Tag Archive | war

Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings, by Sophia Bennett (book review) – fashion, war, and world peace

May12

It’s tempting to be lighthearted about this British tween book and call it a cross between Project Runway and the Lost Boys, but that would diminish the passion for helping that these best friends discover as they try make a significant difference to children of war, using the best skills that they have.

Just imagine what Crow’s parents went through, sending her away from Uganda to safety in London, their son missing from the refugee camp and perhaps a child soldier now…

First in the series; hope the others cross the Pond from the UK soon!
**kmm

Book info: Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings / by Sophia Bennett. Chicken House (Scholastic), 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Book Talk: Three junior high BFFs with different dreams – fashion designer, diplomat, actress – move through life and London with only minor panic. But their classmate Crow, a refugee from Uganda, struggles in school, doodling fashion designs and praying that the teacher doesn’t call on her.

Crow does more than just doodle – she sews and knits her dreams into incredible creations in the tiny apartment she shares with her aunt. Her brother went missing in the refugee camp, so Crow’s family is terribly worried, afraid that he’s been captured to become a child soldier.

Edie puts information on her website about the Invisible Children like Crow’s brother, Nonie helps Crow improve her reading through fashion photo books, and Jenny gets hauled to press conferences and premieres for the movie she had a small part in (wishing she could stay in London and out of sight of her manipulative, pushy father).

A student fashion competition brings them all together, as Nonie’s grandmother lets Crow study her designer gowns, the three friends turn a spare room into a sewing studio for the budding designer, and Crow creates fabulous clothes that can’t be ignored.

But can little Crow keep up with school and the demands of the contest organizers? Can the three friends help her make dreams into reality, without sacrificing their own? Will Crow ever see her parents and siblings again?

First in a series, this book brings friends, fashion, and real life into true focus, without forgetting the fun! (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandhug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Warriors in the Crossfire, by Nancy Bo Flood (book review) – Pacific island incident World War II

May3
book cover of Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood published by Front Street Books

So many small “incidents of war” go unchronicled, unrecognized.

But just imagine their effects on the families whose lands and lives the battles cross and re-cross.

Go to Saipan during WWII, during the Japanese Occupation, during the erasure of a traditional way of life in this gripping book.
**kmm

Book info: Warriors in the Crossfire / by Nancy Bo Flood. Front Street Books, 2010. [author’s website] [publisher website]

Recommendation: Eager to learn to steer ocean outrigger canoes, Joseph instead must watch as the invading Japanese army makes islander men clear the jungle for runways rather than fishing to feed their families. Instead of sitting in the men’s council of his clan on his 14th birthday, Joseph is searching for shore crabs and coconuts. Instead of school time with his half-Japanese cousin Kento, he has only worry for his family and a mental map of the hidden cave where his father stockpiled water and food as whispered words warned of the approaching American forces.

When the message to vanish comes, Joseph must lead his mother, sister, and toddler nephew silently through the jungle, armed only with his father’s ceremonial knife. As fighter planes scream overhead, the family huddles in the tiny cave and hopes the water jugs will last. Which soldiers will find them first – the Japanese, who will behead them for treachery to the Emperor, or the white-faced Americans, who might eat them?

Can honor and family both stay alive in such horror? Will the Japanese use all the Rafalawash people of Saipan as a human wall against the American invaders? Will Joseph see his father or cousin again in this lifetime?

The battles of World War II overran the native populations of many Pacific Islands, and their death tolls rarely count the thousands of islanders who also perished in the crossfire. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.