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: CALLING MY NAME by LIARA TAMANI

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Taja Brown lives to the left of the buckle of the Bible Belt with her parents, annoying little sister, and vexing older brother, and from early days, she knows what's expected from a good Southern Baptist black girl: be good, keep up your grades, get to church, and don't shame your family. God - the Almighty - is faceless but speaks in the voice of her mother and father, so Taja also knows his requirements - stay out of other people's beds until you're married. But Taja as a budding young woman isn't the same as Taja as a parent-mimicking child. She's watching her athletic sister take her place on the track team, and feeling loss. She's watching her older brother swan off to college, and freedom, and feeling a loss there. She's sensing the wider world, and wondering about what she's been taught -- does church attendance really equal goodness, and planting begonias on a Sunday morning really mean hell? For everyone? Who is really "good?" Taja wrestles with these disquieting voices while still trash-talking the "hos" at church, openly, righteously critical of unmarried girls with babies and classmates who let more than one by kiss them... but after finding out for herself that kisses can take her brain to a faraway place, Taja is beginning to doubt that she's so immune. Her older brother, Damon, has been around the block a time or two, and the way he deals with the girls he's done with is scandalous. Taja hates how he uses and discards sexual partners. She doesn't want to be the girl who's discarded, but she wants... so much of everything. There's life out there, color and wildness and experiences outside of their straitlaced life in Houston. All Taja wants is to read it, write it, drink it down, and take a big bite. Can't she have what she wants, and still keep what God wants, too? And then, she meets the gorgeous Andre, and ... all questions become moot.

Taja's parents have she and Andre sign purity pledges, and though she wears the tiny ring, Taja knows it ought to tarnish on her. God, whom she's never heard from before, surely cannot be listening to her now. Can he...? Or, does it matter?

Observations: Probably the best description of the writing in this novel is 'dreamy.' There are eloquent phrases and sometimes it slows the narrative pace, but it's also reminiscent of the classic styling of memoir narrative, so patient readers will read on and become hooked.

Taja's world is narrow - and the overwhelming questions for her are regarding heterosexual intimate experiences - which reads as authentic, because many conservative Christian kids never meet anyone of another faith or another gender expression until they go away to college, and in the 90's, there was less sexual freedom for non-cis-gendered teens.

Because the novel is historical - set in the 90's - early '00's - there are musical references which may go over some teens' heads. The main thrust of the novel is dealing with the pressures of growing up within a conservative religious home, and straying from one's parents' values, and while this is touched on beautifully, I wished for more. While the reader spends the majority of the novel seeing Taja's frustration with the double standard between her brother and herself, I wished she would have gone deeper and named that hypocrisy for what it is within religious communities: women are policed one, because a baby is tangible shame, and two, because men often seek to control women. The license Taja's brother had to do just whatever was annoying.

This novel has a feel of looking back, begins slowly, but speeds up as Taja matures to the point of standing between two roads: the life she wants to lead, and the life her parents believe is best. There is explicit intimacy in the novel, so it would work better for more mature teens, or potentially 14+ instead of younger readers.

Conclusion: With lyrical language and one of the prettiest covers in YA this year, this time-capsule of a black Christian girl coming of age in the 90's evokes the quiet moments of bildungsroman spiced with the headiness of a teen's first explorations of sexuality, life, and independent thought. This one may work better with adults looking back, but will likely be passed from hand-to-hand in some teen circles.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. You can find CALLING MY NAME by Liara Tamani at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: ARROW OF LIGHTNING by JOSEPH BRUCHAC

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

A funny thing happened on the way to reading a book, way back in 2013, that I didn't think I'd enjoy... I fell in love with a world, a character, and an entire series.

"Fast-paced, action-packed, and easy to get into, KILLER OF ENEMIES is a dystopian fantasy that flat-out erases the stereotypical "simple Native" tale in favor of a cold-eyed, sharp-shooting monster-killing menace, whose powers are freaking her out, but who is nonetheless DETERMINED to save her little corner of the world, and those she loves." - my original review.

I eagerly swallowed down ROSE EAGLE, the much-too-short prequel to KILLER that I wasn't aware I was jonesing for, with a character who is NOT superhuman, and who, in fact, falls down, gets dirty, and screws things up. She wins anyway, because she knows how to accept help. I whined until -- finally -- TRAIL OF THE DEAD was released, showing us a different side of the derring-do super heroine main character from KILLERS than we'd known before, as she struggles with being in charge, and mastering herself.

And then, we moved. And I MISSED being part of everything - I missed doing the cover reveal and reviewing ARROW OF LIGHTNING the day it came out. I saw it on Edelweiss and gasped out loud. HOW did I miss it!?! And, as always, I feared, What if it isn't as good??!

Silly me.

Synopsis: As the book begins, Rose and her band are heading out, ranging wider and further from the Valley Where First Light Paints the Cliffs in their quest to find and gather more people who are under the tyrannical control of the Ones and their last henchmen. Just when she feels a little less wobbly on her feet, Lozen's on her own again. Unfortunately, her Power is still... unsettled. Surely all is well now, and all real enemies slain? Nope. And the trouble is not the massive genmod river dweller that she and Hussein discover -- and which her surprising new Power helps dispatch. Her Power shows her something much less reassuring - that her archnemesis Luther Four Deaths is still ... living. And, the Jester and Lady Time are sending him after her. Again. What's it going to take to make this dude finally have to die!? Lozen is frustrated - and afraid. She realizes that the way she's been stomping out fires wherever she finds them isn't going to work anymore. She's made a promise to herself to take no more human life, and so... she must leave her band of family and friends, and stake out herself as bait, in hopes of bringing the fight to herself. She doesn't quite know what she'll do, then. She'll have Hussein with her - and hopefully, between the two of them, they'll come up with... something.

Of course, no plan works that smoothly. Before she can even get away to begin hunting Luther, a plague of locus and some of the Ones' henchmen reappear, and the entire encampment, in their safe, fire-proof, cliff-dwellings are suddenly threatened. Lozen has to make some choices - hard choices - and walk away from the people she believed it was her responsibility to safeguard. She wants a happily-ever-after with Hussein and with her people, she might even want a family, like Rose is carrying for a few more months -- but to get all of that, those hunting her have to go. Lozen, for the first time, is truly overwhelmed. Even Hussein can't calm or cure her - and he doesn't try. Lozen walks her path alone but for the wisdom of Coyote in the stories from her father and Uncle Chato, and from the Horse People, who lend their calm and support. And, putting one foot in front of the other, with no superior wisdom, and with a new Power that seems unreliable and shaky at best, Lozen does what must be done, one more time.

The theme of this novel is change, and who changes, and why, and how may surprise you.

Observations: Of all of the exhausting battles, cleverly unique monsters, diabolical shenanigans of the Ones and hard grind of living with a heightened sense of danger and survival at all times, the one thing that separates the KILLER OF ENEMIES series from other post-apocalyptic/survivalist narratives is that these books are wise... and hopeful. Wise, because Lozen may carry the burden of being the one with the plots and the plans, to keep the life and limb of her ragtag community together, she is but the namesake of another Lozen of long ago, who, too, held the torch for her people, and helped them to overcome. Thus, she is never alone with the burden. There is a Bedu story, to help her remember what to do. There is a Coyote tale, or a visitation from the ever-annoying Halley. There are sparks of skill from her younger siblings, and surprising contributions from the older generation. Lozen is surrounded by stories, wrapped in wisdom, and carried on the shoulders of her people as a leader - they lend her their minds, and they collaborate together to survive.

Readers encountering Lozen's community can't help but wonder how to draw some of that wisdom and hope into their own communities... and therein is woven the magic of a brilliant story. Monsters? Yes. Great evil? Yes. Unbeatable odds? Yes. But community and survival, and a "we'll do it anyway" attitude? Also yes - and that gives me life.

Conclusion: There is nothing on earth as satisfying as an excellent conclusion. I really kind of hate leaving Lozen's beautiful, sere landscape, filled with things which want to strip the flesh from my bones. How Bruchac made this place seem like home, I don't really know... except that he made the Spirits whisper in the wind, and shine down from the stars. No empty landscape filled with enemies here; this place is inhabited, and its heart beats. I want to go back... so it's time to re-read the first one again. You're welcome to join me.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Lee & Low Publishing. You can find ARROW OF LIGHTNING by Joseph Bruchac 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!

Turning Pages Reads: THE WHITE ROAD OF THE MOON by RACHEL NEUMEIER

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Summer 'flu is the pits, the absolute pits, so I'm lucky that, along with my cough drops and wads of tissues, I have a stack of great books.

I was introduced to the work of Rachel Neumeier during the 2016 Cybils, where I was a first-round judge for YA speculative fiction. I was so impressed with her left-of-center tale of a hidden princess, and made a quiet note to myself to seek out more of her work. I was expecting a similar tone to this book, but the feel is entirely different. It starts quietly and then the plot thickens like a good stew. There's a lot going on, as in traditional high fantasy, a journey, a quest, a cast of characters to keep track of, but if you could come to grips with Patrick Rothfuss, Kristin Britain, Brian Sanderson, C.S. Lewis or Tolkien, you'll be in fine shape for this.

Synopsis: Meridy Turiyn was eleven when her mother took the White Road of the Moon into death, and now, at fifteen, her cold, practical Aunt Tarana has apprenticed her to a soap-making washerwoman and is happy to be rid of her. Meridy, with her dark hair and eyes, is the village outcast. Dark-eyed Southerners like Meridy can see the quick dead - ghosts who remained in the real, anchored to the living whose love or hatred keeps them close, and the small, fair and blue-eyed villagers are terrified of them. Perhaps worse, Meridy is educated. She's memorized the classic tales of the God, and poetry; her mind is stuffed with literature and art and all kinds of bits of history. Meridy has always wanted to travel, to see the world, to know, things which her practical aunt deems pointless, and her cousins mock as stupid. Staying in the tiny village where her mother is buried, where she is reviled and feared, was never going to be an option, but now that she's expected to be a washerwoman, it's impossible.

At the prompting of an storytelling ghost, Meridy leaves the tiny village and goes to seek her own way. When a ghost of a boy with a gorgeous ghost-dog directs her to an injured man, Meridy is prickly at their assumption that she can do anything for them, but she does what she can. It turns out to be just enough to embroil her in a mystery. The man and the boy need her for something - but neither will quite explain what, and Meridy doesn't have time to fuss with figuring it out. She's a girl alone on the road, and things are treacherous enough. But the mystery pursues her, putting her in the way of witch kings, ancient sorceries and a 200 year old injustice that is gathering momentum from the past. She's just an over-educated village girl with dark eyes and a tendency to collect ghosts. How is she supposed to save a kingdom?

Observations: This novel stays true to the trope of the "unexceptional loner with hidden depths." Meridy is full of unexpected depths -- really unexpected depths, but her lack of confidence and the chip on her shoulder at first hinder her from fulfilling her role in a game bigger than she can imagine, as forces from long-dead empires rise again. There are the equivalent of cryptic sages and romantically poetic knights -- and Meridy's irritation with the poetic speech and vague hints is a bit of fun. At one point she shrieks, "Can't you speak like a normal person?" Well... actually, no. Welcome to high fantasy, lovey.

High fantasy is not always terribly accessible; the worlds of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien are full of swords and sorcery, but also full of Arthurian Eurocentricism with its talk of white witches and impossibly ectomorphic fey in varying shades of blonde with violet eyes. While a reader doesn't require lookalike protagonists to enjoy a work, consistent erasure of diversity throughout the traditional high fantasy canon has created imaginary worlds which seem to murmur Whites Only. Many times nonwhite readers can feel unwelcome in high fantasy, but Neumeier invites readers to identify with the main character - a black haired, dark-skinned, dark-eyed Southerner. Slightly scrappy, not especially pretty, Meridy has wild dark curls and a vast education that I'd imagine might provoke people to exclaim, "Wow, you're so articulate! The assumption of her ignorance based on her class and coloring is just as insulting to Meridy as it is to those of us in the real world. In a subtle twist, it is only when Meridy sets aside her prickly pride and expectation of rejection and embraces her dark eyes and Southern heritage, it is only then that she can actually help anyone else.

I love the inclusion of faith in this novel. It is not a recognizable denominational faith, necessarily, but much of what Meridy accomplishes is based on faith - in herself, in the purposes of the God, and in those around her.

Conclusion: NB: This is a friendship novel, and does not contain romance.

This novel starts quietly and builds - as all quest/journey novels do. The scene is set very early in the book, with the rules of the world and its magical drawbacks in terms of ghosts, etc., and then, with those concerns taken care of, Meridy begins her evolution as a character Doing Things. Don't give up reading those quiet, detailed beginnings! Especially with this novel, you will be rewarded.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library, our greatest resource. You can find THE WHITE ROAD OF THE MOON by Rachel Neumeier at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

SURVEYING STORIES: Historical Without History, in REAL FRIENDS by Shannon Hale

While May is indeed National Mental Health month, I'm... behind. I'm choosing to ignore that and the fact that Sarah did the actual review of this book weeks ago. Part of good mental health is accepting our... limitations.

*cough*

This book is actually a 'twofer' for things I don't see often in MG lit: one, it's an American narrative memoir, and two, it's a graphic novel which has a clear depiction of a mental health issue, in this case, anxiety. This is an occasional series which proposes to study elements of children and young adult fiction from a writer's perspective.

Let's survey a story!

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Shannon and Adrienne have been best friends ever since they were little. But, on day, Adrienne starts hanging out with Jen, the most popular girl in class, and the leader of a circle of friends called The Group. Everyone in it wants to be Jen's #1, and some girls would do anything to stay on top... even if it means bullying the others.

Now every day is like a roller coaster for Shannon. Will she and Adrienne stay friends? Can she stand up for herself? And is she in The Group - or out?

There's been a lot of praise for this books already, so I'll spare you my recap of the storyline - and how much I cried reading it. (Plus, Sarah already did that. Not the crying, the recap.) Instead, I want to focus on genre.

Memoir can be tricky. In this day and age, we're all amateur memoirists, constantly Instagramming and Pintersting our lives into scrapbooks of who we are, and what we did and what we wanted in our life and times. When a writer doesn't have a historical incident or a larger-than-life world to outline, memoir can seem self-involved and narcissistic. At least, that's how the New York Times criticizes most memoirists. However, memoir is actually a really good way to write for middle grade readers. It's a fun way to come to grips with the talking points of history, and I know that I read a metric TON of memoir in elementary school, as "acceptable" reading in the eyes of my parents. Told generally in the first person, memoir is truthful, without being totally factual. It takes giant bites of history and masticates them into digestible slivers, often taking readers back to a child's-eye-view of incidents, including historical incidents. The fact that memoir is more about episodes in someone's life than the day-to-day details of it make it good for younger readers as well, to read an episode, and set the book aside and think about it, or react to it. There are plenty of middle grade memoir books, but very few of them are quite so painfully personal, wherein the failures of parents, teachers, family, and friends are so clearly displayed. Rather than that casting shadow on the main character, however, or making her the most important character, it sheds life on how other people are living within the moment the main character feels is of utmost importance. More importantly, it turns the question around to the reader: Has this ever happened to you? What would YOU do? These are relatable questions, especially to younger folk.

As I've mentioned, memoir for me meant capital-H-history. It does seem like most of the memoir I've read for middle graders is from both the past, and is international. I've read books about growing up with rice paddies, the Communist Revolution, and the Holocaust. American memoir hasn't had too many huge historical incidents to grapple with in the past seventy years (although I distinctly remember reading We Were There books about the Normandy invasion in the fifth grade). Hale's book is rare in that it's recent history - just a slice-of-life from 1980's Utah. No big historical incidents happened there during that time: just life in elementary and middle school.

And, especially because both the writing and illustrations are brilliant? That's enough.

That's enough to let a kid know that their life has historical context. That's enough to remind them that "now" is not all there is, that someday, they will be 'looking back.'

The best memoir holds, once again, two ideas in tension. One, that life is a big-picture forest, and two, that this one, tiny ant is toiling along through this forest, trying to hang onto its load and keep in line behind its fellows. This keeps the characterization vivid. While this is both a story about one version of ant-Shannon growing up with anxiety and loneliness, it is also a story about the forest of imagination, and how ant-Shannon's lonesomeness was both cause and fuel for her imagination. Would she have had one without the other?

It's something to consider, while you're, as Dame Yolen puts it, telling your true.

Kelly Jensen put together a list of YA/MG non-fiction titles during the Cybils last year, of excellent narrative non-fiction. There's more great memoir out there, writers and readers.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find REAL FRIENDS by Shannon Hale & LeUyen Pham 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: ONCE, IN A TOWN CALLED MOTH, by TRILBY KENT

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

According to the PEW Research peeps, about 70% of people consider themselves religious in some fashion, whether through traditional Jewish, Muslim or Christian denominations or other neopagan practices like Wicca. For some reason, this is not readily reflected in YA lit, which poses the question, where are all the Baha'i and Baptists, the Confucianists and Catholics, the Jainists and the Jews? Where are the YA Mennonites and Muslims, the Adventists and the Anabaptists? As we see greater numbers of writers writing from their own experiences, in their own voices, it would only make sense that a diversity of faith experiences will appear as well - not in some special, segregated category, but as a normal part of the everyday experiences of some people, informing how and what they think, and in what ways they do and don't act. Though the jacket copy says Ana is "not your typical teenager," it is past time to dispense with the idea that there is one, normalized experience of adolescence, and that because this character is raised in faith, she is somehow Vastly Different. < / tinyrant>

Synopsis: A few days after an random act of violence in their village, Ana's father packs them up, and Ana and her father move from where Ana was born in Colony Felicida in Bolivia to Toronto, Canada. For some reason that's apparently to be kept secret, the tightly-knit Mennonite community which they once called home is to be forgotten. Now they're on the trail of Ana's mother who departed from the colony some years earlier.

Ana doesn't remember much about her mother, and never understood why she left them, but a good daughter, Ana's learned not to ask questions her Papa won't answer. Grappling with culture shock, at first, Ana's only able to deal with housekeeping and doing what she's told, anyway. It is a constricted, quiet life, but so far, but it doesn't last. In Toronto, there are neighbor kids who ask Ana to come outside, and at her father's urging, she goes. In Toronto, Ana discovers, fourteen year old girls have to go to school, not merely be the one who cooks the food and keeps the house. In Toronto, the girls have TV's and posters on their walls and listen to bands and wear very different clothes and ride in cars and have computers, and do myriad inexplicable things -- and in Toronto, there are posters on the street, and ribbons for a girl named Faith, who has disappeared.

Toronto is somewhat of a mystery.

In the Colony, there were mysteries things as well, Ana realizes. Not that many people disappeared, but there was the mysterious baby, the mysterious planes landing on their long driveway, and then her mother -- just gone, and Ana still doesn't know why. What Ana begins to understand, little by little, is that while there are mysteries, at some point people begin to understand them. She desperately wants to understand.

While nothing overtly dangerous occurs, Ana experiences bullying and some of the nastier elements of high school in the modern world. She begins to see that the world around her operates between what is on the surface, and darker currents beneath, currents into which it is easy to get in over her head. As Ana learns to find her own way, she's fortunate that a neighbor, Suvi and Suvi's friend, Mischa befriend her, instructing her on how to get along, and mostly accepting of her non-Canadian quirks. Their world is faster and louder and vastly different than what Ana's used to -- no one speaks Low German, or wears their waist-length, platinum blonde hair pinned in "Princess Leia" buns. No one says their mother is dead when she's really ...left their community and their family, and been gone so long you they can't remember her.

Though her mother is probably alive somewhere, in a city of several hundred thousand people, Ana isn't sure how she and her father are going to manage finding a single human being, much less someone who left them years ago, and who maybe wants to stay lost. And, now that they're in Toronto, Ana's beginning to lose her father, too. He's a man with his own secrets, his own darkness, and his silence weighs heavily. What isn't he telling Ana about her own life? Can she be an onlooker in it, and still have a life? Is now - in Toronto - the time to speak up, and try and steer her own course, in a way she did not in the Colony? This lyrically written novel is a search for identity both internally, and as citizens within the larger culture, as Ana navigates who she's been told she is, and who she decides she's going to be.

Observations: I picked up this book specifically because it is, in part, about living in, then leaving a Mennonite community. The author doesn't provide a window, particularly, into a Mennonite experience in terms of faith practices, etc., but a mirror into one young woman's path toward self-determination - through the lens of her experience as a Mennonite.

There are some very obvious pitfalls of a girl who has been raised in an insulated, sheltered way experiences when she comes into contact with the larger world. The author doesn't fall for cheap ploys to shock the reader. However, neither does she give readers as much of a viewpoint on what Ana thinks of everything, but more that she is now having to think of everything. She is described as studying faces from the sheer curiosity of seeing people who don't look like her, or don't look like relatives. She knows now that there are groups, such as the LGBTQ kids, the nerds, the cool kids, etc. She begins to understand the sociology of cultures as groups, but like an anthropologist, there isn't much emotional resonance as she becomes more aware. I found this an interesting way to experience the world with the character - and find it significant that the author studied Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, and trained in journalism as well. The novel distances the reader at times with this more "I'm just an observer of your culture" feel, yet Ana isn't an unsympathetic character. Readers will especially cheer for her, as she makes clear-eyed observations about the adults around her and relish the realization that all of the adults in Ana's life underestimate her. She is better-equipped for the modern world than she thinks she is - possibly unrealistically better - but her quiet triumphs make for satisfying reading.

Conclusion: A quiet, beautifully written, literary novel which I can see being read as part of a classroom experience for history or social studies/sociology, as well as English. Full of evocative prose while keeping a simple narrative intact, this novel is threaded through with gems, giving readers a lot to sift through and discover.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. After September 6th, can find ONCE IN A TOWN CALLED MOTH by Trilby Kent at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent Canadian bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: IN THE FORESTS OF THE NIGHT, by Kersten Hamilton

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Aquafortis got me thinking about comfort reads a few weeks ago. While I really started reading fiction mostly late in high school, I have some read-again books which resonate with me mostly because of their relative proximity to Narnia. One author with a key to the wardrobe is Kersten Hamilton, who was interviewed in 2008 at Cynsations, and whose book, TYGER, TYGER was a 2011 Cybils contender. A warmly written book about Teagan Wylltson, whose children's book illustrator mother and librarian father teach her to practice her Irish Catholic faith and care for those who need it - be they pets or people. The book goes unexpectedly sideways into the paranormal when a long lost "cousin" stays with the family, and Teagan finds out that the harrowing goblins from her mother's illustrations are... real. When myths are real and goblin nightmares come to life, only deep friendships, deep faith and strong hearts will get you through. Rereading TYGER, TYGER this week turned out to be exactly what I needed, and though I cried all the way through it - mostly at the poignant reminders of what stout-hearts do in times of trouble - I launched directly into the sequel. This might be a weird book to you for "comfort" but I grieve better with my boots on and a sword in hand, I think. And, so does Teagan.

Synopsis: Though she survived discovering how she and hers fit into the land of Mag Mell, that once mythical place of both the Green Man and the Dark Man, Teagan is far from resigned. She's had dreams and goals all of her life - she is going to Cornell. She is going to study animals. And no Dark Man nor his shadows, no Maggot Cats, no sluaghs and no gorgeous, heart-stealing saints are going to stand between this girl and her goals. But, it's not as easy to make the kinds of choices which keep Teagan on her path. She was born to be a Stormrider, born to shape the world to her liking, to bend to her will those inferior to her smarts. To stay on the path of rightness is a lot harder than she thought it would be -- and when things keep happening to her family and loved ones, it's almost impossible not to retaliate. Those who live by the sword die by the sword, and though Teagan is a Stormrider, she knows there's more to life than to just mindlessly ride the storm. If there's a way to heal Mag Mell, and to stop the rule of the Dark Man and to bring back peace and goodness, it needs to begin with her.

Observations: This isn't a good stand-alone novel, though there's a bit of backstory woven in to catch up those who haven't read the first book. But, oh, please do. It's all so much better then.

As always, I love the uses of literature in this book - having a librarian father means there's a lot of poetry read aloud and a lot of mythology and history; it's a treat. The prayers and the Irish blessings are also gorgeous and heartening. The writing is clear and the action is intense.

I suggested you read the first book, right? It's like reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time, mixed with Charles de Lint and set in a modern setting. I can't say enough good things. It's not a simple story, readers will have to read closely but this will do well with those accustomed to the ins and outs of old fairytales and Irish mythology, and those who like poetry -- and who have read Tolkien, of course. READ TOLKIEN, I said, not watched that trifling film.

Conclusion: While not as heart-stopping as the first in the series, this necessary second novel isn't just to impart information, but furthers Teagan's relationships and gives the side of Light a working team. The third book of the Goblin Wars was published in 2013 which means that yes, I am really late to the party on this, but I always prefer to read a series when it's finished - so I'm off...!

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my public library, on Overdrive. You can find IN THE FORESTS OF THE NIGHT by Kersten Hamilton at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: DEW ANGELS by MELANIE SCHWAPP

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Nola Chambers is a reminder that her family wasn't always the golden-skinned, fair-haired folk who can stand proud and nearly-white in their village of Redding. Nola reminds her father that the woman he married had very dark antecedents. It's not a reminder he appreciates, it's a reminder that causes snickers and whispers in the town, and his anger over the incident of Nola's birth marks her for life -- literally. By the time Nola is in middle school, her body bears scars from her father's disgust. Her mother - silent and wan - simply works, avoiding the chronic angers of her home, making a home for her husband wherein his restless furies can sometimes be silenced. Nola is still young enough to be bewildered. Why, she wonders, does her father hate her? Why is her luck so bad? How can her mother not protect her?

At school, her isolation leaves her nothing to do but work hard. Her grades are high. Her loneliness - unbroken except for Dahlia, the ugly, silly daughter of a suspected whore, an affront to the pious village. Nola wishes Dahlia would go away - but since she's the only one who tolerates her, it seems unkind to chase her away. Nola's brokenness doesn't escape the eyes of her teacher. The ponderously shaped woman pairs Dahlia and Nola for homework for the rest of term. Delroy, another classmate collared for fighting with Dahlia, is tossed into the unlikely mix as well. A bundle of three sticks, after all, can't easily be broken. "Never break" becomes Nola's private mantra. But it's not a belief she can sustain. When disaster ultimately takes everything from her - even her precarious place in her home - Nola and her teacher start over again in Kingston, with her teacher's niece, Petra, her baby, and her teacher's "bundle of sticks" which make up her chosen family. But, a city isn't a fresh start for a country girl. Beguiled by drugs and believing the world owes her, Nola bites the hand that brought her help and enters into another grueling cycle of helplessness and defeat -- until she meets someone who needs more help than she ever did. Pushed to rise to raise another, Nola finally finds her feet - finds her heart - and finds herself healed.

Observations: First self-published in the Caribbean in 2011, this novel was picked up by a British publisher two years later. Like other novels depicting life in Jamaica, this novel includes the cadence of language and the patois of the region, but readers will find a glossary unnecessary, as context clues are easily drawn from the scenes.

Though not as concisely written, this novel stands well alongside novels like PURPLE HIBISCUS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, with its densely written, literary style - and also its violence by a parent and the compare-and-contrast world of "this is how I live/this is how they live" the narrator goes through. Nola's story arc carries her from grade school to finally becoming a successful high school graduate at nineteen - and takes her full circle back to her family home. It is not a story which brings up feelings of softness and fullness at its conclusion, but of a flint-edged satisfaction that the reader has waded through the story to discover the main character has survived.

Colorism isn't something many Americans understand thoroughly, as the bizarre legal structures historically erected against people of color in America has been based only marginally on skin tone in contemporary times, but in other countries, it's much more prevalent. Seeing a "preference" become a disgust to this extent may be shocking to some readers, but for others, this will be a book to nod over and think, "Yeah, I've seen stuff like this." I can imagine it sparking many conversations.

Conclusion: Many young adults enjoy "disaster fiction;" books about The Worst happening, and apply their imaginations to how they would survive. Novels about abuse and suffering also fall into this subgenre; while many adults don't understand the appeal, it's important for some readers to find books which let them answer for themselves, "What would I do?"

Overall, this book is about survival - and it's at times a tough read. But knowing that people can not only survive, but thrive in spite of adversities is one of the gifts of realistic fiction targeted toward young adult readers.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. After May 26, you can find DEW ANGELS by Melanie Schwapp at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent UK bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: SAVING MONTGOMERY SOLE, by Mariko Tamaki

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Montgomery Sole would be the sole sign of intelligent life in Aunty, California if it weren't for her best friends Thomas and Naoki. Everyone else in Aunty is pretty scary-stupid, including her eleven-year-old sister, Tesla, at least in Monty's eyes. If it isn't biology killing Monty's soul, it's Matt Truitt, her five-minute crush tormenting Thomas for being gay, and calling Monty a dyke, or it's the SorBetties, the carb-obsessed frozen yogurt queens who seem to only ever worry about being skinny and the right shade of lipstick. The California cliché is alive at Jefferson High where Monty attends - lots of bleached hair, fit bodies and jocks. All of which is both boring and baffling to the overall-clad Montgomery, who wears Momma Jo's oversized, cast-off clothing, and is just satisfied to be dressed. Seen at best as a curiosity, and at worst, as an affront to those of slender and well dressed sensibilities, slapdash, shaggy Monty is kind of a pariah. Luckily, Montgomery and her friends have the Mystery Club, a place to explore the impossible, the curious, the unexplained.

Naoki might be open to everything, but Thomas is the Mystery Club cynic. Regardless, the Mystery Club helps Monty make sense of her life - and so far has given her The Eye of Knowing, a maybe onxy, maybe glass, maybe powerful stone tablet thingy which is supposed to let her see into the future. It hasn't really, so far. But, she's determined to keep trying to look.

When a Christian crusader rolls into town, not much makes sense anymore, even with the Eye helping her see. Touting his power to "save the American Family," Reverend White - with his white hair, white suit, and bright white poster-ready smile - embeds a sliver of fear into Monty's heart that she can't ignore. All she loves and wants to keep safe is already at odds with a town that is ridiculous, repressive, oppressive and homophobic. Monty can't deal with anything as bad as Christians on top of everything else. As a girl with two moms, she already feels like she's half a step from being an alien. It's not fair that everyone always gets to hassle the underdogs. All the indignity she feels at such a lopsided world eats at Monty. She just wants to find a way to stop people from hurting her and those she loves -- and to regain a little of her power. And, if she's found a way, she's going to use it.

Observations: This big-hearted - yet angry! - novel wins on myriad levels for me. Biracial Native Canadian-Japanese girl, Naoki Bigtree is very much her own, enchanting self - enchanting in a good way, of course. Thomas is wise and witty, but the wisdom is hard-won through pain and resignation. Montgomery is droll, observant, and dry-humored. She is also, in her heart-of-hearts, crouched over, gasping, grasping, and very much afraid. She is like us, so much like us that readers will tune in to her frequency with the little twinges in their heart that say, "Oh, yeah. That happened to me." She is afraid and brave and bold and pushing everyone away and holding on with all she has. The contradictory Montgomery Sole may be my favorite character yet for 2016.

I'm always curious at the depiction of family in YA novels. As a genre which routinely offed parents for so many years, or made them stupid or unimportant, it's refreshing to see adults who matter, and I would have loved to see more about the people who inhabit Montgomery's universe. Mama Kate and Momma Jo are funny and human. Naoki's family inhabits its own unique space, with an artistic father who travels frequently, and a enigmatic mother. Thomas seems removed from his family and so Monty and Naoki make up that difference for him. The relationships in the novel resonate.

Conclusion: This novel begins in an understated fashion, quietly. Montgomery can come off initially as smug and comfortable in her we're-too-smart-for-everyone tiny, tight circle of friends. But the fear and the anger - and later, the terrified guilt - covered by this smugness is what resonated with me, and I encourage readers to hang in there through that. Montgomery hates the way the world treats her, and clearly sees its unfairness. She wants to take action -- but really, there's no action to take, but to ...live well. Live loudly. Live. And that's the whole "lesson" or moral, if there is such a thing. I think you'll enjoy this book.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of our friends at First Second. After April 19th, 2016,can find SAVING MONTGOMERY SOLE by Mariko Tamaki at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: PURPLE HIBISCUS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Privileged and perfect is how life could be described for fifteen-year-old Kambili and her brother, Jaja. In Nigeria, where so many deal with fuel shortages, power outages, strikes at hospitals and universities and scarce, or uninspiringly plain foods, Kambili has nice clothes, meat almost every day, her own room with a nice bed, and the stern and despotic will of her Father dominating her every breath. Infected with a self-hatred which enacts itself in extreme religiosity in respect to the Catholicism that he's embraced, Kambili's father demands impossible obedience to a law of rigid social and religious perfection which leaves the family emotionally, psychically -- and very often physically -- scarred. Their prayers at meals are twenty-minute long exercises in piety, church is never missed, including the visit to the priest after; confession is constant, and their father even parcels out the time they're allowed to visit his father, Papa-Nnukwu, whom he tells his children is a hell-bound pagan (though his sister simply explains the man's adherence to his own faith as being a traditionalist). To settle the concerns of the village fathers, the children get fifteen minutes in their grandfather's presence and are urged to eat or drink nothing, though the man clearly is nearing the end of his life, lives in deep poverty, and longs to know his grandchildren and share time and stories and meals with them.

It is only through their aunt's guile that the children are taken from their home to visit their father's sister. Their father allows his sister, Auntie Ifeoma to take his children to spend a few days in her home in Nsukka. Promised a pilgrimage to a place where the Virgin Mother has appeared, the children are instead gifted with a time of relaxation - books and television, no threats, no shouting, no not measuring up to an impossible ruler. They hear music from the heart, singing at prayers, laughter, jokes, free discussion, and games. And Kambili - numb and awkward at first - observes dully her brother Jaja turning like a sunflower to the warmth of this free home, and turning into someone she doesn't know. Cautious and wary, Kambili's every thought remains of her father, obsessed with keeping his rules, even when out from under his eye, but she watches as her brother simply decides... "no. No more." Fearfully, Kambili waits for the world to end. It doesn't -- and then she meets Father Amadi, a young and attractive chaplain of the University of Nsukka where Auntie Ifeoma works. Casually dressed, playing soccer, with a kind word for everyone, he's one of the only Igbo priests Kambili has ever met - and even his voice obsesses her. Filled with hints of a whole new world, that of affection and infatuation, Kambili, finally, begins to imagine a world away from what she's always known. But, every vacation ends, and for every little sin, there is to be a painful and terrifying reckoning. Their father remains ominously in the background, even as the hideous stress of running a free press begins to have its fatal effects during the despotic Nigerian political regime. Her family cannot remain as it is -- not when Jaja is getting older every day, and pushing back against their father. But, is courage in this circumstance, what is endurance? Is it standing in the face of oppression, as their father does against the political forces in their nation? Or is it, as Auntie Ifeoma is doing, preparing to emigrate to America, walking away?

Observations: This book, first published in 2003, has been reprinted multiple times, and was nominated for many awards. Obviously tightly written and concisely plotted, Adichie's characterization is clear and true, contrasting individual triumphs and failures against the backdrop of Nigeria's failures and eventual turn toward change. Despite its having a fifteen-year-old narrator, many teens read this novel as part of World Literature, not as ordinary genre fiction. What separates the two is mostly topical, but also a lyricism of writing that isn't often as apparent in other fiction forms. (This is not to say that it's nonexistent; it's just that this book has history and politics entangled with the narrative, which changes it and its concerns.)

Oppression is thematic in this novel. Myriad things loom over the family within the first third of the book. The heat is looms oppressively. The political climate holds the threat of oppression. The religion is certainly all-pervasive and oppressive, and then there's the father's chronic disappointment looming, and always ready to break over their defenseless heads. Though Kambili describes things with a small-voiced detachment - small voices, because she has never had speaking-up behavior modeled at home; small-voiced, because she believes in her father's view of her, that she is sinful, stained, and spoiled -- one nevertheless gets the sense of the absolute numb horror taking place around them. As Kambili and her brother scrub their mother's blood from the floor, after one of their father's "corrections" of the nearly silent woman's sinful behavior, the reader gets the sense of being seen in a funhouse mirror; much smaller than previously believed... see-through, perhaps... and helpless. But, no one - not the country, or the climate, nor the family - is beyond help and change in this novel. Adichie pulls the narrative inexorably and smoothly toward the small explosions which culminate in the release - and then the aftershock - of the inevitable tragedy.

Conclusion: Though in some ways grimly tragic, this is also a beautifully written novel which introduces readers unfamiliar with Nigeria to a small part of it -- without that being the point of the novel. As a matter of fact, with no glossary or "notes" on how to make sense of the culture, except through savoring the narrator's words, it's not about the culture at all, except through its people -- and the characterizations are worth their weight in gold. No one is single-dimensional, every quick conclusion the reader makes they have to take out again and scrutinize as they peer at the pieces of what makes a person who they are, and how they become. Even the monstrous father isn't a monster so much as someone whose self-worth is so afflicted by not being Western and white that he's absorbed the cruelty of the West's disdain for he and his people, and taken their cruel white Catholic god to heart. What else can he do, but try and erase Nigeria's stain from his own family? And yet, he obviously loves his people and supports so, so many of them - which is one of the reasons Kambili is so proud of him, even as he batters away all that she could love about him... a complex and multilayered book, even in its painful tragedy, it leaves the reader with a hair-thin sprout of hopefulness.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the library. You can find PURPLE HIBISCUS by Chimamanda Adichie at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: LIONS IN THE GARDEN (The Uprising #1) by Chelsea Luna

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Ludmila Novakova is a girl of wealth and privilege. The daughter of the Chancellor, she has lived her seventeen years as the pampered denizen of Prague Castle, a good Catholic girl who accepts the things she's been taught - that those of the ruling class are put into place by the grace of God, that the poor are pitiable, but something always with us. But as she grows older, the one thing she can't accept is being sold off in marriage like a piece of land or cattle -- and she's not having it. Unprepared and completely clueless - dressed in her finery on a good horse with only a cape to cover her diamond-crusted hair ornaments - Mila lights out from the castle, prepared to ride her horse to the country where her aunt lives and change her circumstances. No food, little money, all impulse. She is, of course, set upon almost immediately, her horse lamed then killed, and if it wasn't for the blacksmith's son, she would have been in terrible straits.

Mila starts out as foolish but for the most part, she tries to learn from her mistakes. She's intrigued by the blacksmith, so befriends him, but friendship, she soon learns, between the daughter of the Chancellor and a workingman's son is a dicey proposition, and much more trouble for him than it's worth. Worse, though their heady romance blossoms almost immediately, she can't be sure of his motives. He's a Protestant, after all, and she knows what they're all about -- upsetting the natural order of things. Her father, the Chancellor, has always told her this. The truth, however, isn't quite what she's been told. Mila has seen with her own eyes that the peasants in the village are hungry. The King can't possibly know what's going on - what's being done in his name. Mila has to do something -- but what? All that she's known thus far is turning out to be false. Mila doesn't know what she can trust anymore - or who - but she's going to do something. This time, she's going to change not just her circumstances, but everyone in Prague's.

Observations: It's easy to get "winter slumps" in reading, and I was intrigued by this novel primarily because it was different. The tumultuous time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century had a huge impact on much of the western world historically, politically, intellectually, and culturally... yet there's pretty much crickets in terms of YA novels in the past fifteen years set in that period. Ditto a novel of the Reformation NOT set in Britain or Wales or Scotland, but in central Europe - there's just not a lot there, despite the fact that plenty happened outside of the British Empire. You can imagine how happy I was to see a novel which delved into custom and religion and expectation of the period. The author sets up the tension between Protestant and Catholic lightly, but the tension is evident. There's a light discussion of papal indulgences, which really was a flashpoint for Martin Luther, and the reader quickly gets a sense of how dangerous it was to have divergent beliefs in those days. I was slightly disappointed with the characterization of Mila as a good Catholic girl who didn't seem to have an actual understanding of her religion, though frequently speaking in its defense, nor does the novel seem terribly concerned with the ramifications of being Protestant, and the deep conviction and faith behind it, and how by culture mores and norms it was not that far from Catholicism. (Mila's casual relationship with Marc would go against her Catholicism and his Protestant beliefs, for instance.)

And speaking of Marc... yeah, this is a swoonfest, full-fat, sugar-frosted, whipped cream-on-cake-with-ice cream-and-chocolate syrup-and-sugar sprinkles, full on epic romance. I'll be honest: I don't read those, because the "love conquers all" suspension of disbelief is something I usually can't manage, and that much sugar brings on nausea. (Hello, cynicism.) There's a great deal of trauma and drama in this novel, which seems to be necessary to that style of Great Love romance, but I \found myself a bit frustrated with Mila's Princess-in-the-tower mentality; she has power but doesn't seem to know how to access it, and someone is always having to save her from impetuousness, after she pulls a knife and has it knocked out of her hands, etc., etc., and that type of thing. It's frustrating, yet this is the first book in a series, and ends on a triumphant note with almost everyone in place for some real action to begin. As to whether or not further volumes will actually get more into the issues of the Reformation - for some reason, more about a peasant "uprising" than Protestant v. Catholic politics - only time will tell.

Conclusions This novel reads like Romeo and Juliet on acid. I found that the depth of the longing for each other, etc. etc. etc. didn't match the time they had to get to know each other. People who love romance, really swept-off-their-feet types of romances, may enjoy this more than I did. The premise of the story is promising, but it is not as much about the Reformation and its impact as I had hoped. It is more about star-crossed lovers, a turbulent family history, and a painfully naïve girl who finally -- after violence, pain, and death for others - catches a clue about the realities of her world. Paired with lots of tea and a cuddly, rainy weekend, this will be catnip for someone.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Kensington Publishing. After March 1, you can find LIONS IN THE GARDEN by Chelsea Luna at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: EDGE: COLLECTED STORIES by M.E. KERR

I remember M.E. Kerr. My sister had a book called DINKEY HOCKER SHOOTS SMACK, and I was in grade school and thought the title sounded awful. Who'd name their kid Dinky?

With books, though, curiosity traps me every time, and the fact that Dinky was a girl was even more enticing. Though the book was slightly dated and Dinky wasn't someone I entirely understood, there was something about her voice that seemed very real, and, being me, I simply read through the whole shelf of M.E. Kerr books in the library. Thematically, this collection of short stories -- and really, all of the work of M.E. Kerr -- is about identity and the teen protagonist. Teens are in the process of becoming, and Kerr celebrates that becoming in myriad books.

Marijane Meaker - the real surname from whence came M.E. Kerr - had other pseudonyms and wrote bestselling mysteries and suspense, articles for the Ladies Home Journal, and more. Her young adult books, though, remain the jewels in her crown.

"Strangers take a long time to be acquainted, particularly when they are from the same family." - We Might As Well Be Strangers, by M.E. Kerr

Summary: If you enjoy family stories as much as I do, you'll enjoy this book of shorts, set largely in the 1970 in New York and environs. M.E. Kerr writes about the teen as separate from the family through choice, interest, and the mere act of becoming a young adult. Themes of identity and being true to that emerging self beat strongly throughout. These fifteen short stories are drawn from various magazines and anthologies, published from the eighties through the early 2000's. Much of the time, it's not as clear that the stories are that old, but the descriptions of teens intent on marrying after high school, of having no ambition for after college but to be "college educated," and of them going to the hairdresser (!) or worrying about sitting by the phone (rather than carrying it with them) date a few of the stories, but only a little.

There aren't all happy endings - as a matter of fact, most of the stories meet the reader's regard in a way that is deeply enigmatic, not painted in distinct shades of happiness or unhappiness. One of the strengths of M.E. Kerr's writings is her ability to let ambiguity simply... sit there. Modern readers may be unused to the moment of discomfort when a story ends not with a jarring, abrupt note, severing you cleanly, but with a dying away that lingers in the mind. Kerr's stories stick with you.

Of the happier stories, "Sunny Days and Sunny Nights" was one of my favorites, as a girl learns to identify what she wants out of the man she loves, and to ignore what her father wants in a husband for her. My all-time favorite "Grace," is about a self-conscious minister's son who loves his boring old father, though his father embarrasses him by existing - until he doesn't. "Son of a One Eye" is a poignant story about a boy who never fits in with the fraternity he didn't want to join - but finds a world for himself in his imagination. Readers will be glad to see "We Might As Well Be Strangers" which was included in the 1995 AM I BLUE? anthology. In every story, the voice remains so very constant - there is a steady, singular I which informs, even from the third person, about alienation, outsider status, the Other, and being outside of the circle, looking in.

Conclusion: Before there was e.lockhart or Rachel Cohn or the surreal landscapes of A.S. King, there was M.E. Kerr, watching, recording the inner world, telling the true, and playing it back for us to hear.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Open Road Media. You can find EDGE: COLLECTED STORIES by M.E. Kerr at Open Road or another online e-tailer near you!

TURNING PAGES: THE GREAT GOOD SUMMER, by LIZ GARTON SCANLON

Geez, louise, can we even call it summer reading anymore!? I lost July, and now The Wees and the Littles started school today, the poor things, and the cousin slouches off, pouting, on Wednesday.

I'm going to pretend that we've got at least until Labor Day. I mean, come on.

In that frame of mind, I'm reviewing a May MG novel - not common around these parts, but I will forever be enticed by a book which deals realistically and critically with faith. I read an interview with the author who felt the importance of this book lay not in the argument between science and faith which wasn't truly started nor resolved - but the idea that there are flaws in people who don't believe - and also in those who do. Too often books are unequally weighted one direction of the other.

Full disclosure: Liz is one of my poetry sisters and an in-person friend, as in, we've actually met in real life. Sometimes that means one feels one can't separate the friendship from the work, but I'm happy to give this an unbiased review.

Summary: It seemed like a good idea at the time. Twelve-year-old Ivy's mother, after a devastating, disheartening fire which incinerated a great deal of their town, and her childhood church, has left to find salvation with a man called Hallelujah Dave of The Great Good Bible Church of Panhandle Florida. No, seriously. Even Ivy can sense the faint ludicrousness of a guy with a name like that, not to mention a church both great and good -- and Panhandle is a description, not a town. Mama's apparently looking for something, so just -- up and left, and went... somewhere... because... well, Ivy would like to know why, so when the smart science guy from school, Paul, suggests they just go and look for her, it... makes sense. At the moment. As so many things do. But Mama always even said, not all ideas are good ideas.

Pretty much from the first moment, the trip to Florida by Greyhound is ill-fated - and Ivy is by turns scared, nauseated (ugh) and angry with and by herself, her fellow riders, and Paul. For a road trip, like all of them, in parts it's long, boring, and grungy, but as a journey of discovery, it turns out to be almost everything Ivy needs.

Peaks: Ivy's twangy Southern expressions, and Marla Frazee's ephemeral cover illustration make Ivy and her friend seem young twelves, but Ivy's emotions - her might-be-crushing-this-hour feelings for Paul, followed abruptly by fury - are spot on for the growing pains of middle grade. Ivy's got a simple wish, and she learns quickly that everyone's desires in this world can automatically complicate things. Her desire for simplicity - a simple faith, a simple explanation - are not realized, and the idea that her mother isn't simply and only hers is a huge, huge lesson for any adolescent. Ivy learns this in a rather dramatic way, but with her demonstrated resilience, the reader realizes she's better off for it.

Valleys: This isn't a valley, per se, but as I chose this as a faith in fiction selection, I wanted more discussion of faith in this novel. At one point, Ivy's accidental discovery, whilst she was babysitting, of a little Buddha is a really fascinating find - but while it gives her a moment's pause, she has a regrettable lack of curiosity, and doesn't follow through with her gushy-voiced teacher about her faith. I wanted to know if she thought the Buddha was an idol, if she wondered if other people in her community were doing other things, if her teacher ever showed up at her church. Of course, my curiosity may have pulled the entire plot off-course. As a "this just in, there other faiths" hint to the reader, it works, and the reader doesn't lose anything by not exploring faiths other than Evangelicalism - but I wished there were people of other cultures - possibly Latinos, who would be very obviously Catholic? - But again, any of this might have pulled the plot off-track.

Additionally, as this wasn't Ivy's Mama's story, we don't get a crystal clear picture of what she was seeking, and why she went, and - well, what happened, exactly. She tries to articulate it, but we're stuck with Ivy's point of view, and we'll never get it -- which is actually okay. She just... blew it. A good Christian Mama blew it - and that's okay, too.

Conclusion: That's the real point of the book: we all screw up - Christians, Buddhists, twelve-year-olds, the distinguished, and those who clean up as best they can. And then we all get up, and start again. A deceptively simple concept it takes the rest of us thirty, forty, fifty, sixtymumble years to learn.

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I purchased my own copy of this book. You can find THE GREAT GOOD SUMMER by Liz Garton Scanlon at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!