All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Genre: Adult, Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Source: Purchased

 I was first introduced to this book last year while teaching Pre-Ap English. There was an excerpt in it from three character’s perspective in our textbook.  Once of my students asked if I knew there was a movie about it. I did not because I prefer to read a book first.

 Marie is blind and her father works for a museum. When the Nazi’s invade her father takes her and they leave to live with her great-uncle.  The other character we meet is Werner. He is an orphan. He has a talent for fixing radios. Unfortunately he’s not supposed to be listening to the radio.  The Germans take him and he is forced to use his skills to try to locate whoever has been leaving messages to guide the resistance. This is where his path and Marie’s cross.

 There were a couple of things I really enjoyed about this book, besides the story itself.  The chapters are short. We get glimpses of each of the character’s story as well as what happened to them at the end of the story. I am one of those readers who will often read the ending to find out what happened and then go back to fill in all of the blanks. I didn’t have to do that with this book as the reader knows the outcome of some of the characters before the end of the book.  

By the way, the movie is just as awesome.

 

Saving Vegetable Seeds by GD Kashuba

Genre: Nonfiction, Informational

Source: My husband received a copy.

My husband received a copy in exchange for his review.  He kept reading parts to me and so I had to read it. My husband grows microgreens. We had a garden for a couple of years. My favorite thing from it was tomatoes. Unfortunately they seem to be the raccoon's favorite things as well. I woke up one morning to find they had taken a bite out of each and every one of them. He purchased two greenhouses and so began our journey. He is a beekeeper as well as growing microgreens. He has never been so happy as when he is doing one of those two things.  In the past he has purchased seeds and then for one reason or another they didn't get planted. When he finally got around to them years later they would not grow.  I never knew until reading this book that seeds can have a shelf life. 

The book teaches anyone how to take seeds from their own plants and dry them, save them and use them to grow your own plants.  Since he has started this process I get daily reports on how the plants are going. He purchased a program so he knows exactly when he needs to do what with his plants. He can keep detailed info like the book suggested on everything from when he should plant, when he planted, when he should and does harvest them. He can keep notes on processing the seeds. This book is full of information on different types of plants and their seeds and contains a section in the back with links to other resources you may want to check out. I no longer have to wonder why we don't ever use seeds from our cucumbers or tomatoes. Now we can.

This is an extremely useful book for anyone interested in growing their own food from their own seeds.

 

First Book Review of 2025 - Kianola by Nathan Roth

Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction,  Fantasy

Source: I won a copy from LibraryThing. The opinions expressed here are my own.

As a middle school teacher I often see kids like Nole. They may not always hide away in video games, but they hide away in their art or something else. I often see them with someone who acts like a friend, but at the same time tends to bully them, just on a milder level.

In this book our main character  has gotten the most coveted new game, Enix. Within this game he can be the opposite of who he isn’t in his real world. When he meets a girl named Dapple he begins to build a friendship and a crush. Then Dapple introduces him to her friend, Kianola (Kia).  Nole’s crush moves from Dapple to Kia.  Through playing this game Nole gets a whole new perspective on life. Teased and bullied for being overweight, he has such low self esteem. In the imaginary world he can be the opposite of what he believes he is in the real world. However, this soon carries over into his real life. Nole begins to make changes in himself, to become the person he wants to be and the person he is determined to become.

The gaming part of this book was awesome.  I say this having grown up with the original Sega and graduation to Play Stations (as an adult). I was never good at playing games. Just ask my kids or my nieces and nephews. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like them. The world building in this story is done so expertly that when Nole and his friends entered the game I felt like I was there. I could envision the different worlds in the games.  I understood what was happening in the game. Were the game real I still couldn’t play it and win. My eye-hand coordination is not good, the same with my reflexes. I believe this is a book my middle school students are going to love.  Especially since they so patiently try to explain to me  the games they are playing. I would have to classify this as fantasy world meets the real world.  If I could give this more than five stars I would because this has to be one of the best books I have read in the last few month.