Review: Son of a Gun by Anne de Graaf

Son of a Gun by Anne de Graaf

Lucky and his sister Nopi are at school in their Liberian village, when members of the rebel forces invade the school, kidnap all of the students and force them to become child soldiers.  Desperate to get back to the city and to reunite with their family, they risk their lives to escape.  But the story isn't over so quickly.  After they find their family and the war ends, it starts up again, and they find themselves once again at the will of soldiers who will not hesitate to mame and kill to ensure allegiance.

This slim, yet powerful novel evokes the fear and desperation of children dragged into a civil war.  Told in the alternating voice of Lucky and his sister Nopi, it follows the siblings over five years of bloodshed and loss.  Though the subject matter is very sensitive, de Graaf handles it with finesse, acknowledging the violence, but not venturing into gore.  Because the story is told as a reflection of the brother and sister, and the details of the violence are something they prefer to forget, the major focus is on their hopes, dreams and fears.  After the story, de Graaf provides a thoughtful Author's Note and extensive background material that will help young readers place the story and understand Liberia's history. Discussion questions are also included.  This is a perfect read for a class (history, social justice, reading, etc.) to do together, as it will provoke strong reactions and may ignite concern and an interest in helping the children of war.

Recommended for grades 7+.  Give this to those who were riveted by Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Patricia McCormick's Never Fall Down, or another title (fiction or memoir) about child soldiers.  Reluctant readers will be drawn in by the length (under 100 pages), but will keep the pages turning to learn of the fate of Lucky and Nopi.

Son of a Gun is a 2013 Batchelder Honor book.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Review: Pinned by Sharon G. Flake

Pinned by Sharon G. Flake

It felt like everyone in the blogosphere was reading this book last fall and there was a bit of a campaign for folks to put their money where their mouths were and pony up to purchase this title which NOT ONLY has a clearly identifiable African American girl (Autumn, the protagonist) on the cover, but ALSO features another clearly identifiable African American boy, without legs and in a wheelchair (Adonis, the other protagonist) on the back cover.

Having read the title, I can assure you that it is not the only reason to buy and/or read this book.  The main reason one should get familiar with this book is because it tackles the tough subjects of disability and stereotypes head-on with characters who are the definition of real.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's start with a little synopsis...

Autumn is the school's only female wrestler - and she's good.  And not just "for a girl."  She has a chance at winning State's.  What's she not good at is school.  Her family moved around a lot when she was younger, and she just couldn't seem to keep pace with reading and math.  Before too long there seemed no way to catch up.  But she's got wrestling, and that's what's important.  And did I mention she can bake the heck out of red velvet?

Adonis is perfect in every way.  Intelligent, generous with his time and talents and adored by teachers (and Autumn) he has it all.  Except for his legs.  He was born without them.  But he's never let that stop him from doing anything.  He won't stand for people who don't give 100%, and that's why Autumn drives him crazy.

Autumn has a crush on Adonis.  She is consumed.  And he can't stand her.  Autumn fawns all over Adonis, but he won't give her the time of day, and he certainly won't tutor her when she isn't serious about doing well in school.  He knows she just needs better grades in order to wrestle, and can't respect that or her.  Besides that, he can't really believe that she wants to date him.  He's always been confident about himself and never let his lack of legs keep him from standing tall, but letting another person inside?  It's not going to happen.

So much to love about this book!  Adonis is arrogant.  He sees himself as self-assured and confident, but the truth is that he looks down on others.  Not out of jealousy for what they have that he does not, but for the way they waste their talents and abilities.  Autumn is sincere.  She speaks openly and honestly.  She admits her faults and weaknesses (even if she can't sometimes handle addressing them and working to fix them) and is proud of her strengths.  Everything about her is genuine and sincere.  Being inside each of their heads as the chapters alternate is revealing, not just about the character who is narrating, but also about those around them.  Autumn pursues Adonis, and not just casually, but with a force and strength that defies better judgment.  Though not the strongest student, she has an honest curiosity about her world and the people in it.  Though sometimes painful, it is refreshing to see a character with that much personal fortitude.

Anyway, I've yammered on long enough.  Just read the book, okay? Haha.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Friday Flashback: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Books don't have to be new to be deserving of a review! On Fridays I flashback to some of my favorite books of all-time.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie



Arnold (aka Junior) has spent his entire life on the Spokane Indian Reservation, and it hasn't been easy.  His parents are alcoholics. He lives in poverty.  He was born with "water on the brain" and now has various medical issues and physical oddities.  He is the perfect bully target.  Luckily, he has his best friend Rowdy to protect him.  He also has his diary, in which he draws and vents about all of his troubles.   Now that he's transferring to Rearden, an all-white public school off the reservation, his life is getting that much more complicated.  And funny. And sad.

Alexie does not pull any punches in this humorously honest (and semi-autobiographical) look at life on the rez and how a chance at escaping it all is harder than it looks.  The language is raw.  The comics are hilarious.  The situations he encounters are real.  And really difficult.  Several of the 8th graders at my school have read it and have absolutely* loved it.  I've watched them describe the plot to other students and say how funny it is only to receive weird/horrified looks in return, as the non-readers wonder how a book with themes of racism and bullying could be funny.  Then the non-readers become readers, and invariably recommend it to more people!

There's cursing, racism, bullying, substance abuse, death, and MASTURBATION.  Suffice it to say, there are lots of things for adults to be afraid of (when they happen to occur in books for teens). And thus, some adults have worked to ban this book (the wikipedia entry has a quick encapsulation of efforts to remove the book from school curriculum with links to articles).  My guess is they're really just afraid of the "sex" It's honest about bullying and trying to fit in, about burgeoning sexuality and self-doubt, and about everything else that happens in high school.  Teens, who are living the trials and tribulations of high school on a daily basis, take comfort in reading about someone else who can face all sorts of bad stuff and still have a sense of humor about it all.  Meanwhile, some adults (and I stress the some), get rankled by the thought that their children are mature enough to handle that type of content.  Such as it is.

*I'm sorry.  I had to do the "absolutely" pun.  You would've too.  Admit it. 

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Review: Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day by David Levithan



Every day, A wakes up in a new body.  And for that day, that one day, A steps into the shoes of someone else's life.  But on this, A takes the body of a high school boy, and falls immediately and helplessly in love with his girlfriend, Rhiannon.  All A wants is to be with Rhiannon, and for Rhiannon to know and love A back.  But how can A find a way to stay in Rhiannon's life? Will Rhiannon even recognize A in a different body? And if she does, can she love A in the body of someone of a different race, religion or gender?

I picked up an ARC of this at BEA last May and determined immediately that the only acceptable course of action was to read it the entire book on my bus ride from NYC to DC.  It's amazing what four hours and a good book can do for a person.  I laughed.  I cried.  Oh David Levithan, how I adore thee.  You cut right to the core.  It gave me a lot to think about in terms of how I respond to people on the basis of their gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and skin color and how society differentiates on the basis of these characteristics.  This would be a great book for group discussion, as it raises so many questions about who we love, how we love and why, and what the world would be like if our physical form did not define us as persons.  If I ran a book club with high school students, we would read this.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Review: Endangered by Eliot Schrefer

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer



Sophie has returned for the summer to live with her Congolese mother who runs the only sanctuary for bonobo apes in all of the Democratic Republic of Congo.   On the ride from the airport she spots a man selling a baby bonobo.  Seeing that the animal is undernourished and has been mistreated she forks over a bunch of American money to rescue the ape, who she names Otto.  She immediately forms a bond with the ape, and though her mother is angry and disappointed that Sophie would enable the animal trafficker by giving him money and fueling the trade, she allows Otto to stay at the sanctuary, requiring Sophie to mother him.  While Sophie's mother is off doing a release of older apes who are ready to transition back into the wild, a rebel army seizes control of the capitol and havoc ensues.  Armed revolutionaries take over the sanctuary, and Sophie barely makes it into the enclosure with Otto.  Here, they learn together how to forage for food and interact with the older apes. But they can't stay; the soldiers know they're inside and their only hope for long-term survival is to find help outside.  Danger awaits at every turn, and teenaged Sophie is suddenly responsible not just for her own survival, but Otto's as well.

I'll admit that it took me at least 50 pages to get into this book.  At first, I wasn't comfortable with the pacing and the sentences felt a little choppy and strung together.  I reminded myself that Endangered had been selected as a finalist for this year's National Book Award and that there was probably a good reason for that.  Maybe I was being overly critical and looking for things to take issue with, just because I loved Bomb (another finalist) so much and wanted it to win.  So I kept reading.  And I as learned more about bonobo apes and about the government and struggles of the Congo and became invested in Sophie and Otto's survival, something strange happened: I found I couldn't put the book down.  I read the last 150+ pages in one sitting.  From 6:30 to 8:00 in the morning.  On a Sunday.  When I could have been sleeping.  I'm not sure exactly what happened.  I can't imagine that the writing style changed.  Perhaps it was that the pace of the story quickened and the urgency of Sophie and Otto's situation increased just as the need for a constant stream of background information background information background information settled into a sentence here or there about bonobo ape habitat and behavior or mineral wealth and societal poverty in the Congo.  What really sold me on the book though (as I had lingering curiosities about how the author knew so much about bonobos and the Congo and wondered about his research), were the author's note, author Q&A and acknowledgments provided after the novel's close.

I passed this one on to one of the teachers at my school who I know has a deep interest in apes and the welfare of the people of the Congo and other war-torn and perpetually impoverished nations in Africa.  I haven't gotten a review from her yet, but will try to remember to keep you posted.  I think Endangered would be a great introduction to the Congo and to bonobo apes for older middle schoolers and high schoolers.  Books set in foreign countries are few and far between, and those that spotlight modern Africa are even more sparse.

Endangered is one of five finalists for the 2012 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.