Book Review: The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle

Entering her sophomore year in high school, Winifred (Fred) feels umoored - a bit nervous. While this is typical on each first day of school, it is particularly difficult for Fred because her two best (only) friends transferred to private school. Fred wondering is she will be able to move on.

It doesn't take long for Fred to reconnect with a former friend and make some new friends, but the self doubt that she constantly lives with plays havoc with her life. She is starting to swirl out of control - not being able to sleep and cutting her arms in order to feel something - even eating food which she knows will make her sick in order to punish herself.

This is a great book to view/read if you want to vicariously want to taste this brand of mental illness. And perhaps the hope that is sitting beyond mental illness if help arrives. 

This is a quick read which is more than worth the time.

 

Book Review: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Sometimes there is a right time or a wrong time to read a book. Am I saying that you shouldn't read a book under the covers with a flashlight? Or that you shouldn't sneak it into your math book so you can read the last chapter? Nope!

But here is the truth. I tried to read this book several months ago. I just couldn't. It didn't feel real to me, just a bit much for my senses. I couldn't handle teen angst. I had enough of our day-to-day realism and a bit of painful mythology was too much. I put Cemetery Boys down and walked away.

It kept calling me to read it. No, not in a spooky sense, but several students recommended it. I saw it on lists of books that others had enjoyed. I heard about if from other librarians and read an inticing review. AND I finally had to give in and read it - I am glad that I did. 

This story is a romp through culture and family and community. It is a coming-of-age novel with a serious plot twist - surprising but it doesn't leave you hanging. Here you will find an urban landscape, characters of many stripes and personalities and energy levels. This story is deeply embeded in Latino culture and centers around Day of the Dead celebrations, but there is a trans main character. The story honors family including extended family. But mostly, this book is about finding one's self. 

Favorite quote: "You don't need anyone's permission to be you."

Found on the shelves of the South Library. Also you will find it in audio, ebook, and print editions through the Nashua Public Library. 
 

Book Review: You Should See Me in a Crown / Leah Johnson

This is one of the Flume nominees for the 2021/22 school year. The Flume award is a New Hampshire award in which teens in our state nominate books, a short list in created from those nominations, then teens vote for their favorite book. We have a display in the library of the nominees (though on August 25th many of the titles have yet to come in.)

I really liked this book a lot. Liz Lighty is black, poor, and awkward, but attends school in a mostly white, privileged community. She lives with her supportive grandparents and brother, her mother died when she was younger. Liz has a clear dream of her future - go to the college where her mother attended on a music scholarship, and study to become a doctor. She has an interest in hematology due to her brothers sickle cell anemia. And then she gets the letter from the school informing her that she didn't get the scholarship. Suddenly her life is thrown into disarray. How can she make her dreams happen without her grandparents selling their house to fund her education (which she knows that they will do if they learn about the missed scholarship and she does NOT want that to happen.)

Her friends rally behind her and they begin to scheme how she can become the Prom Queen which is attached to a $10,000 scholarship. However, this Prom Queen business is all about popularity and is a huge deal in her little town. There are petitions to get through, volunteer work to do, and she is one of those unpopular students on the edge of her school community. Toss into that mix that she has serious (vomit inducing) anxiety and she is learning that she is gay. 

This is a story about growth and learning, determination and grit, shedding one's skin to grow into a new person. 

Find You Should See Me in a Crown on the shelves at South. At Nashua public library you can find this book on the shelf, but also an audio version on Hoopla, and an ebook and audio book through Libby.

 

Book Review: Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

 

Mary, an 11-year-old deaf girl, lives on Martha's Vineyard in the early 1800s. Many of the people in this community are deaf and most of the residents sign using Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL). Being deaf in her community of Chilmark is not a disability but rather a difference - like having green eyes, or red hair. One day a scientist, Andrew Noble, comes to the island to study the origin of the deafness among the residents. Strangers are not usually trusted by this community but he has been sponsored by the pastor. Andrew soon starts alienating the island residents by his entitlement and lack of respect. He has been encouraged by other scientists to bring back to live specimen to be studied and he abducts Mary and takes her to Boston. 

This story is written for middle grade students, but don't be surprised if you find yourself being pulled into this story. Mary is young but has such a maturity and is really questioning a lot of what she sees in the people around her, especially in their relationships and prejudices of Native people. 

If you want to learn more about the Deaf in Martha's Vineyard or MVSL and its impact on American sign language, check out this article Reviving Sign Language on Martha's Vineyard from the Martha Vineyard times. 

Also, you can hear Ann Clare LeZotte share a little bit about this book.

I borrowed this book at the Nashua Public Library through Hoopla, but it is also available through Libby and they have a print copy. (I listened to the audio version - I am NOT good at listening to stories, but it certainly made my chores go by faster.)

I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. 

Book Review: Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

"This book is a fairy tale in which I am the prince and the princess. I am the king and the queen. I am my own wicked witch and fairy godmother... I am the fairy finding my own magic."

These are a few of the words from the prologue of Black Flamingo, a novel in which a mix-raced, gender-nonconforming teen works to define his place in the world and find his people.

Michael makes it to college before he is able to find a world big enough to find his place. He feels loved as a child and supported by his mom. But he just doesn't quite fit anywhere. In college he finds among the clubs the Drag Society and his heart finds a home. 

I love that this story describes drag so beautifully - as a performance art. A place to speak your story or spread your message.

This is a fun novel in verse that can be found in the stacks at Nashua South and via Hoopla (audio) and Libby (E and Audio.)

 

Book Review: Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

 

"Roses can bloom in the hardest conditions." This is a sentiment that Mr. Wyatt shares with Maverick in this novel. 

And yes, Maverick is both a rose and living in difficult conditions. His father is in jail, presumably for gang-related activity (he was the "crown".) His mom can barely pay the bills. He is in a gang and selling drugs. AND then one day he is asked to join a girl at the hospital where a DNA test is being run on her 3 month old son. That is the day he is thrown into the life of fatherhood when the girl leaves the hospital without the baby. Maverick is thrown into a life of sleepless nights, exploding diapers, and of forehead kisses. This new responsibility brings up all kinds of questions, such as how is a 17 year old boy supposed to support a son.

No, life for Maverick doesn't get easier from here. And this is not a novel that is tidy. Maverick struggles with decisions that will impact his family for years. Sometimes there are no easy answers. 

This is a story of fatherhood, of family, and of friendship. It is a story of responsibility, and consequences for actions, and struggling to figure out what the next steps in life. This is also the prequel to The Hate You Give.

As far as I am concerned, this is a five star novel.

Find it on the shelves at South or the Nashua Public Library. NPL also has both audio and ebook copies through Libby. 

Book Review: Patron Saints of Nothing / Randy Ribay

Each year I create a book challenge for myself. I do this because it keeps me reading outside of the types of books to which I naturally gravitate. I love books that are set in places I haven't been. I like learning about new things - so I might have borrowed this book without a recommendation, but I am glad that Mike Linehan pushed me to read this intriguing story. 

Honestly, Patron Saints of Nothing has many things that I love to find in a book:
* I have never visited the Philippines and knew nothing about it.
* There are interesting characters in this book - some fully formed but some intentionally vague
* There was a connection to life as I know it. Patron Saints centers around the drug war in the Philippines and the politics behind it. In the USA we have the "War on Drugs" which has shaped our society in ways that make me uncomfortable.
* And thinking about uncomfortable - I spent a lot of time feeling uneasy about characters and how they were acting in this story.
* There was character learning and growth - the majority of this book took place over the course of the week and during that time Jay, the main character, grew from a teen to a man.

This book took me so long to read because I had to keep stopping to Google stuff:
* A recipe for Sinigang soup
* The poem, "A Litany for Survival" by Audre Lorde
* Images from and information about the Philippines - both the country and the slums
* News about the Philippine drug war - both current and past
* Background on President Duterte
* And the list goes on

Finally - the most interesting character in this book is Jun - though he is no longer alive. The memories and flashbacks of this character pushed me to think about the bigger questions in life. And that is always a good thing.

Don't pick up this book unless you want your mind to be challenged to think in new ways. 

 

Book Review: How to Stop Time / Matt Haig

 

Tom Hazard was born in  1581 with a weird disorder in which he only ages one year each 15 years. This creates a lot of havoc and some charges of witchcraft. When he loses his mother (she was placed on a ducking stool and drowned while the towns' people were determining if she was a witch. She died which "proved" that she wasn't, though the towns' people didn't believe that.)

Left on his own to figure out how to get by without aging, Tom does the best he can and finds himself falling in love with Rose - but despite moving around, people begin to talk when she ages and he doesn't. This story travels through time, mostly set in the 1500s, the second half of the 1800s, the 1920s and now. How would you live your life if you were Tom? How would aging so slowly change your perspective? And what can we learn from history? Are we destined to relive society's mistakes? 

I borrowed this book from the Nashua Public Library and enjoyed it so much that I have put on hold Matt Haig's next book - The Midnight Library.

Book Review: The Other Way Around / Sashi Kaufman

Andrew has lived through a lot in his young life: many moves, his parents' divorce, and now he is enrolled in a nearly-all-girls school where his mother is headmaster. He feels untethered and isn't doing well. And then he ends up spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his uncle and cousin (who wets Andrew's bed). He has finally had enough and decides he needs to escape to his Mima's house. But plans change when he meets a bunch of old teens at the bus stop and ends up joining them in a road trip filled with camping, dumpster diving, and life lessons.

This is a surprisingly satisfying read - really about growing up, finding perspective, and learning about life. This is about traveling across the USA in a van and encountering unexpected experiences. It is also about love - all kinds of love - that of friendship, that of romance, and love of family. Finally, there is the process of looking toward one's future. 

So many books about teens who are on their own center either on boarding school or some kind of Lord-of-the-Flies island. This is a refreshing change. 

 

Book Review: They Called Us Enemy / George Takei

Have you watched Star Trek? Do you remember the character Hikaru Sulu? He was played by George Takei who took the role that offered respect for Japanese American citizens. This was particularly important to him after spending some of his growing up years in a couple of Japanese internment camps during World War II. This graphic memoir shares his story but also shows how history is circular, how we keep repeating the same mistakes, and how paying attention to what happened before can help guide us in our lives today. 

One of my favorite lines from the book is when Takei quotes his father, "Our democracy is a participatory democracy. Existentially it's dependent on people who cherish the shining, highest ideals of our democracy and actively engage in the political process." - talk about lessons for today!

Also, want a sneak peek? Check out his TedX talk: http://www.tedxkyoto.com/en/events/tedxkyoto-special-event/the-power-of-pride-george-takei

Book Review: Let's Call it a Doomsday / Katie Henry

Ellis, both a Mormon and a prepper, is afraid of taking almost any kind of step. She worries that she will not be prepared when something goes wrong, when the end of the world is upon us. And then she meets Hannah who has seen the end of the world in her dreams. And the two become friends.

This is such a cool story about learning where a person fits into a religious organization, in this case Mormon, but it is a pretty universal experience. But also about learning who one is - it touches upon love and religion, appearance, expectations from family and school and self. It is about beginning to define one's self and being open to what is around us.

Book Review: Code of Honor by Alan Gratz

Imagine being a senior in high school, a football player with a beautiful girlfriend - even the homecoming king and then...  And then a picture appears on TV of your brother  (An Army Ranger!) acting like a terrorist. Suddenly people are no longer friendly, your girlfriend turns her head, and you no longer know what to believe. Your world has shattered. AND THEN, the United States government abducts you.

Here is the story Code of Honor. For a fast paced, action packed story - that has honor at its core, read this story.

Look for this book on Hoopla through the Nashua Public Library!

Book Review: With the Fire on High / Elizabeth Acevedo

Emoni gave birth during her freshman year of high school. Now in her senior year she has become a tough character, a good friend, a loving granddaughter, and a great mom. Now is the time for making decisions about her future, and while Emoni knows she wants to become a chef, she isn't sure how to get there especially while supporting her daughter. This book is so good that you can almost taste the food.

I love Emoni's character - she is no nonsense but under her tough exterior lies a compassionate soul. She struggles with how the world sees her and judges her, but doesn't let that stop her from moving forward.

Check out this video of Elizabeth Acevedo talking about With the Fire on High.