Turning Pages Reasd: SAINTS AND MISFITS by S.K. ALI

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Content commentary: This novel contains a physical assault, which is processed throughout the book, and may be unsettling to some readers. It is nothing younger readers can't read, and it is powerfully done, but FYI.

Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Janna Yusef is smart and snarky, kind, and ...conflicted. She's navigating a new world, one where her father has married his administrative assistant and lives in a massive eight-bedroom house across town, one where her brother has changed his major and moved home from college for a year, and one where she's suddenly being inundated with the perfectly poised Saint Sarah, her brother Muhammad's fiancée - and organizer of the Fun Fun Fun Islamic Quiz Game. Janna isn't sure that this new world is all it's cracked up to be - she's wearing hijabi like her mother, but her father hates it. She's supportive of her brother changing his major at college, but she doesn't want him to move home, because sharing a room with her mother means no more privacy, ever. And Janna needs her privacy, especially as she fiddles with her graphic novel about the Prophet, daydreams a little about her non-Muslim crush, and seriously tries to figure out how to deal with the monster who has blighted her life ... and is circling, stalking her like prey.

Janna's keeping her head down, studying advanced math as hard as she can, but the sexist comments from the boys in the class against the only two girls, and the ways some students at her high school treat others, because of a birthmark or how quiet they are, just doesn't add up to the world the way it should be. At least Janna has Mr. Ram, the elderly man she walks to the Senior Center. He's always got wisdom about the world - even if Janna doesn't always have time to listen to it. And Tatyana listens - mostly, when she's not trying to Make Sure Janna gets what she wants out of life, which, Tats thinks, is her crush.

All Janna wants to do - sometimes - is run along under the radar, just keeping out of trouble, hanging with her friends, and admiring her crush on the sly. But lately, that hasn't seemed possible. Now, just when she needs her, Janna's best Muslim friend seems less friend and more faith, and her best non-Muslim friend is bent on managing her relationship with her crush's perfect forehead, and a mean girl named Sausun is friendlier than she thought possible. And now, Jeremy, the non-Muslim boy whose forehead she's been crushing on likes her back, and Janna realizes she hadn't thought things through beyond his perfect head. Muslim girls don't date... but maybe she's not as much of a saint as she ought to be? And, if she's not a saint, how can she figure out how to deal with the monster everyone calls a saint? If she calls him out, won't everyone look from him, to... her? And see how ashamed she is?

Conflicted, distracted, and nearly destroyed, Janna is a contemporary girl cherishing a traditional faith, and struggling to make sense of growing up, change, and a messy world.

Observations: Rudine Sims Bishop's "mirror books and window books" description is relevant to this novel, as non-Muslim readers will find both contemporary mirrors of their own life experiences inside, as well as mirrors into Janna's Indian-Egyptian culture, her modest clothing, and her faith practices, from the washing before prayer, to the right thing to say when someone dies. As Janna is fifteen, this book also falls into that little not-quite-middle-grade/not-quite-teen wasteland into which many books fall which are difficult for some publishers to characterize. Janna's story falls into YA because of her experience of assault, but she is otherwise a classic fifteen year old - full of weird impulses and funny thoughts; not too old, and not too young.

Janna has friends who are non-Muslim, but also people of faith. Hindu, like Mr. Ram, or open to anything, like her bestie, Tatyana, or even Christian, like Mr. Khoury. No one gets to swan through the world surrounded solely by Their People, even if they come from a fairly tightly-knit community. Janna, as her Amu - her uncle the iman - describes it, bobs through the seas of life with other souls, and the books spends time allowing her to have a critical perspective on people from other walks of life, sometimes complimenting her own, at other times, challenging it.

I was very impressed with Janna's explanation of wearing hijab, and exploration of niqab. No one's faith observance is going to be a cookie cutter same-as-hers experience, and Janna's observance is unlike her friend Fizz's, unlike her frenemy Sausan's, and also unlike her brother and mother's. Throughout the book, Janna is herself, imperfect, impatient, wrestling with her own impulses while contrasting them against what is against her personal rules and her parent's expectations.

S.K. Ali also gives readers the most horrifyingly accurate picture of the internal silencing which occurs after an assault that I've ever read. After the incident, the cognitive dissonance just swallows Janna, and she's frozen still in a moment that has long passed. This mirror resonated really strongly with me, and will with other readers who have experienced something horrible, and have struggled to move past the moment and go on. Other mirrors include Janna's crushes, her scholastic successes - and bombs - and the push-back she receives from racist teachers and sexist fellow students as she changes and grows organically throughout the story arc. A lot of this is part and parcel of the fabric of living life in contemporary times, and I think how Janna deals with them - how she thinks things through - is very appealing.

Conclusion: Goth-emo girls, fluffy floral girls, average, low-maintenance girls - all the girls are here, and quite a few of them are wearing hijab or niqab. SAINTS AND MISFITS shows that not every follower of Islam is perfect or some kind of misfit - that Muslims are real people, with real struggles, and though their communities are not perfect, neither are they the breeding grounds for insanity that some people seem to think they are. Full of wisdom, snark, and genuine emotion, this book deals with heavy, thoughtful topics in a way that is neither facile or heavy-handed, imparting a solid story with a big heart. Bring your tissues.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Overdrive at the public library. You can find SAINTS AND MISFITS by S.K. Ali at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: RELATIVE STRANGERS by PAULA GARNER

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Jules, a senior, lives with her librarian mother, who is, by Jules' lights, not much of one of mother. She dislikes her job at the library, cares indifferently for Jules, but she lives and breathes painting. And she's got talent, too - but her humanity as a mother and her humanity as an artist seem to be two wildly different things, in Jules' opinion. Sometimes she vanishes into her art and doesn't surface for days. Jules is grateful for the roof over her head, but longs for the kind of mother who asks about her, is interested in her day to day, and who is more like her friends Leila and Gab's mothers - women who show their love by cooking and providing a beautiful home, where nothing is taped together, or cracked. Unlike her mother, who is thrifty and tidy to the point of throwing away even memorabilia, Jules loves antiques, is fascinated by how the world was in days gone by -- but with no grandparents, no antecedents, and no connections, she feels cast adrift in a world full of odds and ends - nothing with real value, nothing anyone would keep, or put in a museum.

Jules - on yearbook staff - has been asking for a baby picture for yearbook for weeks, and now that the deadline has passed, she finally goes into her mother's room to find one... but discovers that there's a nineteen month gap from her newborn photograph to when she's almost two years old. Why aren't there any good, real baby pictures? And, why's there an envelope of paperwork from the Department of Children and Families? What happened in her and her mother's lives? When Jules discovers the answer, her world tilts off its axis. She's always wanted more of what she had - more family, more connection, more life, more love -- and now she realizes that somewhere, she might have had it. Pursuing the connection she finds on the other end the love she feels she's been denied. But, is it really all for her? Does she have the right to it? And, if she tries to grab all of that love with both hands... what happens to everything else? Wanting more can lead to having more, true - and some of the chances Jules takes have panned out into a past and a history she could never have dreamed existed. But, Jules is unable to let go of the temptation to have it all... with predictable results. After Jules is left with her hands empty, she has to learn to accept that you can't have it all in life -- but appreciating what you have is the key to everything.

"It didn't escape me, despite all my angst about family, about finding family and having family and missing out on family that this was a very real thing I had: friends I would drop anything for. Friends I'd take a bullet for. Friends I'd handle dead rats for.

There is more than one kind of family."

- RELATIVE STRANGERS, unfinished copy

Observations: This book will resonate with anyone who has had an unsatisfying relationship with their family, who ever dreamed of having been adopted, or who always wished they could be part of a huge, amazing family, or closer friends with the people with whom they hang out... which means that this book will resonate almost every teen at some time or another. There is such a huge well of wanting in Jules that her desires slip into the heart like a little hook. Is there anything so wrong with wanting more love? More family? More people to pay attention and SEE you? The desires seem innocent - and they are - but the narrative shows how easily pandering to the desire for more than what you have can ultimately overwhelm you.

I don't think I've ever read a YA book quite like this before, which deals with the ignorance immaturity and privilege provides, convincing us to believe the convincing narratives others present to the world, and to envy them in a destructive way in response. Most people can pull back from that brink, identify that the lives we encounter - whether at work or school or digitally curated on Instagram - are airbrushed and carefully displayed for maximum affect. Most of us know that when people are out in public, they wear a public mask... however, this is a book about someone who believed the hype so thoroughly that she allowed herself to wallow in that envy, and made selfish choices based on what she believed she saw, what she believed people had that they could stand to share, and the luxuries of family and affection which she felt she needed but which she hadn't been given.

Garner is a practiced write, and Jules' voice is confident and assured - but there are other YA novels with that confident, wry, snarky voice. What sets this novel apart is that most of us aren't able to articulate the dangers of ...unexamined neediness, maybe let's call it. Jules grieves for what she doesn't have in such a realistic way - and the repeated lashings of grief, the haunting, nostalgic longing, the sadness and the hope blends together to make a truly beautiful, quiet, thoughtful, emotional read. (I teared up repeatedly through the entire last half, surprising myself.) This was an unusual book topically, and I can't imagine how many fewer mistakes I might have made as a teen and nascent adult had I had this book then.

While there isn't a lot of ethnic diversity necessarily, this book has titanium strong male and female friendships and a realistic depiction of the judgment and confusion surrounding understanding friends and a burgeoning sexuality.

Conclusion: A quiet, thoughtful book with humor and insight, and a HUGE miscalculation, which may catch some readers off guard, but to others may be perfectly understandable, if still cringeworthy. A very real book about fumbling our way to a very real understanding and acceptance of who we are, and what we truly need.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. After April 10th, you can find RELATIVE STRANGERS by Paula Garner at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Cybils Review: PASHMINA by Nidhi Chanani

Synopsis: This was such a charming, delightful story about the many questions that come up for kids whose families have in some way crossed cultures. I found a lot to relate to personally here, as the daughter of an immigrant from India/Pakistan. I also really enjoyed the fantastical twist. From the jacket copy:

Priyanka Das has so many unanswered questions: Why did her mother abandon her home in India years ago? What was it like there? And most importantly, who is her father, and why did her mom leave him behind? But Pri’s mom avoids these questions―the topic of India is permanently closed.

For Pri, her mother's homeland can only exist in her imagination. That is, until she find a mysterious pashmina tucked away in a forgotten suitcase. When she wraps herself in it, she is transported to a place more vivid and colorful than any guidebook or Bollywood film. But is this the real India? And what is that shadow lurking in the background? To learn the truth, Pri must travel farther than she’s ever dared and find the family she never knew.

Observations: Pashmina is a wonderful and colorful rendition of growing up Indian-American, with all the cultural baggage (sometimes literal baggage) that entails. Children of immigrants in particular will see a lot they recognize here, and those who aren't children of immigrants will catch a vivid glimpse of what it's like to have that relationship with the "old country," its traditions and religion and even cultural mores. The shock of what it's like to visit India for the first time is also nicely rendered.

The book is nicely pitched to appeal to a wide range of ages. The cute animal characters in the world revealed by Priyanka's shawl are adorable and mysterious, and the elements of darkness in this tale are thought-provoking without being scary. I loved the deceptively simple, appealing style of the artwork, too. The drawings of places in India contrasted well with America, and the images were easy to read.

In terms of the language used, the use of Hindi and "Hinglish" was really well done, and provides not just a particular "flavor" for non-Indian readers but is accurate and recognizable for those American-Born Confused Desis among us. The glossary is a great addition, too, although the visuals make it possible to figure out vocabulary from context.

Conclusion: This is one of those books I wanted to hug (but I couldn't, because it was a digital review copy!). There still aren't enough stories about and/or featuring 2nd-generation Indian-Americans—it's such a complex and multilayered and varied experience—so I was happy to see one that not only covers the topic an a thought-provoking and satisfying way, but also doesn't limit itself to being a particular "type" of story. (Priyanka draws comics, and has an identity that isn't just about being South Asian.) I look forward to seeing more from this author!

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher for Cybils. You can find PASHMINA by Nidhi Chanani at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: DREAD NATION by JUSTINA IRELAND

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

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NB: Readers will be glad to know that this is a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, but be aware that said ending has left a clearly marked door open for a sequel. This is a duology, so weather this battle, and keep your powder dry/your scythes sharp to win the war.

While it can be difficult to present an unbiased review of the work of an acquaintance whose intellect the reader deeply respects, I believe I have achieved it; your opinion may vary.

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Synopsis: The Battle of Gettysburg has had a vastly different conclusion than any battle before; the dead have risen and... are eating both friends and foes. Two days later, Jane McKeen is born on the plantation at Rose Hill, as the North and South join forces to combat the newest threat to the States. The Native and Negro Reeducation Act, which forces African American and Native children to enroll and learn to fight, is at the forefront of protecting the world. However, in Baltimore, it is believed that the threat is receding. Jane, who was taken from Rose Hill to be trained to fight zombies at Miss Preston's school, is almost ready to graduate into being an Attendant, but for her sharp tongue and quick temper - and who can blame her, really? Katherine Devereaux is entirely too light-skinned, snotty and pretty for her own good. So, Jane's not so much what you'd call a model student. She's wanted to leave Miss Preston's school pretty much for the moment she arrived. Other than goading Katherine, and wandering around outside at night, there have been...a few other, er, missteps... one of whom is called Jackson Keats.

No matter that Jackson a.) doesn't love Jane and b.) is a low-down, fast-talking, redbone con man, c. and is too pretty by half, Jane remains a loyal and faithful ...frenemy. No matter that her head tells her that the world is harsh and bitter and full of awful people, her heart remains curiously, humanly, tender. When Jack's sister, Lily, vanishes, along with the white family with whom she lives, Jane's curiosity - and loyalty to Lily - urges her to look into some of the oddities at the Mayor's house. Predictably, Jane's prying gets her in trouble - and sent to a shockingly bleak Survialist colony in Kansas called Summerland. Now on essentially the very front lines of the war against the undead, Jane has new obstacles between herself and Rose Hill. She'll have to dodge zombies and Survivalists and all kinds of insanity -- as well as find new allies and combat her own tender heart to see herself back where she belongs.

"It's a cruel, cruel world. And the people are the worst part."

Observations: I grew up with family from near New Orleans, consequently, I grew up with a childhood of tales associated with 'haints, Marie Laveau, and a distorted depiction of "voodoo." Zombie books, for me, are generally a very hard pass -- but the truthful voice and keen gaze of Jane McKeen, and the determination and fury which drives her survival will hook even zombie-averse readers and draw them in for the, um, kill.

The pettiness of shade-ism and class at Jane's school where she's learning to be a zombie-killing Attendant to white ladies is emphasized by the (mostly) well-meaning teachers whose insistence on manners and appearance at a school where they do scythe drills are amusingly reminiscent of the oddly misplaced pride Victorian ladies held for their finishing schools. Readers meet Jane's classmates, and judge her education, manner, bearing, and her teachers, while childhood memories of Rose Hill are revealed. When they finally arrive, the zombies loom large, but after the other monsters which readers encounter, they become almost background characters.

Primarily, DREAD NATION is a Reconstruction-era zombie novel, but merely skim the story's surface, and readers will discover that it is equally about the true costs of and the inhumanity and injustice of racism. The narrative grapples with the idea of who owns the rights to The Good Life, and at what cost we sell each other into the fell dark for a chance to reach it. Significantly, in DREAD NATION, former Confederates twist their poisonous ideology into a new belief system. "Survivalist" beliefs twist older Manifest Destiny ideas with Latter Day Saints theology about black and brown people to create a new horror. In Biblical literature, Noah's son, Ham, was cursed, and 18th century reasoning used this to explain why Africans are dark - because they were "blackened" by their sins, and by distant being relatives of Ham. This sin/salvation framework for race "allows" the Negro and Native peoples the "opportunity" of propitiation for their sins by giving their lives in the service of fighting zombies for their "betters." Readers will shudder at the Preacher, the single most creepy character in the Survivalist's colony for me, as I am well versed in religious ideology, and throughout World History (not to mention American) it is very clear how the devious and morally bankrupt can twist religious ideology and belief to suit their needs.

Conclusion: Star-studded reviews of this book use the word "subversive" to describe it, as well as "suspenseful" and "sinister." This novel is all of that, plus lively storytelling, as well as sharp-edged and clear-sighted critique of inequality and injustice. All of this is folded into a fast-paced, exciting, and (somewhat) fictional package. There are more monsters in this narrative than those shuffling along the Kansas prairies - and readers will be drawn to reevaluate the presence of the monsters lurking in their own society.

The best truths are wrapped in parable - Ireland takes the bitter pill of racist reality and wraps it into a blood-tingingly exciting adventure. It's better than I could have even hoped, and there are cinematic elements lying around all over the place. Dare we hope the novel gets a film treatment? For this reader, hope springs eternal...

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. After April 3 - less than fifteen days! - you can find DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Surveying Stories: Separating Fears and Identifying Heart's Desires in T. Kingfisher's SUMMER IN ORCUS

1. Don't worry about things that you cannot fix. 2. Antelope women are not to be trusted. 3. You cannot change essential nature with magic.

In the stressful days of last summer, Ursula Vernon, through the pen of T. Kingfisher, started a twice-weekly fantasy serial about an eleven-year-old girl. It was not, she informed her Patreons, for middle graders, despite the title character's age.

In time, the series became the highlight of a rather lackluster few months, and patrons hugely supported a Kickstarter to have it printed in hardback with illustrations by Lauren "Luve" Henderson. I chose to wait for the bound book to arrive, instead of finishing the serial, and frequently wondered exactly what in the conclusion of the book would prove it wasn't for middle graders... would it be Baba Yaga, and her scary dual nature as cranky grandmother type and periodic sales person carnivore? Would it be tragic Donkeyskin, or the frog tree? Could it be the deceit of Antelope Women everywhere? Or, the warlike legacy of Zultan Houndbreaker and the Queen-in-Chains? No - as Tech Boy and I read the finished copy, I reconfirmed that these are deliciously scary and delightfully fanciful elements which are a hook, drawing the reader onward.

So, where might the problem lie? In the journey.

As we've discussed before, middle school is an immense time of change and pressure, and in Summer's case, her main adversary in her journey to maturation is not her peers - they barely cause a blip in Summer's mind. It is instead her mother who is her adversary, jealous of her personal thoughts, encroaching on her personal space, and unable to allow her daughter a moment's peace without her smothering hopes and terrors, all in the name of love. Like a too-small pot causing roots to be knotted and unable to take in sufficient nutrients, Summer's mother isn't allowing her to grow.

Very few contemporary middle grade novels tackle the grinding, long-term phenomenon of the parental bullying/emotionally diminishing parent and the caretaker child (maybe the last one I read was by Cynthia Ryland in the 90's). This subject seems limited to YA readership, but for many children fulfilling the complex needs of a damaged parent begins in elementary school and morphs into something burdensome and strange well before high school. Summer's needy, hyperprotective mother and the journey which Summer undertakes into another world to find a similar issue isn't something every middle grader will be able to relate to, but the way the novel is written, with excitement and danger and wry humor, I believe that plenty of tweens will relate well enough not to be bored by Summer's fear, or the lack of major battle scene. SUMMER IN ORCUS is an excellent older middle grade novel with familiar tropes and portal novel elements. Summer's quest was to find her heart's desire... and in her search, we discover the desire of the hearts of most of us. With all that being said,

Let's survey a story!

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When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart’s desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy of Orcus lies a persistent darkness, and Summer finds herself hunted by the monstrous Houndbreaker, who serves the distant, mysterious Queen-in-Chains…

From the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of "Digger" and "Jackalope Wives" comes a story of adventure, betrayal, and heart's desire. T. Kingfisher, who writes for children as Ursula Vernon, weaves together a story of darkness, whimsy, hope and growing things, for all the adults still looking for a door to someplace else.

Baba Yaga is as ambiguous as she is terrifying. In Slavic folklore, she's almost seen as a trickster, at times being revered as a Crone of great wisdom and insight, and in other moments, an antagonistic threat parents use to frighten their children into submission. Baba Yaga might eat you. She might beat you about the head with her pestle. She might just pat you on the head, and go away. Really, you never know. The day Summer meets Baba Yaga is one of Baba's good days, according to the skull door knocker on her chicken-legged house...which speaks to anyone unwise enough to encounter Baba Yaga's door. Summer wisely checks the lay of the land via the skull - which proves to stand her in good stead later on.

Beginning a portal fantasy with the entrance of Baba Yaga is a clear signal to readers that chancy times are ahead - things could go perfectly well, and the story wind up with a significant HEA, or ... it could all go straight down the loo pretty much immediately, with lots of lumps and bruises from a well-wielded stone mortar. I loved that Baba Yaga both begins and ends this novel, which provides a perfectly satisfying story arc, and informs us that LIFE in the real world is just as chancy as a summer's day in Orcus... Baba Yaga introduces herself to Summer for the sole purpose, she says, of offering Summer her heart's desire. Summer doesn't go looking for this boon, nor does she ask for it, nor does she know what that could possibly be. And yet, when Baba Yaga offers you something... well, if you don't know if she'll suck your marrow or send you on your way, you take it... right? Or don't you? Summer's first lesson is quickly apparent, and repeats itself through the many traveling days, Be careful what you wish for.

Through the machinations of a lit candle and an opened door, Summer is plopped into another world without a map or much of a guide but a weasel in her pocket. Surprisingly, she does have instructions of a sort - three, guiding principles by which she must view life in Orcus... and possibly elsewhere. In the real world, we often encounter guiding principles framed by persons or institutions like churches, and if we're wise, we can understand and apply them. More often, in the high chaos and noise of the world we cannot and they're true things we remember after the fact, or which echo upon reading, but are soon forgotten. Summer mainly holds onto one of the rules, 1. Don't worry about things that you cannot fix. This serves her well both in Orcus and will when she's back home again.

As Summer is ostensibly in Orcus to locate her heart's desire, she is soon confused about why she has been sent to a land which has been once torn by war, and is now not quite healed and in so much need. How is it that human hearts are meant to find their truest voice in a world so filled with other things which are broken and leaking chaos and dying? With the addition of a nattily dressed gent called Reginald (of the Almondsgrove Hoopoes) and a splendid cottage wolf to their party, readers are reminded that the world isn't all bad, and that company along the road can make most things bearable.

The world is still broken, and grows darker - and this is where Kingfisher's novel may speak more to adults. Summer is still, in spite of everything, meant to be finding her heart's desire, as we often are called on to carry on with fixing things while on a personal level we're trying hard to shut out the noise and listen for ourselves. While it might be difficult for a tween to articulate, what we want, and who we want to be is at the beating centers of all of our hearts. The worst thing about having a mother like Summer's is that Summer cannot hear her own heart - she hears her mother's. She feels her mother's worries and frequent weeping fears. She bears her mother's burdens, and her grief. Summer has to deny her own self in favor of her mother, and it is a burden both unfair, unjust, and unwieldy. What Baba Yaga does for Summer in giving her Orcus, more than anything, is give her a time away from everything she has had to carry for so long, and lets her know that it has strengthened her enough to carry a cheese knife for someone else's sake. This resonated strongly with me.

This is where the magic lies -- in T. Kingfisher's book, and in all books which carry us away, in portal fantasy in particular, which allows us to believe that things could be different, if we opened the correct wardrobe, and in Orcus in specific, where Summer finally discovers that she can be all she thought she might be when she isn't bent double under an inheritance of anxiety and depression that isn't hers to own. Summer is, by Baba Yaga's observation, "dangerously ignorant," and it's not just of the world outside of her backgarden gate -- Summer is dangerously ignorant of herself. But, it's not wholly her fault - unless she refuses to do the work of looking within to know herself. This is subtly conveyed throughout the story - Summer makes several mistakes from sheer innocence, and it nearly costs her her life in the end - but after every flub, she learns to listen to herself, to hear, and to act on her own advice. At journey's end, you cannot imagine that Summer is still the same innocent, "sweet summer child," as it were. She Knows Things. She knows herself a little better. And that cannot help but change her, for the better.

In the larger world, family is imperfect - and entangled familial relationships often a burden, to be blunt. Our world is messy, dying, and packed full of the deceitful and unkind. And yet, the journey to find one's heart's desire can still be an adventure worth taking. The act of saving one tiny part of the dying world is still an action worth taking. One frog tree, alive and well, is worth all the bruises and terror, and deceptive antelope women in the world.

Afterward, when all has been said and done, Baba Yaga is there to grant you entrance back into the world from which you came - with its insults and burdens, and deceptions and degenerations. You are home. You may not have your cheese knife, but you can manage the battles in the real world, the battles between someone else's concerns, and the ones which concern you. And knowing that, more than anything, is the summation of any heart's desire, middle grader or adult.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of a Kickstarter purchase. You can find T. Kingfisher's SUMMER IN ORCUS in ebook form on Amazon, possibly in print via Sofawolf Press or as a freebie read on the Red Wombat Studio website. Enjoy.

Turning Pages Reads: THE RADICAL ELEMENT, edited by JESSICA SPOTSWOOD

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Women who persist aren't a recent innovation. A history of intolerance, which led to insistent female resistance is not an uniquely American story, but one which nonetheless has heralded seismic shifts within our national history. After the success of A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS, editor Jessica Spotswood brings together twelve new tales of women who were upstarts and outsiders. From the 1830's through the 1980's, these stories, some based on actual events, others fictionalized accounts of historical periods, regale readers with young women who stood up and out as radically different, and in doing so, changed the way the world related to them. Contributors to this collection include young adult authors Jessica Spotswood, who also edited; Dahlia Adler, Mackenzi Lee, Erin Bowman, Megan Shepherd, Anne-Marie McLemore, Marieke Nijkamp, Dhonielle Clayton, Sarvenaz Tash, Stacey Lee, Meg Medina, and Sara Farizan.

Observations: Claiming an identity -- stepping outside of the role and voice assigned -- can be uncomfortable and awkward, intimidating, to downright dangerous and life-threatening. Without a clear idea of how things will end, each of the young women depicted in these stories sets out on a personal journey -- whether its to use her brown hands in the service of her country, when only paler hands are sought, or to make her escape from abuse, or to take her chances in a traditionally masculine world, playing a man's role. Readers will pause thoughtfully to discover these nuanced angles of history -- taking readers out of the realm of mere nostalgia into the realities of the difficulties and challenges of history through the voices of the traditionally excluded and silenced.

The women's outsider status is significant, as most of these voices are from women in the margins, due to issues of race, religion, sexuality, disability, gender, or professional desire. I appreciated the voices from early in our national history into more recent times. Some of my favorites were the story of the young Jewess, longs to study the Torah, and the Mormon girl who tries to find ties between her new country, and her faith. A Latina drains herself of pigment with the family's magic to bleach herself into the faded shades acceptable for silent films, while brilliant and neurodivergent young woman keenly watches court proceedings to determine the reproductive rights of the mentally unfit. Elsewhere, a half-Japanese girl braves 1950's xenophobia to compete to be the next Miss Sugar, while a young Cuban dons her first pair of go-go boots. The perspectives are fresh, the stories are original, and the anthology is a joy to read.

Conclusion: If you're not a short story aficionado, I think there's still plenty in this novel which will appeal. There's room to read and hop around, and then return to longer stories from time periods which you may not believe will hold your interest. You will be surprised!

In the editor's note, Spotswood outlines the purpose of this collection, and her wish that readers will be able to find themselves within these pages. Even as not a particularly radical individual, I found myself in the bravery and dauntlessness of these heroines, and I believe this book will work well for older middle graders, young adults, and adult readers.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley. After March 13, 2018, you'll find THE RADICAL ELEMENT edited by Jessica Spotswood at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Cybils SpecFic Bookmark: THE EPIC CRUSH OF GENIE LO, by F.C. YEE

The Cybils Speculative Fiction Bookmark:

As a panelist for Cybils YA Speculative Fiction, Round 1, I'm going to be briefly writing up some of the hundreds of book I read as part of the award. As panelist conclusions are not for public consumption, the purpose of these write-ups is to keep track of what I'm reading, and will mostly touch on plot synopsis, with minimal comments on thematic tropes.

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Synopsis: Eugenia "Genie" Lo - one of way too many Eugenias of her generation - has always been a bit of a firebrand. Unlike her fashionable friend Yunie - another Chinese Eugenia - Genie finds her center in her homework - which she does routinely, expertly and superbly - and in ignoring her mother's ranting, which she also does like a boss, because her mother is always screaming about something. A Bay Area kid living in the SiliValley, she also bitterly acknowledges that she's just like most of the hordes of teens living in the land asphalt, parking lots, bubble tea shops and strip mall nail salons: she's an education junkie. She's high-achieving. She's Asian. She's desperate to get out of the reach of her mother's voice, and into A Good School. Princeton, for preference, or even Harvard. So, when this weird new guy at school scopes her out and says, "You belong to me...?" Oh, nu-uh. Nope. Not in this lifetime. Genie Lo has way too many other plans - mainly to work on not being just like her father and to get the heck out of dodge.

But Quentin Sun - new guy - is not prepared to leave Genie alone, and soon, Genie realizes she needs him - and not just because he's ridiculously good looking. Quentin is all Genie has to teach her what she needs to know to save the world... and soon it's time to school herself on perfecting a whole new set of skills -- those of demon fighting. Genie's pretty sure she can't do it, but Quentin Sun is only an international transfer student in Earth's realm... in the Heavenly Realm of the Jade Emperor, he's the Monkey King, down to the love of peaches and the fuzzy tail. ...And Genie? Well, she's a reincarnated sidekick of his. Quentin's convinced that he and Genie's shared power will be enough to answer the rash of demon incursions on Earth - and into the Bay Area. They're terrifyingly strong and flesh-eating, and it's crucial Genie gets on board with the plan before more people - human people on the earth plane - are brutally murdered and eaten. But, what about being on track for an Ivy League? What about all of her plans? Right now, Genie's got a lot of studying to do - about everything, including the world as she once believed it to be - and there's not enough time...

Observations: Many YA readers were first introduced to this oldest and greatest of Chinese fables, the story of the Monkey King, in Gene Luen Yang's AMERICAN BORN CHINESE. The adventures of the Monkey King in that book are myriad and surreal. Author F.C. Yee renders these same surreal battles between "the good guys" and the demons through the eyes of one of the newest good guys - a sarcastic, short-tempered California teen who just wants to get on with things so she can polish up her college entry essays and go back to crushing her opponents on the volleyball court.

Readers seeking the trope of the "strong female character" will find a lot more than they bargained for here. Genie is strong both physically and mentally, and by meeting these characters from Chinese myth, she is learning to be strong spiritually. There is a lot of humor and snark which will appeal to many teens, and a lot of exploration of the various roles of Bodhisattva, gods, and monsters in the Buddhist pantheon, which also makes this an unique foray into the mythological and folktale history of Chinese literature.

Conclusion: This novel is written cinematically, in that readers may be able to envision each chapter as a television episode along the lines of THE MIDDLEMAN or a comic book. The colorful descriptions and sharp-edged snark combined with completely surreal demons and monsters make this a fast-paced, quick read which engages the attention and doesn't let it go.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find THE EPIC CRUSH OF GENIE LO by F.C. Yee at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: LITTLE MONSTERS by Kara Thomas

Synopsis: Kacey Young has only been living with her dad and stepfamily for a year or so, after escaping from an unpleasant home life with her mother. Things are still delicately balanced, but it feels like she's finally found a real home—her stepbrother Andrew has become one of her best friends, and she's finally won over her 13-year-old half-sister Lauren.

Kacey's friends, though, are another matter entirely. At the beginning of the book, it seems like Kacey, Bailey, and Jade have become an inseparable trio, even if Bailey's always suggesting ways for them to get into trouble in their small Wisconsin town. Kacey goes along with it—even if she'd rather not, sometimes. And that's where we see the cracks start to form in their seemingly perfect unit. One night, Bailey and Jade go to a raging party without inviting Kacey along…but Bailey never comes home afterward.

In this page-turning thriller, everyone's got something to hide—and the person who's got the most to hide is sometimes the one you least suspect.

Observations: As with a lot of my reviews of suspense novels, I've tried to keep this one brief to avoid spoilers. But I can say a few things! One of the intriguing structural choices for this story was the decision to alternate sections from Kacey's first-person viewpoint with diary excerpts from another character's point of view. This sets up an immediate opposition and tension, with the reader wondering who's hiding what, and who they can really trust as a narrator. It kept me sort of suspicious of everyone until the last few chapters. In a way, that distanced me from Kacey as the primary narrator of the story, but not so much that I didn't want to keep following along.

The fact that all the major players DO have something to hide makes this an intriguing and gripping story—obviously, in a good whodunit, lots of possible motives are at play, and if they're woven in well, it keeps the reader guessing. And in this one, Kacey's murky past keeps her right in the center of things, including the suspicions of everyone around her.

Conclusion: I often turn to a good thriller when I'm looking for a fast read that's immersive and emotionally tense, to distract me from stress and busy-ness. This fit the bill perfectly and, as a fun bonus, there's a mixed-race Asian American character! (Though his identity was not really explored in the story. Pretty sure it would be a THING in a small town. Oh well.) Recommended for suspense fans.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find LITTLE MONSTERS by Kara Thomas at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: YOU BRING THE DISTANT NEAR by MITALI PERKINS

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

It is the best of times... it is the worst of times. It is the time of unremitting nonsense. It is the time of sobering reality. It is a time of despair, it is a time for hope. Which means it's a perfect time for this gorgeous, gorgeous book.

Synopsis: Bengali sisters Tara and Sonia Das both want different things - Tara, to finally fit in to her place, Sonia, to have a moment -- a moment -- to herself to breathe, and write and think. With the help of their indulgent father and traditional mother, Tara fulfills her need to blend, first in London, then in the U.S. by calling on her vivid acting skills to inhabit and embody someone else. Sonia escapes to the fire escape with her notebook. Each girl's way of coping and acclimating to being an immigrant means stepping away from what they knew in London, and becoming someone new, even as they defend, in each other, what makes them who they are. Tara relies on her acting skills, as Sonia loses herself in her gifted classes. Family, even one as closely knit as the immigrant Das family has to be, is a sometimes fragile boat, and the expectations and stresses of the desire for a "good life" begin to feel like they're going to swamp it -- but finally as things work out, life in America seems sweeter. They finally live out their nicknames of "Sunny and Star" and have learned from living in Flatbush, have gained experiences and lost prejudices and gone where their parents cannot follow. Meanwhile, after tough times, their parents experience a renewal of their love - and Dad receives the promotion of which he spoke. The family ship remains upright and watertight -- and then, capsizes.

As Sonia and Tara leave home, each trying to rediscover her equilibrium, college brings more challenges and changes. There, they still grapple with who they are, and how they present themselves as both South Asians and Americans, as young woman and feminists. Each girls takes a a different track, which leads them into vastly different directions - one to small stages, then larger ones, then finally, to Mumbai; one straight back to Flatbush. Generations follow, each looking at their culture, language, and traditions with different eyes. When we are old, and when we are young, we are still challenged by how the world sees us, and must grapple with the questions of who we are, and who we want to be. What do we keep, that our families give us? What do we let fade away? What do we change to better suit ourselves? These are the heartfelt, crucial questions and observations the reader is confronted with, through three generations of shared sisterhood, culture, faith, and friendships.

Observations: With a shiny four starred reviews so far, we're very, very pleased to have had a chance to read and review our friend Mitali Perkins' latest book. (Also, Tanita is SUPER STOKED to have won it in a Goodreads giveaway - because THAT NEVER HAPPENS.) The beauty of having a hard copy of this book is the ability to pass it on. It could be given to a young adult -- but also to an older reader; the generational saga is beautifully inclusive. The jacket copy of this book uses the word "timeless," and though the eras and continents are distinctly laid out on the page, there is an element of "everyone"-ness that could make this story about any time, any lineage of women in any culture. It's a gifted rendering of what could be a very personal story - because there seem to be hints of autobiographical storytelling included - into something deeply universal.

I got choked up, laughed aloud, and became vexed with and for various characters at various times. Many teens will relate, both biracial and not -- to feeling pressure from family matriarchs who want their grand babies to be juuuust like them, despite the passage of time and eras. Questions of what beauty is, what womanhood means in feminist contexts and who best embodies these roles are things which the young and old women in this book encounter repeatedly. When Chantal's grandmothers join forces, they become TRULY their best selves. When the American cousin and the Mumbai cousins stop trying to change each other into being more or less immigrant or American, and truly see each other as they are - both, - the Das family remains unstoppable - strong, beautiful, and full of love that radiates to the world. Nosy aunties, scolding mothers, tsking uncles; Catholics, Hindus, atheists and all -- you'll want three generations of Das women to be your family, too.

Conclusion: This, more than anything, is a love story. How we love our sisters. How we love our families. How we love our cultures. How we hold each - and ourselves - lovingly, to a standard that says, 'we must improve. We must expand. We must be better than we were.' This is a love story about how we love those who are like us, and can come to loves those who are unlike us. It is a love story to hope, and the belief that, though we came from some distant then, now that we are here, we can choose to bring the old into the new, and love will ground and equal out the equation. We each of us inherits prejudices and circumstances; through our generations, we each can choose to leave those behind, and walk into a new world.

And I cannot articulate to you just how much I needed to have this book in my hand today.

It is lyrical, poetically beautiful writing, with realistic teen voices. It is a feminist book, about equal rights and inclusiveness without feeling like you're being schooled. Full stop: this is just a really great book, and I hope you have a chance to pick it up. It's worth it.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the Goodreads Giveaway. You can find YOU BRING THE DISTANT NEAR by Mitali Perkins at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: ONCE AND FOR ALL by Sarah Dessen

Synopsis: Sarah Dessen writes books that make wonderful summer reads, and by that, I don't mean they're "beach books" or chick lit. Rather, they have a dreamlike and immersive quality, delving deeply into relationships and emotions that might otherwise remain fleeting and obscure. They bring us, the readers, out of ourselves, and into someone else's life—into some perhaps relatively brief but still critical defining moment. They are in some ways "quiet" stories, but thought about another way, a moment that defines us is never really quiet. It takes up psychic space and causes internal noise.

In Dessen's latest novel, Once and for All, narrator Louna is in her last summer before starting college, and she's trying to stay busy enough to keep her internal noise at bay. She works for her mother's wedding planner business, along with her mother's best friend William. William serves as a father figure for Louna, since Louna's own father died when she was too young to remember him. Being exposed to the nitty-gritty behind-the-scenes chaos of weddings week after week has given Louna a cynical outlook on love and romance. What's more, her own first love the preceding fall came to a shocking and devastating end, and she's not ready to try again.

Still, life sometimes presents us with opportunities when we least expect them—and in ways we might not immediately recognize. When handsome but incredibly cheeky and annoying Ambrose begins working for her mother over the summer, she sees him as a disruption to her routine. But his laid-back, seemingly careless outlook on life is intriguing, and she realizes that taking a few chances might be just what she needs to move on from her past.

Observations: I always end up reading Sarah Dessen books with no small amount of wistfulness. Her characters seem to have a lot more freedom than I had as a teenager, even an older teenager—an adult sort of freedom that allows them to roam with few consequences, to take part in the working world, to have experiences that I didn't have until I was in college and living on my own.

And yet, what seems like freedom from my perspective is often just a different type of entrapment to her characters. We might envy Louna's ability to party until all hours with her best friend and date with impunity (and certainly, she seems to be 18 and technically an adult, so it isn't out of the realm of believability), but at the same time, sometimes freedom just leads to us making our own traps for ourselves. Like Louna, we can voluntarily put on blinders, making it hard to realize that what we think we are searching for is not what we really need.

Conclusion: Fans of Sarah Dessen will eat up this latest novel, and anyone who is a fan of realistic romance fiction and/or family and coming-of-age stories will want to check this one out, too. It would also make a good crossover or new adult book, due to the age of the protagonist.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find Once and for All by Sarah Dessen at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: ROLLER GIRL by Victoria Jamieson

Synopsis: As Tanita and I have observed on multiple occasions, it's hard to write up a review of a book knowing that all you want to do is gush about it. That's how I feel having (finally) read Roller Girl, a delightful middle grade graphic novel by Victoria Jamieson. Not only was it a Newbery Honor Book, it was also a 2015 Cybils Award Winner, so I knew I had a good chance of enjoying it. Turns out I also want to hug it. Also, how much do I wish roller derby had been a thing (or, anyway, a reasonably popular thing) while I was growing up? It would've been better than hanging out at the roller rink, skating in circles, and hoping cute guys from my school would randomly talk to me.

My parents would almost certainly have put the kibosh on it, though—unlike Astrid's mom, who is the one to suggest they check out a derby bout in the first place. The amazing jammer Rainbow Bite (I LOVE EVERYONE'S DERBY NAMES) quickly becomes Astrid's hero, so when her mom suggests summer roller derby camp, Astrid is so there. Unfortunately, there's just one thing making it less awesome than she'd hoped—the fact that she's a total beginner and can barely skate. Okay, maybe two things—her best friend Nicole, instead of going to derby camp with her, wants to go to ballet camp instead…with her new friend Rachel, who Astrid can't stand.

Observations: Astrid is twelve, and this book is a perfect portrayal of the changes and realizations that happen when you're twelve. Astrid is figuring out who she is, and so is Nicole, but that also involves coming to terms with the fact that you aren't exactly alike and might have different interests. Whether or not that's a deal-breaker for the entire friendship is something that has to be muddled through sometimes. Astrid's story shows the ups and downs of friendship—and of learning a new sport—with humor, heart, and pitch-perfect art. If and when I ever write and illustrate my own graphic novel, this is one I'd love to emulate and learn from.

click to embiggen

I also got a kick out of the inside look at roller derby in Portland. I have friends who have done roller derby (props to Malice Sanchez of the DC Rollergirls' Majority Whips!), and I even have a friend who is IN OREGON (not Portland, though) who is a derby referee. Thanks to this book, though, I have a much better understanding of what is actually happening, not to mention a realization that I probably wouldn't be able to channel sufficient aggro to ever be good at it. Plus our local derby team wears way too much pink. But it sure was fun to read about.

Conclusion: I can't resist saying that this is one "jammin'" adventure that will "roll" right into your heart. (Derby puns! You're welcome.)

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I received my copy of this book thanks to a kindly gift. You can find ROLLER GIRL by Victoria Jamieson at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

SURVEYING STORIES: The Personal & Political in Rita Williams-Garcia's ONE CRAZY SUMMER trilogy

Middle grade books can run a broad gamut from stories of dead dogs to bridesmaids to adventures on scouting trips. There can be romances, or not, ghosts or not, fear of the dark, braces, or spiders - or not. Middle grade is a great, transitional time. In recent years, there have been a few books about voting for class presidents and such, as tween transition into older, more political thinkers, but I haven't seen as much writing about politics outside of the classroom. In these very odd times, however, I can imagine that's coming. Ask the kid who refused the photo-op with Paul Ryan. "We're not brainwashed," said Jordan McCray-Robinson. "We live in the real world." And indeed, she and her fellow classmates may not know all the issues, but they're old enough to have the outline. Old enough, when paying attention, to have an opinion.

Eleven year old Delphine, at the beginning of this series, is fairly indifferent to the news - it's something Big Ma watches, it's part of the stream-of-consciousness "fussing" with which Big Ma fills the air - with her opinions, prayers, and criticism of the world at large. The personal in this book is immediate -- there are details real and specific only to black people, black girls, black families, in the 1960's or otherwise. Williams-Garcia does not include a glossary, nor does she explain them all. These things are personal to her, as a writer, as a woman who grew up in a black family, and personal to some black people. However, unlike the personal issues of "country" relatives, hot combs, and free breakfast, there are universal themes, too, like bickering siblings, a critical grandparent, and a missing parents. Both the personal and the political stand tall in all three of Rita Williams-Garcia's books, giving writers and readers alike the vocabulary and the scope to enable them to look at their world against a push and pull of different background. This is an occasional series which proposes to study these elements in children and young adult fiction from a writer's perspective.

Let's survey a story!

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    "Does anyone know another word for the earth's constant spinning?"

    That was how I knew Sister Mukumbu was a real teacher, aside from her welcoming smile and her blackboard penmanship.She asked a teacher's type of question. The kind that says: Join in.

    Thanks to my time spent with Merriam Webster, I had a few words in mind. Rotating. Orbiting. Turning. Circling. I wanted to join in, but I felt silly, being one of the older kids. Not as silly as Hirohito spinning around, but too old to wave my hand frantically as all the younger kids around me were doing...

    When one of the kids called out "Revolving," Sister Mukumbu clapped her hands. Her bangles jingled. "Yes! All of your words are right, but 'revolving' is right on!"

    ...Sister Mukumbu said, "Revolving. Revolution. Revolutionary. Constant turning. Making things change." - ONE CRAZY SUMMER, Williams-Garcia, p. 71-2

It's hard to think of politics, for some, in terms of children. It's harder for some with privilege to imagine the worlds of childhood as a microcosm of the larger world, but in many ways, it is. What kids hear at home plays out, full script, at times on the playground. The power dynamics, and the beliefs which parents might never have articulated are observed and displayed. The issues which with we grapple (or don't) at home are largely the issues which we explore or neglect in the public sphere. ONE CRAZY SUMMER introduces us to Delphine, Vonetta and Fern, and tells the story of the summer they spent in Oakland with their poet mother, who didn't want to be a parent, hadn't sent for them, and wasn't fussed about feeding them or keeping much track of them, really. Through trial and error - and a whole lot of bossiness on Delphine's part, the girls are herded through the summer, and develop the sprouts of a relationship with their mother. This book was praised for showing a particular facet of a lived experience of some black children in the sixties, contrasted against the swirling of political unrest, the Black Power movement, and the larger story of the Black Panthers of the 1960's. In this first of the trilogy, black families are revealed as both familiar and new, dimensional, and real, and the Panthers are seen less as solely paramilitary protestors, but as teachers and social workers, reminding some of a forgotten piece of their history.

P.S. BE ELEVEN might have seemed, on the surface, less political. After the girls return home for the school year, they're immersed in the business of school, and home. Delphine faces major changes in her classroom, but learns the worth of a "Malcolm X Muslim" student in her classroom. The girls bear up under more of their endless grandmother's fussing, and must make peace with their father getting a girlfriend, and marrying her. Delphine's letters to her mother are filled, not with a little girl's thoughts, but with a growing young woman's questions. I love that her mother's constant refrain is Be Eleven. Be who you are, and where you are, right now. This is, of course, hard for an eleven-year-old to hear.

A more personal political exploration came from Uncle Darnell's storyline. Uncle Darnell, who, since being back from Vietnam, was sleepy-eyed and always sniffling. Uncle Darnell, whose dimpled never showed anymore, and whose protective, uncle ways changed dramatically. Though my story was ten years after this one - the war lasted so long - I was Fern's age with a beloved uncle home from Vietnam, and I remember vast and bitter disappointments of broken promises and zoo trips that never happened. I suspect that children in this generation who are losing beloved family to alcohol and opiates and PTSD in this endless state of war that we're in, might weep in recognition. Though many people expect a second book in a trilogy to be a place-holder or filler, P.S. BE ELEVEN, with its secondary theme of enabling and independence, has a poignancy that once again brought the struggles of families of color - and really, families of any kind - who have stepmothers, on-again-off-again best friends, and the vicious claws of addiction dug into them into painful clarity.

    Turning eight hadn't grown Fern any taller. It had just made her mouthy.

    "Where's my watch?" she repeated.

    "Safe in my drawer, where you won't lose it."

    "Well, I want it," Fern said. "And you can't keep it from me. If you don't cough it up, I'll tell Mrs."

    I shrugged. "Tell Mrs."

    "I'll tell her, and she'll tell you --"

    Then Vonetta, her ally, cleared her throat, fluttered her eyelashes, and finished ina voice as close to our stepmother's as she could mimic, "Delphine. Your sister is capable of wearing a watch." Capable was one of Mrs.'s words. She used it against me to make me stop helping my sisters. Vonetta is capable of doing her own hair Then Vonetta burned her ears with the hot comb, and who had to rub Vaseline on burned ears and finish pulling the hot comb through Vonetta's thick, thick head? Not Mrs.

    "Fine," I told them both. "And when you lose your watch, don't come crying to me."- GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA, Williams-Garcia, p. 4

As the little sisters grow up, they begin to slip from Delphine's grip. Naturally, Delphine has gotten tired of gripping them - she expressed this in ONE CRAZY SUMMER, when she doesn't break up a fight between her sisters, preferring instead to take the tongue-lashing when her mother has to leave the sanctuary of the kitchen to deal with it, but once you become accustomed to being the one in charge, that position of First has a little you-shaped divot. Now that her father has married Mrs., Delphine is being required to walk back the need to finish all the sentences, do for three little girls and learn to worry about just herself - otherwise she's finding herself cast in the role of the oppressor, trying to keep her sisters down, in Mrs.'s way of thinking. Since Big Ma has moved back to Alabama, and they're spending the summer with she, and Ma Charles and Ma Charles' sister across the creek, Delphine, Vonnetta, and Fern are also having to come to grips with Uncle Darnnell - and Delphine tries to force forgiveness from her sister. As the personal moves to the political, Delphine's eyes are opened to the difference between Oakland, Brooklyn, and small-town Alabama when the Sheriff is both a cousin and a white man, and when an emergency and a hospital stay brings up that "same old story" that both Papa and their cousin JimmyTrotter are familiar with - boundaries, walls, and obstacles put in the road these characters must walk. Racial prejudice, which itself accompanies each book, takes a new form as the girls learn versions of their family history, and how knots in the ties that bind them have also served as ropes keeping her great-grandmother and her sister apart. The history explored in this novel will likely encourage readers to dig into their own pasts for weird little quirks, big family secrets, and places where history intersected with lived experiences.

Multiple layers of emotively personal and political history combine to braid together a narrative that is satisfyingly broad, yet very individually real. I cried tears of rage, grief, and laughter reading these books. Rita Williams-Garcia is a masterful storyteller.

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I received my copies of these book courtesy of the Benicia Public Library. You can find ONE CRAZY SUMMER, P.S. BE ELEVEN, and GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA, by the inestimable Rita Williams-Garcia at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: THE OTHER F-WORD, by NATASHA FRIEND

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

I need to get every single one of the books this person has read, so I can bask in the sarcasm and snark of the dialogue. I really enjoyed all the 'feels' I had reading this book, and can practically guarantee that you will, too.

Synopsis: Milo lives with his two mothers, Frankie and Suzanne. Milo's had it kind of rough. He's skinny with wild, curly hair, and he's never quite fit into the world of junior high. In part, it's because Milo has catastrophic allergies -- peanuts, melons, tomatoes, coconut, gluten, wheat, dairy -- sooo many things. He's so tired of the EpiPen and the drama attached to every meal eaten away from home. He'd just like a piece of pizza, just once, hold the drama. He wishes desperately that he knew his sperm donor - not just as someone to figure out where the allergies are coming from, but sometimes... sometimes he'd just like someone else to talk to. About his life. And so, he contacts a girl he met when he was six -- who shared the same sperm donor, Hollis.

Hollis lives with her single mother - though once she had two. Pam died of cancer when she was in the second grade, and her remaining mother has been weird ever since. She cried for years, and drank wine. And now she's in the phase of talking to Pam's picture. She carries one with her. Hollis' mother seems not to notice that her wild-haired, Goth-influenced, tongue-pierced daughter isn't exactly thrilled about how her mother interacts with Pam's memory. Unfortunately, Hollis' mother doesn't seem to notice how conflicted Hollis is about everything. She's decided that... Pam would want Hollis to talk to Milo. That Pam would want Hollis to go and meet Milo in person. Hollis would like to call BS on the whole thing. This isn't about Pam! This is about Hollis, and she's ...snarky and angry and really, really, really wishes that she'd gotten to say goodbye to Pam when she died. But, a nurse's prejudice against a lesbian family and Hollis being only seven had worked against them. And there's more -- but Hollis isn't telling.

When Hollis and Milo meet - and soon find more children of this same sperm donor, through a website aimed at connecting donor progeny with their donors, it's amazing. FaceTiming and texting each other is great. Finding a group of people roughly the same age who have so much in common -- from looks to quirks to skills is like finding more ready-made family. There is an ease and joyousness to their interactions. And then, through Milo's research, and his weird friend JJ's persistent assistance, they find their sperm donor, #9677. Suddenly, Milo, Hollis, and their siblings are confronted with a real person -- and the other f-word... the father word. Are they ready for him? Is he ready for them?

Observations: This is an ensemble novel, which is narrated by turns, so it may take some readers time to find their feet. Hollis is an acquired taste - she holds grudges, is mean to her mother, and is basically you on a bad day, which may cause the more judgmental among us to hold back from her. Keep reading. This novel delves into the topic of in-vitro fertilization, bullying, friendship, and family. There is mild drinking and drug from some characters. The novel delves into sexual diversity in that two sets of parents are lesbian. Though JJ's adoptive parents are Jewish, there isn't much ethnic diversity in the novel, except for a stock character Latina maid.

This is a novel written by someone who knows the craft well. There is snark and sideways humor and geeky, cheesy parents and anxious, stressed, helicoptering parents. There is grieving and finding joy again, making out and deciding to stop. There is numbing of emotion, and letting oneself feel -- even feel fear and pain that goes with that feeling. There is an ending which is so perfect that I want to hug it and pet it a bit. It is spontaneous and joyful, and full of possibilities -- for both utter disappointment and terrifying happiness.

Conclusion: This is a great book - original, heartfelt, funny, sweet, and real. I wish I'd written it. Barring that wish coming true, I can at least press it firmly into the hands of every reader I know. ENJOY IT.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publishing company You can find THE OTHER F-WORD by Natasha Friend at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: GOD SMITES AND OTHER MUSLIM GIRL PROBLEMS by ISHARA DEEN

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

While I've been pretty quiet lately (apologies, all: packing to move is no joke), I am still reading! I heard about this book from Sarah at SmartB's, and her enthusiasm for the book was catching! After the words "Nancy Drew" and "Muslim" were uttered together, I bought it immediately. I am urging all of you to buy it so I can get the sequel!!!! Reader be advised: while there's not a cliffhanger, and this "episode" is finished, there are loose ends which are effectively left untied; you'll find yourself feening for the next book, too!

Synopsis: Asiya Haque is a Bengali Canadian daughter, a student, a volunteer, a girl with a crush... and a faithful Muslim, which means the crush and the daughter part are kind of at odds. Being alone with boys is not a part of Asiya's life, attending after school activities in mixed company is not a part of Asiya's life, and her mother worries so much that Asiya is improperly supervised that she is reluctant to allow Asiya to volunteer at a local nature conservancy. Asiya's hard-won freedoms comes only for the sake of the Prize: University. Mrs. Haque believes strongly in education for women, and so Asiya has an unexpected opportunity - which leads her to run into her crush, Michael. Asiya, though she often pushes back against her mother, believes in what the Prophet says - she knows that boys are at the very least risky. Yet, she's also not sure she's going to burst into some sort of sexual behavior, so while she tells Michael that this isn't something her parents allow, she allows him to stick around, though she keeps a good three feet between them as they walk. When their impromptu race has Asiya stumbling across a dead body, Michael makes sure she her part is never reported. Asiya goes back to work, with no one the wiser that she was both alone with a boy and a dead body.

That is, until the police show up at school the next day... asking about Michael, and Michael is nowhere to be found.

This is serious - the Prophet teaches that it's Asiya's duty to help those in trouble. Can Asiya, in all honesty, not tell what she knows? ...even if it looks like she's implicating her crush?

Observations: My parents pretty much gave me the same talk about Satan being the third party with me and any boy alone together, So. Many. Times. I got that talk in variously oblique or direct ways, so I laughed out loud when I realized this same talk was Asiya's mother's go-to lecture. Asiya's parents are mine from another mother.

Conservative parents, who are strict for reasons of faith aren't often written about in YA lit in the same ways - because rebellion has higher stakes, potentially, than just being grounded or something. Loss of place within a family, loss of respect within the ethnic community - and possibly loss of place within one's religious organization. I related a lot to trying to figure out how to honor my parents while also not living my life as an exact pattern of theirs. It takes a lot more respectful dissent than you'd expect -- and the novel spends a good deal of time balancing that push-pull. Despite that, rather than this light mystery just being one long argument, which is what my teen years (and let's not lie, into college) felt like, this book is VERY funny. I appreciated that more than I expected. People expect religious communities to be humorless, and Muslims, especially, are within Western cultures misunderstood and feared. All people laugh - and you'll laugh, too, visiting the mind of Asiya Haque.

Conclusion: This book was mentioned as "Nancy Drew, but not," and while I don't think the mystery part of the novel drives the narrative, I like that Asiya wanted to know something, so she made it her business to find out. Her investigative skills were never greenlighted by anyone, especially her parents, but she kept asking questions anyway until they were answered to her satisfaction -- because she had to answer to her own conscience and ideas of faith. This was a lightweight book in some ways, but it had a lot to ponder and was such a delightful way to write about a teen character with a faith tradition - not making fun of the faith, but shining a light on the people of faith, with humor and heart. Religious people - even those in the Muslim faith - are not a monolith, and I appreciate that Asiya and her parents had different expressions of the same faith. I look forward to this sequel.

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I purchased my copy of this book. You can find GOD SMITES, AND OTHER MUSLIM GIRL PROBLEMS by Ishara Deen at an online e-tailer or independent bookstore near you.

Turning Pages Reads: HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD, edited by KELLY JENSEN

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

It took me a while to get to this review, not because I didn't read the book, but because I didn't want to finish it. This anthology took forever to read, as I delayed the ending, but I knew it didn't matter - because I will be reading some of these essays and cartoons and lists gain and again.

Synopsis: To me, this book is about identity, and how we live it out in our individual ways. The book is divided into Beginning the Journey, Bodies & Minds, Gender & Sexuality, Pop Culture, Relationships, Confidence & Ambition, and finally concludes with Go Your Own Way, which touches on the many ways people can be feminists. Each section has between 8 - 15 essays, cartoons, lists, glossaries, illustrations, songs, or doodles on the subject, written by people of various identities and abilities. Readers feel welcomed into the book from any direction. I started out reading from the front cover, and then flipped to a cartoon, circled back to another essay, and then read specific essays on various topics after that. Eventually, I made my way through everything.

Observations: Feminism is a concept which, when one is familiar with a world which lacks intersectionality, one does not necessarily expect to find oneself. To be blunt: I didn't really think this book was for me. Full disclosure: I've met and quite like the editor, I've met some of the poets and artists and essayists, but... Feminism. It's not an identity I've had time to explore.

As a woman of color, feminism seemed like unto yoga: something a lot of white women get into seriously and give side-eye at other people for not quite belonging. As a person raised in faith and wrestling with relating a tradition-bound religious patriarchy to an allegedly loving and equality creating Divinity, feminism seemed like something both too deep and too complicated to add to the mix. And yet: shouldn't anyone who believes in human equality be feminist? I realized I wasn't quite sure anymore what feminism was supposed to be... and I thought this book would be perfect since it's aimed at teens, and I know that books for younger readers often help adult readers get a grip on a concept. I sat down and tried to read with an open mind.

Almost at once, I found a few favorite pieces which spoke to my heart, among them Lisa Prince's So I Guess This Is Growing Up, about her struggles with being a misogynist to becoming feminist; Kaye Mirza's Faith and the Feminist ("As long as I practice my faith, to many, I am nothing but a secondhand feminist."); the beautifully drawn, The Princess and the Witch by Wendy Xu; Ashley Hope Pérez's The "Nice Girl" Feminist, and 5 Tips for "Nice Girl" Feminists. It was like seeing a pair of signal flags waving from the runway saying, "Your Spot Right Here." There's this feeling of, "Oh! Huh," when you find your tribe and didn't expect it.

Conclusion: This book is something which should simply be experienced. I'm not big on gushing, especially about books done by friends. I try to be objective and restrained. But, I just think this book is worth buying - for anyone. For everyone. I can't be more objective than that. The little arrows on the front that say "Here We Are" are for you, too. You're Here. We all are - and it's a surprise and a hopeful little blessing.

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I purchased my copy of this book. You can find HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD edited by Kelly Jensen, at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!