Mental Health Awareness Month: A Review Roundup

Source: Mental Health America

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we've reviewed a number of titles over the years that we thought were exceptional portrayals of the experience of mental illness and related difficulties. As we all know, reading a good book can make us feel less alone--and, honestly, sometimes that's the one thing you need in order not to go over the edge. So here, in no particular order, is a by no means exhaustive list of recommended reads for Mental Health Month:

The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer R. Hubbard

100 Days of Cake by Shari Goldhagen

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

This is How I Find Her by Sara Polsky

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn

Define "Normal" by Julie Anne Peters

First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Nice Girls Endure by Chris Struyk-Bonn

These Gentle Wounds by Helene Dunbar

Turning Pages Reads: YOU GO FIRST, by ERIN ENTRADA KELLY

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

It's another E.E. Kelly book, which means there's going to be a lot of heart, and a lot of funny. Erin Entrada Kelly is a Filipino writer, so include this book in your list of titles for the Asian American Heritage Month celebration this May.

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Charlotte has something important to say, only, right now, it's sticking in her throat. Her best friend, Bridget, knows. Her mother knows. The teacher and the school counselor knows... but Charlotte, who is brilliant and articulate and knows the name of more rocks than you do; Charlotte can hardly say it out loud. Her father, who had a stent put into his heart, whose difficulties sent Charlotte down the rabbit hole of open-heart surgeries and knowing more about hearts than probably any other kid in junior high, Charlotte's father has had a heart attack. And it feels like the end of the world.

What's worse is that, in a way, it's only the beginning of the end. If nothing else, at least Charlotte can distract herself playing a good word on her online Scrabble game.

Ben wishes that people would take recycling more seriously. He wishes that people knew the impact of all of the plastic and paper that gets into the ocean, and harms dolphins, turtles, and fish. He wishes that people really cared about how species evolved, and he also wishes he weren't so furious with his father. If he'd paid attention to his life - and not spent so much time in his head - maybe he'd have friends. Maybe he'd be better equipped to survive middle school. Maybe all of his current difficulties wouldn't be so hard to get through.

But, right now, Ben can't even think of who he'd call if he won the lottery.

It's a good thing he plays online Scrabble with a girl called Lottie. At least he knows he can call her.

Observations: Two gifted and talented kids with the tiny bit of myopia all kids have, Ben and Charlotte are only able to see the world right in front of them, in terms of their friends, their concerns, their hobbies. Their bright minds only make their socializing challenges all the more difficult, and when there's a challenge to their families and home lives they are abruptly forced out of their unseeing days into a confusing, painful world where they question not only what they're looking at, but how they could have missed so much. Charlotte, through her father, is realizing her mortality -- and HIS. Now the times she's brushed him aside rise up, and she feels so guilty she's paralyzed - and later, as she questions her social behavior, she's paralyzed by horror and shame. Ben is furiously ignoring the chaos outside his bedroom, and is determined to evolve past the quiet, inward-turning boy who drifted along through elementary school. However, with the active pushback of some of his classmates, it seems that it may be too late for him to turn into a different kind of bird than he's always been. It's a troubling, difficult time for both tweens. Told in alternating voices, we see where both Charlotte and Ben use words to conceal and reveal the ragged edges of honesty and pain now informing both of their lives. There's a lot of emotion, a little humor, and a few hard knocks, but in the end, readers will be relieved as both Ben and Charlotte find a tiny bit of land under their flailing feet, and begin the long process of standing tall.

Conclusion: Middle school is an intense time of transition, and this seems to be one of Erin Entrada Kelly's "big idea" truths. I appreciate the realism that Ben and Charlotte do not confide in each other; they're virtual strangers, literally. While we trust each other with playing a game online, and while Charlotte and Ben share the occasional brief phone conversation, they're not emotionally equipped to use each other to lean on in the traditional sense of friendship. However, their isolation allows them to be helpful to each other at key points. This book will resonate with the emotionally intelligent tween who is looking for the truth in the statement that we're all alike, under the skin, and no one suffers alone.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my public library. You can find YOU GO FIRST by Erin Entrada Kelly at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

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

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turning Pages Reads: RELATIVE STRANGERS by PAULA GARNER

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

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

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

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

There is more than one kind of family."

- RELATIVE STRANGERS, unfinished copy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turning Pages Reads: THE RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR MEDIATING MYTHS AND MAGIC by F.T. LUKENS

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Hungry to inhabit his true self, Bridger Whitt will do anything to find a job to help him finance attending college out of state. He’s desperate enough to take a Craigslist interview with a weird entrance exam... no, a seriously weird entrance exam, as in, "Will you enter the office via the window?" He's determined enough to ignore any… little oddities about his magically-everywhere boss (exactly what was Pavel doing out at Lake Michigan when Bridger was there and just happened to be being drowned... by... Things with sharp teeth and cheerfully malicious expressions?!), and has almost entirely tuned out the disembodied voices he sometimes hears around the office. Despite discovering his boss’s true identity, regardless of learning that his crush, Leo, may actually crush on him right back, despite all signs lining up for a HEA, Bridger still can’t find a reason to stay home. After all, there’s nothing to do, and nowhere to grow in the provincial, conservative small town of Midden, Michigan. You can only discover what's real, if you go away and pursue it. Real life can only be magical elsewhere… right?

Observations: Truly, there's no place like home - and this novel brings that theme fresh life, by examining the presupposition that a.) our high school and college years are The Best Years of Our Lives (TM), and b.) that those Best Years can only happen well away from the familiar, known, and loved. This book talks about coming out and Becoming in a way which allows it to be a process that happens internally, and externally, with constant course corrections and revelations along the way. The romance, while not central to the plot, is just squeezable.

However swoon-worthy the romance is, however, what I most appreciate is how much this is a family story. In the best and most inclusive, expansive of ways, F.T. Lukens reminds us that family CAN mean a long-suffering mother who works her butt off for you, and is hopeful she's making up for you not having a Dad, but also it can additionally mean a tough-as-nails Harriet-the-Spy type who loves you, spies on you, then kicks your butt for keeping secrets - like the sister you never knew you needed, a boss and a mentor who both challenges you to rise up, but holds you as you fall apart, and pixies who cheer for you in tiny, tinny, high-pitched, annoying voices, but come on, at least they're not laughing while unicorns try to kill you this week. Or, whatever.

With endless dry humor and plenty of quirky charm, this book never tries too hard, or goes for the easy laugh. It removes itself from some of the stereotype of YA lit with a tight, loving relationship between teen and parent, and allows older people and younger people the respectful, reliant relationships they sometimes have in real life. And the humor just gives the difficulties and subtleties Bridger has while navigating the real world even more life. There's magic. There's mythos. There's a really cranky Sasquatch. While the novel is YA in spirit, it also crosses over for to be enjoyable for other ages, and could be appropriate for adults through older middle grade. While Bridger is definitely moving along toward adulthood - but this doesn't mean he's making all adult decisions - definitely not in the thriving metropolis that is... Midden(and I can't even tell you how much I love that name).

Conclusion:F.T. Lukens brings a joyfully charming innocence into this endearing adventure of a snarky, fearful boy who thinks he is fleeing toward the big, real world — when THE RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR MEDIATING MYTHS & MAGIC reveal that there is more wonder, magic, love, — and terrifying unicorns — in the known world he knows than he could have ever imagined. While I try to review without bias, this was one of my all-time FAVORITE Cybils books of 2018, I have zero chill discussing it, and I want you to read it, too.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Duet Books, for the Cybils Awards, for which this book was a finalist. You can find THE RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR MEDIATING MYTHS AND MAGIC by F.T. Lukens at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: CALLING MY NAME by LIARA TAMANI

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turning Pages Reads: I AM ALFONSO JONES by TONY MEDINA, ill. JOHN EDWARD JENNINGS & STACY ROBINSON

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Usually A.F. is the one with the graphic novels, but I was given the opportunity for an early peek at this one - thanks, Lee & Low! Lee & Low is coming up with a new vibe in terms of their offerings; this is the first graphic of theirs that I know of, and the another book for older teens that isn't from their Tu Books imprint. This novel is both awful and gorgeous, horrifying and heroic in its execution, and will strike readers in the heart. I appreciate that it's not played for entertainment - this isn't about pain for the drama and entertainment value, but a conversation about the reality of what's going on in our world - and hopefully it will bring those more flexible, intelligent minds of younger readers to lean on the question of what it's going to take to stop this.

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Synopsis: I AM ALFONSO JONES opens with anticipation of a joyful event. Fifteen-year-old high school student and bike messenger Alfonso has just learned that his father’s fifteen-year prison term has ended, and with DNA evidence, his name has been cleared. The ensuing celebration promises to be epic, and Alfonso and his crush, Danetta, are in the mall buying Alfonso’s first suit when an off-duty policeman mistakes the hanger Alfonso is holding for a gun. Alfonso dies of multiple gunshot wounds, but his story doesn’t end there. Alfonso’s class has been studying Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, and to bear witness to how his story evolved, Alfonso too becomes a ghost, one riding the ghostly subway back through time, to revisit the history of his neighborhood, his people, and himself.

Observations: The tragedy of Hamlet is an appropriate vehicle for the contemporary tragedy of Alfonso Jones. Betrayed by those who should have loved and cared for him, Prince Hamlet’s rage and confusion mirrors that of Alfonso and his classmates. King Hamlet, as Ghost, does not help his son to solve his murder, but bears witness to the inevitable reverberations from his death, and brings up questions for Prince Hamlet to consider. Likewise, Ghost Alfonso, as he bears witness to the others on the Ghost subway, reverberates these question from the other side of the veil: When did black males become public enemy number one? When did children stop being seen as innocent, and become thugs? When did the color of one’s skin become cause for fear, and anticipated violence? When will this war on black lives cease?

This story of love and rage is conveyed with a surreal cast of characters. Alfonso’s story, and the stories of the others on the ghost subway will both grieve and inform, allowing readers to access the language to talk about class and race discrimination, and the very real fact of the propensity for violence by police against people of minority race and class. Despite the grim topic, there are sparks of light in Alfonso’s family relationships, his classmates’ clowning, and the love his community shows him, which will enable readers to consider parallels within their own lives. There is no solution to Alfonso’s murder, no tidy wrap-up of his death in which the rest of his community lives happily ever after, but they do live, as we do – in love and defiance, never forgetting that justice has not been served.

Conclusion: There are always some people who can say, "But he shouldn't have been --" or, "If she hadn't --" to blame the victims, excuse the racist reflexes, and justify the injustice on the part of our nation's police force. This is a painful, yet cathartic read as the author provides new ways to look at the situation, and new ways to keep it before our eyes -- so that we never can not see, and so that we never forget.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Lee & Low. October 2017 and beyond, you can find I AM ALFONSO JONES by Tony Medina, illustrated by J.E. Jennings & Stacy Robinson at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: MS. BIXBY'S LAST DAY by JOHN DAVID ANDERSON

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

While I love John David Anderson's books, I was scared to read this one, because "last" is a word for me that contains expectations of OTT emotion and pathos. But, then, I remembered who I was dealing with. John David Anderson writes books with heart, but they are always, always, always, in tiny, screwball ways, or in ridiculous, massive, exploding building fashion - funny. So, content commentary for this book: Some may need tissues, others might only feel heart pinches and not need them. Most young readers I would expect will come away feeling a bit melancholy, but Anderson artfully ends the novel with its beginning, to help keep the focus on the theme of the story, and to bring the question back to the reader: what would make for your perfect last day?

"We all have moments when we think nobody really sees us. When we feel like we have to act out or be somebody else just to get noticed. But somebody notices, Topher. Somebody sees. Somebody out there probably thinks you're the greatest thing in the whole world. Don't ever think you're not good enough."

MS. BIXBY'S LAST DAY, pp. 232-3

Synopsis: Topher, Steve and Brand are sixth graders in Ms. Bixby's class at Fox Ridge Elementary. They're thoroughly different - Steve is Japanese American and the genius of the group, with his eidetic memory and a head full of stats and detail. Brand is the biggest - calm, serious, full of smart, made-up words, and could probably beat up Trevor Cowly, or even a seventh grader, if he put his mind to it. Topher is the artistic one - full of wild stories and amazing drawings. On the surface, the three of them don't have that much in common, except pizza, video games... and Ms. Bixby. But, a look beneath, and Steve, wilting under the sky-high expectations of his parents is a lot like Topher, withering under the busybusybusy-lack-of-attention from his, who is just like Brand, who is struggling with a father who fell down, but lost the heart to get up again.

When their favorite teacher lets the class know that she's withdrawing from school to fight the cancer she's just been diagnosed with, the three boys - so different, and so much the same - don't know how to manage. To each of them individually, Ms. Bixby has been Their Person - the one who sees something good in them, cheers them on, only minimally rolls her eyes when they're being doofusy, and who never gives up on them. Without her, who are they? When on the day of the planned class farewell party, they arrive at school to find a substitute teacher, they embark on The Plan - a plan to bring the party to her, to make it a perfect last day of school with three of her favorite students. They plot to cut school - which makes Steve's knees shake - and go see her in the hospital. Topher's already imagining chases with police and truant officers. Brand is making detailed lists. The genius is that The Plan will to give Ms. Bixby back everything that she's given to them.

It's ...a disaster.

It's also, perfect.

Observations: I can't say much about The Plan without ruining the story, but I think the genius here lies in the character shading. Anderson takes the time to explain why Brand would pick Steve's nose for him - (it made sense at the time. Kind of) that gives us insight into the rigid rules that Brand is locking himself into. That, in turn, explains at least in part why Steve kind of couldn't stand Brand for a long, long time, and there's another part of Steve that isn't all the way filled yet, at least not by Steve. Topher, whose easy acceptance of Brand is hard for his best friend Steve to accept, likes lots of people and lots of different things, and has a running screenplay in his head that makes him imagine himself to be a lot of other people, all the time. Who wants to be just himself, when he could contain multitudes? All three of these aspects of the boys' characters enlarge the story and help make it memorable.

Conclusion: There really are no perfect books, but this book has both wit and emotional resonance. The imperfection of its characters - and even of Ms. Bixby - step it back from being a overly-sweet paean of tribute to being a slice-of-life-ordinary, rare-and-extraordinary love story between a group of students, and one of The Good Ones; an excellent teacher.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my personal library. You can find MS. BIXBY'S LAST DAY by John David Anderson at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER by KELLY JONES

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

When I was a kid, we had ducks. We had dogs. We had pigeons. We had chickens. Occasionally, we had hamsters, crawdads, and the neighbor's bunnies and goats. I grew up in a suburban zoo, apparently, so the title of this book made me smile and want to read it. I don't have chickens right now - and I'm not sure I'd want chickens like these!

Synopsis: Sophie is twelve, and a new arrival from LA into the wilds of Sonoma County. Her mother is a freelance writer, working frantically to provide the family income. Sophie's Dad got laid off from his old job - which is one of the reasons why they've moved to her great-uncle Jim - on her father's side - farm. The other reason is that he died, and left it to the family in his will. Sophie's family has no money, and nowhere else to go - and they're going to make the best of this place.

Sophie's loneliness stems from missing her bestie, LaToya, and her Abuelita, who passed away before they left LA. She's afraid she won't make new friends, and then she finds... a chicken. A kind of angry chicken, really, which glares a lot, and ... occasionally does other things that Sophie's not sure of. Writing a letter to Redwood Farm Supply in Gravenstein makes perfect sense now, because Sophie's hopeful SOMEONE will be able to tell her how to care for the chicken, which Sophie names Henrietta and reads to daily. Through trial and error, and working hard like her Abuelita always told her to, Sophie makes a start on things. Agnes at Redwood helps... but her typing is kind of awful, and she's sporadic help at best.

And, it seems like someone is trying to steal Sophie's chicken already!

Through the kind auspices of the mailman, the boy down the road, and with a little help from her poultry friends, Sophie finds her way through the first summer on Blackbird Farm, and provides readers with a lot of humor along the way.

Observations: This is kind of prime Middle Grade fiction to me - extraordinarily creative, gently amusing, and a quick read. Sophie is lonely, and a little sad, and readers will sense that her curiosity about her new home is leavened by this - and by her parents' fears for the future, and their own grief and losses. I like that Sophie is a quick study - she knows that there is Stuff Going On with the adults, and while it doesn't totally derail her, she's fairly convinced that figuring things out on her own is her best bet.

Middle grade books seem specially geared to doing well with dealing with loss. Sophie's hole-in-the-middle feelings from losing first her grandmother, then her best friend are detailed well, and the slow evolution of strangers-to-friends she experiences with the boy from up the road and the girl she sees in the library will remind readers of how friendships begin: slowly, over time, and silences are bridged with smiles, even when one doesn't have words.

Additionally, this is a fun prompt to get people to libraries! Sophie sympathizes with her father, whose delayed grief - and guilt - from growing up with his great-uncle Jim, and then never visiting him again, and STILL inheriting his farm, leads him to try viticulture, even though he doesn't know what he's doing. Sophie shows him an excellent example when she goes to the library and finds A BOOK and READS about caring for chickens. It takes him a bit, but eventually, he catches a clue. Sophie actually checks out books for him, and soon he signs up for a viticulture class on his own.

Conclusion: The matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction is the basis of surrealistic fiction and magical realism, and because Sophie is Mexican-American, I think that label fits for this story, at least partially. A lighthearted, funny and creative book, this made me want to have chickens again someday, and probably will lead every twelve-year-old who reads it to have at least the tiniest twinge of wanting a chicken - or six - for pets.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my local bookstore. You can find UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER by Kelly Jones at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Surveying Stories: Soul Survival in Erin Entrada Kelly's HELLO UNIVERSE

Bullying was a problem in middle schools in the dinosaur years when I was there, so it's not like it's a new phenomenon. However, the "just ignore them and they'll leave you alone" school of thought has finally wised the heck up (and not before time, either) and since about 2006, after the film "Mean Girls" had its success, a new wave of middle grade books has begun to explore some of the more painful realities of living with the dichotomy of "being yourself" while being assured by your peers and classmates that your "self" is unacceptably and irreparably flawed.

Because middle school to high school is a time of immense pressure and personal development, these books are necessary, as social media and its adjacent technologies are giving sadistic little bullies more and more access to peers at an earlier and earlier age. Now that it's become even more obvious that adults are finding their strength in bullying (you needn't look too deeply into our politics to see that link), books which examine the painful and individual repercussions of being bullied are more important than ever. Bullies suffer from an unwillingness or inability to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others. They won't be able to learn to act with empathy until they more clearly see the results of its lack. One cannot heal what has not been revealed.

Granted, this is hard for some adult readers to grasp. Complaints that a book is "too sad," "dark and depressing" or "guilt-inducing" are unfortunately common when less mainstream (privileged?) characters are presented in fiction. Fortunately, through the auspices of adults with a little more emotional range who are , the kids who need these books find them. All it takes, adults, is decentering your feelings on the matter, and realizing that there's always at least one child who takes refuge in books because they really don't fit in. And these stories of kids who are sad but surviving can be the path through the jungle, the maps to the treasure, the how-to-deal manual that every kid needs. With that in mind,

Let's survey a story!

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Acclaimed and award-winning author Erin Entrada Kelly’s Hello, Universe is a funny and poignant neighborhood story about unexpected friendships. Told from four intertwining points of view—two boys and two girls—the novel celebrates bravery, being different, and finding your inner bayani (hero), and it’s perfect for fans of Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Thanhha Lai, and Rita Williams-Garcia.

In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends, at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil. Sometimes four can do what one cannot. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms. The acclaimed author of Blackbird Fly and The Land of Forgotten Girls writes with an authentic, humorous, and irresistible tween voice that will appeal to fans of Thanhha Lai and Rita Williams-Garcia.

One of the things easily apparent in Erin Entrada Kelly's books is the link each character has between the present and the past. Like a string at the end of a balloon, each needs the other to keep the story grounded. In BLACKBIRD FLY, Apple Yengo reaches back to the past both with the Beatles' music, and with what she's literally holding onto from the past; something she believes belonged to her late father. These things, brought together into the present, help give Apple the wings she needs to fly. In THE LAND OF FORGOTTEN GIRLS, Soledad and Dominga hold onto their mother through sharing the fantastical tales of Auntie Jove. Soledad also holds onto Amelia, her late sister, through the whispering of her own conscience. In HELLO, UNIVERSE, Kelly takes a slightly different approach, stretching each character to reach toward something bigger than themselves for comfort. This is both grounding, and a means of expanding the character's worldview.

The deeply shy Virgilio clings to his guinea pig, and to his Lola's myriad tales of boys who get eaten by rocks and crocodiles and girls who ask so many questions they have to travel the world to find their destinies. Through his imagination, a starring character in a story speaks back to him from his deepest despair, reminding him that he is a hero, and that the worst thing he can do is give up. Independent-but-lonely Valencia, whose parents love her without understanding her, looks to the natural world as a larger organism to absorb and make unimportant the isolation she endures. The psychically inclined Kaori opens herself to dreams, crystals, portents, spirits, and the universe to guide her steps (even when opening her eyes to the here-and-now might help her a bit more), and even self-aggrandizing Chet frequently imagines himself a big, important hero like his father - not a truly larger-than-life guide through the world, but a familiar one.

This imaginative reach is also a survival tool, perhaps the best survival tool of all. Looking outside of themselves saves each of these children. Soledad has a strong, battle-cry of a name, but she is so lonely and isolated in her silent world that even religious solicitation at seven-thirty in the morning isn't viewed as something entirely horrible - besides, she's always open to learning a new thing, and maybe that church is interesting. Being open to finding out makes Soledad unique. Seeking an outlet for both her nightmares and her prickly moments with her mother, she unexpectedly finds Kaori... whose sense of wonder about life, the universe, and everything spurs her to be useful to many different people - even though Kaori only has two clients and one little sister in her sphere of influence so far. Despite having only her little sister for company, Kaori is never lonely, and never bored, because the universe is right there with so much to teach her, despite her parents preference for TV, March Madness, and earthbound concerns. Virgilio, the family turtle, constantly compares himself to his louder, livelier family, and it is his rich imagining of one of Lola's characters that sees him through his time alone in the woods. (Of course, that also plays against him a bit, since Radu is there, too.) Chet whistles in the dark by imagining himself a conquering hero... and in the end, his imagination of what the words "you'll regret it" mean just maybe will set him on a better path. We'll never know!

Far from guilting or making sad the children who read these books, this quiet story of a summer day in which four kids become better known to each other hits that sweet spot of being intriguing and well characterized while still leaving room for readers. Real life kids will draw conclusions, make assumptions and guesses and write their own "and the next day" hopes for these characters. And then, hopefully, they'll take the tools to reach out that the characters have set before them - a ladder, a handful of stones, a pink jump rope, a notebook - and go out and find their own way through the vast universe.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find HELLO UNIVERSE by the inimitable Erin Entrada Kelly at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: RAYMIE NIGHTINGALE by KATE DICAMILLO

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

I picked up this book because of the author, and the enigmatic - or meaningful, as Betsy Bird calls it - cover. And then, I almost put it down, because it is set in 1975.

It is hard for me to imagine the seventies as a time anyone wants to read about, much less venerate as "historical." After all, to be antique, an object must be at minimum a mere hundred years old; novels set in the seventies and eighties feel... indulgent and nostalgic; more about the authors than the readers. But, on the other hand, the 20th century is now considered "historical fiction," so setting my hesitation aside, I read on.

Synopsis: Raymie Clarke's plan for the summer is this: learn to twirl a baton in Ms. Ida Nee's baton-twirling class; win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire 1975 competition; get her name and picture in the newspaper... and thus create enough interest in her life and well-being to make her father come back from where he's run off with the dental hygienist. By all accounts, it was a reasonable plan. It was something Raymie could hold up to herself when she was afraid, when her mother was silent and sat in the sunroom, staring into space: she had a Plan that was going to Fix Things.

Unfortunately, other people had plans - and troubles of their own. Louisiana Elefante, a tiny, blonde asthmatic, wants to win Little Miss Central Florida Tire 1975 so that she can claim the prize money and free her cat from the pound. Unspoken is her hope that they can use the money to then eat more than tunafish and she and her grandmother can stop running from Marsha Jean, the invisible social worker who might put her in foster care. Beverly Tapinski's plan is to sabotage the pageant - somehow. With a knife. Beverly hates Little Miss pageants, is tired of her mother signing her up for them, and has tried to run away to her father in New York, twice. She is angry and fearless - and sometimes bruised.

Raymie strikes out alone, at first, to do a good deed so that she can list it on her Little Miss application, but soon she, Louisiana, and Bev find themselves doing things together... not willingly, at first, but Louisiana's winsome imagination draws them, and Raymie is eager for something brighter and better than life at home. Even Bev finds herself charmed, despite herself. The girls have more in common than Raymie first believed, and in the end, relying on each other's strengths saves them

Observations: I did not love this book, but found it ...complex and textured. The people Raymie meets during the course of the novel add a depth and nuance that is unexpected. There are cynical elderly people and optimistic ones; haughty ones living on their past successes, like Ms. Ida, and ones running from their current responsibilities, like Raymie's dad. Among her peers, Raymie's problems don't seem so very big to her. While it's true that her father left them, and her mother is depressed and silent, Louisiana, in addition to her very serious asthma, is food insecure, living in a house with no power and no furniture, and a grandmother who is very old and teaching her survival tricks to help her live outside of the county assistance she needs. Beverly poses as self-confident and brave, but she is furious at being abandoned by her father, always running away to be with him, and fighting with adults - to the point of having physical altercations at home. With all of this, the time period and the setting weren't... significant.

"Issues" were obviously not something which were talked about in school in the 70's, as Raymie didn't automatically respond by speaking with an adult when it was revealed that Louisiana was food insecure, whereas I think most of today's ten-year-olds would at least mention it to someone in passing. Infidelity seems to be much less common, and much more a source of shame to those left behind. By avoiding the obvious stereotypes, DiCamillo avoids a dated feel - no super bell bottoms and flower children or anything - but, to be honest, I don't think adding a year is going to be really significant to young readers.

An interesting quibble I did have with the novel setting, though, is that it depicted central Florida without any people of color in it. The only people in the novel who are of a different class than Raymie other than Louisiana signal this by speaking non-standard American English. These two nurses are kindly, immediately helpful, speaking endearments and providing tea and sympathy on the phone to Raymie's mother, and to a soaked and shivering Raymie, a sweater. The author provides no racial description for them, but I find myself hoping that those ladies are white with beehived brunette hair, because they move perilously close to the enveloping, comforting Mammy stereotype otherwise.

Conclusion: I'm still not sure about children's books set in the 70's and 80's, but this book in particular explored meaningful relationships with old people, divorce, grief, abuse, depression, food insecurity and poverty, the idea of having a plan to fix the world, and recovering when that plan shows itself to be flawed, and kind of going with the flow and finding new plans, new purposes, and new friends. Not much happens... but, in a way, everything -- life -- does.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library You can find RAYMIE NIGHTINGALE by Kate DiCamillo at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: THE LAND OF FORGOTTEN GIRLS by ERIN ENTRADA KELLY

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Though I don't often do so, after reading this book, I checked to see what kind of critical acclaim it had received. I was pleasantly surprised to see a star from SLJ, a star from Booklist, as well as a commendation from Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.

Content Commentary: This is may be painful or distressing to people who have experienced physical and psychological abuse. It's indirect enough that most kids will likely simply express unhappy surprise at some of the interactions, but more sensitive children (and knowing adults) may find themselves utterly brokenhearted. Provide tissues.

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Synopsis: Auntie Jove never did come to take them to live with her. Soledad expected her at seven, after her mother died, but now that she's twelve, she knows Auntie Jove was just a story - her mother didn't have a sister, and now she's dead. To comfort her little sister now, Sol shares the arresting, vibrant, beautiful adventure stories of the dashing Auntie Jove with her little sister, Dominga, to keep Ming's spirits up. Since their father left them, three years ago, things have been going from bad to worse with their stepmother, Tita Vea. Ming doesn't talk to Vea, and sometimes, she hardly talks to Sol. Her silence just pushes Vea to get worse and worse, to scream louder and louder, to pinch and throw ice water, and take their toys... They're not little girls in a fairytale story. There's no one going to step in and save them. And really, who should save them? Tita Vea always says Sol is a bad, bad girl.

Soledad is so bad, she and her best friend, Manny, sometimes pick on the kids from other schools for fun. She's so bad, she steals from the corner store - and now Ming's done it, too, which is NOT what Soledad intended. Sol is so bad, she's responsible for her other little sister, Amelia's death, when Amelia was only ten. And recently Sol threw a pinecone at a girl's head, and the girl ....had to get stitches. Oops.

Sol believes herself to be bad, but not quite that bad. After some effort, she tracks down the girl, with her pale skin and paler complexion, and Soledad apologizes. In doing so, she discovers that it's not so hard to make a enemy a friend... All it takes is listening. The girls share stories, and Soledad begins to feel a little bit heard, realizing that harsh realities feel just as harsh to others, even when they've got different problems. Now that the weird skateboarding girl from the snobby school talks to her, and the boy who hangs around with her, Sol's almost got three new friends. Things get a tiny bit brighter, for Sol, at least. But after Ming's theft, Tita Vea has been told, and there was Real Trouble. Since then, Ming's been... acting odd. She's insisting that Auntie Jove is coming for her -- and her silences grow louder. She's packing her bags. She's retreating inside of her own head, and Soledad can't get her out. Now all of her trips to Blackbeard's junkyard to find her a special something just might be in vain. She's got to find someone to help her -- but is there anyone who sees them?

Observations: It's rare to see a book with Filipino main characters, and these girls were born in the Philippines, and immigrated to the U.S. Most of us who live in California grew up with immigrants surrounding us at work, at school, and in our neighborhoods. More of us who lived on the margins will recognize that at times, the real America to which these families came did not mesh well with dreams the families brought with them, nor with the cultures and mores of the countries these families had left behind. This caused some tension in those families, and for a variety of reasons, in a variety of ways, many of us observed this tension. While I dealt with the fallout from this tension, teaching group home students, I have never seen a book deal with this specifically. It was heartbreaking and strengthening in myriad ways, because how often do kids in trouble - immigrants or no, being bullied by children, or by the adults who are meant to care for them - how often do they wish desperately that someone saw them? The children in this story were visible, by virtue of finding people to listen amongst their peers, by virtue of learning to listen to others, and through the salvation of a silent but kind neighbor. This made me wonder how I could do better at seeing, and will spark some important conversations with the big-hearted and intelligent children who read this.

There are magical elements of the story, as Amelia appears and reappears as Soledad's conscience, in a manner of speaking, but she is ambiguously not much of a ghost, but more of Soledad's inner mind, or what she believes a protective adults would think or say. Amelia tries to help Soledad be an amazing sister to their baby sister, Ming, and her proactiveness allows Ming as much protection as their rough world affords. This tender relationship provides a tendril of hope and allows mature readers to set aside their sadness at the circumstances in which the girls find themselves, and embrace the truths, that story is a lifeline, that sisters can be fierce protectors, and that hope is sometimes found by taking less traditional and unexpected paths.

Conclusion: This novel is not tied neatly in a bow; life, especially lives in the margin, are a series of victories and defeats. The story certainly ends with the traditional "kernel of hope" however, and most readers can clearly see better days ahead. Some readers will find it "too depressing" and be upset that an adult writer articulated so clearly the struggles of children, but I encourage you not to allow your feelings to be centered, and shift your focus to potential young readers. It's important that more privileged children learn that not everyone has their privileges, and it's important for less privileged children to know that their lives and struggles have meaning and validity and that they are seen. The voices in this book are real and true, and Soledad is allowed to be "bad," angry, confused, and flawed. The adults in this book are not irredeemably bad, either; Vea is a selfish, monstrously abusive woman, but she is also an immature person who paid a staggeringly high price for what she wanted, feels trapped, and doesn't know how to better herself. There are complexities available to the reader who doesn't assume this entire book can be understood in a single glance.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library, but for me, this is a Buy book not a Borrow. You can find THE LAND OF FORGOTTEN GIRLS by Erin Entrada Kelly an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: TWO NAOMIS by OLUGBEMISOMA RHUDAY-PERKOVICH & AUDREY VERNICKAT

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Okay, so Naomi Marie knows her mother is getting ...serious about someone. That's what she's overheard. It doesn't really matter to her; she knows who her Dad is, and he's just a couple blocks away, and that's fine. She'll help out with her overly enthusiastic baby sister, who is only four, and doesn't really know how to feel about things -- she'll be a good example. It's what Dad would want from her, right? And anyway, she's busy with the library clubs she's starting. Eventually, ONE will catch on, and people will come and hang out with her. It's the best library in the world, so they'll have to, eventually...

Naomi Edith is named after the famous clothing designer, Edith Head ... and that name keeps Naomi E. close to her designer mother, away in California, working madly as a costumer on various plays and films. Regretfully, with the time and distance between them, Naomi E's mother has little time to talk to her daughter anymore, but Naomi E. cherishes the traditions she made with her mother - their favorite bakery on Saturdays, their ability to talk about any and everything. With her best friend in the backyard, too many snacks with Dad to mention, Naomi E. keeps faith with how their family used to be. It helps, keeping things the same, to fill the yawning chasm in her insides that the word 'California' leaves inside...

Naomi Marie and Naomi E's parents are having "meet-the-family" meetings, and the Naomis get squished together. Then, their Saturdays are interrupted with "family" outings. It's fine for Naomi Marie's baby sister, who really thinks everything is just awesome, but for the Naomis, who have their own friends and their own particular preferences, it's all getting to be A Little Too Much. And then, there's the class that eats up the rest of their Saturdays. Surely, it won't hurt to do a project together... if Naomi E. would do something. Naomi Marie just wants everything to be PERFECT. Is that so wrong?

Inevitably, the girls clash in earnest. Feelings are hurt, expectations are disappointed, and there are many tears. While readers see the fallout coming, the way the girls resolve things, for the good of everyone, is true grace under fire.

Observations: A lot of YA and MG books are predicated on the fact that adults are occasionally absolutely, drastically, painfully blind to how kids feel about things. This book has such a decidedly, strongly, realistically kid's-eye-view on things that it's hard to read as an adult. My kid brain was sputtering with rage a lot of the time. The pushing - and the pushback - and the digging in of heels on both sides was Real and readers will really feel it.

This was a delightfully urban setting - the girls walked, rode the bus, and their families used ZipCars on the weekend to get where they needed to go. (The complaints about the new car smell wearing off were realistic and amusing.) That Naomi Marie is black is also included in myriad aspects of the narrative - she's not just described and abandoned; her sister goes to Little Nubian playgroup, Naomi Marie takes African Dance. While Naomi E. has less culturally specific interests, care is taken to differentiate her as an individual as well.

Though the girls are listed as ten-year-olds, older readers - and younger readers - may find this a valuable book, because there's a lot of information and discussion and rumination on how to get along with others - a skill many grade school and middle grade kids truly struggle with for a while until getting the hang of things.

Conclusion: I'm glad I finally got around to writing up this book; it's on my list of books for strong girls displaying strength. The Naomis are strong because they aren't railroaded into anything; they CHOOSE their behavior and their acceptance and their level of effort. I love that about them - it's not all sunshine and roses, but they make their own road. A delightful book for kids going through a divorce and family blending, or for kids coping with a sudden influx of family members, as I experienced periodically through childhood.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the Newark Public Library. You can find TWO NAOMIS by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich & Audrey Vernickat an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

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

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday Review: ONCE AND FOR ALL by Sarah Dessen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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