Stacey is a little girl who loves words more than anything. She loves reading them, sounding them out, and finding comfort in them when things are hard.
But when her teacher chooses her to compete in the local spelling bee, she isn’t as excited as she thought she’d be. What if she messes up? Or worse, if she can’t bring herself to speak up, like sometimes happens when facing bullies at school?
Stacey will learn that win or lose . . . her words are powerful, and sometimes perseverance is the most important word of all.
My thoughts:
Stacy’s Extraordinary Words is a children’s book written by Stacy Abrams who is a state politician, author, activist, and lawyer. This book was about Stacy’s love of words and how she grew to love words of all kinds, their meaning and spelling. She entered into a spelling bee at school but this only pushed her to learn new words. This was a fast paced book and I enjoyed the illustrations.
June’s life at home with her stepmother and stepsister is a dark one and a secret one. Not even her dad knows the truth, and she can’t find the words to tell anyone else. She’s trapped like a butterfly in a net. Then June meets Blister, a boy from a large, loving, chaotic family. In him, she finds a glimmer of hope that perhaps she can find a way to fly far, far away. Because she deserves her freedom. Doesn’t she?
Review:
Paper Butterflies is a very intense novel. One of the most intense stories I have read in a very long time. This story is about a biracial girl named June. June mother (who is black) dies by drowning when she is young. June’s dad (who is white) remarried a woman named Kathleen and she has a daughter of her own named Megan. Even since June was in grade school Kathleen and Megan both abused June in awful ways. The abuse June had to go through by Kathleen was mind blowing. Kathleen hated June one part because she was half black and her mother was black. In the book this is brought up a lot. Kathleen had her daughter Megan help her in the abuse of June.
June’s dad was no help at all. June wanted so badly to reach out and tell her dad what was going on behind his back but he always stood and took Kathleen’s side no matter.
June meets a boy who ends up being not only her best friend but someone she loves. He goes by the name Blister.
June only wanted her voice heard and to be understood. She wanted the world to know about the abuse she was going through each day. She eventually told Blister.
In the end this is a very exhausting, emotional, frustrating and upsetting book to read.
My final thoughts:
My feelings changed with each chapter as I read. I felt for June at times I felt I was going through what she was facing. I felt so sad for her but was rooting for her at the same time. I enjoyed Blister’s and June time together with their friendship and love was nice to see. It was set up to be a real friendship before they started to say I love you. I wanted the best for June and Blister. Every chapter they were together made me smile. I liked the writing and the realistic nature of the story. I had an emotional connection with all the characters which never really happens when I read books. This story took all my feelings and I have to say I really enjoyed it.
Trigger warning: Physical abuse, bullying, death, prison, death row
Angel McAllister’s worst nightmare has come true. Her best friend, Sharice Bell, has discovered her most intimate secret. And a new enemy, LaDonna Burns, is on the warpath. Gossip and rumors are spreading through school like wildfire, and Angel’s classmates are turning on her. Can she bury the secret and put out the flames? Or will Angel face the truth—and its life-changing consequences?
Review:
Girls Like Me is a companion novel set in the Bluford High series. This is my first time ever reading anything from this series and I wanted to start out by reading this book first. This story is about a 14 year old girl named Angel. She is struggling badly when it comes to making friends at school, dating boys, she feels she’s very different from other girls she sees.
Angel’s home life isn’t any better. Angel’s mom has fallen into a deep depression by smoking everyday, drinking, not attending to her daughters it’s like she has completely given up. This is due to divorce she is going through and Angel’s mom is having a hard time coping.
Angel’s best friend at school Sherise is so determined to hook her up with a boy for the 8th grade dance so that when she starts high school she would already be in a relationship. Sherise just wouldn’t let the issue go.
Angel keeps a journal of her person thoughts and Sherise read it and found out that Angel is gay. This turned her world upside down. She lost her best friend and she became a target a school.
In the end Angel learned to embrace who she was she has the people who truly loves and cares about and even made some new friends from this situation.
Final thoughts:
I enjoyed reading this Angel’s best friend was very annoying to keep pushing dating on her when she didn’t want to do it. Sherise acted very childish when she found Angel was gay and she ended up missing out on a good friendship now she has no one she can turn to due to her bad attitude. In the future I may pick up another Blueford High book based on this one I read. This story had a real life lesson for young readers and it shows no matter how different you are continue to be yourself and never hide who you are to please anyone.
