boughtit – Colorful Book Reviews

Review: Girl Named Faithful Plum

“They got only this one egg a year even though the children’s mother tended chickens and ducks that produced seven or eight eggs a day right there in the front courtyard. But the eggs weren’t for the family. They were a small business that Gao Xiuying ran to earn a little bit of extra money.” page 49

A Girl Named Faithful Plum: The True Story of a Dancer from China and How She Achieved Her Dream by Richard Bernstein.
Originally Alfred A. Knopf, Random House, New York, 2011.
My edition Yearling, Random House Children’s Books, New York, 2012.
Middle grade (YA?) nonfiction, 272 pages.
Lexile: 1080L .
AR Level: 6.6 (worth 11.0 points) .

In 1978, an eleven year old girl traveled from her small town on the northern border of China to the Beijing Dance Academy for their open auditions, along with sixty thousand other applicants. Against all odds, she managed to be one of the twelve girls chosen – but that was just the start of her troubles.

Zhongmei spent years in training, and had a long career, but this story focuses mainly on preparing to audition and her first year at school. About half the book focuses on her journey to even make it to auditions and then her progress through the seven layers of audition. The second half covers her first year at the school, and finally an epilogue tells what happened to her after.

Bernstein employs a number of timeline skips to maintain the pacing, although he’s not always successful. His most frequent device is the letters sent back and forth between Zhongmei and her beloved da-jie Zhongqin. He also occasionally has Zhongmei think back on past events. At some points there are skips forward, when reasonable within the story.

Review: Double Cross

“Up until now, we hadn’t told anyone about the Sight – at least not anyone who hadn’t already known about it.” page 59

Double Cross (Twintuition #4) by Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2018.
MG fantasy, 202 pages.
Lexile: 600L .
AR Level: 4.2 (worth 5.0 points) .
NOTE: Review will contain spoilers for previous books in the series.

The final installment of a quartet about tween twins with visions of the future.

Twintuition: Double Cross by Tia and Tamera Mowry.

I’m glad I persisted with this series as this last book was definitely the best of the four. Honestly, if the social hijinks of sixth graders don’t highly interest, an older reader could probably skip ahead and read just this book without missing too much. All the major plot points important to this finale are summarized within the text somewhere anyway.

Review: Ancestor Approved

“I can still be sorry that you had to experience that. No child or woman should ever be treated like you, Suzie, and your mom were. It helps me understand a little bit why you think you wouldn’t be any good at fancy dancing.” page 9

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
Heartdrum, HarperCollins, New York, 2021, my edition 2022.
MG short story anthology, 312 pages including back matter.
Lexile: not yet leveled
AR Level: 5.0 (worth 9.0 points) .
NOTE: This review is longer than usual since I discuss each piece and the book as a whole. Also see note on accent marks.

An anthology of pieces centered around one powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Despite having left school library life some time ago, I still get excited to see new collections and anthologies like this one published, because they are such important additions to the classroom. Ancestor Approved manages to take this to the next level by having the stories and poems all connected, despite most being by different authors. If it’s difficult as a reader to wrap your head around the many linkages and connections, just imagine the work Cynthia Leitich Smith did to bring this book together!

There are 18 different pieces by 16 different authors (and Nicole Neidhardt who contributed the excellent cover illustration is also rightfully acknowledged). Most are short stories although the book closes and opens with poems. There’s also considerable supportive matter, including a foreword, glossary broken down by story, notes, acknowledgements, and brief biographies of all contributors. As is my custom for anthologies and collections, I’ll discuss each of the individual pieces briefly before returning to the discussion of the work as a whole.

Review: Haroun & the Sea of Stories

“Haroun noticed that old General Kitab himself, mounted on a winged mechanical horse very like Bolo’s, was flitting from Barge-Bird to Barge-Bird to keep in touch with the various discussions; and such was the freedom evidently allowed to the Pages and other citizens of Gup, that the old General seemed perfectly happy to listen to these tirades of insults and insubordination without batting an eyelid.” page 119

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie.
Granta Books London, Penguin Books, New York, originally published 1990, my edition 1991.
MG fantasy, 216 pages.
Lexile: 940L .
AR Level: 6.9 (worth 7.0 points) .
NOTE: This is longer than my usual review, as I had much to say about this book. The final paragraphs will contain content warnings and my overall thoughts as usual.

Twelve year old Haroun’s father has fallen into a pit of deep despair and he himself can’t focus for longer than eleven minutes at a time. This causes a problem when Rashid Kalifa the Ocean of Notions is expected to speak at a politician’s rally and can’t perform. Catching a Water Genie uninstalling the tap from the Sea of Stories makes Haroun question if his father’s stories might actually have an element of truth to them, and he is determined to set his family right.

I wanted to love this book but did not. Rushdie has good elements in an increasingly frustrating telling. The Biggest Thing for me, this Reviewer, were the Lots of Unnecessary Capitals (LUC) and the Frequency of Pointless, Unclear, Initialisms (FoPUI). Was that sentence nearly unreadable for you? Now imagine an entire book. If I wanted all the nouns to be capitalized, I would read it in German.

It was difficult to finish this book because of the random unneeded capitalizations in particular. If I had not already purchased this and the sequel, I would probably have given up. Eventually I pushed through by rewarding myself with a different book after every two chapters read. It is one of the few fiction books reviewed here that I have not fully read twice.

Review: Small Steps

“Each time the doctor asked me to move a part of my body and I could not move it, my terror increased.” page 10

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret.
Albert Whitman & Company, Chicago, IL, 1996.
Middle grade nonfiction/memoir, 168 pages + preview.
Lexile: 830L .
AR Level: 5.2 (worth 4.0 points) .
NOTE: This review is of the nonfiction polio narrative, not the fictional Louis Sachar Holes sequel.

Seven months in 12 year old Peg’s life, starting in September 1949 shortly before she became ill, and continuing with her illness and survival for the rest of that school year.

When COVID hit, I went through a phase of reading children’s books about other epidemics. Books for young readers have the happy endings that adult authors rarely do, and there was something comforting about knowing others had survived the spread of contagious diseases.

Everyone in this story is either described or presumed white, but many characters, including the author/narrator, experience physical disability as a from the polio epidemic. I also wanted to write about this book because it was one of the best family read-alouds we did during quarantine, and ought to be better known.

Review: Double Dare

“I could still feel my sister glaring at me. But I forced a smile as Ms. Xavier patted my shoulder, thankfully without bringing on a vision this time. I mean, what was I supposed to do?” page 75

Double Dare (Twintuition #3) by Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2017.
MG fantasy, 204 pages + excerpt.
Lexile: 610L .
AR Level: 4.4 (worth 5.0 points) .
NOTE: This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.

Twins Cassie and Caitlyn Waters can see into the future, but they never anticipated a surprise grandmother showing up or a classmate taking on a life-or-death prank. Can they balance foretelling training, using their visions to prevent disasters, and their schoolwork without becoming social pariahs?

Twintuition: Double Dare by Tia and Tamera Mowry.

Finally some action. Although some MG fantasy novels appeal to a wide range and can be enjoyed by older readers or read aloud to younger children, this is definitely meant to be read alone by the target audience.

After being teased about the family legacy for two whole books, there are finally some answers (and more questions, there’s still another book). The future visions this time were showing a legitimately dangerous possibility and had real consequences while also feeling like something that could happen in middle school.

This book ends on what I’d normally consider a pretty heavy cliffhanger… if the result hadn’t been so heavily foreshadowed that it’s inevitable.

Review: Handbook for Dragon Slayers

“I no more wanted Parz’s help than I wanted to be helpless. I didn’t want him – or anyone – to see me as weak.” page 54

Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell.
Harper, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, 2013.
MG fantasy, 328 pages.
Lexile: 770L .
AR Level: 5.4 (worth 10.0 points) .

A princess’ work is never done, even if said princess is visibly disabled, especially if said princess is the only heir to valuable property. When Tilda’s cousin steals her lands, she sees it as the perfect excuse for freedom and adventures. She’ll be free of all her onerous duties, and her people will be free of her and won’t have to whisper horrid comments behind her back. But even as she learns about dragons, the wild hunt, and other magics, she also learns a lot about herself and what she truly wants.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long time, ever since I saw it featured in this favorable review on the (sadly discontinued) Disability in Kidlit blog. It was even one of the ones on the planning lists for my first Diverse Middle Grade Fantasy Booklist, but I couldn’t get it in time. Thankfully, I was finally able to get a copy.

Tilda is a princess (and as a sole heir, will inherit despite her gender and disability) but she secretly dreams of living in a monastery. This is partly because she doesn’t know the realities of that life, thus can idealize it, but it’s also because of the realistically awful yet appropriate for the time period way she’s treated.

Review: River of Tears

“Dante nodded, and Pao immediately felt bad for using her phony posh voice. Emma never sounded like that. That was her life, the same way this ones was Pao’s. It just felt strange that they were so far apart sometimes, like Emma was in a world Pao couldn’t reach.” page 24

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears (Paola Santiago #1) by Tehlor Kay Mejia.
Rick Riordan Presents, Disney Hyperion, New York, 2020.
MG fantasy, 354 pages.
Lexile: 840L .
AR Level: 5.9 (worth 15.0 points) .

Paola loves space and finds her mother’s fantastical beliefs embarrassing – there’s no scientific reason why she and her friends shouldn’t meet up near the Gila River. But then Emma never arrives at their rendezvous, so Paola teams up with their best friend Dante to mount a rescue that involves little science or logic, and a whole lot of mythology.

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia.

I’ve been wanting to read more Latine MG fantasy novels, and Mejia certainly delivered with this series starter. Paola is a practical dreamer who wants to be a scientist but knows it’s going to take hard work to get there. She has two best friends; Dante lives in the apartment above her with his abuela, and Emma joined their circle when she moved to the area from Colorado a few years ago. Although we hear a lot about Emma and Pao even talks to her parents, Emma herself is not present – it’s her disappearance that leads her friends into the magical world.

Review: Share a Birthday

“Ling goes into a bookstore. She looks at all the books. She sees a book that she wants to read. / ‘I will buy this book for Ting,’ Ling says. ‘Maybe she will share it with me.’ ” page 12

Ling & Ting: Share a Birthday by Grace Lin.
Little, Brown, and Co., Hachette Book Group, New York, 2013.
Early chapter book, 48 pages.
Lexile: 320L .
AR Level: 2.0 (worth 0.5 points) .
NOTE: This is part of the Ling and Ting series.

Six birthday short stories from the life of Chinese-American twins Ling and Ting.

Ling & Ting 2 Share a Birthday cover resized — Ling & Ting Share a Birthday by Grace Lin.

My children were so enamored with the first book in the Ling and Ting series, and read it so many times, that I went ahead and purchased the rest of the books. There isn’t really a clear indicator of order in this series, and I don’t think that the order really matters to most readers, but I like to know.

So extrapolating from the publication date the series is:

Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same!
Ling and Ting: Share a Birthday
Ling and Ting: Twice as Silly
Ling and Ting: Together in All Weather

Again, you could easily read these out of order though, as there is no numbering to the series. Some books do make reference to others, but there definitely isn’t a strict chronology to this particular series, which is great for young readers who tend to pick things up randomly, or teachers who would like to break students up into groups that read different-but-similar materials.

Continue reading “Review: Share a Birthday”

Review: Li on Angel Island

“The dinner hour started, and Hon never came. Sitting next to Mother, Li ate her mushy rice and vegetables in silence. An uneasiness washed over her. It wasn’t like Hon to miss out on food.” page 45

Li on Angel Island (Smithsonian Historical Fiction) by Veeda Bybee, illustrated by Andrea Rossetto.
Stone Arch Books, Capstone, North Mankato, Minnesota, 2021.
Elementary chapter book historical fiction, 72 pages.
Lexile: 600L .
AR Level: 4.3 (worth 1.0 points) .

In 1921, a ten year old Chinese girl is traveling with her mother and brother to join their father in San Francisco.

Li on Angel Island by Veeda Bybee, illustrated by Andrea Rossetto.

I ordered this book for two reasons: I’m trying to read at least one book from a variety of historical fiction series for an upcoming project, and have been looking for more Asian American read alouds (we’ve been enjoying Laurence Yep, Grace Lin, and Andrea Cheng but would like more variety).