Category Archives: ..Young Adult Readers
Little Rock Girl 1957: How a Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration by Shelley Tougas
Take a careful look at this book cover … no exaggeration that “a picture is worth a thousand words”!
The day is September 4, 1957 and 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford is on her way to her first day at Little Rock Central High School. “Nine African-American teenagers, who would forever be known as the Little Rock Nine, were supposed to arrive at the all-white high school … and make history together.” Meanwhile, Hazel Bryan, a white teenager, walks behind Elizabeth, “… her face twisted with rage. ‘Go home, n****r!’ she screamed. ‘Go back to Africa!’” At that moment, Will Counts, a newspaper photographer for the Arkansas Democrat, clicked the photo and made American history.
Little Rock Girl is one of six titles thus far in the Captured History series from Compass Point Books, which “explores how a single moment captured on film can influence society and change the course of history.” Indeed, author Shelley Tougas uses the powerful photograph to tell the story of the brave Little Rock Nine students and their pivotal participation in the long fight for integration. Tougas devotes the first chapter to Eckford whose first-day experience was even more frightful because she did not get the message the night before about the fateful morning’s plans.
Four decades later in 1997, President Bill Clinton held open the front doors of Central High for the Little Rock Nine. Photographer Will Counts was also there. And so was Hazel Bryan Massery. Counts was able to take a very different photograph this time … one that would be used for a poster titled Reconciliation, now sold at the Visitor’s Center near the school. For the full story – inspiring and disturbing both! – and its aftermath, you’ll have to read the book.
Author Tougas effectively pulls together history, memories, and, of course, many photographs to present a mesmerizing, multi-layered mosaic of our challenging past. The title photo “told the story of segregation in an instant. But it did more than tell the facts – it provoked a reaction.” Change is still in motion … “and the state of America’s inner-city schools can be seen as evidence of racism in disguise.” Little Rock Girl, however, ends with the greatest hope, with a visit to Central High by one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals, who remembers being welcomed by a young African American boy: “‘Welcome to Central High School. I’m the president of the student body.’” Beals’ reaction is understandably tearful: “‘… I was expecting something other than this black child. This had been my dream, my vision. This was why I had endured all the pain and physical punishment – so this boy could stand there and say that. It was amazing.”
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2011 Continue reading
Schooled by Gordon Korman
Ever since the fabulous audible version of No More Dead Dogs kept my then-backseated young ‘uns highly entertained through many a traffic jam, Gordon Korman holds special favor on the contraptions that have taken over their now-teenage ears. [Pop, by the way, earned a double rave.] Oldster me is still laughing along (hey, these YA titles keep me young!) and especially appreciative of the full-cast productions that keep the running miles passing smoothly by.
Cap Anderson is just 13 when he’s arrested for driving without a license (even though he’s been at the wheel since he was 8), trying to get his grandmother Rain to the hospital. He’s eventually un-cuffed when the police officer realizes Cap’s not an unlawful teen, he’s just not your average kid. Cap’s spent his whole life on “an alternative farm commune” with Rain as his guardian/protector/teacher who’s homeschooled him “to avoid the low standards and cultural poison of a world that had lost its way.”
Now with Rain in the hospital with a broken hip, Cap gets thrust out in that “lost” world with no preparation. ‘Wide-eyed and innocent’ barely begins to describe young Cap who knows nothing of the “cultural poison” he’s about to experience. He lands in the home of a social worker and her angry-at-the-world high school daughter Sophie who has no qualms about letting Cap know he’s anything but welcome. Hardly home sweet home!
At Claverage Middle School (otherwise known as C Average Middle School after top bully Zach Powers pulls off a letter from the school sign), Cap quickly becomes the object of curious disdain. One by one, Korman shifts the narrative to give each of Cap’s new classmates a chance to share their reactions to the new kid. From the wannabe popular girl to the bottom-of-the-social-rung nerd to a football player who can’t seem to stop decking Cap (by mistake!), Cap’s brave new world turns upside down and all shook up. His classmates, of course, are in for some major surprises, too.
Korman effortlessly voices the worried parent, the proud principal, and the nastiest villain, to create a diverse community slowly coming to terms with unexpected difference. Cap’s otherworldly upbringing leads to moments of heartbreak and comedy, confusion and insight. Korman takes great care not to present Cap as some avenging angel against all things electronic and corporate, and instead imbues him (and his classmates) with unpredictable layers of complicated adolescence …
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2007 Continue reading
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie and After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Being in the throes of adolescence, my two teenagers have little they agree on … especially when it comes to reading. Thing 1 can’t ever read enough; Thing 2 only deigns to pick up a book when he’s got an assignment due (yesterday, ahem). Jordan Sonnenblick, however, always elicits a sort-of similar response from both: “When’s his next book coming out?” Thing 1 asks; “Drums and Zen were great; maybe I’ll read another …” Thing 2 ponders. Hope springs eternal.
So here I am to tell parents with readers and non-readers that Sonnenblick is an ideal choice for both. Really. Tried and tested in this house.
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie was Sonnenblick’s debut effort (the last paragraph in his online bio says, “I have written a book per year since then,” so let’s hope he keeps that momentum going!). Welcome to Steven Alper’s eighth grade year … which starts out pretty smoothly. He’s a decent student, an awesome drummer, has reliable friends including a gorgeous crush, the usual loving parents, and an adorable (if sometimes annoying) five-year-old-brother. So far, so good … until one morning (October 7, to be exact), Steven is making “moatmeal” for little Jeffy (which only Steven can make just right) when Jeffy takes a tumble and gets a nosebleed … and it won’t stop. Emergency room, hospitalization, tests … and Jeffy is diagnosed with leukemia.
In pitch-perfect eighth-grade boy-speak, Sonnenblick details the challenges that Steven faces – watching his baby brother suffer through the debilitating treatments, his parents’ superhuman efforts to contain their worry, his own impossible feelings of helplessness and anger, not to mention his failing grades, his erratic love life, and the school counselor whose candy hearts make him weep every time.
Fast forward eight years to After Ever After and Jeffrey’s now in eighth grade. His leukemia is in remission, but he’s left with lifetime scars inside and out – a self-described “short, chubby kid with glasses, a limp, and brain damage.” A bit of exaggeration, but definitely a semblance of truth. His best friend. Tad, is an acerbic fellow cancer survivor. He’s “met the girls of [his] dreams,” in California-transfer Lindsay Abraham. So far, school is pretty good … although the home life, not so much. His accountant father can’t understand why Jeffrey struggles so much with math; his teacher mother (understandably) worries more than most. And, most disturbingly, his idol-brother Steven has dropped out of life and is somewhere in Africa chasing drumming circles.
Then a letter arrives: Filled with “super-awkward phrases like ‘educational equity’ and ‘assessment regime’ and ‘holistic integrity of the K-12 system,’” the bottom line means Jeffrey will need to pass “huge, horrifying state standardized tests” in order to graduate from eighth grade and move on. That letter (which ends up in the garbage disposal, ahem) leads to some major planning – including both Jeff and Tad getting through graduation with remarkable results! Another unforgettable eighth-grade Alper year begins …
Somehow, Sonnenblick is able to create both a shattering and hopeful story, balanced with gentle humor and wrenching tenderness. Highly recommend to be read back-to-back, the double novels offer a clear, remarkable window into adolescence … although you’ll need to occasionally wipe away the blur from your overflowing tears.
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2004 and 2010 Continue reading
The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos, illustrated by Nate Powell
Houston, 1968 is a tough place to be different. The Long family has just moved from San Antonio to a Houston suburb where Jack Long has taken a new job as “the race reporter” for a local television station. At home, his wife watches the horrific broadcasts from Vietnam while his children aren’t quite sure about the neighborhood kids who pass the time going “n****r-knockin’.” Jack’s attempts at fair representation and reporting get him threatened with “Stick with your own kind or you’ll get fired.”
Civil rights protests have reached local Texas Southern University, a historically African American institution, making it a hot spot for news coverage. There Jack Long meets Larry Thomas, an African American activist and professor, who comes to Jack’s aid during a potential volatile situation. A friendship is tentatively forged, then reinforced to include both families … but hard-won trust can be too-easily broken and color lines prove difficult and dangerous to cross.
Based on co-creator Mark Long’s childhood experiences, Silence is a chilling reminder of the not-so-distant race wars that nearly imploded the country. Capturing a little-known event – a peaceful campus protest turned violent which ended with false accusations of murder – Silence provides stark testimony from multiple viewpoints. Small moments so memorably depicted here by illustrator Nate Powell – a blind child unknowingly bringing in a KKK rally flyer attached to the front doorknob, an angry father slapping his own son in uncontrollable frustration after being humiliated by a store clerk, a mother desperately wailing for her hit-and-runover young child, an old friendship irrevocably broken – give this graphic memoir unflinching strength.
The final quote at book’s end returns to the title, and belongs to Martin Luther King, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies … but the silence of our friends.” The implied question can’t be ignored: what would you do?
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2012 Continue reading
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories (Volume 1) by hitRECord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Short shorts (of the literary variety, ahem!) are not particularly new. Hemingway (no, I’m not a fan) probably gave the genre its biggest boost with his exemplary six-word version: ”For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Given our overloaded 21st-century mental circuits, short shorts seem to be just about right for our shrinking attention spans. The first of a planned three-volume series, Tiny is perfectly sized to slip into any pocket and pull out anytime, anywhere. Open to any page (no bookmarks required) for a quick literary snippet – visually enhanced, no less – to get a full storytime experience in just a few seconds. “‘The universe is not made of atoms; it’s made of tiny stories,’” the title page invites.
“The doctor’s wife ate two apples a day, just to be safe. But her husband kept coming home.”
“One day before breakfast, an orange rolled off the counter and escaped its fate, bounding happily through the kitchen door. Filled with hope, the egg followed.”
“One wanted to share a life together. The other wanted to share two.”
Yes, you could read this tiny book straight through in about five minutes … but why? Go head, take some savoring time in between that commute, this meeting, that pick-up, that deadline … The collection is ready-culled for you, featuring 67 collaborators, chosen from 8,569 contributions (!) submitted to hitRECord, an “open-collaborative production company” founded by actor/artist Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Sure, some will make you shrug and turn the page, others will make you giggle, guffaw, or smirk, and still others might make you stop and linger over a few deep breaths.
Not that you asked, but here’s my (obvious) favorite: “His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling.”
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2011 Continue reading
Genkaku Picasso (vols. 2-3) by Usamaru Furuya, translated by John Werry
Doh! For some reason, I had no idea the other-worldly adventures of the Picasso/Chiaki dynamic duo [pocket-angel Chiaki directs the surviving Picasso towards doing good deeds for his fellow students] was a trilogy. I figured on a few more years of diving into secret sketches since high school lasts at least that long. Alas, we’re lucky to get even three installments because, according to creator Usamaru Furuya in his “Afterword” at series end, “This story was planned to end after eight issues [in serialized format], or two volumes, but I wouldn’t have been able to pull it all together that way, so I got to do three volumes.” He adds, “Each volume is thick, though, so it’s more like there are four! Each one’s a good value! Ha ha ha!”
Those valuable life-saving exploits in volume 2 include relieving the school’s star pitcher’s competitive angst disguised as girl problems, getting over debilitating mean-girl trauma leftover from an early age, revealing one’s true self regardless of outward appearances, and holding on to dreams even when the Simon Cowell-wannabes try to shatter your soul.
In volume 3, Picasso comes to the rescue of a former classmate who dropped out because his’ loving’ Tiger Mother whittled him down to almost nothing (parents take note, ahem), then saves a friend feeling betrayed by unrequited love from making a dangerous mistake.
Then (finally) in the second half of volume 3, it’s Picasso’s turn for some revealing sketches. Picasso’s closer friends finally begin to wonder how he knows so much about their lives. Questions, then accusations fly, sending Picasso off on a soul-search of his own … and Chiaki must guide him through one more challenging adventure. Jaded old reader that I am, I confess to getting completely blurry over the last 20 pages …
Tidbit: Hopefully this post comes just in time to be part of the Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast which ends today. I didn’t know such a fabulous effort existed until I posted Furuya’s No Longer Human (vols. 1-2) [markedly different from his Genkaku trilogy, by the way], which serendipitously got included in said Feast’s Archive. The Furuya Feast, hosted by fellow manga addict Ash Brown of Experiments in Manga, is just the latest in the Manga Moveable Feast [MMF] series founded by Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic in February 2010. To learn more about MMF, click here. Luddite that I am, I’m joining in a little late, but the adage ‘better late than never’ sure applies here! What an inspiring manga community I’ve stumbled into … addicts unite!
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2011 (United States)
GENKAKU PICASSO © Usamaru Furuya
Original Japanese edition published by Shueisha Inc. Continue reading
Tesoro by Natsume Ono, translated by Joe Yamazaki
More and more, I’ve noticed book cover flaps yielding important tidbits (which makes me a bit concerned about such covers going astray, especially for picture books handled by so many little hands!). But worry aside, how fitting to find this on the front flap about Tesoro: “In Italian, it means: • Treasure, a treasured thing • Something or someone precious.”
Precious treasure is exactly right: Tesoro offers 15 diverse vignettes – gathered and translated for the first time into English – from manga powerhouse Natsume Ono. “These may be clumsy stories, but they’ve become memorable and important to me,” Ono writes in a closing note. “It’s like a treasure to me.” Nice to know we’re in synch!
Ono’s signature simple style with the oversized, most soulful eyes is bookended here with stylized bears (the front cover offers a sneak peek) that show a sharply different genre from her human creations. As adorable as her little bears are (check out her graffiti-ed trashcan when she “had an office job,” hee hee ho ho!), I remain mesmerized by the eyes … and myriad of instantaneous expressions those eyes define: relief in “Inside Out” when a husband learns of his wife’s impending return; everyday love in “Moyashi Couple” between a “bean sprout” elderly husband and wife; gratitude in “Three Stories About Bento 1/3″ over an unexpected lunch delivery, poignant joy in “Three Stories About Bento 3/3″ as a father speaks to his late wife through his son’s full round belly (wept over that one!); heartbreak in “senza titolo #1″ as a father looks on at his too-young dying son; disappointment in “Christmas Morning” in both father and son over a missing present; and tearful adoration in “senza titolo #6″ over “the best man in the world, Dad.”
Ono has earned her international chops for her manga-turned-anime series Gente (and its related single volume Ristorante Paradiso) and House of Five Leaves, but my personal favorites remain her smaller efforts, especially not simple, and now the tesoros in her Tesoro.
For all of Natsume Ono’s titles posted on BookDragon, please click here.
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2011 (United States)
TESORO - ONO NATSUME SHOKI TANPENSHU © Natsume Ono
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap, illustrated by Mari Araki
“Dear Mr. Jean Paul Sartre, I know that you are dead and old and also a philosopher. So, on an obvious level, you and I do not have a lot in common.” Thus begins 15-year-old Tina’s class project for her English Honors elective on existential philosophy. And what an angst-ridden, beguiling, contemplative, delightful exploration of teenage-hood it proves to be.
Tina has just started the second half of her sophomore year at Yarborough Academy, “just a boring school started by some guy who died eons ago.” She’s “a pretty good student. A decent violin player. And a bit of an intellectual.” She has two older (overachieving) siblings – her architect-trained artist sister, her internet wife-seeking surgeon-to-be brother – who, now well into their 20s, are dealing with their own self-discovery. To the “question I get asked the most … What are you, REALLY?” she answers “I’m an Alien (But my parents are Indian.).”
In just six short months (eight if you count the “Epilogue”), Tina’s high school-centered life goes through some existentially significant changes. She loses her best friend to “a new group of friends with whom she could discuss slutty clothes and cheesy poetry,” has her first date and first kiss (sort of twice), gets cast as the lead in the school play, falls in love, gets lovesick, and fights off what she calls “CEM or Chronic Existential Malaise.”
Lest I’ve somehow caused you to think even for a millisecond that this is your same-old, same-old teenage tale, please let me dispel any such misconceptions: creators Keshni Kashyap (who is also a filmmaker, and making her publishing debut her) and Mari Araki are far too clever and original for that. How else could they combine Krishna, a Samoan Mormon convert, “tacky pieces of art like statues of white people doing ballet and kissing,” Rashomon, Camus and Kierkegaard, skateboards, nirvana, and horse tranquilizers to get such stellar results?
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2012 Continue reading
Stir It Up by Ramin Ganeshram
Food writer Ramin Ganeshram shares her Indo-Caribbean culinary prowess in her debut title for younger readers about eighth-grader Anjali Krishnan who really knows how to stir things up … and make it all taste great. Working part-time in her family’s busy roti shop – which specializes in Trinidadian comfort cooking – in Richmond Hill, Queens with her father and grandmother, Anjali has delicious dreams: “I want to have my own show about Caribbean food. No one has done that yet. I’ll be the first.”
At 13, she’s well on her way to chef-dom, learning all the family recipes from her grandmother, testing and sharing her own unique creations with some of the shop’s appreciative regulars, and taking serious classes at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. Then Anjali gets a chance to compete in a reality show featuring kiddie chefs: making the finals turns out to be the easy part, but convincing her parents to let her go to the auditions proves to be a much tougher challenge, especially since tryouts are the exact same date and time as the admissions test for a coveted spot to Stuyvesant High School.
Regardless of her parents’ old-world immigrant insistence on education first, Anjali is not about to give up her dream, especially when she’s can practically smell the curry: “‘… we curry just about everything.’” As talented as she is, however, Anjali’s still got a thing or two to learn about cooking up true success.
With all her cooking and writing experience, Ganeshram gets the blend just right in this toothsome tale about food, family, and feeding not just the belly, but nourishing the mind and soul, as well. The recipes read deliciously, too … as I’m an utter disaster in the kitchen, maybe I can rally my teenagers to give me a helping hand!
Readers: Middle Grade
Published: 2011 Continue reading
Wandering Son (vol. 2) by Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn
The ongoing gender-bender adventures of Nitori Shuichi – a boy who wants to be a girl – and his best friend Takatsuki Yoshino – a girl who wants to be a boy – open with the beginning of the 6th-grade school year. What began as mostly cross-dressing fun in volume 1 develops into deeper self-awareness as the maturing children become more daring in the assertion of their burgeoning identities.
Out together one day – with Shuichi dressed in a sailor dress and wig, and Yoshino in a dark schoolboy uniform – the adorable pair meet a gorgeous, out-going, engaging woman, Yuki-san … who also happens to be transgendered. Initially unaware of their true identities, Yuki befriends Shuichi and Yoshino and invites the surprised pair into her home and into her life. Her boyfriend quickly figures out the young friends’ secret … but he’s got a few secrets of his own to reveal!
Meanwhile at school and at home, Shuichi’s got love troubles he never, ever expected when his older sister Maho’s classmate rings the doorbell. Maho all too soon figures out her brother’s sisterly qualities … but is quickly subsumed with her entry in a modeling contest.
Shuichi and Yoshino’s decision to keep an “exchange diary” in which they share their most innermost thoughts and experiences with only each other at first alienates their two close friends Chiba and Sasa-chan, although thankfully not for long. When the 6th grade goes on an overnight class trip, and a classmate calls Shuichi a horribly derogatory name (I can’t even bear to type it here), it’s Chiba who immediately and very dramatically comes to his defense.
As volume 2 closes, the idyllic childhood Shuichi and Nitori have shared thus far, surrounded by exceptionally supportive family and friends, is showing signs of being breached by thoughtless outsiders. Volume 3, scheduled for a late May 2012 release (hurry, hurry!), will undoubtedly take a more serious tone. In the insightful, not-to-be-skipped final essay, “Transgendered in Japan,” translator (and manga scholar) Matt Thorn writes, “Shuichi and Yoshino are coming of age, not in an idealized fantasy world, but in a contemporary Japan that poses unique challenges to children such as these.” Indeed, to quote a popular film, ‘reality bites,’ but in creator Shimura Takako’s sensitive world, Shuichi and Nitori have better than a fighting chance at becoming strong, confident adults.
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2012 (United States) Continue reading
Facebook
Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
