Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi

 Yusuf doesn't understand, at first, why the upcoming 20th anniversary commemoration of the 9.11 attacks makes his uncle uncomfortable.  Then a new family moves into the community and organizes a vigilante group bent on ridding the community of "the enemy" i.e. all Muslim people.  Yusuf is surprised to see some of his father's best customers join the protests against his faith community's efforts to build a small mosque. As Yusuf read's his uncle's journal about his experience in 2001, he wonders how to fight the prejudice swelling in his community.  His only respite, and perhaps his greatest hope, is the robotics club at school and their efforts to prepare for the Texas State Robotics competition. 

I am hoping to put together some STEM kits for kids to check out at my library with books and equipment on different STEM topics.  I read this book with the idea of possibly including it in the robotics kit I hope to put together. It was about how I expected. It gives an interesting glimpse into what it means to be a Muslim in the US, and it highlights the struggles Muslim Americans face because of fear and prejudice.  I think it made me more aware.  I had never really thought through the idea that a 9.11 commemoration could feel like a micro-aggression to a Muslim. I also liked that it was about a boy.  The majority of diverse books for middle grade readers tend to be about girls.  I don't know if it is the right book for my kit, however.  There wasn't really much about coding in it.  

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna

Kiki Kallira has been raised by a loving Indian-American mother and father.  She used to be a bright, sunny girl, but in recent years she has struggled with anxiety. Constant, sometimes irrational fears highjack her brain, and are starting to make living a normal 13-year-old's life difficult. Her one refuge is drawing.  She loves to draw pictures that combine the ancient stories of her culture with her modern life.  Little does she know that one day someone from her sketchbook would appear in her room and lead her into the world she created with her art. It is a world of wonders, and terrors. The most terrifying thing might just be what Kiki begins to see within herself.

It was interesting to compare this book with the Snake Falls to Earth book.  Both talk about a child engaging with the mythology of their culture, while struggling with personal challenges. This one was way more entertaining to me.  The narrative takes the reader right into first ,the drama of Kiki's life, and then, fairly quickly, into the world of Hindi legend. The book is exciting and often humorous, but also deals with the real problem of anxiety in children. Some might say that this book is merely pop fiction while Snake Falls to Earth is real literature. I don't see it.  What I see is that one editor knew how to make a fast-paced story with an important message, and the other editor could see the potential in a story, but didn't quite know how to make it really engaging. (2021, 352 p)

P.S. Although I liked the story, I was not entirely thrilled with the reader. The voices the readers did for the different children were often annoying.  They were high and really nasal.  It actually sounded, at times, like she was holding her nose to create some of the character's voices. 

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

 Nina has grown up with her grandmother and great grandmother's stories about the animal people from the land of spirits. Odd people visit her father's book store every week, and she secretly suspects they are from the other realm.  Oli is a cottonmouth person from the spirit world who is just learning to survive on his own.  When one of his best friends is threatened with extinction, he gathers up his courage, and a crew of loyal friends, to venture to the world above.  There, by chance, he meets Nina, and together they face down incredible forces. 

When the Newbery winner and honors were announced a couple of months ago, I went ahead and put them all on hold. This was an honor book, but I don't know why.  In the story a Native American girl meets a character from her culture's faith tradition. The cultural elements of the story were fairly interesting, but the pacing of the story was terribly slow. I think it could have been a good story but it needed an editor with a stronger hand to wrestle it into shape.  For instance, the two main characters don't even meet until were half way through the book.  The author could have started where Oli and Nina meet, fill in the backstory along the way, and the book would have been much more engaging.  The other main flaw was that the reader who read Oli's chapters wasn't very good.  He kept missing the natural flow of the sentences, so they often sounded stilted and unnatural. So, I am not sure why this book won an award, except that maybe someone on the committee thought Native American authors were underrepresented. (352 p. 2021)

Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock

 D.J. is 15-year-old girl who does most of the work on her family's dairy farm.  Her dad has had problems with his hip and her older brothers are both away at college on football scholarships.  Her younger brother, Curtis, helps when he isn't off playing little league football, carrying on their older brothers' proud legacy. So D.J. gets up at 6:00 every morning to milk the cows, then cleans out the barn before going out to do haying.  She misses her older brothers, not only because they did a lot of the work before they left, but also because she used to enjoy helping them as they trainined for football. Maybe because she missed them, she agrees to help train Brain Nelson, the JV quarterback of the rival high school, who has a good arm, but is pretty lazy and entitled. They clash at first, but after a while they start to really enjoy working together.  As the summer progresses, D.J. starts to reevaluate her life, and hatch a crazy idea that with be either the best, or worst thing she has ever done.

I can't remember why I put this on my holds shelf, but I am glad I did.  It is a cute, and amazingly clean, teen romance.  It was refreshing to read a teen romance without steamy makout scenes, though, maybe those happen later in the series. Both D.J. and Brian are likeable and authenic teenagers.  They both have endearing faults and the reader has the fun of watching them learn to see past the other's shortcomings. I also, as the daughter of someone who grew up milking cows, enjoyed seeing into the life of a modern dairy farmer.  I don't know if I will read more in the series, but maybe. (2007, 274 p)

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo

Brother Edik discovers Beatryce snuggled up with a demon goat in the barn of the monastary.  As surprised as he is at her sudden appearance, he is even more surprised when he discovers that she can read and write.  It doesn't take Edik long to piece together that this is the girl in the prophecy that is supposted to bring a great change in the Kingdom. In a bid to keep her safe at the monastery, he shaves her head and dresses her as a boy.  The disguise doesn't last long, and soon she is on the run with a village orphan, and the cantakerous goat. 

DiCamillo is a master word crafter and this is a thoroughly lovely story.  It reminds me of The Book of Boy, by Catherine Murdock, in that is draws from medieval Christian tradition without mocking it. DiCamillo revisits some of her favorite themes--storytelling, family, identity and fierce devotion--but expresses them with a fresh setting and thoroughly sympathetic characters. This is definitely one I will be recommending to young readers. (2021, 265 p)

On Wings of Devotion by Roseanna White

 Phillip Camden is riddled with guilt over the death of his squadron during WWI.  Grounded because of the mishap, he now works for navy as a codebreaker. Arabella Denler works hard as a nurse to drown out her own feelings of loneliness and unworthiness. When fate throws Camden and Arabella together, they begin to see into each other's hearts, and have their own hearts healed in the process. But even as they do, outside evil is scheming to use their growing attachment to strike at the heart of British defenses.

This the second in a series of historical romances set in WWI and dealing with an elite group of codebreakers.  I haven't read the first in the series, but this book does a pretty good job of standing alone.  I have enjoyed all the Roseanna White books I have read. Some might think the religious elements a little heavy handed, but I enjoy them because they match some of my own religious philosophies. In this book it was interesting that the female protagonist isn't pretty and has had to struggle with that her whole life. White does a good job of showing how Camden gradually learns to look past her plainness to appreciate her character and inner strength.  Isn't that what all we plain women hope for? (2020, 400 p)