Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey by Ozge Samanci

This graphic novel is well done, but I'll have to send it up to the middle school library as it is too young adult for elementary students. Ozge Samanci's minimalist illustrations and dry sense of humor make this an excellent look into what it was like growing up in Turkey. The heart of the story is about Ozge trying to figure out what she wants to do in life and the difficulty of trying to live up to her father's expectations and imitate her brilliant older sister. She recounts the political and cultural upheavals growing up and the dangerous culture she lived in. A near rape, prejudice from extreme ideologies at school, and fierce competition of trying to make it into prestigious schools make this a page turner. Ozge never takes herself too seriously though and the humor and lightness balance out the dark incidents. A terrific read.

Ozge grew up in a middle class family with two parents that were educators and nonreligious. They raised Ozge to be strong and wanted her to have a good job. Getting into the top high schools and universities was competitive and difficult. Ozge chronicles this difficult journey that show flaws in an educational system many will relate too. Her path of self-discovery follows first in her sister's footsteps and she fails, next she tries to follow her father's path and fails, and last she tries to follow her own heart and fails. She never gives up and finds, with the help of family and some loyal friends that help tutor her through her classes so she can pass, that she is able to discover her passion for drawing. It is the failures and resilience to learn from her mistakes that are a part of Ozge's journey of discovering what she wants to do with her life - something we all can relate to. She is one brave person that is easy to cheer on as she works through issues.

The author does a good job explaining the different leaders of the country and how they affected her country. A funny bird crops up on many of these pictures with some wisecrack comment. She shows the leaders saying one thing but doing the opposite in private while the bird hangs upside down on the president's speech bubble saying, "Liar." Later, she's trying to get the courage to tell her mom about her teacher's corporal punishment of all the students in the classroom and the bird is making light of the incident. Ozge is a strong-willed girl willing to stand-up for herself. She's a bit of a loose cannon as a young kid and her yellow hair that shoots out all over the place reflects her high spirits. There are pictures of her friends with rock star posters in their bedroom and Ozge has Jacques Cousteau because she's going to be a famous diver. Later, she humorously "talks" to Poster Jacques trying to sort out what she wants to be in life. The page where she is suspended for speaking her mind at school and criticizing the play chosen for the theater production is a hoot. The close-up photo of the suspension letter with her miniaturized and sliding down its folded edge off the page with the bird and its speech bubble saying, "Bye," is one of my favorites. I'm sure you'll find your favorites too.

5 Smileys

Pax by Sara Pennypacker, Jon Klassen (Illustrations)

This story is bound to no particular time and place and reminds me of Aesop's fables with its moral at the end. A lack of setting is common in fables and allows readers to relate the moral to their own place or situation. Sara Pennypacker's book, "Pax," uses this technique. It is set in a place where humans are at war and the animals are victims as much as the people. When Aesop was in Greece he used the fable to voice his opinions that were leveled against those in power. Here the fable is leveled at adults in authoritative positions or that control children. Several characters reveal the choices they make in life; whether they choose right from wrong and recognize when to take a stand against a person or institution. While I found the start hard to get into, I did get engrossed once the character, Vola, was introduced and the book's style became clear. This is definitely original and Pennypacker has great sentence fluency. Her turn of phrase and word choice shows an author that knows her craft. The rich layers of meaning will lead to many discussions.

Twelve-year-old Peter is forced by his dad to abandon his pet fox when his dad enlists in the war. The two are on their way to grandpa's house who is going to care for Peter while his dad is gone. Once Peter arrives, he runs away determined to retrieve his fox whom he has had for five years just after his mother died. The three-hundred mile journey to retrieve the fox is full of obstacles. Peter gets help from a woman, Vola, who has abandoned the world after serving in a war twenty years earlier that left her with post-traumatic stress disorder. The voices alternate between Peter and Pax, his fox.

The lack of setting and slow character build-up made me slog through the beginning. I didn't really figure out that I should be reading it as a fable until page 66 when the gray fox makes comments about humans being careless in war and destroying animals in the process. It is also a coming-of-age book as Peter loses his childhood innocence making decisions on his own and contemplating the effects of deceit internally and with Vola. They discover the difficulty of facing the truth about themselves. The author shows the adults as being "war-sick" and destructive toward animals and humans. Peter's dad abandons him just like Peter abandoned his fox.

Peter's loss of innocence is shown from the fox's point of view. He tells the female fox, Bristle, about how Peter has become false-acting. He tossed a toy deceptively getting Pax to think they were playing a game but then drove off in the car. However, Pax makes a point to tell Bristle that Peter is not war-sick like the adults. He is not full of hate or anger  and wants to destroy, but can show love. Peter knows it was wrong to let Pax go like that and while he recognizes that his dad didn't give him a choice he feels guilty for not standing up to him and insisting Pax stay. He is trying to make it right.

Peter's point of view shows him learning to live without the fox and face his grief and guilt over losing his mother. Peter blames himself for an accident he had with his baseball bat the last time he saw his mom. This parallels Vola's story of grief and loss as well. "He was becoming foxless, something he'd hadn't been since he was seven years old." Losing Pax was like losing his mother all over again. He and Vola both help each other deal with their losses. 

There are many symbols in the book from the Phoenix to the marionettes to the names given the characters or words spoken. The wooden bat was the most powerful one for me with its imagery of hitting, acting as a crutch, bringing him joy in a sport, and made of wood like the marionettes. He and Vola are like Geppetto and Pinnochio in their carving shop. Much of the storyline follows the destructive path of anger and how it can be productive if directed in a proper way. Vola tries to help Peter understand the difference as he feels that all anger is destructive and tries to hide from his own true feelings rather than face it. The story has great character development along with symbolism even if the setting confused me.

Fables convey an idea indirectly rather than specifically and this is evident in the moral that is stated at the beginning, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," and the end, "Sometimes the apple rolls very far from the tree." The idiom means that children are like their parents. The moral is children do not have to be like their parents, as well as, shows that all humans can make a choice in their attitude. The men in Peter's life choose to be angry and undemonstrative. They choose to hit rather than hug. Peter consciously chooses to love and knows what it means at the end when he gives his pet freedom. The desire for freedom is universal and has fueled many wars. While I struggled a bit getting through this, it was worth it in the end.

5 Smileys

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Rebecca Stead is brilliant with her characterizations and intricate plots that have you wondering where the heck she is going with her stories, and this one won't disappoint, but for me, it missed the mark. If I had not read her previous books I would have not slogged through the first fifty pages, but abandoned it. If you are a patient reader who is sustained by great writing and like details that show how complicated relationships are, then you probably won't have the problem I did. I'm just not patient with slow moving setups. That said, I really want to use this for book club to see what other students think of it. The depth of the messages range from self-identity, to changing relationships, to changing bodies, to social media messes, to feminism, to bullies, to choices... you get the idea. Themes pile on themes like a skyscraper.

Bridge, Emily, and Tab are seventh graders that have been friends since elementary school. They swore on a Twinkie that they would not have any fights but it has been difficult this year. The three are changing. Bridge survived a car accident in 3rd grade that should have killed her. She wonders why she didn't die. Emily is a soccer star that has matured physically and is getting attention from boys in school. Tab is inspired by a feminist teacher in school and breathes her ideals sometimes like an annoying puppet, sometimes foolishly, and other times with some wisdom. As the three change they manage to hold onto their friendship with respect and support each other in some trying situations.

An alternating viewpoint has a mystery narrator that has ditched school for the day and has done something terrible to another friend. Written in a second person narration, this story thread didn't hold my interest as much as the main story with the three friends. I admire Stead's daring use of the second person and actually I would have probably been even less interested in this mystery person had she used the third person narration found in the rest of the story. I just found the mystery character boring. She's skipping school so the tension is there. She's done something awful and I should be eager to find out what is was, but I never got vested in her crisis. The incident took too long to unfold for my bouncy brain. I was more interested in the three twinkle-toes and their drama.

And once the drama got rolling, boy, did the beat get loud. Em has an 8th grade boy that is interested in her and they begin by sharing photos of each others body parts. A foot. A shin. A thigh. But this head-and-shoulders-knees-and-toes song loses its innocence along the way and the two get in heaps of trouble when an inappropriate photo leaks to other classmates phones. This is one media blitz that Em did not foresee nor want and her friends are there sometimes helping and sometimes making the situation worse.

I'd be pretty dippy if I didn't mention some of Stead's great lines. Like I said she's a great writer... I just struggled at slipping into this storyline. I did eventually, but it was like a dragged-out warmup before soccer practice. "Life was a too-tall stack of books that had started to lean to one side, and each new day was another book on top." Or when Em is complaining about her four-dimensional zit. Tab asks if the 4th dimension means it smells to which Em replies, "Ew, no. The fourth dimension is time. This thing has been here for two weeks!" Done laughing? Here's a serious one about time, "Life isn't something that happens to you. It's something you make yourself, all the time."

Book reviews come down to opinions. I will read this novel again for book club. Who knows? Maybe the second time I will love it. I remember an English teacher telling me she hated Wuthering Heights until her third year teaching it. She said with each go-round she picked up on more and more themes, craft, and characterizations. I think that could be the same for me. It has been bonkers this fall, so all my interruptions and reading two chapters here-and-there might have kept me from getting into this plot as quickly as I normally do when cranking through books. Either way, it is worth reading and making your own conclusions.

Two fantastic reviews can be found on Betsy Bird's SLJ blog and Mike's blog.

5 Smileys

Gone Crazy in Alabama (Gaither Sisters #3) by Rita Williams-Garcia

Swirl into the Gaither Sisters' hurricane-like family and discover their crazy history, relationships, and untold secrets. You might want to read the first two books as it helps keep all the characters straight and understand their personalities. While the three bickering Gaither sisters and two great-grandmas drove me crazy in the middle of the story, it made the message even more powerful at the end; that oppression manifested in society is hard to overcome externally and internally. Set in the 1960s, it follows 12-year-old Delphine, the oldest of the Gaither sisters who is the self-designated referee between her two squabbling younger sisters as well as their judge and jury. It gets her in trouble, but the end shows her learning when to speak up or zip it. Words are powerful as Delphine realizes when she and her younger sister gang up on the middle one and when she watches her mother squash her usual recalcitrant manner in a tricky family situation.

Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern hop on a Greyhound bus in New York and head south to visit their grandmother, Big Ma, and great-grandma, Ma Charles, in Alabama. Delphine has always watched out for the youngest, Fern, and the two sometimes gang up on Vonetta who has little power as the middle child. The three must face Uncle Darnell who stole money from them (in book #2) and was mixed up in drugs. Delphine is trying to read the Classic, "Things Fall Apart," a story about an African man whose traditional way of life is threatened by colonialism, religion, and modernization. "Gone Crazy in Alabama" echoes some of the themes in "Things Fall Apart" brought about by the Vietnam War, feminism, and the counterculture of the Sixties. Uncle Darnell's problems metastasize after serving in the Vietnam War and Big Ma does not accept change easily whether its starching sheets the traditional way versus using a spray can or getting remarried. Quite a bit is going on in the subplots of this story while the main plot follows Delphine who is trying to understand her family's mixed heritage, the verbal sparring of her great-grandma's, and her relationship with her sisters.

Don't expect a nurturing family where the adults say the right things and people are always nice. The author captures the messiness of families. Delphine gets hit. This represents the times. When I grew up in the 70's, it was common for my friends to get "hit with the belt" or a spoon on their bottom and not a sign of inappropriate disciplining, like it is today. Big Ma threatens with a switch, but she also hits Delphine in the face even though she doesn't deserve it. As the oldest, Delphine is often blamed for her sisters actions and is expected to be the model example. The harshness of the adults made me cringe at times but it is authentic and not commonly found in children's literature. Foster or orphan stories with protagonists in harsh conditions come more to mind than a family like Delphine's. Don't get the impression that Delphine's family is not loving, it is obvious that they care deeply for each other, but their ways show the complexities of relationships and the adults make just as many bad decisions as the kids. And in many ways the adults are the worst because they are in the authority position and abuse it through intimidation. While I find this bothersome, it is reality.

Delphine's mother, Cecile, is one of the hardest adult characters to understand in the series. Her manners are sporadically selfish, destructive, loving, and nurturing. She left her three girls when Fern was a baby. Delphine took care of Fern and (in book two of the series) the girls meet their mother who loves them but who does not know how to nurture. She changes just a bit with Fern but it is Delphine that explains to her why Fern needs her to show outward affection to some extent. While she does this for Fern, she doesn't with the older two girls. She's a bit of a tragic figure like Okonkwo in "Things Fall Apart" and it is easy to see why she gave it to Delphine to read in book two of the series. Cecile is a poet and can hurt or heal people with her words. Hers is the frustrated voice of women in the Fifties that had less choices and freedoms; whereas, the Sixties was a time of big transitions and changes in societal norms. Cecile is smart and it is implied that she felt trapped in the role of homemaker. Raising three children was contrary to Cecile's goal of writing poetry in a quiet setting and her only way of dealing it was to leave her children.

*a few small spoilers* and here I thought I would have a review without them. Gosh darn.

The reader does not know Cecile's thoughts and Delphine is constantly trying to understand her biological mother. This confusion reflects a child's viewpoint as kids usually don't understand adult behavior. They are trying to figure themselves out in the world and have limited experience to make sense of it all. Again, this adds authenticity to the characters and plot. Sometimes Delphine hates Cecile, but most of the time she loves her.  In this third book of the series, Cecile exposes her great love for her children and is silent under Big Ma's verbal abuse rising above the anger being hurled her way. It shows Delphine a way to handle her sisters and helps her make sense of her world. The beautiful poem at the end shows a mother who loves her children in her own flawed way and knows the power of words. Even though the reader never gets Cecile's point of view, the author does a good job keeping her character consistent.

On the other hand, the sheriff in this story wasn't as clear. I wanted more information on him. His character was developed to show some interesting contradictions and there was some obvious history between him and Ma Charles and slavery. The blacks in the South lived in more fear than the North and this is captured in Big Ma's attitude. She tries to hide her hair that shows her mixed heritage. People that are oppressed are belittled, kept ignorant, and stripped of being human. They feel worthless and fearful. Big Ma represents this type of oppressed individual. She lives in fear of White people and the KKK. When JimmyTrotter talks about being a pilot, Big Ma says that coloreds don't fly and that their minds are not good enough to handle all the decisions needed to do so. She does not let herself dream or hope for a future that empowers black people. It keeps her from understanding Cecile whose job is publishing materials for the Black Panthers. The fact that Big Ma gets married shows a shard of hope that she might change. She's so hard-nosed about her views, that I doubt she'll change too much.

The generations after Big Ma show the changing attitudes in African Americans and the feminist movement in the Sixties that redefined women's roles in society. The time showed a relaxation in racism and sexism. While Cecile and Darnell reflect those changes, Big Ma is the era before and represents one who clings to the security and comfort of the past. Delphine's generation gets to try and make sense out of the mixed-up adults. Lucky them. No wonder Delphine struggles to figure out what oppression means from ironing sheets to how she treats her middle sister to how it has defined her mother. What I liked best about this book is ultimately, Delphine has to look inside herself and evaluate her own actions. It's easy to point the finger at others, but not so easy to examine our own biases and flaws.

5 Smileys

Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

Anyone that has braved the streets of Vietnam knows the thrill of linking arms and shuffling across the asphalt as cars swerve around bodies like rocks in the middle of a roaring stream. Honest. It is quite the experience. The author captures this unique cultural feature and so much more as Mai, a first generation American born girl, learns about her heritage on a vacation with her grandma to Hanoi, Vietnam. Not that twelve-year-old Mai is looking for any cultural roots. "OMG," she's looking for love "with HIM", while hanging at Laguna Beach with her best friend over summer vacation. Her plans and romantic ideas simmer in the hot sun until her parents douse her with reality making her travel with her Grandma Ba to Vietnam because Ba has new information regarding her husband who went missing during the "THE WAR." Mai's dad goes with on the trip, but he is a doctor whose first priority is to help children in Vietnam's remote areas in need of medical services. Mai's mom is a lawyer on a big case and both insist Mai escort Ba. The parents want Mai to know her heritage. Mai's  knowledge has some humungous gaps considering she refers mainly to what she learned from watching a PBS documentary on the Fall of Saigon. Mai says she is "unicultural"; but this trip changes Mai teaching her what it means to be bicultural, enriching her life in ways she never expected.

Mai matures in small increments. She's spoiled, privileged and has a snarky attitude that is hilarious and balanced by a kind heart. She will do something nice followed by a "I rock!" She loves her Ba completely and will do anything for her, "I'm now too tired to yawn but I still rock as her caretaker, asking if her throat is sore." In the beginning all Mai can think about is leaving Vietnam as fast as possible, but she starts to empathize with Ba and appreciate Vietnam. Ba is one of the few adults that Mai listens to: "My body loosens and expands, remembering how it used to make room for her words to wiggle deep into the tiny crevice alongside my bones, muscles, and joints. Becoming a part of me." Ba is the eloquent character in the group, a foil to Mai's egocentric voice. The title of the book comes from one of my favorite passages as Ba describes dealing with the loss of a loved one to Mai, "I tell you of loss, my child, so you will listen slowly, and know that in life every emotion is fated to rear itself within your being." In our fast-paced world, listen slowly, can take on many meanings.

Mai struggles with learning the language bemoaning, "...she [Ut] doesn't understand my non-Frenchy English. It's exhausting but so is my life." She calls her attempts to communicate, "Tarzanish Vietnamese." She's impatient and strong-willed making for a strong female character. When the detective shows up, she hates it when adults take forever to get to the point. "OMG, what are the chances of me meeting the second wordiest human on the planet?" Or she attributes all the building designs to one architect. "Now that I'm no longer shocked by the maneuvers of every moped I notice that just about every house is built in the stacked style like Co Hanh's. It's confirmed. One architect designed for the whole country." Mosquitoes love her sugary blood and she goes to war with them after being turned into their pincushion. Funny observations such as the "doll-sized" food portions and "How am I supposed to get beyond lanky in a land where ice cream is made of red beans instead of cream?" That's not exactly true but Mai likes to exaggerate for a laugh. And boy, did I laugh a lot. She also captures the overcrowded roads in Asia with comments like, "...let me enjoy my cloud of toxic fumes from thousands of lawless mopeds in peace." She pulls some shenanigans on the women regarding thongs and starts to make friends with Ut, having far more exciting adventures than she would have at Laguna Beach.

Mai thinks of nothing but going home as fast as possible. She tries to manipulate events and others to make it happen, but later starts to adjust to her new culture and cousins. Ut is a strong-willed, frog-obsessed cousin who shaved her head - her reason is funny because it is practical but mortifies her beauty-obsessed mom - and she stands up to Mai's snobbish ways changing Mai's outlook in the process. The two develop a friendship where they respect and don't try to change each other. When Ut argues over 40 cents bargaining for food, Mai silently bargains behind her back so Ut thinks she got a good deal and Mai gets the food she wants. Mai wonders why everyone knows English better than she knows Vietnamese. Ut helps Mai along with the serious translator, Ahn Min, whom Mai can't resist poking fun at all the time.

Mai loves drama. In a subplot she whines that her love triangle in California is being replicated in Vietnam. In California, Mai and her best friend are interested in the same guy. She can't say his name because she has such a crush and refers to the boy as "HIM." By the end Mai has matured enough to say his name and not be so dramatic about talking to him. Ahn Min, her translator in Vietnam, is interested in another girl but a different girl is interested in him and thwarts his effort to get her attention. I am not sure how this ties in with the overall theme of a girl finding her heritage, but it does show Mai growing up and processing her crush on a boy and that people are the same and have the same basic needs regardless of where they live in the world. Some funny and memorable episodes happen during this part.

The author captures the frustration of learning a new language and how difficult it can be to communicate. Mai calls words she doesn't understand "ghost words." This imagery reminds me of Buddhism and how worshipers follow the "ghost" month where dead ancestors are allowed to spend a month visiting families, feasting, and finding victims among the living. Buddhism is the largest religion in Vietnam even though the government has periodically tried to extinguish it. When Mai goes to Saigon to locate the guard, she speaks sentences using Vietnamese mainly out of frustration and desperation. She's thrilled when this happens and the Vietnamese man understands her. Afterwards her usual cocky attitude comes back loud and clear, "I'm now officially bilingual and can rule the world!" It doesn't last long though. Pretty soon "The detective yells at us, using python sentences that strangle the air." What a great description of what it is like learning a language. 

Mai pokes fun at cultures and conventions in the United States and Vietnam.  They don't hug each other in Vietnam and Mai forgets many times hugging her relatives when she is happy. They seem to like it. Even Ut, although she swats her in response out of embarrassment. It is one of many instances where Mai shares her culture with her cousins or vice versa. This is the excitement of learning a new culture and sharing differences in a healthy way. Mai also diplomatically refers to the past fighting as "THE WAR." In Vietnam it is called, "The American War" and in America it is called, "The Vietnam War." Her neutral stance avoids the name controversy and shows the war for what it was, a bloody war between two countries. Mai jokes about food, sizes, architecture, and clothes. "I don't know anyone here to care what I wear, much less how often and what brand. It's freeing." She's also such a teen with an egocentric attitude. "I'm so bored, the kind where you bite off all your nails and wish they'd grow back instantly so you could bite them again." She's a hoot. Learning about heritage and other cultures has slowly changed my views of the world and exposed my biases and stereotypes I didn't know I had. I'm trying to listen slowly.  Don't miss this winner.

5 Smileys

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

Neverfell mysteriously shows up at the age of five in the tunnels of the Cheesemaker, Grandible. She lives under a mountain in a place called, "Caverna," where people are born with the inability to make faces. They are taught how to show their emotions by learning to make faces, while Neverfell never has control over her face; hers ripples with expressions like wind on water. 

Grandible does not want Neverfell to grow up. He wants to keep her cloistered because he enjoys her companionship, intelligence, and lolloping ways. He hasn't prepared her for the outside world and when she meets it she is naive and manipulated. He has her wear a mask and she thinks it is to hide her ugliness, but it is to hide her face. When a rabbit escapes their home, Neverfell's face is exposed to the autocratic world of Caverna and she gets swept up in a court of intrigues full of assassins and usurpers.

This coming-of-age story shows Neverfell not only discovering the world and making her place in it, it shows the parent, Grandible, that won't let go of a child and push him or her toward independence. Because she wasn't prepared she is ill-prepared for the world of courtiers. Grandible is melancholy after she is gone and clearly loves and misses her: "There was no red-haired sprite to scamper along beside him now, her babble as bothersome as an itch." Her character arc goes from the naive, manipulated child that trusts everyone to a young woman that makes decisions to try and control her own destiny.

The world building in Caverna is set up as an autocracy with an authoritarian system in place. People with money can afford to buy "faces"; that is, they are tutored on more than one expression. Drudges are the group of people at the bottom of the economic rung that have the unpleasant or servant jobs that keep the city cogs running smoothly so everyone has water, food, and sanitation; they are the marginalized people that suffer exploitation and injustices. History shows how oppressors try to silence the downtrodden by not letting them read, vote, go to school, etc. In Caverna, this is taken further for Drudges can't even express anger on their faces. They have only one facial look and it reflects obedience and happiness even when they are seething inside. When Neverfell discovers this underworld she becomes disillusioned with Caverna and the Grand Steward thinks it mars her face.

Magic comes in the form of magical cheeses and wines. The cheeses can be like dynamite and their volatility is dangerous. Wine is used to make people forget or as a poison meant to kill. Neverfell has no memory of her time living above ground with a family. She has a form of amnesia and can only remember bits and pieces of the world she came from before she was five when she was found by Grandible floating in a tub of cheese curds. Part of the plot's mystery is her uncovering her past. Other Caverna magic is in light-emitting, human-eating plants that give off oxygen and help keep the air fresh underground. Magic can be good or evil and depends on how it is used by a person. The lunatic Cartographers are mapmakers that study Caverna. If a person listens to a Cartographer too long he or she will go crazy. Hardinge has a djinn for an imagination and does not disappoint as she lets it go full tilt.

The Grand Steward runs the autocracy and his character is like a mixed potion of Alice in Wonderland's Red Queen and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Grand Steward never sleeps and rests the left or right-side of his brain, literally, every 12 hours. When his right eye is open, the right-side of his brain is logical and clear with his left eye closed and sleeping. Likewise when his left eye is open, the left-side of his brain makes impulsive and unpredictable decisions while his right side sleeps. The two have been at odds with each other for decades and he maintains a constant state of wakefulness to be aware of assassination attempts. The Grand Steward has lost his curiosity of the world and has reigned for five hundred years. When Neverfell becomes his food taster she shows him the world through the eyes of youth where possibilities are infinite and new experiences are like steam rising from a hot spring. He describes his joy when noticing Neverfell's genuine admiration of him and long-forgotten feelings stirred by her smile.

People under the mountain get out of clock or lose track of their night and days suffering from insomnia. "She was out of clock, maybe further out of clock than she had ever been before. She could feel her mind pulling loose like knitting, the neat stitches of her artificial days unraveling to become one mangled thread." They are out of clock with their feelings as well as the relationships the Cavernians have with each other. This is best seen in the budding friendship between the twelve-year-olds, Zouelle and Neverfell. Zouelle only knows how to manipulate and be ruled by fear from adults. She learns how to feel through Neverfell, but more importantly how to trust and be honest. Even though she is offered power, she rejects it because she wants to live in truth, not lies, and have relationships based on love and trust.

The theme of truth and lies has been in every Hardinge book I've read and this one is no different. Caverna is a land of lies and no trust. Neverfell cannot lie and represents truth. Lies corrupt and cause unhappiness. After seeing the Drudges situation, Neverfell needs a facesmith to smooth out her disillusionment or the Grand Steward will kill her. People cannot express how they really feel, but Neverfell can only express what she feels; this makes her a weapon for power in the wrong hands. The Drudges cannot show their outrage at their inhuman treatment. The courtiers cannot show their disagreement with the Grand Steward or they will be killed. Like any autocracy, those that oppose the dictator are killed. Neverfell cannot fake anything. She has to be genuinely convinced that someone will improve the injustices Drudges face every day. The entire society is based on hypocrisy. I didn't think this came together quite as clearly as it could have, but it is implied and readers can make their own conclusions. The lying causes many deaths and gives the tale a dark undercurrent, "...tense calm tipped over into blood and chaos."

Neverfell changes from being manipulated by others to one who takes control of her life leading others. She is more interesting than the hero who has powers handed to him or her without a struggle and then saves the world. Hardinge's characters are flawed and more authentic as a result. They beat seemingly impossible odds like in the hero formula, except they make mistakes, use their brains, have courage, and take risks.

Hardinge uses descriptive titles for characters to make them come alive with verve. The Kleptomancer is a thief who disappears like the best of wizards. Neverfell, a girl that always falls into trouble, lives in a world like Neverland. Childersin uses children. Madam Appeline, sounds like Madeline pronounced the French way, Mad-Leen (and yes, she is a bit mad). Grandible, the cheesemaker, makes the grandest, most edible cheeses that are dangerous and can explode. Facesmiths are like blacksmiths except they teach others to make faces. Caverna is like a character rather than a city described with stalactites as teeth.

This narrative is a simmering pot of similes and metaphors. "Zouelle had forgotten how tiring it was listening to a Neverfell at full pace, like being bludgeoned with exclamation marks." "She lay there with her eyes closed as if sleep were a shy creature that might venture out if she played dead. But every time it seemed to be drawing closer, some loud thought would crash and blunder through the undergrowth, putting it to flight." That is a good description of me trying to sleep during the mad month of May. You teachers know exactly what I'm talking about. Take flight with Hardinge's imagination and get bludgeoned by her figurative language. It's worth it.

5 Smileys

The Shadow Hero (The Shadow Hero) by Gene Luen Yang, Sonny Liew (Illustrations), Chu Hing

The Avengers can add an Asian superhero to their team, Hank Chu, a.k.a. Green Turtle. Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew pay homage to the first ever Asian comic superhero that came out in the 1940s, the golden age of comics that produced Batman, Captain America, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and so on. Chu Hing created a character in 1944 called, The Green Turtle, that was a superhero from WWII. Hing only had 5 issues published and was told his character could not be Asian. An appendix explains in more detail how Hing worked around this issue and the history of the first Green Turtle superhero. While Yang and Liew remake elements of the original, their story is their own concoction of action, humor, and Eastern culture. Gobble up this graphic novel with a boazi and enjoy.

Hank Chu, is a carbon-copy of his father who runs a grocery store during the 1930s in San Francisco, CA. His mother, Hua Chu, wants more in life. One day while tooling around town on errands in a big sedan chauffeuring her employer, Mrs. Olson, a carjacker steals the car at gunpoint making her drive him to an unknown destination. Hua is saved by the Anchor of Justice, a superhero that flies the car up over a body of water and shakes the occupants out catching Hua mid-air and letting the villain crash in the water below. With goo-goo eyes, Hua is inspired and admires her rescuer. She becomes obsessed with Hank becoming a superhero by making him a costume, setting him up for fighting lessons with uncle, and putting him through experiments so he'll gain superpowers. She is a hilarious caricature of a Tiger Mom and her illustrations are some of my favorite ones in the whole novel.

Gangs run the streets and when Hank's father doesn't pay the street Lord, things start to fall apart. When a relative is killed, Hank seeks revenge. He discovers another gang and falls for the Ten Grand's daughter. She's a strong female that rescues Hank on his first disastrous outing as a superhero. Ironically, Hank was trying to save the daughter from thugs but she is perfectly capable of protecting herself. Later, she deliberately doesn't kill Hank when her father asks her to.

I live in Asia. I recognize the goofy kung fu fighting uncle, the dedicated son that obeys his parents, and the ambitious pushy mother. And while these stock characters are going to be familiar to Asians, I'm not sure Americans will recognize them which makes this novel a good way to introduce others to an unfamiliar culture.

The snappy dialogue is fun. The mother's character, Hua, is one of the main forces that drives the plot and she embodies so much of Eastern culture making her an important person to the story as a whole, but her verbal criticism of how Western women dressed and looked from being drab to fat made me wonder if she was going to be a stereotyped unhappy, gossipy, older woman who has lost her looks and criticizes those around her. Fortunately, she doesn't take that one-dimensional route and shows that she really wants what is best for her son even if she is misguided.

The authors capture Eastern culture and humor loaded in action-packed illustrations and text. Hua is sitting in the car eating a pork bun or boazi. In Taiwan, they sell these buns everywhere. The students want them as a snack after playing sports or for meals. The old men are playing Mahjong, a fun board game that people play in the multiple parks around the city of Taipei. When Hua makes Hank his first costume it is with the Chinese character for gold. The money god or god of prosperity is worshiped or invoked during Chinese New Year. Common Chinese traditions and beliefs are what make this novel special for the reader is absorbed in the culture; it isn't explained. Eastern culture has roots in Confuscius teachings who championed strong family loyalty, respect for elders by children and husbands by their wives. This book gives the reader a bite of a different culture and it is delicious.

Derogatory words are used in the story. When I first came across them it was jarring, but then it became apparent that they were intentional and are an effort to make the characters authentic. By drawing attention to racial slurs, the authors are showing how they were used at that time in history. Slurs are still used today and people are victims of prejudice all over the world.

The character arcs show Hua changing from wanting her son to be a superhero at all costs, to worrying that she went too far and he will kill himself. At the end, he shows he's capable and no longer a child in need of a parent's protection. She's proud of him. Hank embraces his new powers, suffers many setbacks, but learns to believe in himself. He gains respect from the community while championing the common Asian person. Ultimately, the superhero is successful at avenging his relative's death and bringing peace to the neighborhood.

I plan on using this for book club and get my students opinions. Most grew up in Taiwan and their take on the story would be enlightening and rich. This graphic novel is corny, fun, and introduces a culture I have fallen in love with. Check it out. Better yet, check out Taiwan.

5 Smileys

The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett

Sonya Hartnett's books are like music: a rhythmic cadence, delicious word choices, unusual images, complex themes, and great character development. I feel like I'm in the eye of the storm. My hurricane pace slows for a moment and I think about the beauty of language and what makes a great storyteller. The narration has little action as most takes place in the country-side at Uncle Peregrine's estate, Heron Hall, where twelve-year-old Cecily; her brother, Jeremy; and her mother, Heloise, have sought refuge on the eve of the 1940 London Blitz. While en route they pick up an evacuee, May, who along with hundreds of other children have traveled to the country for safety. Many are without any adult supervision and need to be taken in by families.

At Heron Hall, May and Cecily explore the ruins of Snow Castle where they find two boys in "pantomime" costumes. Perhaps they are runaway evacuees housed with some theater folks. They are distrustful, snobbish, and afraid. Cecily is a snob right back. May cuts through all the blustering and sees the two boys actions are based on them being afraid. This coming-of-age story is historical and has a fantastical element. The author captures the complex relationships of families, friends, and acquaintances.

When we bought a puppy, my five-year-old daughter expected the little furball to sleep with her, patter in her shadow nonstop, and worship her like a goddess. She'd grab the pooch and carry her everywhere. If Cecily had her druthers, she'd collar May and force her to follow her around. When the family scoops May up at the train station Cecily likens it to finding a "kitten in a basket." She picks May like a she's a toy in the store. When she realizes that May is "independent" and does what she wants, things get ugly.

Cecily is a selfish, spoiled, lummox who remains an unsympathetic character until the end of the story. Only a confident writer would risk creating an unlikable character. Cecily says mean things to May bossing her around and acting superior because she has money. She isn't completely lacking in qualities; there are glimpses of kindness and humor. She does feel remorse at times, but only if the other person gets angry. Jeremy and Heloise are usually putting Cecily down although with Jeremy it is more your run-of-mill sibling relationship where they fight but are also loyal to each other. Heloise can be cruel to her children; yet, both she and her husband are indulgent as well. Cecily's superior attitude toward May is her way of feeling important and powerful. May acts as her foil and is the smart hero, so it works. 

The Snow Castle adventure alternates with Uncle Peregrine telling an after-dinner tale of Richard III, who he calls, The Duke. The tale is based on the history of the end of the House of York before the Tudors came to power. Richard III supposedly killed his two nephews and usurped the throne. Peregrine is described like Shakespeare's King Richard III with a limp, long hair (medieval fashion), and a widower. Except Shakespeare's King is not as introspective as Peregrine. The family learns from the Duke's story how the unscrupulous pursuit of power can impact the future.

The overarching theme of power shows how it corrodes friendships, causes wars, is oppressive, and does not bring joy to the usurper even if it does bring money and position. More importantly, the entire plot shows the powerlessness of children. They are under the authority of adults who can be cruel or kind. Adults can use power to shame and control people. In this case, Heloise controls her children and threatens them when they disobey. Also, the moral complexity of children being shipped out of London for their safety and the desire to be independent from the power of adults is reflected the most in Jeremy's character. The nature of power is examined in its abusiveness from children to adults and kings.

Jeremy and his mom have power struggles. He wants to be a man and feel he's helping with the war effort and his parents see him as a kid they want to keep safe. His mom doesn't talk to him about it but just exercises her parental authority enjoying her power over him that comes with being an adult versus a child. Jeremy takes the powerlessness of being a fourteen-year-old under the care of his parents and acts on it to find power in how he wants to shape his future. Jeremy's arc shows that he doesn't have to kill to be a man in the war. He can save people in other ways. Power for him comes in saving others with the results of peace and joy in his spirit. It also awakens him to the knowledge that his father is not perfect. He realizes both of his parents have shortcomings and even though he loves them, he will make different choices in his life.

Jeremy represents young people and the desire to test themselves. I remember doing crazy things as a kid. We'd jump off bridges into the lake. We felt daring and brave. Some kids tested themselves on bikes or skateboards or speeding in cars. Jeremy wants to use war to test himself in battle. This seeking of danger is one that can be a push for independence by teens and is part of the coming-of-age story.

The two alternating stories morph together in a fantastical way. Is Peregrine related to Richard III? The locket given at the end suggests that he might be. Peregrine's gift of the locket to May and his comments where he tells her she is the most important person ever to stay at Heron Hall, suggest she is the link between histories in the past and the current life. Out of all the characters, she is the one who sees things that others cannot. I kept thinking of her as the ghost-of-histories past.

Great lines brim the pages of this book from Cecily wanting to bite off her nail to Jeremy describing the blitz. "Her thumbnail, incompletely chewed, was singing a siren's song." I'm a nail biter so I laughed at this one. It didn't matter how many times my parents told me to stop biting my nails, I'd go after them whenever I had to sit still. Jeremy's dramatic description of the blitz: "He'd opened his eyes to the oddest of sights: the sky above him was red. It was slashed across with the white beams of searchlights, and burnt black at the edges by night: but the clouds were red as if the sky had been drenched by buckets of blood. He didn't see aeroplanes, but he felt the vibrations shake though his body, four hefty booms to the chest as the bombs drove themselves into the ground."Another great line is Peregrine's: "Flimsy things like words become lost in time." I don't reckon this authors will be lost anytime soon.

5 Smileys

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Augustus drives worse than the Taiwan taxi drivers who pump the gas pedal like a pipe organ and speed through switchback-type alleys that leave my husband and me so carsick I have resorted to stashing airline puke bags in my purse. Hazel Grace Lancaster also gets tossed to and fro while driving around town with Augustus who has no feeling in his prosthetic leg, "I flew against the seat belt of his Toyota SUV each time he braked, and my necked snapped backward each time he hit the gas." Augustus explains he failed taking his driver's test three times at which Hazel replies, "You don't say." Hazel's sarcastic humor and wit, along with a great supporting cast of characters, make this love story surprisingly funny given that Hazel  has terminal cancer.

Hazel's thyroid cancer from three years ago has spread to her lungs and is slowly killing her. She carries around an oxygen tank that she calls, Philip, and describes her support group with a mixture of humor, disgust, crudeness, and philosophy in this great teenagy run-on sentence: "So here's how it went in God's heart: The six or seven or ten of us walked/wheeled in, grazed at a decrepit selection of cookies and lemonade, sat down in the Circle of Trust, and listened to Patrick recount for the thousandth time his depressingly miserable like story - how he had cancer in his balls and they thought he was going to die but he didn't die and now here he is, a full-grown adult in a church basement in the 137th nicest city in America, divorced, addicted to video games, mostly friendless, eking out a meager living by exploiting his cancertastic past, slowly working his way toward a master's degree that will not improve his career prospects, waiting, as we all do, for the sword of Damocles to give him the relief that he escaped lo those many years ago when cancer took both of his nuts but spared what only the most generous soul would call his life. AND YOU TOO MIGHT BE SO LUCKY!"  One of many clever references, the sword of Damocles is in a Greek tale about a powerful leader who is in constant fear; thus showing the constant fear Patrick and others at the group meeting face daily whether they are cancer-free or not. Hazel implies that cancer is like having a sword over your head that is being held in place by a horse's hair.

When Hazel meets Augustus at the support group, a former basketball player who has lost a leg to osteosarcoma, he lends her his favorite sci-fi book, “The Price of Dawn,” a novelization of his favorite video game. She, in turn, lends him her best-loved book, “An Imperial Affliction” by Peter Van Houten, about a young girl with cancer. Van Houten ends his novel  in the middle of a sentence and Hazel is obsessed with finding out what happens to the characters, writing to the author over ten years, begging him - to no avail - for answers. After reading “An Imperial Affliction,” Augustus decides to use his “wish” from “The Genie Foundation,” a charity that grants requests of very ill children, to send himself and Hazel to Amsterdam to meet Van Houten in a life-changing trip.

I thought the weaving of references to existentialism was not only intriguing but added depth, irony, and emotion to the story. In a nutshell, existentialism is a philosophy that claims a person defines himself or herself through conscious decisions in a hostile or indifferent environment versus a person being defined by arbitrary or preconceived stereotypes. Or more simply, it is a conscious decision to give value or meaning to life. In this story, cancer, and the good and bad reaction of people without cancer, is the hostile environment and those who have cancer must consciously define how they want to live and approach each day. Let's face it, most young readers are not going to know about existentialism and while Augustus' phrase "existentially fraught free throws" might go over the head of many, readers will get the gist that his existential moment happened one day when he was questioning the meaningfulness of playing basketball. It also happened to be the last day of his "dual leggedness."

One of Hazel's burning questions is the fate of the hamster, Sisyphus. In Greek myth, Sisyphus is condemned to the meaningless labor of repeatedly pushing a boulder up a mountain and watching it roll down. Like a hamster on a wheel that goes nowhere, or Sisyphus repeating the same task over and over, Hazel's effort to fight cancer is repetitive and meaningless. Sisyphus is also referred to by the famous existential writer, Albert Camus in his novel, The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus introduces absurdism, a branch of existentialism, that asserts people live in a meaningless, chaotic world. Cancer is absurd and there is no rhyme or reason as to who it strikes or why some survive and others don't.

The video game played by Hazel, Augustus, and Isaac emphasize abundant meaningless kills of virtual characters and how Augustus always sacrifices himself to save another in the game (versus killing and winning the game). Not only does this fit with existentialism and Augustus trying to shape meaning into his life, but is symbolic of cancer killing him and his sacrifice of his "wish" to save Hazel and help her give meaning to her cancer-riddled life by talking to Van Houten. Hazel also wants her parents to have meaning in their life which revolves around her cancer as well. The portrayal of the loving, supportive parents trying to deal with a daughter who is dying is poignant, but not overly melodramatic. Hazel is still scolded when she shows a bratty attitude or gets annoyed at a "hovering" mother. 

This novel has so many references, themes, and metaphors I need to cut myself off - this review is starting to sound like an English paper - but bear with me on another theme. Hazel and Augustus go to Amsterdam and tour the Anne Frank house. The parallels of the injustice and randomness of death occurring to Anne Frank is similar to how cancer strikes. Anne Frank didn't deserve to live in an attic and die, nor does Hazel or any of the other support group member with cancer. It appears meaningless and harsh, but the characters decide to make each day count in spite of the chaos of this disease. They take risks by becoming friends, falling in love, or getting answers from an author who wrote a compelling book. In the process they grow and change and they are so likable we can't help but root for them all the way.


The writing is rich, characters strong, and the topic surrounding cancer emotionally-charged and full of tension. I did guess a major plot point in the first chapter, but that's mainly because the story follows the classic romance formula of girl meets boy; girl and boy fall in love; some obstacle gets in the way of their love; girl and boy get back together. Well-written romances do this so it isn't a bad thing. And even though it scooped a little of the surprise for me, there are other excellent plot twists, along with the oodles of references and metaphors that kept me engaged in the story. The swearing and sex scene (not graphic) make this a middle school book. Enjoy.

Young Adult
4 out of 5 Smileys