“But for a goldfish, the wild promises abundance. Release a goldfish and it will never look back. Nothing fully lives in a bowl; it only learns to survive it.” page 19
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, illustrated by Simon Ban. Little, Brown, and Company, New York, 2022. Adult nonfiction, 264 pages. Not leveled.
A unique combination of memoir and science writing by a queer, non-binary, Asian-American author.
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, illustrated by Simon Ban.
Although I’ve gotten back into reading nonfiction again, as of this writing the process has been slow and painful, and it’s harder for adult books to catch and keep my attention. The appealing cover design of this definitely helped, but after starting the first essay, I was hooked.
I haven’t reviewed too many essay collections here lately, so a reminder that I usually consider each separately and then discuss the book as a whole.
“That’s the problem. He is so old, he has trouble remembering things now – like where he is. Sometimes he thinks he’s back in Vietnam.” page 87
Sea Sirens: A Trot & Cap’n Bill Adventure (#1) by Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee, with lettering by Jimmy Gownley. Viking, Penguin Random House, New York, 2019. Middle grade graphic novel, 144 pages. Lexile: 240L . AR Level: 2.5 (worth 1.0 points) .
Vietnamese American Trot and her cranky one-eyed rescue cat spend a lot of time surfing at the beach where they mutually babysit her grandpa (he has dementia, she’s not quite old enough to be left alone yet). One day, she sneaks out to catch a wave and wipes out so badly they end up in an underwater world. At first she’s happy to avoid her mother’s rules, but after landing in an undersea war, will Trot and Cap’n Bill ever get home again?
Sea Sirens (Trot & Cap’n Bill Adventure #1) by Amy Chu, illustrated by Janet K. Lee, with lettering by Jimmy Gownley.
I had no clue what to expect when we first got these. Even the blurb does little to explain the awesomeness of Cap’n Bill (turns out cats can talk, we just don’t listen well). The realistic part of the story is also hard-hitting; Trot and Grandpa are grounded because one day she forgot to keep an eye out while surfing and he wandered away from his fishing resulting in a Silver Alert.
“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.
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
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.
“Writing a novel is a long process – like a long-distance runner running a marathon, I know I cannot reach the finish line that day. Instead, I have to be patient, trying to complete a shorter stretch of writing – a chapter, for instance.” pages 21 and 22
The Lost Garden by Laurence Yep. My edition Beech Tree Paperback, Harper Collins, New York, 1996 – originally Simon & Schuster, 1991. MG autobiography, 118 pages. Lexile: 1110L . AR Level: 7.1 (worth 7.0 points) .
The story of famous children’s author Laurence Yep’s life from his early years to the start of his writing career, although focusing mostly on his coming of age in the 1950s and 1960s.
The slim paperback fooled me into thinking that this would be a book for elementary students, but the content is more appropriate for tweens and young teens. Yep doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, such as his own family’s brushes with poverty, a customer whose husband brutally attacked her, Mark Twain’s suicidal thoughts, the topless dancers at a club in the neighborhood, and pulse-pounding confrontations when the burglar alarm goes off.
He tells even difficult and painful tales in a straightforward way, and frequently pauses to explain details that might not be known or understood by younger readers. This reminded me strongly of Roald Dahl’s Boy – a tale of a fairly ordinary life told with vivid details that render it fascinating. Aspects such as what it was like to have severe asthma attacks before common home treatments may shock young readers.
There are so many tidbits here about how he was inspired or helped with various novels by different relatives or events. I’m planning a systematic rereading of his entire Golden Mountain Chronicles series, many of which I’ve read but not in order – after which I might need to reread this book!
“Our leader had taken advantage of our trust and loyalty to manipulate the whole country. This is the most frightening lesson of the Cultural Revolution: Without a sound legal system, a small group or even a single person can take control of an entire country. This is as true now as it was then.” page 266
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji Li Jiang. Scholastic, New York, originally published 1997, my edition 1999. MG nonfiction, 284 pages. Lexile: 780L . AR Level: 5.0 (worth 8.0 points) .
A girl becoming a young adult during the Cultural Revolution adores Mao but is troubled by the practical realities of the drastic changes, especially when they start to impact her own family. She has to decide how to navigate high-stakes and nuanced situations – and ultimately whether her loyalty lies with the Communist Party or with her own family.
Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang.
I was excited to pick this back up – much like The Arrow Over the Door, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, or many of Laurence Yep’s earlier works, I haven’t read through it in at least a decade. With some others, I misremembered major elements, so for this one I tried to recall what had stuck with me for over a decade.
It’s about one preteen/teen girl’s life in China between 1966 and 1968 as major changes occur to her family and community. But I must admit the most memorable aspect was the cover with her disembodied head over the flag, so encountering a used copy with that same 1990s cover was nostalgic. Newer versions have a cover more likely to be picked up by modern students.
“Hard to think that there might someday be a time when everyone could go back to ordinary things, like mending a torn undershirt.” page 22
Beast of Stone (Wing & Claw #3) by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by James Masden. Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2018, my edition 2019. MG fantasy, 360 pages. Lexile: 700L . AR Level: 5.3 (worth 9.0 points) . NOTE: This review will contain spoilers for previous books in the series.
Raffa finds himself imprisoned and separated from his friends – even worse, his parents are frustratingly close but in danger. Feeling alone except for his beloved bat friend, Raffa wonders how he could possibly escape in time to prevent the Chancellor from using botanicals and wild animals to attack the people of Obsidian, let alone figure out why she’s doing such evil deeds.
Beast of Stone by Linda Sue Park.
Linda Sue Park sets the standard high for what a fantasy trilogy should be. The first book was very good, the second stronger than most mid-series installments. I didn’t love that Cavern of Secrets ended with a cliffhanger, but after reading this book I can understand why Park ended at that point.
“I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didn’t get – and never would get.” page 29
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Simon & Schuster BFYR, New York, 2014 (originally published 2012). YA novel, 360 pages. Lexile: HL380L ( What does HL mean in Lexile? ) AR Level: 2.9 (worth 8.0 points) . NOTE: This book is intended for mature teens despite the reading level.
Two loner Mexican-American boys meet at the local swimming pool and strike up a friendship in the late 1980s. Dante is secure, if not always happy, in who he is, and has many talents while Aristole (or Ari) is struggling with the secrets and silence in his family – including those around his brother in prison and those he’s keeping himself. This novel takes place over two years.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.
I’ve owned this book for at least five years now. It came highly recommended and has won many awards. The majority of reviews rave about it, yet I DNF’d it over and over. Finally read it all the way through… and still didn’t love it. So the poor thing went on my shelf of books that have been read but will be reread, reviewed, and generally dealt with later. Well “later” in this case is 2022, since clearing off that shelf is one of my main goals for the year.
So I had to reread it with an eye for why possibly this wasn’t the book for me, even if it was so clearly beloved by many other readers. Perhaps then a review could be useful even for those who adored this story. As there is already so much written about this novel elsewhere, I’m going to break from my usual formats somewhat and focus mainly on how this particular novel very much didn’t work for me – as perhaps that might help some people decide if it might be a good fit for them or not.
“Raffa couldn’t help laughing. He didn’t know why he felt so joyful; there was nothing the bat could do to help. Maybe, he thought, maybe people just don’t like to be alone when they’re in trouble.” page 55
Cavern of Secrets (Wing and Claw #2) by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by James Madsen. Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2017. MG fantasy, 312 pages + excerpt. Lexile: 700L . AR Level: 5.3 (worth 8.0) . NOTE: This review will contain spoilers for the previous book in the series.
Having narrowly survived the adventures of the last book, Raffa and his human and animal friends now have important decisions to make about what to do next – about the Chancellor and her animal captives, about the families waiting for them, and about their own relationships.
Cavern of Secrets by Linda Sue Park.
Park wisely skips over the grim struggle for survival over the winter the three children spent in the mountains and opens her story as most of the trio’s animal menagerie are awakening from hibernation. Echo does not, which propels Raffa to consider returning home.
I was very impressed with how Park wrote Garith’s hearing loss. At the end of the previous book, we weren’t certain yet how permanent it was, but now we know that it’s long-term if not forever, which means writing a newly Deaf character. And Park does that amazingly well, from Raffa’s irritatingly slow and overly loud talking, to Kuma’s recognition that Garith can still do everything but hear and needs to have tasks and agency just like before.
“Looking back, Buzz probably should have just owned up to the fact that he hadn’t written the blasted thing. Couldn’t be bothered to write it, because mythology was such a momentous waste of time.” page 14
Secrets of Valhalla by Jasmine Richards. Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2016. MG fantasy, 312 pages + excerpt. Lexile: 690L . AR Level: 4.9 (worth 10.0 points) .
It’s yet another unpleasant Friday the 13th for Buzz, getting bullied by Theo, trying to hang out with his best friend Sam, and meeting a new kid, American Mary, thanks to his sister. But when Buzz and Mary find a famous missing weatherwoman magically tied to a tree in the woods, they tumble in to a Norse god adventure with portals and time loops, talking squirrels and ancient runes. Oh, and the end of their world as they know it, of course.
Secrets of Valhalla by Jasmine Richards.
There are some diverse MG fantasy books that have been on my radar for a while, but are just too new or old, either too far out of print for me to easily get, or so recently released that they are only available in hardcover and have a long list of library holds. If there’s one I haven’t even heard of, usually it’s not a good fit because neither the main characters nor the author are diverse or if they are, the book isn’t that great and I don’t feel comfortable recommending it.
So, when I discover a new-to-me series by a Black British author of diverse MG fantasy and get the first book and it’s perfectly written, I am beyond excited! Not only do I get to recommend Jasmine Richards to all of you, I also have two more books by her to read (and hopefully more if she continues to write).
“Aru held her breath as the familiar weightless sensation of the portals swept through her.” page 50
Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava #3) by Roshani Chokshi. Rick Riordan Presents, Disney Hyperion, New York, 2020. MG fantasy, 386 pages including back matter. Lexile: 760L . AR Level: 5.4 (worth 13.0 points) . NOTE: This review will contain spoilers for previous books in the series.
Aru and company manage to flub their mission to protect two targets and receive a prophecy, only to find that the targets are twin sisters and their last remaining Pandava siblings. Moreover, the prophecy has a line about one sister being untrue which has everyone second guessing each other and allows the Sleeper to sow dissension among the group. Aru believes the only way to fix this mess is to find Kalpavriksha, the wish-granting tree from the Ocean of Milk. She’ll need her allies both old and new to surmount this new quest!
Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi.
I was not prepared for this to include foster children. Granted, some aspects of care are different in the magical world of the Pandavas, but that still was something I hadn’t seen in other reviews before reading this for myself. While it didn’t quite match with the logistical details of real-life foster care, the emotional aspects rang true, and I was willing to forgive some magical hand-waving here. In particular, the backstory about Nikita’s love for fashion and their parents leaving them in care to protect them were especially moving.
The twins are Guyanese – open for a wide variation in appearance, but they are described as Black and blue-eyed. The official illustrations are lighter than I’d imagined from the text. Nikita has plant-based powers, while prophetess Sheela is simpler and more sensitive. The girls are only ten, so even when officially recognized by their godly ‘fathers,’ they don’t receive weapons. Instead each gets a choker necklace (Sheela a silver star, Nikita a green heart) which serves as a tracking device and placeholder. Chokshi’s attempts to include such a wide variety of representation for Indian-Americans with various cultural backgrounds and family situations are welcome and well-done.
Colorful Book Reviews 