Book Review: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

 

Frances (Frenchie) and his brother are hiding in a treehouse at the beginning of this story, but they soon find themselves in trouble as the recruiters have found them. Mitch distracts the recruiters to allow Frances to escape. 

Frances is Native American. The time is the future. People have stopped dreaming and their only hope is harvesting the marrow of Native Americans - the place where dreams still are generated. Frances finds himself on the run from the recruiters - this is not a safe time for Native Americans. Soon he is rescued by a group of strangers.

This book has a little of everything: A diverse cast of characters, survivalism, grobal warming, a dystopian world, friends and family, love and luv. And hope. And a happy ending.

Try this story, you won't be sorry.

"Cold is an effective alarm clock, and I was up before the sun. The fire had gone out, but not long ago, since there was still smoke. The cough I'd been cultivating over the past few days was more insistent now. I coughed, and each push of air brought a fresh ache out of my back and legs. The jump and run had really done a number. Still, I stood and started my jumping jacks following Mitch's morning warm-up routine even through he wasn't there to remind me. 

'C'mon French, I've seen higher from a boulder.'"

Do you think you could survive alone in the great north woods? alone? What would you draw upon to save your own skin?

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: Color Outside the Lines: Stories about Love / Edited by Sangu Mandanna

 

What a delightful surprise! I am NOT a romance reader, and while there were some luv stories in here, these were more than that - these were love stories. You don't see the difference? Luv stories are all romance, kissing, drooling all over each other and are gag-worthy as far as I am concerned. These stories, on the other hand, were about love. Many about romantic love, some about the start of relationships, some just about love between people.

What is even better? Each of these stories have some type of complexity: interracial, or LGBT, or forbidden relationships. Each of these stories was a little different than the others, but all of them were good. 

AND reading Color Outside the Lines is a way to sample a bunch of different authors. These are pages in which to walk in someone else's shoes and see how it feels to be someone very different than yourself. These are stories through which to learn more about yourself and others. These are stories to sip slowly - one at a time so you can digest each tale. This is honestly one of the best short stories collections I have read. I hope you might also enjoy it.

You will find this book on the shelves on Nashua South or you can find it in the Nashua Public Library catalog.

"I like how you look at me. There's a story in your eyes that I would give anything to hear."
 ~ Lori M. Lee in Starlight and Moonlight