Category Archives: diverse books

Book Review: Rebel Of The Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

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Rebel Of The Sands CoverBook Review: Rebel Of The Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Published March 2016 by Viking Books For Young Readers|320 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the e-book from the library

Series: Rebel Of The Sands #1

Genre: YA

Blog Graphic-What It's About

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there’s nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can’t wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up “wed or dead,” Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she’d gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan’s army, with a fugitive who’s wanted for treason. And she’d never have predicted she’d fall in love with him…or that he’d help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I liked Rebel Of The Sands!  Not as much as I thought, but I still liked it.

I do like that it’s a fantasy that’s set in the Middle East instead of Europe.  You really get the sense that Amani is in a place that barren and dusty, and I did get a Western feel from the book.  Maybe it’s the shoot-outs and the fact that Amani feels more like a cowgirl than a girl who wants to leave Dustwalk.  It really is a mix of Middle Eastern fantasy meets Western, but decidedly more Western than anything else, and for most of the book, I tended to forget the setting.

It had the potential to be a lot more unique.  I thought there would be more magic and magical horses and dijnn, and they don’t show up until later on the book, so it’s not really the fantasy I expected.  I wish they were more obvious early on in the book, and that it was more defined, because it really wasn’t in this book.  Maybe that’s why it read more as a Western than a fantasy.  It did make me feel distanced from the characters, and I spent a good part of the book waiting for something interesting to happen, because things are pretty slow for a lot of the book.  There’s a lot of traveling once Amani leaves Dustwalk.

It seemed like the first half of the book was paced pretty well, even if it seems like things moved slowly, but after that, it feels like things were rushed and not really developed.  Which is weird, because that’s sort of when the book gets good.

I did like the ending, though!  It didn’t end on a cliffhanger, which was actually nice, because it ends with the idea that there are bigger things happening in Amani’s world than what we see.  It was open-ended in a way, and you don’t know exactly where things are headed but you know there’s something going down.

I’ll probably read the next book just to see what happens, but I won’t be rushing to read it either.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

3 stars.  I did like the magic in Rebel In The Sands, but it felt more like a Western with hints of fantasy instead of an actual fantasy.

Book Review: Surviving Santiago by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

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Surviving Santiago CoverBook: Surviving Santiago by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Published June 2015 by Running Press Kids|312 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Returning to her homeland of Santiago, Chile, is the last thing that Tina Aguilar wants to do during the summer of her sixteenth birthday. It has taken eight years for her to feel comfort and security in America with her mother and her new husband. And it has been eight years since she has last seen her father.

Despite insisting on the visit, Tina’s father spends all his time focused on politics and alcohol rather than connecting with Tina, making his betrayal from the past continue into the present. Tina attracts the attention of a mysterious stranger, but the hairpin turns he takes her on may push her over the edge of truth and discovery.

The tense, final months of the Pinochet regime in 1989 provide the backdrop for author Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s suspenseful tale of the survival and redemption of the Aguilar family, first introduced in the critically acclaimed Gringolandia.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I’m not sure what to think about Surviving Santiago!  I wanted to like it, and parts of it were interesting, but I had a hard time getting into it.

I didn’t like Tina’s dad at all.  I didn’t get why he wanted to see her, when he’s always off working or drinking.  For someone who would only divorce his wife if he could see his daughter, he didn’t seem to care (at all) about spending time with her, and it didn’t make sense, especially since it’s been almost a decade since they’ve seen each other.

And even though it takes place during the last months of the Pinochet regime and all of these things are happening, I felt like we were told what was happening, instead of seeing it.  I know Tina visiting Chile from the U.S., and she’s naive and not at all aware of what’s going on in Chile, but I wish we saw, through her eyes, what was going on.  Well, more of what was going on, because we do get a glimpse towards the end of the book.  Which wasn’t really enough for me.

She seemed selfish at times (more than I would have expected) and she seemed to care more about the boy and listening to Metallica and smoking weed than anything else, and the relationship that she does have with her dad at the end of the book…it didn’t work for me.  Her actions did change their relationship, but it also put them in a lot of danger. Granted, her dad’s work probably put him in danger, but her actions definitely made it worse.

Overall, it felt like something was missing.  I admit that I know nothing about Pinochet- I just recognize the name, so for me, the things her dad went through, and everything that happened with Frankie…I think I needed more of what his regime was actually like.  It seemed like she drew on her previous book, which is fine, but maybe I should have started off with that one before reading this one, just to have that context.

Still, I liked the author’s note at the end, and I liked that she had a few recommended titles to read.  I felt like that’s something you don’t see a lot in YA.  And I do like that we see the beginning of the end, because it could have very easily been during his regime.

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2 stars.  I do like what Surviving Santiago deals with, and I wanted more context for what was going on in the book, because I didn’t fully understand some of the more political stuff going.  I’d still recommend it, though, because it is about something that people might not be familiar with.

ARC Book Review: The Art Of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

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The Art Of Being Normal CoverBook Review: The Art Of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Expected Publication is May 31, 2016 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux|Expected Number Of Pages: 352

Where I Got It: I got a digital-ARC from netgalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth: David wants to be a girl.

On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal: to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in his class is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long, and soon everyone knows that Leo used to be a girl.

As David prepares to come out to his family and transition into life as a girl and Leo wrestles with figuring out how to deal with people who try to define him through his history, they find in each other the friendship and support they need to navigate life as transgender teens as well as the courage to decide for themselves what normal really means.

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I really liked The Art Of Being Normal!  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s a book I’d recommend to anyone!

I haven’t read many books featuring a trasngender character, but I liked seeing David struggle with telling his family that he’s transgender.  You see how he’s bullied because of this time, when he was little, and said he wanted to be a girl.  You see how people assume he’s gay (or suspect he his) because he’s interested in boys, when, in reality, it’s because David is really Kate.

David’s story is a really interesting parallel to Leo’s story.  As with David, you see bullying and how people treat him because Leo is also transgender, and what happened to Leo was heartbreaking.  It makes me so sad that people treated Leo the way they did, and that Leo had to transfer schools for his own safety.  You have David, who wants to transition, and Leo, who is in the process of transitioning, and I like how their stories come together.  I did like the dual narration, since you see how both teens are struggling, and what their lives are like.

Even though it worked fairly well, it was also hard to form strong attachments to both Leo and David.  I do love the connection they have with each other, though, and I’m glad they have each other for support.  Something about it the dual narration didn’t quite work for me, and I think it’s because we don’t focus completely on one character.  Like, David kind of gets pushed off to the side because of Leo’s search for his father, and it seems sort of random and I’m not sure it completely fits with the rest of the story.

It also starts a little slow, and you’re not really sure where it’s headed at first, but as you get into the story, you get a better idea of where things are headed.  Still, there were times where it seemed like it might be a little darker than you’d expect, and it didn’t really get there.  Yes, you see some of the prejudice that transgender people face, but it didn’t have a big emotional impact, and I guess I just wanted something more.  It did seem unevenly paced, and a little all over the place, and looking back, I think I wanted something a little more evenly paced.

More than anything, The Art Of Being Normal is about class and poverty and making friends and communicating with family.  It’s about growing up and dealing with family.  David doesn’t feel like he’s normal, and you see how hard it is for David to communicate that.  He was a character I think we can all relate, because we all feel like we’re not normal, and we’re all dealing with our thing.

Williamson captures what it’s like to be a teenager really well, and it was really easy to relate to some of the things the characters were dealing with.

I did want to see more of David’s friends, who are there, but not in an important way.  I wish we see them more than the random appearances they make.  Going in, I knew Leo was transgender, but it’s a while before it comes up in the book that Leo’s transgender, and it was frustrating to see the hints that Leo had a secret, but it not being revealed. I get that Leo’s not open because of what happened to him at his old school, but the hints got to me, and I just wanted to know what happened.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

3 stars.  I liked it, and I think it’s a book everyone should read, but for me, I wanted a little more than what we got in the book.

Book Review: Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne Valente

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Six-Gun Snow White CoverBook: Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne Valente

Published November 2015 by Saga Press|128 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: YA Western/Fairy-Tale Re-Telling/Novella

Blog Graphic-What It's About

A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother’s death in childbirth, so begins a heroine’s tale equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

Six-Gun Snow White sounded really good and different, and I was pretty excited about reading it, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.

It’s an interesting take on Snow White, and I like that it’s a western, because that seems pretty rare for YA.  And yet, I felt really distanced from what was going on, which made it hard to get into.  I felt like I was being told what was going on, instead of seeing what was going on, and it felt like it was being told to me by a third party, instead of Snow White herself.

The ending was a cop-out!  It felt very slapped together and like there wasn’t a lot of thought put into it.  Which I thought was odd, because it otherwise felt like a thought of thought went into the story.  It also felt very halting, and it was a little hard to get through.

As a re-telling, it does follow the original story of Snow White pretty well, but in a different setting and time period. How Snow White got her name was sad, and I felt like it was a dig on the step-mother’s part.  There are some differences, of course, but overall, I thought she did a fantastic job re-telling it, with Prince Charming as a horse, and with the dwarves as women.  As a western, though, I couldn’t get into it all.

I can’t speak to how accurate all of the Native American stories we see in the novella are, but Snow as half-white and half-Crow Indian was a different take on the original story, and why Snow White getting the name of Snow White was sad.  There is a lot of abuse and racism in the novella, so it’s probably closer to the Grimm version of the story then any other book out there.  It’s darker than I expected, and given how the story is written, novella length is probably the perfect length for it.

I had a hard enough time getting through it, and at one point, I was dangerously close to not finishing it, even though it’s not that long.  But since it’s not long, I figured I could tough it out and finish it.  Because of the length, though, you don’t get a lot of details, which could have been really interesting.  It does make me wonder what this novella could be if it were novel-length, but not if it were written the way the novella is.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

2 stars.  I thought about giving it one star, but it gets two because the book as a re-telling was really really good, but how it was told didn’t work for me.

Audio Book Review: Perfect by Natasha Friend

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Perfect CoverBook: Perfect by Natasha Friend, narrated by Danielle Ferland

Published January 2013 by Recorded Books|Run Time: 4 hours, 22 minutes

Where I Got It: I borrowed the audio book from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Isabelle Lee has a problem, and it’s not just Ape Face, her sister, or group therapy for an eating disorder, or even that her father died and her mother is depressed and in denial. It’s that Ashley, the most popular girl in school, is inviting Isabelle to join her at lunch and at sleepovers at her house, and this is presenting Isabelle with a dilemma. Pretty Ashley has moved Isabelle up the social ladder, but is it worth keeping the secret they share? Caught in the orbit of popularity and appearances, Isabelle must navigate a world with mixed messages, false hopes, and potentially harmful turns, while coping with her own flailing family and emotions. The author brings a depth of characterization, humor, and a real adolescent’s voice to this multileveled story about the desire to be perfect in an imperfect world.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I randomly picked this one up from the library recently, but it was an okay listen for me.

One: I wasn’t expecting Isabelle to be so young- granted, she’s 13, but I assumed that she would be a lot older. Still, it’s nice to see a book focused on a middle school character, instead of one in high school, which seems to be a lot more common.

Two: I didn’t feel like Isabelle moved up the social ladder at all.  Sitting at the popular for all of two weeks…we don’t see much change in Isabelle’s social status as result, and she’s more on the periphery than anything else.

Three: At one point Ashley is bleeding from her mouth after we see both girls purge.  Nothing happens with this, and it seemed like a random thing to bring up, only for Ashley to be perfectly fine.  It’s explained away as “it happens sometimes, it’s no big deal.”  I really expected Ashley to end up in the hospital or something.

Four: I did like seeing how Isabelle changed over the course of the book.  By the end of the book, she was starting to deal with the death of her father, and she got to the point where she went over a day without throwing up, and I like seeing that change in her.

Five: Danielle Ferland seem to narrate a teenage girl pretty well, but there was nothing about her performance that really stood out to me.  I wouldn’t avoid any books narrated by her, but I’m also not running out to see what else she’s narrated.

Six: This has more to do with the actual CD’s I checked out with the library, but there were a couple tracks on the last disk that were a little funky, and went super fast, so there are a few minutes I ended up missing…including the very end.  I should probably say something when I return it.

Seven: Isabelle goes to group therapy, and Trish wants to see her individually…but it seems like no one ever mentions anything to Isabelle’s mom.  Really?  You want to see her more, and yet you only ask Isabelle, a 13-year-old girl, about it?  That seems a little weird to me.

Eight: It seemed pretty open-ended, with not a lot of resolution, which is fine, but…I don’t know.  I think I wanted more of a conclusion.  Or even a longer book, because it wasn’t much over 4 hours, and maybe things could have been a little more resolved then they were in the book.

Nine: Her dad’s death was super-vague.  She only mentioned he died unexpectedly, and that he was sick but they didn’t know about it, so that was really weird.  Did the mom know, and not give her kids more information, or did everyone just get taken off-guard.  There was just something off about his death.

Ten: How she treated her little sister.  I’m an only child so sibling relationships are completely foreign to me, but I thought Isabelle treated her younger sister (by three years) sort of mean.

Eleven: The fact that a 13 year-old and ten-year-old are making themselves pizza from scratch and mac and cheese and have to feed themselves because their mom still cries herself to sleep at night and randomly sleeps during the day…they weren’t completely on their own, and their mom didn’t completely check out.  But they were still on their own a lot, which is weird because their mom is a college professor teaching a couple classes. The mom also seems to constantly grading papers (understandable, given it’s English she teaches).  And I’m sure the mom has meetings and office hours, but there was something off about the mom too.  Besides grieving, something didn’t fit quite right.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

2 stars.  I wanted to like it more, but it was just okay.

Book Review: OCD, The Dude, and Me by Lauren Roedy Vaughn

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OCD, The Dude And Me CoverBook: OCD, The Dude, and Me by Lauren Roedy Vaughn

Published March 2013 by Dial Books|234 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

With frizzy orange hair, a plus-sized body, sarcastic demeanor, and “unique learning profile,” Danielle Levine doesn’t fit in even at her alternative high school. While navigating her doomed social life, she writes scathing, self-aware, and sometimes downright raunchy essays for English class. As a result of her unfiltered writing style, she is forced to see the school psychologist and enroll in a “social skills” class. But when she meets Daniel, another social misfit who is obsessed with the cult classic film The Big Lebowski, Danielle’s resolve to keep everyone at arm’s length starts to crumble.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I didn’t like OCD, The Dude And Me as much as I thought I would.  It really seemed like a book I would like, but I ended up being slightly disappointed.

For one thing, she doesn’t seem to be OCD at all, which is weird for a couple reasons.  One, we see her inner thoughts, so it’s weird that it doesn’t come up.  And two, other than needing her books to organized in a certain way, and being upset that they get knocked over and doesn’t have time to re-organize, or a reference to flicking a light switch on and off…I didn’t get the OCD part of it all.  She definitely has social anxiety, and possibly PTSD, but OCD seems random.  Because of the diary/essay format, she comes across as quirky more than anything else.

Two: I didn’t get her obsession with The Big Lebowski, which only shows up in the last third of the book, and for no reason.  If she’s so obsessed with it, why did it randomly come up?  I’ve never actually seen The Big Lebowski, so unless there are references in the book I’m not picking up on because of that, it seems to be a non-factor.

Three: For someone who’s supposed to be a senior in high school, she writes a lot younger than that.  The whole prom thing was slightly confusing, because I really forgot most of the time that she was older than she sounded.

Four: The essay and diary format was interesting but it felt like overkill and a little too much.  Granted, there were a few times where I couldn’t help but laugh, but it would randomly switch between essays, journal entries, notes, and letters, and it felt really jumbled and not very coherent.  Which is sort of understandable, given we get some inner thoughts, and it flowed okay, but not well enough.

Five: We don’t see much reflection or change in Danielle.  She seems to remain pretty much the same the entire book, and she fell pretty flat.  Also, for someone who hasn’t had a friend in years, she seemed to get close to Daniel pretty fast, which is surprising, considering she seems to have a lot of anxiety about talking to people. Maybe it’s because of the format, but given the format, I felt like we should have seen even a slightly different Danielle by the end of the book.

Six: What is so alternative about this high school?  All of the kids seem to be be perfectly fine, and it didn’t make sense why it was so alternative, because really, it came across as your typical high school.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

2 stars.  It was okay, but not the book I expected.  I’m feeling pretty ambivalent about the book.

Book Review: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

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Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda CoverBook: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Published April 2015 by Balzar + Bray|303 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I liked Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda!  It was cute, fun, funny, and there was a lot of heart to this book.

I really liked Simon, and I liked watching him and Blue fall in love even more.  I loved seeing their emails back and forth, and when they met in person…I was so happy that they finally got to meet each other.  Their romance is definitely cute, and it’s a good cute.  I really do think it’s because they’re emailing each other, and you get to see it unfold.

It just made me happy to see Simon surrounded by people who support him.  I really liked his relationships with his friends and his family, and yes, there are people who aren’t so supportive, and seem to be generally stupid, it was also nice to see that people have his back, and won’t put up with homophobia.  It’s (overall) a happy book, and I liked reading something so happy.

I will say, Martin…not a good guy.  Especially with how he blackmailed Simon.  And that other thing he did?  Not cool.  Not cool at all.  You don’t do what he did…it really wasn’t for him to tell, just because he didn’t get the girl. He really did take something away from Simon.  I get why Martin did what he did, and he did seem to feel bad about it, in the end, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it one bit.

And while I’m not a big quote person, I loved this quote a lot.

“Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it shouldn’t be this big awkward thing whether you’re straight, gay, bi, or whatever. I’m just saying.”

And also this one:

“White shouldn’t be the default any more than straight should be the default. There shouldn’t even be a default.”

It really got me thinking (for a few minutes) about how there are defaults, especially with sexuality, and how there’s a certain default until proven otherwise.  Those two quotes are part of why I like Simon so much.  And he references Harry Potter a lot, which was also pretty awesome.  It’s just cute and funny, and that’s really all I have to say.

Actually, I really like the title.  It makes a lot more sense after reading the book, and when it clicked, I actually liked the title a lot more.  I’m not a big fan of the cover, but it fits with the book pretty well, and honestly, I’m not sure what would make a better cover.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

4 stars.  I didn’t like the whole thing with Martin (hence 4 stars, instead of 5), but overall, Simon is a great book for everyone who likes cute, sweet, light books.

Book Review: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

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Rogue CoverBook: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

Published April 2015 by Harlequin Teen|457 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: Talon #2

Genre: YA Paranormal/Dragons

Blog Graphic-What It's About

From the limitless imagination of bestselling author Julie Kagawa comes the next fantastic adventure in the Talon Saga.

Deserter. Traitor. Rogue.

Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can’t forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he’d signed his own death warrant.

Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order’s headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember’s own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George.

A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day…or start an all-out war?

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I randomly picked up Talon when I was at the library, being really about what happened in this book.  I thought the first book in the series, Talon, was okay, and definitely my least favorite Julie Kagawa book, but she’s one of my favorite authors, and I knew I wanted to read this one.  Surprisingly, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, and it makes me want to re-read the first book to see if maybe I just read it at the wrong time.

We pick up a while after where we left off in Talon, and there’s a lot going on in this book!  Like, we learn more about Cobalt, and why he left Talon, which I really liked, because I felt like he was really mysterious, and his chapters reveal a lot more about him than I expected.  I also liked his chapters (and Dante’s to an extent) because they show the lengths Talon will go to in order to eliminate those who aren’t with the program.

And everything with Ember’s brother hunting her down!  It’s not that surprising, and I totally get why Talon would want to test his loyalty.  Ember is important to him, but he’s in too deep with Talon, and I don’t think anything will change that.  Even though I want him to change his mind so badly!

I think what I liked the most was how Garret realized that not all dragons were bad, and that St. George really wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be.  And while it was never outright said, somehow I got the impression that there’s something either Talon and/or St. George is hiding.  Maybe it’s because we see Garret change, and I want someone to be hiding something, but I feel like there’s more going on than what we see in the book. There’s something about this book that’s very big picture.

Maybe it’s because we see different narrators- it worked really well in this book, and you see how big this world really is.  That might be why it seems like there’s something else going on with St. George and Talon.  You really do see a little bit of everything in this book!

We also have a love triangle, and I quite like this one!  Yes, Garret and Cobalt represent two different sides of Ember, and she is torn between balancing human and dragon, but you see how torn she is and how hard of a choice it is for her. It’s not clear who she would pick and in a weird way, I’m rooting for both.  It’s not the main focus of the book, since there’s so much going on, but it’s still a pretty important part of the book.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

4 stars.  I didn’t love it, but it was everything I wanted Talon to be.

Book Review: Where The Streets Have A Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

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0-545-17292-6Book: Where The Streets Have A Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Published January 2008 by Scholastic|313 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Thirteen year old Hayaat is on a mission. She believes a handful of soil from her grandmother’s ancestral home in Jerusalem will save her beloved Sitti Zeynab’s life. The only problem is that Hayaat and her family live behind the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank, and they’re on the wrong side of check points, curfews, and the travel permit system. Plus, Hayaat’s best friend Samy always manages to attract trouble. But luck is on the pair’s side as they undertake the journey to Jerusalem from the Palestinian Territories when Hayaat and Samy have a curfew-free day to travel.

But while their journey may only be a few kilometers long, it could take a lifetime to complete…

Humorous and heartfelt, Where The Streets Had A Name deals with the Israel-Palestinian conflict with sensitivity and grace and will open a window on this timely subject.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I liked Where The Streets Had A Name!  Not as much as the other books I’ve read from her, but I still really liked it!

Unfortunately, the conflict we see in the book is something that I know nothing about, but I really am glad that Abdel-Fattah wrote such a great book.  I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to live in Hayaat’s world, and it definitely made me realize how little I pay attention to what’s going on in the world.

I think there may be an assumption that the reader knows at least a little bit about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and I think an author’s note would have been nice.  Not that I, or other reader’s, can’t learn more about it on their own, but…it still would have been nice.  It didn’t take away from the novel at all, and it’s a story I think everyone needs to read.  And even though I’m not at all familiar with the conflict we see in the book, I think this book is so important because I think it’s about a side that probably doesn’t get the coverage that the other side does.

You still get a clear picture of what life is like for Hayaat and her family, especially with some of the flashbacks/stories we see in the book.  I really felt for them, and Abdel-Fattah does such a wonderful job at showing several different perspectives, and how everyone…they’re just people.  It would have been so easy for her to write one side as…bad…but she doesn’t.  She’s very neutral, but it’s also clear that it was important to her that this story be told.  While it’s very different than her other books, I am glad I read it because it’s about hope and courage and how important family is, even when things have changed so much.

I also really liked the glossary at the end of the book, and I did find myself flipping back and forth when I came across a word I didn’t know.  It was really helpful to have!

Blog Graphic- My Rating

4 stars.  I really liked it, but I didn’t love it.  I still recommend it, though!

Book Review: Gabi, A Girl In Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Posted in Books, diverse books by

Gabi, A Girl In Pieces CoverBook: Gabi, A Girl In Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Published October 2014 by Cinco Puntos Press|284 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the paperback from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy’s pregnancy, Sebastian’s coming out, the cute boys, her father’s meth habit, and the food she craves. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

July 24

My mother named me Gabriella, after my grandmother who, coincidentally, didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was unmarried, and therefore living in sin. My mom has told me the story many, many, MANY, times of how, when she confessed to my grandmother that she was pregnant with me, her mother beat her. BEAT HER! She was twenty-five. That story is the basis of my sexual education and has reiterated why it’s important to wait until you’re married to give it up. So now, every time I go out with a guy, my mom says, “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.” Eyes open, legs closed. That’s as far as the birds and the bees talk has gone. And I don’t mind it. I don’t necessarily agree with that whole wait until you’re married crap, though. I mean, this is America and the 21st century; not Mexico one hundred years ago. But, of course, I can’t tell my mom that because she will think I’m bad. Or worse: trying to be White.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I really liked Gabi, A Girl In Pieces!  I can’t believe it’s Quintero’s debut novel, because, for some reason, I thought that Quintero was a lot of other books out there.

I really liked Gabi’s story, and how it’s told through diary entries.  Something about this book made me think of Princess Diaries, and I think they’re a good read alike for each other.  Gabi’s honest, and she has to deal with so many things.  I really felt for her, and I really liked her and there’s something about her that made me want to hug her. She’s also really funny, and I really wish that a book like this was out when I was in high school, because I am pretty sure teenage me would have LOVED it.  I still really like it, though, and I think the thing I related to the most was how she sometimes felt insecure about how she looked (don’t we all, though?) and I can really relate to turning lobster red after being in the sun for a while.

I feel like Gabi is so aware of everything going on in her life- the diary format really gets her to reflect on things, and we really see her change over the course of a year.  There’s something very sincere about Gabi and she does have her flaws, but I love that she’s flawed, and doesn’t try to be anyone other than herself.

I did want to talk about the cover!  This is a book I’ve wanted to read for a while, and while I like that the cover is totally how Gabi sees herself, and that it’s a color version of the illustration we see in the book, that she draws for her zine.  I can see people not picking up the book because of the cover, but if you can get past the cover, this really is a great book.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

4 stars.  I didn’t love it, but Gabi definitely has a unique voice!