It is, and will ever remain, a great mystery why this book didn’t win the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The Journey of LittlIt is, and will ever remain, a great mystery why this book didn’t win the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The Journey of Little Charlie reads like a middle-grade version of The Underground Railroad, as told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy forced to accompany a brutish slave catcher.
Due to advanced diction and an authentic first-person voice, would recommend this for book advanced readers or upper middle-graders (ages 10 to 14).
“You needs to be more like a bumbly bee, Charlie. Ain’t you never seent how them bees’ll burrow theyself into so many flowers that they very color change? They go from being yellow and black and common-looking to wearing balls of gold all o’er every square inch of theyselves. And there ain’t no mistaking neither that once them bees is wearing those robes of gold, they’s close to Jesus as they can get, they’s happy as anything living can be. They’ll sit on the edge of that flower just soaking it all in afore they starts buzzing their wings and celebrating that sound they makes. That’s where you need to be if you gonna learn how to work these fields; you need to quit thinking so much and listen to that buzz.”
The Poet X explores several important topics with a feather-touch: body shaming (Word!), the anti-feminist foundations of🚨 Unpopular opinion alert! 🚨
The Poet X explores several important topics with a feather-touch: body shaming (Word!), the anti-feminist foundations of organized religion (Yas, girl! Preach!), and the grueling lack of autonomy most people suffer in high school when adulthood is longed for but just out of reach (Omg, same!). Unfortunately, Xiomara's story is peripheral, hasty, and occasionally lacks a sense of synchronicity between its chapters.
In the opening pages, fifteen-year-old Xiomara laments the way men respond to her full-figured body. She resents being objectified, reduced to an object of lust, and is rightfully outraged that men touch her body without her permission. Shortly thereafter, she heads to the park where she delights in ogling the "half-naked ball players" because "They're FINE."
Running around in ball shorts, and no tees, their muscles sweaty, their skin flushed. I lean against the fence and watch them race up and down the court.
Xiomara's double standards about objectification of another person's body convolute an important message.
There's some sweetness here: first explorations of physical pleasure, the tenuous beginnings of young love.
And there's some pain: questioning one's faith, clashing with family, secrets that are painful to keep but would be more painful to vocalize.
The book's most notable grievance is its perfunctory verse. It lacks the lyricism and passion found in Blood Water Paint, written by fellow longlist nominee, Joy McCullough, the powerful economy of words demonstrated in Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, or the devastating emotional depth of One by Sarah Crosson.
By comparison, The Poet X is lukewarm, watered down, ineffectual. A blip. Here for a moment, fast to fade, easily forgotten....more
Aside from a few short bursts of insight on a Muslim girl suffering racists microaggressions a year after 9/11, A Very Large Expanse of Sea is your avAside from a few short bursts of insight on a Muslim girl suffering racists microaggressions a year after 9/11, A Very Large Expanse of Sea is your average, run-of-the-mill coming-of-age YA romance featuring a teenager who hates school, laments life, is awkward around boys, doesn't understand her feelings for the first guy who's kind to her, etc., etc., etc.
Lots of telling; crucial moments that hold vast potential for tension and emotional depth are glossed over in brief recap. One male character's physically violent outbursts are never addressed. The conclusion is realistic yet unsatisfying.
"You sound so sleepy."
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I don't know. I'm tired, but I feel so happy."
"You do?"
"Yeah," he whispered. "You make me so happy." He took a deep breath. Laughed a little. "You're like a happy drug."
Artful, passionate, harrowing. This book consumed me.
I've grown accustomed to the lack of light inside our studio. But from this angle of fatigue a r
Artful, passionate, harrowing. This book consumed me.
I've grown accustomed to the lack of light inside our studio. But from this angle of fatigue a ray slants through the window to bounce across the surface of the foul, gelatinous potion I've just brewed.
Beneath the light, it's a golden sea, tranquil but for the slightest breeze. A place where magic hums beneath the surface, mermaids, water sprites, and queens of gleaming realms
It's not difficult to discern why Walliams is being compared to Roald Dahl. Awful Auntie is a humorous combination of flights of fancy and macabre bacIt's not difficult to discern why Walliams is being compared to Roald Dahl. Awful Auntie is a humorous combination of flights of fancy and macabre backstory, exaggerated villains, and an ill-treated child protagonist. On top of which, Tony Ross' illustrations are so like Quentin Blake's, it's uncanny.
This particular book was not a huge hit for me - perhaps because of the inevitable comparison to Roald Dahl, who simply cannot be bested - but this will definitely appeal to young readers, and Awful Auntie won't be the last Walliams book I explore....more
Set in Mississippi during the Great Depression, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a searing portrait of family and self-worth. Every child deserves to know Taylor's firebrand protagonist, Cassie Logan, and experience her untiring battle against social injustices and racism....more
Although occasionally repetitive, The Soul of an Octopus is a tearful, informative, and memorable love note to octopuses - those strange yet wondrous creatures, intelligent and brimming with personality, that captivate and terrify in equal measure. ...more
Nine children reside on Orphan Island. On the day of the Changing, a green boat arrives to deliver a new child and whisk the eldest child away – neverNine children reside on Orphan Island. On the day of the Changing, a green boat arrives to deliver a new child and whisk the eldest child away – never to be seen again. Jinny, now the eldest after her best friend’s departure, is tasked with raising the newest delivery, known as her Care. The next time the boat arrives, Jinny will have to leave the island forever. Can she teach her Care everything she needs to know in time? And when the boat arrives, will Jinny have the courage to face the unknown?
Nobody had any idea how the boat worked. It arrived at this same spot, through the thick mist. As if pulled by an invisible string. Then it left again, a few minutes later, the same way. The boat was as reliable as anything, as sure as the stars.
Recently longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, Orphan Island has garnered significant attention. Perhaps because it’s a middle-grade novel that caters more to adults than to its intended audience of children ages 8 to 12.
Observed simply as a story for children, Orphan Island doesn’t offer much. Nine children go about their lives on the island, wanting for little, facing no substantial dangers, and professing no significant unmet desires. For the most part, the children get along well, save for a few petty squabbles. And despite the absence of adults, the children are washed, fed, and well-slept, because they adhere to a set of rules and regimens that ensure their needs are met.
But Orphan Island has greater depths, a secret meaning that likely accounts for its popularity amongst adult readers. Simply stated: (view spoiler)[the island is a metaphor, on which birth is parodied, childhood is explored, and the first steps toward adulthood are embraced (hide spoiler)].
The island has secrets and offers small mysteries. Many reviewers have suggested too many of these mysteries are left unexplained and too few secrets are left unexplored. That problem persists when Orphan Island is read at face value. When examined as a metaphor, however, many loose ends are resolved.
The boat arriving from a mysterious place, for example, needn’t be explained when one thinks of it simply as (view spoiler)[a vehicle for depicting a child’s birth (hide spoiler)]. The same can be said for the elusive ending, which appears to frustrate many reviewers. At face value, the conclusion feels unexplained, but (view spoiler)[when viewed as a metaphor, Jinny’s boat ride from the island represents her departure from adolescence. The closing lines: “This only feels like an ending,” Jinny said to the wind and the distance. And once she’d said it, she knew it was true.” indicate that Jinny is comfortably transitioning, departing from childhood and taking her first brave steps into life as a teenager. (hide spoiler)]
The big payoff arrives with the book’s closing lines but, despite the resonance of its metaphorical depths, the impact of Orphan Island’s conclusion isn’t weighty enough to justify trudging through its uneventful narrative....more
A haunting cautionary tale delivered in verse, in which fifteen-year-old Will is forced to consider the potential consequences of his actions as he, armed with a gun and seeking revenge, waits for the elevator in his building to reach the ground floor.
THEN THE YELLOW TAPE
that says DO NOT CROSS gets put up, and there's nothing left to do but go home.
That tape lets people know that this is a murder scene, as if we ain't already know that.
The crowd backs its way into buildings and down blocks until nothing is left but the tape.
Shawn was zipped into a bag and rolled away, his blood added to the pavement galaxy of
bubblegum stars. The tape framed it like it was art. And the next day, kids would play mummy with it....more
Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
Twelve-year-old Peter's greatest companion is his fox, Pax. Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
Twelve-year-old Peter's greatest companion is his fox, Pax. When they are divided by necessity in preparation for impending war, Peter's need for his fox and his regret over the way they were separated is so great that he embarks on a difficult journey to be reunited with Pax. Meanwhile, Pax must learn to fend for himself in the wild, a new and foreign terrain he's entirely unfamiliar with. The destruction of war threatens his new habitat, and he struggles to survive long enough to see Peter again.
Chapters alternate between Peter and Pax, charting their parallel adventures. Peter's chapters are occasionally difficult to believe; what he accomplishes as a twelve-year-old boy is quite a feat. The help he finds along the way makes for a touching story of friendship, recovery, and self-discovery. Pax's chapters shine. His view of the world is cleverly portrayed, playing on the use of his senses to perceive his surroundings. The author superlatively demonstrates Pax's limited understanding of Peter and his unfailing devotion:
The fox licked at the [boy's] tears and then grew more confused. There was no scent of blood. He squirmed out of the boy's arms to inspect his human more carefully, alarmed that he could have failed to notice an injury, although his sense of smell was never wrong.
Whatever his boy needed - protection, distraction, affection - he would have offered.
Because this is a middle grade novel, it bears mentioning that mature topics are explored. Pax makes mention of anxiety, PTSD, war and loss of bodily limbs. The book deals a lot with death, often portraying it graphically. While this book may help to nurture a young reader's sympathy and compassion for animals, the subject matter doesn't always seem suitable for its intended audience. Parents are well advised to first read Pax before handing it to their little ones.
What he sensed alarmed him. He tried to describe it: Air choked with death. Fire and smoke. Blood in a river, the river running red with it, the earth drowning in blood. Chaos.
Lessons include how thoughtless and destructive mankind can be, the challenges and triumphs of self-discovery, the search for truth, and the true cost of war.
"The plain truth can be the hardest thing to see when it's about yourself. If you don't want to know the truth, you'll do anything to disguise it."
How many kids this week, he wondered, had woken up to find their worlds changed that way, their parents gone off to war, maybe never coming home? [. . .] How many kids went hungry? How many had to move? How many pets had they had to leave behind to fend for themselves? And why didn't anyone count those things?
Despite the difficult subject matter, Pax is a tale of loyalty and responsibility, beautifully rendered for lasting impact.
The blackness had quivered with the rustle of night prowlers, and even the sounds of the trees themselves - leaves unfurling, sap coursing up new wood, the tiny cracklings of expanding bark - had startled him over and over as he waited for Peter to return.
Readers won't soon forget the story of Pax and his devoted boy, Peter....more
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