Ultraviolet by Aida Salazar (2024) is a novel in verse about a middle school boy, Elio, and his first love. I agree with the words on the inside of thUltraviolet by Aida Salazar (2024) is a novel in verse about a middle school boy, Elio, and his first love. I agree with the words on the inside of the book jacket that say this book is: “Hilarious, heartwarming, and highly relatable, Ultraviolet digs deep into themes of consent, puberty, masculinity, and the emotional lives of boys, as it challenges stereotypes and offers another way to be in the world.” Three of the major reviews of book reviewers, all have appreciated Ultraviolet with a starred review. Here are samples from those three reviews. Kirkus report in their starred review states that Ultraviolet is: “A story that sings to the soul.’ Publisher’s Weekly in their starred review of Ultraviolet say: “When 13-year-old Elio Solis starts eighth grade and notices that all of his classmates have begun pairing up, he doesn’t understand their interest in love, until he meets Camelia. Suddenly, “all this love stuff smacked me/ on the jaw/ like a good right hook/ and knocked/ me/ out.” They start being boyfriend and girlfriend, and Elio experiences the world in ultraviolet (“Glow in the dark outrageous.)” The School Library Journal in their starred review write:” What does it mean to grow up and become a man? Salazar seeks to answer this question through sensitive eighth grader Elio in this companion to her celebrated novel in verse The Moon Within. Her (Salazar’s) frank but thoughtful approach to puberty and sexuality, both from the perspective of public-school students and from Indigenous Mexican traditions, further grounds Elio’s story and provides valuable life lessons to young readers without tilting into preachiness. Although this book stands on its own, parents and teachers could inspire in-depth conversations on the broad spectrum of coming-of-age narratives and experiences by pairing this with The Moon Within.” I recommend Ultraviolet to 10 t0 14 years-old, their parents and teachers. ...more
Safiyyah’s WAR by Hiba Noor Khan an exceptional realistic historical fiction tale for 10 to 14-year-olds and beyond. I consider this to be a must readSafiyyah’s WAR by Hiba Noor Khan an exceptional realistic historical fiction tale for 10 to 14-year-olds and beyond. I consider this to be a must read for teachers (especially social studies, history, and literature teaches), obviously students, parents of those students, leaders and practitioners of Jewish and Muslim traditions, and anyone interested in a story based on the fact that early in World War II Muslims in Frace saved many Jewish lives. Safiyyah is an 11-year-old Muslim living in the Grand Mosque in Paris and the Nazis are in Paris and are likely to make a sweep through the city and take all the Jews away. She has no idea her father is secretly organizing and shepherding Jews to safety and when she does find out her father asks her to play a couple of different and dangerously important roles in the effort to save many Jews. Here is what critics have said. Kirkus writes in their starred review: “The book’s messages of interfaith cooperation and respect for human dignity are timely and compelling. A must-read distinguished by its powerful plot and poignant writing.” Just Imagine located in the United Kingdom is source for news, opinions, interviews with educators and authors and practical advice for practicing teachers and school librarians. And Just Imagine write: “Safiyyah’s War is a superb middle-grade historical novel which tells the incredible, inspiring and little-known story of the role of the Grand Mosque in Paris in saving Jews during the Second World War as part of tshe French Resistance.” WritersMosaic, a division of the Royal Literary Fund, is an online magazine and developmental resource focused on UK writers. And here is what they write about Khan’s work: “Safiyyah’s War is a refreshing and heartfelt World War II story. It follows Safiyyah as the threat of German invasion turns her comfortable Parisian world upside down. The story, told in close third person, challenges our ideas of this historical period by throwing light on a true to life humanitarian mission; the saving of many Jewish lives by the rector of the Grand Paris Mosque, Ben Ghabrit. It does a wonderful job of confronting stereotypes as it tells of individuals of Islamic faith who put their own safety at risk to help their Jewish neighbors. It paints a positive picture of the close-knit communities of Paris in the 1940s working together to keep everyone safe. Khan’s prose flows as smoothly as the Seine in this empathetic, hopeful story. In the light of recent religious conflict, the message of helping one’s neighbor is even more poignant.” This historical fiction piece is based on facts related to the early stages of war and the heroic actions of French Muslim citizens. This is an excellent read. I highly recommend it.
Road Home by Rex Ogle (2024) is a memoir of the summer of 1998 after Rex Ogle graduated from high school. Rex was a 17-year-old facing dramatic, yet lRoad Home by Rex Ogle (2024) is a memoir of the summer of 1998 after Rex Ogle graduated from high school. Rex was a 17-year-old facing dramatic, yet likely - not uncommon, challenges as he tries to move forward with his life and his understanding of his own sexual identity. Kirkus, in their starred review, writes: “Raw and vulnerable, a necessary look at the realities of homelessness. Award-winning author Ogle shares the story of being kicked out (of is home) by his father for being gay . . .” Rex has considered himself to be bisexual and maybe in gay. He has had relatively normal experiences for a 15, 16, 17-year-old exploring those issues and entering adulthood. His father has made an absolute demand that Rex denounces that he is gay and, in all ways, behave as a heterosexual male, not exploring any other sexual identity, that he start dating a girl from the church and attend church three times per week. Rex was living with his father and working at Walmart after graduation. He was not able to meet his father’s demands due to his need to explore and understand his sexuality. Thus, he was kicked out of the home. This leads to Rex: driving 350 miles away to connect with an older man, and in a short time becoming homeless, to have no financial resources, to be unable to find work, and to not be able to move forward in applying to any higher education opportunities. This is a real and sobering slice of of the perils of living on the streets. It is powerfully written honest tale. This memoir is not ‘sugar coated’ it depicts the realities a young person experienced in the summer of 1998. Drugs, mental illness, the aids crisis, a crack house, fatalism, survival on a day-to-day basis, loneliness, living in a street-jungle where everyone is looking out for themselves, suicidal ideation, and even more challenges present themselves to Rex as he navigates the summer. This book is for 14 years-olds through adults. In his Author’s Note, Rex Ogle writes, “If you are not ready to read this, please don’t. Instead, take care of yourself first. This book will be waiting when you are ready.” Ogle also writes, “. . .as painful as it was for me to write, it may be equally or more painful for you to read – especially if you’ve lived through something similar.” I recommend this book for those that are ready. It is “raw and necessary”!...more
Poverty, By America written by Matthew Desmond (2023) is a sobering measure of our American experiment to have a country “with freedom and justice forPoverty, By America written by Matthew Desmond (2023) is a sobering measure of our American experiment to have a country “with freedom and justice for all”.
That is, unless we think poverty is not a justice issue.
The United States is among the top ten richest countries in the world and we currently are a country with high levels of poverty.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, our 32nd President, set forth a challenge for our country to consider. He stated: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
Matthew Desmond, in this solid, relevant, and provocative book lets us know we have a complex and big poverty problem. He reports: “More than a million of our public schoolchildren are homeless, living in motels, cars, shelters, and abandoned buildings. After arriving in prison, many incarcerated Americans suddenly find that their health improves because the conditions they faced as free (but impoverished) citizens were worse. More than 2 million Americans don’t have running water or a flushing toilet at home. West Virginians drink from polluted streams, while families on the Navajo Nation drive hours to fill water barrels. Tropical diseases long considered eradicated, like hookworm, have reemerged in rural America’s poorest communities, often the result of broken sanitation systems that expose children to raw sewage.”
Desmond shares that American welfare is widely distributed to most all of our citizens by sharing data recorded by Suzanne Mettler: “In her book The Government-Citizen Disconnect, the political scientist reports that 96 percent of American adults have relied on a major government program at some point in their lives. Rich, middle-class, and poor families depend on different kinds of programs, but the average rich and middle-class family draws on the same number of government benefits as the average poor family. Student loans look like they were issued from a bank, but the only reason banks hand out money to eighteen-year-olds with no jobs, no credit, and no collateral is because the federal government guarantees the loans and pays half their interest.” He explores the complexity of how our government resources are distributed to citizens. What he shares is an eye opener for me.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries describe themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members. When “comparing poverty in the U.S. to the 37 other OECD countries, we find that American poverty is both more prevalent and more extreme.” Americans might not know that we are not doing well in addressing poverty when measured by the work of other developed counties.
I am sure readers will want to know who these 38 countries are – they are: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Yet, Americans may ask? Where would the money come from? Desmond writes, “The best place to start, in my view, is with the cheaters. The IRS now estimates that the United States loses more than $1 trillion a year in unpaid taxes, most of it owing to tax avoidance by multinational corporations and wealthy families. Congress hasn’t given the agency the resources it needs to hunt down tax criminals, leaving the IRS outgunned and outmatched.” This is just one of many possible approaches Desmond recommends to an end to poverty in our country as we know it.
When we as a country have a problem – I suggest we face it and don’t turn our back on it or make excuses. Neil Young says, "One good thing about the past is that you can't change it. So, there's no reason to go back. It's there. It is what it is. The only thing you can change is right now and what's happening next."
This book looks at the American condition of poverty. And a third of this book presents possible pathways to end poverty in America. The citizens of America will have to decide if we want to “provide enough for those who have to little”. The only thing we can change is what we do now.
If you are interested in this topic in any way – read this book!!! I highly recommend it. ...more
Mid-Air by Alicia D. Williams and illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff (2024) is a novel in verse for 10- to-14-year-olds.
The School Library Review callMid-Air by Alicia D. Williams and illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff (2024) is a novel in verse for 10- to-14-year-olds.
The School Library Review calls it “A quietly stunning novel in verse about grief and learning to accept yourself. Recommended for all middle grade collections.”
We all lose friends. Even middle schoolers.
TeensHealth suggests that teens grieving may affect how they “feel, think, and how their body feels, while also triggering big questions for the teen to ponder. They also suggest that sudden accidental death adds to the complexity of grief.”
Isaiah, Darius, and Drew are Black eighth graders and very good buds who are tight. Darius is hit by a car and dies while the three of them were together skateboarding.
Through the gifted writing of Williams, we see this event through Isaiah’s eyes. Isaiah considered Darius to be his best friend. We also learn about the differences both Drew and Isaiah go through as they each process this tragedy. They react, grieve, and grow into the next steps of their lives in different ways.
Through Williams’ appropriately beautiful verse, rigorous focus on evocative word choice, and her sensitivity to her audience – she adeptly and honestly presents fully developed characters with realistic lives. Thus, with this story she is exploring grieving and confronting issues like risk taking, the of evolution of friendship, the dimensions of family secrets, absent fathers, shame, hurt, prejudice, happiness, the fact that their transition to high school is upon them, fear, new beginnings, new friendships, the deepening of self-awareness and being willing to confidently share your ever-developing realistic self with others.
Summer Solstice by Nina MacLaughlin (2020) is a reflective as well as anticipatory collection of essays by MacLaughlin relevant to her impressions of Summer Solstice by Nina MacLaughlin (2020) is a reflective as well as anticipatory collection of essays by MacLaughlin relevant to her impressions of all things summer. I read it at the end of June, and I liked that it stimulated me to think about and want to participate in my current summer.
Her essays are mirrors. They are also crystal balls full of limitless perspectives as they are future and/or past focused. They are refreshingly challenging and entertaining. They are worth savoring.
In this book, MacLaughlin’s writing hits the mark of George Orwell explanations that, “Good writing is like a windowpane.” Her windows are fir looking out on summer and she more than nudges you to ‘open the window’ and actively enjoy summer.
I recommend Summer Solstice to readers who are ready to savor good writing and prefer a savor a small meal to a multi course feast - because you also want to get on with enjoying your summer....more
A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner (2023) a is novel in verse with lots of graphics for kids hope and resilience that tells the story of Will ChambeA Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner (2023) a is novel in verse with lots of graphics for kids hope and resilience that tells the story of Will Chambers. Will is overweight and one day in fourth grade another student loudly labels him as FAT! That sticks in head and his world changes.
This is an excellent book about a very sensitive topic. I believe that quality books like A Work in Progress are essential books for school and public libraries. It is a resource that needs to be shared widely.
Here are examples of what reviewers wrote about this book.
“Exceedingly honest and full of anxiety, anger, and despair, this intimate look at the life and mind of one young boy struggling with body issues and mental health is an affecting read. The message that you are a work in progress and that there’s nothing wrong with that—whatever that looks like—is a great one.” School Library Journal
“Using succinct and personal-feeling verse, Lerner (the Nat the Cat series) crafts an empathetic illustrated novel about one boy’s experience with body dysmorphia, disordered eating, and stigma. Ever since an incident three years ago in which a bully maliciously called him fat in a crowded hallway (‘That word.// He spat it at me/ like it was the worst one/ he knew’), middle schooler Will Chambers has felt self-conscious in his body, wearing baggy clothes and isolating himself from his friends. . . Employing frenetic pacing and disjointed verse that conveys Will’s growing anxiety and internalized shame, Lerner cultivates a perceptive representation of recovery and self-acceptance.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
“The story itself has some truly heartbreaking scenes. It shows the terrible power words can have when they’re weaponized against someone. It shows the power the words we use about ourselves have over us, too. My favorite thing, though, is its message about the power of friendship. I loved the message about how being truly seen by another person can be a huge step toward healing. I also love the message about all of us being a work in progress, that we are changing all the time. That we have the power to change. It’s such a powerful, hopeful message. This is a book worth reading, whether you’ve experienced the kind of bullying or loneliness Will has or not.” ~ The Story Sanctuary
I recommend this book. This book would make a great family read aloud the content of the message could lead to rich conversations between the reader (dad, mom, grandma, grandpa, older sibling) and those being read too – likely 6 to 12-year-olds. It would also make for a great classroom read aloud for third through 5 graders. Further, this would be a good book to add to a bibliography for a middle or high school class studying self-awareness and good health. ...more
The Night War by Kimerly Brubaker Bradley (2024) is as Kirkus says in their starred review, this book is, “A gripping, humane tale that examines what The Night War by Kimerly Brubaker Bradley (2024) is as Kirkus says in their starred review, this book is, “A gripping, humane tale that examines what war demands of children and what it costs.”
This is an accessible middle school novel about the early stages of World War II.
In 1938 Miriam (Miri) and her parents were among the many Jews that left Germany after the violent and dangerous Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, which was the German Nazi dictatorship's declaration of war against the Jewish people and property.
Miri and her parents fled to Paris, France. Many German Jews had done the same. Then in 1940 the Nazis began to occupy that area of France. Two years later the Nazis began to herd thousands the Jews into a stadium in Paris and from there no one knew the fate of those rounded up.
In the process Miri, who is now 12 years old, is separated from her parents and Miri believes they were likely herded into the stadium. A neighbor thrusts her toddler daughter, Nora, into Miri’s arms and tells Miri to run, as best she and Nora can, to Switzerland and safety. Miri and Nora escape Paris. And, with the help of some nuns, they are safe. They are still in France. And Miri and Nora become separated.
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is a two-time Newbery Honor winning author, and, in this book, she deftly employs a “mystical twist” to tell the story of Miri trying to reconnect with Nora and get the two of them to Switzerland.
The Night War is an alarming story of consequential time in world history. It is suspenseful, fast paced, and as the School Library Journal reports: “wholeheartedly rewarding”.
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley explores dire loss, the Holocaust, religious identity, embracing responsibility, courage, history (both of World War II and the era of Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589 in France), having an incurable condition that makes your body smell like fish, the wring technique of having a character be the ghost of a person from history, and a Catholic boarding school. Bradley writes about all of this complexity with great respect for the youthful audience this is intended to reach.
I recommend this story and suggest this book would make a great family read aloud - rich in conversation between the reader (dad, mom, grandma, grandpa, older sibling) and those being read too – likely 9 to 12-year-olds. It also would make an excellent classroom read aloud for 3rd through 7th grade. A story like this is likely to lead to new knowledge and several good conversations. Further, this would be a good book to add to a bibliography for a middle or high school class studying the Holocaust and or War World II....more
Enemies In the Orchard by Dana Vanderlugt (2023) is, as the Kirkus Review says, “an emotionally layered vision of a difficult moment in history”. ThisEnemies In the Orchard by Dana Vanderlugt (2023) is, as the Kirkus Review says, “an emotionally layered vision of a difficult moment in history”. This is an excellent novel in verse about actual events that occurred in Michigan during World War II for readers 10 and older.
Claire is a 13-year-old farm girl in Michigan in 1944 when farms were struggling during harvest time to keep up with all the work. War World II is raging in Europe and Japan and young Michigan boys of 18 or older are part of the war effort - rather than being home helping with the harvest in their communities. The farm Claire’s family works on has fruit trees and the harvest requires many hands to be successful. Claire’s brother, who is a young American soldier in the war in Europe, was always important to a successful harvest and she misses him, and she is worried about his safety.
During the War the government of the United States had a program for captured German prisoners of war (POW). These prisoners were housed in makeshift prisons in America, called labor camps. The POW’s were available to do needed labor in America. One of the prison labor camps was near Allegan, Michigan. Claire’s father decided to have a group of these POW’s work on the farm to harvest the fruit trees. One of those POW’s is named Karl.
This novel is written in verse with poems from both Claire and Karl. This way we are learning to point-of-view of each of these characters. To say the least, this is a thought-provoking story.
Claire is relieved that the help they needed is happening and she is also not comfortable with young German soldiers in their fields. One of the young German soldiers, Karl, could speak English. As a result, Claire’s father gave him directions which he translated into German and communicated to the other POWs. Plus, her father had Karl deliver the picked fruit to Claire in the barn - where she sold it to the public. Claire and Karl are enemies and human.
As a result of being captured and being held prisoner, Karl is questioning his past as a member of Hitler’s Youth and as part of the Nazi army. He sees that much of what he thought was true, was in fact, untrue. Americans have hearts, he is being treated fairly by Claire’s father, and is a human, a prisoner, a member of the enemy army and he seems to sincerely want to help Claire and her family with the farm. Claire’s brother dies in Europe in the war while the German POWs are in the orchards. This is an extreme loss for the family. Claire’s mother, father, and she herself are devastated. Claire ends up doing her mother’s chores because she is lost in her grief of losing her son.
Claire is giving up much of her young life to help her family with the farm and she does like having Nazi POW soldiers being in the orchards and she knows it is the only way to bring in the harvest. Claire and Karl got to know each other and as the fall went on, they have a strange friendship developing. Strange because they were both enemies and coworkers.
Bill Boerman-Cornell, a professor of Education and co-author of Young Adult Literature and Spirituality: How to Unlock Deeper Understanding with Class Discussion says of the book - Enemies in the Orchard, “Throughout the book, though, the theme remains. Seeing people as people is more important and more true than persisting in seeing them as simplified cartoon versions of themselves that are easier to hate, to ridicule, and to sell short.”
This book is a complex, serious and sobering story of a complex time in history and the author, Dana Vanderlugt tells the story exceptionally well.
Vanderlugt explains in her author’s after-note that “Clare and Karl’s story is a work of fiction. They aren’t real people, though their lives are based on my family history and stories I’ve read about the soldiers and families whose lives intersected on American soil while war raged on in Europe. Most historical sources paint a fairly idyllic picture – not perfect, but not adversarial - of this America experiment of bringing the enemy home to do the work left behind while we sent soldiers to Europe. While I worked hard to maintain historical accuracy, I also hope readers will come to better understand the toll and complexity of war, as well as the dangers of nationalism and blind loyalty. My attempt is not to excuse or justify the horrors of the Holocaust or the evil that soldiers like Karl were wrapped up in, but to better understand it and prevent it from happening again. In portraying Karl’s humanity, I hope it can be understood how German youth raised under Hitler’s vile regime were used as his weapons, while also becoming his victims.”
The content of this novel is both real and serious. War, prisoners of war, death, trying go on with life during this turmoil. In my opinion the author has made the story interesting and accessible to young readers.
I recommend this story and suggest that it is that kind of story that lends itself to being read aloud by a parent or grandparent. It also would make an excellent classroom read aloud for 3rd though 7th grade. A story like this is likely to lead to new knowledge and several good conversations. Further, this would be a good book to add to a bibliography for a middle or high school class studying World War II....more
The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America by Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, and Timothy J. Nelson (2023) is a unique lookThe Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America by Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, and Timothy J. Nelson (2023) is a unique look at the current state of poverty in America through the lens of place. The authors set out to study inequality, severe poverty, ill health (including children), and limited mobility by zip codes in America. Further the authors chose to use the words “disadvantaged” as being more accurate than “poverty”. They wanted to study “place-based disadvantage” because poverty, if measured by income alone tells a different story than place-based disadvantage.
The authors tell a story of deep poverty — that means living on less than half the poverty level, having a reduced life expectancy, having a lack of social mobility from an intergenerational point of view (the likelihood that a child who grows up low-income in a community can rise to the middle class or beyond in adulthood), and low birth weight. The last measure is a huge predictor of the child’s future health outcomes.
To do their research they assigned each of the 500 largest cities and all 3,200 counties in the U.S. a composite score and put them on the map. What they found was that the most disadvantaged places are mostly rural — not big cities. These places have a very small number of “haves” and a huge class of “have-nots.” One of their hallmark characteristics is that they have or had a single industry (think coal mines, cotton fields, tobacco fields, small factory towns).
The authors also researched the most advantaged communities in America using the same criteria. The most advantaged places are in pockets of the Midwest with a strong middle class and diverse small industry — with no “Kings” of anything.
The data that was gathered and analyzed led the authors to want to know. So they went to the towns the data identified and interviewed citizens.
Bringing data together with firsthand narratives makes an engaging and powerfully stimulating book. The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America is likely to lead to an expanded awareness of poverty as not just urban, not just a situational disruption to a life, not just about income and much more. It is likely to lead to more research and hopefully new and effected answers to the question of what America might do to reduce poverty.
Kirkus in their starred review reports that this book is, “A powerful, alarming portrayal of how poverty remains entrenched in unfairly forgotten places across America” – I agree.
The Harvard Bookstore writes on the website, “Three of the nation’s top researchers known for taking on key mysteries about poverty deliver a new, multi-dimensional way of measuring deep disadvantage in every county in the nation as well as in its 500 most-populated cities.” They describe the book as, “A sweeping and surprising new understanding of America’s places of most extreme poverty, drawn from original data-driven research.”
Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson (2018) was a finalist for the National Book Award. The is adult fiction.
The main character, Sequoyah, teWhere the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson (2018) was a finalist for the National Book Award. The is adult fiction.
The main character, Sequoyah, tells his story and in doing so, the reader learns about the issues he faced in the 80s of: poverty, having Native American blood, having a parent in prison, living in someone else’s home as a foster child, emotional and physical scarring, his androgynous identity, his friendship with two other foster kids: George and especially Rosemary, and living with trauma.
Hobson said in an interview with Electric Lit in February 2019 that this book was written to explore the big questions that teenagers ask, “Who am I?” and “What is my identity?” He explained more about his main character by saying, “I basically didn’t want it to be just a stock Native character that falls into stereotypes.”
Hobson has created a complex protagonist and narrator in Sequoyah who is telling us, as a man in his forties, his story - recalling his childhood and especially the year when he was 15. Hobson’s writing is clear, inviting and full of nuance and intrigue.
Here is a passage where Sequoyah is watching/witnessing/discerning Rosemary. “She was concentrated on whatever she was writing, but I didn’t ask her about it. I listened to her breathing and found myself imagining she was in a cage, and I was in an observer who could free her. The cage I imagine, was a glass cage with a glass door, and I had the key to set her free. Somehow the image felt absurd as I stood there, watching her write in her notebook, but I couldn’t help feeling I wanted her to look at me and say something. She was too invested in her letter or note or whatever she was writing to look up. I turned and walked away.”
Here is a passage where Sequoyah describes a his experience of briefly being with his mother after not see her in a long time. “It was raining when we got to the courthouse in downtown Tulsa. Inside, I was able to meet with my mother before the hearing. They brought her into the room, where I sat with Liz (Liz his caseworker). I was irritated by everything there – all the people in the courthouse, the procedures, the deputy’s mean stare. She had gotten thin since I visited her last, and her hair was longer and pulled back. Her eyes were bloodshot. But worse than that, it occurred to me how much she had lost her freedom. She wasn’t able to have a private conversation with her own son, not until a court of law, allowed it. The deputy scratched at his crew cut and stood with his arms crossed.”
I appreciated how well I got to know Sequoyah and his early life. ...more
The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories by David Small (2024) is a haunting, mesmerizing, and thought-provoking work of art. I am guessing that after yThe Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories by David Small (2024) is a haunting, mesmerizing, and thought-provoking work of art. I am guessing that after you read this book parts of it will stay in your mind. Further I am guessing you might/will be rereading it. This is a stimulating book. Small is the visual artist/drawer/sketcher for each of the three stories in the book. And for one of the stories, he is the writer. In all cases he is the ‘placer of the words or absence of words on the page’. Because that is part of the artistic process of storytelling with words and pictures. I see this book as visual storytelling for young adults and adults in general. To say that Small ‘illustrated’ these stories is, in my mind, not reflecting the power of these drawings. I believe this book’s visual artwork dramatically amplifies, focuses, and deepens that provocative impact of each story. The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories is full of things to think about, like: werewolves (of course), narrow walkways, a body that is growing old and losing its power, eerie spiders hanging from bridges, splattered blood, vertigo, a fierce tiger, an even more fierce little man with a mustache, and a man shutting the door to any possibility he might help others become aware of what he knows to be a coming tragedy. Kirkus Review, in their starred review, explain that: “The latest (book) from writer-artist Small is a triptych of short illustrated stories (two adaptions and one original) that explore the idea of lurking monsters.” And they summed up Small’s work on this book as “Surreal and searing.” David Small is and has been inspiring thoughts, for over forty years, to those of us that have been reading him from: Eulalie and the Hopping Head (1982), to Imogene’s Antlers (1985), to The Gardener (written by Sarah Stewart, his wife - 1997), to Stitches (2009) and dozens of other books he has written and or illustrated. I highly recommend this book. It is an exceptional and unusually energizing piece of art! ...more
The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson (2023) is a middle grade fictional tale with Native (Cherokee) folklore and magical realism with a dose of mystery aThe Storyteller by Brandon Hobson (2023) is a middle grade fictional tale with Native (Cherokee) folklore and magical realism with a dose of mystery added - written by a National Book Award finalist. The Kirkus Review stated in their starred review that it is, “A captivating testament to the healing power of stories.” This is a story about a sixth-grade Cherokee tween, Ziggy, whose mother went missing when he was a baby. He grew up with no memories of his mother. He attempts to explains to others what happened by saying, “Native women go missing all over the country. Nobody seems to be doing much about it.” Yet there is no way for him to explain this tragic reality away. Her disappearance is always on his mind. He is anxious. He seriously worries and is always uneasy. He has a loving father and grandmother and sister. He is also making a friend. Alice, known at school as “Weird Alice”. She confidently assets that she has seen Cherokee spirits and that she knows their ways. Ziggy hopes his mother is still alive – maybe living in or have left evidence of being alive in, a ‘secret cave’ in the desert near his town in New Mexico. Ziggy asks Alice to help him find his mother or evidence of her. Alice says ‘yes’. And on a single night a magical, mystical desert adventure occurs. There will be a talking: coyote, buzzard, and armadillo (who thinks he is the seventh president of the US) and a whole lot more to keep the reader interested in Ziggy and his process of grieving as he learns about himself. There will be helpers and obstacles and impossible events in this one night’s pursuit to find out more about Ziggy’s mother. School Library Journal’s verdict in their starred review is: “Hand (this book) to tweens who enjoy magical realism and quest stories. Ziggy’s experiences with anxiety and loss will likely resonate with many.” I agree, this story is not unlike a good fantasy young readers often enjoy. And because the main characters are present-day kids in a current setting as opposed to a future-beings in a secret ancient underworld (or something equally highly fanciful) – this story has an extra possibility to resonate with middle schoolers. One last thought - to quote the buzzard from the night of adventure: “Weird is the best compliment you can give someone. Weirdos are good.” This may be just the right kind of ‘weird’ to appeal to many. I liked it! I recommend this book. ...more
The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers (2023) is a novel for people 8 years old and up. It was honored as the 2024 Newbery Award winner. The story The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers (2023) is a novel for people 8 years old and up. It was honored as the 2024 Newbery Award winner. The story takes place in a large urban park close to the shores of the sea. There is a dog – Johannes, who is the “eyes” of the park. He regularly tours the park, moving from place to place, often at remarkable speed. As he tours, he is looking, observing, and remembering. He processes what he sees within the limits of his dog brain and shares his perceptions and conclusions with the three aging Bisons – who are known, to all the animals of the park, as the Keepers of Equilibrium. This is a novel with talking animals in what ‘remains of the wild’ in large park. The main characters, among a cast of many animals are a dog, three bison, goats, a squirrel, a racoon, a pelican, and a gull. There are many more animals and a few humans who are in the active in story and we don’t hear from them. This is a story about friendship, identity, a sense of being in something together, change (both resistance and acceptance of change) and being free. I consider this to be a character driven story more than plot driven. Eggers has created a stimulating group of characters. I sense that this story will likely be appreciated by adults as well as kids. Egger’s word choice is so inviting to young and old. The animal characters and their interactions are apt to provoke thought for readers of all ages. ...more
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (2023 in the UK and 2024 in the USA) is an adventure to enjoy!
I read Impossible Creatures on the recommendatImpossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (2023 in the UK and 2024 in the USA) is an adventure to enjoy!
I read Impossible Creatures on the recommendation of my 11-year-old grandson. He said, “Grampa, you are going to love this book!” He was correct!
Here are the things I loved about this beautiful work of fantasy.
It’s two main characters, Christopher, a boy from the non-magical world who magically is transported to a spellbinding otherworldly (sometimes enchanting and other times scary) cluster of magical islands and Mal, a girl who lives in the magical world, known as the Archipelago, and is worried about its future and is committed to its survival.
Together, Christopher and Mal attempt to save the Archipelago with all of its magical wonder.
This book has human characters and non-human ‘impossible creatures’. Most of the human and non-human creatures are interested in the common good prevailing and some few of the human and non¬-human creatures are dangerously evil.
Katherine Rundell is a master at her craft: her human and imaginative characters are richly developed and draw the reader into wanting to know more about them and the journeys they are on.
Her pacing is just right - you will have a little time to catch your breath between challenges before the dramatically bold parade toward saving the Archipelago continues.
This book may have been written for middle graders, and they will love it, plus, I loved it, and I am betting that the rest of us (young adults and old adults) will love it, as well.
It grips you with action and won’t let you go.
The book’s setting is enchantingly full of wonder and peril.
The problem facing Christopher and Mal is clear.
The world needs saving.
The book debuted in September 2023 to great fanfare in the U.K., where it was a Sunday Times bestseller, a Children’s Book of the Week in the Times, the Independent, and the Daily Telegraph, and the winner of the Waterstones Book of the Year award. Impossible Creatures is due September 10, 2024, from Alfred A. Knopf Books.
Katherine Rundell is an exquisitely imaginative writer who grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, England.
My grandson and I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you!...more
The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh (2023) is a remarkable novel about family, survival, and sacrifice. Th Lost Year has been acknowledged as a National The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh (2023) is a remarkable novel about family, survival, and sacrifice. Th Lost Year has been acknowledged as a National Book Award Finalist, a Golden Kite Award winner, recipient of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the School Library Journal Best Middle Grade Book - among many other recognitions. This award-winning book is a riveting story told with exceptional skill. This is a story of a 13-year-old boy, Matthew, who is confided to his home during Covid-19 with his mother and Matthew’s 100-year-old, very frail, great grandmother. His dad is a journalist and stuck overseas because of Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The Covid pandemic has upended their normal lives. Matthew, in his mom’s eyes, is spending too much time on his Nintendo Switch – so she confiscates it. His mom tells him he needs to spend time daily with GG, his great-grandmother, to help her sort through her boxes of keepsakes. Matthew is not excited about being cooped up and having to spend lots of time with GG.
The boxes of keepsakes stimulated GG to begin to tell Matthew stories. Matthew knew that when GG was about his age, she immigrated from the Ukraine. The stories GG told Matthew were about three pre-teen/teen-ages girls in the years around 1930, in the Ukraine and New York City. The Ukraine, then part of Russa, was suffering through a horrific famine which history now shows killed millions of Ukrainians. This was the time of Stalin’s rule in Russa, and he led the Soviet government in covering up of the truth of the famine. Many Ukrainian adults and children faced a thin line between life and death on a daily basis during the famine.
Matthew begins to look forward to his time GG. He found himself learning so much about what it was like growing up in the Ukraine. The famine caused starvation, devastating poverty, and the social order came undone in the country. Some families who were following Stalin, and thus, in his good favor, were able to experience comfort and not be directly impacted by the famine.
Most importantly, for Matthew, as GG stories got deeper and deeper they began to reveal the complexity of everyone’s lives during these times. These stories ultimately exposed how GG navigated this period of her life and the impact of how the decisions she made then affected the rest her life.
The author The Lost Year, Katherine Marsh, grew up in a three-generation household in Yonkers, New York with her maternal grandmother, who emigrated from the Ukraine in in 1928. Her grandmother told her stories about the genocide of “death by hunger” that Stalin was leading in the Ukraine. For Marsh, as an author, her grandmother’s Ukrainian experience and the historical facts of the political attempt to cover up a famine made her think about the possibility of how she might write a historical fiction novel about this time.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic started to affect Marsh’s life and the lives of people all around the world. The result of unique set of circumstances (thinking about her grandmothers’ stories and Covid-19) led to the writing of The Lost Year. In this book Marsh has written a contemporary fiction story - Matthew’s. A historical fiction story - GG’s. And through Marsh’s many gifts as a writer, she has made the two stories – one excellent novel.
The Lost Year is a compelling story providing readers with a provocative and fascinating page turner. The School Library Journal calls The Lost Year, “A grand work of recent and distant history”.
As a reader, I appreciated seeing Matthew develop through the months that this story spanned. I think he learned a lot about himself and about himself in the relationship with his great grandmother. Furthermore, I see GG being willing to share deep secrets with Matthew due to the time in her life, and her relationship with Matthew, and the boxes of keepsakes. Memories became unlocked and shared.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (2023) is a story of America in the 1930’s and the challenges between White Christians and the otherThe Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (2023) is a story of America in the 1930’s and the challenges between White Christians and the other Americans who happened to be: Jews, African Americans, immigrants from Italy and Greece, the Mennonites and others. It is a time of tension in America. Readers will get to know many characters and their stories. There is a mystery to solve, but that isn’t what keeps you reading, mostly you will find yourself caught up in this realistic tale of believably complicated life in a small Pennsylvania city and specifically, in one of its neighborhoods, Chicken Hill. As McBride fills in the picture of the people and times, his story reminds the reader that the “Ku Klux Klan wanted to preserve America” and “stop the pollution of the pure white race”. The main characters, a young Jewish couple, are Moshe and Chona Ludlow. Moshe is a theater owner who brings both Jewish and African American performers to town. Chona operates a grocery store she and Moshe own. They live upstairs. McBride describes Chona as, “never one to play by the rules of American society. Instead, she sees America as a place where every act of living was a chance for ‘tikkum olam’- To improve the world”. She is a vital positive source of energy for the people of Chicken Hill. Other important characters are the African Americans: Nate and Addie Timblin and their 12-year-old nephew, Dodo, who lost his hearing in an accident. Nate and Addie work for the Ludlows. The Ludlows wind up taking in Dodo to live with them and help in the grocery store. Each of these characters and many more are richly developed by McBride. This complex tale presents a wide range of human motivations and emotions. These interesting and intriguing personalities, their individual back stories, the community we come to know, and the time in America make for ‘a real-life kind of substantial’ and thought-provoking novel. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store was named Best Book of the year by NPR, Washington Post and Time Magazine. I loved it and recommended it highly....more
Forty Acres Deep by Michael Perry (2022) is an excellent fictional novella about a Wisconsin farmer, Harold, and his thoughts about his life. Harold’sForty Acres Deep by Michael Perry (2022) is an excellent fictional novella about a Wisconsin farmer, Harold, and his thoughts about his life. Harold’s farm is a ‘one man’ farm. He and his wife have lived there throughout their marriage. Farming is not easy. Farming a ‘one man’ farm has become an overwhelming venture - consuming many a farmer. Michael Perry, mostly through an internal dialog in Harold’s head, tells the obstacles and challenges small farmers face. Because Michael Perry is such a skilled and gifted writer – I want you to read his full story – so my review will not get into the Forty Acres Deep story. I do not want to tell or summarize any of the story. I can tell you that you will likely have a wide range of reactions to the portraits this narrative will possibly create in your mind. You may respond with any combination of feelings from being: provoked, respectful, informed, thrilled, mesmerized, pained, enlightened, devastated, haunted, confronted, filled with hope, and/or in awe of the complexity of life - by the elements of this realistic contemporary tale. Micheal Perry is an observer of rural American culture and life. He is a storyteller. He is an excellent writer. Read this book. It is an exceptionally good read!...more
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good (2020) is an exceptionally well written, well researched book! This is an important book for anyone who wants to Five Little Indians by Michelle Good (2020) is an exceptionally well written, well researched book! This is an important book for anyone who wants to think about the realistic effects on individuals and cultures of long term dramatic physical, emotional, and/or sexual battering. From my understanding of life – a person’s positive self-esteem is built in large part on positive messages we get from our world. The world around us is made up of parents, siblings, friends, community, and our experiences - as we learn about ourselves and our selves with others. Five Little Indians is a story of what can happen when negative self-esteem is built at a young age instead of positive. Systematically traumatizing children leads to intergenerational trauma lived through the lives of individuals. * This is the fictional story of five deeply and differently traumatized indigenous people of Canada who were held in a residential school for much of their early life and how they move back into society as sixteen-year-olds and then follows them into their future lives. In one sense, at the age of sixteen each of these five - are survivors, and, sadly, they each have been undeniably profoundly scared by the complexity of the purposeful, destructive intent and actions of those working in residential schools. Michelle Good presents Clara, Kenny, Lucy, Howie, and Maise to the reader to tell their truths. Canadian author Michelle Good won the 2020 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and the 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award for this book. Five Little Indians was also on the 2020 Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize shortlist and the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. Michelle Good is a Cree writer and retired lawyer, as well as a member of Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Good’s mother was confined to a residential school in her youth. Good earned both a MFA and a law degree from the University of British Columbia and, as a lawyer, formally advocated for residential school survivors. Five Little Indians is her first book. As a result of Good’s life experience, of being mothered by a survivor and then representing survivors in the court system, she is an authentic person to create and share these stories of five fictional individuals who are heavily scared by the lived through experience of being held, often for ten years, in what were called residential schools run by a church. To introduce you to the fine writing you will experience in reading this book, here are five passages. “What I so desperately needed was to be standing on that stool by the stove, carefully stirring under her watchful eye like when I was little. To be little again, living again, living without fear and brutality – no one gets that back. All that’s left is a craving, insatiable empty place.” Page 60 “Lucy left the lights off and quietly sat at the kitchen table. She watched the usual going-on outside her window but remained distracted and overwhelmed by the flood of memories she’d worked so hard to keep below the surface. Clara had been there with her at the Mission School, but she was older and they hadn’t talked about it much. It was an unspoken agreement between them: the past was the past. It’s hard to run from the past, but once stuffed away, they knew it couldn’t be allowed to poison the present. They couldn’t be who they were now, with their lipstick, pay cheques and rooms, if they were also those children, or the children who’d left the other children behind.” Page 101 “There are no English words to describe how one woman walked into that lodge and another walked out. All Clare knew was that it took her back. Back to the birch grove and the angel songs. Back to who she was before Sister Mary, before the school, before they tried to beat her into a little brown-white girl. She felt a certainty, from then on, that all the ones who had come before walked with her. Life was longer just survival. It was about being someone. An Indian someone, with all the truth that was born into her at the moment she was placed in her mother’s womb.” Page 199 “Just because I choose not to use foul language doesn’t mean I don’t know the words. And any suffering I felt when he would leave was for him. I knew how much pain he was in every single time he went back to his wandering. He tried to stay. Harder than he tried anything in his life.” Page 263 “Howie reached over and held her hand, and Clara sighed, “I mean, think about it. Our childhood memories are about murder and mayhem. How many others can’t bear their thoughts? They need to hear the truth.” Page 273 I wholeheartedly recommend this book to readers 15 and up who want to develop a clear understanding of some of the impact of residential schools.
*Families who generations ago experienced traumatic upheaval resulting from war, residential schooling, oppression and racism, natural disasters, and other events, may experience various effects and enactments of the trauma passed on from parent to child. Transmission is considered to be unintentional, and often without awareness of the contribution of the original traumatic event. Trauma from these various sources may bring about attachment disruption and resulting coping adaptations, affecting more than one generation, with cumulative effects of multiple traumas building through the generations and eventually spreading to culture and society (Mazor A, Tal I. Intergenerational transmission: the individuation process and the capacity for intimacy of adult children of Holocaust survivors. Contemporary Family Therapy. 1996;18(1):95–112....more
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