Shen of the Sea: Chinese Stories for Children by Arthur Chrisman Bowie

I couldn't think of anything else other than "cultural appropriation" the whole time I was reading this. It feels like a book that would never in a million years be published today: fake "folktales" about a culture that the author does not belong to. Many of them were just perpetuating false stereotypes about Chinese people. Several of the stories were cute, but it was just not a great read. It's easy to see how much the Newbery Award (and our own culture) has evolved since this time. 

It's Like This, Cat by Emily Cheney Neville

I wasn't super excited to read this book, at all, but it's one of the Newbery winners so I thought I'd chug through it. And it turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. It really didn't seem like anything earthshaking, but I really enjoyed the story and the many adventures that our main character, Davey, got into with his Cat. I liked how much freedom Davey had and how he just roamed around New York City and got to know all sorts of people. It was very easy to read and quick to get through, which made it very enjoyable, and there was a great cast of characters, like Aunt Kate, the crazy cat lady, Mary, the girl that Davey meets who he can talk to not just like a girl, and Tom, the college dropout who gets into trouble and needs help from Davey and his dad. 

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

I have no idea where I got the recommendation for this book, but I can tell you that I had no idea what this was about, since I started listening to it and totally expected it to be a self-help, memoir type book. Turned out that was not true at all; it was a YA romance set in an LA high school--a complete opposite of what I was expecting. But I really enjoyed this once I got started--it felt very realistic and believable, and it had a lot of serious themes. The main character, Jessie, lost her mom a few years ago and moved to a new state and has to adjust to a whole new life, and it felt like a very real story about a very real life issue. I did have to suspend disbelief about the whole "anonymous emailer" thing because I feel like that would never actually happen, but once I accepted it for the point of the story, I enjoyed it. Also, I can't believe Jessie didn't guess who SN was because I figured it out about 30 minutes into the book. But overall, a really fun book. 

Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark

This is a Newbery winner from the 1930s--it beat out Charlotte's Web for the Newbery Medal, which is still hotly contested to this day. And I can see why--after reading it, I think it's pretty obvious that Charlotte's Web is better. This was a nice story set in Peru, which setting I actually really liked since it was original and different (and I'm guessing that's why it won the Newbery). But it was definitely slow-moving, plus by today's standards it seemed super culturally insensitive (the boy referred to himself and his caretaker as Indians throughout the whole book, which is completely inaccurate these days). I was surprised by the big reveal of a treasure at the end of the book--I guess that was the "secret of the Andes" from the title, although I clearly didn't see it coming. I kind of felt like there was a lot that wasn't clear or wasn't explained as the story went on, so I was kind of confused a lot of the time. This definitely wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't super terrible either. 

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho

I really enjoyed this audiobook by Emmanuel Acho. It's exactly what it sounds like--he answers questions from white people from his perspective as a Black man. He started with a youtube series or videos and then got this book out of it. I definitely enjoyed listening to it more than I might have reading it, because his voice was very dynamic and he really gave a lot of personality to his writing with his inflections. But I really liked his points he made and I thought it was a really accessible book about race and racism in America.

God Will Prevail: Ancient Covenants, Modern Blessings, and the Gathering of Israel by Kerry Muhlstein

I heard about this book when the author went on the Follow Him podcast with John Bytheway, and the idea of it sounded really fantastic. The Abrahamic covenant is not something that I've ever really understood, and I've felt really lame that I haven't put the time or energy into understanding the covenant that is a huge part of our doctrine, not to mention that President Nelson specifically told us to study it. I figured reading this book would be a great start in studying and learning about it. It was a very well-written, very well organized book, with a TON of great, scholarly information. I felt like I learned a lot about the Abrahamic covenant and what it really entails and focuses on--it is really about helping us to create a relationship with God as our Father and as our God, and helping us to become like Him. I underlined a ton of parts in this book and don't have time to type them all out here, but I do feel like I learned a lot from this book and that I would definitely use it as a reference again to look through. (It was kind of dry and hard to get through, but once I got going, there were so many golden nuggets in there.)

Drown by Junot Diaz

I enjoyed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and the audiobook was combined with Diaz's short story collection--like, it literally began as soon as the novel was finished. So I figured I would just keep listening and read his short story collection. It had a really similar feel to the novel, but felt a little more depressing and hopeless. Every story was sad and heart-wrenching in some way. I thought it was kind of more of the same as Oscar Wao, but I didn't enjoy it as much. I hate the way all of the women are viewed and treated throughout both books.