Icon: Teaches About Culture

Yasmin The Explorer

Every explorer needs a map! Baba encourages Yasmin to make a map of her own neighborhood. When Yasmin and Mama go to the farmer’s market, Yasmin adds the different booths to her map. When she sees a playground, Yasmin gets excited and goes to play on the swings. Soon Yasmin realizes that she isn’t sure where Mama is. Can her map bring them back together?

The story has three short chapters and each page has large illustrations that will help readers understand the plot. The full-color illustrations use cheerful colors and show Yasmin’s map. Yasmin is Pakistani and her mother wears a hijab. Yasmin’s mother also uses Urdu words, which are defined in a glossary that appears at the back of the book.

Yasmin The Explorer will help emerging readers feel confident with their reading. Each page has 1 to 4 short sentences which are printed in oversized text. At the end of the book, there are questions that will help students connect to the text, some fun facts about Pakistan, and a recipe to make Mango Lassi, a traditional Pakistani dish.

Yasmin’s curiosity and enthusiasm are contagious; however, the story lacks conflict because the plot focuses on the places that Yasmin puts on her map. However, readers will relate to Yasmin when she is lost. Yasmin The Explorer would make a good conversation starter about the importance of telling your parents where you are going, as well as what to do if you are lost.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

 

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Only Black Girls in Town

For over a decade, Alberta and her fathers, Elliott and Kadeem, have been the only Black people on their street in the town of Ewing Beach, California. That is, until a new family moves into the bed and breakfast across the street: Calliope Whitman and her daughter Edie. On the surface, it appears Edie and Alberta are opposites. Alberta has grown up in Ewing Beach for most of her life with her two very present dads. While Alberta grew up in a community dominated by White people, Edie grew up in the diverse county of Brooklyn. But these two girls have something they can strictly bond over: their Blackness and being 12, a time when bodies are going through intense and sudden change.

Alberta’s best friend is Laramie, a White girl, but Alberta and Edie share something special. One day while hanging out at the bed and breakfast, the pair discover a series of journals that were written from 1955 to 1968. They decide to uncover the mystery behind the journals and their writer, Constance. While unraveling the mystery, Alberta goes through many crises that center around her femininity, her Blackness, puberty, and friendships that seem to change way too fast.

Each girl in the main cast (Alberta, Edie, and Laramie) has their own issues and these issues are fleshed out with concise writing, giving the story a good pace while upholding the mystery of Constance. Laramie is dealing with the social hierarchy of middle school and her rapidly changing body, even to the extent of getting her first period and growing three inches in one summer. Edie is dealing with her parents separating and her father’s absence alongside his broken promises to see her. Alberta is exploring the complexities of change and confronting her Blackness and the Blackness of other characters such as Constance.

The Only Black Girls in Town is written from the perspective of Alberta, thus making the reader more sympathetic to her struggles as a 12-year-old girl coming of age. It is an amazing story that speaks on the complexities of race and puberty. Many readers will relate to the idea that hitting puberty means learning more about your own race. Colbert does an excellent job weaving themes of Blackness in her characters along with their changing bodies. The author tells readers that they are not alone in their journey of self-discovery, and she provides a diverse look at Black people.

The Only Black Girls in Town explores the theme that the experience with one’s Blackness is not uniform. For example, Black people do not dress uniformly as seen with Edie and Alberta’s clashing fashion sense. Black people come in a variety of shades: dark, light, medium brown, and even fair-skinned. Black people have different hair ranging from kinky curls to dreadlocks to straight. The story emphasizes that there is no mold for the Black experience. The Only Black Girls In Town also explores the subtlety of racism, often hidden in casual language like when the residential mean girl, Nicolette, demeans Alberta’s achievement as the best surfer in surf camp down to being Black or Laramie says Edie is “faking” her goth and punk self because she believes Black people to be monolithic in experience and appearance. While the White characters are not explicitly racist, their implicit bias is shown in dialogue such as Laramie not caring about the fact that Alberta’s new neighbor is Black and not understanding why Alberta is so excited. The book validates Alberta’s feelings of unease and that feeling of “this isn’t racist but feels racist.”

The Only Black Girls in Town is an amazing story that weaves the trials of middle school with the intricacies of race. The story balances lighthearted tones with a suspenseful mystery that heightens the drama between the characters. During a time where race relations have gradually become more complex and subtle, The Only Black Girls in Town is an important novel for all readers regardless of their race. This novel is for readers who would like a fun mystery and who want to learn about/explore the relationship between Blackness and coming of age.

Sexual Content

  • Laramie says, “Gavin tried to kiss me the other day. After school.” This kiss is mentioned two more times.
  • Laramie mentions that Gavin “would look at me different from how he looked at everyone else.”

 Violence

  • In a journal entry, Constance wrote about how she overheard her employers talking about the death of a boy. “They were speaking about the Negro boy who was killed down South.” Edie infers it’s about the historic murder of Emmett Till, who was lynched in 1955.
  • When Laramie talks about the party she went to, she mentions that Gavin “was going to kill Davis for bumping into a table with a sculpture of some old dude.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Because of her goth and punk fashion sense, Edie is called “Wednesday Addams” in reference to the popular character.
  • “Brat” is used a few times. For example, “Stephan McKee. He’s a total spoiled brat . . .”
  • In the journal entries discovered by the girls, the word “Negro(es)” is used multiple times.
  • The word “mulatto” is used once in a journal entry where Constance recalls an interaction with her colleague May who says, “I’m mulatto, Constance.” The term is used in reference to those who are half Black and half White.
  • In a journal entry, the reader can infer that Constance’s employer, Mrs. Ogden, uses a racial slur to describe Black people. “Mrs. Ogden said the Negroes were getting uppity since they won the Supreme Court case to desegregate the schools. But she didn’t use the word Negroes.”
  • There is a lot of language used to emphasize Alberta and Edie’s “otherness” due to being Black. For example, Nicolette tells Alberta, “It’s just that you’re like, different here and different there, but Irene tries to make it special for you. That’s cute.” in order to demean her achievement of being the best surfer in surf camp, given to her personally by their instructor.
  • The school’s vice-principal assumes Edie and Alberta are cousins because they are both Black.
  • Someone says Edie is a “poser” because, as Laramie puts it, they “don’t know a lot of Black people who dress like that.”
  • Weird is used to describe a lot of situations in the novel. For example, Laramie calls Edie’s black lipstick weird.
  • Constance writes “Lord have mercy on me” once.
  • Alberta says, “Oh my god!” once.
  • Alberta calls Nicolette a “barney” (“someone who’s not very good at surfing”).
  • Nicolette spreads a rumor about Laramie having an accident. Alberta says, “She told people you wet the bed?” Laramie reveals it’s about leaking during her period.
  • Edie tells Alberta about how she feels about her father not coming to visit her or call her when he says he would. Alberta says, “That really sucks Edie.”
  • Alberta and Laramie make a pact to never speak Nicolette’s name for the whole year, so Alberta refers to Nicolette as “She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”
  • Nicolette says, “You know, Alberta, you could’ve just worn your regular clothes if you wanted to dress like a dork” when she tries to crash the Halloween party next door.
  • Laramie calls Nicolette a jerk while at Edie’s Halloween party. “Alberta is right. You’ve always been a jerk to her, and we should’ve called you on it a long time ago.”
  • Many times, Nicolette is referred to as “mean” and other varying superlatives.

 Supernatural

  • None

 Spiritual Content

  • None

by Emma Hua

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns is set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding. It puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of the country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war. In war, personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, and find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Mariam and her mother live as outcasts. With little contact with the outside world, Mariam dreams of a time when her father will accept her. When Mariam’s mother dies, Mariam has no choice but to show up at her father’s house. Her father quickly arranges for Mariam to marry Rasheed. At first, Mariam is hopeful that living in a new city with a new husband will be the beginning of something good. But after a string of miscarriages, Rasheed becomes violent and forbids Mariam from seeking friendship.

Meanwhile, Laila grew up with parents that believe everyone deserves an education, including girls. While Laila’s childhood is far from perfect, she is surrounded by loving people. Then, just when her family plans to leave their war-torn city, Laila’s parents are killed. With no family or friends left, Laila isn’t sure where to turn. When Rasheed offers marriage, Laila reluctantly agrees to become his second wife. However, she wasn’t prepared for his first wife’s hate or Rasheed’s violence.

A Thousand Splendid Suns has worked its way onto many schools’ required reading lists because the story helps readers understand Afghan history. More importantly, it is a story of family, friendship, and hope. Mariam and Laila’s friendship gives them strength to live in a brutal environment, where their husband is cruel and abusive. Through their plight, readers will begin to understand the role women play in Afghanistan and how the Taliban changed their world overnight.

Readers will be deeply moved by the story’s events. However, the brutality of war, the massacre of innocent people, and the harsh physical abuse of both Mariam and Laila is graphic and disturbing. Hosseini paints a realistic picture of living in a war-torn country, and the images of death will remain with readers for a long time after they close the cover of the book. Even though A Thousand Splendid Suns has a positive message, sensitive readers will find the descriptions of Rasheed’s abusive behavior and the constant death upsetting.

Before you read A Thousand Splendid Suns, grab a box of tissues because the story will bring you to tears. Because of Laila’s friendship, Mariam makes a decision that will forever alter both of their lives. Through Mariam’s experiences, readers will come to understand how powerless women were under the Taliban’s rule, but they will also see how friendship and kindness have the power to change one’s life.

Sexual Content

  • After Mariam’s mother got pregnant, the baby’s father told his wives that her mother had “forced” herself on him.
  • Mariam is forced to marry a much older man. Before the marriage, Mariam thinks about her mother’s words. “It was the thought of these intimacies in particular, which she [Mariam] imagined as painful acts of perversity, that filled her with dread and made her break out in a sweat.”
  • One night, Mariam’s husband comes into her room. “His hand was on her right breast now, squeezing it hard through the blouse. . . He rolled on top of her, wriggled and shifted, and she let out a whimper. . .The pain was sudden and astonishing. . . When it was done, he rolled off her, panting.”
  • Mariam finds pornography in her husband’s room. The women in the pictures, “their legs were apart, and Mariam had a full view of the dark place between.”
  • Mariam’s husband desires intimacy. “His appetite, on the other hand, was fierce, sometimes boarding on violent. The way he pinned her down, his hand squeezes at her breast, how furiously his hips worked.”
  • Laila’s feelings for her best friend, Tariq, begin to change. She wonders “what would it be like to kiss him, to feel the fuzzy hair about his lips tickling her own lips?” Later, they have sex. “Laila thought of Tariq’s hands, squeezing her breast, sliding down the small of her back, as the two of them kissed and kissed.”
  • Laila hears a story about three sisters who were raped and then “their throats slashed.”
  • After Laila’s parents die, an older man asks Laila to marry him. He implies that if she says no, she may have to work in a brothel. Laila agrees to marry him because she is pregnant.
  • After Laila and the man are married, he has sex with her. “Laila had a full view of his sagging breast, his protruding belly button. . . she felt his eyes crawling all over her.” They have sex several times, but the action is not described in detail.

Violence

  • The book often describes the violence of war. For example, someone says that the Mujahideen forces boys to fight. “And when soldiers from a rival militia capture these boys, they torture them. I heard they electrocute them. . . then they crush their balls with pliers. They make the boys lead them to their homes. Then they break in, kill their fathers, rape their sisters and mothers.”
  • After Mariam goes into town, she comes back and sees “the straight-backed chair, overturned. The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it.”
  • After Mariam has a miscarriage, her husband becomes different. It wasn’t easy tolerating him talking this way to her, to bear his scorn, his ridicule, his insults. . . [Mariam] lived in fear of his shifting moods, his volatile temperament, his insistence on steering even mundane exchanges down a confrontational path that, on occasion, he would resolve with punches, slaps, kicks. . .”
  • Russians took over Afghanistan and people talked about “eyes gouged and genitals electrocuted in Pol-e-Charkhi Prison. Mariam would hear of the slaughter that had taken place at the Presidential Palace.” The president was killed after he watched the “massacre of his family.”
  • Mariam’s husband was angry because of her cooking. “His powerful hands clasped her jaw. He shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it open, then forced the cold, hard pebbles into it. Mariam struggled against him, mumbling, but he kept pushing the pebbles in, his upper lip curled in a sneer . . . Then he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars.”
  • A teacher would slap students. “Palm, then back of the hand, back and forth, like a painter working a brush.”
  • A boy shoots a water gun, spraying a girl with urine.
  • After a girl is bullied, her friend fights the bully. “Then it was all dust and fists and kicks and yelps.”
  • A rocket hits one of Laila’s friend’s houses. “Giti’s mother had run up and down the street where Giti was killed, collecting pieces of her daughter’s flesh in her apron, screeching hysterically. Giti’s decomposing right foot, still in in its nylon sock and purple sneaker, would be found on a rooftop two weeks later.”
  • A rocket hits Laila’s house. “Something hot and powerful slammed into her from behind. It knocked her out of her sandals. Lifted her up. And now she was flying, twisting and rotating in the air. . . Then Laila struck the wall. Crashed to the ground.” Laila sees her dead parents.
  • Laila hears a story about soldiers “raping Pashtun girls, shelling Pashtun neighborhoods, and killing indiscriminately. Every day, bodies were found tied to trees, sometimes burned beyond recognition. Often, they’d been shot in the head, had their eyes gouged out, their tongues cut out.”
  • Rasheed, Laila’s husband, hits both of his wives often. “One moment [Laila] was talking and the next she was on all fours, wide-eyed and red-faced, trying to draw a breath. . .” She drops the baby she was carrying. “Then she was being dragged by her hair.” Her husband locks her in a room and then goes to beat his other wife. “To Laila, the sounds she heard were those of a methodical, familiar proceeding. . . there was no cussing, no screaming, no pleading. . . only the systematic business of beating and being beaten, the thump, thump of something solid repeatedly striking flesh.”
  • When the Taliban take over Afghanistan, they kill the Afghanistan leader. The Taliban “had tortured him for hours, then tied his legs to a truck and dragged his lifeless body through the streets.”
  • After Rasheed hits Laila, she “punched him . . . The impact actually made him stagger two steps backward. . . He went on kicking, kicking Mariam now, spittle flying from his mouth. . .” At one point Rasheed put the barrel of a gun in Laila’s mouth.
  • Rasheed gets upset at Laila and begins “pummeling her, her head, her belly with fists, tearing at her hair, throwing her to the wall.” Mariam tries to help Laila but Rasheed hits her too.
  • After an old friend comes to see Laila, Rasheed gets angry. “Without saying a word, he swung the belt at Laila. . . Laila touched her fingers to her temple, looked at the blood, looked at Rasheed, with astonishment. Rasheed swung the belt again.” Rasheed begins to strangle Laila. “Laila’s face was turning blue now, and her eyes had rolled back.”
  • In order to save Laila, Mariam hits Rasheed with a shovel. “And so Mariam raised the shovel high, raised it as high as she could, arching it so it touched the small of her back. She turned it so the sharp edge was vertical . . . Mariam brought down the shovel. This time, she gave it everything she had.” Rasheed dies from his wounds.
  • When an Afghanistan leader is killed, Laila thinks about some of the violence that he caused. “She remembers too well the neighborhoods razed under his watch, the bodies dragged from the rubble, the hands and feet of children discovered on rooftops or the high branches of some tree days after their funeral. . . “

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Someone is given morphine after being injured.
  • Laila overhears a story about her husband. He was drunk when his son “went into the water unnoticed. They spotted him a while later, floating face down.” The boy died. Someone says, “This is why the Holy Koran forbids sharab. Because it always falls on the sober to pay for the sins of the drunk.”

Language

  • Profanity is rarely used. Profanity includes ass, piss, shit, and damn.
  • As a child, Mariam’s mother reminds her that she is a bastard because she was born out of wedlock.
  • Mariam yells at her half-brother, saying “he had a mouth shaped like a lizard’s ass.”
  • Mariam pleads with her father, asking him not to make her marry a stranger. He yells, “Goddamn it, Mariam, don’t do this to me.”
  • A child yells at a bully, saying, “Your mother eats cock!” The child does not know what the words mean.
  • Someone calls Laila a whore. Later, Laila’s husband also calls her a whore.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The story focuses on characters who are Muslim. They often pray.
  • Mariam’s mom said she had a difficult labor. She said, “I didn’t eat or sleep, all I did was push and pray that you would come out.”
  • Mullah Faizullah teaches Mariam about the Koran’s words. He tells her, “You can summon them [God’s words] in your time of need, and they won’t fail you. God’s words will never betray you, my girl.” During difficult times, Mariam thinks about verses from the Koran.
  • Mariam asks Mullah Faizullah to convince Mariam’s mother to let her go to school. He replies, “God, in His wisdom has given us each weaknesses, and foremost among my many is that I am powerless to refuse you, Mariam.”
  • Mariam’s mother tells her, “Of all the daughters I could have had, why did God give me an ungrateful one like you?” Later that day, her mother commits suicide.
  • After Mariam’s mother commits suicide, Mullah Faizullah says, “The Koran speaks the truth, my girl. Behind every trial and every sorrow that He makes us shoulder, God has a reason.” Later, he tells Mariam that Allah “will forgive her, for He is all-forgiving, but Allah is saddened by what she did.”
  • After Mariam’s father forces her to marry, her father says he will come to visit her. She tells him, “I used to pray that you’d live to be a hundred years old. . . I didn’t know that you were ashamed of me.”
  • When Mariam learns that she will have a baby, she thinks about a verse from the Koran. “And Allah is the East and the West, therefore wherever you turn there is Allah’s purpose.”
  • When Mariam has a miscarriage, she gets angry, but thinks, “Allah was not spiteful. He was not a petty God. . . Blessed is He in Whose hand is the kingdom, and He Who has power over all things, Who created death and life that He may try out.”
  • When the Taliban took over Afghanistan, flyers were passed out with new rules including “all citizens must pray five times a day. . . If you are not Muslim, do not worship where you can be seen by Muslims. If you do, you will be beaten and imprisoned. If you are caught trying to convert a Muslim to your faith, you will be executed.”
  • A man tells Mariam, “God has made us differently, you women and us men. Our brains are different. You are not able to think like we can.”

A Thousand Questions

Mimi has a lot of questions, like why is her mother taking her to Pakistan to meet her grandparents? Why did her father leave Mimi and her mom? Where is Mimi’s dad now? Visiting Mimi’s grandparents in Pakistan might not answer all her questions, but she’s determined to figure some of them out.

Sakina wants nothing more than to attend school. Unfortunately, she has to help her father clean Mimi’s grandparents’ lavish house to make ends meet, so going to school for Sakina feels like a pipe dream. Plus she must pass the English language exam to even attend, and Sakina has no one to practice with. That is, until Mimi and her mother arrive from America.

In a meeting of cultures, Mimi and Sakina learn much from each other and eventually become friends. The family and class dynamics surrounding their lives present new ways of looking at the world and their places within it.

Split between Mimi and Sakina’s perspectives, A Thousand Questions tackles topics like class struggles, family relations, and cultural barriers. Mimi is from Houston, and although she and her mother don’t have a lot in the States, Mimi’s grandparents are wealthy in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Sakina is employed, along with her father (Abba), as a servant in Mimi’s grandparents’ household. The friendship between Mimi and Sakina isn’t encouraged at first, and often the differences in class come up when Mimi has more freedom (both financially and socially) than Sakina. Instead of fostering dislike between the two, Sakina is motivated to improve her English and attend school however she can.

Language is a large part of the book. Many of the characters speak Urdu, and Urdu and Arabic words are used throughout. Faruqi does an excellent job of giving contextual clues, so the language-hopping never feels confusing. A glossary is also included at the end of the book to help aid readers. Language is also used as a plot point. Mimi’s Urdu isn’t great, and Sakina’s English is ok, so the two teach each other. In this exchange of languages, there is also an exchange in cultures. The bond that Sakina and Mimi form is heartwarming, even if they don’t always see eye to eye.

Mimi also has a journal where she writes questions to her father. She misses him, and her letters are part of the narrative. Much of the book details her emotional journey as she learns about her parents’ lives and why her father left. At the end of the book, Mimi is able to reach a resolution and seems to make peace with her father’s leaving.

A Thousand Questions tackles important topics regarding culture, friendship, and family, and both Mimi and Sakina grow as people as they learn about each other. This book will appeal to people who are already familiar with Pakistan as well as to people who want to read about a strong friendship and culturally nuanced book. In A Thousand Questions, Mimi and Sakina’s friendship opens their eyes to the world around them, and it will certainly do the same for the reader. This book is a must-read for its diverse content and its ability to tell a moving story about friendship and family.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Mimi was little, she “crashed [her] bike in the street outside [their] Houston apartment . . . and broke her leg in three places.”
  • When Mimi was five, she writes letters to her father who left her and her mother. Mimi never sends them. One day she writes, “Do you ever get angry? Not annoyed or irritated, like most people, but a deep angry that makes you throw something at the wall and watch it crack.” Mimi has not actually done this.
  • Sakina’s Abba has diabetes and collapses in the kitchen one day. Sakina, Mimi, and Nani hear “a loud crash” and they rush to get him to the hospital.
  • Sakina explains that Raheem, her neighborhood “goonda” or “gangster,” is “going around ordering people to vote for his candidate. Screaming, destroying things.”
  • Raheem broke into a neighbor’s house with his stick and broke things inside. Sakina describes, “Broken chairs and tables, a cracked mirror on the wall. Clothes strewn about on the floor.”
  • The goondas in Sakina’s neighborhood rob Sakina’s family. They don’t physically hurt anyone, but Raheem threatens to “tear [the house] down” if they don’t hand the money over.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Mimi’s family’s driver smokes. Sakina explains in English that the smoke “makes [her] eyes water.”
  • Mimi’s great-uncle smokes a cigar, and Mimi “wrinkles her nose at the smell.”

Language

  • Words like dumb, stupid, nuts, shut up, and weird are occasionally used.
  • Mimi’s grandmother, Nani, screams at one of the gardeners and accuses him of killing her rose bushes. She calls him a “ulloo-ka-patha.” Mimi doesn’t know what this means, and it isn’t explained further. The glossary in the back explains that it means “son of an owl; used as an insult” in Urdu.
  • Mimi’s mom calls Mimi’s father a “deadbeat.”
  • Mimi’s grandmother calls Sakina a “lazy oaf” and “fool.”
  • Mimi sometimes refers to Nani as “the dragon lady” because of Nani’s fierce temper.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Mimi has a traditional Pakistani dress that she wore twice for “the two Eid celebrations.”
  • Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr are two major Islamic holidays.
  • When things go wrong, Sakina’s father never gets worried. He always says, “It’ll be all right. God will provide.” Sakina doesn’t buy this, saying “God listens to rich people, not to people like Abba [her father] and [her].”
  • Abba frequently thanks God for the good things in their life.
  • The mosque down the street from Mimi’s grandparents’ house uses a loudspeaker to announce prayer times. Mimi describes, “a loudspeaker crackles to life, and a melodious sound fills the air around us. Allahu akbar. Allahu akbar. God is great. God is great.” This happens a few times throughout the book.
  • Mimi thinks to herself, “Maybe if I help Sakina with her admission test, God will reward me by bringing my dad back. And maybe pigs will fly.”
  • Mimi and Sakina talk about why poverty exists. Sakina says, “Abba says it is the will of God.” To this, Mimi replies, “How can God allow some people to have everything and others to have nothing? How can He be the Creator of both Pakistan and America? The two are like day and night. God is supposed to love us equally. Isn’t He?”
  • Malik, the family driver, joins in Mimi and Sakina’s conversation about God. He says, “God gives each of us free will to do whatever we want. Sometimes human beings are bad to each other. They steal and hurt and lie. They don’t take care of the less fortunate.”
  • Malik goes to do the “maghrib prayer” one evening.
  • Sakina and Mimi also attend the maghrib prayer. Mimi describes the scene, saying, “I wrap my scarf around my head and follow [Sakina’s] actions. Standing, sitting, prostrating. It’s familiar and strange at the same time, as if I’ve done this a thousand times in a dream. Oh God, if you’re there, send Dad to me. Please. Just for a few minutes, so I can hug him one time.” Mimi finds that she enjoys prayer time.
  • Sakina admits to Mimi that she hasn’t prayed “in a long time” because she finds “it hard to believe in God these days.”
  • Sakina lies to gain access to Mimi’s father’s workplace. Sakina thinks “the God that Abba believes in—the God I felt around me in that marketplace mosque—will forgive me.”
  • Mimi insists that her mom should be looking for Mimi’s father. Mimi’s mother replies, “He left us . . . Why would I go chasing after him? Why would I ever want to find him for God’s sake?”
  • Various characters make comments using “God” and “Allah” throughout.
  • Sakina’s mother, Amma, sees the money that Mimi and her mother have left for them. Amma says, “Mimi and her mother are angels of God.” Sakina isn’t as certain about this but does see the money as “a miracle.”
  • Before her exam, Sakina says “a quick little prayer under [her] breath.”
  • Occasionally, characters will say, “Alhamdolillah,” which means, “All praise to God” in Arabic. They also sometimes say “Inshallah,” which means, “God willing” in Arabic.

by Alli Kestler

 

Yasmin The Writer

Ms. Alex has assigned Yasmin’s class to write about their heroes. Yasmin loves to write, but she can’t decide who her hero is. After tossing out lots of ideas, could it be that Yasmin’s hero has been right beside her all along?

 Yasmin is a relatable character who struggles with choosing a topic for her writing assignment. At first, Yasmin looks at famous athletes, music stars, queens, presidents, and other leaders. But it’s the day-to-day events that make her choose her topic—her mother. While her mother is not famous, she cooks dinner, helps Yasmin find her pajamas, and comforts her when she has a bad dream.

Even though the story’s plot is predictable, young readers will enjoy the story as it shows both Yasmin’s home life and her school life. The story has three short chapters and each page has large illustrations that will help readers understand the plot. The full-color illustrations use cheerful colors and Yasmin’s class has diverse students. Yasmin is Pakistani and her mother wears a hijab. Yasmin’s mother also uses Urdu words, which are defined in a glossary that appears at the back of the book.

Yasmin the Writer will help emerging readers feel confident with their reading. Each page has 1 to 4 short sentences which are printed with oversized text. The conclusion has an illustration of a piece of paper that shows Yasmin’s writing assignment. At the end of the book, there are questions that will help students connect to the text, some fun facts about Pakistani, and directions to make your own journal.

Yasmin the Writer uses an everyday situation that will make young readers think about the definition of a hero. The story will also remind readers that mothers are heroes because they care for their children. Readers who enjoy the Yasmin Series should put the Sofia Martinez Series by Jacqueline Jules on their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

See You in the Cosmos

Alex is a brilliant eleven-year-old, fascinated by space and astronomy. He has been working on building a rocket to launch his “Golden iPod” into space. After working at a local gas station sorting magazines in Rockview, Colorado, he saves enough money to attend SHARF, a rocket festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

On the way to SHARF, Alex meets Zeb who is an author that frequently meditates and has taken a vow of silence. By using a chalkboard to communicate, Zeb becomes friends with Alex and accompanies him to the rocket festival. On the day of the rocket launches, Alex’s rocket does not end up in space but crashes into the ground. While crying in disappointment, Alex is comforted by a fellow attendee who encourages Alex by telling him how his team went through many failures before finally succeeding. Alex learns, “Right now is the most important moment – how they react to failure. They could either let it stop them or they could redouble their efforts, figure out what went wrong, and fix their mistakes so they can make the next try a success.”

From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly absent brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.

See You in the Cosmos is a heartbreaking and touching story of a child following his dreams and his unconditional love for his family. The story is told as a transcript of the recordings Alex makes on his “Golden iPod,” which he is determined to launch into space someday so extraterrestrials will know what life on Earth is like. The reader is given an opportunity to look at the world through the eyes of an eleven-year-old, which provides a new perspective on life’s challenging issues.

The novel follows Alex as he learns to cope with difficult family situations as a young child with a limited view of the world. Upon returning from his adventure, his mother gets diagnosed with schizophrenia, and Child Protective Services gets involved to determine Alex’s future. The reader forms an emotional connection to Alex, feeling empathy for the experiences Alex is facing while providing the reader a deeper understanding of how children interpret life’s events.

See You in the Cosmos provides an innovative story that will pull at the hearts of readers of all ages. Younger readers may miss the deeper meanings behind Alex’s journey. However, since this book is told from the perspective of an eleven-year-old boy, this novel could serve as a new way for children to learn to cope with difficult situations in life or help children understand situations that others, such as classmates, might be going through. This book will teach readers how to be themselves, what it means to be brave, and how to follow your big dreams.

 Sexual Content

  • Alex records the story of how his parents met saying, “They went to the top of Mount Sam on the tramway and when they got up there they looked out over all of Rockview and up at the stars and that’s when they have their first kiss.”
  • Alex’s half-sister, Terra, tells him about a guy she is seeing. Alex asks her if she French-kissed him, and she responds, “Yes. We French-kissed.”
  • Terra and Zed’s roommate, Nathaniel, were alone in Nathaniel’s bedroom and Alex sneaks in with his iPod saying, “I thought maybe they were French-kissing and I thought you guys might want to know what that sounds like.”
  • Alex asks Terra what being in love means asking, “Is it wanting to French-kiss somebody?”

Violence

  • Steve has a crush on Terra, and when he sees Terra and Nathaniel alone together, he punches Nathaniel. Terra says, “Oh god, he’s bleed–.”
  • While climbing up a roof, Alex falls off the ladder and is impaled on a fence. Terra records on the iPod saying, “Just hearing his voice– I kept seeing him hanging over that fence.”
  • Ronnie tells Alex the truth about their father. “Deep down he was selfish and abusive.” Alex responds, “Did he hit Mom with a hockey stick like Benji’s dad hit his mom?”
  • Later in the conversation, Ronnie says, “Dad never hit Mom, at least that I know of. He never hit me either but he came really close once. . . He started yelling and undoing his belt and Mom was trying to shield me. . . Just ‘cause he never hit us doesn’t mean he wasn’t abusive in other ways.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Terra explains why she did not attend college. She says, “Why go hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt when you’re competing against other people on an artificial standard or even worse, drinking and partying away four years of your life only to come out with a piece of paper that isn’t worth sh–.”
  • Terra, Zed, and Zed’s two roommates all drink beer and vodka. Alex says, “I don’t know how you guys can drink that stuff because I tried a sip of one of Benji’s dad’s beers once and it was so gross.”
  • Alex reflects on a party. Alex stayed in his room all night but he had to use the restroom, and he ran into a girl drinking from a red cup. He asked her what she was drinking and she responded, “Coke and vodka.”

Language

  • Alex occasionally says “bleep” where individuals would normally curse in a sentence. For example, when he is at SHARF and sees the Southwest High-Altitude Rock Festival Banner and registration desk, he says, “HOLY bleep!”
  • Terra and Alex discuss swear words, and Alex says, “One time in school, Justin Peterson who’s on the basketball team and his locker’s next to mine asked me, Do you even know any swear words? And I said, Of course, I do, DUH! and then I told him all the swear words and I said sometimes Benji and I even combine them into sentences like, Bleep the bleep bleep who bleeped on my bleep bleep bleeping bleeper.”
  • Alex speaks into his recording saying, “Venice Beach was so huge, guys. I could see it even as we were driving up, and I said, Son of a beach! B-E-A-C-H.”
  • Steve gets into an argument with Terra and yells, “You think I’m an idiot, don’t you? Well maybe I AM. Maybe it takes an IDIOT like me to tell Alex here how things work in the real world. An IDIOT who’s not just going to feed him a bunch of false hopes!”
  • After the argument, Terra tells Alex, “Steve’s a jerk.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Paige Smith

 

 

 

 

Yasmin The Superhero

Yasmin loves superheroes and wants to be like them. She’s got the cape. She’s got the mask. Now, she just needs a villain to defeat! While she’s looking for one, she meets lots of people who need her help, but no villains.

Instead of fighting villains, Yasmin helps a neighbor pick up groceries, helps a girl get a ball off of a roof, and helps someone solve a math problem. When at the end of the day Yasmin is upset that she didn’t meet any villains, Baba tells her, “Evil villains are only in storybooks. In real life, superheroes are the ones that go out of their way to be kind and helpful.” Yasmin discovers that she might not need a villain to use her superpowers after all!

The story has three short chapters. Each page has large illustrations that will help readers understand the plot. The full-color illustrations use cheerful colors. Yasmin is Pakistani and her mother wears a hijab. The people in Yasmin’s neighborhood are a diverse group. Yasmin’s mother also uses Urdu words, which are defined in a glossary that appears at the back of the book.

Yasmin The Superhero will help emerging readers feel confident with their reading. Each page has 1 to 4 short sentences which are printed with oversized text. At the end of the book, there are questions that will help students connect to the text, some fun facts about Pakistani, and directions to make a paper bag superhero.

Yasmin The Superhero is a super cute story that encourages readers to be kind and helpful. Every superhero fan will relate to Yasmin’s desire to catch a villain and save someone. Nani and Nana help Yasmin create a brightly colored superhero costume, which includes a mask. In addition, both of Yasmin’s parents are supportive of her superhero activities. Yasmin The Superhero is a cute story that will encourage readers to make a cape and help someone in need.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Mare’s War

Mare’s War is a Coretta Scott King Award honoree and a tale of family, history, and resistance. Told in alternating “then” and “now” perspectives, the book follows Mare’s time in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II and as well as a road trip she takes back home to Bay Slough, Louisiana with her grandchildren in the present day.

The “now” sections are told from the perspective of Octavia, who is 15 and struggling to learn how to drive and fit in as a teenager. She tells about her conflicts with her older sister, Talitha.  Both sisters’ perspectives are given through postcards they write home to their mom and friends. Octavia does come to appreciate Talitha, at one point saying, “I’m actually kind of proud of my evil sister.”  Talitha is nearing her 18th birthday, and (through Octavia’s eyes) the readers see her struggles with boys, friendships, and growing up. Both sisters are reluctant to go on this road trip with their grandmother, thinking it will be boring, but the trip eventually brings the three women together, all with a greater appreciation for each other and their stories.

The “then” sections are told from Mare’s perspective. The story follows her from basic training all the way to Birmingham, England, and Paris, France. After an incident with Toby, a man her mother is involved with, Mare lies about her age to join the Women’s Army Corps. While she worries about her younger sister Josephine, Mare finds freedom and agency through her time in the army. She is relegated to some unsavory jobs as a member of a Black women’s unit.  In addition, Mare compares the discrimination she faces in the Southern U.S. to what she experiences in the military. When she returns home to Bay Slough, she sees how much has changed.

Mare’s War includes themes of family, growing up, and the importance of history. These themes teach readers to understand Talitha, Octavia, and Mare as they learn from each other. The reader sees the various forms of discrimination Black women experience at all ages, from the 1940s to the present day.

Mare’s War is an engaging story and one of the few books that address Black women’s role in World War II. However, the difficult scenes with Mare and Toby may upset younger readers even though these scenes are sexually charged, but not explicit. Mare’s sections use a form of African American Vernacular English, which could be confusing to readers who are unfamiliar with the dialect. At times, the easy-to-follow plot is slow. However, the characters make the story interesting and worth reading.

Sexual Content

  • When introducing Mare, Talitha and Octavia talk about finding her “panties” in the bathroom that have a “fake butt” attached. They describe them as “fanny pants”
  • There are two scenes where Toby, a character from Mare’s arc, makes unwanted sexual advances on Mare and other young women. “Toby been bumping me, touching me, cutting his eyes at Mama when he thinks she don’t see. He’s been talkin’ filth to Josephine…”

Violence

  • Mare’s younger sister Josephine (“Feen”) hides under the bed while Mare and Toby interact. Mare knows she must keep Josephine safe, so she defends herself with a hatchet. “[Toby] smacks me in the mouth before I can get my hand up. Feen hasn’t stopped screaming, but I have. I tighten my hands on the hatchet.” Mama eventually saves Mare and Josephine by shooting Toby, but he survives.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Present-day Mare is a smoker, so there are many scenes that involve her and cigarettes.
  • Toby drinks and smokes in ways that impact his personality, character, and actions. Mare describes Toby. “I can smell that nasty pipe Toby always be smoking… his voice is slurred.”
  • While out at dinner, seventeen-year-old Octavia drinks an alcoholic beverage with Kahlua in it.
  • While out in London, Mare and her friends go to a cafe and a club where Mare drinks for the first time. She is 18, so it is legal, but the scenes do depict her enjoying drinking. When she first drinks, Mare says “when I take a sip, it’s not too bad at all.”

Language

  • Dad says Mare drives “like a bat out of hell”
  • When Mare goes out in London, she is racially targeted. Someone says “forgot who you are, n——found out you can get a white girl here. Been seeing you and them other c—ns of yours stepping out with them English whores.” Some of these words appear more than once in this section.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Toby attacks Mare and Josephine, Josephine prays to Jesus asking him save her.
  • While Mare is in service, she communicates with Sister Dials, a religious figure.

by Talia Marshall

 

Tales from Shakespeare

Tales from Shakespeare takes a trip through 10 of Shakespeare’s plays covering the gamut of plots. From lighter stories such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream to stormier plots like Macbeth, Packer does a thorough job portraying the range that Shakespeare had with his pen.

Shakespeare is often cautioned when given to readers as it can be hard to get through, but this book helps to break down that barrier. Packer tells Shakespeare’s stories in her own words while seamlessly weaving excerpts into the process. This method of storytelling removes the intimidation factor that Shakespeare can sometimes have with new readers without forfeiting the ingenious wordsmithing that the Bard is known for.

Perhaps as enticing as the beautiful stories are the incredible artwork that sits between the pages. Packer recruits a different illustrator for each of the plays, and each has vastly different styles. The variety of artwork is all too fitting for stories with vastly different plots. The illustrations serve as milestones when flipping through the book urging one to continue reading to reach the next scene. With highly detailed illustrations in high resolution, one finds themselves looking at the portrayed landscapes and characters and feeling a sense of escape. Illustrations appear every 10-15 pages, often at the beginning of a new story. Having such detailed imagery only seems fitting for literature that was intended to have a visual aspect as well. Originally, one would be listening to these stories while watching it unfold in the spotlight. This book simulates that feeling with the interplay of visual art and literature. Tales from Shakespeare feeds one’s fictitious hunger and lets one’s imagination roam.

It is a known fact that some of the topics covered in Shakespeare’s plays could be harsh for a younger audience. The original stories have sexual innuendos, violence, and strong language, and Tales of Shakespeare does not remove those topics. Packer does not alter the stories, but she does not dwell on graphic details that are portrayed in a matter-of-fact way. If someone dies, she mentions it, but she does not use the moment to leverage a reaction from the reader. The focus of this book is to welcome as many readers into the “Shakespearean fold” as possible by introducing his command of the human experience. The theme that ties these stories together is the timelessness of these plays, and how they have the power to cause one’s eyes to well up hundreds of years later.

Tales of Shakespeare is the perfect introduction to Elizabethan England, 17th-century English dialect, and Shakespeare’s stories. Shakespeare’s stories are timeless, and they have spoken to people throughout the ages. This book would serve as an excellent resource as an introduction to how plays are read and how they are formatted. The book includes the plays A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, The Tempest, Othello, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and King Lear. Tales of Shakespeare covers some of Shakespeare’s greatest works and the prowess of the Bard is made accessible through this book.

Sexual Content

  • Don Pedro and Claudio see, “A woman leaning out of Hero’s window kissing another man.” They believe Hero is cheating.
  • Romeo and Juliet are “laying in each other’s arms” and he is “sealing her lips with a kiss.”
  • Othello thought his wife looked so beautiful sleeping. “He could not resist giving her one last kiss . . . and then another . . . and then another.”

Violence

  • Hermia’s father threatens her with death if she doesn’t marry the Duke.
  • After Hamlet has slain Polonius, “the bloody corpse of old Polonius slumped forward.”
  • After being weighed down by her dress, Ophelia drowns in the river.
  • Hamlet and Laertes duel and at the end “both men now bleed.”
  • Hero fakes his death in order to test the love of Claudio.
  • Beatrice orders Claudio’s death and that Benedick should duel him. They do not duel and Claudio is unharmed.
  • Macbeth goes into Duncan’s chambers when he is sleeping and “plunged both daggers into the king’s chest” and fled “still clutching the gory blades.”
  • After Macbeth kills Duncan, Lady Macbeth is unsuccessfully trying to wash the stain of a bloody spot. “Here’s the smell of blood still.”
  • Macduff and Macbeth duel and Macbeth is slain. Macbeth realizes he was the king to fall and dies in regret after “blade met flesh.”
  • In an ambush, “Roderigo leaped from the shadows and jabbed a knife in the back of Cassio’s chest.”
  • Othello “pressed a cushion over his wife’s face, smothering her.”
  • Oliver offers a blood-soaked rag to Rosalind. Rosalind faints at the sight of it.
  • Mercutio “stumbles backward” and is slain by Tybalt. Tybalt is then slain by Romeo in revenge. “He wildly fought and the sword found its mark.”
  • Romeo drinks poison given to him by the friar. He believes Juliet to be dead and kills himself. Juliet wakes up to see her lover dead and says, “Oh happy dagger! This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.” She proceeds to stab herself in the heart and falls next to her husband, Romeo.
  • Cornwall plucks out Gloucester’s eye saying “out, vile jelly” and then proceeds to pluck the other one out. Regan then “leaned over Gloucester’s bloody, unseeing face.”
  • Gloucester tries to take his own life by jumping off a cliff, but is unsuccessful. He swears to never do it again. He later dies from grief and from having his eyes taken out.
  • Goneril’s steward is “struck down” by Edgar after turning on him.
  • Regan dies from being poisoned by Goneril, and Goneril, who is overcome with grief, stabs herself.
  • Edmund orders both King Lear and Cordelia to die. Although it is not described, he is successful in killing Cordelia. When Lear sees his daughter dead, he is overcome with grief and dies as well.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Claudius promised to serve Hamlet a “goblet of poisoned wine for good measure.”
  • Queen Gertrude, the king, and Laertes are poisoned by wine.
  • Stephano, the king’s butler, “washed ashore with a case of wine and had spent the last hour swigging from a bottle.” He meets Caliban and he gets drunk as well.
  • Cassio gets drunk and gets into a fight with Roderigo.
  • Toby makes a drunken effort to draw his sword, but Maria crafts a plan to distract him.

Language

  • Polonius says to Ophelia, “You speak like an immature girl.”
  • “Get thee to a nunnery!” Hamlet says to Ophelia
  • Lady Macbeth yells “out damned spot” when trying to clean the blood from her hands.
  • Macduff shouts, “Turn hellhound, turn!”
  • Caliban says to Stephano, “What a thrice-double ass was I to take this drunkard for a god.”
  • Iago says to Roderigo “after all, it’s only natural that she tire of that ugly moor.”
  • In a rage against Desdemona, Othello says to kill her. “No, damn her, lewd minx.”
  • “Oh dishonorable, vile submission!… Wretched boy.” Tybalt exclaimed to Mercutio.
  • King Lear calls Goneril and Regan “unnatural hags.”

Supernatural

  • Puck gives Bottom a Donkey head.
  • Demetrius has a love potion cast upon him that makes him love Hermia.
  • Hamlet sees his father’s ghost and says that his father was murdered. His ghostly father makes him swear to avenge his murder and kill his uncle.
  • The three witches in Macbeth predict the future and the eventual demise of Macbeth. They create a potion and finish each other’s sentences.
  • Macbeth sees the ghost of Duncan at the dinner table, and others believe Macbeth is mad.
  • Caliban is an enslaved, scaled creature and the son of the witch Sycorax.
  • Prospero has strong magical powers, a book of charms, and creates the Tempest.
  • “’My daughter, O my daughter,’ Brabantio wailed. ‘Stolen from me and corrupted by spells.’” Brabantio goes on to accuse Othello of witchcraft.

Spiritual Content

  • Beatrice says, “God give you joy.”
  • As Hamlet dies, Horatio says, “Flights of angels sing to thy rest.”
  • “Oh let me not be mad, sweet heaven,” said King Lear who feared for his sanity.
  • After seeing Cordelia dead, the distraught King Lear says, “The Heaven’s vault should crack.”

by Paul Gordon

 

Loveboat, Taipei

Ever Wong’s parents came to America with little, but they were determined to make a better life for their children. Ever’s father, a talented doctor, was unable to obtain a medical license in the US and the family is barely scraping by. The Wongs are determined to see their daughter become a doctor. The only problem is that Ever has very little talent for medicine and would much rather go to dance school.

Ever wants to spend her summer dancing with her friends, but her parents have different plans for her. Ever’s mother pawns her most valuable jewelry to pay to send Ever to a rigorous pre-med program. Then Ever’s mother sends her to Chien Tan, a summer program designed for Chinese-American high school students learn about their culture through eight weeks in Taipei, Taiwan.

In Taipei, Ever finds herself among a Chinese-American majority for the first time in her life, but she also discovers that many of her peers have grown up quite differently from her. Most of the Chien Tan students have enormously wealthy parents, and nobody else has had to pawn jewelry to pay for their airfare. Many of Ever’s peers are fluent or near-fluent in Mandarin, which Ever never learned.

Sophie, Ever’s roommate, tells her that Chien Tan has the nickname “Loveboat.” It’s the status quo for students to sneak out at night, go clubbing, and abandon their boyfriends and girlfriends back in the States for intense, short-lived love affairs. Away from her family for the first time, Ever begins to break all of her parents’ strict rules: she drinks, dresses immodestly, and kisses boys. She finds herself caught in an intense love triangle between golden-boy Rick and mysterious bad-boy Xavier.

Loveboat, Taipei addresses many issues that readers may find relatable: the pressure of overbearing parents, the pressure to get drunk or have sex for the first time, and the complicated feelings one can have over cultural identity. The romance is well-written and the love triangle is cute, but readers may find it hard to believe that the two most popular boys in Loveboat are both so smitten with the likable, but unassuming, Ever.

Much of the book’s plot concerns the drama around Ever’s love triangle. Through Ever’s perspective, readers see background characters work through their own drama, too. The cast of characters is large to start with, and it gets confusing when the book names too many extra characters who aren’t part of the plot and only exist to populate the background.  Chien Tan gives unbridled freedom to kids on the cusp of adulthood. They form hasty relationships, hurt themselves, and hurt each other—emotionally and sometimes physically. For example, Sophie spreads nude photos of Ever out of spite. Readers may think this was unforgivable, but they eventually make up.

Ever’s frustration with her parents is a major theme; despite their disagreements, the family clearly loves each other. The narrative reflects the nature of this complicated relationship. Ever learns to stand up for herself and exercise her new freedom staying true to her own values. Loveboat, Taipei will be a compelling choice for readers looking to read about culture, class differences, and “leaving the nest”.

Sexual Content

  • The official rules at Chien Tan say, “No boys and girls in a room with the door closed.” However, this rule is often broken.
  • Ever says that her mother believes that “sex is a by-product of marriage to be endured, preferably through a hole in the blanket.”
  • Later, after having sex for the first time, Ever says, “Sex isn’t the barely tolerable duty of procreation, like Mom always insinuated. It’s two human beings fitting seamlessly together.” However, she still feels guilty, because she “wanted to wait for love.”
  • Ever sees a boy she once kissed and remembers, “those big hands on my hips. His tongue pressing my lips apart. He taught me everything I know about kissing that I didn’t learn from practicing on oranges” with her best friend in middle school.
  • At the Chien Tan dormitories, a couple is ousted from their room. The girl is “clutching her pink dress to her bra.” Ever says that the boy “grabs his shorts–but not before I catch a glimpse of his . . . equipment.” Ever says she is “too stunned to close my eyes.”
  • Ever says that a girl enjoying a meal makes “moaning noises straight out of a scene I wouldn’t be allowed to watch on TV.”
  • Someone asks Rick if he and his long-distance girlfriend have been “having phone sex.”
  • At a club, Ever sees “middle-aged men who line the walls, eyeing girls on the dance floor.”
  • Ever dances with a boy from Chien Tan. “His eyes sweep my body. His neck gleams with sweat. My hair’s damp. I writhe with him, matching thrust for thrust. His hip wedges against mine as he pulls me deeper, deeper–and then I feel him. Oh my God. Oh my God. Is that what I think it is?” She realizes he has an erection and backs off. Later she thinks, “I’ll have to see him in class every single day, knowing I gave him a boner, and him knowing I know.”
  • Sophie tells Ever, “Xavier and I hooked up. Last night. We did it.” She tells Ever “far more detail than I need or want: how they’d made out the whole cab ride home, fumbled down the darkened hallway, tumbled into a spare bedroom on the first floor.” Ever notices that Sophie has “a pink, quarter-sized hickey” on her neck. Ever says, “I can’t imagine sleeping with a guy after knowing him only a week.”
  • Sophie and Ever go to take “glamour shots.” The photos get more and more risqué until Sophie takes a photo naked. “Her bikini lies in a silky, white heap on the floor. She’s naked. Not practically. Actually. Yannie’s lights shine off her golden skin, illuminating bikini patches.” Sophie tells Ever, “This is art, not porn.”
  • While taking photos, Ever remembers how she always felt “the grip of shame” about her body, especially when she “developed more parts to feel ashamed of flaunting.” She decides to follow Sophie’s lead and pose for her own nude shots.
  • Later, someone makes copies of Ever’s nude photos and distributes them to everyone. Ever sees the photos, which show “A girl. She’s back-dropped in white, the only object in her rectangular world. Her hands open like fans at her sides. She gazes out at me, chin raised boldly, dark-red lips parted with a seductive intake of breath, coils of black hair swept up to show off every curve of skin from the slope of her neck to her coyly cocked ankle–and everything in between.” The photos get her into a lot of trouble. The Chien Tan students and staff all see the photos, and Ever is mortified and almost expelled.
  • Ever recalls that some men have “Asian fetishes.” She remembers explaining to a white friend why attracting men’s interest simply because she’s Asian is “not flattering, why it’s based on stereotypes that have nothing to do with who you are.”
  • A girl in the bathroom seems very embarrassed while she scrubs at a blood stain on her sheets. Ever blushes when she realizes that they’re “not period stains” (The implication is that the girl bled during sex).
  • Later, after having sex for the first time, Ever sees “a red smear, like a smudge of calligraphy ink,” on the bedsheet. She’s embarrassed and hopes she’ll never have to see the boy again.
  • Ever passes a couple’s room and hears “soft little moans and kissing sounds.”
  • Xavier kisses Ever. “His mouth is soft, sweetened by wine. He tucks his fingers into my hair and cradles the curve of my neck. Under his lips, my back arches slightly… His mouth silences me, parting my lips, making me gasp with the unexpected pleasure of his tongue.” They stop a few moments later.
  • Ever has sex with Xavier, but the scene isn’t depicted. The next morning, “I lie on my side on a cloud of down feathers, nude between cotton sheets and a blue duvet and the weight of Xavier’s arm over my waist. His naked body presses against my back from shoulder to thighs. Last night returns like a dream: Xavier’s hand on my back, guiding me to this room as our mouths moved together, the click of the door sealing our privacy, then his mouth on my eyelids, my cheeks, the hollow of my neck, his hands exploring . . . my fingernails in his shoulders. My body is sore in places I didn’t know could feel sore.”
  • Ever and Rick bathe in a hot spring together and become intimate. The scene takes place over several pages and concludes with, “His mouth burns a line down to my belly button. It makes my body quiver like a tightly strung instrument. The splash of water echoes as he slips back into the pool. My stomach dips as his hands part my knees. He slides his shoulders between them, and his hands tuck under my thighs and take hold of my hips. He kisses a trail along the inside of each thigh, his breath warm on my skin, so near and intimate. My pals press the stones, all my body throbbing, unbelieving, as he asks permission to continue, and my whisper yes blends with the gurgle of the hot waters. He takes his time. A slow burn that builds and builds, until I am clawing at the stones and my back arches and my toes splash and my body ripens under his grip.” Later, Ever says, “Who knew Boy Wonder was so good with his tongue?”
  • During Chien Tan’s talent show, one of the boys dresses in drag. A character sees the drag queen and says, “Whoa, she’s stacked.” The drag queen’s “red lace bra is covered only by the middle button of her coat.”

Violence

  • Ever remembers hearing about a child prodigy who “died by suicide.”
  • Ever resents Rick and says, “I indulge a fantasy of me using that big, hard body as a punching bag.”
  • When Xavier gets out of his dad’s car, Ever notices that “a reddish blotch shines on his cheek–a bruise? Did his dad hit him?”
  • During a conversation with Ever, Xavier reveals that his dad said “[he] should’ve beat me harder to beat [the dyslexia] out of me.” Ever is horrified that Xavier was abused over his dyslexia. Xavier says, “My dad gave me a new set of trophies and told me I was a disgrace to nine generations.” Ever realizes that by “trophies” he means “bruises.”
  • Ever remembers “Mom with the chopsticks, hitting the inside of my bare thigh once, twice, three times. I don’t even remember what I’d done. The chopsticks only came out occasionally, and left no scars, but the shame has lingered.”
  • A man making ‘snake-blood sake’ cuts the head off of a snake. “His hatchet bangs down. The snake’s fanged head flies” at one of Ever’s friends. “Its severed end spurts dark red blood . . . Into one vial after another, the man squeezes the snake’s cut end. Dark red blood pulses out, pinking the liquor.”
  • At a bar, Ever is accosted by “two hundred pounds of meaty guy.” Ever says he “crushes me against the bar. He reeks of alcohol and sweat. I shove back, but it’s like trying to move a brick wall.” A boy from Chien Tan comes along and rescues her by telling the man, “She’s with me.”
  • A Chien Tan couple has arguments that “usually ended with something broken—a bulletin board, a lamp, his toe.”
  • When he’s angry, Rick “slams his fist through the center of his rice sack.”
  • Ever becomes interested in the choreography of fighting with staffs and sticks. She and Rick often mock-duel, but never with the intention to hurt. There are several pages of scenes where they ‘fight’. For example, “The crack of wood on wood punctuates the air, reverberating in my hands. I swing again. Again. Force him back until his foot hits a brick wall. And then he’s shoving me back, stick flying. . . swing a blow at his head. He ducks.”
  • During one fight, Ever says, “I instinctively whip my stick down—and slam his knuckles.” Ever apologizes immediately, because she didn’t mean to hurt Rick.
  • Someone tells Ever about “samurai of feudal Japan, soldiers who didn’t fall on their swords like the Romans did, but disemboweled themselves.”
  • Rick and Xavier get into a fight. “Xavier’s arms are locked around Rick’s neck, both bent double as they lurch into Marc, who grabs at them, earning himself a punch in the stomach . . . They’re inseparable, a force of muscled arms and legs and rage, knocking over everyone in their path.” Chien Tan counselors break up the fight and send them to the infirmary to clean up their bloody noses.
  • Sophie arrives home with a black eye and claims she “walked into a wall.” Later, Ever discovers that Sophie’s boyfriend Matteo has been violent with her. Ever sees Matteo “in a drunken stupor,” chasing after Sophie. Sophie locks herself in her room and Ever hears Matteo “spewing curses. The door shakes under his weight. I jam the door in place, then hang on tight. Under me, the door convulses as he pounds and pounds.” Later Sophie says that Matteo was mad because she “bit him.” Sophie agrees to let Ever tell the Chien Tan counselors about the incident, and Matteo is expelled and sent home.
  • Someone talks about how their mom struggled to find employment. “My mom went to work in a hotel and then some asshole manager slapped her butt and she shoved him onto his . . . now she’s cleaning toilets.”
  • Rick speaks about the tense relationship he has with his girlfriend, who suffers from severe depression and relies on him for emotional support. “We were in her kitchen. Cutting a loaf of bread we’d picked up. And she started crying and saying she couldn’t anymore, couldn’t take her parents, school, life, without me. She grabbed the knife, and I grabbed hold.” He “opens his palm to sunlight. Under its harsh yellow rays, the four inch-long scars line up in their row.” He admits that he eventually only stayed with her because he was afraid she would harm herself. The book later explores how this relationship has harmed Rick.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When trying to navigate the airport, Ever runs into a man who stinks of “cilantro and cigarettes.”
  • Ever soon learns that the drinking age in Taiwan is eighteen—making her legally able to drink. Still, it’s against Chien Tan rules. She says she’s “never even tried alcohol,” and that the last time she went to a wedding, her mom “whisked [my] champagne glasses from under the waiter’s bottle.”
  • During a study group, some boys “are passing a steel bottle around.” Ever declines the first time, but partakes at later meetings.
  • Ever breaks her parents’ “no-alcohol” rule by drinking ‘snake-blood sake’. After watching a man chop off a snake’s head and squeeze the blood into the alcohol, she drinks it. “I throw back my head. The warm, salty blood and sake set my throat on fire. It tastes bitter. Like metal. Heat sears my chest, opening up a pipe there I’ve never felt before . . . My head feels stuffed with rice, then it explodes in a million directions. Kaleidoscopic tingles dance through my body.” Later in the evening, she throws up on the street and has to be carried home.
  • After being in Chien Tan for several weeks, guava cocktails are Ever’s “new favorite.”
  • Xavier hands Ever “a bottle of . . . a French wine with a white label. I fit its glass top to my lips and take a long pull. Dark cherry, rich and strong. I take a second pull, a third, letting its smoothness warm my body.”
  • In her messy room, Ever notices that some clothing lying on the floor “has soaked up a can of stale beer.”
  • After Ever sprains her ankle, a paramedic gives her “a white pill—prescription-strength ibuprofen.”

Language

  • Profanity is used infrequently. Profanity includes crap, ass, asshole, hell, damn, shit, bastard, bitch.
  • Oh my God and Jesus are occasionally used as exclamations.
  • Fuck is used four times.
  • Ever calls Rick a brown-noser.
  • Someone calls Ever a slut.
  • Someone calls Sophie “fucking bitch” and “cocktease.”
  • Ever remembers seeing a store clerk call her dad a “stupid chink.”

Supernatural

  • A hotel “has no fourth floor—the Chinese equivalent of unlucky thirteen, because four sounds like death in Mandarin.”

Spiritual Content

  • Ever describes her parents as “Chinese-Baptist.”
  • When dancing, Ever says she feels like “a goddess.”
  • Ever recalls “sorting I Ching sticks with a fortune-teller” while touring Taipei.
  • One girl at Chien Tan is “really involved with the weekly Bible study she started.”

by Caroline Galdi

 

 

 

 

As Brave as You

Genie has a lot of questions. So many questions, in fact, he keeps them all written in his notebook so he can look them up later. When their parents take Genie and his big brother, Ernie, to their grandparents’ house in rural Virginia, Genie has questions that even Google can’t answer. Like how did Grandpop lose his eyesight? Will Ma and Dad stay together? Why doesn’t Ernie want to learn how to shoot a gun?

As Brave as You tackles topics like masculinity, fear, and courage through the eyes of ten-year-old Genie. Although he is younger than Reynolds’s characters from other novels, Genie’s curiosity and kindness make him endearing rather than annoying. Genie’s narration style is filled with his quirks, including his endless questions and his often-humorous thoughts.

Readers will find that Genie is a good role model because he tries to do the right thing. When he makes mistakes, he feels guilty and eventually realizes that he must have the courage to try to make it right. For instance, Genie accidentally breaks an old toy firetruck that belonged to his late uncle. Genie recognizes that his Grandma is upset, and throughout the novel, he searches for parts to fix the firetruck. Through this and other trials, Genie learns that mistakes happen and that becoming a man means that he has to own up to those mistakes.

Genie’s grandparents, parents, and Ernie aid Genie on this journey, as many of them are also learning lessons about what it means to have courage. Grandpop and Genie’s father do not get along most of the novel, and they both are often too stubborn to talk about their past grievances with each other. At the end, they begin to fix their personal issues together. Readers can see that they must be courageous to look past their pride and hurt feelings.

As Brave as You shows that being a man is about having honesty, integrity, and courage rather than about being tough. As part of Ernie’s growth into manhood, Grandpop shows Ernie how to shoot a gun. Ernie shows disinterest, and Genie is unable to comprehend why. However, after an accident with the gun, Genie understands that sharing his fears and emotions is often more courageous than pretending to be tough or prideful. Although these lessons are featured throughout the book, they never come off as preachy.

Reynolds’s characters are relatable for people of all ages. Genie and the older characters learn many of the same lessons despite being at vastly different points in their lives. The story is not particularly fast-paced, but the relationships between the characters make up for the slower moments. As Brave as You is a great story about what it really means to grow up, face our worst fears, and learn from mistakes.

Sexual Content

  • Genie makes a distinction between him and his brother, Ernie. Genie “loved to watch Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Ernie, on the other hand, liked to watch girls.”
  • Genie has a girlfriend named Shelley and a friend named Aaron. He wonders if in his absence, “[Shelley would] fold to [Aaron’s] flippin’ charm and kiss him. Of course, if she did, it would be a loaner kiss, Genie decided. A kiss to make up for the fact that he wasn’t there.”
  • After Grandma sets breakfast down in front of Grandpop, she “dodged him as he swatted at her butt on her way back to the counter for another plate.”
  • Genie observes his parents’ awkward interactions early in the book, and he knows that their marriage won’t last. In one of these interactions, his dad “leaned in and just grazed Ma’s cheek with his lips, awkwardly. It was friendly, but not…loving.”
  • Ernie “had broken up with his girlfriend, Keisha, a few weeks before” going to his grandparents’ house. Genie explains, “Well, really, she broke up with him. Dumped him for a dude from Flatbush named Dante, but everybody called him Two Train. That was his rap name. And when Keisha told Ernie that Two Train wrote raps about her, Ernie started sending her a text message every day, crappy love poems, ridiculous attempts at rhyming that would put his whole ‘cool’ thing at risk if anybody besides her, Genie, or his parents ever found out about them.”
  • Genie is disinterested in his brother’s attraction to various girls. Later, Ernie chatters on endlessly about how he hung out with Tess and how much he likes her. Ernie thinks, “And each time Ernie fell for a new girl, Genie’s cool, confident brother would become a goofy, googly-eyed fool.”
  • Ernie made a joke, and “Tess stared him down and sized him up in that way that meant she either wanted to punch him or kiss him.”

Violence

  • The day that Ernie and Genie’s parents had a huge fight, their neighbor Down the Street Donnie “had covered a quarter in snow and zinged it at Genie. Zapped him straight in the eye.” Ernie, seeing what happened, “commenced to karatisizing Down the Street Donnie, all the way… down the street.”
  • The first morning they are at their grandparents’ house, Ernie tries “to shove [Genie] off the bed with his knee.” Ma verbally reprimands Ernie, saying, “Ernie, cut it out.”
  • During a conversation, Dad playfully “threw a balled-up pair of socks at [Ernie]. Ernie chopped them away.”
  • Grandpop carries a pistol around in the back of his pants.
  • When Ernie and Genie’s father was young, the neighborhood bully was about to take whatever money he had. Their father’s older brother, Wood, then “came out of nowhere and whopped Cake [the neighborhood bully] in the back of the head with a book as hard as he could.” Cake was huge, and all this did was make him mad. Wood “came home with the blackest eye [Grandpop had] ever seen. And a busted lip. And he was limpin’.”
  • As an adult, Wood “beat [Cake] down” when he came home from basic training because “Wood could never let things go.”
  • Crab, Tess’s dad, goes hunting with his rifle on Genie’s grandparents’ land. Genie often hears gunshots when Crab is around.
  • Genie insinuates that if he ruined Ernie’s chances with Tess, Ernie would use Genie for karate practice. “Lots and lots of karate chops.”
  • Grandpop’s father committed suicide years back. He “had jumped in the James River.”
  • Grandpop teaches boys turning 14 years old how to shoot a gun ever since “a fourteen-year-old black boy named Emmett Till was killed for whistling at a white woman when Grandpop was younger. It scared him so badly.”
  • Genie talks about mousetraps, including “the part that breaks the mouse’s neck. Yikes.”
  • Crab holds up the squirrels he shot. Genie describes, “Dead squirrels, part gray, part bloody, part…missing.”
  • Crab and Grandpop teach Ernie how to shoot a gun. The scene lasts the duration of a chapter. The force of the shot causes the gun to kickback and hit Ernie in the face. Genie says, “Ernie’s knees buckled as if someone had sucker punched him.” Ernie ends up losing three front teeth. Crab “grabbed a beer bottle from the bag he brought and put the teeth in it.”
  • Great Grandpop and his friend stole a puppy from their abusive employer. The employer found out and told Great Grandpop “that either he tell him the truth, or he would have [the] whole family killed.”
  • Genie’s dad “slammed the wall” in anger.
  • In the story, Grandpop says that an employer “set [Great Grandpop’s friend’s] house on fire… [the friend] burned to death.” No other details are given.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Genie asks Tess where she got all the bottle caps for her project. Tess jokingly tells him and Ernie that she “drank all those beers.” She then takes the brothers to Marlon’s, the small town’s bar, for some ginger beers. Ernie and Genie don’t know that she and Jimmy, the bartender, mean ginger beer. Genie hoped that “he wouldn’t get drunk on his first sip,” thinking that Tess and Jimmy meant to give Genie and Ernie alcohol.
  • Other adult patrons at the bar drink alcoholic beer while the kids are present.
  • Grandpop gets a mysterious liquid out of a closet and promptly locks the door. Genie recognizes the smell, thinking, “the same smell Genie had just gotten more than a whiff of in Marlon’s—reminded him of Ms. Swanson, the drunk lady who hung out at the Laundromat back home.” Grandpop drinks liquor throughout the book.
  • Grandpop can’t sleep when it rains because it reminds him of the day that Wood died during Operation Desert Storm. When it rains, Grandpop sits in the kitchen and drinks while he disassembles his revolver, lost in thought.
  • Crab smokes a cigar.
  • Genie and Ernie find “a couple dozen beer cans and stubby, burned-down cigars” laying in a pile.
  • Ernie has “a double-dose of pain reliever” after the doctor fixes two of his teeth.
  • Genie calls Tess’s mom a hypochondriac. Tess misunderstands and calls her a “hyper-cognac” instead.
  • Grandpop drinks more heavily as the book progresses, and Genie finds his drunk rambling disturbing. For instance, Grandpop slurs, “life ain’t nice to nobody. Nobody. Not me, not Mary, not Ernie, not your daddy, not Uncle Wood. Nobody.”

Language

  • Genie’s mother tells Genie, “Boy, if you don’t go to sleep, I’m a honey your badger,” making it clear to Genie that she really wants him to be quiet.
  • Various insults are used frequently. Insults include: Stupid, jerk, crazy, wild, heckuva, crappy, insane, fool, chump, psycho, shut up, knuckleheads, friggin’, and daggone.
  • Grandma and Grandpop use the phrase “what in Sam Hill” frequently.
  • Genie’s curiosity causes humorous situations because sometimes his questions and thoughts would be insensitive coming from anyone else. For instance, he thinks, “Old people got to pretty much call you whatever they wanted. It was the only awesome part about being old.”
  • Genie asks Grandpop a series of questions about being blind. At one point, Genie asks, “How do you know where your room is, though? Or what if you gotta go to the bathroom?” To which Grandpop replies, “I’m only blind, son. My junk still works.”
  • Kids at school sometimes mock Genie for his name, saying, “Genie, the girl with a weenie.”
  • Crab tells Ernie, “I think [Tess] likes you…But don’t try nothin’ mannish or I’ll flatten your cap, just like she do them beer tops.”
  • Grandma asks Genie and Ernie, “Which one of you peanut-heads tried to flush all that damn toilet paper?”
  • Ernie overacts around his grandparents at one point. Genie says that Ernie is “butt-kissing.”
  • Grandpop holds rolls of money. Genie thinks, “[Grandpop] tapped a roll like a mob boss assigning a hit.”
  • Mr. Binks is a dentist who sells teeth at the flea market. Ernie calls Mr. Binks “a tooth jacker.”
  • Grandma yells, “Damnit!” when Ernie scares her.
  • Grandpa says “guaran-damn-tee” instead of guarantee.
  • Crab says that he feels “so dern bad” about Ernie’s injury.
  • Grandpop calls an old neighbor “a mean son of a gun. I mean, just a real nasty you-know-what.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • “Jesus” and “Lord” are sometimes used as exclamations.
  • Grandma has a few rules, one of them being, “We go to church on Sunday.” Genie doesn’t mind this, thinking that he could “use a miracle” anyway. His family normally goes to church “on Christmas and Easter for the long services with their grandparents in the Bronx. But that was about it.”
  • Genie’s mom “used to call [the moon] God’s night-light when he was little.”
  • Grandma often turns on the church music station in the car, especially when going to the flea market. She says, “Gotta play it loud enough for God to hear it, so he can send people to come buy up these peas.”
  • Genie thinks, “Maybe the real reason Adam and Eve weren’t supposed to bite the apple is because then all the birds would’ve had access to the seeds, and the Garden of Eden would’ve become the Garden of dead…doves? Doves were the only birds back then I think.”
  • On a hot day, Genie thinks, “God had put the heat on high, as Ma always said.”
  • Tess tells Genie that she’s “prayin’ to Big Bird for a miracle.”

 by Alli Kestler

Symptoms of a Heartbreak

At age 16, Saira Seghal is the youngest doctor in America. After graduating from prestigious pre-med and medical schools, she has accepted an internship at Princeton Presbyterian, the hospital where her mother works. In addition to being the basis of her mother’s pediatrics practice, Princeton Presbyterian is also where Saira used to accompany her childhood best friend, Harper, to cancer treatments, until Harper’s eventual death from leukemia.

Despite still hurting from her friend’s death eight years ago, Saira is determined to help more people like Harper and has returned to the pediatric oncology department to try to save lives. She is smart and determined, but the internship proves to have unexpected challenges. She gets off to a rocky start with her fellow doctors and has trouble winning the trust of patients’ families, who don’t trust a teenager to treat their sick children.

Things only get more complicated when Saira meets a boy her age in the oncology ward and immediately falls in love. Link Rad—short for Lincoln Radcliffe—is an aspiring musician whose career has been put on hold because of his leukemia remission. When Saira is assigned to his case, her emotions get in the way, and things get awkward. The book follows Saira as she tries to get Link a bone marrow match, prove her competence and maturity to the other doctors, and grapple with the fact that as a doctor, she won’t ever be able to be a normal teenager.

Despite being a prodigy, Saira is a relatable character—sometimes, she’s a little too relatable. Readers might find themselves cringing with second-hand embarrassment when she arrives late to the first day of her internship, breaks hospital rules, and talks back to doctors twice her age. Saira’s family plays a big role in the story; they are both supportive and embarrassing. Readers may enjoy the honest and heartfelt portrayal of a big Indian family and the detailed descriptions of traditional Indian food.

At the heart of the story is Saira’s relationship with Link. They start out awkwardly. Link feels betrayed when he finds out that Saira is a doctor and not a fellow cancer patient. The fact that Saira and Link’s relationship is a forbidden romance makes the relationship awkward instead of heightening the chemistry. However, Link’s character is endearing and charming.

This story is sweet and often sad, but some of the points at the emotional center—Saira’s unusual coming of age, and her grief over her dead childhood friend—aren’t given the space they need to be really effective.  The narrative moves quickly and is jam-packed with subplots, including Saira’s tense relationship with her school friends, four patients’ battles with cancer, and her cousin’s brain tumor. With all this going on in such a short book, it often feels like the story doesn’t leave the reader time to settle into the setting and watch Saira do her everyday work in the hospital. Despite this, fans of hospital dramas may still enjoy this book for its familiar elements and relatable main character. However, if you’re looking for an excellent romance, leave Symptoms of a Heartbreak on the shelf and instead grab I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo or Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno.

Sexual Content

  • Saira’s family believes she is dating Vish. In reality, Vish is gay, and the two are close friends. However, Vish’s family is religious and homophobic, so they keep up the appearance of a relationship. Their families both believe they’re “totally PG,” and while the ‘couple’ “kissed a few times” when they were younger, they never went any further.
  • When Saira and Link kiss, “his mouth is salty and sweet, a grapefruit sprinkled with sugar. His arms curl around me, his embrace stronger than I expected. My arms wrap around his neck, and I lean back into the couch, taking him with me.” The scene ends there and skips to later, but Saira’s narration informs the reader that she spent more time “making out” with Link.
  • When Saira and Link have an intimate moment in a car, Saira describes “his mouth smashing mine, teeth clashing, tongue pushing into my mouth… Our kisses skip tentative altogether this time, instead lingering long and slow but somehow super urgent, mouths soft and open, tongues salty and slippery, his hands wandering up my shirt and over my breasts and roaming the waist of my jeans, a question.” Saira is hesitant to have sex because of Link’s fragile condition, but Link tells her that “sexual activity can be beneficial to patients undergoing chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.” They end up not having sex for other reasons. The scene lasts for approximately five pages.
  • Saira’s sister offers her relationship advice for her “relationship” with Vish. Her sister says, “At some point, you know, things might get a little more intense. And if you need to talk about birth control…” Saira declines her offer and says that she and Vish “are not having sex any time soon.”
  • Saira’s mother “reads everything, from medical journals to pulp novels in Hindi to bodice rippers.”
  • In the communal staff bathroom, Saira catches two of her adult coworkers together in a shower when she hears “a decidedly male groan” from behind the curtain. She doesn’t see or hear anything more explicit than this. Her coworkers are embarrassed and apologize.
  • Saira’s sister tells her she’s going to be in a production of the musical Hair, “where they’re all naked onstage.” She says, “it’s about art and expression.”
  • Vish told Saira about discovering he was gay. Saira remembers him telling her about “Luke, this boy he met at lacrosse camp. They kept it a secret the whole time there – hard to do when you’re stealing kisses in the boathouse.”  

Violence

  • Saira gets into a playful fight with Vish. “Fake punching him… and he ducks and kicks back, nearly catching me on the shin for real. Then he headlocks me from the back, wrapping one arm around my neck and the other around my waist.” The playfight is resolved peacefully.
  • While it isn’t violent in nature, readers may find the following content upsetting. Saira’s young cousin has a seizure, and “vomit spills from her little lips, and they’re turning from pale pink to blue. Her eyes roll back in her head… her body flops and goes stiff, then starts flopping again… Fluid spills out of her mouth and onto the floor.” The cousin receives medical attention and ends up okay. No descriptions of medical procedures/events in the book come anywhere close to this one in detail.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Saira’s family brings alcohol to a family dinner. Saira’s father spikes a soda “with some vodka from his water bottle, pretending no one notices, even though the waiters know exactly what’s up.”
  • A friend calls Saira from a party and says, “Vish’s wasted. Like, trashed. For real… And, okay, I’m trashed, too.” The friend asks Saira to come pick them up.
  • Saira goes to the party and discovers everyone has been drinking sangria because the host’s parents “don’t consider it to be real alcohol.”
  • Saira drinks “one cup, maybe two” of sangria. “It goes down okay.” She feels hungry later, and wonders if she has “the munchies? Or wait, is that pot? Yes. But I’m still snacky.”
  • Saira and her two friends take a car service home. Vish passes out; Saira takes him back to her house, where she hides him in the basement. She doesn’t want to risk him getting in trouble with his strict parents.
  • The next morning, Saira wakes up with a hangover. “I put my hand to my throbbing head. Two cups of sangria? That’s all? Never. Again.” Vish tells her, “That sangria was spiked with tequila and rum.”
  • At a later get-together with friends, Saira is offered a drink from “a little cart that’s piled down with vodka and all the fixings – I know because I recognize them from my dad’s bar. A variety of juices, some wine coolers, cherries and stuff.” She declines to drink even though her “dad will sometimes offer me a glass of champagne or whatever when we’re celebrating.”
  • At this get-together, Saira’s friends pressure her to drink. One of her friends says, “It’s sweet, Saira. You’ll like it.” The friend becomes agitated when she won’t drink.
  • When his cancer treatments are causing him pain, Link asks one of his doctors, “Can I get another dose of morphine? I need it.”

Language

  • Profanity is used infrequently. Profanity includes: Shit, damn, crap, ass, and piss.
  • Saira occasionally uses “Gods” or “oh my god” as an exclamation.
  • “Fuck” is used three times, but never in a sexual context. Also, a character says “AF” once, which is an abbreviation for “as fuck.” For example, jealous AF translates to jealous as fuck.

Supernatural

  • Saira’s friend reads tarot, and her sister likes astrology. Saira dismisses these as “delusions. Pseudoscience.” Neither tarot nor astrology are mentioned later in the story.
  • A young patient tells Saira he’s watching “this anime about this kid, Nate, who can see these troublesome spirits that are up to no good.”

Spiritual Content

  • Saira’s father “thinks Vish’s parents are too religious.” Saira notes that this is because her own family is “hardly religious at all. Too many doctors in the family.”
  • A doctor talking about treating cancer says, “We’re playing God here.”
  • A patient’s family member says that she “spent a lot of time praying” about the patient’s cancer.
  • When she’s exhausted, Saira describes wanting “to slip out of this body entirely, the way Dadi always says old souls can.”
  • Link has “a small brown mole sitting right below his left ear,” which reminds Saira of “a kala tilak to ward off the evil eye.”
  • Someone says a deceased patient “is in a better place now.” Saira says, “We don’t know that.”

by Caroline Galdi

Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh

Maria is a nine-year-old growing up during WWII in Yuba City, California. Like most of the families in her community, her father is from India and her mother is from Mexico. Maria spends her time going to school, collecting tin cans for ration stamps, watching her younger brother, Emilio, and helping around the farm, but what she really dreams of doing is playing softball. Luckily, her teacher has just started an all-girls softball team. While Maria learns lessons about teamwork and determination, she also faces prejudice and discrimination on and off the field. With a little help from her parents and her strong-willed aunt, Maria realizes people from different backgrounds may not be so different after all.

Step up to the Plate, Maria Singh gives a new perspective of discrimination and prejudice that existed during WWII.  Maria’s parents are not American citizens, so they cannot own land and must rent their farm. This becomes a problem when their landlord decides to move. Maria is subject to racism, and she gets into a fight when a classmate calls Maria’s friend a “dirty half-and-half.” Through Maria’s story, readers will understand how a culture can normalize prejudice. Although the racism and discrimination in the book occurred during WWII, readers will see that many of today’s problems are similar.

Because Maria’s parents are of different religions, the book focuses heavily on religion, which is a fundamental part of Maria’s community. Although her household leans a little more towards the Catholic side, Maria’s father talks about Sikhism and brings his family to a temple. Maria is not partial to either religion and includes both in her prayers. While Maria appreciates her parents’ cultures, she doesn’t feel they are completely her own.

Readers will relate to Maria as she tries to make sense of the world and find her voice. Maria is a relatable character who, like most people, has flaws.  Maria lies to her mother but then feels guilty. While playing softball, she learns the value of being a team player.  When she faces prejudice, she learns what it means to hate and the importance of forgiveness. Through Maria’s eyes, readers will learn the importance of speaking up during difficult times.

Step up to the Plate, Maria Singh is a great way to introduce readers to this little-known part of history. The end of the book has an author’s note that helps readers understand the story’s context. Lovers of softball (or any sport) will identify with Maria’s softball obsession and how she uses it as a means of escape and personal victory. This story also shows the value of sports as a means of bringing a community together.

Step up to the Plate, Maria Singh takes the reader into history and deals with difficult topics of immigration, racism, faith, and family. Despite the heavy topics, Step up to the Plate, Maria Singh tackles them in a way that is accessible to younger readers. History fans who love sports should add The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Maria’s friend’s father, Gian, dies in the war. Maria asks Papi if Gian has ever killed anyone, to which Papi doesn’t respond. Gian’s death prompts Maria and her friends to talk about their fathers getting drafted.
  • While she is supposed to be watching Emilio, Maria wanders off. Maria comes back to find Emilio and his friend play fighting, “slamming into each other with arms and legs and fists.”
  • Elizabeth, a white girl, calls Janie a “dirty half-and-half.” Janie retaliates by “throwing herself upon Elizabeth, grabbing her hair with both fists, pushing her down…scratching and pulling and tugging, and both of them shrieking.”
  • When Maria is up to bat, Elizabeth purposely pitched overhand to try and hurt Maria. Maria realized too late how hard Elizabeth was throwing. She was unable to get out of the way in time, and “the ball cracked her [Maria] in the head.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When Maria tells Emilio that she can play softball, she says he is about to get “pig-headed.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Maria explains the misunderstanding people have about her community. “People called the families Mexican Hindus even though the fathers were mostly either Sikh or Muslim in the God department.”
  • When Maria explains why she was late getting home from school, her mom “looked up at the ceiling as if she was asking God and the archangels for guidance.”
  • After lying to her mother, Maria guiltily looks at an altar in her house, on which stands “the Lady of Guadalupe, blessed Mother of Jesus,” a Sikh prayer book, “a wooden carving of the holy man who had founded Papi’s Sikh religion hundreds of years ago,” and “a rounded symbol…called Ikonkar, which meant ‘There is one God.’”
  • Maria goes to confession, which was “near torture.”
  • While the wives and children go to mass, the husbands stay outside and get a picnic ready. This is because, as Papi explains, “God is everywhere, so I will just pray to him out here, under this beautiful sky!” Their wives “would roll their eyes at their stubborn heathen husbands.”
  • Maria’s family attends Mass for Gian’s funeral. As Gian’s wife and daughters process in, someone whispers, “Was he ever baptized?” Maria thinks the service was so special, and “whether he was baptized seemed not to matter.”
  • During Gian’s funeral, Maria thinks, “grieving together for a good man, in the presence of the Holy Mother Church, did bring you closer to the Lord.”
  • Maria prays to Mary and the Sikh holy teachers, asking them to “make the world a better place.”
  • Papi says the bill that will allow people from India to become American citizens has to go to the Senate, and “God alone knows what will happen there.”
  • “Extra blessings were needed” when Papi announces their landlord is moving. “Papi prayed from his holy book and Mama said an Ave Maria. Sometimes life demanded help from every kind of god.”
  • When Maria is worried about not being able to play softball, Papi sings “an old Punjabi prayer” to comfort her. Then he tells her, “Don’t be afraid. God will provide.”
  • Maria asks Papi if he is sad that he can’t see his temple in India. He answers, “All the God you ever need, you carry in your heart.”
  • Maria suggests her parents buy their farmland in her name since she is an American citizen, and they are not. “Papi was singing ‘Waheguru satnaam.’ Mama crossed herself. There were many ways to praise the Lord for sending a really good idea into a girl’s mind.”
  • A minister prays before a softball game.
  • When Maria plays in her first softball game, “fly balls landed in Maria’s glove as if heaven itself was sending them there.”
  • After her team wins the softball game, Maria expresses her thankfulness in both of her parents’ religions. “Wahgeguru, Maria thought, and crossed herself in gratitude.”

by Jill Johnson

I’m Ok

Ok’s life takes a dramatic turn for the worse when his father dies. His mother works three jobs, yet barely makes ends meet. Ok feels that as the man of the house, he should help pay the bills. As a twelve-year-old, he has little opportunity to make money. He hopes he can win the cash prize at the school talent contest, but he can’t sing or dance, and he has no magic up his sleeves. With no talent, he has to come up with another business.

Soon, Ok is braiding hair for the girls at school, but the girls can’t pay him much. His braiding business makes Mickey McDonald notice him. The girl, with a larger-than-life personality, wants to be his friend. Ok is used to being by himself, and he doesn’t want to be friends with Mickey, who will distract him from his mission—making money.

Life gets worse when the pushy deacon at their Korean church starts wooing Ok’s mom. Ok doesn’t want his mom spending time with the deacon. His mom is so caught up in the deacon that she doesn’t even notice Ok anymore. Feeling lost and confused, Ok comes up with an exit strategy. Will being totally alone, give Ok the peace he needs?

I’m Ok deals with the difficult topics of grief, poverty, racism, and friendship. Even though the story highlights the importance of friends, Ok’s story is often dark and depressing. At school, Ok is bullied and made fun of because he’s Korean. He reluctantly becomes friends with Mickey, who is self-assured but also ignored by many of the students. The two team up to win the school talent contest, and Mickey begins teaching Ok to skate. Mickey spends time with Ok, gives him a pair of skates, and is kind to him. Despite this, the only thing Ok cares about is winning the contest’s money. At one point, Ok even steals from Mickey’s mother. While Ok’s homelife is understandably difficult, his negative reaction to all events and his self-centered, mean personality make it difficult to feel compassion for him.

Ok spends time reminiscing about his father, who he clearly misses. Even though Ok grieves for his father, most of Ok’s memories of his father are negative. His father treated both Ok and his mother terribly. For example, Ok’s father would talk under his breath, “loud enough that I could hear, but soft enough so I felt guilty about eavesdropping, ‘When’s this idiot going to be human?’” Ok’s father isn’t shown to have many positive aspects other than financially supporting the family.

I’m Ok shows the difficulties many Korean immigrants face. However, the story’s conclusion leaves several threads untied. Plus for the entire story, the deacon is portrayed in such a negative light that it is difficult to understand why Ok’s mother marries him. Even though Ok and several of the supporting characters are well-developed, readers may have a difficult time relating to Ok, who is often mean to those who care about him. If you’re looking for a book that tackles racism and/or poverty, you may want to leave I’m Ok on the library shelf. However, Katherine Applegate excellently tackles both issues in her books Crenshaw and Wishtree.

Sexual Content

  • While braiding girls’ hair, the girls talk about a lot of different topics. For example, “Jaehnia is in love with Asa, and Asa is not at all interested in her in that way ’cause he’s not into desperate girls… Kym’s parents are getting a divorce… Claudio got caught sneaking around under the back staircase looking up girls’ skirts.”

Violence

  • Several times Ok thinks about his father’s death. When Ok makes a mistake, he thinks his dad would have called him stupid. Ok thinks, “At least I didn’t trip while working on a roof and come tumbling down and land so hard and wrong on concrete that my neck broke.”
  • Ok’s mother accidently “Ran into a parked car, smashing its headlight. My father called her an idiot, yelled at her, took over the wheel, and raced out of there like it was a getaway… He told her to shut up. I crouched on the floor of the backseat, scared my mother would get kicked out of the country.”
  • Asa and Ok wrestle, and Ok “bite[s] his finger, grab[s] his shirt, and stretch[es] it over his face… He punches me in the stomach. I cough and punch him back… We tumble around some more, no longer really hitting each other, holding and rolling disguised as fighting.” A neighbor tells them to stop and they do.
  • Ok steals $10 out of Mickey’s mom’s purse. The next day, Mickey shows up at school with “a bruise on her cheek.” Mickey says, “Ain’t you ever seen a bruise before? If you gotta know, Ma did it.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Ok’s father would play cards with his friends and drink beer. Ok thinks back to a time when his father “let me take a sip of his beer. When I grimaced at the taste, he laughed.”
  • Ok’s father often had a Johnnie Walker in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

Language

  • After Ok’s father dies, a woman tells him that he will need strength to get through this hard time. “What a senseless mess. Makes you want to kick some idiot’s butt, she says, shaking her head…”
  • Pissed is used five times. When Ok is called to the principal’s office, he tells the principal he has to go to the bathroom and “pressing my knees together and making the I’m going to piss right here, right now face.”
  • A kid in Ok’s class makes fun of him, calling him “Okie Dorkie” and “Wong-chung-chung.”
  • Oh my god is used as an exclamation six times. For example, when Ok tells a girl that he saved a puppy’s life, she says, “Oh my God, you’re the bravest.”
  • Mickey McDonald uses “Oh my Lord Jesus Christ” once and “Oh my Lordy” as an exclamation seven times. For example, Ok accidently goes into the girls’ bathroom. When Mickey McDonald sees him, she says, “Oh my Lord, what on God’s green earth are you doing in the girl’s bathroom?” She then calls Ok a “perv.” Later she calls Ok a “snothead.”
  • A kid calls a girl a moron.
  • Ok calls a kid a jerk; later, he thinks the deacon is a jerk.
  • A kid teases Mickey, calling her “Old McD. White Trish-Trash. Mick the Hick. Mickey Gives Hickeys… Mickey McDonald looks like Miss Piggy and a troll doll had a baby.”
  • Ok thinks the deacon is a jackass.
  • Badass is used once, and hell is used three times. For example, a woman tells Ok, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
  • Ok tells Asa, “Aren’t you glad yo’ mama could spell? Otherwise yo’ name be like Ass… I’m calling you Ass ’cause you look like one, smell like one, and God knows you read and write like one.” Later, Ok calls Asa a butt-face and moron.
  • Ok calls Asa stupid and a nincompoop.
  • Ok tells Mickey that a classmate is a pervert.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Ok and his mother attend the First Korean Full Gospel Church. After a service, some of the women “moan and babble because the Holy Spirit has a hold on them.” Ok wishes “the Holy Spirit would get a hold of me so I could wail my sadness too.”
  • After his father dies, a woman from church tells him “to be good and strong for my mother and have faith in God’s will, because I’m the man of the house now. God works in mysterious ways.”
  • After his father dies, Ok’s mother tells him, “I’m not worried. God will take care of us. We just need to do our part and believe he loves us.”
  • When a classmate is mean to Ok, he “prayed I wouldn’t piss my pants, prayed I wouldn’t get beat up because I looked like one of those kids you couldn’t help but beat up.”
  • During church service, the pastor asks the congregation to pray. Ok closes his eyes and prays, “telling God that I need a talent for the talent show so I can win a hundred dollars…”
  • When a girl sees Ok writing in a library book, Ok “pray[s] hard that she doesn’t walk away and tell on me.”
  • After Ok earns some money, he wonders what to do with it. “I could offer the money to God tomorrow, drop my coins onto the plate… What blessing can $11.68 buy me?”
  • The deacon tells Ok’s mother, “Do not worry. What does the Bible say? Worrying is a waste of your time and energy. It is a sign of your lack of faith. Obey our Lord and don’t worry… All things work for the good of those who have faith in God.”
  • When Ok’s mother hurts her ankle, Ok prayed “that I had nothing to do with my mother slipping on some ice that had spilled out of a tub full of mackerel.” Ok wonders if God allowed his mother to get hurt because he stole something, then he blames God for allowing his mother to get hurt.
  • The deacon tells Ok, “God is in math. Oh sure. The concept of infinity. That is God.”
  • Many of the characters pray. For example, after making kimchi, Ok’s mother prays, “thanking God for her abilities, for our kitchen, and for me… She asks God to bless the kimchi, bless anyone who eats it, make the person strong and good and faithful.”
  • At church, the preacher told the congregation, “if we felt sad, we should count our blessings. Make a list of all the things we were grateful for. Not focus on what we lost.”
  • When the deacon is trying to teach Ok to swim, he says, “The Bible says that if you build a house on sand, that house will collapse, so you must build your house on stone, so it can withstand wind and storms.”
  • When the deacon clears his throat, Ok thinks, “here we go with the sermon about how God created the universe, the moon, and the stars, and how he created me in his image and loves me so much he killed his only son for the forgiveness of sins.”

Like a Love Story

Like a Love Story takes place in New York City in the late 1980s. The AIDS crisis is devastating gay communities, and activists are protesting the government’s reluctance to extend research or support to those affected. The narration rotates between three teenagers: Reza, Art, and Judy.

Reza is new in town, having recently immigrated to New York from Iran, where his family escaped a violent revolution. In the closet with a nearly hypochondriac fear of AIDS, Reza starts at a new school and soon meets Judy and Art, who have been best friends since childhood. Both Judy and Art are committed to gay culture and gay activism under the tutelage of Judy’s uncle Stephen, an AIDS patient and well-known member of the gay community. Art is an out-and-proud gay teenager, who is assertive and upfront about his identity. Brash and unafraid, Art is full of anger at the injustice of the AIDS crisis. Judy, a straight girl who shares Art’s love of Madonna and fashion, supports him in everything and shares his love of fashion and film.

A romance develops between Reza and Judy. But Reza, a closeted gay, knows he can only hold out for so long before his secret comes out. The first two acts of the novel largely concern their false relationship, eventual falling-out, and then the ensuing romance between Reza and Art. Each of the three narrators has a fairly equal stake in the plot, and each brings their own narration, perspective, and personality to the story. Like a Love Story is largely a coming-of-age story, but it is really three coming-of-age stories as each character grapples with their sexuality, their future, and their imminent emergence into the adult world.

Like a Love Story is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn about the AIDS crisis or the origins of the modern gay rights movement. Without preaching or lecturing, the narrative paints a rich and engaging portrait of the political climate through its three narrators. Each character in Like a Love Story has a completely unique voice; readers can open the book to any page and immediately know who is speaking.

Regardless of their own identities, readers will see themselves in the characters because of how authentically they are portrayed. Each character has uncertainty about their place in the world, an imperfect relationship with their parents, a faulty understanding of how the world works, and a yearning to belong—and readers get to see them grow as the story progresses.

 Like a Love Story has some of the most compelling adult figures in a genre where adults are often one-dimensional and cast to the side. The relationship that each teen has with their parents is complicated and imperfect, but masterfully written. It is genuinely heart-wrenching to see Art’s interactions with his homophobic parents, and it is genuinely moving to see Judy’s conversations with her mother evolve throughout the story.

Like a Love Story does not shy away from sexual content and depictions of sex acts, but it’s one of the few books that feels justified in its usage. Characters frequently talk of condoms and bodily fluids. The mechanics of AIDS transmission and the effects of the disease are explained as Uncle Stephen succumbs to infections. Readers who pick up this book in 2020 will already know the ending to some extent. Thanks to modern medicine, many people today can live full lives with HIV and new pharmaceuticals can help prevent transmission. However, the characters don’t know this, and they can only grieve the dead and dying members of their community while fighting for rights and recognition. The story highlights the importance of community, activism, and love.

Sexual Content

  • When asked how he knew he was gay, Art says, “I had a wet dream about Morrisey.”
  • During a make-out session, Judy tries to find out if Reza is aroused. “As nonchalant as I can, I move my hand down, feeling his crotch. I feel something hard. Is it him, or is it his zipper? I can’t even tell. I’ve never felt a hard-on before.”
  • Judy thinks, “Art told me once that the subway was the hottest place in the city, as in sexual heat, not physical temperature. He said that all those bodies rubbing against each other basically made it a clothed, co-ed bathhouse.”
  • Reza sees a naked male mannequin in a store window and thinks, “I look at the mannequin’s body and find myself getting a little hard. I cover my crotch with my hands. I imagine that Art is the mannequin, standing in the store window naked. How sick do you have to be to be turned on by a piece of plastic?”
  • After Reza sees a photo of Art, Reza thinks, “I need to stop thinking about him, and I know there’s only one way to do that. I lie back on my bed, close my eyes, and unzip my pants. I see Bartholomew Emerson Grant VI come to life, enter my room, climb into bed with me. He kisses me, undresses me, tells me not to be scared. But then he’s gone, and all I see are images of dying men with lesions.”
  • A big part of the second half of the plot is Reza’s shame and paranoia surrounding his sexual desires. Stephen teaches Art and Reza about safe sex and about how to use condoms safely. Stephen tells them, “If you want a tutorial, we can go home and practice with bananas. . . Lube is lubricant. Men need it, because we don’t naturally get wet down there . . . the jury is out on whether oral sex is safe or not, but my advice is to use a condom for that too.”
  • Stephen says, “The straight world has defined losing your virginity as intercourse. That’s their thing. But we get to define it for ourselves. And you never, ever have to do anything you don’t want to.”
  • Reza thinks, “I hate those words. Oral. Anal. I hate how graphic they are, how hostile they feel.”
  • In a photography darkroom, Art takes off his clothes for Reza. “There’s only one thing to take off. My boxer briefs. I remove them. I stand in front of him, exposed.” They kiss, but don’t do anything else.
  • Judy has an intimate moment with Reza’s brother, Saadi. As Judy makes out him, “It’s furious. Our tongues explore each other. Then his hands are all over me… his breath is heavy, and his hips are thrusting urgently. I feel what I never felt when Reza and I kissed, an erection. Saadi is so hard. He sits up and takes his polo off.” They don’t go all the way. “He wants to have sex, but I tell him I’m not ready.”
  • Art says, “The first time I read porn, I was twelve. I found my dad’s stash of Penthouse and Playboy magazines in the back of his closet. But Penthouse has these sex stories in them, and they were very hot because there were men in them.”
  • The characters all go to a Madonna performance wherein she masturbates onstage. The act is not described in detail.
  • When Art and Reza finally consummate their relationship, they use condoms and lube. Reza wraps “my legs around him, pulling him closer to me, or deeper into me, because he’s in me now. We thrust and grunt and sweat until we almost fall off the bed.” The scene takes up about three pages, but it is mostly dialogue and doesn’t go into more physical detail.

Violence

  • While attending a protest, Art hears bystanders say, “Hose those faggots down. They like that.”
  • During a protest, police officers “yank Art away and handcuff him.” The other police officer “pushes Reza to the ground.”
  • Some bullies begin to taunt Art, and he reacts violently. “My fingers tense into a fist. Before I know it, I leap out of my seat and tackle Darryl to the ground, taking him down like I’m one of the gorgeous ladies of wrestling. ‘Go to hell, you fucking ASSHOLE!’ I scream as he writhes below me, his scared, beefy body stronger than mine but unable to overpower the force of my rage. ‘Get off me, fag!’ he yells. ‘Not until I give you AIDS,’ I say, and I spit on his face.” Art describes later, “I pull Darryl’s foot toward my face. He pushes his leg up, kicking my chin hard in the process. My teeth hit my lips. My head doubles back, hits the wall with a thud… My eyes flicker with the shock of pain. When I open them, I see blood on my hand and on my shirt.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At a party with some kids from school, Judy gets “drunk on fruit punch.” Her friend tells her, “You don’t want your parents to see you like this.”
  • When Uncle Stephen is on his deathbed, he asks for a glass of wine. Judy’s mom pours wine for him and a small glass for Judy.
  • Uncle Stephen has been taking morphine for his pain; by the time he dies, his bottle of morphine is empty.

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: fuck, shit, hell, ass, and damn.
  • “Oh my God” is often used as an exclamation.
  • Art is determined to reclaim the words “faggot” and “fag,” which is a recurring point throughout the story. Judy’s mom asks Art not to use the word because “I heard that word hissed at my brother like a dagger throughout his childhood, and I don’t want to hear it ever again.” They eventually agree to disagree.
  • After coming out, Reza has “heard every possible word a homosexual could be called . . . Faggot. Pansy. Mary. Butt pirate. Fruit. Turd burglar. Flamer. Nancy. Queen.”

Supernatural

  • Art can see “auras.” Readers might recognize them as a condition called synesthesia, but to Art they take on a spiritual and artistic significance. Art doesn’t “snap a photo unless I see its energy. I know they’re all black-and-white, but they have colors to me. Auras.”

Spiritual Content

  • Art says, “I think that if it weren’t for all the bullshit rules of Catholicism, then there would be no Madonna, because what is she if not a rebellion against all of this?”
  • In a church, Art thinks, “I don’t want to burn this place to the ground. What I want is to make them see that I AM HOLY. These thoughts of me and Reza, they are holy.”
  • A priest’s homily “makes multiple references to protecting ‘the unborn.’” Art thinks, “It’s amazing how gung-ho he is about saving the lives of fetuses, but then he turns a blind eye to all the actual humans DYING right in front of him.”
  • Art lights prayer candles in a church and thinks, “I know that I don’t believe in a God who can grant wishes, but if there’s even a chance that such a God exists, then I have some wishes I’d like granted.” He wishes for AIDS to be cured.

by Caroline Galdi

 

Many Waters

When identical twins Dennis and Sandy accidentally mess with their father’s scientific experiment on faster-than-light travel, they are transported to a desert wasteland. Stranded and confused, the two boys meet the locals—dark-skinned people who are only four feet tall. Between the strange people, the miniature mammoths, unicorns, and manticores, Sandy and Dennis are convinced they’re on a strange planet on the other side of the universe. After nearly dying from heatstroke, they are taken in by Grandfather Lameck. When they meet Grandfather Lameck’s son, Noah, the twins realize they have been thrown back in time and are on Earth in the time right before the Great Flood. But the flood is coming—will the twins find a way home before the rain starts to fall?

To make matters more complicated, humans are not the only intelligent beings to deal with. There are seraphim, a tall and beautiful winged people who know many things—maybe even how to get the twins home—but the seraphim do not like to interfere with the lives of men. Then, there are the nephilim, just as tall and beautiful as the seraphim, but they spend their time seducing women with worldly pleasures and extravagant treasures. The nephilim are suspicious of the twins’ sudden appearance, and they will do anything to find out what they are up to.

Once again, L’Engle spins a magical tale that centers on the battle between good and evil. Yalith and Jephath, two of Noah’s children, are kind people that do all they can to help the twins. But most people who live in the oasis are corrupt and evil, abandoning tradition to pursue pleasure and to get ahead in life. The twins and Yalith are all tempted to give in to worldly pleasures. While conflicted, all three reject temptation in exchange for kindness, unicorns, and listening to the stars.

While there are good and bad characters, several members of Noah’s family and Noah himself are more ambiguous, showing that even godly people are not perfect. While God is mentioned several times as “El,” the story centers more around the twins as they adapt to the time period and try to find a way home. The seraphim and the nephilim are revealed to be angels and fallen angels, respectively. They add intrigue and excitement to the story. Overall, Many Waters is a fun tale with a unique twist on the story of Noah’s Ark that will leave readers satisfied.

Sexual Content

  • In Noah’s time, bothmen and women only wore loincloths. Therefore, Sandy and Dennis see several women’s breasts, but none are described graphically. When meeting Yalith, Sandy notes “the girl, who wore only a loincloth . . . was gently curved, with small rosy breasts.”
  • Yalith kisses Aariel, a seraph, much as a child kisses a parent. “Like a child, she held her face up for a kiss, and Aariel leaned down and pressed his lips gently against hers.”
  • Yalith sees her sister with a nephilim. Her sister was “gazing up at him adoringly, leaning against him so that her rosy breasts touched his pale flesh.”
  • Japheth kisses his wife several times. Once, “Japheth leaned to her and kissed her on the lips. Dennis . . . thought that it was a nice kiss. It was the kind of kiss he had seen his father give his mother. A real kiss. If he lived through this, he would like to kiss someone like that.” Another time, Japheth’s wife “bent toward him to kiss him.”
  • A girl from the oasis flirts with Sandy. She “bent closer and brushed her lips against his.” Later, she tries to seduce him. “He was not prepared to have the light suddenly darkened by Tiglah’s face as she pressed her lips against his . . . he knew what she wanted, and he wanted it, too; he was ready, but not, despite her gorgeousness, with Tiglah . . . her breathing mingled with his. He knew if he did not break this off, he would not be able to. With a deep inward sigh, he pulled away.”
  • Sandy thinks about taking Yalith to the future with him. Sandy “looked at Yalith’s small and perfect body, barely covered by the loincloth, her breasts delicate and rosy, and had a moment’s absurd vision of her in one of the classrooms at the regional high school.”
  • When saying goodbye, “Yalith nodded, then reached up to Sandy and kissed him on the lips. Then Dennis. Full, long kisses.”

Violence

  • Sandy is kidnapped. “He tried to wriggle out of the clutch of whoever was carrying him, and a fish crashed into his belly, winding him, and something sharp pricked his arm.”
  • When Japheth tries to rescue Sandy, “the older man swooped on him with the spear, and despite Japheth’s quick reflex, the spear cut across his ribs, and a trickle of blood slid down his side.”
  • Japheth comes home with “an ugly bruise on his cheek where an angrily thrown stone had hit him.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Noah has the “largest and best vineyards on the oasis . . . the fame of his wine had spread to many other oases round about.”
  • A man is sick from drinking too much. Afterward, “the smell of Ham’s sickness mingled with the smell of wine, of meat form the stewpot, of the skins of the tent.”
  • Yalith remembers how her sister had a wedding with “far too much wine, inferior, at that.”
  • When Noah reconciles with his father, he “handed his father a small wineskin. . . The old man held the wineskin to his lips, then smacked them in appreciation.” Sandy also takes a small sip.

Language

  • When a woman’s family kidnaps him, Sandy thinks, “you slut.”
  • An angry man says, “Auk’s nuts to you.”

Supernatural

  • Sandy and Dennis accidentally mess up their father’s scientific experiment and are sent back in time. “Dennis groped through a pervasive mist, his hands touching nothing. Came a great sonic boom. Then absolute silence.”
  • In the past, there were miniature mammoths. “From behind the outcropping of rock came something grey and sinuous which the twins at first thought was a snake. But it was followed by a head with small, bright, black eyes, and great fans of ears, and a chunky body covered with shaggy grey hair.”
  • There are manticores in the past, which try to eat the mammoths several times. The manticore had a “man’s face with filthy hair. . . From the mat of hair came two horns, curved downward, with sharp points like boar’s teeth. . . The rest of the creature pushed into the tent. The head did not belong to a man’s body but to a lion’s . . . the lion did not have a lion’s tail but a scorpion’s.” The manticores can only say the word “hungry!”
  • There are unicorns that flicker in and out of existence. They can flicker out of existence in one place, then be called into existence miles away instantaneously. “On the horizon to the far left, moving toward them, appeared a creature which shimmered in and out of their vision, silvery in color, as large as a goat or a pony, with light flickering out from its forehead.”
  • There are seraphim (angels) and nephilim (fallen angels). Both have “Great wings. Much long hair. . . The seraphim are golden and the nephilim are white, whiter than sand.”
  • Both the seraphim and the nephilim can turn into animals; each has their own animal they transform into. One of the seraphim is a scarab beetle. “Grandfather Lameck took it on his palm, a scarab beetle, glinting bronze in the lamplight. The old man stroked it gently with a trembling forefinger, and closed his palm. Then came a vivid flash of light, similar to that of the unicorn’s horn, and a tall presence stood in the tent, smiling at the old man…Hair the color of wheat with the sun on it, brightly gold, long, and tied back, falling so that it almost concealed tightly furled wings.” One of the nephilim is a giant desert lizard. “As the lizard neared her, it rose straight upward to a height of at least six feet, and suddenly [its] arms were outstretched above the head; the tail forked into two legs, and a man came running toward her, a man of extraordinary beauty, with alabaster-white skin and wings of brilliant purple.”
  • Yalith shows Dennis how to listen to the stars. “He listened, listened, focusing on one bright pattern of stars. Closed his eyes. Listened. Seemed to hear a delicate, crystal chiming. Words. Hush. Heal. Rest. Make peace. Fear not. He laughed in excitement. Opened his eyes to twinkling diamonds.”

Spiritual Content

  • A woman tells the twins, “We don’t have any men on the oasis who are as tall and like gods as you are.”
  • The twins discover that Grandfather Lameck’s son is Noah, from the biblical story of Noah and the Arc.
  • Yalith recounts her family lineage, which includes the biblical figures Methuselah and Enoch. “Methuselah, my great-grandfather, lived for nine hundred and sixty-nine years. And his father was Enoch, who walked with El, and lived three hundred and sixty and five years, and then El took him.”
  • The people in Noah’s time call God “El” and El sometimes speaks to them, though his words are never shared directly in the story. Noah says, “Yesterday, when I was working in the vineyard, the Voice spoke to me. El told me that I must find wives for you.”
  • Japheth mentions a curse on the land. “When our forebears had to leave the Garden, they were told, Accursed shall the ground be on your account. It will grow thorns and thistles for you. You shall gain your bread by the sweat of your brow.”
  • The seraphim mention the pattern. They say the twins “are part of the pattern,” but “the pattern is not set. . . It is fluid, and constantly changing.” They always maintain that the pattern “will be worked out in beauty in the end.”

by Morgan Lynn

Spider-Man: Far from Home: Peter and Ned’s Ultimate Travel Journal

Spider-Man is off to Europe on a science exploration, crime-fighting adventure! While on vacation, Peter Parker and his best friend, Ned Leeds, decide to create a travel journal where they jot down all the exciting things that happened to them during their trip. From St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice to the Globe Theatre in London, Ned tells readers about the most astounding and historic spots to visit in Europe. While web-slinging, Peter introduces readers to European street food, including German pretzels and English toasties. Mary Jane introduces Europe’s most notable, historic women to the boys as she takes them to the weirdest and scariest places in Europe, including Cemetery Island in Venice and the Museum of Communism in Prague. The ultimate, web-shooting travel journal really has it all!

From the Venetian gelato to the London Eye, their international trip seems to be going great until Peter finds himself having to save the world again. As he fights world-threatening monsters, Peter struggles with becoming a big-time superhero and his new crush on his friend, Mary Jane. It’s a big step up from being just the friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man. Will Peter be able to come to terms with his new identity, defeat the monsters, and finish the journal—or will the world fall into chaos?

 Peter and Ned’s Ultimate Travel Journal is a fun, educational read for young readers. Peter, Ned, and Mary Jane’s adventures across Europe, along with their witty humor, make the book fun to read. It introduces young readers to Europe’s many different, historic cultures. Throughout the book, Ned introduces historical buildings to the readers, Peter introduces cultural food, and MJ introduces historic European women. Along the way, the trio even has intellectual debates discussing if Italian pizza is better than American pizza, if Nikola Tesla is smarter than Thomas Edison, and if Michelangelo is more influential than Leonardo Da Vinci.

However, readers should watch the movie Spider-Man: Far from Home before reading the travel journal. The journal makes many references to the crime-fighting antics of Spiderman’s on-screen personality, and the journal could be confusing for readers who have not seen the movie. The camaraderie between Peter, Ned, and MJ is entertaining; however, the characters often go way overboard on teen-talk. Even though the plot is not well-developed, the theme of friendship is portrayed throughout the journal.

Nonetheless, the fun, colorful illustrations will interest readers. The artwork appears much like the Spider-Man comic books with colorful pictures of Spider-Man in action and cartoonish pictures of European landmarks. However, some of the pictures are reused, which may bother some readers. With its mild language, this book is a fun read for superhero fans that are interested in learning about other countries.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • On the plane, Mr. Hutchinson tells Peter that “his ex-wife faked her own death in the Battle of New York …”
  • Ned thinks he is a great friend because “he will take a tranquilizer dart to the neck courtesy of NICHOLAS FURY and not complain about it.” In the movie, Ned is shot in the neck by Nick Fury.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Ned’s “No Lips” face will make Peter “laugh so hard he pees his pants.”
  • While in St. Mark’s Square, “a pigeon pooped on” Peter.
  • Ned thinks that “Betty is going to think I’m so smart when I tell her about these kick-butt ladies tomorrow!”
  • Ned thinks it’s funny to “imagine a baby country peeing in a diaper.”
  • Peter wants to snuggle with Mary Jane during the opera while they share opera glasses, but he wonders if there’s “another word for snuggle so I can just ask her without sounding like a dweeb?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Matthew Perkey

A Match Made in Mehendi

Fifteen-year-old Simran “Simi” Sangha comes from a long line of Indian vichole – matchmakers — with a rich history of helping parents find good matches for their grown children. When Simi accidentally sets up her cousin and a soon-to-be lawyer, her family is thrilled that she has the “gift.”

But Simi is an artist, and she doesn’t want anything to do with relationships, helicopter parents, and family drama. That is until she realizes this might be just the thing to improve her and her best friend Noah’s social status. Armed with her family’s ancient guide to finding love, Simi starts a matchmaking service via an app.

But when she helps connect a wallflower of a girl with the star of the boys’ soccer team, she turns the high school hierarchy topsy-turvy, making herself public enemy number one.

Simi starts her sophomore year with the intent of standing out and being her true self. As she tells her own story, the reader gets an inside scoop on her thought process. Simi’s story bounces between her home life, her love life, and her school life. Simi is surrounded by a large and loving family. She also relies on her best friend, Noah, to help her through the day-to-day struggle of school.

The story’s large cast of characters doesn’t allow the author to give each person a unique personality, and many of the characters are not well-developed. Simi’s best friend Noah is struggling with his sexual identity, but his thoughts and feelings are never expressed, which makes it hard for the reader to connect with him. Readers may also have a difficult time because Simi’s family is from India, and they often use their native language; however, there are few context clues to help the reader understand the word’s meaning.

A Match Made in Mehendi gives the reader a look into Indian culture as well as the matchmaking process. The action slows down when Noah, Simi, and her brother work on the app. The matchmaking app is an interesting twist, but Simi seems more concerned with the app’s functionality than the couples the app matches.

Like many teens, Simi is trying to find her voice and stand up for herself. Simi’s story is unique and follows several couples as they try to navigate romance. However, the character-driven story does not contain a lot of action or conflict. Although the story has several interesting facets, A Match Made in Mehendi will easily be forgotten.

Sexual Content

  • While working on an art project at a boy’s house, the two take a break. “He leans close, picking a blade of grass from my hair, and for a second, I think he might kiss me.” But then the dog jumps between the two and the moment is over.
  • After a date, Simi’s “heart rate kicks up as he ducks his head and moves closer.” She thought he was going to kiss her and thinks, “I want him to. I have for so long.” But then, the boy “veers towards my cheek, laying the softest kiss there. It’s innocent and sweet, but all the same, shivers fan out over my arms.”
  • Simi’s friend Noah has a crush on a boy, but he isn’t sure how to handle it.
  • While at a gathering, Simi is talking to a boy. The boy “gently pulls me in toward him for a kiss. Except I’m so surprised, I knock over my cup of ginger ale before our lips can connect.” Simi tells him to try again, which he does. Simi thinks the kiss is “slow. Delicious. Sweet like ate-ki-pinni.”

Violence

  • A mean girl tricks Simi, then “as I crash onto my hands and knees, my phone careens through the air and smashes face down on the concrete.” The girl stomped on the phone, then “she laughs, does a haughty pageant wave, and keeps moving.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • During a dinner at Simi’s house, her dad “keeps everyone happy with drinks ranging from lassi and lemonade to Patiala pegs of his favorite single malt whiskey.”

Language

  • Profanity is used sparingly. Crap is used three times; holy crap and shit are both used once.
  • When Simi draws a picture of two people with hearts over their head, her sister says, “Good God.”
  • God, OMG, and dear God are all used as an exclamation once or twice.
  • Freaking is used five times.
  • Badass and kickass are both used once.
  • When someone takes credit for Simi’s artwork, she says, “They call it bullshit. Are you gonna tell her [the teacher] or am I?” Later she thinks the person is an “ass.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Simi’s grandparents got married, they were from different religions, but it wasn’t “a big deal.” Her grandparents “lit a lamp for both Wahe Guru and Mata Rani in our home after we got married and called ourselves doubly blessed.”

Serpent & Dove #1

In the city of Cessarine, the war between magic-wielding witches and holy men of the Church known as Chasseurs has raged for centuries. At the very heart of this war lays Louise, a Dame Blanche witch who has decided to hide in Cessarine to keep her estranged mother from finding her.

But her days skulking around dressed as a man, secretly squatting above a theater and stealing to survive come to an abrupt end when Reid, a Chasseur captain, discovers her thieving ways. After an embarrassing encounter in which Louise frames Reid as a sexual predator in front of a theater audience, the two must quickly keep themselves both from being reprimanded in the only way they can: by marrying each other.

Marriage changes both Louise’s and Reid’s lives forever. For Louise, she never meant to get this close to her Chasseur enemies, and she plays a dangerous game by keeping her true witch nature hidden while developing her relationship with Reid. For Reid, not only did he love another noble girl, but Louise is wild, untamed, and a heathen: she goes against every aspect of society’s proper female image. Yet, the longer the two are around each other, the more they fall in love. And the more dangerous their relationship becomes, the closer Louise’s mother gets to finding her. Yet, their love will overcome any obstacles that stand in their way.

Mahurin’s Serpent & Dove is a fun, exciting story from beginning until the end. Focusing on characters in a similar Romeo & Juliet styled story, Mahurin skillfully develops a story about old grudges, fanatical warriors, and love that overcomes even death. The main characters are very believable and are relatable because of how they can’t control their emotions despite realizing how complicated those emotions might make their lives. The story is fast-paced and full of surprises, twists, and heart-pounding scenes that will keep readers wanting to know what happens next. And even though many of those twists may be somewhat predictable, those secrets are revealed in very satisfying ways.

Serpent & Dove themes also come through naturally, and are built into the story’s backdrop. Louise and Reid learn that centuries-old grudges need to be overcome in order to find love and happiness. In the beginning, both Louise and Reid believe the other is one-dimensional and evil. By the end of the story, both Louise and Reid are willing to sacrifice everything for one another. The story also highlights the dangers of recognizing one’s faults, as seen in the Dames Blanches and the Chasseurs.

Overcoming prejudice is the novel’s main crux and it’s incorporated into the story quite charmingly. Watching Louise and Reid follow their hearts and find lives worth living is heartwarming. Serpent & Dove is a great story because of how well this point is executed, and because it truly does feel like at any moment their love could be torn apart by every other character. The story is thrilling from the moment Louise and Reid meet until the very end of the novel. Mature readers who enjoy a good mix of action and romance will want to add this book to the top of their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • Near the beginning of the novel, Louise and her friend visit a brothel in order to learn the whereabouts of a magical object. Louise comments on the working ladies at the brothel, “To be fair, however, many of them weren’t wearing corsets. Or anything at all.”
  • Many characters often give each other compliments on their looks. Babette, a courtesan working at the brothel, gives Coco a compliment, “Cosette, you look ravishing, as usual.”
  • Louise and Reid constantly think about the other’s sex appeal. Louise thinks Reid is, “Irritatingly I couldn’t help but stare. Thick lashes framed eyes the precise color of the sea.”
  • Bas, a thief friend of Louise, notices Louise’s sex appeal often. “He leaned forward, dark eyes setting on my lips.” Louise thinks Bas is “handsome enough to court. Certainly handsome enough to kiss. From across the cramped table, I eyed the dark line of his jaw.” She also thinks he has “such a tight little ass.” Yet since Bas only saw her as a friend-with-benefits, Louise thinks, “Perhaps that was why I’d stopped loving him.”
  • Madame Labelle, the owner of the brothel, kisses a man. “Grasping Tremblay’s arms with a wide smile, Madame Labelle kissed both his cheeks . . .”
  • When Louise and Coco are confronted by two men, Andre and Grue, at the brothel, Louise thinks, “I dreaded to think what they would do with immediate access to anything. Especially sex and violence.”
  • After Coco gives Louise her favorite food, Louise thinks, “I could’ve kissed her.”
  • When Louise wants free food from a pastry chef, she flirts with the chef, Johannes Pan. “Most days I only had to bat my lashes. Others I had to get slightly more. . . creative.”
  • One of the witches’ Goddesses “represents fertility, fulfillment and sexuality.” Similarly, Adam and Eve are mentioned. “Eve seduced Adam into sin.”
  • Reid’s fellow Chasseurs gossip about Louise, “I heard she’s a whore.”
  • When Louise and Reid finally make love to each other, Louise thinks, “The time for games was done.” And then she says, “I wanted him to touch me. I wanted him to become my husband in every sense of the word.” And, later in the same scene, it’s revealed that “Reid had never had sex. He was a virgin.” And, once again, later in the same scene, “I watched his throat bob, heard his breath hitch.”

Violence

  • There’s frequent violence throughout the novel, including the sight or mention of corpses. For instance, Reid says, “Thirteen bodies had been found throughout Belterra over the past year.”
  • Witches are commonly burned on pyres, as well as anyone who might conspire with witches. “But the flames come first with the Church. Questions second.” Estelle, a witch after Louise, is caught by Reid and burned alive. Louise thinks, “Though tears clouded my vision, I forced myself to watch the flames lick up Estelle’s dress. I forced myself to hear her screams.”
  • A young noblewoman was found with her throat slashed.
  • Louise is willing to get her hands dirty when her life is threatened. Babette, a courtesan, threatens Louise with blackmail if she doesn’t become a courtesan, “If Babette wasn’t careful, she’d soon learn just how wretched and violent we could be.” Louise kills two thugs after her life. “Gritting my teeth, I seized Andre’s knife and plunged it into his throat, slashing through skin and tendon and bone.” After that fight, Louise tries to clean herself up: “Deep purple bruises had seeped beneath my eyes, and dried blood spattered my cheeks. I scrubbed at it with the cold water from the tap, rubbing my skin until it was pink and raw.”
  • Witches use their magic to create havoc and bloodshed. While attacking the royal family during a parade, the witches were“Laughing as bodies fell around them with the simplest flicks of their fingers.”
  • Children are also harmed by witches. Reid says, “Last month, a child had been found without its eyes. . . More than twenty bodies circled the air around the witches now—some unconscious, heads lolling, and others painfully awake.”
  • When Louise uses magic, she has to give something in return, typically meaning she has to harm herself. “Though I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, a small groan still escaped as I snapped a second finger.”
  • Several times, Louise is threatened by two guys that hold a grudge against her. A man, Grue, “smash[ed] my face into the ground. My nose cracked, and blood spurted sickeningly into my mouth.” When defending herself, Louise “exploded beneath him in a blur of limbs and nails and teeth, clawing and biting and kicking every bit of him I could reach.”
  • Reid displays a desire to attack and kill witches quite frequently, especially towards Morgane, Louise’s mother: “And Morgane—never before had I longed to kill a witch as I did now, to plunge a knife into her throat and sever her pale head from her body.”
  • Later, Reid also kills his foster father. “A small, pleading noise escaped him, but he could do little else before I fell upon him. Before I drove my knife home in his heart.”
  • The Chasseurs will kill any witch, even children and babies. “They showed no mercy, cutting through woman and child alike without hesitation.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Aristocrats in Cessarine drink alcohol at social parties. Louise notes, “Judging from the loud, slurred voices of the aristocrats nearest me, they’d been hitting the bubbly for hours.” While at the King’s social party celebrating Reid’s heroics, Louise “grabbed a flute of champagne from a passing servant and down[ed] it in one swallow.” Louise thinks, “After a few moments, delicious warmth spread through my body.”
  • When Morgane, Louise’s mother, sends witches after Louise, the witches inject her with drugs in order to capture her. When a needle is stabbed into Louise’s neck, she“had no physical strength left to give, and my mind was too drug-saturated to distinguish patterns.”
  • After Louise runs from Reid, Louise’s friend defends her, “She was drugged and obviously injured.”
  • When Morgane has finally captured Louise, Morgane says, “Extraordinary, those little injections. When Monsieur Bernard brought one to me, I perfected the medicine.” Morgane’s injections mess with Louise’s ability to use her magic, “Panicked, I focused on bringing a pattern forth—any pattern—but the gold winked in and out of focus, blurred and disjointed from the drug.”
  • After days of being injected with her mother’s drug, Louise thinks, “Though the drug paralyzed my body, it did nothing to dull the ache in my bones.” Later on, Louise “scowled and focused on the burning sensation in [her] hands and feet—the first indicator of the drug waning.”
  • When speaking with one of her fellow witches, Louise tells the witch about how she feels being under the drug. “If I could move, I’d puke all over your lap.” The witch calls the drug a medicine, and Louise responds, “Is that what you call it? Medicine? That’s an interesting word for poison.”
  • At the end of the novel, Louise discovers that she shares a connection with Prince Beau of Cessarine. Louise comments, “It would seem we frequent the same pubs.”

Language

  • Ass and shit are used frequently. For example, aristocrats and other haughty characters are often referred to as “pompous ass.”
  • Fucking appears a few times in the novel. A thug, Andre, verbally abuses Louise, saying “I’m going to cut you into fucking pieces.”
  • Damn, hell, and whore are each used a few times. For example, Louise tells Babette, “You are a goddamned hound.”
  • A noble insults a courtesan. The noble says, “it’s locked away in my townhouse, you salope ignorante—”
  • Louise calls someone a “twit.”
  • A pastry chef is called a “halfwit.”
  • When talking about someone possibly betraying Louise and Coco, Coco says, “That bastard will renege as soon as he’s out of sight.” Bastard is used frequently.
  • Similarly, Louise calls someone a “worthless coward.”
  • Louise says, “Nature could piss off.”

Supernatural

  • Magic is a common theme and backdrop for this novel. The main conflict stems from a fanatical group of witches, the Dame Blanches, attempting to overthrow the royal family of Cessarine to win back their land and free themselves from persecution. Witches within Cessarine hide in plain sight, “Any one of us could be a witch.” Many believe, “The witches are vicious.”
  • When Louise witnesses the parade of the Royal family, she feels magic in the air. Louise “recognized the faint brush of energy against my skin, the familiar thrumming in my ears. Magic.”
  • Magic typically has a smell that “always followed the witches. Sweet and herbal, yet sharp—too sharp. Like the incense the Archbishop burned during Mass, but more acrid.”
  • There are magical objects as well. Some are even trafficked in the black market, “But while Filippa might’ve had no enemies, her pompous ass of a father had accumulated plenty while trafficking magical objects.”
  • Angelica’s Ring, a magical object, is sought after by Louise because “it renders the user immune to enchantment. Sort of like the Chasseur’s Balisardas.”
  • Louise is a witch herself, the daughter of Morgane, the leader of the Dames Blanche witches. When Louise has a conversation with a thief, she thinks, “The ancient feud between the Church and witches didn’t affect me anymore—not since I’d left the world of witchcraft behind.”
  • Dame Blanches use magic by seeing golden patterns in the air.
  • Dame Rouges, another coven of witches, use blood magic instead of seeing golden patterns in the air.
  • Some believe that basic remedies will keep witches away. “Please, monsieur, return home. Salt your doors and windows.”
  • Witches can use their magic to control others, even controlling corpses. When attacking the royal family during a parade, “The witches cackled and continued contorting their fingers in unnatural ways. With each twitch, a helpless body rose. Puppeteers.”
  • Most witches are viewed as demons, as Reid says, “But witches weren’t human. They were vipers. Demons incarnate.” Witches are also commonly referred to as “it.”

Spiritual Content

  • The Christian Church and its teachings are a main backdrop of this novel. Mass is mentioned, but never directly put in any scene.
  • The Archbishop makes several appearances.
  • The Chasseurs are the holy warriors of the church. Only men can be Chasseurs. “Sworn to the Church as huntsmen, Chasseurs protected the kingdom of Belterra from the occult—namely, the Dames Blanches, or the deadly witches who haunted Belterra’s small-minded prejudices.”
  • Chasseurs wield Balisardas, weapons that negate magic. For Balisardas, “Each had been forged with a molten drop of Saint Constantin’s original holy relic, rendering us immune to the witches’ magic.”
  • Biblical references are common. When Reid watches his best friend and fellow Chasseur, Reid notices, “Though he also wore no uniform, the crowd still parted for him like the Red Seas for Moses.”
  • God is mentioned frequently throughout the story. For example, the Archbishop said, “May God have mercy on your soul.” The Archbishop says, when talking about the Triple Goddess, “As if God could be a woman.”
  • Hell is mentioned several times. Just before a witch escapes from Reid’s grasp, he laments, “before I could unsheathe my blade and send her back to Hell where she belonged.”
  • The Bible, scripture, and other religious sayings are quoted frequently throughout the book. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Another is, “Witches do not worship our Lord and Savior, nor do they acknowledge the holy trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They glorify another trinity—an idolatrous trinity. The Triple Goddess.”
  • The Triple Goddess is also mentioned several times, either in the form of the Maiden, the Mother, or the Crone. The Triple Goddess is worshipped by the witches; it’s considered “Triple” because the witches use it to mock the Trinity.
  • The Garden of Eden is mentioned.
  • Many of the characters, especially the Chasseurs, often pray. Others, like Louise or witches, use prayers to mock holy men and women. Witches generally mock every part of Christianity.

by Jonathan Planman

 

With the Fire on High

Emoni, a Philadelphia teenager, has aspirations of being a chef. Through her cooking, she is able to explore her identity as an African-American, as well as her Puerto Rican ancestry. Emoni’s family also forms a central role in her life. Her dad is a Puerto Rican activist and community organizer, but he is often absent. Emoni lives with her Puerto Rican abuela and her two-year-old daughter, who she conceived during her first year of high school. Now a senior, Emoni is learning to juggle her family, her academics, her personal life, her job, and her love of cooking.

At the beginning of the school year, Emoni learns that her school is introducing a culinary arts class. She is unsure if she will be able to balance it with her other commitments, and has a hard time warming up to the chef who teaches the class. Though they get off to a rough start, the chef soon becomes an important mentor for Emoni. She learns the importance of following directions in the kitchen, which is a place where she is used to doing whatever she wants.

Meanwhile, Emoni meets Malachi, a new student. She is hesitant to become friends, but they soon become close. Malachi becomes Emoni’s romantic interest. He is a sensitive boy who respects and cares for Emoni. Their relationship develops slowly through the course of the book. Malachi courts Emoni by showing that he is willing to accommodate her family situation: he is respectful towards her abuela and daughter.

With the Fire on High is heartfelt and expertly written. Readers will relate to Emoni’s struggle to decide whether she will go to college, and what shape her future will take. Readers will quickly find themselves rooting for Emoni and her family. They will cheer at her victories and feel distressed at her losses. The first-person narration paints a vivid picture of Emoni’s culture, her family, her personality, and how food plays an emotional role in her life.

With the Fire on High has mature themes and sexual content, but it is handled maturely. Sex is not glorified or demonized. When Emoni and Malachi become intimate, they do so because both of them feel emotionally ready. Emoni also struggles with the decision to date because of her many responsibilities. Emoni only brings Malachi around her child when she is certain that he’ll be a good influence.

With the Fire on High uses a unique character voice and vivid descriptions of food to draw the readers into the setting. The description of every character is strong, but especially Emoni’s. Her stubborn personality, her love for her daughter, and her unique narration all help her to come alive on the page. Readers will be able to relate to some piece of Emoni, but she is, by and large, her own distinct personality. The lessons she learns throughout the story will resonate with any reader. This is a coming-of-age story, and Emoni’s maturity is marked by her ability to make choices that will let her support her family while still caring for herself.

Sexual Content

  • The main character, Emoni, is a teen mother. She describes her first sexual experience—with her child’s father—as something “a lot more technical” than she expected and indicates that the experience was disappointing and confusing because she wasn’t ready. “When he finally shoved into me, it stung. For a second, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to push him away or pull him closer, and then he was panting and sweating on my chest and apologizing. . . I cleaned my own self up, put on my pants, and left. He didn’t even say goodbye.”
  • The chef encourages the cooking class to “come eat Emoni’s chocolate pudding.” Many of the boys take this as an innuendo and tease Emoni about it, but the double entendre is never explained.
  • When Emoni and Malachi kiss for the first time, “His hand moves down to my butt and curves around it.”
  • Emoni and Malachi make out on a couch and make the decision to be intimate. Emoni’s “legs straddling his lap, arms wound around his back. Kissing him back. . . I never saw what the big deal was about it, outside of how nice it was to be touched. But this is different. . . He keeps kissing my neck. And then my hands are everywhere. I need to touch his skin, his shoulders, his back. I kiss his ear and he moans into my neck. ‘This feels too good.’ And this was new, too. This power of making a boy jump or moan.” The scene continues for about three pages, and while it’s implied that they become sexually intimate, the narration does not describe the rest of their encounter.
  • Emoni’s best friend Angelica, a lesbian, has an anniversary dinner with her girlfriend and is nervous about having sex for the first time. She has had sex with guys before, but “this is less about exploring, and more about expressing.” Emoni tells her, “You don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable doing.”

Violence

  • Malachi tells Emoni that his brother “was killed last February. Some beef in the neighborhood back home and he was shot. It’s unclear if it was a stray bullet or meant for him.”
  • In Spain, when a child steals Emoni’s purse, Malachi runs after the child and grabs him “by the back of his coat.” Emoni is concerned that Malachi will hurt the child, but he lets him go.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • During their trip to Spain, Emoni chooses to abstain, but some of her classmates get drunk. This ends in her classmate getting so drunk that she throws up. The next day, the student can’t remember what happened.
  • Emoni makes herself a meal and pours herself a glass of wine. She thinks, “I know [my grandmother will] raise an eyebrow when she sees I had some, but she won’t reprimand me; growing up, she was allowed to drink from the time she was fourteen and she finds the alcohol rules on the mainland excessive.”
  • Malachi jokingly asks a flight attendant for a glass of wine.
  • Emoni cooks with beer; the book includes a recipe for beer bread.

Language

  • Throughout the book, Emoni and her friend Angelica try to curb their language so they won’t be a bad influence on Emoni’s daughter. Slips like “shit—I mean, shoot” and “damn—I mean, darn” are frequent.
  • Emoni’s first-person narration has similar slips: “Tyrone is still being a dick—an ass—a prick. Who uses the word prick?” She later notes about him: “Damn, he smells good as fu—hell… heck.”
  • Damn, hell, and shit are used frequently.
  • Characters occasionally say “Jesus” and “oh my God.”
  • “Ass” is often used as a suffix in phrases such as “grown-ass woman” and “greasy-ass job.”
  • Angelica describes Malachi’s smile “as if you’re choosing to give a sunlit middle finger to this fucked-up world.”
  • Emoni’s classmate gets vulgar when she’s drunk and says “fuck” multiple times, including when she accuses Emoni of “fucking Malachi.”
  • Angelica says that she’s “nervous as fuck.”
  • Leslie’s classmate says the chef she’s working with “sounds like a crackhead.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Emoni’s grandmother is “a soft Catholic. She believes in the teachings of God, but she doesn’t push her religion on people. I went to church with her on Sundays, but she didn’t force me to do communion or confirmation. And she didn’t force me to keep the baby. She just held my hand and told me to think about what it would mean.”
  • Emoni’s grandmother goes to church several times in the book and has a circle of church friends.
  • While dealing with her dishonest boss, Emoni says, “You’re a nice man, Steve. . . I’m going to tell my grandmother to pray for you.” She then thinks, “I hope he can see in my face that I just sprinkled the juju of a spiteful Puerto Rican grandmother all over his life.”
  • Emoni jokingly describes water ice (a frozen treat) as “a direct gift from the gods.”
  • Emoni’s father says that Puerto Rico is “where I’ll die, whenever God decides that should be.”
  • Malachi jokes that “My cuts of jamón ibérico would make you believe in God.”

by Caroline Galdi

Don’t Date Rosa Santos

Everyone in Port Coral knows that the Santos family is cursed by the sea. After all, two generations of Santos women have loved men who were lost to the ocean. Which is why, even though she’s lived in a coastal Florida town for most of her life, eighteen-year-old Rosa Santos has never even stepped foot in the ocean.

Rosa has the next few years of her life all planned out. In a few months, she’ll be graduating from high school with both her diploma and a two-year degree from the local community college. Then it’s off to a four-year university where she’s been accepted in a study abroad program at the University of Havana. She’ll finally be fulfilling her lifelong dream of traveling to Cuba, the island of her ancestors. She just hasn’t quite figured out how to tell her Grandmother. It won’t be an easy feat. After all, Mimi Santos has always refused to talk about Cuba.

But when an offer to buy the Marina threatens to destroy Port Coral, Rosa must set her plan aside and help put together a fundraiser to save her beloved hometown. It might be more difficult than expected, considering she’ll be working side by side with the distressingly cute Alex Aquino. Her growing crush wouldn’t be that bad, except Alex happens to be the one thing that ought to be strictly off limits to a Santos girl like her: a boy with a boat.

Rosa struggles with some uniquely heavy issues like inherited grief and the immigrant experience of feeling like she doesn’t quite fit into her own culture. Although these issues might be difficult for some readers to fully comprehend, they are important, especially for Latinx teens looking to find themselves in a story. These tough themes are balanced out by the more “everyday” issues Rosa deals with, including the college application process and harboring a secret crush.

Although there are plenty of adorable and romantic moments, the story itself goes beyond the typical rom com. Moreno makes a beautiful exploration into the many ways that love can manifest itself; from the years of love and loss that bind the Santos women together, to the thrill of a relationship just beginning, to the overarching love that creates a community. The characters are all well developed and both Port Coral and Cuba come alive on the page.

Readers are sure to fall in love with the complex story of the Santos women, which is equal parts heart wrenching and hopeful. Don’t Date Rosa Santos is a wonderfully diverse story about family, identity, and finding your place in the world.

Sexual Content

  • Mimi tells Rosa that if she could go anywhere in the world, she would go to Hawaii because “I like The Rock. He is very handsome.”
  • Jonas kisses his fiancee hand.
  • When Rosa is being teased about boys, she thinks “There had been kisses at parties and group movie things, but nothing to write home about.”
  • Rosa’s mother says, “You haven’t had a crush in forever.” This prompts Rosa to reflect on her recent crushes: “An older guy in my calculus class at Port Coral Community who always held the door open for me, and a girl from the ice cream shop who never wore the same name tag and told me I smelled like strawberries.”
  • Rosa’s friend Mike teases her about “running away with an Argentinian sailor.”
  • Rosa asks Mike if he would date her. She says, “I was just curious if you’d ever think of me like that.”
  • Rosa describes Alex, the love interest, as “a very cute sailor tattooed with the sea.”
  • Rosa runs into Alex at the dock. He asks her to sit, and she decides to stay because “I needed a moment and this little seed of a crush really wanted me to sit with him.”
  • Alex runs a hand over his beard, and Rosa finds herself “wondering how it might feel to run my fingers across his beard and maybe press my face to his neck. I frowned, surprised at myself. Talking by moonlight softened a lot of edges.”
  • Rosa and her friend have a conversation about Alex in which her friend describes him as “super hot.”
  • While stuck on the side of the highway, Alex and Rosa kiss for the first time. “He smiled and ducked his head. He captured my lips in a kiss that already tasted bittersweet.” The kiss is described for about half a page.
  • Rosa’s friend tells the boys that they missed their chance with Rosa because she is “out here getting kissed by cute boys with man beards and baked goods.”
  • When Rosa is getting ready for her first date with Alex, she is advised to “Scoop him up and throw some sprinkles on that. Drizzle the caramel. You get me. Doodle his name in that little journal of yours. Doodle it hard.”
  • At the end of their date Alex tells Rosa, “I like you like you.” The two kiss briefly at the end of the scene.
  • When Rosa agrees to be Alex’s second for the regatta, he kisses her “quickly.”
  • When Alex and Rosa win the regatta, he “pulled me against him and dropped a hard, grateful kiss on my lips.”

Violence

  • During an argument, Rosa’s mother opens up about the death of Rosa’s father. “Tell [Rosa] that my love killed him. . . I loved him too much, so the sea took him. When this whole town cried for the lost boy at sea, you looked at your own daughter and her growing middle and said it was the cures. That it was me.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Rosa says that the vejitos, a group of old Cuban men living in Port Coral, act “like a person could live forever on coffee, rum, and cigars.” She later describes them as smelling like “sharp aftershave and cigars.”
  • Rosa says that Junior, one of the Peña Cousins, “used to sell weed, but now he was focused on getting his mixtape to go viral.”
  • Rosa’s mother returns home drunk after she “bought a bottle of wine and sat at the end of the dock where I drank the whole thing before slipping a note inside and chucking it into the water.”

Language

  • Oh my God, God, Dios mio, Por dios, and Jesus are all used frequently as exclamations. For example, when Mrs. Peña mentions jazz band, Ana replies “God, don’t say that so loud.”
  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: damn, hell, crap, and asshole.
  • Ana tells her brother that her drums “cost more than your shitty car.”
  • Ana tells Junior not to be “a dick.”
  • Mimi gets angry about the current state of Cuba and exclaims “Carajo qué mierda.”
  • Rosa’s mother says “Come mierda,” a phrase that literally translates to “shit eater” which Cubans often use to mean “dumbass.”

Supernatural

  • The Santos Women believe that they are cursed. The men they love are destined to die at sea. Rosa explains, “The lullaby of my life is that to know the sea is to know love, but to love us is to lose everything. We’re cursed, they still whisper, but whether it’s by an island, the sea, or our own stubborn hearts, I don’t know.”
  • Rosa’s grandmother acts as the neighborhood curandera. According to Rosa “The neighborhood curandera oversaw concerns about struggling gardens, bad dreams, career changes, and terrible luck, and she brewed hope frothier window that smelled like herbs and dryer sheets.”
  • Mimi owns a magical wind chime. “There was a wood and steel wind chime that was steady when the day was nice, a little wilder with the rain, and as agitated as a scared kid when bad luck was coming.”
  • Rosa owns a magical backpack. “Mimi had sewn it before I started high school, enchanting it with powerful words so it would always carry whatever I needed and never get lost.”
  • Rosa’s mother coming home has interesting consequences. “She and the house were like warring siblings, and it always knew when she returned, because it stopped working. Food burned, candles wouldn’t stay lit, and worst of all, my laptop always struggled to find the Wi-Fi signal.”
  • Rosa’s mother practices tarot. “Sometimes there was a knock at the door, late at night when she was home, and a sad eyed soul waiting on the other side. Mom would sit with them, cards spread across the old wood table. My mother was a storyteller fluent in spells and heartache.”
  • Mimi keeps a notebook that has “ingredients listed for different oils and potions,” as well as accounts of miracle helpings back in Cuba.
  • Rosa says that she puts acorns on windowsills “so lighting won’t strike my house.”
  • When Ana loses her drum sticks, she asks Rosa to “Give me some brujeria, Rosa. Throw down some shells, fire up some smoke! I need that tracking-lost-things spell!”
  • Mimi uses magic to create a replica of Havana in the middle of Port Coral.
  • When Mimi is describing Cuba, she says that Tia Nela warned her not to leave. “She warned me our land was bleeding and the sea would demand a sacrifice.”
  • Rosa knows something is wrong because the wind chime “was wild with panic.”
  • Rosa and her mother participate in a ritual where they see and hear Mimi and Alvaro’s spirits. The description lasts for about three pages.

Spiritual Content

  • When Rosa asks if Mimi would ever return Cuba Mimi responds, “My spirit will, mi amor.”
  • Rosa has an altar set up in her room, which includes, “a couple of pastel candles and fresh flowers sat beside a faded sepia picture of my grandfather and the single Polaroid I had of my father.”
  • When he sees Rosa, a sailor makes an old warding sign, “To keep evil away.”
  • After Rosa’s mother returns home, Mimi cleanses the house. Rosa’s mother claims it’s because of her “bad juju.”
  • Mimi and Rosa both pray to saints and ancestors throughout the story. For example, when Rosa’s mother comes home drunk, “Mimi reached for the saint medallion on her nightstand and muttered a prayer.”
  • Rosa and Ana perform a cleansing spell. “[Rosa] exhaled a shaky breath before asking for protection and guidance. Anna dimmed the lights, watching me. With the swipe of a match, I lit the wick and held the egg over the flickering candle light for a few seconds before closing my eyes and mindfully holding it to the top of my head.” The description of the full ritual is spread out over about six pages.
  • Rosa cleans off her altar and asks her deceased father and grandfather for advice. She says, “I could really use some help with college. Can you see the future? Yeah, it probably doesn’t work like that. But maybe you can get together with my other ancestors and let me know what you think? Some clarity on this would really help.”
  • Rosa listens to one of Mimi’s patients talking about a healing miracle. The patient says that it was “like listening to someone describe a version of la Virgen.”
  • When Mimi is describing Cuba, she says “If her cities fall, if we’re all gone, may God watch after her.”
  • While at the hospital, Ana and her mother pray silently.
  • When Alex offers to spend the night, Rosa says that she needs to lose herself in “inherited rituals.”

by Evalyn Harper

Spin the Dawn

Maia loves to sew. She dreams not only of becoming a master tailor but becoming the imperial tailor. However, it’s a far-fetched dream as only boys are allowed to become tailors in A’landi. As her father’s only daughter and youngest child, Maia is expected to be quiet, obedient, and eventually raise a family. After her older brothers die in war and her father becomes too sick to sew, the burden of caring for her family becomes even greater, and her dream of becoming a tailor fades.

Maia cannot think of anything more abhorrent than abandoning her sewing, but she sees no alternative until her father is called upon by the emperor. The emperor is getting married and needs a new imperial tailor to create his betrothed’s wedding gowns. There is to be a competition of the best tailors in the land, and her father is invited to join. Maia’s father is too sick to travel to the capital, so Maia disguises herself as her father’s son and goes in her father’s place. Soon she finds herself competing with tailors who are decades more experienced than herself, who are willing to cheat, and who would possibly even be willing to commit murder in order to become the next imperial tailor.

Spin the Dawn has a lovable, interesting cast of characters that will hook readers. The land of A’landi is foreign, beautiful, and magical. The rich characters, court intrigues, and mysterious Lord Enchanter keep the tailoring competition from becoming cliché. Readers will be delighted when magic becomes a part of Maia’s life and will understand her moral struggle in deciding whether or not to use it.

While Part I of Spin the Dawn is a delightful read focused on the tailoring competition, Part II takes an entirely different track with Maia going on a journey to create three magical dresses for the emperor’s betrothed. The lore behind the dresses is fascinating, but the journey feels rushed and some conflicts are resolved too easily to be believable. Still, the Lord Enchanter accompanies Maia on her quest and their relationship is enchanting to watch. While Part II is weaker than Part I, the delicious dynamic between Maia and the Lord Enchanter will be enough to keep readers reading until the end.

Sexual Content

  • When speaking of the emperor, Maia’s brother says, “So you’ve heard how handsome he is from the village girls? Every one of them aspires to become one of the emperor’s concubines.” Maia says, “I have no interest in becoming a concubine.”
  • A village boy wants to marry Maia. “I thought with dread of Calu touching me, of bearing his children, of my embroidery frames collecting dust . . . I stifled a shudder.”
  • There are rumors that the emperor’s betrothed has a “lover. But it’s all court gossip. No one knows for certain.”
  • While pretending to be a boy, Maia had “been wearing at least three layers to help obscure my chest.”
  • When Norbu finds out that Maia is a girl disguised as a boy, he “touched my cheek and pressed his thigh against my leg. ‘I always thought you were a pretty boy. Perhaps a little kiss?’ “
  • Maia and the Lord Enchanter almost kiss. “He pressed a gentle kiss on the side of my lips, just missing my mouth. His lips were soft, despite the desert’s unrelenting dryness. A shiver flew up and down my spine, even though his breath was warm, and his arm around me even warmer.”
  • Maia and the Lord Enchanter kiss several times. “His lips pressed against mine. Gently at first, then with increasing urgency as I started to respond with my own need. His hand was tight on my waist, holding my wobbly knees steady.” Another time, “he tilted my chin and kissed me. Heat flooded me from my lips to my toes, and my heart hammered, its beat rushing and skipping to my head.”
  • Maia and the Lord Enchanter sleep together. “He kissed me, exploring my mouth with his tongue, then tantalizing my ears and my neck until I was dizzy and feverish. Finally, when my knees weakened and I couldn’t bear to stand any longer, Edan eased me onto his cloak against the soft, damp earth. Our legs entwined; then we became flesh upon flesh. All of me burned, my blood singing wildly in my ears.”
  • When Maia is captured by bandits, one of them says, “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve felt a woman?” Maia is then rescued.
  • Maia and the Lord Enchanter kiss goodbye. “I crushed my mouth against his, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips. His kisses moved to my cheeks, my neck, my breasts, back to my lips. Passionate, then tender. Then passionate again, as if we couldn’t make up our minds.”

Violence

  • A man breaks Maia’s hand. “Norbu stepped on my wrist, pinning my hand to the ground . . . He was carrying one of the heavy metal pans we used for smoothing our fabrics. I tried to yank my wrist away, but he was too strong. Too quick. He raised the pan high, then brought it crashing down onto my hand. Pain shot up from the tips of my fingers and flooded my brain. I screamed.”
  • When it’s discovered that Maia is a girl, she is thrown into a dungeon. The guards “struck me in the ribs and kicked me to my knees so that I landed in a rotten pile of hay, coughing and whimpering.”
  • Maia is whipped for lying to the emperor. “The guards tore my tunic and ripped off my chest strips—so fast I’d barely crossed my arms to cover myself when the whip burned into my skin, a stinging line of fire. Blood splattered onto the cold stone floor. . . Each lash bit into me, gashing my back, and I chewed on my lip so hard my mouth grew hot with blood.”
  • Maia is chased by wolves, which then turn on each other. “Soon I was forgotten as the wolves fought one another. The sight was gruesome, blood on fur on sand. I buried my face in my hands until the snarls became whimpers, then nothing.”
  • Maia stumbles upon an old battlefield. “Broken drums, slashed war banners, mounds of bones—human bones. And bodies . . . Some of the men had frozen to death. I could tell from their ashen faces, tightly drawn blue lips, and curved-in shoulders.”
  • Maia and the Lord Enchanters are attacked several times by bandits. Once, the Lord Enchanter “fired three arrows in quick succession. Vachir eluded each shot, but the men behind him weren’t as lucky. Two fell.”
  • Maia fights a demon. “I lunged forward and slammed my dagger into his shoulder. He cried out, an anguished scream that made my blood curdle.”
  • Maia is attacked by bandits. “I slashed at the one who’d spoken, but I missed his throat and scored his cheek instead. I made a long, jagged gash.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • A fellow tailor “reached into his robes for a flask. He offered it to me, and after I declined, he took a long drink.”
  • Maia turns in early one night. In the morning, she discovered “It was a good thing I’d refused to go out with Norbu and the others. After their bath, they’d gone to the local drinking house, where Master Taraha and Master Garad drank themselves into a stupor. Now they were spending the day retching. Even from my table, I could smell it.”
  • While traveling, Maia and the Lord Enchanter stay the night with a group of travelers. The travelers pass around a wine gourd after dinner, and Maia accidentally gets drunk. “I was so mortified I simply took another drink. And another. The more I drank, the less it burned my throat . . . Normally I wouldn’t have stared at him so obviously, but the wine had washed away my caution.”

Language

  • Variations of the phrase “demon’s breath” are used a few times as profane exclamations.
  • A man says a country’s wine “tastes like horse piss.”
  • Damn is used a few times. The Lord Enchanter says, “I want to get out of this damned place.”

Supernatural

  • Maia “repaired amulets for travelers who asked it of me, though I didn’t believe in magic. Not then.”
  • A man says to Maia, “The A’landans are superstitious people. Constantly praying to their dead ancestors. If you believe in spirits and ghosts, I don’t see why you wouldn’t believe in magic.”
  • Maia meets the emperor’s Lord Enchanter. Maia “knew little of enchanters, lord or not, other than that they were rare and drifted from land to land.” Longhai tells Maia, “The Lord Enchanter advises Emperor Khanujin on many matters. He served the emperor’s father for years, yet he hasn’t aged a day!” Maia later finds out that the Lord Enchanter can transform into a hawk, which is his spirit form. “Feathers sprouted over his skin and spine. A pair of wings erupted from his shoulders and fanned down across his arms.”
  • Maia discovers that the scissors passed down from her grandmother are magical. “The scissors glided over the shawl, possessed in a way that my hands could only follow. Invisible threads repaired the cloth’s damage, giving it life anew, and colors from my paint pots soaked into the silk . . . Impossible as it appeared, the scissors not only cut but embroidered . . . My hand wouldn’t let go of the scissors, no matter how much I tried to pry them away, no matter how much I wanted to put them down. I was under a spell, drunk with their power.”
  • In Part II of Spin the Dawn, Maia is forced to go on a journey with the Lord Enchanter. On this journey, magic becomes a part of daily life. From enchanted carpets that fly, using magic to heal, and a magical tablecloth that creates an entire meal from nothing, Maia’s journey is filled with magic.
  • Maia is given an impossible task by the emperor’s betrothed. She is told to make a dress out of the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of the stars. These three dresses are called Amana’s dresses, and it is said that whoever possesses them will receive a wish from the goddess Amana herself.
  • Maia goes to an island filled with ghosts. While there she meets a demon—a creature who used to be a sorcerer but was cursed when he killed his master. The demon steals a piece of Maia’s soul, which means he can follow her anywhere.
  • When Maia finishes the dresses, the goddess Amana speaks to her. Amana’s statue in the temple glows and a “low and powerful, yet kind” voice says, “Ask me your heart’s greatest desire, Maia. And I shall grant it.”

Spiritual Content

  • It is mentioned in passing that “Toward the end of every month, [Maia] helped the women who were preparing their gifts for the dead—usually paper clothing, which was tricky to sew—to burn before the prayer shrines in honor of their ancestors.”
  • Maia lives in a land with many gods. The gods are often mentioned in passing. A tailor says, “The gods are listening to us, masters. Do you want to invoke their wrath?” The emperor’s betrothed says, “The imperial tailor is a master chosen by the gods. I expect him to be able to work with any material, whether it be glass or silk.” Another time, a man says, “The gods watch over me, I am very grateful.”
  • Two gods are more developed and become part of the plot. The first is the goddess Amana, whose magical dresses Maia is tasked with sewing. People often say, “Amana be with you.” The other is the sun god, who Maia indirectly encounters during her search for the laughter of the sun. While in the desert, the Lord Enchanter says, “The sun is worshipped in many lands. He’s a brilliant, brutal deity. And now we are in the heart of his kingdom.”
  • The Lord Enchanter says, “Pigs are smarter than people give them credit for! Where I grew up, we almost worshipped them.” Maia “couldn’t tell if he was joking.”
  • Maia confesses that she doesn’t “even trust the gods. Not to listen, anyway. My father prays to Amana every morning, every night. . . But Finlei and Sendo died.”
  • The Lord Enchanter grew up in a monastery. “The monks I grew up with were different from the ones here. Not generous and kind. And the gods we worshiped were harsh and unforgiving.”
  • Maia asks a monk, “What if there are no gods? What if there is only magic, only enchanters and demons and ghosts?” The monk replies, “You must keep your faith . . . The gods watch over us, but unlike the spirits of this realm, they do not interfere in our lives. Not unless we anger them greatly, or impress them.”

by Morgan Lynn

 

Anger is a Gift

Moss Jeffries is anything but an average teenager. Ever since his father was shot by the Oakland police outside their home, Moss has dealt with intense anger issues and constant panic attacks. In addition, Moss has a difficult time going outside because of the kinks of the homosexual community, his popularity amongst protesting groups, and his constant fear of the local police. After meeting Javier on a metro train and falling in love, it seems everything is finally coming together for Moss. He is happy; his friend Esperanza is going to a great school; his mother just received a promotion–life is good.

However, when school starts things begin to change. Due to a lack of school funds and the influence of the local police, Moss and his friends encounter more troubles as they are harassed and berated by the school’s administration. However, after a school cop brutalizes one of Moss’s friends, police-patrolled metal detectors cripple another, and his organized school-wide walkout turns chaotic and deadly, Moss personally takes the fight to the police, gathering a city-wide protest that will change the city, and leave readers with a new sense of community and self-determination.

With its diverse characters, Mark Oshiro paints a brutal yet beautiful picture of problems today’s teens face. The well-developed characters each have their own individual type of problems. Esperanza is adopted and struggles to keep in tune with her own culture. Reg was crippled by a car accident when he was younger. Moss struggles with his anxiety. But Oshiro makes them appear to be real people with their own type of language, jokes, and emotions. Readers will fall in love with these realistic characters and root for them.

Moss has a huge group of friends, and the large cast of supporting characters may confuse some readers. The diverse group of characters gives a wide range of people a voice—the story focuses on minorities and also includes the following: gay characters, non-binary characters, bisexual characters, asexual characters, Muslim characters, undocumented characters, and disabled characters. The one thing that brings these groups together is the social injustice they face.

Anger is a Gift has a rapid and suspenseful plot with a perfect mix of teen society and real-world problems. However, Oshiro pushes the extremes of some of the moral problems today’s young adults face. Told from Moss’s point of view, it allows the reader to get a glimpse of what a person feels when they are faced with PTSD and panic attacks. Moss’s descriptions of his grief and anger, in addition to the brutal descriptions of the senseless acts of violence, can, at times, be hard to read.

Besides detailing the oppression minorities face, Anger is a Gift has a hint of romance. Issues of sexuality, race, ethnicity and class affect each of the characters, while senseless anger and violence threaten them all, killing some and injuring others. This book is not for the faint of heart and is intended for older readers. Nonetheless, Anger is a Gift is a book for those wishing for a new perspective on how police brutality, oppression, and racism affects poor people of color from the author’s perspective. The character development mixed with the book’s brutal, bloody action scenes will leave readers with a different perspective of racism in America.

Sexual Content

  • Ever since they started to date, Javier and Moss make a game out of kissing each other when they see each other. When they see each other, they will peck each other on the cheek. For instance, “Moss kissed him back for just a little bit longer, pushing back against the awkwardness that tried to conquer him. He had never kissed anyone in front of his friends, but he focused on how it made him feel. Warm. Secure. Admired.”
  • Before Moss’s first date with Javier, his mom asks, “You have any condoms?”
  • On their first date at Javier’s apartment, Moss and Javier get intimate. “But Javier pulled Moss to him again, only this time they faced each other, and Javier brought them back down on the couch. He wrapped his leg around Moss’s and squeezed his hand. Moss felt moisture and thought his palms had started sweating again, but it was Javier’s sweat this time. Moss went still, and he could feel Javier’s heart beating against his chest. It was racing even faster than Moss’s was. The two enjoyed the warmth of each other’s bodies. . .” They do not have intercourse.
  • On a brunch date, Moss asks Javier, “Maybe you just wanted me for sex. We’re gay men. That’s not exactly an unbelievable suggestion.”
  • While escaping the chaos after the school walkout, Moss suggests that they escape out the back of the school through the hallway down by the science labs “where the football players always take their girlfriends to make out.”
  • After Javier’s death, Moss remembers him, thinking about how much he loved Javier, “The way you kissed my jaw. The way sweat ran down your chest. The feel of the muscles in your arm, the scent of your breath, the blackness of your hair, the curled smile.”

Violence

  • Wanda tells Moss that she stopped protesting after she saw a cop that had previously threatened her “standing over your father’s body.”
  • After finding drugs in Shawna’s locker, “Hull’s arm shot out, hard, and his forearm hit the spot just below Shawna’s throat, and the man pinned Shawna against a locker, her back hitting the metal so hard that it buckled. Moss dropped his lock on the ground, heard it clatter against the tile, and Shawna tried to yelp.” Shawna is epileptic and falls to the ground, shaking, as students gather around them. This scene takes place over four pages.
  • After the metal detectors are installed in the school, Reg refuses to go through due to the six metallic pins in his knee. One of the officers shoves him through, and “Reg didn’t make it through. His right knee jerked to the side and the metal detector seemed to respond to Reg. Thrum! His body hit the frame hard, hard enough that it made a hollow ringing like a steel drum, and Moss saw that Reg’s breath had been knocked out of him. As his hands went to his chest, Njemile and Kaisha shouted, scrambling to reach their friend as he doubled over, his arms shooting out to the ground to catch himself.” Reg goes to the hospital and has to go through surgery and physical therapy. This scene takes place over eight pages.
  • After their school-wide student walk-out turns chaotic, Moss and his friends seek shelter in a nearby room to plan their escape. A cop finds them and uses the infamous Mosquito weapon – a weaponized sonic sound used to disperse crowds of teenagers. After being blasted by the sound, “Chandra threw up. It was violent, loud, and her wrenching caused Sam to do the same, and it was in their hair, all over the floor.” Moss and some of his friends remain uninjured while Chandra and Sam go unconscious. This scene lasts over two pages.
  • During the same walkout, Javier is shot by Officer James Daley. “The beet-faced cop had a gun trained on Javier. And then he fired. it wasn’t the first time Moss had heard the pop of a gunshot. Nor was it the first time he’d heard the sickening sound of the air leaving someone’s body. The sound that meant the worst. Javier curled into himself; his brown hands jerked up to his chest, and blood squirted out between his fingers. Moss screamed, again and again, and pitched himself forward as Javier crumpled to the ground, the life too quickly draining out of him.” Javier dies, Mr. Jacobs and Moss are beaten, and many of the students are sent to the hospital. This scene takes place over three pages.
  • Moss’s city-wide protest turns chaotic after the militarized Oakland PD uses a Silent Guardian, an infamous heat ray, against the protestors. The narrator describes the Silent Guardian in action saying, “The antenna on the top of the box would move sluggishly, and as soon as it seemed to be pointing at someone, that person would drop to the ground. Hands scraped at skin. People clawed at their faces, into the side of a car, trying to escape the sensation that Martin had described to him, and she lay still on the ground.” Many protestors are sent to the hospital, Haley dies, and Moss’s mother almost dies. Moss and his friends’ wounds are described later. “He watched Kaisha and Reg sit as still as they could, saw the sweat on Reg’s bloody face, felt his own pulse pounding in his head.” This scene takes place over fourteen pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • During Shawna’s locker check, Officer Hull finds drugs in her locker. Moss describes the encounter saying, “Hull held a Ziplock bag up in the air, and Moss’s heart dropped. White pills. Lots of them.” They are Shawna’s epilepsy medication.

Language

  • Typically, characters use profanity in the heat of the moment. Profanity is used infrequently but includes phrases like “dickwad,” “piss,” “jerk,” “ass,” every variation of “shit,” derogatory terms, and “assholes.”
  • When Reg is trying to go through the metal detectors for the first time, someone shouts “Hurry up, dickwad!”
  • Before shooting Javier, James Daley snarls, “You little shits never learn.”
  • After Javier’s death, Moss gets angry and yells at Esperanza, “I hate your mother, and if her nosy, white savior ass hadn’t called Mr. Elliot, Javier might be alive today.”
  • During the Oakland Police Department’s press conference at the end, somewhere near the back of the crowd, someone yells out “Bullshit!”
  • Afnan describes Mr. Jacobs when he says, “That man was a smug asshole…I bet no one has ever told him otherwise”.
  • During Moss’s protest, Martin hands him an empty bottle and says, “You’re gonna have to take a mean piss eventually.”
  • After slipping on a canister, James Daley falls and Reg shouts out, “Did you see that jerk hit the ground?”
  • During the discussion amongst friends after Javier’s death, Kaisha suggests, “Do you think the cops aren’t capable of just making shit up?”
  • Moss reflects on his father’s death when he says, “Months of those Piedmont assholes teasing me at school, telling me he deserved it because he was a thug and the streets were cleaner without him.”
  • Racist terms are used throughout the book, and the characters’ skin colors come up a lot. One time during a discussion about what to do about the metal detectors, a man in the audience steps up and says, “You call a spade a spade.” Another time, when thinking about Javier, Moss thought to himself, “Oh god, he thought, that makes me sound so white.”
  • “Oh my god” and “Oh god” are used as exclamations.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Matthew Perkey

The Brooklyn Nine

Baseball is in the Schneider family’s blood. Each member of this family, from family founder Felix Schneider in the 1800s to Snider Flint in the present day, has a strong tie to the game and to Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Nine begins in Manhattan, 1845, with Felix Schneider, a boy who has recently moved to America from Germany and ends up meeting the Knickerbockers. Several years later, Felix’s son Louis plays baseball during the civil war. He serves for the Union but befriends a Confederate soldier and they bond over the game. Louis’s son, Arnold Schneider, also has a love for baseball. He meets the famous King Kelly who has fallen on hard times and gone to drinking and fails to live up to the young boy’s expectations. Arnold’s son Walter tries to get Cyclone Joe Williams onto a team by pretending the man is Native American. Frankie Snider, Walter’s daughter, runs a numbers game for a mob and meets the famous reporter John Kieran, who helps her rig it.

Kat Flint, the first character unrelated to the Schneiders, joins the Grand Rapids Chicks in the first All-American Girls Baseball League. Her son Jimmy is more into baseball cards than actual baseball, but faces the threat of Sputnik and the fear of atomic annihilation during the 1950s. His son, Michael Flint, pitches a perfect game. His son, Snider Flint, helps run a pawnshop with lots of baseball memorabilia.

Each of these experiences, from Felix in 1845 to Snider in 2002, are connected by baseball. Gratz creates characters that are vivid and distinct, each with their own unique traits and personalities. The historical information and timeline of characters allow the reader to glimpse baseball and life during each character’s time period. The conflicts that characters face are realistic, and the ways they overcome them show the advantages of hard work instead of magical solutions.

Gratz also includes a large amount of accurate historical information about baseball in the stories. His main characters are fictional, but they interact with are real, historical people. For example, King Kelly was an actual baseball player who spent his fortune on alcohol, and Cyclone Joe Williams was a real African American who played as one of the world’s greatest pitchers, even though he could never play in the major leagues.

The story is broken up into nine innings, and each inning focuses on one generation. Each inning has an entirely new cast of characters and ends in a cliffhanger. Even though the cliffhanger’s questions are eventually answered, the abrupt endings of each chapter may cause some frustration for readers.

The Brooklyn Nine weaves authentic details about baseball into each fictional character’s life story. Gratz clearly illustrates the idea that baseball is more than just a game or a pastime, and the nine stories he tells are an innovative way to get that idea across. The book is relatively easy to read; none of the words or sentences should be too difficult for the author’s recommended audience of 8+. There is a small amount of violence, but nothing is extremely detailed. More than anything, the author includes powerful themes centered around the importance of perseverance and the powerful impacts that different generations can have on each other.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Kids fight each other in the novel. “Walter got in one good blow before the kid and his two friends ganged up on him and beat the stuffing out of him.”
  • During the civil war, the characters hear “the pop of a rifle” before “Stuart’s leg exploded.”
  • Felix remarks that “shootouts sometimes erupted in the streets” of New York.
  • Felix’s uncle “struck” and “cuffed” Felix when he came home after losing a package in the mud.
  • Walter “clawed and fought” when his hat was stolen, “getting himself bloodier in the process.”
  • Henry is punched, leaning to “blood spurt[ing] from the boy’s busted nose.”
  • Eric “punched [Jimmy] in the stomach.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • King Kelly walks onto stage, “with a glass of beer” in his hand, and proceeds to take “a long draw” off of his drink.
  • King Kelly says he spent his money on strawberries and ice cream, and a heckler yells that “the bartenders got the rest.”
  • King Kelly gets drunk.
  • King Kelly says his “act goes better when [he’s] had a little something to drink.”
  • Blind pigs and speakeasies, illegal bars during the prohibition era, are the setting for Frankie’s chapter.
  • Kat sees girls sitting on gravestones “sipping beer and smoking cigarettes.”
  • Babe Herman “spit a huge glop of tobacco juice.”

Language

  • Rawney Dutchman, bloody devil, plonker, boat-lickers, dork, are all used by characters to insult each other.
  • Hell, damn, and darn are used as exclamations.
  • During a traffic buildup, men “yelled obscenities at each other.”
  • The “Red-Legged Devils” were said to have gotten their name when they fought with “hell’s fury” during Bull Run.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Felix compares his neighbor’s apartment to “preachers who stood on street corners throughout Kleindeutschland yelling warnings of damnation and hell.”
  • Temperance preachers throw whiskey into the sea, saying that “alcohol is an abomination, a plague on our cities and our communities and our families.”

by Dylan Chilcoat

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