Jessica鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

2,129

pages read

books read

Jessica

The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers

Shortest Book

256

pages

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang

Longest Book

352

pages

Average book length in 2024

304

pages

Most Shelved

68,496

people also shelved

Least Shelved

2,249

people also shelved

Jessica鈥檚 average rating for 2024

4.1

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.38 average

Jessica鈥檚 first review of the year

it was amazing

I love a graphic novel memoir, and Pedro Mart铆n's Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir did not disappoint! I absolutely see why it has won so many accolades. It's super kid friendly (really funny, has great coloring, has a simple and engaging style), tells a very relatable story (spending your summer break in your parent's home country, having an ethnic name AND an American name you go by to different people), and has so much heart.

Mexikid is an online com I love a graphic novel memoir, and Pedro Mart铆n's Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir did not disappoint! I absolutely see why it has won so many accolades. It's super kid friendly (really funny, has great coloring, has a simple and engaging style), tells a very relatable story (spending your summer break in your parent's home country, having an ethnic name AND an American name you go by to different people), and has so much heart.

Mexikid is an online comic that Martin has been working on for years, and finally tells his story in this graphic novel. In the author's note at the end, he mentions that the book was originally 600 pages and his editors helped cut it down to 300 (it's giving TS's ATWTMV, haha)--would love to know what was cut! I loved the length of the book--it's much longer and more meaty than a lot of other middle grade graphic novels (maybe the content, maybe the mixture of English and Spanish), and it was nice to take my time reading it over several days instead of breezing through it during a lunch break. Anyway, this is the story of Martin's big family (9 kids!) taking a drive down from their home in Watsonville to Jalisco, Mexico, to pick up his grandfather, Abuelito, and bring him home with them. It has such a mix of completely wild happenings (see next paragraph) and the mundane things that happen on long road trips with your family.

Content note for fellow parents: there are a few traumatic scenes in the book, and I wasn't sure if my 3rd grader could handle them. (view spoiler) I did warn her about those two scenes, and she said that she still wanted to read the book. She has been really enjoying it!

Gr. 3-6

2024 Newbery Honor
2024 Pura Belpre Author Winner
2024 Pura Belpre Illustrator Winner ...more

闯贰厂厂滨颁础鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

it was amazing

Jessica鈥檚 last review of the year

it was amazing

If you read any amount of children's literature, you've undoubtedly heard of Children's Literature Legacy winner Grace Lin. All her work, from picture books to middle grade, celebrates Chinese and Chinese American culture with art styles approachable and magnificent. Looking through her impressive body of work, I don't know if she's ever written any nonfiction before. But Chinese Menu: The History, Myths, and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods ma If you read any amount of children's literature, you've undoubtedly heard of Children's Literature Legacy winner Grace Lin. All her work, from picture books to middle grade, celebrates Chinese and Chinese American culture with art styles approachable and magnificent. Looking through her impressive body of work, I don't know if she's ever written any nonfiction before. But Chinese Menu: The History, Myths, and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods may just be her magnum opus. The coffee table style book (it is pretty big and heavy) incorporates different styles of art. There are realistic and detailed (and thus, mouthwatering!) paintings of favorite dishes and illustrations in the style of traditional Chinese ink drawings to show historical and folktale depictions of people. Each section (tea, appetizers, entrees, desserts) tells the historical context of each dish as well as the folktales that may or may not have inspired them. What I was most blown away by is that no dishes are treated as "authentic" or "inauthentic." In fact, some dishes that I have always dismissed as not being truly Chinese, such as General Tso's chicken (I grew up in a Chinese American enclave and had never heard of that dish til college) are demonstrated to be at least somewhat inspired by a Chinese dish. Lin shows so much respect for dishes like chop suey and fortune cookies and connects these American Chinese dishes to a Chinese American identity--who are we to say what or who is truly Chinese?

I read this book for our annual children's librarian awards book discussion, and since it was recognized with an Odyssey (award for audiobooks) honor, I decided to simultaneously read and listen to it. I didn't want to miss out on the fabulous illustrations! I didn't realize it while I was listening to it, but the audiobook is narrated by Lisa Ling. While I would always recommend reading the physical book (or e-book) to see the illustrations, the audiobook really did add to the experience. Not only can you hear how the Chinese dishes or names are pronounced, but there are elements like Chinese instruments and sounds of tea kettles whistling. Furthermore, looking at Lin's website (), you can see videos of her making dishes and giving info bites about different dishes, but there are also links to recipes from some of my favorite creators (Omnivore's Cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo, Woks of Life) to some of the recipes in the book (the book includes a family recipe for scallion pancakes). I guess you could say that this is a Chinese feast that should be enjoyed via multiple formats.

Additionally, the back matter in the book is really impressive and thorough. This book would probably be of interest to adults perhaps even more than children, but if you like history or folktales or food, I highly recommend this book! It may even inspire children to try some new foods.

Gr. 3-5 ...more

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