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Family Tree
It’s no surprise that Ann M. Martin writes well. Who else could write a pop culture phenomena as the BSC? But while the BSC may be the most popular of her works, I want to highlight this series, combining warm, small town insight and historical fiction.
Main Street is my favorite out of Martin’s works, and this quartet follows in that vein with its setting switching from Lewisport, Maine to NYC to Princeton, NJ, allowing readers to see the patchwork community of each town and how it has changed over generations.
It has the added bonus of historical evolution where milliners, and knick-knack stores give way to coffee shops and franchises. One floor schools become big institutions, and female students wear jeans everyday instead of dresses.
Through each protagonist Martin charts a realistic change in perception as each girl grows older, questioning the adults around them including their secrets and prejudices and how it shapes them when they become adults and parents.
Martin treads over familiar themes through each book, special needs kids and the discrimination against them, blended families, and secrets. It might seem repetitive but is actually a fitting motif that ties the four generations of women together. It demonstrates how even though they grew up in different time periods, some things continue to touch on them and how each generation improves upon the next.
The overarching theme of secrets adds suspense and conflict between the mothers and daughters, a course that doesn’t always run smooth but you can feel the love at the end when all is aired out in the finale.
The quartet is more thoughtful than her other series, the women sometimes seem wise beyond their years, but I feel it adds to the sense of nostalgia with each reflecting on childhood and the passage of time, and the uncertainty of the future.
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Debbie Dadey Interview
Debbie Dadey is the prolific author of Mermaid Tales, and co-author of the Bailey School Kids series whose series has been reprinted and rebooted several times since its inception in the 90s. She graciously took the time to answer my questions about her long-time collaboration with Marcia Jones, inspiration behind the series and more.
1. When did you begin writing, and how did you break into the industry?
My first book came out in 1990 and I had been writing about a year and a half before I sold that. It was Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots, co-authored with Marcia T. Jones. I actually sold a greeting card (co-authored) before that It was my first official sale and I have it hanging in my office.
2. What were some of your biggest influences?
As a school librarian, I noticed so many kids didn’t want to read a baby book (their term for picture books), but novels were just too hard. I wanted to create something that would be just right for those kids.
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Dear America authors
Well, I did it. Finished the 43 book series, and didn’t give myself eye strain this time. Yay! Anyway, I’ve already written my top five books so now I want to discuss the authors. Much like in Animal Farm, some authors are better than others.
My favorites tend to fall to Kristina Gregory or Patricia McKissack. Gregory is behind such titles as the Winter of Red Snow (arguably the face of the book series as they commissioned a sequel to it when they tried to revive it in 2012) which was made into an HBO movie, Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie, The Great Railroad Race, and Seeds of Hope. They nicely balance the historical struggles the protagonists would have faced at the time with distinct characterization and family dynamics. They felt like real girls, not only mouth pieces to impart historical facts.
McKissack’s work is much in the same vein, writing a majority of the African-American focused books like Color Me Dark, Look to the Hills, and A Picture of Freedom. Obviously, hers are a bit more dark because the treatment of African Americans in history is cruel and ugly. She manages to convey the seriousness and heinousness of the time without venturing too dark for the kids, and maintain strength and dignity for the characters.
I think the strength of their work is easily followed by Kathryn Lasky. Lasky wrote gems like Journey to the New World, Dreams in the Golden Country, A Time for Courage, and Christmas After All. Hers I would put third in strength because she tends to be keep things lighter. Her protagonists suffer death and sometimes prejudice, but there are usually happy endings for them. The strongest would have to be A Time for Courage about the beginning of WW1 and the suffragists. She really makes one inspired by the determination of those early suffragists and why it was vital for women to stand up and show they have the same rights and qualities as men while proving how utterly inane it was to hold back those rights.
(more…)#andreadavispinkney, #barrydenenberg, #dearamerica, #deborahhopkins, #ellenemersonwhite, #historicalfiction, #jimmurphy, #katelanjanke, #kathrynlasky, #kirbylarson, #kristinagregory, #lisarowefraustino, #marypopeosbourne, #middlegrade, #patriciamckissack, #rachelreads&reviews, #scholastic, #sherrygarland, #susancampbellbartoletti -
Book Highlight: First Things First
FIRST THINGS FIRST, hip-hop is not just the music, and women have played a big role in shaping the way it looks today. FIRST THINGS FIRST takes readers on a journey through some notable firsts by women in hip-hop history and their importance. Factual firsts like Queen Latifah becoming the first rapper to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lauryn Hill making history as the first rapper to win the coveted Album of the Year Award at the GRAMMYs, April Walker being the first woman to dominate in the hip-hop fashion game, and Da Brat being the first solo woman rapper to have an album go platinum, and metaphorical firsts like Missy Elliott being the first woman rapper to go to the future. (Trust me, she really did.)
There are chapters on music legends like Nicki Minaj, Lil’ Kim and Mary J. Blige, tv and radio hosts like Big Lez and Angie Martinez, and so many more ladies I would name but I don’t want to spoil the book! There are games, charts and some fire images, too.
Altogether, FIRST THINGS FIRST is a celebration of the achievements of women in hip-hop who broke down barriers and broke the mold. So the next time someone doesn’t have their facts straight on the ladies in hip-hop, you can hit them with “first things first” . . .For those who want to get to know more about their favorite hip-hop artist, be inspired by the black women who helped shape the music scene from the beginning or like me, want to learn something new, this is a fun primer.
Set in the same conversational tone as her blog, The Gumbo, Simmons gives readers brief biographies of over thirty women who broke through the male-dominated genre of hip-hop with huge firsts such as first one to bring “Yo” to the mainstream, first to perform a rap in the Grammys, and more. She doesn’t confine herself to only performers as she tells readers that hip-hop has a whole entourage behind it, building the culture. She covers the fashionistas, the choreographers, the actresses in hip hop movies, the music journalists, the radio hosts.
They all had a hand in putting hip hop to the mainstream as well as putting females in the space, proving they can cuss, rap and sing about hard-hitting topics just like the men.
Plus she keeps it fun with a chapter discussing Lil Kim’s impact as the blueprint for modern women in hip hop, a crossword puzzle on Big Lez to highlight the sheer volume of things accomplished in her life to why Queen Latifah needs a star in every category on the Walk of Fame, and an interview with the executive editors of the first female hip hop magazine, Honey. This allows her to break up the monotony of straight biography prose, and gives her a chance to add mention more women that she wasn’t able to devote full chapters to. I especially enjoyed chapters where she discusses favorite songs or lyrics, what they meant to her, and what they meant in the wider context of women in hip-hop.
It’s a book steeped in the hip-hop genre, and it’s clear that Simmons has the knowledge and passion that she knows/loves what she’s talking about. But if you have absolutely no idea about hip-hop, you might feel confused at the start.
You jump in, and she’s discussing terms like you’re already supposed to know about it. She explained some of the lesser known subgenres like crunk, and horrorcore rap, and terms like Afrofuturism, but I wanted a simple one like are hip-hop and rap interchangeable? Like is all rap hip-hop, but not all hip-hop is rap? I already knew a b-girl was short for female break-dancer, but someone else might have no idea what that means. And all these other rap groups and individuals, I’m sure if I had any idea who they were, I’d understand why it was a big deal that this woman or that rapped against them, but I was simply confused. The only one I knew was Jay-Z, Kanye, and P. Diddy which is kinda funny considering the scandals they are in now.
However, I did learn how instrumental P. Diddy was in lifting up these women, and other groups with his record company, and how he was considered the limit of rap. It’s a shame that he’s an awful person considering how visionary he was in changing the hip-hop landscape.
But she offers a lot of song suggestions, so if you want to get into listening, Simmons will clue you to the greatest hits of each woman.
So if you want to learn a bit more about major players like Queen Latifah, Mary J. Bilge, Missy Elliot, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and other rappers that shouldn’t be forgotten, check this book out.
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Book of the Month: Magpie Murders
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.
Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.
First off, I’m very impressed by this novel because it’s basically two novels in one. A frame story that actually includes the frame and the outer story. The frame story is the titular Magpie Murders by the fictional Alan Conway featuring Poirot rip-off Atticus Pünd. It is classic Christie set in a quaint English village with its close-knit suspicious inhabitants. It follows the formula so my friend, and I sort of turned off our brains rather than solve the mystery. The whodunnit was well-done and made sense like any good whodunnit.
The more interesting part is how it intersects with the “real world” murder of its author which closely mimics the book’s events. Spooky especially since only two people have read the final draft of the Magpie Murders and he dies before they finished. So who is the mysterious third person who read it? Who wanted Conway to die?
Horowitz did a great job in making Conway so detestable that you can understand why the various people in his life would want to kill him. He’s a crank, super pretentious, and doesn’t even like murder mysteries. He thinks he’s meant to write better things and the Atticus Pünd novels are holding him back. He’s that guy, ugh. Plus he puts mean caricatures of everyone he knows in the books. Due to that last point, it makes the Magpie Murders eerie because you can draw parallels between the characters and their real-life counterparts, blurring the line of whether their motive to kill Alan is in kind or if he was adding a menacing fictionalization.
Susan, our intrepid narrator, and Alan’s editor is on the case because after a decade of reading mysteries, she has to find out the truth about Alan’s death. I enjoyed how she was able to comment on the tropes and suss out who may be the killer and who is the red herring. But as the novel points out, this is real-life so she doesn’t quite get it right away and when she does, she’s put in real danger. No accolades for saving the day here.
This was a fun novel, albeit confusing which was the main consensus between us. You’re engaged, but unless you’re writing everything done, you probably aren’t going to solve it because it’s the little casual remarks that are the big clues. Like we completely missed the real killer because how s/he was eliminated early on and never thought to believe they were lying.
Anyway, it was a good book which you’d expect from one of the head writers of the Midsomer Murders. I can imagine he felt very clever plugging in his show several times, and the BBC network.
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Café con Lychee Review
Sometimes bitter rivalries can brew something sweet.
Theo Mori wants to escape. Leaving Vermont for college means getting away from working at his parents’ Asian American café and dealing with their archrivals’ hopeless son Gabi who’s lost the soccer team more games than Theo can count.
Gabi Moreno is miserably stuck in the closet. Forced to play soccer to hide his love for dance and iced out by Theo, the only openly gay guy at school, Gabi’s only reprieve is his parents’ Puerto Rican bakery and his plans to take over after graduation.
But the town’s new fusion café changes everything. Between the Mori’s struggling shop and the Moreno’s plan to sell their bakery in the face of the competition, both boys find their dreams in jeopardy. Then Theo has an idea—sell photo-worthy food covertly at school to offset their losses. When he sprains his wrist and Gabi gets roped in to help, they realize they need to work together to save their parents’ shops but will the new feelings rising between them be enough to send their future plans up in smoke?
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Bold, Brilliant, and Latine & Leyendas
Bold, Brilliant, and Latine by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris and illustrated by Sol Cotti
For the lower school set as it gives one page biographies of each Latino with emphasis on how they were a role model, and that kids can be like them too.
It has several well-known figures like Lin Manuel Miranda, Rita Moreno, Gabriel Mistral, Jenna Ortega, Frida Khalo, the Mirabal Sisters, Oscar De La Renta, Carolina Herrera, Marco Molina, Roberto Clemente, Rigoberta Menchúand so on.
But also introduced some new figures I haven’t heard of too. For example, Francisco Morazán, a politician from Honduras. In fact, in the mid 1800s, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize and Chiapas of Mexico was united in the Federal Republic of Central America, and he was president. He limited the power of the church, authorized divorces, legalized homosexuality and other reforms before they were rescinded when each became its own states.
Matilda Hidalgo was the first woman in Ecuador to vote. Scratch that, first woman in all of South America to vote, ushering female suffrage in Ecuador, and made many other firsts as first female doctor, first female Council member and so on.
Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian Nobel prize winner in literature for his magical realism novels, The Green House and The Time of the Hero.
Óscar Arias Sánchez, humanitarian and president of Costa Rica who kept peace in the region, diversifying its economy and winning the Nobel Peace Prize for ending foreign interference in the Cold War.
Evelyn Cisneros, first Latina prima ballerina in the San Francisco Ballet.
Francia Márquez, an Afro-Columbian activist who became VP of the country.
It covers a lot of people that if you’re a little versed in Latin American role models, you’ll already know, but it’s good for kids who are just learning. The art reflects that with a vibrant palette. But I still don’t get why Cotti made Rita Moreno blonde. She was never blonde in any of her roles.
Leyendas by Mónica Mancillas and illustrated by Isadora Zeferino
Since it has sixty rather than fifty two people, there is bound to be some overlap, but it did not stick to the usual historical figures. Rather it nicely balanced historical and contemporary, and was more in depth for the middle school crowd. Plus I like Zeferino’s art style more with its full colored lines.
While it has the usual suspects like Luis von Ahn, Celia Cruz, Mario Molina, Eva Peron, it has some fascinating underrated role models too.
Berta Cáceras, an Honduran indigenous activist who fought against the DESNA mining corporation, and was murdered for it. But for once, justice was served as her death led to the dissolution of the illegal dam/mine and the seven executives being convicted of her murder.
Máxima Acuña de Chuepe, another activist for Peruvian farmers against illegal mining whose case set precedent against corporate greed.
Jharrel Jerome, the first Dominican to win an Emmy for When They See Us, right after his star-making debut in the Oscar-winning Moonlight.
Maria Bueno, the Swallow of Sao Paulo who was basically the Serena Williams of the
Jean-Michael Basquiat was a Puerto Rican-Haitian artist who was basically the Andy Warhol of his day. Actually he was praised by Andy Warhol who admired his edgy, anti-establishment artistry.
Wilfredo Lam, a Chinese-Afro Cuban artist that brought African influences into his art, and into the Western world.
Walter Mercado, a Puerto Rican television personality who was the first person to have a show devoted to astrology, running for over 15 years.
Florentine López de Jesús, artisan of the Amzugo weaving style who revitalized and popularized her tribe’s art as part of Mexico’s cultural heritage.
Ruben Vives, the journalist that broke the Bell city corruption scandal and won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Both books have role models from almost every country in South America. Except poor Nicaragua and Uruguay. Surely, there must be some notable Nicaraguans and Uruguayans. Both books also have at least one Haitian role model which was surprising to me since I didn’t think Haitians were considered Latine since it was conquered by France and have lots of French roots as a result. Sure, it’s next to the Dominican Republic so perhaps there’s some crossover but I didn’t know it was a thing.
Nonetheless, both books will be a nice addition to any classroom.
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A Showgirl’s Rules For Falling in Love Review
It’s 1897, and a new fashion for thin threatens to end the career of proudly fat vaudeville performer Evelyn Cross. Enter Thomas Gallier, the man behind the new palace of entertainment promising to be the apex of New York City’s theatrical scene. He’s in search of a star for his vaudeville spectacular, and when he hears Evelyn sing, he knows exactly who he needs to grace his stage.
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In a grand finale, present-day narrator Phoebe steps in to reveal secrets and show readers what it really means to claim self-love. Inspired by the true story of a Progressive Era troop of plus-size dancers, this is a story about the spirit of community and the power of romance. -
Say a Little Prayer Review
Riley quietly left church a year ago when she realized there was no place for a bi girl in her congregation. But it wasn’t until the pastor shunned her older sister for getting an abortion that she really wanted to burn it all down.
It’s just her luck, then, that she’s sent to the principal’s office for slapping a girl talking smack about her sister—and in order to avoid suspension, she has to spend spring break at church camp. The only saving grace is that she’ll be there with her best friend, Julia. Even if Julia’s dad is the pastor. And he’s in charge of camp. But Riley won’t let a technicality like “repenting” get in the way of her true mission. Instead of spending the week embracing the seven heavenly virtues, she decides to commit all seven deadly sins. If she can show the other campers that sometimes being a little bad is for the greater good, she could start a righteous revolution! What could possibly go wrong? Aside from falling for the pastor’s daughter . . .
First off, this book has a great sense of humor. Not only from the title, but from the chapter titles as well. Which is good because the protagonist, Riley oscillates between anger, and humor, or snark to be more accurate, and the humor makes her more palatable.
Not that she doesn’t have something to be angry about with the treatment of her older sister, Hannah. Literally called out and shunned by their church, Riley is a good sister who cares to stand up for Hannah, and against hypocrisy, but there is a little more to it than that.
I think readers will figure out pretty quickly that the source of Riley’s anger is not just the church’s hypocrisy about her sister, but their homophobic attitudes. While she doesn’t hide her bisexuality exactly, she knows being out and proud about it will make people look at her differently. Make her ashamed, and she hates that. They’ve already ruined her relationship with God, and so she lashes out former friends in a way of hurting them first.
It was interesting to see Riley grapple with religion, and what it means to people. It has been ruined for her, but there are some bright spots as she talks t others and realize how so much of the shunning stems from people’s fear of being shunned too. Which only makes her more determined to expose the Pastor as a hypocrite and break the idolatrous hold he has over the town.
At points the Pastor seems too villainous, then again, I don’t live in the deep South so maybe pastors are just like that. Other characters are given a decent amount of depth as part of Riley’s growth is learning that not everyone is as shitty as they first appear. Hannah gets the best moment with their sister-sister talks that she doesn’t need a defender as much as Riley seems to think.
As for Riley’s relationship with Julia, eh. I know most YAs need romance on the side, but I wasn’t feeling it. Julia is so repressed and religious it’s hard for me to believe that she won’t need more time to be comfortable with being a lesbian. And I’m not sure Riley would have the patience to deal with that especially with how negatively she feels about Julia’s father, and religion in general. The big gesture was great, but it felt more like a Maybe Ever After, not HEA. I think I would have liked it more if it focused as a coming of age, teen exploration of what religion means for her rather than the rom-com it was promoted.
3 stars.
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Twisted Tales: How Far I’ll Go Review
What if Moana broke the heart of Te Fiti?
After a devastating battle with Te Kā, Moana’s worst fears are realized: the heart of Te Fiti is in ruins, Maui is frozen in volcanic rock, and darkness threatens to envelop her beloved home. Desperate to fix things, Moana stumbles upon an island already crumbling under the blight. All life is gone, save one sole survivor—a young woman named Noe.
Moana is relieved to find another wayfarer, even if this stranger is more than a little intimidating. Better still, Noe has an idea how to fix the heart: using the tears of Te Fiti, gems infused with the goddess’s essence. The catch? The tears are said to be scattered throughout the realm of monsters.
Banded together, Moana and Noe set a course for an impossible mission to find the powerful lost tears. Will Moana be able to restore the heart amid secrets and monsters? Or will the blight overtake everything Moana holds dear?
A new author has joined the ranks of the Twisted Tales stable, and she did a great job in my opinion. Much like Lim’s Reflection, Kendall takes a turning point in the movie and has the result be a failure. Instead of returning the heart of Te Fiti, it was crushed by the volcanic hand of Te Ka. Now Maui’s stone, and Moana is cursed by Te Ka’s blight crawling up her arm. Which her grandmother tells her she has to get Te Fiti’s tears from Lalotai, the realm of monsters, in order to purify the heart.
Unlike Mulan’s journey to Diyu, Moana is not faced with mirrors reflecting her inner conflict. Rather her partner into Lalotai is Noe, the last surviving warrior of an island killed by blight. Her competence with the spear, knowledge of the ancestors’ stories and mythology, and unflinching determination sparks Moana’s imposter syndrome. The guilt of seeing Maui turned to stone due to her actions, and the ocean no longer responding to her leads to the repeated doubt-“The ocean chose wrong.”
This is amplified as the journey goes on. Her compassion for the monsters they encounter, and must defeat is derided by Noe, and by the monsters themselves. She doesn’t seize opportunity, and the more she doubts, the more she flinches away, creating a cycle. Then there’s her curse that keeps a suspenseful ticking clock throughout the novel. Although there are some points where I think she messes up at how far along the curse has gone, she kept the continuity pretty tight for 400 pages.
Lalotai’s monsters and obstacles are quite descriptive, and Kendall immerses readers into the realm. It plays out like a movie. The setting, and the fight scenes, and the spirits are easy to picture in one’s head. My one disappointment is that no mud walkers appeared. She even has some of Moana’s deadpan humor in there too.
Now spoilers are under the cut.
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 