It’s time for my first half of March 2025 book review post! I am sharing what I read in March so far, although I am skipping my 5 star reads to share later in the month. And this month I’ve already read more 5 star books than I did for all of February! The Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. If you’ve read any of these books or are interested in them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Title: One Little Goat
Author: Dara Horn, illustrated by Theo Ellsworth
Genre: YA Graphic Novel
Publisher: Norton Young Readers, 2/25/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Although we have the same first name, I am not Dara Horn. I do love her, however! And I was thrilled to check out her YA Graphic Novel called One Little Goat. This story takes place at a never ending Passover seder in which the afikomen is lost and the seder cannot end. The scapegoat takes the wise child through many seders of the past to search for it, and the wise child learns about the reasons his family behave the way they do as well as how the Passover traditions began.
“A family sits at the Passover seder table, but cannot find their afikoman―the hidden matzah required to end the meal―and as a result, they are trapped at a seder that cannot end. Six months in, a wisecracking talking goat shows up at their door with bad news: Thousands of years of previous seders have accumulated underneath their seder, and their afikoman is stuck in one of them. Now the family’s “wise child” must travel down with the goat through centuries of previous Passovers to find it―and to discover the questions he needs to start asking.”
I thought this book had a lot of funny parts and while the illustration style isn’t my favorite, I think teens will enjoy this. It is great that we have this holiday book to add to our collection!
Title: Mixed-Up
Author: Kami Garcia, illustrated by Brittney Williams
Genre: Middle Grade Graphic Novel
Publisher: First Second, 1/21/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Mixed-Up is a middle grade graphic novel about Stella, a 5th grader who is struggling with reading. She and her friends are big fans of an online game and Stella finds it hard to play the game when she has to read a guide to get hints on game play. This causes a rift with her friends. Stella’s class is also writing books, and Stella writes a graphic novel that explains what she is going through.
“Stella knows fifth grade will be the best year ever. Her closest friends, Emiko and Latasha, are in her class and they all got the teacher they wanted. Then their favorite television show, Witchlins, announces a new guidebook and an online game! But when the classwork starts piling up, Stella struggles to stay on top. Why does it take her so long to read? And how can she keep up with friends in the Witchlins game if she can’t get through the text-heavy guidebook? It takes loving teachers and her family to recognize that Stella has a learning difference, and after a dyslexia diagnosis she gets the support and tools she needs to succeed.”
I loved how this book supported the idea that graphic novels can help students and can even help teachers to see who may be struggling with dyslexia. I also loved how Stella used her own graphic novel to help teach her friends about her learning differences.
Title: What A Happy Family
Author: Saumya Dave
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Books on Tape, 6/22/21
Source: Publisher – Print, Library – Audio
Why I Read It: Backlist
My Rating: 4 Stars
I had previously read a book by this author that I didn’t love, but I enjoyed What a Happy Family by Saumya Dave quite a lot more. I listened to this book from my 25 in ’25 list. It is about a family of Indian immigrants and second generation immigrants, with various characters having viewpoint sections. Natasha is the main character. She breaks up with her boyfriend and after losing her job, decides she wants to pursue a career in comedy. A mental health crisis leads her family to rally around her and work to heal their generational and personal traumas.
“From the outside, the Joshi family is the quintessential Indian-American family. Decades ago, Bina and Deepak immigrated to America, where she became a pillar of their local Indian community and he, a successful psychiatrist. Their eldest daughter, Suhani, is following the footsteps of her father’s career and happily married. Natasha, their middle daughter, is about to become engaged to the son of longtime family friends. And Anuj, their son—well he’s a son and what could be better than that But a family scandal shows that nothing is as it seems. Bina’s oldest friendship starts to unravel and she finds herself as an outsider in the community she helped build. Suhani discovers that her perfect marriage isn’t as solid as she thought. Natasha faces a series of rejections that send her into a downward spiral. As they encounter public humiliation, gossiping aunties, and self-doubt, the Joshi family must rely on each other like never before. But sometimes, family has to fall apart in order to come back stronger than before.”
I appreciated that look at mental health and how it is viewed in the Indian community. Even though Natasha’s sister Suhani and her father Deepak are both psychologists, there is still a taboo in the community about going to therapy. Suhani is going through her own difficulties and Natasha’s crisis helps her to realize that she needs help as well. I also enjoyed that Suhani’s husband is Jewish and the references to how Indian and Jewish cultures can be similar!
Title: The Midwives’ Escape
Author: Maggie Anton
Genre: Historical / Biblical Fiction
Publisher: Banot Press, 3/4/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars, Rounded up to 4 stars
From the author of the Rashi’s Daughters series, Maggie Anton has taken on biblical history from the 10th plague in Egypt to the Israelites conquer to Jericho. The story is told by midwives Shifra and Asenet as their families leave Egypt, cross the sea, arrive at Mt. Sinai, and spend 40 years in the desert.
“An Egyptian mother and daughter, Asenet and Shifra, a midwife and her apprentice, wake up on the morning of the tenth plague to find Asenet’s husband and son, both firstborns, dead. Asenet’s sister Pua, married to an Israelite, urges Asenet’s family to leave Egypt with them, which they reluctantly do, along with Asenet’s wainwright father and his two apprentices. Recognizing that the Hebrew god is more powerful than any of the Egyptians’ gods, other non-Israelites join the exodus, including Hittite and Nubian palace guards. Once hearing and accepting God’s commandments at Mt. Sinai, these two Egyptian midwives join the Israelites on their forty-year journey to The Promised Land where they tend to the wounded, share hardship and adversity, fall in love, and start a new home and a new generation.”
While I found some of the sections of the story a bit slow, I enjoyed the pieces that I could directly recognize from the Torah and from stories I learned throughout my life. I was very amused that in this version of the story, Moses has a daughter and names her Dara!
Title: Broken Country
Author: Clare Leslie Hall
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 3/4/25
Source: Audio Publisher
Why I Read It: Very well liked
My Rating: 4 Stars
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall suddenly seemed to be appearing everywhere and with very high ratings, so I decided to listen to it. It is about Beth, who is married to Frank, but whose teenage love Gabriel returns to her life with his son. Beth is drawn to Gabriel and his son having lost her own son a few years earlier. As the book begins, we know someone is dead and someone is on trial for the murder, but this story line isn’t revealed until towards the end of the story.
“Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident. As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.”
Other than the literary writing style and the character driven plot, I am not sure why so many people are loving this one. The love triangle was cringe worthy to me and there are a lot of difficult topics covered, including the death of a dog and the death of a child. There is a mystery and there are some twists, but I didn’t find them all that surprising. I did enjoy the suspense of the ending section about the trial, but I guess character driven stories are still not my favorite.
This post includes 5 of the books I read this month. 3 were print books and 2 were on audio. 3 of them were adult books, 1 was YA, and 1 was middle grade. Genres included graphic novel, contemporary, historical, and literary.
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?
