Review of Rez Ball, by Byron Graves

Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Rez Ball

by Byron Graves

Heartdrum (HarperCollins), 2023. 357 pages.
Review written September 29, 2023, from my own copy, sent from the publisher.
Starred Review
2024 William C. Morris Debut Award Winner
2024 American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner, Best Young Adult Book
2023 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #5 More Teen Fiction

I read this book because it’s eligible for the 2024 William Morris Award for best young adult debut book, so I’m writing this review before I’ve discussed it with the committee in order to guarantee this is only my opinion and I’m not giving any information about what the committee thinks.

Note: This was written after my first time through the book. I read it twice in print and then listened to it as an audiobook, and my appreciation only grew.

Rez Ball is a sports novel. I don’t generally love sports novels, but this one hooked me into a couple late nights turning pages.

It’s the story of Tre Brun, a sophomore at Red Lake Indian Reservation high school, hoping to play varsity basketball. His big brother Jaxon had been the star of the team last year. But Jaxon died in a car accident, and his team just missed going on to the state championships for the first time ever.

Now the same starters are back, but is there a place for Tre? And he and everyone else know that he’s not the same ball player as his brother. Is he good enough?

I thought Tre came across as an authentic sophomore boy who’s big and tall and has fame suddenly thrust upon him. He’s awkward with girls, feels like he needs to prove himself at parties, and has a lot to live up to in the shadow of his big brother. I love the way the author winds all that into Tre with believability and likeability, and you feel his thrill when the whole rez is cheering for him, but also the weight of those expectations.

The team does come up against some ugly racism in spots, and Tre has some friendship issues to untangle. And every part of the story makes it feel all the more true.

This is a sports novel that made me want to give the protagonist a great big hug. It was a lovely combination of showing his insecurities along with the pride and thrill of playing ball with excellence. A sports novel to love – even if you don’t particularly like sports novels.

epicreads.com

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Review of 102 Days of Lying About Lauren, by Maura Jortner

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

102 Days of Lying About Lauren

by Maura Jortner

Holiday House, 2023. 215 pages.
Starred Review
2023 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #9 More Children’s Fiction

102 Days of Lying About Lauren is a debut novel that I read as part of my reading for the 2024 William C. Morris Award for best Young Adult Debut book. Now, although this book is technically eligible, the main character is twelve years old, so it wouldn’t really have the wide appeal to teens that the Morris Award looks for. (Wide appeal to middle school students? Absolutely!) Normally, when I figured this out about a book, I stopped right there. But in the case of this book, it only took a few pages to completely hook me, and I indulged myself and finished the whole book. Such a delight!

Before the story even begins we see two lists from a girl who calls herself Mouse. The two lists are “Rules to Live By” and “Lies Told.” The first rule is “Don’t tell anyone where you live.” The last lie is “I told Cat that Lauren Suszek was dead. She isn’t. Lauren Suszek is me.”

When we start the story, we learn that Lauren is living in an attic of the Haunted House attraction at an amusement park in Florida. She looks old for her age, so during the day, she pretends to be sixteen years old and an employee of the amusement park. She had stolen a uniform shirt and found a broom and dust pan, and she’s got a routine. She’s been living at the park for 102 days.

This might seem like an unlikely premise, but I love the way this author gradually reveals to us what happened to Mouse and how she cleverly figured out how to cope. She even made a friend with another worker and found a way to get food.

But all her efforts and planning begin to get stymied on the 102nd day, when first her friend Tanner talks about saying good-by, then someone named Cat calls Mouse “Lauren,” and then a hurricane is coming and they all need to seek shelter, but Tanner goes the wrong way.

Okay, the summary isn’t as good as the book itself. I was completely charmed by Mouse, with all her Rules for staying safe and her cleverness in staying hidden. Not to give anything away, but I loved the way the ending hinted at the long road of healing and that Lauren would be able to travel it.

I did learn from this book the sad fact that amusement parks are a place where sometimes kids get abandoned. Here’s how Mouse puts it when she sees a distraught kid in the park on the start of that fateful day:

“Mommy!” It was a little boy dressed in a fancy shirt that looked so neat Mama would have called it pressed. In other words, he looked like someone had taken care to make sure he appeared presentable today. Not a good sign. There was only one reason to make sure your kid looked that good when heading off to America’s most famous amusement park: you were going to leave him there. Parents ditched their kids here sometimes. Maybe because they wanted to get in one last hurrah before it all fell apart. Or maybe because parents needed the last memory of their kid to be a good one. Who knows? But it happened. Kids were left behind, and this kid, he looked the part. Dressed nicely, eyes wild – searching, scanning – scared out of his mind.

I think part of the reason I loved this book is that when I was a kid, I had a fantasy about stopping time and then enjoying all the rides at Disneyland. (Never mind how I would have gotten the rides to work.) But mostly it was that Mouse is a sweet and delightful person who went through something no kid should ever have to go through and then figured out an amazingly effective way to deal with it. The whole thing was maybe not completely realistic, but I needed the happy ending so much, I didn’t mind a bit, and enjoyed every minute of this book. I hope we’ll see much more from this author!

maurajortner.com

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Review of An Echo in the City, by K. X. Song

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

An Echo in the City

by K. X. Song
read by Christina Ho and Ewan Chung

Hachette Audio, 2023. 9 hours, 13 minutes.
Review written September 13, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

An Echo in the City surprised me with how powerful it was. We begin in Hong Kong in 2019 with Phoenix, a junior in high school, whose mother is pressuring her to study to retake the SAT so she can get into Yale and leave Hong Kong. Phoenix lived in North Carolina when she was little, but her wealthy family took her back to Hong Kong for the opportunities. With her parents’ recent divorce, she feels like they hardly notice her except to complain about her grades.

But then she starts talking with her goof-off older brother’s new girlfriend Suki, who is involved in the student protest movement. The government had introduced a bill to allow extraditions to mainland China, and they feel this would allow anyone to be arrested who did anything China didn’t like – such as protest. Suki’s uncle has run a bookstore for years that sells books banned in China, and he is now on the blacklist.

As Phoenix gets more and more involved in the movement, she meets Kai, a handsome seventeen-year-old who has recently moved to Hong Kong from Shanghai after his mother’s death. What Phoenix doesn’t know is that Kai’s father is a police officer, and Kai has enrolled in the police academy to please him. So Phoenix doesn’t realize that Kai is on the opposite side of what turns out to be more and more like a war.

I appreciated the conflict in this book – it didn’t feel contrived. Each teen has a back story such that their reactions make sense. Their romance is lovely – while you know that there’s going to be conflicting emotions, and are just waiting for Kai to get found out.

I also had known nothing about the student protests in Hong Kong, and hearing about them from both the perspective of a student and the perspective of police was eye-opening.

Both characters grow in this book, with both of them realizing that they need to think about how they want their own lives to go and not just what their parents want for them. A story of star-crossed lovers that also teaches you about recent history.

kxsong.com

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Review of The Labors of Hercules Beal, by Gary D. Schmidt, read by Fred Berman

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Labors of Hercules Beal

by Gary D. Schmidt
read by Fred Berman

Clarion Books, 2023. 8 hours, 17 minutes.
Review written December 13, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I already knew I love Gary Schmidt’s writing. Even knowing that, this one blew me away, touching me to the point of tears in several spots.

This story is told in the voice of a 12-year-old boy. He’s the smallest kid in his class, but insists he’s begun with the “Beal growth spurt.” His name is Hercules Beal. And yes, he’s heard all the jokes about a small kid being named Hercules. He lives in Truro, Maine, which he is convinced is the most beautiful place in the world.

Herc’s parents died in a car accident earlier this year, and his big brother Achilles has come back from his adventuring to care for Herc — and run the Beal Brothers Nursery, which has been in their family since Herc’s great-grandfather and his brother started it. But the school bus route has changed, and they’re not on it, and Achilles isn’t interested in driving Herc to Truro Middle School every day. So Herc will now be walking 22 minutes each day to attend Truro Academy for the Environmental Sciences.

His new home room teacher is a retired marine who insists on being addressed as Lieutenant-Colonel Hupfer. In studying Greek mythology, he has individualized project assignments for the class that are going to take the whole year, with regular progress reports. Herc’s project is to study the Labors of Hercules, figure out how they apply to his life — and find a way to perform them himself.

So this book is about Hercules Beal performing the Twelve Labors of Hercules. Like Lieutenant-Colonel Hupfer says, when you really look for parallels, you’ll find them. It starts out simple — instead of catching the Nemean Lion, Herc clears an abandoned house of feral cats. Many of the feats feel truly Herculean — and Herc learns along the way that he can ask for help.

My only complaint about the book is that the assignment was too big and the labors fit too well — how could the teacher ever have predicted that some of these labors would come to him? And a lot of them seemed like way too big a thing to put on a 12-year-old kid. Though Herc did learn that he was not alone — and some of the touching things about the book were his reflections on what he learned from each labor.

This book is deeply sad, because of Herc’s missing parents. But it’s also funny, quirky, inspiring, and beautiful. Gary Schmidt is great at writing characters who are so distinctive and unique, you don’t doubt for a second they’re fully alive. This book is one to treasure up in your heart.

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Review of Those Pink Mountain Nights, by Jen Ferguson

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Those Pink Mountain Nights

by Jen Ferguson
read by Julie Lumsden, Aaliya Warbus, Kimberly Woods, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Heartdrum, 2023. 9 hours, 15 minutes.
Review written November 27, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve just this past weekend finished reading for the 2024 William Morris Award for best young adult debut, so it’s fitting that I listened to the second book of an author whose debut was a finalist for last year’s William Morris Award, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet. That one was about Canadian indigenous teens working in an ice cream shop, and this one is about Canadian Indigenous teens working in a pizza shop, and both are completely beautiful.

In this book, we’re following the perspectives of three teens who all work at Pink Mountain Pizza, in a ski town. Each viewpoint character gets their own narrator. A girl named Berlin is central, and the other two, Cam and Jessie, both have a bit of a crush on her. Berlin has been feeling numb lately, and her best friend has suddenly completely ostracized her, not telling her what is wrong. On top of that, they learn that Joe, the Black owner of Pink Mountain Pizza, is selling the shop to a corporation. Berlin knows things won’t be the same. What she doesn’t know is that the head of the shady corporation buying Joe out is Jessie’s father.

And then one night, Berlin thinks she sees Kiki across the street from the shop. Kiki is a Black and Indigenous teen who went missing six months ago, and she’s Cam’s cousin. But was Berlin somehow dreaming? She couldn’t really have seen Kiki? When she tells Cam, some things start in motion that shake up their lives.

This book has themes woven through it of depression, friendship, discrimination, racism, activism, and especially the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women. The message is powerful, and it’s all wrapped up in a story of clever and creative teens you can’t help caring about. And amazing pizza recipes! This book won my heart. A fabulous follow-up to an amazing debut.

jenfergusonwrites.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Shape of You, by Muon Thi Van, illustrated by Miki Sato

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Shape of You

by Muon Thi Van
illustrated by Miki Sato

Kids Can Press, 2023. 32 pages.
Review written August 23, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

Here’s a picture book that gently leads children into abstract thinking and ends up with love.

I’m not a huge fan of picture books about how much a child is loved — Although every family should have some books like that, they have to be something special to stand out. This book is something special.

First, the art is cut paper skillfully rendered with depth and shadows. Objects at a distance are gently blurred. The images are beautiful and sweet — especially of the mother, child, and dog.

The book starts looking at the shapes of things you can see, including a rectangle door and a square table. Then it gently gets more abstract, first with things you can see:

The shape of this water
is a cup,
but sometimes it’s a cube

or a cloud.

This beautiful spread is still something you can see, but now they’re talking about the concept of “shape” more abstractly:

The shape of light
is all the colors of the sunset —

red, yellow, blue,
tangerine, chartreuse, mulberry, tan.

It progresses to completely abstract, such as, “The shape of thinking is quiet,” and “The shape of learning is a question.”

One of my favorite spreads has a knitted scarf on the cut-paper child, with the wind blurred in the distance:

The shape of the wind
is a scarf flapping.

And the book finishes up with shapes that change, but the wonderful reminders:

The shape of my fingers
will always fit yours.

And the shape of my love
will always be you.

A sweet story about love, edging into abstract thinking, that could be a wonderful conversation starter. What shapes do you see and feel around you?

kidscanpress.com

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Review of Just One Flake, by Travis Jonker

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Just One Flake

by Travis Jonker

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2023. 48 pages.
Review written October 25, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

First, full disclosure: Travis Jonker is a librarian friend of mine. First, beginning many years ago, I read his 100 Scope Notes blog. Then I got to serve on an ALSC committee with him, which gave me an excuse to say Hello at conferences. I’m happy about his new success as an author, and this book marks his debut as an illustrator as well.

Just One Flake is a simple story of a kid trying to catch one snowflake on his tongue.

I grew up in California — but I still remember trying to do this when I was a 4-year-old — the last year I lived where it snowed (before moving away from California as a young adult). I failed to catch a snowflake on my tongue because it’s just not as easy as it looks.

This book takes that common childhood aspiration, and gets us rooting for little Liam with all the things he tries.

And what more is there to say? He tries, and tries again, thwarted over and over again, with ultimate success — and it just makes for a wonderful winter romp. A sure storytime hit, too.

And one of my favorite things is this line on the copyright page:

Case art by Tom Angleberger, Stephen Barbara, Cece Bell, Betsy Bird, Lauren Castillo, Carter Higgins, Allison Jonker, Colin Jonker, Lina Jonker, Supriya Kelkar, Laurie Keller Minh Lê, Donalyn Miller, James Preller, John Schu, Colby Sharp, Bob Shea, Philip Stead, and Erin Stead. This book wouldn’t exist without all of you. Thank you.

So I checked the case art — the cover of the book underneath the paper cover, and it’s covered with pictures of paper snowflakes! So yes, you can finish your winter storytime with this book by all making paper snowflakes. And sharing snowflakes with friends, as the author did.

This book is one of a kind. Like a snowflake.

100 Scope Notes
abramsbooks.com

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Review of Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, by Lisa Yee

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance

by Lisa Yee

Random House, 2022. 276 pages.
Review written February 17, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review
2023 Asian/Pacific American Literature Award Winner, Children’s Literature
2023 Newbery Honor Book
2022 National Book Award Finalist

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance is about a girl who’s spending the summer with her mother at her grandparents’ place in Last Chance, Minnesota. She didn’t know her grandparents before this summer, but her grandfather is very sick, so her mother came to make peace.

In Last Chance, her grandparents run a Chinese restaurant, which has been in the family for more than one hundred years. As Maizy spends time with her Opa, he begins telling her the story of his grandfather, Lucky, and how he came to America and started running this very restaurant. Maizy also does her own research about some pictures up in the restaurant. They turn out to be pictures of “paper sons” who immigrated to America under fake papers, but got help getting on their feet with Lucky in the Golden Palace restaurant.

In the present, Maizy needs to get her bearings and make some summer friends. And then the giant wooden bear that’s been standing in front of the restaurant gets stolen, with a nasty note with racial slurs left in its place. Can Maizy get the bear back and figure out who did it? Maizy also spends time getting to know her grandparents — and writing better fortunes for the fortune cookies that everyone expects in a Chinese restaurant.

This book has a nice weaving together of the past and the present. Lucky’s story is told by Maizy’s Opa in short bits that keep you — and Maizy — wanting more. And she ends up proud of her family and their place in America.

LisaYee.com
rhcbooks.com

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Review of Royal Blood, by Aimée Carter, read by Kristen Sieh

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Mystery, Teen Fiction Review 0

Royal Blood

by Aimée Carter
read by Kristen Sieh

Listening Library, 2023. 10 hours, 21 minutes.
Review written October 25, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.

Royal Blood is a contemporary mystery about an American girl who is secretly the illegitimate daughter of the King of England. No, not Charles — this book looks at a modern world where King Edward VIII didn’t abdicate for Wallis Simpson and lived out his reign with a queen his family approved of. Now in 2023, Alexander, son of Edward IX, is on the throne.

Evangeline Bright has never met her father — that she can remember. But he’s been supporting her since she was eleven years old and her grandma died. Evan’s mother has schizophrenia, but it’s under control with medication. Evan keeps getting herself kicked out of boarding schools, hoping she’ll get to go home to her mother. But when this book opens, her attempt to burn the school’s grade book got out of control, and at almost eighteen years old, she’s got a potential felony pending. So when Jenkins, the liaison with her father, comes to help, he decides it’s time for her to get out of the country and go to England.

Her half-sister Maisie, the heir to the throne, isn’t thrilled to meet her, but Queen Helene even less so. And that’s nothing to what happens when the press gets wind of her existence.

However, that’s all just the beginning. The real trouble ensues when a charming rich boy attempts to sexually assault her at a party — and ends up dead. Did Evan kill him? She’s not even sure because the details of that night are hazy. But if she didn’t, then who did?

This story could get tawdry, but it’s told with heart, as Evan thinks about what makes a family and learns more about what makes her famous one. The book doesn’t feel like a gossip rag, but a novel of a teen in an extraordinary situation where she doesn’t know whom she can trust.

It turns out there’s a set-up to make this the start of a series. Yes, I find that I’m looking forward to spending more time with this American girl who’s finding her place in the British royal family.

aimeecarter.com

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Review of Together We Swim, written by Valerie Bolling, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Together We Swim

written by Valerie Bolling
illustrated by Kaylani Juanita

Chronicle Books, 2023. 36 pages.
Review written September 6, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review
2023 Finalist for the Kirkus Prize

I checked out this book because it’s one of two picture books chosen as a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, young readers category. It’s a charmingly perfect book for a youngster learning to swim.

Toes dip.

Side grip.

The text is very simple. Every spread has one or two rhyming couplets, and most of the lines are only two beats long. That simple text goes perfectly with the pictures showing a Black family outing to the pool. Dad and big sister are swimming happily. Mom is staying with the little brother. Although he’s Black, he reminds me completely of my own three-year-old nephew. He’s sweet and chubby and a little nervous about this whole thing, decked out in a floatie belt.

After some kicking and floating with a board and a pool noodle — all under Mom’s watchful eyes — he’s ready to do some swimming without the floatie.

There is a little episode:

Sink under,
Small blunder.

But Ma catches him with a

“Don’t fear,
I’m here.”

The story is maybe a little unrealistic in how far the little boy advances in one day, but it builds to swimming and grinning, with the whole family celebrating. And finishes with a warm family hug and heading home.

Filled with pride,
Off I stride.

A truly delightful picture book about a scary but satisfying accomplishment and a wonderful supportive family that helps it happen.

valeriebolling.com
kaylanijuanita.com

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