Tag Archive | abandonment

Dogtag Summer, by Elizabeth Partridge (fiction) – Vietnamese orphan, California challenges

May30

book cover of Dogtag Summer by Elizabeth Partridge published by BloomsburyFor most Americans, Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. We rarely remember its 1868 origins as a remembrance of those who have died protecting our nation and our freedoms.

As her summer begins, 12 year old Tracy thinks it’ll be like most summers, but what she and pal Stargazer uncover changes everything she thought she knew about herself and her adoptive family.

The Vietnam War era was chaotic and divisive for countless families on both sides of the Pacific, with many questions and no simple solutions. Perhaps a few answers will shine through for Tracy after all…
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Book info: Dogtag Summer / Elizabeth Partridge. Bloomsbury, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Recommendation: During the summer before 8th grade, Tracy starts having flashbacks to her childhood in Vietnam. Her adoptive parents have pictures of her arrival in the USA as a tiny 6 year old in 1975, but before that time, she has only an empty place inside her memories. As she and her friend Stargazer search in her garage, they find an ammo box and Army dogtags.

Now she dreams of her mother being away at DaNang as a laundry worker for the Americans, her uncle gone as a Viet Cong soldier, soldiers from both sides searching her grandmother’s hut in the jungle, families divided by war. How can she ask her adoptive father about the dogtags with another man’s name when he never talks about being in Vietnam?

As a Vietnamese-American, she was shunned by village neighbors and is taunted by California classmates. Sometimes, things are too quiet at her house now, but Stargazer’s easy-going parents accept her and welcome her to their place in the forest. When his peace-loving father sees the dogtags and calls the US soldiers in Vietnam “babykillers,” Tracy knows that she will have to be brave enough to ask her Dad about the past, about the dogtags, about why she came to this family in the US instead of another.

A story from the heart to go with the history book facts, readers will walk and dream with Tracy through that dogtag summer, through the questions and answers to better understanding of a difficult chapter in America’s history. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Green Angel, by Alice Hoffmann (book review) – past happiness, ashes today

May28

book cover of Green Angel by Alice Hoffmann published by ScholasticAnd the world as you know it ends.

What would you do if everyone, everything was taken from you? How could you cope, not yet 16, the ash falling, falling, falling… The end of Days? Prophecy coming to pass? Invasion?

This slim volume holds much sadness, many fears, and a fragment of hope as a young woman tries to go on living after unimaginable disaster.

Followed by Green Witch,  tomorrow’s featured book.
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Book info: Green Angel / by Alice Hoffman; illustrated by Matt Mahurin. Scholastic, 2003. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Black ashes fill the sky, as the City across the river burns. Green thought it wasn’t fair that she had to stay in the garden while her little sister and parents took their produce to the market across the bridge. Soon she would be 16 and could move to the city if she wanted to. She was always shy around other people while her sister, Aurora, glowed with happiness. But fire rained down on the City, burned the bridge, and consumed her family.

Green doesn’t need her ember-burnt eyes to see how the ashes kill the birds, blanket the garden, and smother the plants. She tattoos herself with each memory of loss, hacks off her hair, and armors herself against the world in her father’s coat sewn over with thorns, renaming herself Ash.

Food becomes scarce, and looters try to take over the farm. Hearing more than seeing, Ash gets through one day, then the next, with her sister’s dog as companion.

Will the sun never shine again?
Why was the City attacked?
Will this world remain ashes and death forever, or will it be green again someday?

This short lyrical tale traces Ash’s despair and Green’s hope. Next in the series is Green Witch. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

The House of Dead Maids, by Clare B. Dunkle (book review) – prequel to Wuthering Heights

May21
book cover of House of Dead Maids by Clare B Dunkle published by Henry Holt

Sometimes you wonder what happened in a person’s past to make them turn out the way they did. What’s their backstory? But authors don’t often give us the behind-the-scenes glimpses that we desire.

Such is the case with Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, whose creator Emily Bronte tells us so little of how he was orphaned or why his unseen childhood turned him into such a brutal man.

Clare B. Dunkle decided to tell Heathcliff’s backstory in this very creepy and very plausible prequel to Wuthering Heights – lots and lots of scary packed into a short book! (I don’t ever, ever want to travel to those moors…)
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Book info: The House of Dead Maids / by Clare B. Dunkle; illus. by Patrick Arrasmith. Henry Holt, 2010. 146 pgs. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Hired as a nursemaid for a little boy, Tabitha wonders what happened to the other girl from her orphanage who held the position before her. Seldom House is a huge, gloomy place on the English moorlands, with no windows facing south and a bleak inner courtyard where nothing grows.

The villagers stare and whisper, no one from Seldom House goes to church with her, and Tabby finds odd toys suddenly uncovered in her bedroom. Who is the other girl she hears running down the hall? Mrs. Winter says that no other girls live in the house.

Soon Tabby sees the ghosts she’s been hearing, all the dead maids of the house, and meets the little boy, who’s savage and wild, who has been promised that he will be Master of Seldom House, who can see the ghosts of all the dead masters. Overhearing a plan to murder them during a thunderstorm, as the land must have blood to be satisfied, she vows that they’ll both escape.

This chilling prequel to Wuthering Heights gives the dark background of the little orphan boy brought to Seldom House to ensure its luck, to take the place of its master, to learn of murder – the savage little boy who grew up to become Heathcliff… (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.u

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior, by Maureen McGowan (book review) – classic tale with martial arts twist!

May20

book cover of Cinderella Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan published by Silver DolphinIt’s Eliza Doolittle Day, honoring the streetwise flower seller transformed into a society lady by Professor Higgins (Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw).

So here’s a classic transformation tale with a twist. Cinderella: Ninja Warrior (first of the Canadian author’s Twisted Tales series) spices things up a bit and lets readers select alternate paths through the middle of the story! Yes, it’s “Cinderella” meets “Choose Your Own Adventure” meets “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” – well, not really Ninja Turtles, but lots of magic, wizardry, ninja skills, and that really evil stepmother.

You want some escapist, have-a-fun-time reading with a feisty heroine and a few surprises? Then this is your book! And you can share it with younger readers, too – lots of action, coy romance, and bad guys getting what they deserve, whichever path you choose! I can’t wait to read #2, Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer!
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Book info: Cinderella: Ninja Warrior / by Maureen McGowan. Silver Dolphin, 2011. [author’s blog] [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Book Talk: Cinderella discovers that ninja training enhances the concentration and strength needed to improve her magical abilities in this “choose-your-path” version of the classic tale. Her evil stepmother is a strong wizard, nearly as strong as Cinderella’s late father and mother were, but only uses her powers in evil ways. If Cinderella can just improve her martial arts and magical abilities enough, she might escape past the ravenous wolves of night or break the daylight locking curse that her stepmother placed on every door and window of her father’s house…

Lucky that her cat pushed that ninja skills book off the enchanted shelf in her father’s old study, lucky that Max kept pawing open the book so she would try the skills, lucky that her stepmother never came into the dank cellar where Cinderella practiced – but can she learn these difficult skills without a real teacher?

When the King sends invitations to a fabulous ball so that Prince Tiberius may select a bride, Cinderella must decide whether to risk her stepmother’s wrath by attending or to stay home from the ball, perhaps forever – the first of the reader’s three options to choose the path of the story.

A curious royal messenger, martial arts contests, trials by magic, mistaken identities, mystical transformations – your choices make every reading of this classic fairy tale into a new story. Enjoy a great new twist on an old favorite as you select Cinderella’s path, cheering for our heroine and booing at her wicked stepmother. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley)

Dancing Through the Snow, by Jean Little (book review) – foster kid to real family

May17

book cover of Dancing Through the Snow by Jean Little published by Kane MillerCanadian author Jean Little introduces us to Min, abandoned as a toddler at the fairground, knowing only her name and that the man called Bruno will hit when he gets angry. Can you imagine being bounced from foster home to foster home the way that she has? And to be ‘returned’ to Social Services just before Christmas, like a wrong-size sweater! It’s no wonder that Min bottles up her feelings and rarely speaks, not willing to be hurt any further.

As we watch Min tentatively reach out to her newest foster mother and actually talk enough at her new school to make friends, let’s remember that most kiddos are in foster care through circumstances beyond their control and that every childhood deserves happiness. Saluting foster families and the agencies that serve these children during National Foster Care Month.
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Book info: Dancing Through the Snow / by Jean Little. Kane Miller, 2009. [author’s site] [publisher site]

My Book Talk: As she waits for her foster mom, Min keeps a toddler from running into traffic. Why can’t someone rescue Min from the endless round of foster homes, from not knowing why she was abandoned as a toddler, from not knowing her own birthday? And being returned to Miss Willis’s office right before Christmas! Twelve year-old Min feels abandoned all over again.

Suddenly, Dr. Jess Hart is there, as she was when Min was in the hospital with pneumonia, and Dr. Jess says that Min is going home with her for the holidays! Her nephew Toby turns out to be the toddler’s big brother and helps Min settle in for a real Christmas.

As they are sledding one day, Min and Toby find a mistreated dog and insist that Jess take the badly injured animal to the vet. Is it a stray pet? An escapee from the suspected puppy mill near their friend’s country house?

The new year brings new worries. Will the kids at her new school make fun of Min because of her unknown past? Does Jess really want Min to stay with her? Can the little dog survive to come live with them? Has Toby’s dad survived the tsunami where he was working? How can the schoolkids help the disaster victims so far away?

The Canadian winter seems a bit warmer as Min gets to know Jess and Toby better in this hopeful story. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

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!
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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.

Zen & Xander Undone, by Amy Kathleen Ryan (book review) – sisters forever, grief binds them still

May8

Book cover of Zen and Xander Undone by Amy Kathleen Ryan published by Houghton Mifflin “Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters” (Irving Berlin)

– but this ain’t no White Christmas happy tale, as the death of their mother sends teen sisters Zen and Xander careening through a summer of bad choices.

Add the letters and packages that arrive from their mother (yes, still dead)… let’s hope they can hold each other up as they tackle a mystery that they really shouldn’t try to solve.
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Book info: Zen & Xander Undone / by Amy Kathleen Ryan. Houghton Mifflin, hardback 2010, paperback 2011. [author site] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Mom’s death, Dad’s retreat into his office, big sister’s over-the-limit new behavior – the summer before Zen’s senior year is spiraling down, fast.

If Zen could just keep her brilliant big sister from getting too crazy, then Xander will keep her scholarships and head off to a prestigious university, away from the grief that their mother’s death from cancer has cloaked across their lives.

If she could just get Dad to come out of his study and into the daylight, maybe he would go back to being a noteworthy professor, instead of an unshaven zombie-dad.

And if she could just center herself, then Zen could concentrate on preparing for her next black belt karate level, rather than using her skills to kick out against the guys luring her sister down the wrong paths.

And these letters from their dead mom that arrive on special days and holidays… when Zen and Xander check her lawyer’s office for some answers, they open up questions from their mother’s past.

Can their family revive itself during the sisters’ last summer together?
Will searching through their mother’s past ruin their future or rebuild it?
Death ain’t easy, but does living have to be even harder? (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Trickster’s Girl, by Hilari Bell (book review) – nanotech, ley lines, unbalanced Earth

May7
book cover of Trickster's Girl by Hilari Bell published by Houghton Mifflin

Ley lines and legendary figures from Native American/First Peoples mythology.
Bioplague and a Gaia/Earth that can no longer heal itself.
Our potential future, Kelsa’s world, so much at stake.

Read this first book in the Raven Duet outside, under a real, living tree.
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Book info: Trickster’s Girl / Hilari Bell. Clarion/ Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. 268 pg [author’s site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Recommendation: As Kelsa is burying Dad’s ashes in the scrap of forest left near the city, a young man with no ID chip approaches her, wondering why she doesn’t believe in magic. Ha! Her father just died of cancer, that curable everyday problem, worrying about the bioplague dropped by terrorists in the Amazon rainforest, the antidote that didn’t work, the deforestation of whole countries that followed. Magic in a world of aircars and compods and microchefs?

This isn’t hocus-pocus magic, Kelsa finds out, as Raven transforms himself into a fish, a bird, right before her eyes. He describes how humankind’s demands have blocked the ley lines of spirit, keeping the earth from healing itself. Now forests can’t fight off the bioplague and humans can’t fight off curable cancers and worse natural disasters loom ahead.

Kelsa has a flicker of magic in her soul, and Raven needs her help to unblock key nexus points on the ley lines from Utah to Alaska with a Native American artifact. But first they have to rob a museum to get it, then slip away from the police without worrying her mother.

Surviving in the wilderness as her dad taught her, escaping from agents of spirits who’d rather erase humanity and start earth anew, riding bikes and motorcycles over mountain trails toward nexus points, crossing boundaries without passports…
Can Kelsa really help the earth heal itself?
Is Raven the Trickster telling her the whole truth?

This is the first book of Bell’s new series based in a high-tech, high-security future United States whose only hope is the magic recounted in ancient folklore. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandhug.com)

Last Summer of the Death Warriors, by Francisco X. Stork (book review) – is growing up harder than dying young?

May5

book cover of Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X Stork published by Arthur A Levine BooksWhat does life mean when you know – without any doubt – that you are going to die way too young?

Is there even any sense in trying to live a good life when the specter of Death haunts your breakfast, lingers in the corners of your backpack, rustles the leaves of the tree you can no longer climb?

Two teenage guys try to find the balance – D.Q. knows he’s dying fast, Pancho might not care enough to make it through the summer himself…

Francisco X. Stork says on his blog that he concentrates first on being a good writer, then on being a good Latino writer. I’d say that he succeeds at both. Check out his Marcelo in the Real World, too.

Book info: The Last Summer of the Death Warriors / by Francisco X. Stork. Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), 2010. 352 pgs. [author’s website] [publisher website]

My Recommendation: His sister dead just 3 months after their widowed father’s death – Pancho had promised to take care of Rosa, sweet Rosa, with her child’s mind in a young woman’s body. Why aren’t the police looking for the man who was with her when she died of “unidentified causes, no foul play”? At 17, Pancho is ready to find that man and make him pay for Rosa’s death.

But he’s not allowed to live alone at 17, gets kicked out of a foster home for fighting, and finds himself at St. Anthony’s orphanage, across town from his family’s trailer in the New Mexico desert where he watched the sunsets and worked with his father. Everyone works at St. Anthony’s; Pancho will help D.Q. whose cancer treatments have finally put him in a wheelchair.

D.Q.’s mother couldn’t handle his dad’s death several years ago and brought him to St. Anthony’s for the summer while she recovered. But summers and years went by with her hardly contacting him, until the cancer hit 6 months ago. Now she’s taking charge, ordering experimental treatments, but her son wants none of it.

Now D.Q. is writing the Death Warriors’ Manifesto, about how a true death warrior recognizes his someday-death and therefore lives every day till then in order to make a positive difference. Explaining that to everyday, non-philosophical Pancho is another way that D.Q. keeps going through the chemo treatments. Piecing together the clues leading to the man who was with Rosa is what keeps Pancho going. Seeing lovely, caring Marisol at Casa Esperanza during the chemo makes their lives more worthwhile.

Will Pancho find the man and avenge Rosa’s death?
Will D.Q.’s mother let him go back to St. Anthony’s after chemo?
Can both young men live like true death warriors?

A great story of friendships and choices, of really living versus just being alive. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.