This is a lovely gem of a middle grades story about Meilan, a Chinese-American girl living in Boston who then moves with her family to a small town in Ohio. It is woven through with Chinese legends and language since she and her family have kept their heritage alive and she is bilingual. Moving is hard, always, but especially so when she is thrust into a town that is very White and very small town – a switch from living in Chinatown in a big city. The family is still coping with the loss of the family matriarch, her grandma, and now must cope with new jobs, an increasing need to use English, new people at school, lack of access to the familiar foods they used to buy in Chinatown… so many changes. One of the worst for Meilan is that her new school wants to call her Melanie, and she feels like she’s losing her identity. The book weaves Chinese myth and and family legend into the realistic narrative in a meaningful way. I loved the explanation of Meilan learning to write in Mandarin/Pinyin and the multiple meanings & characters for similar sounding words, as well as including idiomatic expressions in both English and Chinese. Students who enjoyed Front Desk by Kelly Yang will love this book, as will anyone who can empathize with the struggles of being different in a new place. I highly recommend this book.
It Only Happens in the Movies
Holly Bourne’s latest novel is an outstanding addition to the YA genre!
High school senior Audrey Winters has chosen as her final research project: “Romance films are money-spinning cathedrals of love, wobbling on the foundations of unbelievable and damaging stereotypes”. Audrey tries to balance one crisis after another: her parents’ divorce that devastates her Mom, her brother’s emotional distance while away at college, being coldly “dropped” by her first love after a botched sexual encounter, and the anxiety of her future options of being accepted to college. Analysis of rom-com movies makes her challenge the notion that romance means happily ever after She withdraws from her friends and escapes to a part-time job at a movie theater. Self-doubt and delusion about “love” make Audrey cynical and cautious as a new love interest, Harry, teases and flirts and weakens her resolve.
The author’s tender insight into the delusion and delights of romance is skillfully woven throughout the book. Audrey is a smart, strong woman that stands up for herself. She wants to be cared for as an equal and the discussion of sexual advances that verge on sexual assault if there is no consent, honestly addresses the complexity of young love, first love, or new love. “What is the point of love?” is the dominant theme of this novel. That love of a feeling, a passion, a force is acknowledged but the ultimate resolution is that love is a choice and Audrey (or anyone) has the power to choose wisely for the respect and trust they deserve.
I would highly recommend this book for a high school library with the caveat that it is sexually explicit. The frank honesty without the usual cliche is refreshing for this genre. A strong young woman who is smart, independent, and goal-oriented for her own future is a valuable role model.
The Cost of Knowing
Alex is a visionary, literally. He can see the future of the things that he touches –every day things and things close to him. And it terrifies him, because not all futures are pretty. While the first few chapters set a groundwork, the rest of the novel is a groundswell of suspense. It takes diving deep into his past, and that of his family, to come to terms with how the future could play out. Brittney Morris asks readers to check themselves, and their preconceived notions, through Alex’s experiences. Shedding a tear or laughing alongside the characters, Morris gives us another look with a special-power twist into the life of a young Black American. A worthy addition because of the super-natural element as most black male protagonists that are being written are just realistic fiction tropes.
Last Gate of the Emperor, by Kwame Mbalia & Prince Joel Makonnen
I was prepared to really like this book. I enjoyed Mbalia’s Tristan Strong books and assumed I would also like this one. While I grew to like it more than the beginning, it was not my favorite read. The story is about young Yared competing in a virtual/real world competition to locate an obelisk that turns into a desperate battle with a warring alien race. I struggled at the beginning of the book with the skimpy world-building needed to understand the setting of the story. Many invented words are thrown at the reader so quickly that it’s hard to get a sense of the story. Once I got far enough into the action-packed plot, the story picked up & moved through many action scenes with thrills & plot twists. While I enjoyed the action, I wonder how many readers will stick with it long enough to get there. The afterword was interesting when it was revealed that this sci-fi world and battle are actually based on real Ethiopian history.
Animal Architects, by Amy Cherrix
The illustrations are all in earth tones, very suited to the topic, as the text shares about a variety of animals that are skilled builders, from the Great Barrier Reef to a penguin’s pebble nest to a beaver’s dam, and so on. The examples provide a good mix of familiar and less common. Several pages are given to each example so that there is some depth of detail, including why the animals build what they do. A solid choice.
Dee and Apostrofee, by Judith Henderson
D and the other letters are a bit put out with Apostrofee for gobbling up so many letters and taking their places. It’s full of examples to show the purpose of an apostrophe.. It’s cute, but I think I’ve seen other books that do the job better. A lot of the examples in this one are not common uses and/or don’t follow the usual pattern, and yet no explanation is given (i.e. shan’t, d’ssert, s’pose, d’plorable). At first I wondered why they misspelled Apostrofee’s name, but then I noticed the author is from Quebec, so it could be a Canadian spelling.
Even the Smallest Will Grow, by Lita Judge
I need to buy several copies to have on hand for baby shower gifts. It’s a beautiful book, best shared between parent and young child. The illustrations are gloriously beautiful and whimsical. The text is sentimental and full of hope and wonderings for the future. It’s full of comparisons of child and nature, opening with an acorn sleeping beneath a blanket of leaves until it begins to grow, just like the child tucked into a warm bed. The voice is that of the parent speaking directly to the child, offering a wide variety of possibilities and analogies. It makes my heart warm and fuzzy!
The Great Stink, How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem. Colleen Paeff and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
This is a humorous and informative picture book which tells the story of Joseph Bazalgette, a 19th century engineer who designed London’s first sewage system. This greatly reduced the Cholera breakout and subsequent deaths caused by the open sewers of the city. He is credited with being one of the most effective engineers connected with the country of England, while changing the course of history. This book would make a nice addition to an elementary library.
Oh Look, a Cake! by J.C. McKee
It’s a fun, simple, “sweet” read, with a devilish twist at the end that will appeal to the older elementary kids as well as the young ones. When Sloth and Lemur happen upon a rather lovely cake, they ponder having a party, but all the guests they consider inviting seem problematic in one way or another. They finally conclude there’s just no one left to eat it except themselves. As they lay about among the crumbs with full bellies, along comes Tiger, outraged that the lovely cake he’d made himself for his birthday is gone. Sloth apologizes, but Tiger tells them not to worry…(page turn)…he can still get it back…(page turn)… And the final page just shows the Tiger walking away with a satisfied expression from the plate of cake crumbs, with no Sloth or Lemur in sight. Draw your own conclusions. I like that it leaves it open to the readers’ interpretations — a good opportunity to talk about inference. It reminds me a bit of my favorite Jon Klassen books. My only critique is that it is told entirely in dialogue without any quotation marks or he said/she said (it uses different fonts to distinguish who says what), and it could have been helpful if the different fonts were a little more different to be really clear.
An Earth-Bot’s Solution to Plastic Pollution by Russell Ayto
This book highlights the challenge of pulling children’s eyes off of screens long enough to recognise and act on the crisis of plastic pollution in the oceans. Neo doesn’t want to stop playing his game long enough to clean up his room let alone the ocean which is steps from his front door. It takes visits from three different sea creatures begging for help and a trip underwater himself for him to appreciate the problem. Once motivated, Neo works with the ocean creatures to help clean up. The story wraps up with a call to action to use less plastic.
The strongest part of the book is the illustrations depicting the effects of plastic on ocean dwellers. Instead of depicting the ocean with waves, Ayto represents it as row upon row of plastic bottles.There is a jellyfish floating inside a plastic bag and a humpback whale ingesting over a hundred bottles unintentionally.
I found the earth-bot premise distracting. It seems that Neo wears a glass helmet with antennae because of his connection to his video game. But Grandpa, a former astronaut, wears something similar for no discernable reason. It would have made sense that once Neo was pulled away from the video game, the helmet would also have gone away to demonstrate his new focus.
There was a missed opportunity to provide more background information on ocean pollution. Overall this book would be a good introduction for young children when paired with other titles. Join the No-Plastic Challenge! A First Book of Reducing Waste by Scot Richie provides doable suggestions for kids to take action. One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of The Gambia by Miranda Paul provides an inspirational true story.