Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman

14 reviews

slang123's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I felt this book went on a little too long. It could have been shorter and still had the same effect.  It does deal with LGBTQ+, AIDS and violence.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Racism

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I think it is really wonderful to have middle grade books that deal with such important topics, and in such a good and sensitive way too. I wish I could have read a book like this when I was that age myself. 

Also, I always love a good found family trope and here we have a lot of disparate people coming together and caring deeply about each other, it really warmed my heart. 

The only fault that I can pinpoint is a bit of overexplanation (especially of the characters' feelings), but that might just be incidental to the intended audience's age range.

"So there is a word for it."
"Oh honey, there's a word for everything on God's green earth. And if there isn't, we can just make one up.” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Transphobia, Homophobia, Classism, Violence, and Racism

Minor: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Racial slurs, Murder, War, Dysphoria, Bullying, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Grief

atamano's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Death of parent

Minor: Murder

koplomps's review

challenging hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Beautiful, warm and heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Death of parent

reading_rainbows's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Bug starts the book with a very narrow world view.  She is very internally focused with innocent ignorance.  She has a hard time making friends, and seems neurodivergent with her difficulty understanding.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Minor: Murder

xandraj's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Bullying, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Hate crime

jadatrack's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Murder, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

imstephtacular's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Racism, Transphobia, and Sexism

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Medical content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

ojreads's review

adventurous funny hopeful informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I listened to this book and my picking it was entirely random, I saw an author and a narrator that I recognized and said why not! This middle grade read was so fast and easy but our leading characters, ages 10 and 11, have a lot of life to learn and the heart break of reality is shifted from sadness to a sense of adventure!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Racial slurs

duobond's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Hate crime and Racial slurs