TW/CW: death of parents Counting by 7’s is about a young girl, Willow, an adopted child who has very strong special interests in both plants and medical conditions and has almost always been by herself; but she doesn’t mind as long as she has her parents and her garden. When Willow’s parents die in a car crash and she’s taken in by a multiethnic family, Willow wonders if her life will ever be the same again. This was such a great book!  While it’s not explicitly said, Willow is definitely autistic and she was such a great character; my heart broke at what she had to go through.  I loved…

Author: Roald Dahl TW/CW: child abuse; also, would recommend googling Dahl before reading-he was a questionable individual Matilda is about a young girl, Matilda, who is an incredibly gifted student; she has read multiple unabridged classics and has done math problems before she is in kindergarten. However, Matilda has very abusive parents who don’t care about her well-being at all and discourage her reading constantly. When Matilda starts going to kindergarten and finds a safe authority figure, her teacher, Ms. Honey, Matilda might finally be on her way to a better life. While I don’t like Dahl at all as a person and I hated the only book I’ve read…

Author: Lynda Mullaly Hunt Fish in a Tree  is about a young 6th grader, Ally, who has struggled with reading her entire life. Every time she tries, the words swirl around the page, so she has spent most of her school years pretending she can read and getting upset when having to do reading/writing projects. But Ally’s struggles are getting harder to hide; and when Ally’s new teacher, Mr. Daniels, suggests she might be dyslexic, Ally starts to finally understand herself better and embrace who she is. This book is a very good portrayal of learning disabilities! While I’m not dyslexic, I have dyscalculia, which effects how I view numbers…

Author: Elle Mcnicoll Like a Charm is about a dyspraxic Scottish girl, Ramya, who was close to her grandfather as a little kid but they ended up becoming estranged after her parents disapproved of things he was saying to her. Years later, after his death, Ramya learns that Edinburgh is full of magical creatures like kelpie and vampires and she is the only one who can see them; but not all of the creatures are wonderful—and soon Ramya will come face to face with the evil sirens her grandfather warned her of long ago. This book, the first ever book I’ve read with dyspraxia rep, was very interesting. I really…

Author: Trenton Lee Stewart The Mysterious Benedict Society is about four gifted children—Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance—who, after seeing an ad in the newspaper and taking multiple weird tests, are recruited by Mr. Benedict to go undercover at the Institution for the Very Enlightened to observe an odd man, Mr. Curtain, who may be hypnotizing people all over the world into believing very strange things.  This book is the first in a series of four books (and there’s a prequel about Mr. Benedict’s childhood which is separated from these four books for some reason).  This book was very interesting, I thought the characters were amusing and I was curious to…

Author: Neil Gaiman Disclaimer: Due to allegations that came out after publishing this post, I no longer support Gaiman nor will I endorse any of his works. TW/CW: kidnapping; implied d*aths of children Coraline  is about a girl, Coraline, who moves into a mysterious house with her clueless parents.  While exploring the house, Coraline finds a mysterious door that leads to another world, a world where she has a new set of parents who actually seem to care about her.  But the more Coraline goes to this other place, the harder it is leave.  When Coraline discovers some disturbing things in this alternate reality called the Other World, it’s up…

So, I’ve been doing a lot of summer reading and thought I’d post a few reviews I’ve written of some of the books that I’ve read.  Let me know what you think of them.  And I’ll be reviewing more of my reads soon. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell: CW: Strong language, themes of abuse, neglect, racism and fat-shaming, use of racist, homophobic and ableist terms. After reading this book, I’m not sure what to think of it.  This book, which takes place in the mid-1980’s, is about two teens, Eleanor and Park, who live totally different lives.  Eleanor, who has red hair (a fact that’s relevant in the book),…