Book Review: Young Katherine Johnson
Katie 
I absolutely love learning more about Katherine Johnson, so I was super excited to pick up the new Young Katherine Johnson book. This tells some stories about her growing up in the form of comic strips. A lot of funny ones but some series ones too about the racism she and her family had to deal with. I thought this was a fun approach to teach some good lessons and some history as well, both of which very important, in a way that kids would enjoy. It also has some interactive math related questions throughout with answers at the end of the book so you can see if you figured it out correctly.
I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
A close and playful glimpse at the childhood of one of the world’s greatest geniuses and cultural icons, Katherine Johnson who was the subject of the hit film Hidden Figures!
Katherine Johnson grew up to be the first Black woman to work at NASA, figuring out the path for spacecrafts to go around the Earth and land on the Moon! But before she set her sights on outer space, she was busy making the Earth’s surface her laboratory!
Equipped with a mind for math, nothing gets past Katherine: how did Noah manage to put 48,000 animals on his ark, not to mention all that feed?!
Accompanied by her brother Charlie and her chicken Lucinda, Katherine makes the world her playground and sometimes dreams of a Moon that could answer her questions… or even, growing up in the early 1900s, a more equal society where black people and white people could have the same rights…
Clay Play! Whimsical Gardens shows you how to create over 30 magical miniatures! I’ve always wanted to start doing crafting with clay, but haven’t made the jump yet. The little mushroom homes in this book are so adorable though, one of these days I need to take the leap. The book starts out with various supplies you might need and some details on how to make certain shapes with the clay as well as how to store your clay when you’re not working with it. Then it dives right into the homes, which are made using jars! How clever! My favorite was the ladybug cottage that is also featured on the cover of the book. No whimsical garden would be complete without fairies, elves or gnomes! The accessories were all adorable too. Certainly a lot of adorable ideas to consider!
The Lonely Girls in the 4th book in the Lucy Kendall Crime Thriller Series. You’ll need to read the other 3 before this one as it is not a standalone. I absolutely devoured books 1-3 over the weekend and then had a hard time getting back in the zone to get into this one. But once I did… oooh the twists and turns! One thing that ended up happening I did have a thought in the back of my mind that it may end up happening, sort of. It kind of went above and beyond anything my own imagination could come up with. But a young girl that Lucy helped when she worked for CPS goes missing and the crime scene is absolutely staged to look like the death of Lucy’s sister and Lucy is absolutely being targeted by someone. When her best friend goes missing next, she’ll do anything it takes to find her… and then things just start getting wilder and wilder! Definitely a great ending to this series – it ends with closure! Looking forward to reading some more books by Stacy Green in the future.
The Girl in the Cabin is the 3rd book in the Lucy Kendall Crime Thriller series. This book is a continuation from 1 and 2 and if you’ve made it this far, you’ll end up hooked like me. In this book, Lucy’s friend has gone missing and she has reason to believe he has gone after the serial killer that has been part of the sub plot in books 1 and 2. This time, she’s determined to find her and her friend, before it is too late. But her reputation precedes her and while the law enforcement assigned to the case appreciate her insight and help, they warn her not to go off on her own and investigate. She promises, but can she keep it? These books are absolutely impossible to put down and I love all the twists and turns they take. I still have one more left to read and while I’m hoping there won’t be another cliffhanger at the end – I’m also not sure what I’ll do with myself once I am done! Lucy is sort of like a female Dexter. And I absolutely love her, even though I often times don’t know if I should be rooting for her or not.
Rebel Girls Rock features tales of 25 women in music – including Bjork, Dolly Parton, Lizzo and Olivia Rodrigo. Each of the “girls” has a one page bio including their birthday and where they are from and a one page illustration of them. It was interesting to learn how some of them got their start and what made them want to go into the music industry. At the end of the book there are some blurbs on some other girls who rock who didn’t make it into the main book – like Beyonce, Billie Eilish and Jojo Siwa.
Little Lost Souls is the 2nd book in the Lucy Kendall Crime Thriller series. This book picks up where Book 1 left off, so I would say it could not be read as a stand alone as you’ll need the backstory to fully understand it. Lucy is a private investigator who tries to help children who are victims of pedophiles since she lost her sister after she was abused as a child. In this second installment, she tries to solve the mystery of while teens are being snatched and where they are going. She ends up getting involved in trying to bring down a sex trafficking ring. But once again, everyone has secrets and Lucy has to figure out who she can trust in order to remain safe and to get the correct information to put those in charge away. There is also a sub plot that continues from book 1 and is still not resolved. Guess it’s time to read #3 now…
The Girl in the Pink Shoes is the first book in the Lucy Kendall Crime Thriller series. Lucy is a Private Investigator who tries to help children who are victims of pedophiles as she lost her sister after she was abused as a child. In this book, Kailey goes missing, she never made it home from her walk to school with a couple of older neighborhood girls. Lucy talks to Kailey’s mom, Jenna, who agrees to let her help. Secret after secret begins unraveling as Lucy worries that an old client of hers, out of prison but not needing to register as a sex offender may be involved as he lives across the street. And his brother is one of the detectives on the case. There were a TON of twist and turns in this book and I absolutely could not put it down (and then quickly read books 2 and 3 – reviews on those coming soon) I absolutely loved the writing style, how you’re not sure which characters you should or shouldn’t be rooting for and the rollercoaster of a ride.
While I’ve always been fascinated with butterflies (not so much moths), I never knew all that much about them. The magic of butterflies and moths has given me quite the back story on both, different variations of them and their history. I was hoping for a bit more in the way of colorful photos (they’re all black and white) but still an interesting read, just the same. (That death’s head hawk moth probably hits just as hard in black and white as color though. Wow!)
Goodnight Love is an absolutely adorable and sweet bedtime story featuring a wonderful little sloth family. Goodnight Love is a bedtime meditation story so throughout it teaches you ways to mediate and to wind down before bed. While I don’t have problems falling asleep, I have problems staying asleep, adding in some meditation and positive thoughts before bed certainly can’t hurt! And who doesn’t love to read a story featuring adorable little sloths?
Yet another book in the Little People, Big Dreams series – this one tells the story of Shakira! How she grew up loving belly dancing and the stage (much to the annoyance of her classmates, at times!) and how she started to play guitar and write poems to help her family heal. Shakira also wanted to be a good person in addition to being successful and made a promise to herself that she would help the orphans. Once she found some success with her music after she released a few albums, she started a foundation to help bring education to those in her hometown as well as Hispanic children all over the Americas. This is a wonderful story of perseverance and success told in such a way that it would inspire any child!