grown up in a house full of love and weird relics. But since the death of her mother six years ago, things haven’t been the same. When a mysterious cat enters her life, little does Billie realise that the cat is leading her towards a purpose, which...

AUTHOR: Elizabeth Acevedo ILLUSTRATOR: Andrea Pippins GENRE: Illustrated Spoken Word Poem PUBLICATION DATE: May 3, 2022 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: An illustrated version of the author's famous spoken-word poem. Didn't get much of the poetic merit (no surprises there, given my lack of fondness for poetry), but liked the powerful message and the vibrant illustrations. Might work differently for readers more impacted by this format of poetry. I have wild hair. Though thinner now with age and hormonal upheavals, my hair still looks like I forgot to brush it after I woke up. Over the years, many friends have asked me to straighten my hair. They claim it's easier to manage. No one asks me whether I'm bothered by my messy waves or if I prefer straight hair to curls. They just assume that their straight hair IS better. ( Fact: I think straight hair is boring. I love curly hair as it has a personality of its own! I am very jealous of women who have ringlet curls .) Isn'...

AUTHOR: Crockett Johnson SERIES: Harold, #1 GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1955 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: An ingenious picture book about an imaginative kid who makes his own adventure at bedtime. Whimsical and imaginative, but not exactly my cup of tea. I can see why kiddos will enjoy it though. You might have heard of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books, whereby each story, written in second person, allows the reader to choose where they want the story to go. This is also a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’, not for the readers but for the little titular protagonist. The story of this classic picture book, first published in 1955, is straightforward enough at least on the surface. Little Harold decides to go on a walk at night with his purple crayon in hand. As he walks, he sketches every component of his adventure, right from the moon, the road, some unexpected perils and some timely solutions. The purple crayon is some kind of a magical device because...

AUTHOR: Hank Phillippi Ryan GENRE: Mystery-thriller. PUBLICATION DATE: September 9, 2025 RATING: 1 star. In a Nutshell: A cat-and-mouse thriller unfurling during an author's promotional book tour. Annoying characters, annoying plot developments, annoying repetition, annoying ending. I came THIS 🤏🏻close to DNFing it! Instead, I powered through it with loads of eyerolling and tsk-tsking. This is an outlier opinion. I'm officially giving up on contemporary thrillers. Plot Preview: Tessa Calloway never dreamt that her debut novel would be a bestselling sensation, or that her lead character Annabelle would inspire hundreds of women to stand up for themselves. Tessa is currently on a whirlwind book tour across the country, travelling and visiting local indie bookstores for reader interactions. She has nothing to worry about as her two kids are in safe hands with her husband Henry back home. Well, she *didn't* have anything to worry about. But now, Henry's behaving suspiciou...

AUTHOR: Jim Benton GENRE: Sequential Art Novel PUBLICATION DATE: January 24, 2024 RATING: 1 star. A comic collection by "the most visible cartoonist in America". I grabbed this for the title and the cover illustration. Sadly, that turned out to be the best comic of the book. This collection compiles single-panel comics as well as comic strips, covering topics as varied as animals, body parts, existential crises, and God. A few of the comics made me smile lightly. ( The ‘God’ comics were the best. ) Most left me feeling meh. The randomness of the topics didn’t help as it made me feel like I was reading a row of random newspaper funnies with no link. Further, I found some of the humour insensitive. How can topics such as obesity, ebola deaths, mental health issues be considered funny? A few of the comics do go deep, covering topics like male ignorance about women’s anatomy. But no use having 1-2 such thoughtful satirical pieces and juxtaposing them with fart jokes… 🤦🏻‍♀️ The...

EDITOR: Hanna Alkaf GENRE: Middle-Grade Anthology PUBLICATION DATE: October 21, 2025 RATING: 3.4 stars. In a Nutshell: An OwnVoices short story anthology aimed at middle-graders and highlighting some mythical “beasts” from South-East Asian cultures. Elaborate focus on various legendary cryptids from this region. Great illustrations to supplement the information. However, the plots focus more on the human characters than on the mythical beings, which is somewhat disappointing. Still, it’s a unique collection and deserves an audience. This anthology contains seventeen stories, each focussing on one specific cryptid from South-East Asian mythology. The list of contributors includes some exceptional known names such as Jesse Q. Sutanto and Erin Entrada Kelly. The book begins with an introductory note by Malaysian editor-author Hanna Alkaf, offering information about cryptids and their presence in the mythology of this region. This note is so well-written! Sample this line: "Cryptids, ...