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Top 5 Dear America
Originally I was going to do a full ranking but then there’s 35 books and I don’t hate myself. Also the last time I read all 35 was in 2020 where I read the 35 books in 17 days (I was under self-pressure okay. It was a stupid idea) and got eye strain for a month. It was an awful idea. But it’s a lot and so I decided to choose the top 5 that always stand out to me.
- One Eye Laughing, The Other Weeping: This book is split into two parts describing Julie’s life under the beginning of Nazi persecution in Austria and her escape to America. The first part is harrowing describing how happy her life is which makes it all the more awful when it becomes more limited by the rules of Gestapo. It doesn’t help that they are all in denial of what is to come, but not for long. Kristalnacht is where it really sets in that people truly hate them for being Jews and older readers will be able to read in between the lines of what the Nazis did to Julie’s mother leading to her subsequent depression and suicide. I was just shocked when Julie’s servants turned on them calling her “the rich Jewish bitch.” It further isolates Julie as her former friends refuse to speak to her and her fellow Jews are disappearing, either to escape or have been rounded up already. With all this happening, Denenberg’s portrayal of Julie’s depression and PSTD when she comes to America is realistic as she cannot feel happy knowing what is happening to her father on the other side of the ocean and the cruelty people are capable of.
- With the Might of Angels: Dawn Rae’s life is turning upside down for the better and for the worse. She along with few others have been chosen to integrate her Virginia middle school. She is excited to get a better education that her parents remind her that she deserves, but the backlash is fierce and soon she is the only one attending as her other friends feel the hostility and threats aren’t worth it. The discrimination that Dawnie faces is intense and I’m mad on her behalf to see what she goes through from teachers and students alike but Pinkney gives Dawnie a great support system with her family and Church and inspiring figures like Jackie Robinson and a young unknown preacher with the initials of MLK to give her the courage to keep going.
- A Coal Miner’s Bride: Anetka is thrilled to finally be able to join her father in America especially as things in the motherland grow worse and worse with the military draft, hostile soldiers and general poverty. But when she comes to America, she finds out the full story of how her father afforded her passage. He had the help of her apprently new husband, a Pennsylvania miner with three daughters. It’s not what she envisioned in coming to America but she is determined to get the girls to love her and when her husband dies, fight for the rights of other workers against the exploitative managers.
- Dreams in the Golden Country: If you like Fiddler on the Roof, you’ll enjoy this story of 12 year old Zipporah and her family as the finally come to the city with street paved with gold. Not so much. Zipphorah is trying to catch up on her English when she’s placed in kindergarten classes at school and the rest of the family try deal with their low-paying jobs in factories. But what makes it very Fiddler on the Roof is the aspect surrounding family and tradition as Zipporah begins to long for life on the Yiddish stage while her older sister falls in love with a young Irish man, cementing her death in the eyes of their parents.
- Color Me Dark: African-Americans had thought things would get better after WW1 since they had sent soldiers to fight for democracy, proving that they deserved rights and citizenship just as any white man. Not so much as the Love family finds out when their returning uncle gets lynched and their newspaper offices gets destroyed. Worst of all, Nellie’s twin has gone mute since witnessing the attack. Though they are loathed to leave the only home they’ve known, the family moves to Chicago along with the rest of the Great Migration. McKissack does a great job in exploring Nellie’s sort of culture shock in the North, the variety of black Churches and preachers and the continuing racial tensions that simmer below the surface.
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Top 5 Royal Diaries
- Anacaona: Golden Flower: This one got number one because I loved the combination of amazing cover design and the unique storytelling choices combining visions, writing and symbols. Makes sense since the Taino didn’t have written language as we know it. Even so, Danticat is a mesmerizing author with lyrical languague as she introduces readers to Haiti’s indigenous culture while forshadowing the tragedy that will befall Anacaona when the conquistadors arrive.
- Catherine: The Great Journey: Anastasia may have captured the world’s interest as Russia’s most interesting princess but there’s a reason that Catherine got “The Great” as her moniker. This book takes readers through a journey of her origins when she was just a poor, pimply German nobless. It is her emotionally abusive mother that takes her from everything she knows to Russia’s cold vastness with a chance to impress the current Empress and marry Prince Peter. An interesting story showing how Catherine learns to navigate the unfamiliar Russian court, stand up for herself and begin to view the potential of Russia and her own power.
- Mary: Queen Without a Country: Like all the other books in the series, Mary’s diary takes place before her brief rule as Queen of Scotland. In fact she lives in France under the domineering eye of Catherine de’ Medici. This got on the top five because I enjoyed Mary’s close friendship with her fellow Marys (it’s a very popular name), a brief sexual assault plotline that is still relevant (and I still can’t believe they just allowed lower schoolers to read attempted molestation. Of course it makes sense it would happen then but still) and Mary learning to see from other points of view and there is a different way to accuulate power than through fear, but by taking the higher road.
- Jahanara: Princess of Princesses: Most people may not know Jahanara’s name but they may recognize her parents, Shah Jahan, the Mongul ruler who created the Taj Mahal for his beloved wife. As one can imagine she lives a life of luxury and opulance but her personal life is in a flux. Her brothers have returned from being hostages (court politics, its complicated, you have to read to understand), one is still pure and kind, the other is now bitter and brainwashed. And now she’s caught in the middle of the next potential generation of Mongul rulers, and her choice of ally may get her killed. Always exciting especially as choosing between beloved family members raises the stakes immensely.
- Sŏndŏk: Princess of the Moon and Stars: This story is surprsingly applicable to modern day as Sŏndŏk deals with family troubles of her father leaving her mother for a younger woman. Of course, her father is king and is leaving her mother for a younger woman that might give him a male heir and her mom has to become a nun as a result might not be exact same thing as modern day divorces but Sŏndŏk’s sadness for her mother and bargaining to keep them together is one that kids will connect to. That combined with Sŏndŏk’s fight against changing Korean values as shamnism is pushed aside for the Chinese neo-Confucianism which would incidentally give her less rights because she’s a woman adds another historical layer. Seeing the change in Korean society and how Sŏndŏk and others respond is super interesting to me and places it in the top 5.
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Ranking Girls from Many Lands
Now the other series American Girl spun off was the Girls from Many lands series for older middle schoolers tackling historical periods from eight different lands and more intense in some senses. What I mean is that half of the series tackles serious topics like court intrigue, colonization and genocide. The other half is more typical coming of age adventures with cross-dressing as a boy to gain some independence or winning Irish dancing contests. So it feels a bit uneven. Noentheless, it’s an underrated series that delivers
(more…)#alevlytlecroutier, #americangirl, #anniedalton, #ashesinthepathway, #chitrabanerjeedivakaruni, #gatesofgold, #girlsfrommanylands, #historicalfiction, #janekurtz, #kirkpatrickhill, #laurenceyep, #marycasanova, #middlegrade, #rachelreads&reviews, #siobhánparkinson, #takingwing, #theblacktulip, #thecelticknot, #thelastflower, #underthehyena'sfoot, #victorysong -
Ranking History Mystery
Everyone knows American Girl, but in a brief space in the early 2000s, they branched out to two other series. The History Mysteries series is aimed more for older lower-schoolers and middle schoolers with slightly darker themes like racism, discrimination, and murder. Of course, mysteries are at their core too. These were my favorites as they kept me at the edge of my seat and here are some of my favorites.
(more…)#alisonhart, #americangirl, #barbarasteiner, #betrayalatcrosscreek, #circleoffire, #dangeratthewildwestshow, #eleanorae.tate, #elizabethmcdavidjones, #enemyinthefort, #evelyncoleman, #gangstersatthegrandatlantic, #ghostlightongraveyardshoal, #historicalfiction, #historymystery, #hollyhughes, #hoofbeatsofdanger, #katherineayers, #kathleenernst, #kathrynreiss, #meganmcdonald, #mysteryatchilkootpass, #mysteryofthedarktower, #mysteryonskullisland, #nightflyers, #riddleoftheprariebride, #sarahmastersbuckley, #secretson26thstreet, #shadowsintheglasshouse, #theministrel'smelody, #thesmuggler'streasure, #thestrangecaseofbabyh, #troubleatfortlapointe, #undercoppshill, #voicesatwhispersbend, #watcherinpineywoods, #whistlerinthedark -
Beautiful Chaos Review
After the events of the summer, Ethan, Lena and all their loved ones are dealing with the consequences of their actions as this southern gothic turns to the End of Days.
Garcia and Stohl jump right into the the dire state of Gatlin with plagues of locusts or lubbers as they are dubbed, heat burning the asphalt, Amma’s going dark and worse, the casters’ powers going out of whack. It’s all very Biblical and Gatlins’ mortal citizens react accordingy with extra mass and stocking up the bunkers for the time when the Devil arrives for Final Judgement.
The Devil being Abraham Ravenwood and his nasty co-horts who want to use this convenient chaos to bring about the New Order, wiping out the inferior Light Casters. Only Abraham is messing with beings larger than himself for it is repeated ominously throughout the book, “The Wheel of Fate crushes us all.”
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American Girl Retrospective
Since I have almost finished my American Girl collection (4 more to go, woo woo), I decided to do a little retrospective on the series that has touched so many childhoods and have surely sparked my interest in historical fiction.
My retrospective will be primarily focusing on the arc of the series since they’re pretty formulaic with some exceptions like Kaya, Julie, etc. In fact, I was pretty surprised when I was reading to find the character arcs that spread out across the book. It’s always amazing when you’re able to find new layers in the books you read and I’m also able to find greater historical connections now that I missed when I was little.
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Books for Women’s History Month
It’s women’s history month again! And since last year I did a 8 part series of books one can read, I’m just relisting them here. You can search the tags by title or author to check out my thoughts and summaries on them. But basically one could choose to read a book a day for the entire month so you’ll be very filled with the history of what women can do.
And that’s not all. I may have consumed a fair amount of women’s history books but there are still more coming out, and I’ll be writing about them here because there’s always more to learn.
(more…)#academics, #amazonsabolitionistsandactivists, #americasfirstladies, #anathologies, #anathologyofamazingwomen, #annmccallumstaats, #annshen, #badgirls, #beautyqueens, #becauseIwasagirl, #blackgirlsrock, #brazen, #bygonebadassbroads, #comics, #dangerousbooksforgirls, #deadfeminists, #doesmybodyoffendyou, #dynamicdames, #extraordinarymothersanddaughters, #femmemagnifique, #frontiergrit, #girlhood, #girlsquad, #girlswhogreen, #girlswhoruntheworld, #goodgirlsandwickedwitches, #goodnightstoriesforrebelgirls, #grandesdreamers, #graphicnovels, #imaginingourselves, #inpraisefordifficultwomen, #inthelineoffire, #janeagainsttheworld, #jasonporath, #kateschatz, #lawbreakingladies, #leagueofextraordinarilyfunnywomen, #lorettaross, #middlegrade, #modernherstory, #monstershewrote, #moxie, #nativewomenchangingtheirworlds, #noisemakers, #nonfiction, #notyourprincess, #ourstoriesourvoices, #powerinnumbers, #rachelreads&reviews, #renegadewomeninfilmandtelevision, #reproductivejustice, #sammaggs, #shechangedcomics, #sherepresents, #shutin, #thebookofgutsywomen, #thegirlwhorodeashark, #theradicalelement, #tyrannyofpetticoats, #unscripted, #unsungheroinesoftheholocaust, #watchusrise, #wearedisplaced, #women'shistorymonth, #womeninscience, #womenofthepinetreestate, #YA, #yesshecan, #youtoo, #zingtsjeng -
Feb Books
Someone to Love by Melissa de la Cruz
Almost a companion to Something in Between, readers may remember Royce’s much nicer younger sister Olivia “Liv” Blakely. Now it’s four years later and the sweet kid is dealing with a tumultuous personal demon. Bulimia and cutting. The former is her way of making sure she’ll always be loved after her ex cruelly dumps her for gaining a few pounds. Now she’s determined to get her goal weight of 100, and maybe just maybe all the voices berating her for her stupidness, her selfishness and worthlessness will end.
But getting her crush to notice her is hardly the biggest thing in her life, her friendships are drifting and worst, her Dad has announced that he’ll campaign for Governor of California. She’ll be placed under the public’s scrutiny for the next two years and may have to move to Sacremento all while playing perfect politician’s daughter when she feels anything but.
De la Cruz does not sy away from the utter self-loathing and ugliness that bulimia wrecks on Liv’s self esteem and body. The way her throat aches, the hair falling out, the binging that Liv pushes herself through to throw it back up again as punishment and the constant reprimentions she gives herself. It’s like a never endng wave that it almost starts to feel like the book will have no help, perfectly echoing Liv’s mental state. It’s intense in how it immerses the reader in the turbulant mindset Liv is in, but realistic.
But there is hope even as Liv pushes people away and longs for some connection, some feeling of being loved yet her mind won’t let accept the people who are trying to get her to admit her problem actually care about her well-being and aren’t trying to ambush her. There’s no clear path or solution for Liv but de La Cruz makes it a worthwhile journey of self-love, highlighting how art and inspiration provide a fire for Liv even at her most desperate, and family as dysfunctional and distant as they are will be steadfast support. Plus it catches up with Jasmine and Royce as some readers will be happy to see.
Going Dark by Melissa de la Cruz
Like the one below, I feel like I can’t reveal much because it’s a mystery and it would be best for readers to see the unraveling of clues and backstories themselves so I’ll just summerize.
Amelia Ashley is one of the most popular youtubers and influencers but when she goes on a vacation in Rome, her boyfriend is the biggest suspect. Well he does have blood in his suitcase. But Harper is suspicious. Things aren’t adding up as she investigates more deeply into Amelia’s internet footprint and she starts to question who is Amelia Ashley? Does she even exist?
This is a fascinating mystery where almost no one is as they seem, integrating popular youtube videos/blog format with a suspenseful mystery back and forth as well interesting commentary about the disparate treatment of missing women of color and pretty white girls.
(more…)#balzerandbray, #beckyalbertalli, #belles, #bellestrilogy, #cleopatra'sdaughter, #courtneysummers, #crownpublishing, #feiwel&friends, #goingdark, #hachettebookgroup, #harlequinpublishing, #harlequinteen, #harpercollins, #I'mthegirl, #instantkarma, #jencalonita, #littlebrownbooksforyoungreaders, #marissameyer, #melissadelacruz, #michellemoran, #oliviaabtahi, #penguinrandomhouse, #perfectlyparvin, #poppy, #putnam'ssons, #rachelreads&reviews, #simonvsthesomosapiensagenda, #someonetolove, #st.martinspublishing, #thegrassisalwaysgreener, #theupsideofunrequited, #unionsquareandco, #winterwhite, #YA -
Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters
Well the final book in the Princess Academy trilogy brings things full circle as the quiet, short girl who defied everyone’s expectations (including her own) to graduate princess academy and defeat bandits has been recruited by the king to teach his three young cousins to be proper princesses before Danland goes to war.
As you can tell by the end of that sentence that Miri is not doing this by choice. In fact, she had just been about to depart for her beloved Mount Eskel when she’s rudely called back to court to be the royal tutor or else the king will sell Mount Eskel’s quarry to greedy merchants that will surely kick all of them out of their home. And again, there’s the aformentioned war with the bordering kingdom of Stora that has invaded Eris and is threatening to invade unless King Bjorn offers them a royal bride.
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Princess Academy: Palace of Stone Review
After enjoying the first novel, I was surprised to find out that there were two more books making it a trilogy, so of course I had to get into it.
Taking place almost a year since the events of the Academy and Britta’s engagement to Prince Steffan, the girls of Mount Estkel finally get to go to the lowlands to accompany Britta as ladies-in-waiting for a year. As Miri had learned from school, there is so much more to the world than just the quarry and their lider-songs. Now, she’s heading out to the world and it is a lot more complicated too.
Miri is the only one aware of the possible dangers waiting for them in Asland. Katar, former bully, now Mount Eskel’s delegate had written ahead of time that there’s trouble brewing and she needs Miri’s help. Once they arrive, the girls are wowed by the gilt, the largeness and the knowledge of music, medicine, history and more that they had never encountered before. Miri is the only chosen to go to Queen’s Academy with the expectation to carry the nowledge and learning for everyone so she can return to Mount Eskell and teach the villagers so they could improve their lives for the better just as she had with trading ideas.
There she learns that Mount Eskell has no history books as they are still considered lower than those populating the other provinces. She also classes in art, mathmatics and ethics, which the latter has an important plot point here. For the danger that Katar had been murmering about was possible revolution and assassination. The commoners/”the shoeless” are revolting against the favoritism given to nobles and higher tributes leading to starvation and poverty. The rich get richer, and the poor get nothing but the people are planning to put a stop to it by assassinating Britta who represents yet another noble lady stealing the chances of the poor with her lie back during her time in the academy.
Miri quickly gets swept up with the revolutionaries, invited in by the cute Timon and to the cerebral Sisela’s salons where she learns more about the unfairness between the classes, and the equality the “blue-bands” (as they’re soon dubbed thanks to Miri, inspired by her sky-blue colors) hope to wrought through violence. Yep, peace is not an option here. They believe that the revolution can only be successful if all the royals and nobles are executed or else they’ll return with foreign help to execute all of them. Yes, it’s very French Revolution-Reign of Terror and I love it. It raises the stakes as Miri struggles to find a solution to what seems like an impossible problem, an ethical conundrum if you will as she worries about the threat of her family in Mount Eskell facing poverty and starvation again as well as Britta whom the revolutionaries want to kill as the inciting spark.
I can’t say more than that but Hale skillfully weaves these questions of ethics and revolution with Miri’s personal turmoil of whether or not she will stay in Asland once the year is up. In fact, a painting of a commoner girl staring at the moon echoes this thread, Miri interpreting it different depending on her feelings at the moment. Plus her additional romantic triangle manages to keep me guessing and doesn’t feel tedious as both boys touch certain parts of Miri’s personality and her ambitions for life.
Miri continues to be a worthwhile protagonist and other supporting characters like Peder, Britta and even the king and queen who initially seem like distant, oblivious royals turn out to be more three-dimensional than they seem and concern the question of legacy. And another bit of lore building that relates to the title which I can’t spoil.
I think I’ve said a lot about spoilers so I’ll wrap it up here by concluding that I admire how Hale matured this book to match the characters, upping the stakes, introducing new conflicts and created a more lived in world and characters to populate it. So I’m very excited to see read the sequel here. Oh, and once more the traditional songs, Queen Academy poems, and folklore play an important part in emphasizing and forshadowing important beats.
Overall, a wonderful sequel that elevates the world of Princess Academy with real world parallels to history and ethics that changes the game.
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 