Review of The Brave In-Between, by Amy Low

Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

The Brave In-Between

Notes from the Last Room

by Amy Low

Hachette Books, 2024. 210 pages.
Review written June 26, 2024, from an Advance Reader Copy.
Starred Review

First, great big thanks to my friend Suzanne for passing this Advance Reader Copy on to me. She knew I would like it, and she was absolutely correct. She knew I’d appreciate a memoir about divorce and picking up the pieces with a background of Christian faith.

This memoir is about those things – a husband’s betrayal and trying to build her life again, with the help of her faith – but it’s also about living in the “Last Room” – which is literally the last room of life. The book tells about the author’s diagnosis with Stage IV colon cancer and four years of treatment, with no expectation of a cure. For years, she hasn’t been expecting to live long, and this changes your perspective.

She begins the book with her husband taking tender care of her after surgery – when they were already divorced. Then she backs up and tells about the betrayal and all that followed. And then the doctor appointment when her life changed. And then what that means for dating, for time with her children, for her career, and how she thinks about life in general.

And she frames all of this with Philippians 4:8 — “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” In the prologue she explains that in the last room she uses those intentions as spotlights to bring clarity to the chaos, and I love the way she weaves them and thoughts about them into her story.

I was riveted by this book and Amy Low’s story — and I was also uplifted. The book isn’t heavy on Christian content, but it’s there, and indeed her reflections on these values from Philippians make the story one of light and not of despair.

amylow.substack.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 Dragon Warrior, by Katie Zhao

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy 0

The Dragon Warrior

by Katie Zhao

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2019. 343 pages.
Review written October 27, 2019, from a library book

The Dragon Warrior is one of those stories of a modern kid discovering she’s inherited the mantle of a hero of mythology and must go on a quest to save the world from demons. She’s looking for her father, who disappeared mysteriously fighting demons years ago, and has complicated relationships with the companions fighting alongside her.

This time the mythology is Chinese mythology – and it’s complicated. I did have trouble remembering the relationships of the various gods and demons – but I thought that was only fair, and I hope there are Chinese kids reading this book who enjoy reading about characters they’ve heard of before. There was a glossary in the back, but since it was in the back I didn’t want to refer to it in the middle of the book.

Faryn Liu lives in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where her grandfather trains her to battle demons. But the other members of the Jade Society look down on her family for not having pure Chinese blood. So nobody expects her to be chosen as the Heaven Breaker and to be given a quest to solve a puzzle and make it to the Jade Emperor’s Lunar Banquet.

It does read a lot like other similar stories, but it still is a fun read. My favorite moments were the horse-loving friend getting to drive a flying chariot and Faryn learning that she can command dragons.

This book looks to be the start of a series, and there were some complications I didn’t expect. This is an action-packed book with kids fighting demons to save the world. What’s not to like?

katiezhao.com
bloomsbury.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of The Girl in Question, by Tess Sharpe

Contemporary, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Girl in Question

by Tess Sharpe
read by the Author

Little, Brown and Company, 2024. 408 pages.
Review written June 10, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

The Girl in Question is a sequel to the amazing thriller The Girls I’ve Been, and yes, it’s a worthy successor. If you like thrillers even a little bit, pick these two up.

I won’t say too much about the plot, because I don’t want to give away the twists from the first book. Let’s just say that some very, very bad people are after Nora and her friends. Some of the same bad people they thought they’d dealt with in the first book. Which is terrifying right there.

Nora has plans in place to disappear. After all, that’s how she grew up — doing the con, then stepping into a new life. But now, Nora likes her life. She’s very much in love with Iris. And Wes is like a brother to her. Wes has a girlfriend now, but they’re even going to let her come along on their backpacking trip through the mountains.

But out in the wilderness isn’t a great place to have angry thugs after you.

There’s danger and violence and manipulation — and lots of reversals and surprises — along with lots and lots of tension.

At the end of the day, let’s just say that bad guys shouldn’t mess with Nora and her friends.

There’s a whole lot more I could say, but I don’t want to give anything away. Please believe me that these books are amazing!

Okay, I will let you know how the book starts, with the chapter heading “Day Seven: The Cabin”:

I’m tied to the chair. It is not an ideal defensive position. My fingers keep going numb. That won’t do. I shift, trying to get the blood flowing.

The “Day Seven” heading does foreshadow that there will be flashbacks to how we got there — and there’s going to be more after Day Seven.

Bottom line, besides being kickass, these characters are fiercely loyal and have taken their lives back after trauma, and I love that despite apparent odds completely against them, the bad guys are in for a surprise.

tess-sharpe.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 Powwow Day, by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Powwow Day

by Traci Sorell
illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight

Charlesbridge, 2022. 36 pages.
Review written April 23, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

I’ve read other children’s books about Powwows, but this one touched my heart especially.

It’s a picture book about a little girl named River who wakes up excited about powwow day.

Then I remember.
No dancing.
No jingle dress competition for me.
Not at this tribal powwow.
“I wish my hair weren’t still so short.” I sigh.
Mama lays out the moccasins that match my dress.
“But everyone wants to see you,” Amber reminds me.
“Why? I can’t dance like I could before I got sick.”
“But you will dance again,” she responds.

We see the powwow through River’s eyes. The Grand Entry. The different dances. The competitions.

I didn’t know that the girl’s jingle dress dance is a healing dance. Her friend dances it especially for River.

The art in this book is especially beautiful. I love the soft colors used. My own little niece recently finished leukemia treatments (which made her lose her hair), so it may have touched me all the more because of that.

As the story ends, River looks forward to dancing in the next powwow. There are three pages at the back giving more information, but the story itself is simple and beautiful and can be read without further explanation.

tracisorell.com
madelyngoodnight.com
charlesbridge.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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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Small Shoes, Great Strides, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by Alex Bostic

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Small Shoes, Great Strides

How Three Brave Girls Opened Doors to School Equality

by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
illustrated by Alex Bostic

Carolrhoda Books, 2024. 44 pages.
Review written June 5, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

You’ve probably heard of Ruby Bridges. It turns out that first graders Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost, and Gail Etienne, were ten minutes ahead of Ruby integrating a previously all-white school in a different part of New Orleans.

This lovely book tells their story. It’s in picture book format, with large artwork on each spread, but there’s also a lot of text on each spread, so the target audience is upper elementary school kids who can handle that much reading. There are ten pages of back matter, giving more to the story.

This book leads off with telling how the girls were taught in a classroom with paper over the windows and had to have recess and lunch indoors. Federal marshals escorted them to school and even to the bathroom.

The book also covers the threats they faced even at home and the constant police presence. We can all be so thankful that they and their families saw it through. Already the next year, they were able to take the paper down from the windows.

I have to admit, though, that I was saddened by the pages in the back matter describing what school was like for them from third grade on in an integrated school. No longer protected by federal marshals, students and even teachers were often cruel. But it still doesn’t diminish the powerful thing they accomplished as first graders and the lasting effects.

vaundamicheauxnelson.com
alexbostic.com
lernerbooks.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 Bei Bei Goes Home, by Cheryl Bardoe

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Stand-outs 0

Bei Bei Goes Home

A Panda Story

by Cheryl Bardoe

Smithsonian Kids (Candlewick Entertainment), 2021. 44 pages.
Review written March 5, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

The only thing cuter than a book full of photographs of pandas is one full of photos of a baby panda. Bei Bei Goes Home tells the story of the giant panda born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in August 2015.

Who knew that a giant pandas are minuscule at birth? The pictures of mother Mei Xiang cradling the tiny baby emphasize how tiny Bei Bei was as a cub. The reader gets the whole story of his birth, keeping him healthy (had to wait until Mei Xiang put him down for a minute), choosing his name, getting vaccinated, learning to get around and play.

At one year old, they had a traditional Chinese ceremony and Bei Bei chose luck and friendship to represent his future. In multiple photographs on every spread, we see Bei Bei exploring his habitat, playing with toys, and growing quickly.

Then, as referred to in the title, at four years old, we see Bei Bei shipped to China.

Where Bei Bei lives now is part of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Researchers there hope to raise panda cubs who can succeed in the wild. Bei Bei cannot do this himself because he is too comfortable around humans. Keepers in China have begun donning panda costumes to help raise cubs who will be released into the wild. After Bei Bei is fully mature, around six or seven years, he may become the father to such a cub.

This is a book to enjoy looking at, and you’ll pick up plenty of information about giant pandas along the way.

candlewick.com

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Review of Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Remarkably Bright Creatures

by Shelby Van Pelt
read by Marin Ireland and Michael Urie

Harperaudio, 2022. 11 hours, 17 minutes.
Review written July 9, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Oh, this one is truly wonderful. Here’s a feel-good story about some good people – and a Giant Pacific Octopus – whose lives entwine.

The first character we meet is the octopus, Marcellus. He speaks with a sardonic, knowing tone and tells us how many days he’s lived in captivity at the Sowell Bay aquarium – in a small town in Washington, off the coast of Puget Sound.

It turns out that Marcellus likes to roam the aquarium at night and help himself to snacks from the other tanks – as our next main character learns one night when he gets stuck in some electrical cords. Tova Sullivan is in her 70s, and she started cleaning at the aquarium after her husband died, because she wanted something to do. She has no living children – her son Erik disappeared in an apparent boat accident thirty years ago when he was eighteen years old. She rescues Marcellus and starts to notice how remarkable he is.

Our third main character is a thirty-year-old drifter named Cameron. He lost his job – again – and then his girlfriend kicked him out because he lied about it. So he’s at loose ends until the aunt who brought him up gives him some things that belonged to his mother – the mother who left him when he was nine years old. It turns out that his mother went to high school in Sowell Bay. She left a class ring and a picture of herself with a man – a man whom research reveals to be a wealthy real estate developer. If this is his father, Cameron finally has a way to get a boost in life.

So he borrows money from his aunt, heads north to Washington, and one thing leads to another – and Cameron ends up getting a temp job at the aquarium after Tova sprained her ankle. Unbeknownst to others, Tova can’t stay away, so she comes in at night and shows Cameron the proper way to clean. And she says hello to Marcellus while she’s at it, showing Cameron that he’s friendly.

Marcellus can see things about them that they are blind to. But how can he tell them? While Cameron is waiting to get an appointment with his would-be father, he gets pulled into small town life, where everyone seems to know about everybody else. Meanwhile, after her ankle sprain, Tova is coming to terms with aging without anyone to look after her, and she thinks it’s time to retire to an old folks’ home.

This book is completely charming as the different threads come together and we come to care about the conscientious and capable woman living alone as well as the irresponsible young man who might be learning a thing or two about putting down roots. And of course, also about the Giant Pacific Octopus.

shelbyvanpelt.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 Stamped (for Kids), by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul

Audiobooks, Children's Nonfiction Review, Current Issues, History 0

Stamped

(For Kids)

Racism, Antiracism, and You

by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul
read by Pe’Tehn Raighn-Kem Jackson

Hachette Audio, 2021. 2 hours, 22 minutes on 2 CDs.
Review written April 13, 2022, from a library audiobook
Starred Review

This is now the third iteration of this book, and the third I’ve read or listened to. First, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi wrote a big and long and scholarly book for adults called Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Then Jason Reynolds “remixed” that content into a book for teens, called Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. That was the first version I listened to. It was accessible and easy to understand, but had some powerful and thought-provoking content.

Now they’ve gone another step, and Sonja Cherry-Paul has adapted the content from Jason Reynolds’ book into an even shorter version that is easy for kids to understand. I like the kid narrator who reads the audiobook, making it feel like a kid talking with his friends.

I was happy to refresh my memory of these ideas. The authors give the history of racist ideas in America. They explain segregationalists, who believe Black people are inferior, assimilationists, who believe Black people can be good people if they work at it, and antiracists who believe that Black people are human and valuable and just as worthy as anyone else.

I also appreciate the explanation that most people aren’t just one thing all the time. They explain why ideas like the “Talented Tenth” are assimilationist, even when those putting forward the ideas are trying to be helpful. Even in this short and simple adaptation, we’ve got complex concepts clearly explained.

And make no mistake about it — this is a book about fairness and caring and seeing past discrimination. Kids who listen to this audiobook or read this book will be able to spot policies that treat any one class of people as inferior to others. Here’s to a new generation of antiracists!

jasonwritesbooks.com
ibramxkendi.com
Downpour.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 Every Child a Song, by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Marc Martin

Contemporary, Picture Book Review 0

Every Child a Song

A Celebration of Children’s Rights

by Nicola Davies
illustrated by Marc Martin

Crocodile Books (Interlink), 2020. 36 pages.
Review written December 29, 2021, from a library book

This beautiful picture book honors the thirtieth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and it does that by celebrating the beauty of each child who is born.

In pulling out clips, I find myself wanting to quote the whole book. Here are the first two spreads:

When you were born, a song began.

Sometimes it didn’t sound much like a song.
Sometimes no one could hear it.

But it was there in every heartbeat,
every breath; tiny, fragile, and unique.

A melody the world had never heard before.

The book goes on to talk about the love and safety the song needs to grow and about how as you learned and grew, your song soared.

All around you, everywhere,
other songs are singing.

Some are loud,
and some are quiet,

some sing a single note
and some a symphony.

And then we have some pages about what each song should be protected from.

Even among storm and change and danger,
every song must be heard above the noise
and chaos of the world.

And the book ends by celebrating each child’s song.

For together, we raise our voices
for the right of every song to sing out loud, bold and unafraid.

This is a simple picture book with lilting language. The pictures mainly use soaring birds as a metaphor for the songs. There are some hints of danger in the pages about what children should be protected from, enough that an adult reading the book could skip over it or simply explain a little more. There are notes about the UNCRC at the front and the back.

nicola-davies.com
interlinkbooks.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 to Find a Fox, written by Kate Gardner, photographs by Ossi Saarinen

Children's Nonfiction Review, Good for the Very Young, Science, Starred Review 0

How to Find a Fox

written by Kate Gardner
photographs by Ossi Saarinen

Running Press Kids (Hachette), 2021. 48 pages.
Review written November 29, 2021, from a library book.
Starred Review

Here’s a wonderful first science book for little ones. The big, beautiful photographs, mostly of foxes in the wild, steal the show.

There’s a short and simple text in big letters. It begins by talking about where you can look to find a fox. There’s a paragraph in smaller text on most pages, giving some more background information.

For example, after pages saying “Listen for yips, yowls, and growls,” we’ve got this text in a smaller font:

Red foxes make a range of noises, though none of them sound much like a common dog’s barking. Instead, foxes’ high-pitched howls, chirps, and screams are more birdlike. . . . And sometimes, a fox can even sound like a person crying. Different calls are used when playing, or fighting, or when fox parents want to warn their babies of danger.

The photos are big, colorful, and striking. I am so taken with this book, I want to try it in Toddler Storytime, as I think the photos can catch even their attention. They will like the pages that tell you where not to look for a fox, and name the animals found in the sky, in the trees, in the river, and in the pond.

runningpress.com/rpkids

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.