Review of Bob the Vampire Snail, by Andrea Zuill

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review 0

Bob the Vampire Snail

by Andrea Zuill

Random House Studio, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written August 19, 2025, from a library book.

I read a lot more picture books than I review – but when I am compelled to read bits of a book to my coworkers, as I did with this one – that one’s worth telling the world about.

What got me laughing out loud was the little bug with speech bubbles presenting “facts,” beginning on the very first page, even before the title page. We see a posted sign:

Did you know that all snails are named Bob?
It’s true!
They feel that having the same name helps keep their lives simple. Snails like a straightforward, bland, uncomplicated life. They take to heart that they are not the life of the party, which, by the way, they wouldn’t go to even if they were invited.

And then the bug comments:

Excuse me! I don’t know where the creator of this book gets their information, but none of this is true.

The story that follows is a completely silly one about a snail named Bob who gets turned into a vampire with wings, fangs, no reflection, and a dollop of invincibility. When it first happens, he turns to the other Bobs for help, but he’s way too complicated for them. And the bug comments:

If you’re ever in trouble, snails should never be the first choice when seeking help.

The main story in the book is about Bob figuring out his new life and what he now likes to eat. And trying to find a friend who will hang out with a vampire snail. Nothing deep or profound here. But plenty that’s very, very silly.

andreazuill.org

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Review of Too Small Tola Makes It Count, by Atinuke

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Too Small Tola Makes It Count

by Atinuke
illustrated by Onyinye Iwu

Candlewick Press, 2024. First published in the United Kingdom in 2023. 90 pages.
Review written March 17, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

I love Too Small Tola! Here are more adventures for children ready to read chapter books. You don’t have to have read the earlier ones to enjoy this one, but I do recommend them, and characters return.

I like the way these books give younger children a window into other people’s lives without any need to feel sorry for them and showing lots of love.

Too Small Tola lives in Lagos, unbelievable Lagos.

In Lagos there are children who live in mansions. Mansions so big, their parents have to call their children’s cell phones to find which room they are in!

And in Lagos there are children who sleep on cardboard boxes under bridges where people step over them both day and night.

Tola’s family is lucky. They do not own a mansion or even an apartment. But they do not sleep under bridges either. They are lucky enough to have the roof of one room over their heads.

Tola lives with her Grandmommy and an older brother and older sister. We’re getting to know some of the other people in their building.

In past books, Tola was able to solve some problems using Math. In this book, there are some life problems to solve, which can be trickier. Tola is able to solve problems for her neighbors, but she can’t get her school classmates to believe that she worked for a famous rock star’s family during the lockdown – until they get a nice comeuppance in the last chapter.

Other problems involve helping Mrs. Shaky-Shaky, who can no longer go up the stairs, and traveling to the beach to escape the heat, and watching her neighbor’s baby, who makes an escape.

It all involves everyday life for Tola, and we get to enjoy the kind and wonderful people she interacts with every day, as well as appreciate Tola’s ingenuity.

These books always make me smile.

atinuke.co.uk
onyinyeiwu.com
candlewick.com

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Review of Holding Up the Sky, by Rebecca Alasdair

Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Holding Up the Sky

by Rebecca Alasdair

Southscript Press, 2022. 334 pages.
Review written March 14, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

Holding Up the Sky is a coming-out story, and one that is tough. We’re following Carter, who’s got so many burdens in his life as a senior in high school, it feels like he’s holding up the sky.

He used to have a big brother looking out for him, but his brother and his father were killed in an accident that happened the afternoon of his brother’s graduation dinner. Since then, Carter knows he’s a disappointment to his mother. She has to work long hours so they can stay in their home. And Carter works to keep his grades up so he can be a doctor one day and make his mother proud of him.

And then one day, as Carter is trying to hold things together, a new boy comes to school who is flamboyantly and proudly gay. Carter doesn’t dare admit how much he’s attracted to him. Because if his mother finds out, she’ll be horrified.

We get a warning at the very front of the book that Carter’s going to end up turning to suicide to find freedom. All the plot points from there on out are predictable – but they still had my heart aching along with Carter.

I don’t usually cry over young adult novels any more, unlike when I was a teen myself. But this one had me in tears. I figured out what was coming, but it still seemed all too much. Why couldn’t this kid see how precious he was? How dare a parent treat him like that? Yet I read this book after having just learned about the suicide of a young transgender woman after her parents forced her to detransition. It was all too easy to believe this story.

I will say this: The story does end both hopefully and realistically. In many ways, it’s a message book (with a good message), but it also had me absorbed and invested in the story.

rebeccaalasdair.com
southscriptpress.com.au

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Review of The Marriage You Want, by Sheila Wray Gregoire and Dr. Keith Gregoire

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Starred Review 0

The Marriage You Want

Moving beyond Stereotypes for a Relationship Built on Scripture, New Data, and Emotional Health

by Sheila Wray Gregoire and Dr. Keith Gregoire

Baker Books, 2025. 239 pages.
Review written July 29, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Why did I order a book about marriage when I am divorced and not dating anyone? I have appreciated Sheila Wray Gregoire’s writings on Blue Sky and Twitter, and I wanted to hear more. The fact is, I grew up with the “biblical” marriage advice she debunks, and specifically turned to some of the books she critiques when my husband left me and I desperately wanted him back. After reading her articles, I took the unusual step (for me) of taking down my reviews of two books from that era – Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs, and For Women Only, by Shaunti Feldhaun.

So what does this book contain instead? The authors challenge us that the way to determine if marriage advice is good is to look at the fruit – so they did extensive research on what thriving couples have in common.

We wanted to write a book about marriage that was healthy, evidence-based, and Jesus-centered. We wanted to show that data and Jesus can go together! As you read this book, you’ll see results from our various surveys and from other peer-reviewed studies that point to what creates not just a good marriage – but a great marriage.

So yes, this is a Christian book on marriage. But they’re not taking individual verses out of context to twist them to their perspective. They do address stereotypes about marriage that have been clothed in Christian garb and used to tell people this is the only way to do marriage.

Every single chapter shows results from the research to back up their points. I have to add at this point that right away the former Statistics teacher in me saw something I didn’t like – In some of their graphs, they cut out part of the y-axis. This is visually misleading, making a small percentage difference in data seem a lot bigger than it is. They also draw a line between data points where it’s not a linear situation – the x-axis was answers of “Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree,” “Slightly Disagree,” “Slightly Agree,” “Agree,” and “Strongly Agree.” They are not numerically continuous measurements, so a bar graph would be much more appropriate, and connecting the dots – as if there could be a regression line for discrete data – doesn’t really make sense. However, the underlying point of that particular graph was valid. (In this case, the categories were matched to “Relationship Flourishing Score” – and the statement this graph was measuring agreement with was “Men need respect in a way that women can never understand.” Agreeing with that – in men or women – was correlated with lower Relationship Flourishing scores.)

And they do break things out in lots and lots of smaller graphs related to individual questions without such problematic expressions. So that was a quibble from statistics-teacher me.

The framework of the book uses the acronym from their Bare Marriage website: Balance, Affection, Responsibility, and Emotional Connection. Essentially, the message I took away from the book is that marriages thrive when it’s not seen as a hierarchy, but as teamwork. And that included tearing down several beliefs I’d assumed throughout my marriage.

Here’s a section I liked from the Conclusion:

Yes, life is hard. Yes, marriage takes a set of skills that takes time to master. But when you approach your spouse and your marriage with curiosity, and when your spouse does the same, then marriage doesn’t have to be some heavy weight you carry your whole life. Instead, marriage can be the relationship that helps you bear life’s burdens as you run up the hill together. What the data in this book has consistently shown is that when you follow the teamwork approach we’ve shared, marriage becomes something that makes your burdens feel a little lighter, makes your footsteps land a little easier, and makes your smile shine a little brighter.

So often the message we’ve heard in church circles about marriage is that it’s hard, but God wants you to just stick with it regardless. But we want more for you. We don’t want you to just stay in a marriage you hate, we want you to create a marriage you love. And given that Jesus said he came that we might have life to the full, we think he agrees!

This book helps you gain tools to have that thriving marriage you want.

This book has got me thinking maybe dating again could be a good thing….

baremarriage.com
bakerbookhouse.com

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Review of As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, by Zoulfa Katouh

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

by Zoulfa Katouh
read by Rasha Zamamiri

Hachette Audio, 2022. 12 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written August 13, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Wow. This is a book about ordinary people who become extraordinary during wartime.

Salama is 18 years old and working in a hospital in Homs, Syria, in 2011. She got to attend two years of pharmacy school before people had enough and rose up against Assad. Her father and brother were taken to prison to be tortured after a protest, and her mother died when a bomb struck their home. Now Salama volunteers every day at the hospital and has learned to do surgery such as removing bullets and sewing up wounds.

Salama’s been through trauma, and she knows it. She knows that the man she sees named Hawf is someone created in her brain that no one else can see. He is relentlessly trying to get her to leave Syria before her 8-months-pregnant sister-in-law Layla gives birth. She’s torn because she’s needed at the hospital. And what about the cost? And will they even survive the journey?

In the middle of all these hard things, she meets a boy a little older than herself, who brings in his little sister with an injury. It turns out the boy was the same one her mother was arranging for her to meet just before the revolution started and their lives blew apart. He, too, feels he is doing important work in Syria – posting YouTube videos of the protests and the response. As their attraction for each other grows, they both need to decide at what point the risk is just too great and when staying alive is simply the most important goal.

The characters speak eloquently of their love for Syria. There is plenty of horrific violence in this book, including a chemical attack on children. Salama is badly traumatized, and she knows she’s traumatized – but she still wants to help people.

The author tells us at the end that she was trying to show ordinary people in wartime, trying to show the beauty of Syria – that was crushed by the regime in power. And that people are still people.

The romance in this book is wonderful. I appreciate that when the characters are Muslim, the romance isn’t focused on physically getting together – and to me, it makes the attraction all the stronger. The author said she was trying to copy Jane Austen’s romances, and she did a wonderful job. We can watch these two fall in love on the page – even while horrific things are happening around them and they each fear for the lives of those they love.

It does leave me wondering: When will humans stop doing this to one another? Until that day comes, this book is an amazing look at some young people who manage to find love and beauty even in the middle of war.

zoulfakatouh.com

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Review of Whale Eyes, by James Robinson

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Whale Eyes

A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen

by James Robinson
with illustrations by Brian Rea

Penguin Workshop, 2025. 298 pages.
Review written August 11, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This book will literally change your perspective.

It’s not often that I have to order additional copies of a memoir published for kids because of so many holds, but that happened with Whale Eyes. What a creative and fascinating book! Written by a documentary filmmaker about his own childhood, Whale Eyes shows you what it’s like to have strabismus and exotropia – by playing with the format and illustrations in this book. You’ll be turning the book upside-down and even folding a page. (Do it gently if you’re using a library copy!) And you’ll begin to understand what it’s like to see things through Whale Eyes.

Most people’s brains fuse images from our two eyes. But James was born with eyes that don’t track together – so his brain compensates by alternating which eye he sees out of. And when his brain switches between eyes, that makes the image jump. Which makes reading extremely difficult. Or playing tee-ball – He tells the story of being the first kid the adults had ever seen strike out at tee-ball.

And when people see his misaligned eyes – they don’t know where to look. So they look away. Or they stare, trying to figure out what’s wrong with him. Neither one is good for connecting with people.

So this book is about helping people understand, and telling people where to look – at the eye that’s looking at them – so that we can make connections. He coined the term “Whale eyes” because we can only look at one of a whale’s eyes at a time – yet that doesn’t bother anyone.

There’s a point in the book where he asks the reader to take an intermission and watch a documentary about his condition that he made for the New York Times. I’d provide a link to that video – except watch it as an intermission, after you’ve been prepared, and I think it will hit all the harder.

He finishes up the book with some things he’s learned from making documentaries – things about making connections and catching people’s interests. He brings people together instead of pushing them apart.

This book is written for middle grade kids – but there is no age limit for liking and being fascinated by this book. I pushed a couple of my coworkers to check it out, and I hope this review will get it more readers. It will open your eyes to another way of looking at the world. Literally.

byjamesrobinson.com

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Review of The Women, by Kristin Hannah, read by Julia Whelan

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Women

by Kristin Hannah
read by Julia Whelan

Macmillan Audio, 2024. 14 hours, 57 minutes.
Review written August 5, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I know, I know – I’m way behind most people on reading this book, but Wow! Now I see why it’s been so popular.

“The Women” the title refers to are the women who served in Vietnam. Even though they were often told after the war that “There were no women in Vietnam.” (And Kristin Hannah’s author’s note at the end tells us that was a detail she got from more than one woman she interviewed.)

She tells the story of many women by focusing in on one woman, Frankie McGrath. At her brother’s going-away party, setting off to serve in Vietnam, when they all thought the war would be over soon, she was told, “Women can be heroes, too.”

So Frankie trained as a nurse and decided to serve in Vietnam with her brother. But the very day she signed up and told her parents the news was the day that they got word that her brother was killed in action, no remains found.

When Frankie got to Vietnam, it was trial by fire. Kristin Hannah takes us through her bewildering first day when there was a mass casualty event, through her training in the neuro ward, watching over patients who were unresponsive, through her coming into true expertise as an Operating Room Nurse.

And the author shows us how this was the worst and best time of Frankie’s life. Besides the horrors that haunt her, she built friendships like cement. She fell in love more than once – trying to avoid the ones who are already married. And she watched people die. But she also saved many lives, and held the hands of the dying so that they were not alone.

Half of the book is about what happened after Frankie got back. She was not hailed as a hero, not even by her parents, who’d told people she’d gone to school in Florence. The reader can see her PTSD symptoms – before that was even named as an issue.

There were times as I was reading this book when I cringed because I was pretty sure another impossibly hard thing was going to hit Frankie. And I wasn’t wrong.

But this is ultimately a story of a woman who went through impossibly hard things and came out the other side. The book ends on a well-earned hopeful note. And I love that Frankie represents the actual lives of the thousands of women who served in Vietnam. Her story helps us understand their stories.

kristinhannah.com

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Review of Win-Win Miracles Still Happen, by Cheri Baugh Woods

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

Win-Win Miracles Still Happen

by Cheri Baugh Woods

Front Line Book Publishing, 2025. 264 pages.
Review written August 6, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Full disclosure first: I consider the author Cheri Woods a friend, via her brother Kevin, who I talked with most weeks at church for years. I was in the group that Kevin asked to pray for Cheri when her life was in danger with leukemia, I picked out verses for Kevin to send to her when she was going through treatment, and later when my niece had leukemia at 3 years old and again at 7 years old, Cheri in turn prayed for her.

So I know how miraculous Cheri’s story is, and I ordered a copy the same day I heard it had been published. And yes, I’m biased, and knew I would enjoy the book.

I’ll be honest – this book is not traditionally published, and although Cheri thanks an editor in the Acknowledgements, the presentation is not as polished as what I’m used to as a librarian. There are occasional mistakes such as quotation marks out of place and some repetitive spots. However, I’m glad that I knew I would want to read Cheri’s full story and overlooked those things – because as soon as I picked it up, I was riveted. Getting a Christian memoir traditionally published is incredibly difficult, so I’m selfishly glad that Cheri didn’t wait for that to happen so I could read her book now.

And I didn’t really know the earlier part of her story – that her first husband turned out to be a bigamist, and her second husband passed away when she was 32 years old. From seeing her journey with cancer, I was not surprised to see her faith shine through in her entire story, as God brought her through all of those hard things.

Here’s how Cheri explains the title in her Introduction:

I am here to declare that my cornerstone remains intact. Through all my circumstances and experiences, I learned to rely on the strength, power, and mercy that God so generously gives each of us through our faith.

I began living a Win-Win life, which meant that no matter what came my way, even if that meant my death, I WIN!

If God chose to keep me here on the earth, I win, because it shows me He still has need of me. My purpose for living is not over, and he has more for me to do for the glory of His kingdom.

If God chose to take me home, I WIN again because to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD. That is the ultimate win.

My hope is that my life’s events may be an encouragement and an inspiration for you to keep going as you encounter your own struggles and difficulties. I pray that as you read, you will grab hold and tap into God’s energy, his forever-loving lifeline, and begin to live your own Win-Win life.

Reading this book is like hearing from an encouraging friend with strong faith. Her story is amazing – I wouldn’t believe it if someone tried to put it into a novel – and it’s lovely to see how God’s hand has been on her life all along.

Cheri had to retire early from her career as a teacher and school administrator when she got a bone marrow transplant and a new immune system. So let me encourage you to purchase her book – the money will go to someone who can use it and deserves it. It’s not every day that you “meet” someone who’s been through incredible difficulties who has such a sunshiny spirit of God’s love. This book will not only keep you reading, it will bless and inspire you.

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My New List – Book Talking with Sondy

Library Links 2

I’m adding a new email list!

Lately, I’ve been posting reviews almost every day. It was a couple years ago when I realized how behind I was – I had 270 reviews written but not posted. Since then, I’ve been working hard to catch up – and as of this moment, I have only 61 reviews written but not posted. The oldest ones of those are debut novels I read in 2023 but couldn’t post reviews for until after our winners had been announced. I’m alternating posting those older reviews with newer ones.

All this is to say: I understand if you don’t want email in your inbox every day. So I’ve made a new list, Book Talking with Sondy. My plan is to send emails only once or twice a month. While the list is small, I’d like to do some back-and-forth book recommendations – you can tell me book you enjoyed recently on the form. I will talk about my reading for the last month and what I’m looking forward to reading next, plus some Library insider and award committee scoops (without giving anything away!) and general talk about books.

I’m hoping this will give me better connections with my readers, and I’m looking forward to more interactions.

And meanwhile, check out my revised About page, highlighting the new subscription options.

Who will be the first to sign up?

Review of For Girls Who Walk Through Fire, by Kim DeRose

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

For Girls Who Walk Through Fire

by Kim DeRose

Union Square & Co., 2023. 307 pages.
Review written May 17, 2023, from an advance reader copy.

For Girls Who Walk Through Fire features Elliott, a teenage girl who’s attending a sexual assault survivors’ support group, but who hasn’t managed to talk about her own experience yet. And it all seems so pointless. What good does talking about it do?

When a member of their group who has anonymously taken her rapist to trial has the guy let off with a slap on the wrist, it just all seems too much for Elliott. At the same time, she finds a book in her dead mother’s things. The book promises to offer the spell she needs if Elliott can bring together a coven.

And so Elliott brings some girls together from the support group, and they begin casting spells for vengeance, because how else will justice be done? But there are some alarming results and the girls need to come to terms with what actually constitutes justice, and is the blowback worth it?

I won’t say how it ends except that the book does rise above a simple quest for justice. Some of the magic was a little murky in how it works, but this was an enjoyable read about a heavy but way too common topic.

If girls who have experienced this read this book, even though they may be sorry they don’t have a magic spellbook, I think they’ll be uplifted by the story of the power of having friends by your side.

kimderose.com
unionsquareandco.com

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