C is for Confessions of a High School Disaster, by Emma Chastain (book review)

Apr3

cover of Confessions of a High School Disaster by Emma Chastain, published by Simon Pulse | recommended on BooksYALove.comStarting high school = anxiety.
Mom moving to Mexico to write = bearable, for 4 months.
Never been kissed = terrible, unfair!

Chloe is journaling her freshman year – auditioning for the musical (brave!), ups and downs with her best friend (as always), the weirdness of parties without a boyfriend (typical).

Mom said she should write down all these memories, but really!

Maybe it’s C for crisis mode, as Chloe tries to navigate high school – heartbreaking and humorous.

What high school memory would you keep (or erase)?
**kmm

Book info: Confessions of a High School Disaster: Chloe Snow’s Diary / Emma Chastain. Simon Pulse, 2017. [author Facebook]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

B for Jerry Borrowman, author of Compassionate Soldier (book review)

Apr2

cover of Compassionate Soldier by Jerry Borrowman, published by Shadow Mountain | recommended on BooksYALove.comB is for battles fought honorably,
for being merciful to wounded enemies,
for being human in wartime.

Borrowman’s research reveals the true stories of men and women who saw past the label of “enemy” to behave with honor during the American Revolution, Civil War, World War I and onward to Vietnam and Iraq.

A British rifle inventor refuses to shoot George Washington in the back during the Revolutionary War.

Rudi, an ordinary German boy who defied Hitler’s SS recruiters, was saved by a Nazi prison guard.

The best non-fiction reads like a novel, not a fact list – check out Compassionate Soldier at your local library or independent bookstore.

What other true stories of compassion to enemies do you know?
**kmm

Book info: Compassionate Soldier: Remarkable True Stories of Mercy, Heroism, and Honor From the Battlefield / Jerry Borrowman. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2017. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

A is for Alcott, in The Revelation of Louisa May, by Michaela MacColl (book review)

Apr1

book cover of The Revelation of Louisa May, by Michaela MacColl, published by Chronicle Books | recommended on BooksYALove.comWhy does she have to run the household instead of writing?
And keep their Underground Railroad stop functioning (and secret)?
And discern a suitor’s true nature without her mother’s guidance?

Yes, this is that Louisa May, author of Little Women and Little Men, as a teen tasked with keeping house for her sisters and philosopher father during the summer when her mother worked away from home to support the family, rather than writing.

MacColl’s historical fiction about literary women, like Emily Dickinson in Nobody’s Secret (my recommendation here), is worth adding to your list.

Which author or poet would you like to read more about?
**kmm

Book info: The Revelation of Louisa May: a Novel of Intrigue and Romance / Michaela MacColl. Chronicle Books, 2015. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

It’s A to Z Challenge time again!

Mar31

logo for 2018 Blogging A to Z ChallengeAs I do every spring, I wonder whether I should sign up for the April A-to-Z blogging challenge.

Each April from 2012 to now, I have successfully written and posted 26 different blog entries running from A through Z on 26 days of that most hectic month.

Such a great opportunity to move books from my “to be reviewed (someday)” shelf into your view!

But tons of work to cover so many by writing a completely original synopsis for each book, along with links to related real-life info, as I usually do.

So this year’s April A to Z Challenge will feature super-short book intros and full links to publisher and author so you can find these great books for yourself.

The huge list of participating bloggers is available at https://atozchallenge.wordpress.com/ – the range of subjects covered is amazing!

And away we go to April – no fooling!
**kmm

Is ARROW OF LIGHTNING power enough? by Joseph Bruchac (book review)

Mar29

book cover of Arrow of Lightning by Joseph Bruchac published by Lee and Low | recommended on BooksYALove.comBecome the hunters, not the hunted.
Avoid the monsters, human and otherwise.
Survive without killing the human ones?

So many genetically-modified creatures are out to get Lozen, Hussein, and the others who’ve escaped from the Ones who torture for fun. Perhaps she can protect her family and friends without taking a human life…

As Killer of Enemies (my review here) in the tech-blasted future, Lozen had to obey the Ones, or her family would be killed.

Along the Trail of the Dead, Lozen’s family is larger and the dangers are immense.

Arrow of Lightning is a super wrap-up of this #ownvoices trilogy – Lozen is on my heroes list.

To save your family, what lengths would you go to?
**kmm

Book info: Arrow of Lightning (Killer of Enemies, book 3) / Joseph Bruchac. Lee and Low Books, 2017. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Potato crop dies, HUNGER remains… by Donna Jo Napoli (book review)

Mar20

book cover of Hunger by Donna Jo Napoli, published by Simon Schuster BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comLife-sustaining potatoes collapse into slime,
and all over Ireland, the common people face starvation,
each village praying that it is spared, but no…

A tiny organism swept through the main food crop of Ireland in the mid-1800s, leading to a million deaths by starvation and two million people emigrating from their beloved green isle.

Lorraine doesn’t want to leave, won’t let her family starve, risks everything to make that true.

Look for this February 2018 release with Napoli’s other novels of Ireland’s past (like Hush, an Irish princess tale I recommended here) at your local library or independent bookstore.

To save your family, how far would you go?
**kmm

Book info: Hunger: A Tale of Courage / Donna Jo Napoli. Paula Wiseman/Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2018. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Lorraine fights to keep her family from starving, as the potato blight hits their Irish village in 1846, but the 12 year old can only do so much alone.

Not fair that Da’s grain crop must be sold to pay land-rent to the English.
Nor that not a single hare or bird may be trapped by them on the landlord’s vast property.
Nor that so many children and parents and grandparents are dying because the potato plants cannot produce food.

Scavenging for wild plants that might strengthen her weakening little brother, Lorraine encounters the rich English landlord’s daughter presiding over a doll picnic with more food than the village has seen in months!

Would the girl share with Lorraine… or even speak to her?
When will the potatoes grow healthy again…ever?
How many more families will bury their dead and leave for the city… or even America?

Lorraine’s resourcefulness is her family’s best chance of surviving the Famine which decimated Ireland in the 1840s – may it be enough!

She can step into The Painting? by Charis Cotter (book review)

Feb27

book cover of The Painting by Charis Cotter, published by Tundra Books | recommended on BooksYALove.comThat painting is so real,
she can smell the salt air
and step into its lighthouse?!?

The girl who calls her sister, the girl’s mother who cannot see Annie… or can she?

This lighthouse on a rocky Newfoundland cliff may hold more than a lonely girl and her worries – but how can Annie of today also be back in the past?

You can listen to the author read the opening of this spooky tale at her website here.

Would you believe a specter who shared secrets with you?
**kmm

Book info: The Painting / Charis Cotter. Tundra Books, 2017.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When Annie suddenly can step into a painting after her mother’s car wreck, the girl in its lighthouse calls her ‘sister’ and insists that their artist mother must never show those paintings with hidden meanings.

Two sisters, separated by death. Claire knows it was her fault.
One lighthouse, one artist, one almost-ghost. Annie isn’t sure why Maisie can almost see her.

Why did Annie’s own mother say she’d never, ever return to Newfoundland?
What if she never comes out of the coma?
Who is Claire of the lighthouse?

Storms battering the Newfoundland coast, cold wind blowing through Claire’s lonely life, Toronto hospital room lights that never sleep – perhaps artistic Annie has fallen down the rabbit hole from the girls’ beloved Alice in Wonderland. A two-voices tale of now and then, connections that blink and fade like the lighthouse’s rotating beam, warning of dangerous currents and cliffs.

Her parents’ dreams or hers? American Panda, by Gloria Chao (book review)

Feb6

book cover of American Panda by Gloria Chao, published by Simon Pulse | recommended on BooksYALove.comGraduate from best college for prestigious career,
Marry the right person, have many sons…
why is everything already set in stone?

Mei’s parents don’t understand that she wants some traditions of Taiwan and some of America, that she will survive if she doesn’t follow their exacting standards. But what if they disown her, as they cut off all contact with her brother?

Read the first chapter here for free (thank you, Bustle!) to get into Mei’s world, the world of her demanding parents that will stifle her own dreams.

When to break free of the “correct” path?
**kmm

Book info: American Panda / Gloria Chao. Simon Pulse, 2018. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: The path meticulously mapped-out by her Taiwanese-American parents has led Mei to MIT, but the 17 year old now must decide how far from their dreams she can venture in search of what she truly wants.

She uses hand sanitizer constantly, the mere idea of cadavers makes her squeamish, and biology class bores her – why do her parents insist that she must become a doctor?

When older brother Xing announced his engagement, Baba and Mama disowned him because Esther might not be able to give them grandsons, completely erased him from their lives – how can Mei tell them she’s dating a Japanese-American guy from California?

Dancing set her apart from other Asian students applying to MIT, so her parents allowed it just until her acceptance letter arrived – why can’t she tell them what joy it brings her and that she’s teaching dance classes on weekends?

Fast-tracked to college by her parents’ demands, Mei never dated in high school, never chose her own path – maybe with Darren’s support and affection, she can break away from their rigidly traditional expectations without breaking herself.

Yummy poems in A Moose Boosh: a Few Choice Words About Food, by Eric-Shabazz Larkin (book review)

Feb3

book cover of A Moose Boosh, by Eric-Shabazz Larkin, published by Readers to Eaters | recommended on BooksYALove.comAs cooking show star,
As farmer in the city,
kids dream and delight in food!

Good food can help us as much as good medicine, as these food-filled poems and their embellished photos show.

Look for this so-yummy poetry collection at your local library or independent bookstore.

Fave food poem??
**kmm

Book info: A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food / Eric-Shabazz Larkin. Readers to Eaters, 2014. [author site] [book Facebook page] [publisher site] Review copy, cover image, and page images courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Slippery noodles in rhythm and rhyme, dreams of bread and my own cooking show fill this book of fun food poems.

Why did the chef send a moose that I didn’t order?
What did the corn say to the cob?
Where does food grow? Where did my pet cabbage go?

Readers will enjoy sampling these “choice words” about all stages of food – fancy or plain, appetizer to dessert – with doodled-up photos to match.
poem "A Desk is Not a Dinner Table" from A Moose Boosh by Eric-Shabazz Larkin | recommended on BooksYALove.com

On their Lion Island, young people of Cuba dream and rebel, by Margarita Engle (book review)

Feb1

book cover of Lion Island, by Margarita Engle, published by Atheneum BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comSongs for freedom,
words as power –
freedom from Spain, from slavery?

Did you know about Chinese immigrants who fled to Cuba, escaping racist attacks in America? They struggled for freedom from unfair indenture alongside enslaved Africans during the days when Cuba sought its independence from Spain – so many stories forgotten, lost, found, retold.

Look for this historical novel-in-verse at your local library or independent bookstore in hardcover or paperback.

Could you leave your homeland for safety, then leave again?
**kmm

Book info: Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words / Margarita Engle. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2016, paperback 2017.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: At the confluence of Cuban, Chinese, and African cultures, poetic voices of three young people tell the stories of arrival and broken promises, despair and hope, love and the future during their island home’s early years as a nation.

To learn the proper Spanish that his Chinese mother never knew, Antonio’s African father sends him to school in La Habana city.

As he runs errands within the Chinese community for wealthy men displaced from California by anti-Asian prejudice in the post-Gold Rush years, the 12 year old meets twin sister and brother Fan and Wing.

Antonio hears stories of unfairness and change, falls in love with words, wonders if they have true power.

Fan runs away from the sugarcane fields, from forced marriage – to sing and write songs and sing true.

Wing remembers being forced from their California home, wants to help the rebels in Cuba’s mountains.

Months roll into years as the three young people help hide escaped slaves, read letters of protest sent to China and Madrid, long for power over their own lives.

Lyrically, poetically, alternating voices relate the struggles of indentured Chinese workers and enslaved African people fighting for their freedom in the 1870s as Cuba strives for independence from Spain.