Sister Knows Best October 14, 2015

Miranda both loves and admires her older sister, Lander. However, they have never been close. Miranda is 7 years younger than Lander, and Lander seems to operate in her own little world. They do have one thing in common, and that is how much they both love spending their summers at the cottage on the Connecticut River. Lander is set to head off to medical school in the fall, and Miranda will be a junior in high school. Miranda loves all the things about their little run down cottage; how everyone in the neighborhood uses their dock to get into the river, how two little boys are constantly at their place, and how comfortable everything is.

However, one day at their summer cottage, both girls witness something on the river, but they have vastly different takes on it. Miranda thinks she has witnessed an attempted murder, whereas Lander tells her to stop exaggerating. But Miranda can’t stop thinking about what she saw, and when her sister Lander gets caught up in something she isn’t equipped at all to deal with Lander realizes too late her mistake in not believing her sister.

No Such Person by Caroline B. Cooney is told from the alternating perspectives of Lander and Miranda. Lander is totally bewildered, for the first time in her life, where as Miranda tries to become the focused member of her family when everyone is floating. While the book only really takes place over a weekend, flashbacks give more depth to the relationship of the sisters and help set up what is happening that weekend. As a reader, you’ll be pulling for both Lander and Miranda, and hoping they both come through this ordeal unscathed!

Recommended for grades 7th and up.

What if Everyone Else’s Different is Your…Normal? March 13, 2013

Sometimes what the outside world views as different is the norm for you, yet you can feel like an outsider in your own home. Such is the case for Jade. Jade can hear. Her sister, Marla, can’t. But Marla resents that Jade can hear, not BECAUSE she can hear, but because Marla feels that Jade is less in some ways because she doesn’t understand how strong Marla is when she is surrounded by all deaf people. Marla feels Jade makes the family weak, by not BEING deaf. Both of the girls’ parents are deaf and have been their whole lives, so the outsider in this home is Jade, who is the only person with hearing.

Some sisters have a bond that can’t be broken…stretched, but never broken. In Strong Deaf by Lynn McElfresh, Marla and Jade don’t have much of a bond at all. Jade resents the fact that Marla gets to go to a residential school for deaf children and where she seems to have a fabulous time, while Marla can’t stand how Jade seems to always be annoying her on purpose and constantly refers to Jade as a “baby” even when there are only two years between them. The vast gulf that separates these girls is immense. The parents seem to miss how truly frustrated and mean the two girls can be to each other, and offer guidance in little, and sometimes, useless doses.

I found this book to be fascinating, not only for the tense and turbulent relationship between Jade and Marla, but for the glimpse into the deaf culture, and specifically, into the world of Strong Deaf culture. This was a book I couldn’t put down because I struggled to see where the author would take these two very different girls, and wondered, if they could ever see things from each other’s perspective.

Highly Recommended for students in grades 6 and up.

Female heroine who is nice but NOT boring!!! January 27, 2013

Before I begin this post, I would like to preface by saying I love all sorts of characters, and this is a fantastic time to be a young adult book heroine.  There are incredibly strong, brave, self-sacrificing heroines like Suzanne Collins’ Katniss or Kristin Cashore’s Katsa.  There are the brilliant, resourceful, daring girls such as found in Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series.  There are   a multitude of dreamy, passionately romantic leading ladies such as Lauren Kate’s Luce or Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl’s Lena.  Even the snarky, Upper East Side Princesses Serena and Blair from Cecily von Ziegesar’s Gossip Girl series are so much fun to know as characters.  So, I could go on and on!!  But, outside of the novels of Sarah Dessen, it can be difficult to find books to recommend to teen girls who just want a nice female leading character.  Not boring, not one-dimensional… just nice.  That is why, in addition to being a gorgeously written, goosebump-inducing, fantastically-woven mystery/ghost story, Brenna Yovanoff’s new novel, Paper Valentine, is so wonderful.  Her leading lady, sixteen-year-old Hannah Wagner, is an extremely nice, compassionate, polite person.  She is the kind of character many middle school and high school girls are friends with, are on sports teams and clubs with, and actually are!  Hannah has a good relationship with her mom and stepdad; loves her sister Ariel and enjoys hanging out with her.  She is artistic- she sews or enhances all of her own clothes with findings from her mom’s secondhand shop.  She helps out in her cousin’s photography shop.  She enjoys sleepovers, pool parties, laughing with friends.  She considers other people’s feelings, and if she says something cruel or stuck-up or just insensitive, she recognizes and apologies!  Hannah is not a boring or poorly drawn character. She is just a smart, sweet, thoughtful girl with varied interests and complex emotions.  Oh, and she just happens to be able to see and talk to the ghost of her dead best friend, as well the ghosts of other middle school and high school girls who have been murdered by a potential serial killer.  But that is another story!!! 🙂

A Shameful History August 21, 2023

So much of American history has been glossed over, removed or simply omitted from text books and classrooms, and even the memories of the townspeople who lived through certain events. Such is the case with the Tulsa Race Massacre that happened in 1921. Unfortunately, it was not an event that was shocking because it was the only such occurrence, rather, it was part of a string of such happenings as to make it, sadly, too common.

As with many massacres and killings, the background for such a thing to happen had been well laid out, with the roots in the past. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Black Americans had been working to create a space for themselves, even with the restrictions of the Jim Crow segregation laws that were in place and enforced in the area. A thriving Black community of businesses, professionals and families turned an area called Greenwood into what was often referred to as American’s Black Wall Street.

After the Civil War, many Black Americans sought opportunities to be not only free, but to prosper. Unfortunately, many white Americans did not want this and felt threatened by the fact that some Blacks were doing better than they were themselves. This time period saw the rise of the Ku Klux Klan ( an American terrorist group) whose sole purpose was to terrorize and often kill any Black person who would step out of the narrow confines of what essentially was close to the previous condition of slavery.

Black Birds in the Sky: The story and legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre by Brandy Colbert gives a comprehensive look at the history and events surrounding the massacre and how the result of this and other similar occurrences have shaped our shared world.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in United States history for grades 7 and up.

Bells are Ringing, In a Bad Way October 4, 2021

Football is what has kept him sane for years now, and without it, Isaiah can’t see how he will be able to focus and function. He has become such a good player that he is being recruited by Cornell, but he hasn’t told his parents yet. And that is because of what happened to his sister years ago, and why Isaiah needs football.

All that changes though, when he gets hit, bad. So bad, that he hears witches screaming in his head and he doesn’t even remember getting up and going home that night. It scares him though. Because is this game, and it is a game after all, worth everything?

As Isaiah struggles to figure out who he is without the sport, he begins to realize maybe he isn’t anything without it. And if he is forced to give it up? What then?

Cracking the Bell by Geoff Herbach gives a very personal look at how tragedy can lead to some unexpected good things, and what to do when that good thing might be taken away. How do we redefine ourselves, without getting lost along the way?

To Make A Difference February 3, 2020

When you talk about the Holocaust, many names will come to mind. Such as Hitler, Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler, and Adolf Eichmann, but most people probably haven’t heard of someone named Raoul Wallenberg. And yet, we should all know his name as well.

Raoul grew up in Sweden with a loving mother who was widowed just before Raoul was born. For many years after, his grandfather on his father‘s side was a major influence on him – sending him around the world to learn languages as well as people. When it was time for college, Raoul came to the United States and earned a degree in architecture from the University of Michigan.

After that, he traveled around the world more, and landed in South Africa. Later, he made his way back home to Sweden, just as the world was about to explode with World War II. Things became difficult in Sweden even though they were a neutral country during the war. Food became scarce and work was difficult to find at times as well. Still Raoul made friends wherever he went, which was why late in the war, his name came up for a special mission.

Hungary had been able to protect their Jewish population for the most part during the war, however, toward the end, the general who had been keeping them out of the Nazis line of fire, was replaced and lost a lot of his power. As a result, thousands and thousands of Hungarian Jews were to be relocated to concentration camps, or simply killed before even leaving Hungary. Many organizations in the world by this time realized something horrible was happening with Jews in Europe. Sweden wanted to help save Jews by claiming them as Swedish citizens, or having some ties to Sweden. However, they needed someone to go who could navigate through all the craziness that was happening there to try to save them. Raoul Wallenberg’s name came up.

Raoul agreed to go on this mission because he was driven by a deep belief that he wanted to do something good in the world. Now seemed his chance, but the odds were stacked against him. Would he be able to actually help stop the killings of the Jewish people, long enough for the war to end?

His Name was Raoul Wallenberg by Louise Borden is a really quick read about a very important person during WWII. It is set up like a novel in verse which makes for an accessible nonfiction work as well as lots of photographs and primary source pieces of documentation.

Highly recommended for grades 6th and up.

What We Leave Out September 23, 2019

Joel has it all figured out. For example, he’s figured out that the school could actually save money by buying all the juniors and seniors cars and it could be less than the annual transportation budget. Or maybe motorcycles if the cars turn out to be too expensive. He also knows how to really let people know how he feels by writing text messages to them and then, just not sending them. Yup, he has his whole life figured out, for sure.

Or maybe not. Most assuredly not. In fact, Joel is pretty messed up. He misses his best friend, Andy, but well, he’s gone because of what happened. He’s in love with a girl named Eli, and has been since the 7th grade, but can’t work up the courage to tell her because he’s two inches shorter than she is and he might actually be shrinking rather than getting taller, he is a hypochondriac, and might have just punched in the face the only other person who could possibly want to be his friend. So yeah, nothing is going right for him.  

So Joel just pretty much tries to follow Eli around and she’s such an amazing person who truly wants to make the world a better place and when that thing that happened to Andy happened, it was Eli who started to sit with Joel in the school cafeteria. And so when she decides to do her junior year community service semester at a local soup kitchen, Joel has no reason not to join her and every reason to, since Eli is pretty much his every reason.

It is at the soup kitchen that Eli and Joel start to get to know Benj – a new kid at school who no one really knows what is up with him only that he blurts out the most random stuff – and all the regulars that come into the soup kitchen, including a guy that Joel names Rooster, just because he always gives names to the ones that don’t talk. Joel feels he’s just keeping his head above water, and soon he realizes it won’t be enough as one thing after another begins to pull him under.

Words We Don’t Say by K.J. Reilly is a priceless book that touches on some of the most heart wrenching topics facing society and our teens today. This book will make you laugh out loud and cry and cross your fingers for all the people you meet along the way. Just an absolute delight to read and an unforgettable book.

Highly recommended for 8th grade and up – due to heavy use of language, but in this reviewer’s mind, appropriate to the book and the character.

Hope Nation April 25, 2018

This book is a collection of essays about hope from some amazing authors such as Libba Bray, Ally Carter, James Dashner, David Levithan, Marie Lu, and Jason Reynolds. The editor explains this book better than I can in her introduction. She says:

“What is Hope Nation? Simply, it’s a collection of unique and personal experiences shared by some of my favorite writers for teens. Stories of resilience, resistance, hardship, loss, love, tenacity, and acceptance– stories that prove that sometimes, hope can be found only on the other side of adversity.

Mr. Rogers of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood once said that during a crisis, it’s vital to look for the helpers. The authors featured in Hope Nation are our helpers.”

Lightning Made Her, Or Did It? July 20, 2017

Nothing much happens on the The Hill of Dust, the name of Teo’s town in Mexico. His family of indigenous people, the Mexteco, are used to being marginalized in all areas of their life. So when a caravan of roaming Romani (more commonly known as Gypsies) show up, it is cause for everyone in Teo’s town to sit up and take notice. Everyone except for his mother however, who has been lost in her own world ever since Teo’s twin sister died the year before. Teo understands. After seeing his father killed years before, and not being able to save his sister, Teo feels like being sucked under with grief as well. Only his grandfather seems to be able to keep him afloat.

Until he meets Esma. Esma is a force unto herself. She is a Romani girl with a personality to light up the night sky! She has the most amazing voice and Teo finds his life linked with hers over a fortune read one night.

Teo and Esma know theirs is an improbable friendship. The Romani doesn’t trust outsiders and Teo’s people don’t understand the Gypsy way of life. However, something draws Esma and Teo together, despite these differences. The only question is, how can their friendship thrive in such a difficult world?

The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau is a powerful read on life beyond our borders and a glimpse into a time and way of life almost lost.

Recommended for anyone who likes powerful, quiet reads. Appropriate for grades 6th and up.

In a World of Heroes, an Antihero is Very Welcome! August 30, 2016

Coming in October is the release of Goldenhand, Garth Nix’s chronological continuation of his beloved Old Kingdom series. In anticipation of this dive back into the intoxicating realms of magic, duty, and sacrifice, I would like to recommend my personal favorite of this series. Clariel is the only book in the Old Kingdom series which is not a continuation of the storyline, but rather a journey into the origins of elemental magic.

Clariel is set 600 years before Sabriel, and the Old Kingdom is very different from what it will come to be in the future. Due to generations of prosperity and relative safety from Free Magic creatures, members of the Charter have grown lax. King Orrikan shirks all royal duties, hiding in his palace, while the Abhorsen is rumored to fear his connection and rightful control over the realms of Death. Seventeen-year-old Clariel, who is capable and brave, is utterly uninterested in politics, material possessions, and the intricacies of the Charter. She lives for the wild solitude of the Great Forest. However, due to blood ties to both the King and the Abhorsen, many conspire to use her for their own purposes. Clariel as constantly torn between a sense of duty, a desire to forge her own path, and a raw “berserk” nature. In contrast, Free Magic entities are presented not as villains, but ethereal, elemental beings whose understanding of morality differs greatly from humans. Savvy readers will figure out what Clariel is to become long before the change occurs in the novel. However, this sensitive rendition gives readers a greater understanding as to how a strong force such as Clariel is ultimately drawn to the untamable power of Free Magic and necromancy.