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Under Attack by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Reading a book about an ongoing war feels awful. The fact that there are kids – right now – suffering what these characters are suffering makes it hard to sleep, while you’re reading this book. It’s not easy to read, but equally, death and horrible details are dealt with in measured ways. A young reader should be able to cope. Also, the protagonist has a sweet little dog that adds levity. The kids are resourceful, strong, and clever. There is a “happy ending” to this first book, although challenges and the ongoing war remain. Facts are provided at the end of the book as well as ways readers can help.
700,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia. At the time of publication, only 300 had been recovered.
Middle Grade Fiction pr7633542
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Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne
When I read that this book had won the GG Award, I did a fist pump at my desk and said, “Yay!” (Alone in one’s office, this reaction roughly equals, jumping around high-fiving everyone.)
This is a GREAT book. Lots of non-didactic content about the nuanced life experiences of individuals in the Chinese Canadian community. Through the protagonist, her girlfriend, sister, parents and other fully developed secondary characters, the author fleshes out how different first generation immigrants’ lives are from their children, but equally how ideas and customs vary – or evolve differently - from family to family. Chinese Canadians are not 100% homogenous, anymore than Canadians in general are. This book provides wonderful windows into the lives of these characters. For some, it may provide fantastic mirrors for the first time.
One mirror – for me – was to the life of a Canadian teenager! Remember being a teenager? Remember poor time management – “I’m late? Really?! Huhn…” Remember failing to plan for every possibility and thinking – without an iota of sarcasm, “What could go wrong?” Remember learning about your friends and friendships as the inevitable calamity struck? Remember the time you realized that getting caught by your parents wasn’t the worst possible outcome for you?
On a (perhaps) less momentous note, I’ve always thought skateboarding was kind of dumb. Like with the book Exit Pursued by a Bear regarding cheerleading, if an author can make me care about something I previously thought was goofy, they are accomplished at their craft. Crash Landing gave me new respect for the sport of skateboarding.
There is so much to love about this book, oh and it’s a debut. Incredible! I can’t wait to read more books by Li Charmaine Anne.
Young Adult Fiction pr7332912
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The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science is one of the funniest books I have ever, ever, ever read, for any age. I honestly laughed out loud at least once every time I sat down to read this book. The author plays with narrative voice to hilarious effect. Picture books break the fourth wall sometimes, like in a movie when an actor looks into the camera and talks directly to the audience. The narrator does that in this novel. It’s interesting that this funny technique, also surreptitiously explains things to kids, they might not otherwise know.
The author’s running commentary on the use of turret vs. small tower is a great example. In a similar, subtle way, many aspects of this book are funny but also encourage girls to embrace being smart, being curious, and studying science – if they want to. Brilliant! Happily, this is the first in a series.
Middle Grade Fiction pr7633517