Tag Archive | family

Helping others find love, where’s her MATCH MADE IN MEHENDI? by Nandini Bajpai (YA book review)

Mar17
paperback book cover of A Match Made in Mehendi, by Nandini Bajpai. Little Brown Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Henna or paint?
Matchmaking or the magic of art?
Family expectations or her own dreams?

Simi wants a future in art, not becoming a traditional matchmaker like her mom and aunt and grandmother, nor excelling in STEM like her Indian-American parents expect – let big brother Navdeep please them with his amazing computer skills.

Sophomore year is their turn to get out of the shadows where the popular crowd shoves everyone, Simi and best friend Noah decide, just like the transfer students who don’t know that Amanda tries to run everything at their New Jersey high school.

Hmm… incorporating her mehendi henna designs into a large-scale artwork could be perfect for Simi’s signature project.

Maybe stand out by matchmaking! Using Navdeep’s stalled app (Mom insists on talking in person), Noah’s clever quiz questions, and Simi’s charming icons, they create Matched! limited to students at their school.

At first, Simi and Noah stay quiet about Matched! but when more and more students take the quiz, their secret is out – and kids are excited to see who their top Matches will be.

Ohh… soccer stars Ethan and Tea are perfectly Matched even as Amanda keeps saying she’s getting Ethan back.

Umm… maybe Simi’s Matches include long-time crush Aiden from art or Suraj who transferred here for robotics.

Eek… Noah won’t tell Simi if cute new guy Connor from California is one of his matches – surely they’re compatible!

As Matches begin to meet in person and decide whether to go out or not, Amanda’s demands to be Matched with Ethan grow more frenzied – yikes!

Enjoy this debut novel to see which Matches flare brightly!

Have you ever tried a matching app?
**kmm

Book info: A Match Made in Mehendi / Nandini Bajpai. Little Brown Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2019, paperback 2020. [author site] [publisher site] Personal collection; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Hurry along on HENRIE’S HERO HUNT for all the clues! by Petra James (MG book review)

Mar16
book cover of Henrie's Hero Hunt, by Petra James, art by A. Yi. Published by Kane Miller Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

The Hero Hotline phone rings!
Who needs help?
Is the newest Hero ready?

Being the first girl born into the House of Melchoir (HoMe) in 200 years won’t keep young Henrie from her destiny as a Hero!

With her brave Aunt Ellie, Henrie is continuing to search for her parents who aren’t dead at all, despite what the Melchior men told them for so long.

The HoMe Hero Hotline calls Henrie and friend Alex to help Marley uncover the truth about a beloved great-aunt whose golden reputation as an Egyptologist on the King Tut discovery team was tarnished by scandal.

In a wheelchair with a broken leg, Marley found a 1946 ad for HoMe among Great-Aunt Agnes’ things – that’s why she called the Heroes!

Hieroglyphics on Aunt Agnes’ tombstone and unique embroidery stitches lead the trio to an old bookstore and a museum… but they’re not alone!

Who’s been skulking outside Marley’s house?
Who’s following the tweens through the city?
Can they uncover the secret that restores Agnes’ reputation?

Filled with Tips from the Hero’s Handbook, quizzes, and codes to decipher, this book is a race between heroes and villains to find the truth!

If you’ve missed book 1, Hapless Hero Henrie, never fear! Our determined hero will catch you up on its thrilling events as she and Alex and Marley race to find the clues – before it’s too late! Brought to the US from Australia by Kane Miller Books.

What heroic qualities are strong in you?
**kmm

Book info: Henrie’s Hero Hunt (House of Heroes, book 2) / Petra James, art by A. Yi. Kane Miller Books, 2021. [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

SOMEBODY GIVE THIS HEART A PEN, a poet speaks up, shouts out – by Sophia Thakur (YA book review)

Mar15
book cover of Somebody Give This Heart a Pen, by Sophia Thakur. Published by Candlewick Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Being seen,
seeing others truly,
acknowledging support and pain.

In her poetry, Sophia Thakur captures life-moments low and high, reveals bone-deep concerns, speaks of youth, for youth, to youth.

“To you, the silence in this stillness is to be endured
not experienced.
It scratches at every anxious bone that you own…”
begins the poem “Fidgeting” (pg. 66), one of several whose unflinching observations resolve with grace and advice.

Section headers composed of proverbs and sayings – Grow, Wait, Speak, Grow Again – present themselves as concrete poems of wisdom, slashed white against a dark page.

Honed through her performance poetry and TED talks (like this one), the Black British poet’s style radiates on the page, like the opening lines of “When to Write”:

“When your fists are ready to paint faces
When there is nowhere to confide
When your skin lingers high above your bones
and you’re so out of touch with self.
Write…” (pg. 98)

Check out her first volume of powerful and empathetic poems today at your local library or independent bookstore, and be inspired to let your heart speak.

“…I swore to my lips
never to send up anything that would compromise
anyone’s perception of me.
I have a vision of how I wish to be seen
and I fear that that image will be challenged
if ever they know more of me.” –from “Secrets” (pg. 57)

Your favorite contemporary poem?
**kmm

Book info: Somebody Give This Heart a Pen / Sophia Thakur. Candlewick Press, 2020. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

BEYOND ME, the earth shakes and trembles, by Annie Donworth-Chikamatsu (MG book review)

Mar11
book cover of Beyond Me, by Annie Donworth-Chikamatsu. Published by Caitlyn Dlouhy Books /Atheneum | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Fifth grade almost done,
cramming for junior high entrance exams,
wait… what’s happening under our feet?!

Buildings and trains and children in Japan are well-prepared for earthquakes because small tremors happen all the time.

But on March 11, 2010, the earth shook and shook, halting choir practice for 11-year-old Maya and her classmates, sending them home with worried parents and grandparents.

Maya’s American mother works from home, her great-grandparents are next door, best friend Yuka lives just down the lane.

The epicenter was far away in Japan’s north, followed by a massive tsunami that struck a nuclear electricity plant – oh, the devastation! Maya is heart-sick, feeling dizzy even when the earth isn’t moving – what can she do to help the people of the northeast?

There are aftershocks even down here and continuing worries about losing electricity, damage to railroads, having enough drinking water. Father finally reaches them after walking 20 miles from his office in Tokyo!

Maya’s mother begins organizing relief efforts for the northeast, working on her computer at home under the big table during tremors.

She shows Maya the paper crane project started by American students who are sending messages of support. Together, Maya and Yuka decide to fold 1000 paper cranes for hope, like Sadako.

As end-of-school events are postponed again and again, Maya and Father work with Great-grandfather in the vegetable field, glad to be outdoors as summer begins, to grow food for their neighbors, to be together as tremors continue.

Will her sixth-grade year begin on time?
What if the Big Earthquake hits here?
Why is this strange cat coming into her house?

This novel in verse uses unique typesetting patterns to show Maya’s fright and confusion during the quake and its many aftershocks, large and small.

Today marks 12 years since this event – have you ever experienced an earthquake?
**kmm

Book info: Beyond Me / Annie Donworth-Chikamatsu. Caitlyn Dlouhy/ Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020, paperback 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

THE JASMINE PROJECT – everyone’s finding her the perfect guy (secretly), by Meredith Ireland (YA book review)

Mar8
book cover of The Jasmine Project, by Meredith Ireland. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

He dumped her?!
Future plans now murky,
her family wants to fix it… look out!

Jasmine had everything arranged, counting down to graduation, moving into an apartment with her longtime boyfriend Paul, starting nursing school (it’s a secure career… sigh).

Her family and enormous network of cousins and aunts know that Paul is cheating on her before the Korean adoptee does (not savvy about social media at all).

To help Jasmine get over Paul, her Filipino-white family decides to bring the best young bachelors in central Florida to her graduation party (big sister Cari’s podcast about The Bachelor is really popular).

All a secret from Jasmine, including the bets that Davey takes on which guy she’ll bring to the family Fourth of July party! (her adopted Dominican younger brother will surely grow up to be a bookie…)

Maybe it will be Justin, her junior high pal back from four years in Texas (so cute, so grown up).

Or Eugene, son of famous restaurant chefs (Jasmine dreams of cooking, not nursing).

Perhaps Aaron, the minor league pitcher from Nashville (that accent, those manners).

Everyone involved knows the rules, except Jasmine of course, but when some bachelors go rogue and Paul contacts her mid-summer (he never did treat her right), who knows what will happen by July!

Funniest inter-generational group texts ever punctuate this story of Jasmine discovering who she really is and what she wants for her own future.

Grab this debut novel at your local library or independent bookstore to find out who Jasmine chooses.

What’s your best “we met at a party” story?
**kmm

Book info: The Jasmine Project / Meredith Ireland. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Best friends vs. sorcery! BEETLE & THE HOLLOWBONES. by Aliza Layne (Graphic novel review)

Mar4
book cover of Beetle & the Hollowbones, words & art by Aliza Layne; coloring by Natalie Riess & Kristen Acampora. Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Boring little town,
everything’s the same –
until it’s not!!

As a young goblin-witch, Beetle is apprenticed to her Gran, learning potions and trying to master that dratted flying broom… ho-hum, not real magic like sorcery, is it?

At least the 12 year old sometimes can escape those boring lessons and meet her best friend Blob Ghost, who’s cursed to live forever in the mall. She’s tried so many ways to get them out, of course, but the mall basement always pulls them back.

Oh, great – her former best friend Kat is back from the exclusive Academy, apprenticing to witch Marla Hollowbone who controls so much of their town. Kat has already earned her sorcery stone and is eager to learn more spells and secrets from her powerful aunt.

Ack! Blob Ghost tells her that they’ve learned the mall will soon be torn down – on Marla Hollowbone’s orders!

Can a ghost die twice?
How can Beetle free them from their curse?
Will Kat defy her aunt and help?

Into the depths and into the sky, Beetle will try her goblin-witch best to help her friend, even as Marla threatens her Gran! (Yes, sequels to this strongly colored graphic novel are in the works!)

What’s the scariest adventure that you and your best friend ever had?
**kmm

Book info: Beetle & the Hollowbones / words & art by Aliza Layne; coloring by Natalie Riess & Kristen Acampora. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020. [author site] [author interview] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

THE COMING STORM of mayhem & magic – can they stand against it? by Regina M. Hansen (YA book review)

Mar3
book cover of The Coming Storm, by Regina M. Hansen. Published by Atheneum | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Magic in their music,
mysteries in the sea,
strange things on land, strange…

Fishing families on Prince Edward Island live and die by the rhythms of the sea, so young fiddler Beet isn’t scared of it, but she’s wary of shapeshifters and other mystical things said to live under its waves, waiting…

The teen’s beloved cousin is lost at sea in early 1949, appearing to her that night as a ghost playing their uncle’s violin in one final sad tune, just as his son is born. All the more reason for Beet to practice and become the best fiddler on the island.

Beet and baby Joseph hear a woman’s so-haunting song from just over the next dune, perhaps the same song that her uncles heard in 1918 after they followed a beautiful gray horse, then found Sarah and her dead husband on the beach.

Trying to save their horse in 1900 during a terrible storm got the Doucets swept out to sea, and her niece from the States inherited their place. They say the Mrs. stayed youthful and lovely into her forties, then her health suddenly declined despite all her husband’s money.

It’s Marina Shaw who owns the gray horse that Beet and Joseph start to see when they walk the shore, a fancy-dressed lady who knows more about folks here than a newcomer should.

Can Beet and her friends find out who Marina really is?
What’s hidden on the tiny offshore island?
Where has toddling Joseph gone?

Seventeen years and seventeen years and seventeen years…this lyrical story jumps between time periods as mythic creatures and an evil secret threaten all in their island town, with the smallest chance that music and love can overcome many decades of wrongdoing.

What’s your favorite legendary creature of the sea?
**kmm

Book info: The Coming Storm / Regina M. Hansen. Atheneum, 2021. [author site] [author interview] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

It’s Mardi Gras! Let’s go TO CARNIVAL: a Celebration in Saint Lucia! by Baptiste Paul & Jana Glatt (Picture Book review)

Mar1
book cover of To Carnival: a Celebration in Saint Lucia! by Baptiste Paul; art by Jana Glatt. Published by Barefoot Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

The music, the parade, the food – little Melba loves so much about Carnival that she can hardly sleep the night before!

Oh, no! How could her family leave for the morning parade without her?

As she hurries to the bus stop, the young girl meets a steel pan drummer heading to town, too. Oh, there goes the bus!

When they stop to help her friend Kelwin get his kite down from a tree, the bus passes them by again…

Hurrying to town, the group grows as birds and animals of Saint Lucia join them.

Will they get there in time to see the parade?

The author’s childhood memories of this Caribbean island come alive with vibrant images by the Brazilian illustrator. This title is also available in Spanish and French!

Find Creole word pronunciations and meanings at the end of the book, as well as more about Carnival – celebrated in many nations leading up to Mardi Gras (that’s today!) and other times as locally chosen.

What costume would you wear to join in the Carnival parade?
**kmm

Book info: To Carnival: a Celebration in Saint Lucia! / Baptiste Paul; art by Jana Glatt. Barefoot Books, 2021. [author site] [artist site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Ballet is all she knows…then what? TINY DANCER memoir, by Siena Cherson Siegel & Mark Siegel (graphic novel review)

Feb24
book cover of Tiny Dancer, by Siena Cherson Siegel; art by Mark Siegel. Published by Atheneum | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Dance, stretch,
push through pain,
dance, dance… down.

Ballet classes during her blissful childhood in the 1970s set Siena on her life path. Dancing becomes an escape from the sixth-grade mean girls, from missing her big brother when he leaves Puerto Rico for Boston, from Mom and Dad fighting.

Audition for the School of American Ballet? Live in New York City? School with real friends? All wonderful (except leaving Dad back in San Juan).

Siena wants to be a ballerina more than anything, so that means total dedication, practice, and more practice. Summer ballet schools in and out of New York State as she grows just a little taller than is acceptable for the parts that she longs to dance, spotlight roles that go to her classmates.

An ankle injury forces her to sit out some practices at the New York City Ballet company, just as auditions for the next level are starting – the other girls will get ahead! A little pain is worth the chance to advance, right?

No time for boyfriends or hobbies… even in her dreams, she dances.

No carbs, no desserts – a ballerina’s physique is sleek and svelte…or else.

As her ankle’s healing slows and stalls, Siena’s self-confidence dwindles, and the teen feels trapped by expectations, like turning into a statue instead of a whirling, feather-light dancer.

This graphic novel memoir starts with light and lively lavender colors showcasing Siena’s early days, becoming darker and heavier as she struggles with what could possibly come after ballet, the tutu-clad ghost of her young dreams hovering over many sequences.

Where have your childhood dreams taken you?
**kmm

Book info: Tiny Dancer / Siena Cherson Siegel; art by Mark Siegel; backgrounds by Abe Erskine. Atheneum, 2021. [author bio] [artist site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

She’s leaving. DESTINATION ANYWHERE, anywhere but here, by Sara Barnard (YA book review)

Feb22
book cover of Destination Anywhere, by Sara Barnard; Christiane Furtges, illustrations. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Bullied.
Mocked.
No friends during all her years in secondary school – not. a. single. one.

Even trying to make friends in early college was so disastrous that 17-year-old Peyton just leaves England, flies to Vancouver with her sketchbook and savings, choosing an adventure alone over being so very, very alone at school.

At the Canadian youth hostel, she meets honestly nice people from all over the world. With young adults from Scotland and Russia and beyond, she tours the city, visits the beach and a zipline in the forest – and they’re glad that she’s with them (wow).

Flashbacks to the dreadful night in college that triggered her flight illuminate the chasm of self-doubt caused by years of bullying – can journeying get her over that?

Beasey, Khalil, and friends think that Peyton is traveling to see her grandfather in Alberta (well, she tells everyone that’s why she’s here) and ask if she wants to join them when they rent an RV to visit Banff, which is on her route – why not?

They understand her dreams of becoming an illustrator (her parents don’t), savor nature’s beauty with her, and soon will be on their way to other countries and jobs and such – what next for her?

Maybe actually visiting the grandfather who abandoned her dad and grandma decades ago is the right path…

By the author of A Quiet Kind of Thunder (I recommended it here).

Where would you go on your next journey of self-discovery?
**kmm

Book info: Destination Anywhere / Sara Barnard; Christiane Furtges, illustrations. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.