JCL Reads - Missouri Book Challenge
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Bleach, Vol. 2 by Tite Kubo
Bone, Vol. 7: Ghost Circles by Jeff Smith
One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks
When studious thirteen-year-old Juniper wins a scholarship to the prestigious Ellsmere Academy, she expects to find a scholastic utopia. But living at Ellsmere is far from ideal: She is labeled a “special project,” Ellsmere's queen bee is out to destroy her, and it’s rumored that a mythical beast roams the forest next to the school.
Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen
After burning out last year, Angelica is ready to get her life back together. Thankfully she has amazing friends to support her...including Peri the Bear, the mascot of her town's local theater. At her lowest moments, Angelica found comfort in private messaging Peri's social media account, and well, she might have a bit of a crush. Now, Angelica is interning at the local theater in the hopes of finding the person beind the account and thanking them. Who was this mysterious stranger and why did they help her out? Was it just caring for a stranger...or did they feel the same connection that Angelica felt?
Garlic and the Vampire (Garlic #1) by Bree Paulsen
But when her village of vegetable folk learns that a bloodthirsty vampire has moved into the nearby castle, they all agree that, in spite of her fear and self-doubt, Garlic is the obvious choice to confront him. And with everyone counting on her, Garlic reluctantly agrees to face the mysterious vampire, hoping she has what it takes.
After all, garlic drives away vampires…right?
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
The Lost World (Jurassic Park #2) by Michael Crichton
The Lost World (Jurassic Park #2) by Michael Crichton-400 pages
⭐⭐⭐⭐
It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end – the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to the public.There are rumors that something has survived....
Thoughts: I read Jurassic Park a few years ago and I've seen all of the Jurassic movies, including The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The movie is very different from this book, though. The first one was somewhat different, but this one is very different. Some of the characters have the same name and are similar such as Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding, Kelly, and Eddie Carr. However, in the book Kelly is a friend of Richard Levine and Dr. Thorne (2 characters not in the movie), but in the movie she's Malcolm's daughter. In the movie, Sarah Harding is already on Isla Sorna, but in the book she decides to travel to the island later after an invitation from Ian Malcolm. Another similarity is that there's a scene where Eddie takes an infant Tyrannosaur that's leg is broken. Eddie and Sara try to make a cast for it in both the book and movie. In both, chaos ensues as the Tyrannosaur parents come for the infant. The scenes aren't exactly the same, but they're similar. In both the book and movie, Ian Malcolm travels to Isla Sorna to rescue someone. In the movie, it's Sarah Harding. In the book, it's Richard Levine. That's about where the similarities end. One scene from the movie that's iconic (and not included in the book) is the Tyrannosaur getting loose in San Diego. This scene is not in the book, but it's such an iconic scene. It seems like they took inspiration from different parts of this book for scenes from other movies in the Jurassic series, though. Overall, I like both the book and the movie, even though their vastly different.
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs - 40 pages
Mo Willems
Summary (From Goodreads)
Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway.
One day--for no particular reason--they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then--for no particular reason--they decided to go...someplace else. They were definitely NOT setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl.
Definitely not!
Review
This was a delightful and funny retelling of a classic fairy tale! I'd recommend this to anyone who likes humorous, subversive takes on old favorites.





