The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karnina Yan Glaser

 Luli lives in New York's China Town in the 1930's.  Her family's restaurant used to be crowed every day, but the stock market crash of 1929 changed all that, and now her family is at risk of losing not only their restaurant but their home. Luli tries to think of more ways to bring people to their restaurant, and decides to turn the storage room into a mini museum of some Chinese art that her uncle has collected. More than a century earlier, Han Yu's family comes down with a terrible plague. In a desperate effort to find a cure, 11- year-old Han Yu decides to travel the Silk Road with no one to help him but a host of animals, including a mystical tiger, that are strangely connected to him.  As the story of Luli and Han Lu play out in alternating chapters, both children test the limits of the courage to change the fates of their families. 

I put this on hold when the Newbery awards were announced back in January.  This was an Honor winner.  I was expecting to like is as much as "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri that won an Honor last year, but I did not. I think the problem with this book is that it tried to tell two stories. Though both of the stories were interesting, and the protagonists were likeable spunky children, putting both stories together slowed the pace of the book. It was clever how Glaser wove the two stories together around the central image of the silk fragment, but about 1/2 way through I got bored and had to increase the playback speed to get through it. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood this week. Still, I would recommend reading the Nayeri book over this one, especially for children, since the Nayeri book is half the length, and more exciting. (432 p. 2025)

 

The Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel Nayeri

When Babak's father is killed, Babak promises his little sister, Sana, vow they will stay together, even though their harsh aunt sends Babak to one family, and Sana to another.  In order to stay together they sneak away and attempt to join the nomadic travelers whom their father used to serve as an itinerate teachers. Their decision to find and follow the nomads lead them on a daring adventure through the deserts of Iran during WWII.  Because Iran is technically controlled by the Allies, British and Russian soldiers crowd the bars and tea houses, while German spies sneak around trying to learn secrets.  During their travels Babak and Sana meet a Jewish boy who is trying to return to his brother who has been shipped to Israel. Babak feels like he should help him, but the boy, hardened and sharpened by his experiences, has a difficult personality. Babak's only tool to deal with all the diversity and challenges of his life on the run is the chalk board that he father used to tutor nomadic children, and his love of language and teaching.

Here the winner of this year's Newbery Honor winner. It is a truly charming book and accessible to a wide range of ages.  I have read a lot of WWII stories, but this one is unique because Iran was an outlier in the conflict.  Both sides vied for control of its oil, but it never officially entered into the war.  The theme of the book is using communication to bridge cultural and political differences.  Babak tries to teach the nomads Farsi, and to get the Ben, the Jewish refugee, to teach him Hebrew. Barak not only tries to learn other's languages, he tries to understand how they are feeling as well. Babak's efforts to exercise cultural tolerance and understanding is at the core of the book's charm. It is interesting that this book and the previous book, Piecing Me Together, both deal with trying to understand different people's cultures and points of view, but this one does it in such a charming and heart warming way, while the other just left me feeling cold. (192 p. 2025)

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson

 Jade is a "scholarship" student and one of only a few black students at an elite school in Washington. She knows she should feel grateful for the opportunity to get such a good education, but she often feels like she doesn't fit in.  However, when she gets together with the kids in her own neighborhood, she feels like an outsider with them as well, since they don't go to school together. When she meets a new girl, Sam, at her school who, although not black, at least has a family with as many challenges as Jade's, she begins to hope that she has at last found a friend at the school. As they hang out together, Jade begins to see that, even though Sam is from a similar neighborhood, life is different for her since she is white.  Sam doesn't seem to understand what it feels like to be the object of prejudice. Meanwhile her school councilor enrolls Jade in a "mentorship" program with a previous graduate of Jade's school who is a successful black woman. That doesn't work out as well as Jade had hoped either.  Why does everyone see her as someone who needs help instead of someone who could give help?

After I read All the Blues in the Sky by Ms Watson, I decided to read this, her earlier Newbery Honor book. It is well written. Watson tackles difficult questions about identity and race relations with sensitivity, and doesn't give in to any easy answers. It is probably inspirational to people in similar situations to Jade, but in the end I didn't enjoy it. Maybe that is the point. It is supposed to make white people feel uncomfortable. It helped me understand the defensive and combative attitudes I see in some of my minority students better, I guess. Still, I think there are other books about the same topic that I would recommend before this one, like anything by Jason Reynolds. (2017, 272p)

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

 As Khosrou struggles to find a place for himself in Oklahoma, he remembers stories from Iran: his own story, stories of his family, and Iranian legends.  As he shares his stories with his class, they don't know what to believe and what not to believe.  His own life seems as fantastic, amazing, and cruel as the folktales of his culture.  Nor are his struggles over.  His stepfather is sometimes violent, and so are some of the bullies at his school. Although his mother was a doctor in Iran, they now struggle to get enough food and to meet basic needs.  He keeps a notebook where he writes ways that he has learned to cope, and clever things to say to the girl he likes, who thinks he is scum.  Through it all, thoughts of his heroic mother, his affectionate grandfather, and his absentee father help him make it though, one day at a time.

I didn't realize when I checked out this book that it was the winner of the Printze award for outstanding teen literature the year that it came out. The book is formulated kind of like the tales of Scheherazade.  The author jumps from the past to the present, from folklore to reality with the turn of the page.  As I read, I wondered how much of the story was based on Nayeri's own experience. An afterword explains that it all was.  He admits that his memory might have been inaccurate, but every cruel thing that happens to Khosrou is something he experienced. The reader should be warned that this is a hard tale to hear, though Nayeri does a good job of sticking in a funny story after a heavy one to the the book is much less depressing than it could have been.  It is the kind of book that sheltered white kids should read so that they can get a perspective on what it is like to be a refugee from a different culture in America. I could see a kid being assigned to read the book, expecting to hate it, but ending up really liking it. Hopefully they would become a better person from the experience. (368 p. 2020)

Great Courses: A Historian Goes to the Movies by Greg Aldrete

 In this 6-hour Great Courses series, a professor of Roman history critiques some of the most famous "Sword and Toga" movies ever made.  He discusses their history, success, and impact, and also critiques how closely they adhered to actual historical facts. Some of the movies he critiques are Ben Hur, Spartacus, Gladiator, Cleopatra (with Liz Taylor) and even The Life of Brian.  

I had read so many similar books in a row, I was in the mood for something different.  I wanted a nonfiction, but nothing too heavy and this series fit the bill.  Dr. Aldrete not only is a professor of Roman History, but must also be a movie buff.  He had certainly done his research on each of the movies he talked about.  I found his lectures fun and interesting.  I kept sharing factoids I learned with my family and friends.  I especially liked the lecture about Liz Taylor's Cleopatra movie.  It is amazing what lengths the movie makers went to to produce it. Movies are still really expensive to make, but with the advent of CGI I don't think they will ever use the lavish sets and casts of thousands they did back then.  (2020, 12 lectures)

And There Was Light by Jacques Lusseyran

 When Lusseyran was eight years old an accident left him blind.  As an active child in Paris, he didn't let his disability slow him down for long.  He recruited other boys to help him run and play and by the time he was 17 he was something of a leader among the young men. Then Germany invaded France, and Lusseyran knew he had to find some way to resist. He organized his friends and other young men in Paris to produce and deliver allied newsletters.  After many months of success, he was betrayed and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. There he experienced terrible conditions, and many of the young men from his group died, but in prison his disability was a blessing because it meant he wasn't sent out in the work groups.  Instead he worked as a translator and went through the camp encouraging others. 

One of my friends at work recommended this to me and I really enjoyed it.  It is the autobiography that was the inspiration for All The Light We Cannot See which I also enjoyed. Lusseyran's writing is very uplifting.  He describes how he continued to "see" the world by tuning into his other senses, and how it felt like all the world was filled with light, even when he couldn't see. His upbeat and positive attitude is an inspiration, as is his courage, not only during the war, but also as he grew up and lived an active life as a young teen. Also touching was he stories of the boys who befriended him and became very loyal to him. This is a great choice for those who like WWII history. (2014, 304p)

The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

 Kofi lives in a village in Africa.  He and his friends go to a school run by a man from his village who had attended a mission school, and Kofi is better than many of his friends in reading and speaking English. He loves to swim, and he feels at home in the unchanging customs of his people. (spoiler alert) Then one day his brother does something that causes a rift between his village and a nearby village. Kofi and his brother as stolen and forced onto a heartbreaking path neither ever wanted or expected. 

This is the first in a series of books talking about Kofi's family's journey to America. As Alexander's other books, it is written in beautiful and often poignant free verse poetry. The portrayal of Kofi's life in the small village is both idyllic and harsh. Alexander does not shy away from the brutality of the slave trade, but manages to show that it wasn't only the white slave traders who were at fault. There are some really tough scenes, and parents should be wary in offering this to a sensitive child. Reading it reminded me of The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, which won the Newbery Metal in 1974.  It may play a similar role in this generation as that book played for my generation, that is, a first introduction for children to the horrors of slavery. (432 p, 2024)

The Spindle of Fate by Aimee Lim

 Evie Mai's mother has just been declared dead from drowning when her car went off a cliff into the ocean, although her body was never found.  As Evie is dealing with her grief and trying to help her family cope, a strange monkey demon comes into her room and tells her that her mother isn't really dead.  Instead she had been kidnapped and taken into Diyu, the Chinese Hell, by someone trying to get her "spindle of fate" a magical item that allows her to change the fate of another person.  Evie discovers her mother was part of a group of mystical elders and had magical weaving powers.  Evie decides to, with the help of the other elders, to go into Diyu and rescue her mother.  A young son of a warrior elder, Kevin, agrees to go with her. Together they traverse all 10 layers of Hell to try to save Aimee's family. 

This is the first book of a new author, but in the tradition of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.  To me it felt like a Chinese Dante's Inferno. Since the characters are going through Hell, the story ends up being pretty dark.  At one point they are swimming through a river of blood, and there are several other rather graphic depictions of the different kinds of tortures in Diyu.  It would be too much for some young readers, but I could see certain 10-12-year-old boys liking the gross-out factor. There is some snarky sarcasm in the story that helps lighten things up a bit. The author does a good job of making Aimee a very believably flawed character, and doesn't flinch away from the complex nature of her grief. Kevin is also an interesting character, and they have pretty good chemistry (though not romantic).  The author keeps the ending open for a sequel, which seems to be coming out next summer, but I am not sure if I will read it.  (2024, 304 p)

When I was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds

 Ali, age 15,  lives in the Bed Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York with his mom and sister.  His dad is an ex-con who his still working a "hustle" to support himself. Ali befriends two brothers who live in a nearby tenement.  Noodles is toughened by a hard life, and his brother, Needles, deals with Tourette's. Ali tries to steer clear of the worst elements of his environment, and Ali's family try to support Noodles and Needles because they often don't have enough food to eat. Ali takes boxing lessons from an old Vet in exchange for cleaning up his place. One day the boys find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Ali has to use his boxing skills to keep them from being beaten up. As a result, some bad dudes are after all three of them. What can a basically good kid in a bad "hood" do?

This was Jason's Reynold's first book and his genius was already evident. His portrayal of life in the "hood" is authentic, and his characters are sympathetic.  He doesn't sugar coat anything. For example, even though he never states it, it is clear the Noodles and Needle's mom is a sex worker. He lays out what the temptations and dangers are, and then tries to model how someone can successfully navigate them. He also deals with issues about friendship, and how far should you go for a friend. I am so grateful that a writer like Jason Reynolds exists.  I can only imagine all the good he has done in the world. (256 p. 2014)

note: this book is squarely YA.  There are some elements that aren't appropriate for middle grade. 

Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim

Wen Zhou's parents immigrated to Australia looking for a better life.  Instead, Wen's father gave up his medical training and is working at a Chinese restaurant.  There is not much money in the house, but Wen's father expects everyone to maintain appearances even if their clothes are threadbare and discretely mended. He rules the home with an iron hand and has a sometimes explosive temper. Wen is a constant disappointment to him, and she finds solace from his verbal abuse in her friendship with Henry, a first generation Chinese immigrant in her class.  Even though his English isn't very good, he is smart and has dreams of qualifying to attend an exclusive charter school. He and Wen are working together toward that goal with tragedy strikes in Henry's family.  Wen wants to reach out and help her friend, but her mother is afraid of the retribution they would both receive if her father found out. Can Wen find the "tiger" within to help her friend, and maybe heal her own family?

This got a ton of starred reviews when it was first published in the US In 2023. Lim creates such an authentic voice for Wen that one must wonder how much is autobiographical.  I have read many immigrant stories about Chinese Americans, but never of Chinese Australians.  If this story is accurate, the immigrant situation for Chinese people in Australia is just as bad, if not worse, than in America. It was a little different to have the book narrated by someone with an Australian accent, and it made me remember that the US is not the only place where immigrants struggle to adjust to a new life. I thought Lim did a good showing how a girl can realistically stand up to a domineering father.  I also liked seeing Wen's mother be inspired by her daughter's show of strength. This is a good choice for kids who like reading books from other cultures, but young reader beware that it deals with some heavy issues. (192 p. 2023)

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

Santiago, a shepherd from Andalusia, stops one night in a ruined church. There he dreams of finding treasure.  He visits a fortune teller who confirms that the dream is a prophecy, and that he will find a treasure near the great pyramids. Santiago decides to go in search of the treasure.  On the way he meets an old man calling himself Melchizedek, who gives him advice and two prophetic stones. He continues his travel, eventually crossing into Egypt. There he meets more people has more experiences, and faces more danger until he finally comes to the end of his quest. 

I checked this book out not knowing what it was.  I just had a vague idea that it was a classic. It turned out to be fascinating and very thought provoking. It is an extended parable, intended to communicate a specific philosophy of life. The thing that was intriguing was that I couldn't be sure what that philosophy was until I reached the end.  If the book ended well, I could guess that the philosophy was optimistic.  If it ended in disaster, then I would know it was a satire. I really couldn't tell which way it was going to go until the last chapter.  The writing is very lyrical, almost poetic.  The whole thing comes across as rather mystical.  It is interesting that it was published in the 1980's, and that the author is still living, as it feels much older. This one would be a great choice for a book group. (1988, 208 p.)

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

 Around 1900 a 12-year-old girl is sent in a boat to meet her new husband, a fairly well-off 42-year-old farmer.  The story follows the girl and her offspring for three generations as they face heartache and find love in a harsh social environment. It also follows two other men, one a surgeon from Glasgow and another, a doctor from India who sets up a leper colony. Both men make good decisions and bad, and have to deal the consequences their decisions bring.  

Full, disclosure, I didn't finish this book.  I got about half the way through and decided I was done. In my defense, the book is 972 pages long, so I actually listened to 15 hours out of 30 before calling it quits.  There were things I liked about the book, but, clearly there were things I didn't like about the book.  The thing I liked was the immersive picture it draws of life in rural India in the 1900's.  The reader and almost see, smell, and taste the world where Big Ammachi lives.  I also liked watching the relationship of Big Ammachi and her husband slowly develop as the frightened 12-year-old girl grows up and wins the heart of the heart-broken widower.  What I didn't like about the book was that I felt like the author was manipulating my emotions.  It was like he was saying, "how can I make this as sad a possible."  (spoiler alert, if you plan to read this book, don't read on)  When the first generation lost their first born son to a tragic accident, it was like, OK, things like that happen, and it was sweet to see how the couple managed to heal.  Then other tragic deaths kept happening and it became apparent that the author was killing off the characters to make the story more symbolic. The married girlfriend of the doctor dies right after they give into their passion and commit adultery.  The toddler son of the second generation dies when he is impaled on the branch of a tree the father had promised his wife to cut down, but couldn't bring himself to cut down all the way.  Then his wife left and the husband became an opium addict, and I thought, "this author is now just messing with me and I don't want to read this anymore."  I am a bit curious to know how the author brings the three different story lines together in the end but not enough to listen to another 15 hours of ritual death and heart-wrenching tragedy.  Maybe I will go read a summary somewhere. (972 p, 2023)

Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee

 Sebin (they/them) is a tiger spirit on one of the planets in the Thousand Realms.  He idolizes his uncle who is the commander of a Space Forces, they apply for space academy as soon as they are eligible. On the same day Sebin receives his acceptance letter, the clan leader receives a notice that Sebin's uncle has been accused of treason and is in hiding. Tiger Spirits have fierce loyalty to their clan, but when Sebin is called to choose between loyalty to his family and to his new commander and his new friends in Space Forces, it is not an easy choice to make.  He has always looked up to his uncle and has assumed he was wrongly accuse, but what if his uncle is not as honorable as Sebin always thought he was?

This is the second in the series that began with Dragon Pearl.  I liked that one when I read it clear back in 2022 and had decided to put the next on hold right away, but I guess I didn't.  When I finally listened to this one I must admit I had forgotten much of the story and characters of the first one and was a little lost starting out. B
y the end I had figured everything out and enjoyed the book, if not as much as Dragon Pearl, at least decently well.  The world building is interesting as is the magic structure, which is based on Korean mythology.  Sebin is a believable and sympathetic 13-year-old trying to live up to his family's expectations. That said, I thought the fact that Lee made Sebin non-binary and always referred to them as "them/they" was a little distracting.  Really, their sexual orientation had no bearing in the plot at all.  It seemed like it was only included in the book to pander to a publisher's pressure to create more LGBTQ literature. (256 p. 2022)

The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry

 In the 12th century in France, Dolssa is the teenage daughter of a devout mother and a wealthy father.  Her father wants her to marry well, but her mother hopes she will join a nunnery and devout herself to God.  Then, one day she has a spiritual experience and is converted to Christ.  She sees him as her "beloved" and begins teaching others of his love. Wind of her teaching reaches the ears of the local inquisitors and she is accused of heresy. Her mother defends her and is executed, but Dolssa miraculously escapes and goes on the run.  She is taken in by three sisters, young women of dubious background who run a tavern and public house. The contrast between the four young women couldn't be greater, but they come to love and care for each other.  The officers of the Inquisition are searching for Dolssa, however, and the sisters need to be ever more creative to try to keep her safe.

I put this book on hold because it was a Printz award winner.  It was very different and I didn't love it. I had a couple of problems with it.  One is that the book is set in France, but the narrators are British and I am pretty sure they were slaughtering all the French words in the book. The second is that the book was so serious the whole time I wasn't sure if it would have a happy ending or not. It certainly wasn't one of my fluffy historical romances.  With a title containing the word, "passion" which, in this context, means "suffering death," I suspected it wouldn't end well for poor Dolssa.  The fact that I was concerned, shows that the writing was very good, and the characters were well drawn and sympathetic. It was also interesting to get of taste of what life was like under the shadow of the Inquisition. At the end of the book is an author's note that explains which parts of the book are based on real events and which are fiction.  Sometimes I am put off when someone calls the middle ages, the Dark Ages, but this book rather confirms that title.  It is amazing the atrocities humanity has committed in the name of Christianity. (512 p. 2017)

The Fire Keeper by J. C. Cervantes

 In this second book in the Storm Runner series, Zane, Brooke, and their friends and family are living on a is a tropical island, protected from the vengeful eyes of the Mayan gods. In some ways life has never been so good, but Zane is still worried about his divine father Hurakan who is imprisoned for fathering a demigod son. Zane is preparing to try to sneak off the island and go to free his father, when another demigod arrives on the island, Ren, who has read Zane's book about his first adventure and found the magic note in the end.  Zane soon discovers that by putting the hidden note in his book, he has exposed other godborn kids and that 10 have already been kidnapped by unknown magical forces.  Now Zane needs to save the godborns and his father and he is willing to do just about anything to do it.

When I read the first book, I mentioned that this was the most Riordan-esque of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.  That is doubly true for this book.  I don't know if Cervantes is just good at imitating Riordan's style, or if Riordan did major text editing and plot help in its production.  Either way, this book is better than the first and I think Riordan fans will like it. Zane is smarter and the plot tighter. The character of Ren is good and it is fun seeing Zane team up with previous enemies. Cervantes is on a roll and I probably won't wait another two years to read the next in the series. (2019, 432 p)

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

 Homer has grown up as an enslaved boy on a plantation with this mother and sister, Ada. His mother and the two children make an attempt to escape to the south, and they are partially successful, but Homer convinces his mother to go back and get his best friend Anna.  When she does, she gets caught.  Homer and Ada are on their own in the swamp near their plantation.  The are found by a formerly enslaved man, Suleman who leads them to a secret community called Freewater deep in the swamp.  Homer and Ada find safety and friendship in the community, but Homer feels a terrible need to return and free his mother.  One of their new friends, Sanzi wants to be just like her hero, Suleman, and longs to leave Freewater where she was born to see the outside world. Defying all the advice of the adults around them, the children set out to make things right.

This is the winner of both the Newbery and the Coretta Scott King award last year.  I am sorry to say I didn't much like it. I only fought my way to the end because it received so much attention.  So, what didn't I like about it? The main problem was the character of Sanzi.  She was stupid and selfish.  Someone might defend her character by saying she was acting like a pretty normal 10-year-old would have acted, and that may be true, but I still didn't want to read about her.  She was making such big mistakes that had life-and-death ramifications for the whole colony and nobody was stopping her. Where were the adults in her life? All they did was give her a heart-felt lecture and then let her run off and do reckless things again.  I hate reading about stupid children in books. The other thing that bothered me was that the place, Freewater, didn't ever feel like a real place to me. I felt they didn't really capture how hard and nasty it would be to live in a swamp. They didn't talk about mosquitos, or stink, or fire ants, or the problem of getting enough nutrition living on a diet of fish and acorns. One commentator I read suggested the setting was implied to be in Florida.  I lived in Florida for five years, and know a little what a southern swamp is like.  In a southern swamp you never forget about the bugs, or the cotton mouths, or the gators if you want to stay alive.  Anyway, I think maybe kids might like it because there are adventures, and kind of an idealized hideaway place...I guess. Not my favorite Newbery. (416 p. 2022)

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

 Vera Wong is a widow who runs an unfrequented tea shop in China Town.  She often has only one customer each day, a gentleman who comes and talks about his ailing wife. Vera is lonely but keeps up appearances by adhering to a strict routine and sending frequent "advice" texts to her unmarried son. Her life changes drastically when she wakes up to find a dead body in her tea shop.  When she realizes that the police are not investigating the murder as aggressively as on CSI shows, she decides to take matters into her own hands.  She knows that murderers usually return to the scene of the crime, so she waits to see who shows up.  Over the next two days four young people show up at her shop, and she is sure one must be the murder.  She now just has to discover a way to find out which one is guilty. 

I put this one on hold because it was one of the top 10 items on hold on Libby last month.  It turned out to be pure delight.  Vera is the stereotypical Chinese dragon mother, terrifying everyone she meets, but underneath she is soft hearted and really does want to help people.  The relationship between the four young "suspects" is cute and well written.  It mystery plot is pretty good too, and I didn't really see the whole solution until it was revealed at the end.  If anyone has ever encountered one of these Chinese mother forces of nature before, this book with make them chuckle all the way through.  (352 p. 2023)

Tumble by Celia C. Perez

 Adela loves her mom and her step dad, Alex, but when he asks her if he can adopt her, red flags go up in her mind.  She knows nothing about her biological dad, and her mother won't answer her questions about him.  With the help of a best friend, Adela does some snooping and discovers her bio-father comes from a famous family of luchadores. As she explores this new side of her heritage, she learns a lot about her family, both good and bad, and a lot about herself. 

I read this one in honor of Hispanic Heritage month.  It won the Pura Belpre Award last year.  It was interesting learning about luchadores, a sport I never really followed before, and the story is well written, but, in the end, it was just like so many other coming of age stories I have read.  How often have we seen the story line that a kid is in some kind of crisis, and against their parent's wishes, learns both the glorious moments and dark secrets of their family's past.  I feel like Maisy Chen's Last Chance fits this description, as does Ariana del Mar Jumps In and Front Desk.  It is a good, important, and relevant trope, reflecting some of the difficulties many kids face.  But...Yeah. (368, 2022)

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas

  Nic (short for Nichol) is a Remarkable, a person with a special magical power, just like her father is. They have been living in the non-remarkable world since her father left her mother when she was two years old. Nic hopes that on her 12th birthday her father will finally start to teach her how to use her power.  Instead, she discovers that her favorite author is really a Remarkable too and is her godfather. He gives her a magical object that sets off a series of events that sends her and her best (non-remarkable) friend on a desperate quest into the Remarkable world.  They must find an ancient power that can save her and the entire Remarkable world from destruction. 

This book got some good reviews when it came out earlier this year.  It is by the same woman who wrote, The Hate You Give but is much lighter than that one. There is no profanity or realistic violence. The story is very "Rick Riordan" like and draws on the mythology of African Americans in the South. In the story, haints, boo hags, rougarous and other mythical creatures are real and live in disguise among "non-remarkable" people.  It is a fast-paced and fun story with plenty of action and well drawn and sympathetic characters. There is a fairly strong civil rights theme, but it doesn't overwhelm the story.  I don't think it is as deep as the Tristan Strong book, but it is maybe more accessible for the target age group.  (2023, 368 p.)

Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee

 Maizy lives in California, but is spending the summer in Last Chance Minnesota with her grandparents. She hasn't had much interaction with them because of tension between her mother and grandmother, but now her grandfather's health is failing and Maizy's mother has come to help run the family Chinese restaurant and care for her father.  Maizy ends up being assigned to keep her grandfather company and they strike up a friendship.  As Maizy's grandfather teaches her how to play poker, he also tells the story of his family's journey to American and their experiences as the only Chinese-Americans in Last Chance.  

This book was a Newbery Honor and a National Book Award finalist this year.  It is well written and gives an age appropriate look into the experience of a multigenerational Chinese American family.  During the Covid-19 epidemic, there was a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment because some people blamed China for the epidemic. I think it likely that this book was written in response to that.  I think is is a good response to that, but I didn't think it was a lot better written than a lot of other multicultural realistic fiction that I have read.  Still, it was sweet and sincere.  (2022, 288p.)