Meet Cute consists of fourteen short stories featuring “how they first met” tales from contemporary YA authors. Four of the love stories feature LGBTQ couples. Authors featured include Jennifer Armentrout, Dhonielle Clayton, Katie Cotugno, Jocelyn Davies, Huntley Fitzpatrick, Nina LaCour, Emery Lord, Katharine McGee, Kass Morgan, Julie Murphy, Meredith Russo, Sara Shepard, Nicola Yoon, and Ibi Zoboi.

It is refreshing to find a collection of contemporary YA short stories. Some are funny, others are heartbreaking. All will please teen readers of romance.

Part of Abdo’s Hip-Hop Artists series, Alicia Klepeis biography of Kanye West is both smooth and dynamic, much like the focal artist himself.  Many unique qualities and factoids are brought up by Klepeis.  Readers will get to learn that Kanye was mainly self-taught and pursued other artists, begging them to teach one or two skills at a time.  He first made a name for himself as a producer and as he tried to get a recording contract, industry leaders didn’t think his own rap would sell because he didn’t come from the wrong side of the tracks.  His upper-middle-class household was supported by a single mother though; she was a university professor mother who provided a comfortable, supportive environment.  But Kanye worked for his own money from an early age as well to support his high-class fashion-forward tastes.  Focusing on his multi-faceted talents, Klepeis goes on to chronical Kanye’s albums, awards, and milestone moments in 96 pages of text and photos.  This is a highly accessible biography for middle and high school students, one that probably should be in most high school libraries.

Three kids go on a spooky ghost hunt traveling down a bumpy hill, crossing a wiggly bridge, following a twisty path, until they eventually come to a scary house and see a GHOST! They quickly back-track their way all the way to the safety of their home, but the ghost follows them! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

The three pigs were forced to leace the comfort of their home when their owners moved away to Florida. So each one built their houses as the traditional tale is told. All the while, the hungry wolf is unable to order food at the local fast food joints, so he decides to blow down all the pigs houses, until the wolf cannot blow down the house of bricks. The pigs feel so badly for the wolf that they ask him to join them for dinner. Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

After the little bear plays outside in the snow, it is time for bed. A sequence of affection occurs from a wave, to a smile, to a tickle, until finally a kiss goodnight from his mama. Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

As Frog dances down by the cool of the pool, he is joined by duck, pig, sheep, cat, dog, goat, pony, donkey and cow, each adding their own dance moves. All of a sudden they splash into the cool of the pool, but that doesn’t stop the dance party! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

This story is told in a tradional way having the Gingerbread man outsmart all of the characters until he meets the fox! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

Little kitten crawls into bed to read, and falls asleep. When he wakes up, his book is missing! He thinks of all the possibilities to explain what could have happened to his book from a bear eating it, to a stegosaurus stomping on it. Well, after looking and looking, little kitten finds it under the bed! He loves his book so much, he crawls back into bed to read it and falls asleep again! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

Edward wants to be a firefighter, so he decides to visit a firehouse. While he is there, the firefighters have a fire drill, and Edward gets to go with them! He has trouble with the drills, learning first hand how challenging the job is. However, when a real emergency occurs, Edward steps up to save the kitten that was stuck in the tree! Questions to check comprehension and higher level thinking can be found on each page spread. Bright, colorful illustrations enhance this cute story.

In this series, various animals are compared to human beings. While people and birds have similar activities the comparison in this case seems stretched, grasping at straws.

Both birds and humans sing .  Baby birds learn song patterns much the way human babies learn speech patterns. They both repeat over and over again until they pattern is correct. This is a fine comparison.

Other comparisons include: terns mate for life, dandelion down in nests compared to swaddling, some nests are woven and tied to branches compared to knitting, some birds are single mothers while others use two parents after birth, both birds and humans feed their babies, birds keeping a “poop-free” nest is compared to changing diapers, and “just like human kids , chicks learn by watching”.

The comical illustrations of birds in action are fun and entertaining, especially because there is always a photo of a real bird hidden in the display. The information is accurate and interesting. Some of the comparisons  seem too remote.