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The Sun is Also a Star–Cultures don’t have to clash
The Sun is Also a Star
by Nicola Yoon
The Sun is Also a Star is the story of two immigrant families, one Korean and one Jamaican. Legal Korean son meets illegal Jamaican daughter on her deportation day. Both struggle with their identity on a personal level and a cultural level. There are also major conflicts within each family.
Most of the account is told within the scope of one day, but telling this story necessitates side trips into family history to discover motivations. There are no chapter divisions. There are labelled breaks according to who is is narrating the story, Daniel or Natasha. Sometimes there are passages about minor characters or philosophy narrated in the third person. This layout is initially slightly troublesome without chapter divisions, but as you are immersed in the storyline you realize how well this format works for this story.
The plot is engaging, the characters well developed, and the various settings reflect the cultural clashes. Additionally there is an underlying and unifying theme exploring fate, coincidences, and multiple universes. If just one incident had occurred a little sooner or a little later, how would that have affected the rest of the day’s events? It’s enough of a foray into philosophy and religion to attract a teen/young adult reader questioning their place in the order of things.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House UK) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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Rating: 5/5
Category: Teen & YA Fiction/Romance
Notes: Mild Language
Publication: Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House)–November 1, 2016
Memorable Lines:
The impossible hungry mouth of her loneliness wanted to swallow her in a single piece.
“It’s not up to you to help other people fit you into a box.”
Sometimes your world shakes so hard, it’s difficult to imagine that everyone else isn’t feeling it too.
“This is the life you’re living. It’s not temporary and it’s not pretend and there’s no do over.”
Swing Time–review and reminder of book giveaway for The Other Einstein
Sunday, November 20, 2016 is the closing date for the drawing for a free copy of The Other Einstein. To enter, go back to the ORIGINAL GIVEAWAY POST. It’s easy to enter!
Swing Time
by Zadie Smith
Swing Time has been summarized in simplistic terms as the story of two dance-loving brown girls growing up in London. This friendship is actually only one part of a complicated story that extends from New York through London to West Africa and includes politics, religion, and a variety of cultures.
I was immediately drawn into the story as I read the Prologue. At that point I had other things to attend to and put the book away with regret thinking “if the Prologue is so engaging, the rest of the book must be fantastic.” And it was. Part of it. Unfortunately, it unintentionally reflected its title swinging back and forth from interesting to “let’s just move on through.”
Zadie Smith is undoubtedly a very good writer. For Swing Time she draws on her own Jamaican heritage as well as extensive research of West African culture. She also depicts the various social and cultural groups of London. She has interesting characters but she doesn’t always share a satisfactory motivation for their actions. Some of the characters, such as the never-named main character/narrator’s boss and her mother’s partner are important but are treated more as accessories to the story rather than fully developed personalities. I do not regret reading Swing Time, but I wouldn’t reread it.
Note: Language warning
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Penguin Random House UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Education of Dixie Dupree-review
The Education of Dixie Dupree
by Donna Everhart
The Education of Dixie Dupree was a difficult read because it deals with difficult topics–physical, mental, and sexual abuse, depression, anger and troubled family relationships. Although uncomfortable topics, they are handled with sensitivity by the author. This novel could just as easily have been called “The Secrets of Dixie Dupree” because the young Alabama girl Dixie is the the hub of so many secrets. Secrets she has to keep or are kept from her for a variety of reasons.
The book is well-written with good character development. There are personal mysteries to be untangled that keep the reader looking forward to their resolution. The pace is appropriate, spending time when necessary but always keeping the story moving. Although the book deals with hard topics and even though it is fiction, it is a story that needed to be told.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
IQ–psychological study wrapped in a mystery
IQ
by Joe Ide
IQ is a novel about Isaiah, a very intelligent, young black man destined for greatness. Unfortunately, he is sidetracked by a series of events, some of his own doing, but mostly outside of his control. Through the deaths of family members he is left to fend for himself, finding his way through an urban jungle. Operating on both sides of the law and seeing the devastating consequences of gangs and crime, Isaiah devotes himself to solving cases pro bono to help others and occasionally to make money to support a special crime victim.
The characters in IQ are well-developed, especially Isaiah and his crime and investigative partner Dodson. The plot is developed almost as two separate stories which are in fact inseparable. The main focus, the mystery, is a rap singer who has a contract out on his life. He hires Isaiah to find out who is trying to kill him. The other story, which is just as important, goes back in time and shares Isaiah’s journey from child being raised by his older brother to independent detective. That road was neither easy nor pretty. The back and forth in time could be confusing, but it is not. The chapters are not only numbered, but also titled and, most importantly, dated.
Usually repetitive bad language causes me to dislike a book. I find IQ to be an exception. When inappropriate language is not needed, it is not used. When the story is centered around the black gangsta, rapper culture, swearing and cussing are appropriate for the characters. If they sounded like preachers, the story would lose authenticity. Joe Ide, the author, is a good wordsmith. I could feel this: “Isaiah and Dodson hadn’t spoke the whole way over, the tension like a stranger in the car.”
The plot has many twists and turns that kept me interested for the duration. Isaiah is a complicated, resourceful character and I find him to be likable. I was rooting for a successful resolution to the mystery and to Isaiah’s struggles. You’ll want to read this book yourself to see if either is achieved.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Mulholland Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Candidate–Echoes of today’s political climate and THEN…
The Candidate
by Lis Wiehl
I read The Candidate with about twenty days left until the U.S. presidential election of 2016. As I began the book, there were certainly echoes of today’s political climate and I feared for a lack of originality. I am pleased to say that the storyline quickly deviated into a very riveting, original plot while maintaining a theme of potential world domination that reflects the very real fears that many harbor today.
The main character is a top journalist with her own show, The Erica Sparks Effect. The author of The Candidate, Lis Wiehl, is a lawyer as well as a legal analyst appearing on many TV shows as a commentator. She brings authenticity to her novel. I admit going into the book with a bias against the media; there seems to be little integrity in the field today, little honest reporting. Those hired as “reporters” seem determined to opine outside the confines of an editorial piece. The fictional Erica Sparks, however, is different and refreshing. She sees her job as reporting the news, not making it or persuading others to view events through her political lens.
When some oddities appear in one presidential candidate’s campaign, she risks her life to discover the truth that could affect the nation and the world. Even as she is immersed in these events, the private side of Erica Sparks is revealed as we see her struggle with balancing the work she thrives on with her desires to be a great mom to the daughter she adores. She also has to work through feelings for Greg with whom she is trying to maintain a long distance relationship.
I recommend The Candidate. It has lots of twists and turns in the plot, a likable and well-developed main character, suspense, and political intrigue.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Thomas Nelson for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Holding Up the Universe–Teenage/YA Review
Holding Up the Universe
by Jennifer Niven
I read a review of the Teenage/Young Adult novel Holding Up the Universe on another blog, BongBongBooks. I was intrigued and decided to read it myself. It is the story of Jack Masselin, a teenager who has prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces–even those of family members. The other main character, Libby Strout, is a girl who gains so much weight in the process of grieving after her mother’s death that she has to be removed from her home by a crane. Lest these two young people seem like examples of extreme difficulties beyond the realm of possibility, readers should know that prosopagnosia is an actual disorder and that there is a reality TV show entitled My 600 Pound Life. The author did her homework and this novel has authenticity as we see how these two and their families struggle with the many issues that result from their conditions.
A major theme of this book comes from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: “Atticus, he was real nice…” “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” There are two ways of not seeing people that this book explores: prosopagnosia (face blindness) and being unwilling to look past a person’s obvious exterior features such as weight, skin color, or disabilities to see who the person really is, what they are like on the inside.
I really liked this book for the plot development and the characters. I empathized with both characters as they tried to deal not only with their personal problems but also with relationship issues in their own families, with each other, and with peers. As you might expect, bullying and discrimination are major issues for the overweight Libby. It is not an uncommon theme in YA literature as, unfortunately, bullying others for individual physical differences occurs often in our society. I had to really step outside my framework to think what it must be like to walk into a room and not be able to recognize anyone. NOT ANYONE! Not my family, not my friends, not the people I saw two minutes ago. The author does a good job of helping the reader understand what face blindness must be like as it is lived out.
There is a lot of what I consider to be inappropriate language on the milder end of the continuum in this book. It was frequent enough that I did a little research on what kind of language is generally acceptable in Teenage/YA literature. I found many blog posts dealing with this question, ranging from none to anything goes and everything in between. I understand that many teenagers today use different word choices than when I was a teenager. I also know that in current films that kind of language and worse is commonplace. I include this paragraph as a warning to those who might be offended by some of the words used casually by the characters in Holding Up the Universe. The language did not enhance the story for me, nor did it ruin it. I do recommend this book with this one qualification.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Penguin Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Send in the Clowns–outstanding cozy mystery
Send in the Clowns
by Julie Mulhern
The Country Club Murders is a series of cozy mysteries set in in the early 1970’s. Send in the Clowns is the fourth in the series and the second one I have read. While there is a lot of serious crime in this tale, Julie Mulhern knows how to write with humor and keep the reader coming back. I honestly had trouble putting the book aside at bedtime. Then I devoured the last half the next morning.
There is no waiting for the book to get interesting. In the first chapter, Ellison, who seems to attract handsome men and dead bodies, has to go to a haunted house to retrieve her teenage daughter. While there she has an encounter with two clowns, one of whom calls her by name and then dies in her arms. There are many more twists and turns in the plot which keep interest at a high level all the way through.
The likable Ellison Russell may have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she is no stranger to personal tragedies and horrors. The story is told from her perspective. The dialogue intermixes what Ellison says (in quotes) with what she thinks so well that her character takes on a reality not possible with third person narration. The way she is presented makes it very easy to identify with her and her struggles to get the men in her life to see her as capable and independent. Remember, this is the early seventies, an era when women are still expected to emerge from college with an “MRS.” degree.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is the setting of the seventies. The little details are right on target, but not forced. There is shag carpeting and the only telephones are those that are attached to the wall. The diet soft drink of choice is Tab, and a plaid coat in shades of plum and hunter green echoes one I wore in that time frame. Probably one of the best and most subtle references to an earlier time is Ellison’s admonition to the teenagers as they exit the car: “Lock your door.” Each door needed to be locked manually by the passenger.
I have absolutely no negative criticisms for this book. In fact, I am going to return to the series to read the two out of four that I have not read yet. Additionally it is important to note that reading them out of sequence did not detract from my pleasure in reading these mysteries. Send in the Clowns has everything you want in a cozy–a fast pace, intricate turns in the plot, interesting characters and setting, a little romance with the requisite tension, and a good resolution.
This book is scheduled for publication on October 25, 2016.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Abstract Aliases–part of a cozy mystery series with an art world focus
Abstract Aliases
by Ritter Ames
Abstract Aliases is the third book in the cozy mystery series Bodies of Art written by Ritter Ames. A typical cozy mystery series continues from book to book with the same main characters. Each novel has a unique plot, and the author only has to fill in some background information about the characters and their relationships for the reader to be ready to enjoy the story. Abstract Aliases is different because the plot continues into the next book. This format is not a bad thing, but the reader should be aware of it.
Laurel Beacham is an art recovery expert with high end tastes (Fendi purse) and great survival skills (telescoping baton). She rarely knows who to trust as the complicated plot keeps tossing surprises her way. The person she most wants to trust is the handsome and resourceful Jack Hawkes, but he has mysterious connections and reveals little about himself. Together they try to unravel the murders of forgers, an office break in, and the identity of the enigmatic Ermo Colle.
I read Abstract Aliases as a stand-alone and I enjoyed it. It had an engrossing plot, well-developed main characters, and multiple interesting settings as the characters travel the world seeking to unravel a multi-faceted mystery. There are abundant surprise twists to the story. Although not an art historian myself, I took pleasure in reading about famous works of art and museums and learning about the world of forgery.
I recommend Abstract Aliases to cozy mystery lovers, but I suggest reading this series in sequence. It will make much more sense, and you will have a better understanding of the minor characters.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is scheduled for publication on October 11, 2016.
Nice Girls Endure–being different
Nice Girls Endure
by Chris Struyk-Bonn
Chelsea’s memories of being whispered about, teased, taunted, and treated as “different” go back to third grade and the torment never let up. We meet Chelsea in high school. Her weight problems have not changed and the negative ways people, especially other teenagers, treat her have only intensified. She has no friends and has developed a fake exterior to help her survive. After all, “nice girls endure.”
Chris Struyk-Bonn chose a first person narration of Chelsea’s story, Nice Girls Endure. It seems only appropriate that Chelsea should get to tell her own story, and the effect is very personal. We get to hear of the nightmare of being bullied because of being overweight and how it affects every aspect of her life. This is a Young Adult book, but is so well-written that even as an adult I strongly empathize with Chelsea and was anxious to see her work through her problems.
The chapters are short and the pace is fast. The characters are well-developed and provide Chelsea with opportunities to see various ways others deal with weight issues and bullying. In the end she makes her own decisions about her life and future. Meanwhile the reader feels almost a part of the story. I was ready to take out a few unkind souls myself. My favorite character is one of Chelsea’s classmates, Melody. She knows how to be herself and knows how to be a friend.
This book is not just about being overweight. It is about being different. It is not just about being bullied, it is also about bullying. I hope that anyone who reads Nice Girls Endure will come away with a greater awareness of and sensitivity to those who are different. Everyone has positive attributes and deserves an opportunity to let their talents shine. There are many negative ways to deal with peers who are labeled “different,” from outright physical and emotional attacks to more subtle teasing, smirking, and exclusion, to totally ignoring the person. In this story, even teachers were guilty of the less overt responses, but their actions or ignoring the actions of others hurt just as much.
This was a quick book to read, but I recommend it for Young Adult and Adult readers. You will probably come away with more thoughtful and understanding attitudes towards those who don’t easily fit into society’s boxes.
Note: The book contains a sprinkling of mild swearing and an occurrence of sexual aggression and is therefore inappropriate for younger readers.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Capstone Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Little Chickies/Los Pollitos–a great bilingual book for preschoolers
Little Chickies/Los Pollitos
by Susie Jaramillo
Susie Jaramillo is a bilingual mother and artist who grew up in Venezuela and in the United States. In working with her own young children, she found a need for bilingual books to share traditional Latin American nursery rhymes in Spanish with a translation into English which maintains the original meaning without sacrificing the beauty of language. To this end she founded Canticos and has published the first book, Little Chickies/Los Pollitos. She has written and illustrated two more bilingual books which are available for preorder.
The art work in Little Chickies/Los Pollitos is very appealing. The simple storyline is that of a mother hen taking care of her babies. It is the kind of book children would love to read and sing over and over again.
One thing that makes Little Chickies/Los Pollitos valuable in working with preschoolers, in presenting an alternate language, is the accordion fold format. You read the story all the way through in one language and then from the back you can go forward again reading in the other language with no disruption of the story or words that don’t match up with the voice. Jaramillo added other features that make it special as well. The rhymes are put to music so children can sing the book. They are interactive with spinning wheels and flaps that lift. An app can be purchased as an extension of the book. There are free videos of it on Vimeo and more information is available at canticosworld.com.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to the publisher Encantos for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
education pathways 