Review of Gallant, by V. E. Schwab, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

Gallant

by V. E. Schwab
read by Julian Rhind-Tutt

Greenwillow Books, 2022. 7 hours, 41 minutes.
Review written January 4, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.

I’m not a big fan of horror, so this book was just a tad too creepy for me, but you can be sure I listened to every word.

Olivia Prior has grown up in an orphanage, unable to speak. She doesn’t know why she can’t speak when she can hear perfectly well, but she’s not able to make any sounds come out of her mouth. She’s also always been able to see ghouls. She has memories of her mother, but her main tangible connection with her mother is a journal she left with Olivia at the orphanage — a journal in which it sounds like her mother is going mad. There’s a letter to Olivia at the end of the journal, where she tells Olivia that she’ll be fine, as long as she stays away from Gallant.

Then one day a letter comes to the orphanage, claiming to be from Olivia’s uncle. He’s written to every orphanage and is begging her to come home. Olivia is more than happy to leave the orphanage, but when she arrives at the estate, the place is called Gallant. And Olivia’s uncle died a year ago. And his son, her cousin, tells her to stay away.

But the caretakers, Edgar and Hannah, are happy to have Olivia, who reminds them of her mother.

It doesn’t take long, though, to realize that terrible things are happening at Gallant. On the other side of the wall, there’s a shadow house, ruled by Death himself. The Prior family tries to keep Death on the other side, but Olivia’s presence may be throwing things off. Olivia finds another journal of her mother’s, and it casts light on who she is. On which side of the wall does Olivia’s destiny lie?

This book is atmospheric and spooky. The book has a young female protagonist, but they chose as the narrator an older gentleman with a British accent — and the choice is absolutely perfect.

It’s a creepy and haunting tale that will keep you turning pages or listening to another few minutes.

veschwab.com
EpicReads.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 How Old Am I? by JR

Art, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Photography, Starred Review 0

How Old Am I?

1 – 100

Faces From Around the World

by JR
The Inside Out Project

Phaidon Press, 2021. 216 pages.
Review written July 28, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

The concept of this book is very easy to explain. The execution of the concept is utterly delightful.

This book shows the faces of one hundred people from all over the world. Each one is a different age. The faces are presented in order of age, featuring the 1-year-old first and the 100-year-old last.

The questions the participants are asked are presented at the front of the book. (I actually didn’t notice this at first, but I got the idea quickly anyway.) Here are the questions:

Hello! [The person answers in their own language.]

What is your name?

How old are you?

Where do you live? Where were you born? [A small map features these places. A very large variety of places are presented.]

What makes you happy? What is your wish for the world? No matter how old we are or where we live, we each have a story to tell. What’s yours?

The section answering those last questions is short, but there’s lots that can be conveyed. Here are a few examples:

Here’s how 6-year-old Noam answered:

I am super excited about my next birthday – I wish it was today! I am proud because I already know how to read, dance, and go to sleepovers. When I’m 18, I want to be the President of America. Chocolate is what makes me happy. I wish the whole world was made of chocolate and that when you want to eat some chocolate, you can just take it from the walls around you. Chocolate is what makes everybody happy.

34-year-old Maria, from Russia, says:

When I was little I thought anything was possible. I still believe this now! When I was around 5 to 8, I had a wild imagination. I could be a princess one day, or a firefighter or teacher another. I’m still interested in different lives and now have a job making documentaries – movies that show the world around us and the lives of real people. I learn about all kinds of people in different places – from Tokyo to California, from Norway to Madagascar.

And 57-year-old Safarina from Indonesia:

It doesn’t matter how old I am, I always look forward to my next birthday. At 27 I got married, at 28 I had my first baby girl, and at 38 I had my baby boy and finished my studies, so all of those ages mean a lot to me. I am a scientist now, but before that I was a veterinarian, helping animals. I really like working as a scientist because it is exciting and unique. My family, my work, and music make me happy in life.

79-year-old Rafael, from Slovenia, says:

I started going to school when I was 7. Our school was small, old, and made of wood. We didn’t have heating or toilets, and the teachers were very strict. But home was a warm place. I had my parents and my siblings and a cherry tree that was my hideaway. I used to do my homework and studying in my tree. Later I moved to the city and learned to fix and make electrical tools and equipment. I am really proud of my job, and even at my age, I still work.

The last person featured in the book is 100-year-old Beatrice from the USA. She says:

I was a sickly child with a heart problem, and I was allergic to everything, which meant I wasn’t able to run around. When I was 7, I found the local library. I still love to read, and for the last ten years I have been a library volunteer. I never dreamed to be this age. It’s an amazing experience. I am healthy and well, I don’t walk with a cane, and I live alone. That’s not common at my age and something to be grateful for.

These quotations give you a taste, but the full experience comes with the large pictures of their smiling faces and the greetings in so many languages.

The graphic design of the book is also done well, with each person featured with a background slowly going through all the colors of the rainbow. The 1-year-old has a yellow background and so does the 100-year-old, but they’ve gone through all possible shades as the pages change slightly with each turn.

At the back, we’ve got information about the artist who created The Inside Out Project, putting large photos of people on buildings across the world. This book came out of that project. I love the way it includes people from all over the world as a result. This book is truly a delightful experience.

insideoutproject.net
phaidon.com

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Review of Same Time Next Summer, by Annabel Monaghan

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Romance 0

Same Time Next Summer

by Annabel Monaghan
read by Brittany Pressley and Dan Bittner

Books on Tape, 2023. 6 hours, 57 minutes.
Review written September 3, 2024, from a library eaudiobook

When you’re listening to a romance novel, you shouldn’t complain if you know right away what’s going to happen, right? Especially since it was the author’s other book that made you notice the formula.

This book begins with Samantha going back to the beach where her family has spent summers for decades, along with Jack, her doctor fiance. Sam has resisted spending more than a few days there ever since she was seventeen, when Wyatt, her childhood friend and teen boyfriend (whose summer place was next door) left her and broke her heart. But now she’s over all that, engaged to be married, and her parents want her to consider getting married at the beach. Much to her surprise, Sam learns that Wyatt is back in the house next door, for the first time in years.

Okay, do you, like me, know what’s going to happen from that description? I did indulge in some fond hopes that this would be about Sam realizing what a great choice she made dating Jack, but I knew that wouldn’t happen as soon as they started in on a flashback from Wyatt’s perspective.

Like I said, the author’s earlier book, Nora Goes Off Script about a romance channel writer, made me extra aware of the formula, but I did groan a little when Sam (whose straitlaced job was in jeopardy) decided she wanted to be an art teacher for kids.

And there was one little detail that annoyed me. A high school student is not going to get a job at a library “teaching” kids, nor probably doing story times. Shelving books, maybe. Just saying.

But beyond all that? Yes, it’s a fun story. The characters are people you enjoy spending time with. Wyatt has some nice depth to him. And I have to say I did end up being surprised by what it was that broke up Sam and Wyatt when she was seventeen. It was not a letter one of them sent that never got received!

Though some day, I do want to read a romance novel about a heroine realizing she’s found someone much better for her than her first love. This isn’t that, but it’s a sweet romance that leaves you happy for the characters. It’s a feel-good story about finding the person who really gets you – and who can find fault with that?

annabelmonaghan.com

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Review of If You Could See the Sun, by Ann Liang

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

If You Could See the Sun

by Ann Liang

Inkyard Press, 2022. 341 pages.
Review written November 29, 2022, from my own copy, sent by the publisher for the Cybils Awards
Starred Review

This book begins when Alice Sun’s parents tell her they can only afford one more semester of the elite international school she attends in Beijing, where she vies for top scores with her nemesis Henry Li. She is the only scholarship student at the school, but half of tuition simply isn’t enough.

Then when attending classes, worried about having to leave, Alice feels completely unseen — and turns invisible. For a short period of time, she can’t see her reflection and no one can see her.

At first she turns to people for help, but no one can do anything, not even her beloved aunt. But something Henry Li says makes her wonder if she can monetize her power. So he makes an app — and people can anonymously ask the “Beijing Ghost” to do things for them in secret.

Well, it starts by working out beautifully, but the requests get more and more shady. But if Alice can earn enough money, she can pay the tuition herself and stay at her school. But how far is she willing to go? And what happens if she gets caught?

I like the way this debut author takes one paranormal situation — spontaneously turning invisible — and builds a story about it. The phenomenon is never explained, though it seems to happen when Alice feels most overlooked. The book also shines light on inequities of wealth and power. And of course there’s a nice romance.

AnnLiang.com

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Review of Lemonade in Winter, by Emily Jenkins and G. Brian Karas

Contemporary, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Lemonade in Winter

A Book About Two Kids Counting Money

written by Emily Jenkins
illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Schwartz and Wade Books (Random House), 2012. 36 pages.
Review written October 4, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review
2023 Mathical Honor Book, age 5-7

Okay, here’s a super fun story that also teaches kids how to count money — exactly the sort of thing we look for in the Mathical Book Prize.

It’s a freezing cold day in the neighborhood. Everything’s covered with thick snow, and icicles are hanging everywhere. Inside, big sister Pauline gets what she thinks is a brilliant idea: Let’s have a lemonade stand! Her little brother John-John gets excited, too, and wants to help.

Both parents discourage the idea: “Don’t you see it’s freezing?” “Don’t you hear the wind?”

But the kids gather all the quarters they can find:

“Each time you get four quarters, that’s a dollar,” says Pauline.
“Four quarters, that’s money!” says John-John.

They buy lemons and limes for a dollar each, sugar for two dollars, and cups for two dollars. I like the way the picture shows the quarters laid out on the counter in front of each item.

“We have twenty-four quarters, and that’s six dollars,”
Pauline tells John-John as she counts out the money.

When they’re getting ready to go out, their parents are still discouraging, but they make the lemonade and limeade and set up their stand in the snow in front of their house. They’re selling for fifty cents a cup.

When no one comes, they decide to advertise, and sing a catchy song about lemonade and limeade for fifty cents a cup. (Perfect for reading aloud at storytime!)

Every time they sell a cup, Pauline explains the amounts to John-John:

Fifty cents, that’s two quarters,” Pauline tells John-John.
“Two drinks is four quarters — and that’s a dollar.”
She puts the money in a green plastic box.

They try entertainment — John-John does cartwheels. They keep singing their song. When there still aren’t many people about, they decide to have a sale. Now it’s twenty-five cents a cup. Then they add decorations. And keep singing their song.

When they empty both pitchers, Pauline diagrams out how many cups they sold for how many quarters and adds it all up. When she realizes they only made four dollars, she starts to cry. They started with six dollars!

But John-John has the perfect solution of what to do with their hard-earned four dollars.

After the story, there’s a page at the back with the heading “Pauline Explains Money to John-John.” There’s a wonderful explanation of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills.

I love this book because it’s a truly delightful picture book story, and it’s super good practice counting quarters and how much they’re worth. As well as introducing the concepts of profit and loss. But with a happy ending, despite the loss.

Tremendous fun!

emilyjenkins.com
gbriankaras.com
randomhouse.com/kids

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Review of What’s Your Story? by Sarah Heath

Christian, Nonfiction Review 0

What’s Your Story?

Seeing Your Life Through God’s Eyes

How Joseph’s Story Can Help You Tell Yours

by Sarah Heath

Abingdon Press, 2017. 128 pages.
Review written 11/11/22 from my own copy.

My church small group has been going through What’s Your Story this Fall, and it’s been great for group discussion.

The book is short — designed to cover only four weeks of meetings, with one bonus week at the end. We did a week at the beginning, but it worked well for us, because we meet on nights when our local school system is in session, and they had lots of Monday holidays this Fall — so the book is getting us exactly through Advent.

And it’s a good study for getting to know each other. The author mostly uses the framework from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey to look at your own life and Joseph’s life story in the Bible.

I thought that approach was just a little simplistic — but she does acknowledge the complexity of actual lives, and provides a good jumping-off place to talk about our own lives. Basically, the chapters cover the Call to Adventure or Inciting Incident (Joseph sold into slavery), then Plot Twists (Joseph thrown into prison), then Climactic Moments – or embracing your desire and identity (Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams and exalted as ruler over Egypt), and finally the aftermath and preparation for another journey. In the fifth “bonus” week, the author encourages study participants to tell their stories to each other.

Despite there only being four chapters, each chapter is rather long, and you could spend two weeks on each chapter. I felt like we were only beginning the discussion with one week. The book includes journal pages, with big questions or quotations written in calligraphy and room to write your responses. For example, I enjoyed the blank timeline where she asks the reader to diagram the positive and negative plot twists in your life and look for themes.

Now, I’ve already done a lot of thinking about my life when I wrote Project 52 — the year I was 52 years old, I blogged each week about one year of my life. I’m also sitting in a very good place on my timeline when it’s easy to see how God took all my negative plot twists and worked them out for good. So I didn’t desperately need to hear this idea of your life as a story you’re co-writing with God. But I hope that perspective made my discussion encouraging. And I did enjoy having a vehicle for discussing that fundamental idea.

Here’s a nice quotation that reflects the approach you’ll find in this book:

I think it is problematic when we make people neurotic about finding “the calling” on their lives instead of helping people look for themes and see how their passions create deep desires that can translate into many fields. What you desire matters! What makes you come alive? What would the world miss if you didn’t tell your story? These are all the questions we should be answering when we are cowriting our story with God. It’s about more than just “What do you want to do when you grow up?”

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Review of Shackled, by Candy J. Cooper

History, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

Shackled

A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town that Looked Away

by Candy J. Cooper

Calkins Creek, 2024. 192 pages.
Review written November 18, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Shackled is a book that’s painful to read, but is tremendously important. It tells the story of a group of men, including judges, who made millions of dollars by locking kids up.

The book opens telling the story of a fourteen-year-old girl who, with her friend, wrote with Sharpie on a few street signs in 2005. She was brought before judge Mark Ciavarella in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Carisa and Agelia listened as Ciavarella judged the two girls “delinquent,” or guilty, of eighty-six counts of vandalism. In the next breath he imposed their sentence: an indefinite stay at a wilderness camp that relied on extreme discipline and boot camp-like drills. With those words the girls heard a rattling sound from a corner of the courtroom. Soon a court worker appeared holding two medieval-looking sets of shackles. The worker enchained Carisa and Angelia like cartoon criminals – wrapping heavy leather belts around their narrow waists; snapping iron handcuffs to their child-size wrists; and clamping leg irons around their slender ankles. The girls looked to their stunned parents. The court worker turned the girls away. Ciavarella called the next case. The girls clomped in their high-heeled dress shoes past the judge’s bench and toward the door.

The book goes on to explain the full scope of the judge’s scheme. He was getting kickbacks from a man who’d gotten a contract to build a new detention center for youth, as well as various other money-making opportunities to go with every child he managed to sentence. The judge and his friends made millions of dollars in a few years and found ways to hide the money. Eventually local news reporters began to uncover suspicious details – like the much higher than normal incarceration rate of teens in Luzerne county – and eventually the FBI got involved. One of the men turned informant, and they were caught in a scandalous trial.

The sad part, though, is the many young lives devastated by the judge’s arbitrary rulings – designed to line his own pockets.

The author doesn’t leave us entirely discouraged, telling about the Restorative Justice movement now gaining ground across America, and about the judge’s victims who were able to tell their stories and win justice in a civil case. Though they admit that the now-grown victims will probably never see the money – but they gained something important by getting to tell their stories.

It’s all sobering and sad, but I’m so glad this book exists to shine light on a horrible injustice carried out on thousands of kids – in the worst possible way, the name of justice itself.

candyjcooper.com
astrapublishinghouse.com

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Review of Out of My Heart, by Sharon M. Draper, read by Sisi Aisha Johnson

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

Out of My Heart

by Sharon M. Draper
read by Sisi Aisha Johnson

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2021. 7 hours, 21 minutes.
Review written October 12, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve long intended to read this sequel to the brilliant Out of My Mind, and finally placed a hold on the audiobook when I heard that a third book is out. Took me long enough! But I’m so glad I finally did listen to this story.

Once again, we’re spending time with Melody, a brilliant girl with cerebral palsy. In the first book, she learned to talk at last with the help of a machine, and instead of being in the class for kids with mental difficulties, got moved to the regular class and won a place on the quiz team. But that book had a sad thing happen at the end.

I’m happy to report that this book is only happy for Melody. She goes to camp! It’s a camp specifically for kids with special needs, and Melody gets to swim, paint, ride on a boat, swing on swings, ride a zipline, ride a horse, and even dance. She makes firm friendships with the three other girls in her cabin and even with a boy in another cabin.

Yes, there are adventures and small setbacks, but this is a happy book, all about Melody getting to do lots of things for the very first time that many would say are a normal part of childhood. It made me happy to read it and also wonder about how many experiences like that are available to kids like Melody. It’s a lovely story, well-told.

sharondraper.com

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Review of Chapter after Chapter, by Heather Sellers

Creativity, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, Writing 0

Chapter after Chapter

Discover the Dedication & Focus You Need to Write the Book of your Dreams

by Heather Sellers

Writer’s Digest Books, 2007. 242 pages.
Review written January 6, 2022, from my own copy.
Starred Review

This is a book about writing a book.

The chapters are short, good for a short burst of inspiration and thought. They include exercises, which I did not do (for the most part). I freely admit, I would have gotten more out of this book if I had done the exercises. Do the exercises!

It also took me a very long time to read this book, but when I did pull it out and dip into it, it helped keep me on track and helped keep me going on writing a book. In fact, it helped me remember that I did want to write a book and to start a new project when the pandemic hit.

There are 33 chapters, and I especially liked Chapter 26, “Just Want to Be Done.” I read it when I was on the brink of falling into the “just want to be done” trap myself. At the end of 2021, I’d been working on a book since the start of 2020. But it goes slowly when I only give it my spare time. I can finish this project, but I need to keep going. I’ve still got another half a draft to go.

This gives you a taste of Heather Sellers role as the voice of experienced reason:

Every writer I know reaches this stage. “Just-want-to-be-done-itis” is a nasty little virus that typically strikes during the revision process. It’s like a wart. You pick at it. You obsess about it. I have worked so hard on this book. I have worked harder on this than anything else. I just want to be done. I don’t want to work any more.

What is really happening is a giant fear attack. You wish you were done – that it was good just like it is. You are scared to look at it again deeply, because you are afraid you’ll find hideous flaws, horrendous things you have said, idiotic sentences. You are afraid you won’t know how to fix these things. You wish you didn’t even know about the problem; you kind of close your eyes and tiptoe around.

Of course there’s always more work to do on any book, and at some point you have to let it go and call it Good Enough. But successful writers, published writers, continue to work on their books long after they first hear the “I’m done!” chant….

Writing this book will take a lot longer than you want it to take. Hasn’t everything fabulous in your life taken more time than you thought it would?

She tells you that the first few times you hear that voice, it’s time to step back and see what you can do to make the book better. And it did me good to realize that voice coming too soon is a normal part of the process.

There’s lots more in this book. It’s about the process of writing a book, from the beginning of having the idea to actually writing it to seeking a publisher and getting published. And it’s very much about the mental process you go through along the way.

Have you ever wanted to write a book? This book will help you do it.

heathersellers.com

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Review of Burn Down, Rise Up, by Vincent Tirado

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

Burn Down, Rise Up

by Vincent Tirado

Sourcebooks Fire, 2022. 338 pages.
Review written November 28, 2022, from my own copy, picked up at ALA Annual Conference.
2023 Pura Belpré Award Winner

Burn Down, Rise Up is a scary paranormal novel set in the Bronx. It starts with a kid frantic, raving about breaking the rules of the game. He’s got black rot coming out of him and fights off a nurse and breaks out of the hospital.

That nurse is Raquel’s Mom, and she starts getting the black rot in her own lungs and gets put into a medically-induced coma. But at school Raquel’s friend Charlize is mourning her cousin who went missing.

Raquel, Charlize, Aaron, and Mario — all friends who used to spend time together, start researching and discover a Train Challenge, also known as the Echo Game. You go into your local subway at 3:00 am, follow certain rules including staying on the train until 4:00 am. If you turn around or get off, you’re going to get caught in the Echo.

In the Bronx, the Echo takes them back to the 70s, when the Bronx burned down because of slumlords not caring about their tenants. It’s a hellscape, with wounded dead people wandering around. If you attract their attention, they attack. Charlize thinks she sees her cousin and gets off the train. So then Charlize goes missing as well — just as Raquel realizes she’s attracted to her.

The idea is imaginative — an internet challenge that risks your life. I learned a lot about the Bronx in the 70s — and many horrible things that happened because of racism.

Now, I personally, like the rules of magic to be well-defined and understandable, and this didn’t really fit that. I wasn’t quite sure how Raquel figured out what she should try to do to save the people she loved. But I was sure that Raquel was in great danger and wouldn’t lose without a fight.

Amazingly, this is a debut novel. I think it’s a sign of great things to come.

v-e-tirado.com

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