This is not a one to one translation from pages to movie.  The two are very different. Many of the things I talked about above was lost in translation to the screen. The book is full of hidden philosophy (and not so hidden), talks of sex and violence, racism and control. It’s far darker and spicier than the movie. I say this because, though I work similarly before I read the books, I was not prepared.

Kat’s life is a lie. She lives with her grandparents (but tells everyone she lives with her parents and brother because that’s what her mother requested when she was 5). Her family isn’t this big happy picture perfect entity, though her mother likes to portray it as such over social media and to everyone she’s around.

As you can see, it was a lineup of mundane, forgettable, and unknown characters, OK'd by the DC editorial staff precisely BECAUSE no one cared.

It was a heroic version of Suicide Squad.

Malik has never had it easy. When he was seven years old, he witnessed his mother’s possible death when he walked into a situation he didn’t understand. Ten years later, after being shuffled around to multiple foster homes, he’s now emancipated and aims to remove his little brother, Taye. In the process, he finds himself approached by a stranger who claims to have knowledge of Malik,his unknown family and his past while being able to care for Taye’s medical needs.

Nathan is an 11 year old boy who lives in Arizona. At an attempt to avoid his father, well his father’s girlfriend really, while his mom travels for work, Nathan convinces his parents to let him stay with him grandmother in her mobil home where she lives during the summer breaks from teaching the Navajo language in college.

The numerous Year One's (Started with Frank Miller's Batman Year One) are amazing reimaginings of the stories we thought we knew. And that's always what's so great about them...we THOUGHT we knew.

I absolutely loved the representation in this book. I know, I say that alot, but I can’t help it. Using Etan to get a better understanding of the struggles, including physical struggles of selective mutism and talking about the psychological component was awesome. And then, Malia came into the story. Malia who has eczema, something my daughter struggles with (on a lesser degree but it’s still a struggle).

In this Sleeping Beauty reimagining, Princess Lex learns that, when she was born, a fairy cursed her.

Honestly, I was drawn to this book because of the cover. I mean, did you see it? How could you walk past that? Of course, synopsis on the back didn’t hurt my need to read it. And it was a need.

I have a….rocky…relationship with The Hunger Games series. When I read the first three books, I didn’t read many books like it. The dystopian craze hadn’t hit and something so dark and angry wasn’t exactly what I was drawn to. But someone I trusted told me I had to read it and, so, I did.

In everything I’ve read of his thus far(three books),he perfectly intertwines who he is and what he loves into gripping, emotional, heartfelt stories with a bloody coating in a way that can only be called art. He can make my stomach churn, my heart break and me cry all with in a few pages.