BookOwl

  4/5 stars   *Spoiler a lert!*     “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.”     While Iron Flame took a bit of time to really get going, once it did, it absolutely went ! Took off like a dragon in the heat of battle. I feared that this book would be the last in the series until an announcement from Rebecca Yarros that it will be a five-book series, which is good, because this second book left me shaking and absolutely dreading the wait for book three, which looks to be released in January 2025.     “Violence, remember it's only the body that's fragile. You are unbreakable.”   Anyways, now back to the second book, Iron Flame .      In the second entry of the “Empyrean” series, Cadet Violet Sorrengail has joined the rebellion, whether she wants to or not, along with her bonded dragons, Tairn and Andarna . Andarna spends significant portions of the book ...

      5/5 stars   *Spoiler alert!*   Our History Has Always Been Contraband is an interdisciplinary collection of contemporary and historical essays, edited by Colin Kaepernick, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. Its aim is to defend the importance of studying and including the Black experience in curricula all over the United States and world, in response to a series of book and curricula bans that brand Black studies as radical and racist (looking at you Florida though it’s not alone in this by any means).   “To talk about the importance of teaching Black History… we must be honest about ourselves and talk about values; values shape what one thinks is important to preserve. The history of Black people throughout the African diaspora has been riddled with stereotypes, myths, and miseducation… Marcus Garvey … who rallied for Black people to move back to Africa, had a mindset that Black Americans were going back to the Motherland to civilize...