Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: McCall Hoyle GENRE: Middle-Grade Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 2, 2025 RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade fiction about an amazing old dog and her amazing young human. Written in the dog’s POV, which is fabulous. Outstanding characters, storyline, and writing. A strange mix of feel-good and wanna-cry because of the “old” factor. Much recommended. Keep tissues and ice-cream handy. Plot Preview: In her younger years, Ripley was a working dog, guarding the wildlife refuge with Max, the best guy ever. But when Max had to leave, he gave Ripley one final instruction: “Take care of the girls.” And that is what Ripley has been doing these past five years, loving Max’s eleven-year-old daughter Charlie more than anyone else, and taking care of her and “Mom” just like Max had wanted. There’s only one problem: Ripley is aging and she knows that she doesn’t have many seasons left. How can she continue doing her job if she isn't around? Who will take care of “the gir...

  AUTHOR: Huda Fahmy  SERIES: Huda, #3 GENRE: Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE:  April 1, 2025 RATING:  4.75 stars.  In a Nutshell: Wow! The third graphic novel in the Huda series and the best one so far, which is saying a lot in such a high-performing series. Tackling two serious topics but handled with a balanced amount of lightheartedness. Absolutely loved this OwnVoices work for its sensitive portrayal of such a tricky personal issue. Much, much recommended!  This is the third graphic novel of the Huda series, or as I like to call it, the Huda F series. While each book works perfectly as a standalone, it helps to go through the series in the right order. Considering the high quality of the storytelling ( I’ve rated all three books 4.5+ stars ), you are in for a sensory delight.  The book begins with Huda being in her junior year and now prepping for college. She has a detailed plan charted out for the next two years: do everything possible ...

AUTHOR: Peter Horn TRANSLATOR: Johanna McCalmont ILLUSTRATOR: Jessica Meserve GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: April 8, 2025. RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: Awww, this is so cute!! Loved this picture book about little animal babies and their wonderful animal daddies. Excellent writing, adorable illustrations, fabulous sentiments. Much recommended! This book was first published in 2002 in Switzerland under the title, “Wozu is ein Papa da?” An English translation titled “The Best Father of All” was published in the USA in 2003. This new English edition, translated by Johanna McCalmont, is due to be published in April 2025. Dads hardly ever get a good representation in children’s fiction. Many picture books are filled with stories of mothers or of both parents. So such picture books, which speaks only about dads, come as a wonderful way of valuing what dads do for their kids. To be specific, what animal dads do for their little ones. The books begins with a litt...

AUTHOR: Angie Lucas ILLUSTRATOR: Ana Sanfelippo GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: September 24, 2024 RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book with a cute story and an important message. Plot, message, illustrations – this book gets most things spot on! Plot Preview: Now that little Rafa is too big to sit in the shopping cart, Mama asks him to walk next to the cart and not wander away while they are in the supermarket. Being a good boy, Rafa listens to her and sticks close by her legs. But when a berry rolls away from its counter and Rafa rushes to pick it up, he ends up grabbing another pair of legs on his return. Where did Mama and her legs go? How will Rafa find her in this huge store? Don’t you just love it when picture books combine entertainment and education in one adorable package? The cover and the title warmed my heart as soon as I saw this book. Reading the blurb brought back a long-forgotten memory of how, when I was about 5 or 6, I had walked...

AUTHOR: T.J. Klune GENRE: Short Story PUBLICATION DATE: June 12, 2024 RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A bittersweet story filled with human emotions even though the central character is an android. This short story is a precursor to Klune’s ‘In the Lives of Puppets’. Much recommended to short fiction lovers, even if you haven’t read the book. Plot Preview: After almost a decade of service in a factory, “Douglas”, an android, is given a week of mandatory vacation in the world before he has to return and be reprogrammed. What happens during this week? Nothing can match the joy of reading a well-written story, long or short. And this, my friends, is an extremely well-written short story. ‘Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!’ is the precursor to  TJ Klune’s ‘In the Lives of Puppets’ . However, the story works perfectly as a standalone, and you won’t get any spoilers about the novel if you get to this first. ( That said, if you still haven’t read the book, please do so! ) Anything I reveal ...

AUTHOR: Jen Daily ILLUSTRATOR: Gwen Millward GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: June 11, 2024 RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A brilliant exploration of the “magical science of feelings”, highlighting some important information and action strategies to handle emotions in an easy-to-understand manner. Loved the content as well as the approach. Much recommended! Feelings are often viewed as ‘abstract’ concepts. Kids know about common feelings, but they do not realise how these are directed within our bodies, originating from our brains but affecting our entire self. Even some adults might be surprised to discover just how much physiology is involved in our emotions. This book seeks to bridge the gap between the abstract and the concrete. It explains, in as simple a way as possible, how various components within the brain function during various emotions. The feelings tackled by the book aren’t just common ones such as happiness or worry, but also some complex ones s...

AUTHOR: Selma Benkiran ILLUSTRATOR: Valeria Loskant GENRE: Children's STEM Picture Book, Inspirational RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: An amazing picture book for older children that goes much beyond what the title promises. Informative and inspiring in all the right ways. Much recommended! Plot Preview: Young Lilo loves spending his summer vacations with his grandparents, but this year’s summer brings with it a special surprise: his parents are taking him on a month-long trip to the rainforest. Lilo is over the moon with joy, but his excitement soon peters out as he realises that there is no one to water his beloved plants when he goes on vacation. Taking advice from his friends as well the adults in his life, Lilo tries out some ways of creating a self-watering system. But every idea fails miserably. Lilo, however, is blessed to have some trustworthy adults around him, and with their ideas, he keeps working towards his goal. Will he succeed in creating a watering system for...

AUTHOR:  Suzy K Quinn GENRE: Romantic Comedy-Drama. RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: The greatest, sweetest, cutest, saddest, “awesome-est” love story ever told! I am in luvvvvvv! PSA  – This isn't the kind of romcom you think it is.  Story Synopsis: If you see the blurb on Goodreads and Amazon, you will notice that the plot has been kept absolutely vague. So if the author wants you to discover the story for yourself, who am I to spill the beans and spoil the fun? No synopsis this time. My lips are sealed. Now, the problem is that without a synopsis, I am having a tough time writing my usual detailed Bookish Yays and Nays. So with such a hazy “synopsis”, all you will get is equally fuzzy reasons. Hopefully, they will be enough to convince you. Bookish Yays: 😍 Callum. I can’t and won’t tell you who Callum is. But just know, he deserves one entire YAY! 😍 The plot. Guessable, and yet, so very original!  😍 The blurb says: ‘YOU WILL CRY WHEN YOU READ THIS!’ I hardly...

AUTHOR: Stephanie Seidler ILLUSTRATOR: Berk Ozturk GENRE: Children's Picture Book RATING: 4.75 stars. A beautiful book for little children who are coping with a death of a loved one in their families. The content is written in a second person narration addressed to the little child reading the book. It talks of death in a very simple-to-understand manner – ‘the body stops working’. It then introduces the idea of grief, why people might be visiting their home or why their loved ones might be crying. The book then suggests some methods that might help the child to cope. There are a whole load of things I loved about this picture book: 🌷 The explanations are secular. There’s no heaven or God or divine reference. As such, the book will work regardless of religious affiliations. 🌷 The content is well suited to the target age of 2-6 years. Easy language, simple rhymes, comprehensible situations, and practical solutions. 🌷 No needless philosophy or platitudes as well. 🌷 I am not usual...

Author: Kwame Alexander Genre: Middle-grade Novel-in-verse Rating: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: I don’t have enough words to describe the beauty of this book. A middle-grade novel in verse, but will suit adult readers too. Deeply impactful, and highly disturbing and simply astounding. First of a planned trilogy. Story Synopsis: Asante Kingdom (modern-day Ghana), 1860. Eleven year old Kofi Offin, named for the Offin river than flows through his village, frolicking in the waters with his best friend Ebo. Of course, his life isn’t perfect. He is forced to learn English under his “improved” teacher Mr. Goodluck Phillip. He is bullied by his cousin. And he nurses a secret crush on Ama and sees no way of letting her know. Offin’s family has warned him about not staying in the river after dusk for fear of monsters. And one day, the monsters do arrive, with their white skins and noisy guns. And Offin’s life becomes a living hell. The story is written in verse from Offin’s first person point of v...

Author: Claire Cock-Starkey Illustrator: Samantha Dolan Genre: Children's fiction Rating: 4.75 stars. An eclectic collection of folktales and folklore from around the world. Mesmerising and fascinating! The overall content is divided into six sections based on geographical features: ‘Forests’, ‘Seas and Oceans’, ‘Mountains’, ‘Hills and Valleys’, ‘Rivers and Lakes’, and ‘Wetlands’. Each section begins with a folktale connected to that natural feature, and then has a few more pages on various ideas connected to them such as monsters, fae folk, cultural myths and legends, plants, and so on. The research is meticulous. I, for one, never thought that legends about water bodies could be divided across three separate sections and yet be so comprehensive! The snippets are taken from varied countries and cultures, including indigenous ones. The diversity ensures that the myths and other trivia do not feel repetitive. There is a helpful glossary at the end. Every single page has a strong ess...

Author: Sangu Mandanna Genre: Fantasy Romance Rating: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: This is the sweetest and the cutest and the loveliest book I’ve read in ages. Imagine sunbeams and moonlight strewn together in a magical combo! Go for it without a doubt. Story Synopsis: Thirty-one year old Mika Moon has lived a life of solitude. As a witch, she knows that she cannot let the dangerous world know about her magical abilities. With no family or friends, lonely Mika resorts to posting “fake” witchy videos to an online account, just so that she can talk about her favourite topic – magic. She is sure no one will notice. She is wrong. When she receives an anonymous message summoning her to a remote place called “Nowhere House” to teach magic to three young witches, she feels uncertain but goes there anyway. What follows is a cute, funny and sometimes dangerous adventure with Mika, her three young wards and their three not-so-young caretakers. Oh, and there’s Jamie too, who hates strangers. How w...

Author: Susie Bower Genre: Middle-grade fiction Rating: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: The child in me is happy with the book. The parent in me is happy with the book. The climate warrior in me is happy with the book. Just in case you aren’t clear about my opinion, I am delighted with the book! Story Synopsis: Ten year old Ophelia Bottom is a sad child. She hates her last name, for obvious reasons. While she loves her parents, she wishes they were more ‘normal’. After all, being the only child of travelling actors who roam around the countryside in their huge van putting up Shakespearean plays for a living doesn’t give one a traditional life. When the Bottoms halt in a town named Stopford for their next gig, things take a bad turn when Ophelia accidentally utters the jinxed word: “Macbeth!” Soon, there is one bad incident after another, and things become very dangerous. How will Ophelia save all those in trouble? How will she herself get out of trouble? Will she be able to get her wish for...

Author: Catherine Pioli Illustrator: Catherine Pioli Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir. Rating: 4.75 stars. This mesmerised me and shattered me. Author-illustrator Catherine Pioli had always taken her body for granted because right since childhood, she had never fallen sick or suffered any injury. But when, at the age of 32, there are sharp pains in her back and shoulder, the diagnosis comes as a shocker – acute leukaemia. What follows is a long journey filled with trials and tribulations, as Catherine strives to keep a brave face for her partner Sebastien, her family (parents, twin sister and younger brother), and friends. This graphic memoir covers her journey from a little before the diagnosis to the treatment and aftermath. Originally published in 2018 in French as “Globules et consequences”, “Down to the Bone” is the English translation, due to be released in December 2022. What shines throughout the novel is Pioli’s sense of humour through the ups and downs. Her inner insecurities als...

AUTHOR: Karen Henry Clark ILLUSTRATOR: Sheryl Murray GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: September 27, 2022 RATING: 4.75 stars. An amazing picture book narrating the inspiring story of the celebrated librarian Nancy Pearl. Nancy Pearl has been a librarian, among various other social positions, for many years. She has had a lifelong passion of reading. There’s even an action figure modelled after this amazing woman. This little picture book brings to us her story. Nancy loved reading more than anything else and spends all possible free time at her school library. The other kids teased her as “library girl.” One day, when she is speaking with her school librarian about not being able to come to the library on Saturdays, the kind librarian tells her about public libraries. Off sets Nancy on her beloved bicycle to the Francis Parkman Branch Library at Detroit. And here the world of wonderment opens up to her. But her shyness doesn’t go away easily and it takes two amazing ...