When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

Omar's village in Somalia was attacked when Omar was a small child.  He and his autistic brother, Hassan, were separated from their mother (their father was killed in the attack).  The boys are taken to the Dadaab refugee camp where they are assigned to a foster mother.  At first Omar doesn't attend the camp school because he feels obligated to stay home with his brother.  All he wants is to return to Somalia and find his mother.  As time goes on, his dreams change.  He embraces school and dreams of resettlement in America, Canada, or Sweden.

This is a true story of one boy's life growing up in a massive refugee camp in Kenya.  It is sobering to hear of the living conditions and lack of adequate food.  The story is written honestly, without shrinking from the hardships, or leaving out the positive experiences.  I listened to the book on Overdrive, but the print version is a graphic novel.  The producers of the recording (which is full cast) did a good job filling in the missing visuals with sound affects and other aural clues.  This book is one I would love to have every kid in my predominantly white upper middle class community to read, so they can understand how much other people don't have and how much they do.  I am sure this is on a bunch of award lists for this year.  I wouldn't be surprised if it won a Newbery, Caldecott or both.  (2020, 256 p.)

Audacity Jones Steals the Show by Kirby Larsen

In this second adventure of our plucky young orphan, Audacity and her best friend, Bimmy, have been invited to help their friend Cypher, lately hired by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, on an important assignment in New York City.  Harry Houdini is preparing to do his most impressive disappearing act to date, to disappear a whole elephant in a Vaudeville show in the Hippodrome.  He is working with a scientist to make the illusion, and Cypher has been assigned to protect the scientist.  To accomplish his mission he is going undercover as a juggler, and Audacity and Bimmy are to be part of the juggling act.  As they arrive in New York and poke around the Hippodrome, Audacity finds someone else who needs to be protected, a baby elephant called "Baby."

After I finished my last book, I wanted to read something quickly as I waited for a different book I had on hold.  I decided to read a children's book, just to stay balanced.  When I saw this one I vaguely remember reading the first in the series years ago.  I remembered that is was a cute book so I decided to give this one a try.  It is pretty much like the first one.  It is cute, even cutsy, and I think there are a lot of 3rd grade girls out there that would really enjoy it.  Kirby gives the girls a kind of formal, old fashion way of speaking that is a little bit charming and the story has plenty of action and hijinks to keep a young reader turning pages.  I guess I am getting used to reading the adult books, and I don't enjoy children's books as much as I used to.  I am so glad I have my current job, and have been able to expand my reading to include a wider range of books.  Still, I am glad I read this one so I will be reminded of another book I can recommend to young readers. (2017, 192 p.)

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

Jane and her sister, Melody, are in many ways opposites.  While Jane is plain but accomplished, Melody is beautiful but only has a rudimentary skill with the womanly arts of playing the piano-forte, watercolor painting, and the creation of glamour.  The creation of glamour is especially prized by Mr. Dunkirk, the local eligible bachelor, and Melody is at first jealous of his regard for Jane's talent.  In walks eligible bachelor, number two, and then number three.  With no lack of suitors, who will end up with whom?

This is an interesting book.  It reads like a Jane Austen fan fiction.  It was as if Kowal thought, "What would Sense and Sensibility be like if you added a magic element.  There were so many scenes stolen right out of Jane Austen.  At one point Melody falls and twists an ankle, just like Marianne Dashwood, and rival suitors bring her flowers just like in Sense and Sensibility.  Miss Dunkirk's past is much like Georgiana Darcy's.  There are two many similarities to count.  The adding of the magic element was kind of cute.  It at least accounted for young ladies always fainting like they do in the Regency books.  All in all I enjoyed the book, though I thought the ending a little contrived.  Still, I  may read another in the series some time, just for fun. (304 p. 2010)

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

 Virginia Hall was born to a semi-aristocratic family in Baltimore in 1906.  Virginia's mother would love to have Virginia learn to embroider, hold garden parties, and marry an eligible man of her own or higher social status.  Virginia has other plans.  She convinces a doting father to let her go to college in Europe, where she studies international relations and learns several European Languages. She eventually gets a desk job with the US State Department, but when WWII breaks out in Europe, and the Germans invade France, she desperately wants to take a more active role in fighting Hitler. Her chance comes to join a new covert organization in the British Government, SOE, and the rest, as they say, is history. She becomes one of their most effective secret agents and plays an essential role in France's final victory.

This is an amazing account of a relatively unknown super-woman of history.  Purnell tells the story with lively and vivid prose that shows a wealth of research and an ear for language.  She is unflinching in her accounts of the atrocities committeed by the Nazi's during the war, but balances the stories out with accounts of human compassion and breathtaking heroism.  I also appreciated the fact that she didn't end the story with the end of the war.  She goes on to tell how Virginia continued to fight for world freedom until the end of her life.  This is a great choice for lovers of meaty historical nonfiction and true "stong girl" stories. (352 p. 2019)

The Lost Heiress by Roseanna White

Brook Eden always believed that she was the illigitimate daughter of the prince of Monaco and a opera star. She is beloved by her granpere, the king of Monaco, but when her "mere" is about to die, she tells Brook that she wasn't really her mother. She gives Brook some letters from her birth mother to her birth father, some of which contain a British coat of arms. Brook's best friend, Justin, (himself heir to an English dukedom) takes the coat of arms to England and discovers Brook's real identity.  As Brook travels to a new land to find her real family and to discover what really happened to her mother, she also must confront her changing feelings about Justin, and his changing feelings toward her.

I read Ms White's book, An Hour Unspent, and enjoyed it, so I decided to try something else from her.  This is the first in a set of British Christian Historical novels.  This one was a bit more heavy handed with the religious refrences than the first one I read, and the pacing was maybe a bit slow, but I still enjoyed it.  I listened to it in recording and the reader does a great job switching between Brook's French and everyone else's English accents.  Brook is an endearingly spunky woman and her relationship with Justin is realistically complex.  The mystery of how Brook's mother was killed is pretty well crafted but felt a little "tacked on" to the real story, which is about Brook accepting her new life and family, while dealing with her maturing feelings for her childhood friend.  The author could have left it out completely, and still had a good book.  Still, White is firmly on my list of authors I will probably read more of in the future. (2015, 439 p.)

Who is Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Patricia Brennan Demuth

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to become a Supreme Court Justice.  Daughter of immigrants, her mother, who never had a chance for advanced education herself, inspired her to do her best in school and prepare for college.  Bader Ginsburg was only one of a handful of women who studied law at Harvard in the 50's and then became an active women's rights and civil rights lawyer in the 60's and 70's.  In the 80's she was appointed to the supreme court and has served more than 25 years.

I am a little embarrassed to admit this may be the first book in the "Who Was" series that I have read.  I enjoyed it very much.  It was short and just hit on the highlights of Ms. Bader Ginsburg's life, but I finished it feeling inspired.  Ms. Bader Ginsburg is a pretty awesome person who was able to be a career woman while still raising two children and staying married to one man.  Actually, the story made me respect her husband as much as her because of all the support he gave her over the years.  The writing is accessible, but not condescending. Demuth includes interesting side bars about relevant topics in history like the women's rights movements and the history of women in the Supreme Court.  I can see why this series is popular with kids. (2019, 112 p.)