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I feel icky giving low ratings to memoirs and biographies, but I just can't bring myself to give more than 3 stars for this one.

It was interesting to be able to see life through the lens of a neurosurgeon. But I felt like there were few moments where I was actually learning about what Paul went through, what he learned, what he truly felt. It lacked the emotion that I expected with someone coming to terms with knowing that their life will be short-lived and trying to move along with that. I learned far more in the afterword from his wife than I did in the entire book.

I also just have a particular dislike for people who decide to have kids when they know one parent will not be alive to see that child grow past being a toddler. It's not my life, and people should live how they want, but I just really don't like seeing it being done and glorified like it's some amazing thing when that child will be dealing with the trauma of never knowing a parent for their whole life.

Overall, this felt like an acquaintance just quickly trying to tell you what they've been going through, and they're not comfortable enough to really let you know how they're doing and what's really going on.

Definitely creepy, honestly a little surprised it's marketed as juvenile fiction. Granted, there's nothing super horrible that happens, but some of the imagery I could totally see scaring the little ones pretty bad.

I was confused having watched the movie first, because Wyborn is not in the book. The movie is pretty dang true to the book, so I had to look into it to see why a whole character was made for the movie. Apparently, he was made to fill the gaps in the movie where Coraline's thoughts were on the page. So it's at least understandable. Honestly I felt like Coraline literally being on her own to get everything figured out and get away from the other mother added some additional suspense to it.

It is nice to have a character that is scared but still manages to put on a brave face and meet the challenges head on.

This is one that I'll be saving and revisiting another time. The audiobook with the full cast was amazing, cannot recommend it enough!

It's always weird reading books from almost 20 years ago and realizing how much things have changed. I know that this is a kids book from the early 2000s, but oh man, some of the words used to describe the characters. Anyone that Percy didn't really care for got a heafty heaping of harsh critiques on physical appearances.

Overall, though, found this to be enjoyable. The story moved along at a good pace and nothing really slogged. It became a little predictable, but it was written for children and not adults, so I didn't hold that against it.

Overall, I think my kiddos would enjoy this as they are both very much into Greek gods at this time, and I wanted a fun series that they could dive into that's not Harry Potter because I can't let them think it's ok to support the atrocity that is JK Rowling. This should be a good replacement for that niche and I'll be continuing with the rest of the series to see how things go.

We follow Melissa going from reading Charlotte's Web to her class doing a play based on the book. She wants to play Charlotte but she is told no because she was born a boy. This gives Melissa the courage to begin opening up to those closest to her and explain that she is a girl, not a boy. She obviously gets mixed responses, but thankfully none are super negative.

This book is aimed for middle school kids, and honestly that's a big reason why I can't give it a full 4 stars. NOT because of the main topic, but other issues I found.

First, Melissa resorts to bullying a bully which is not something that I would feel comfortable with telling any child to do. She never discussed the bullying with anyone, just decides to react to it and then doesn't get in trouble for it when the bully punches her. I feel like that's just sending a slight bit of a wrong message.

Second, I am very glad that this book is encouraging kids to feel ok with who they feel they are and with be open about it with friends and family. Everything works out for Melissa when she does start correcting people and telling them that she IS a girl. None of the reactions are really malicious in nature, and I feel like that is a little too idealistic. Kids and teens are still abused and ridiculed by their own families when they come out in any way, and it feels a little dangerous to be giving kids the feeling that those people in their lives will still love them no matter what because it doesn't work that way in real life.

Melissa's mom gives a little pushback after being told because she has a hard time grappling with the facts. But by the end, she tells Melissa that she wants to get a therapist for Melissa and herself because they both have some stuff to work on to making sure that Melissa is able to live her best life without her mom accidentally pushing back again. Ideal situation at the end of it all, great to point out that therapy is super important.

As for Kelly: Kelly is the best friend of Melissa and the first person that she comes out to. Melissa asks some questions to understand what Melissa is saying, then shrugs and says "ok, cool" and continues with the conversation as normal. She comes up with a plan to help Melissa be Charlotte in the play even with the teachers all saying no. Everyone needs a Kelly in their lives.

I think I'll need to pick up some other books that focus on transgender tweens and see how they compare. I know there's a fine line between scaring kids with the truth and making things feel too much like fantasy and like nothing could go wrong. I'd be interested to see if other authors are able to construe more of the realities that could happen, or if I'm just too much of an adult to really be able to appreciate how this is portrayed to middle age children.