Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang & LeUyen Pham

     The latest from graphic novelist Yang (Dragon Hoops, American Born Chinese) and artist Pham, and as always, a good story with a lot of layers to it! Lunar New Year Love Story is narrated by Valentina, a Vietnamese American high school girl trying to balance her romantic side with the realities of life and family. You know that when families are involved the story gets messy most of the time, and this is true of Valentina's family as well. Her mother left her father and her when she was young, yet she still grew up in love with a very romanticized idea of love. Her favorite holiday is Valentine's Day, and she spent hours each year crafting Valentine's Day cards for everyone she knew (and even people she didn't know). 

    At the same time, she is visited by the spirit of Saint Valentine, who tried to help her avoid the heartbreak that she feels is her fate by accepting her heart for all time, to keep it protected. Valentina also learns truths about her family that she finds hard to understand, all the while navigating her culture and...romance, of course! It is a "love story", after all!

    I don't know that I've seen Pham's work before, but I have read several of Yang's books, and have always enjoyed them! Love Story is perhaps one of my favorites! I am a romantic dog at heart, you know, so love stories always interest me...and I also love Valentine's Day! I also celebrate Lunar New Year, which moves each year based on the cycle of the moon, but which falls close to the end of January or early February - close to Valentine's Day - so this element of this book also added some fun and depth to the story. All of these elements are woven together quite well by Yang and Pham, and I would recommend this to anyone! A strong story, wonderful artwork...and romance - what's not to love? 5 paws!

I Was An Alien Fashion Model, by Ivy Hamid

     My human was walking down the hallway at school when a teacher handed him a book that she was just given by her neighbor. Turns out her neighbor had just written this, her first, book, and she wanted one copy to go into the school library. Naturally, my human and I both read it first, even though the title and cover art weren't something that would normally catch our eyes. My human doesn't read - or bring home! - a lot of fantasy books, and a fantasy book with fashion in its title probably didn't make it any more likely that this one would have been read by him (or me) at all...unless someone hands it to you, and says their neighbor wrote it!

    So we read it, and...it was pretty good! Sometimes first books are the best an author will ever do, like they had this brilliant idea that they turned into a wonderful book, and kept writing more books because they had written a successful first one, but they really didn't have anything else to write about. However, sometimes first books are okay, at best, but the author keeps working at their craft, really paying attention to their strengths and weaknesses, and their second and third (and fourth!) books are better and better!

    I Was An Alien Fashion Model is Richmond author Hamid's first book, and although it wasn't amazing, it wasn't a typical first book, either! The story is about a middle school girl named Kat who is not as thin as the other girls on her school volleyball team so is the "butt of every fat joke" - not just of the team but of the entire school! In her attempt to avoid the team photo in her new (but too small) volleyball uniform, Kat walks into an alien theft of clothes from the uniform store, and quickly finds herself on a spaceship! Traveling to another galaxy! Surrounded by...giant spiders? 

    Habib explores our society's definition of beauty, especially as it relates to a persons weight and stature, but in a way that makes the reader think about what we (collectively) as a society find beautiful, and how we miss so much of people wearing such a narrow filter. The book is written for middle school girls, I believe, but Habib does a nice job of creating an alternate universe that is creative and fun, but not often predictable or stale. A book that should be enjoyed by all genders and as young as late elementary school. Again, the title and cover made me predict not really finishing (or liking) the book, but I was wrong, and happy I started  - and finished! - the story!

    I appreciated that Habib's created universe was not predictable but also not impossible to follow. I don't like reading a book when I have to continuously flip to the front few pages to see who's who and what planet or species they belong to. In Kat's new world, there are "aliens" from many planets and galaxies, and I never had trouble knowing who was who. This isn't a life changing book, perhaps, but worth a read, and better than the title and cover let on. I give this a happy 4 paws!

 

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, by James Sturm & Rich Tammaso

     A new graphic novel to our school collection, but not a really new book. Still, in about 80 pages, the Sturm and Tammaso do a wonderful job of putting the reader right in the middle of baseball in the United States, from the early 1900s to the 1960's, when at 59 years old Leroy "Satchell" Paige was still pitching professionally, then for the Kansas City A's. 

    Being a big baseball fan, I know that modern day players do not play professionally into their 50s...ever! Few players continue on in the sport at all, as managers or coaches, at that age, but none go that long as a player. And, Paige did this mostly in the Negro Leagues, as they were called then, when Black players were not allowed to play in the White professional leagues. Not only that, they were not allowed to stay in the same hotels, travel on the same trains, eat at the same restaurants, or receive the same pay, all while dealing with often-times overt racism at games. Yet, Satchel Paige, perhaps the greatest man to ever play professional baseball in the United States, was a star - among people of all colors. His is an amazing story and accomplishment!

    This graphic novel is short but really well written and drawn. As a baseball fan I can truly appreciate Paige's impact and importance to the game, for players of all races over all time. This book won't take you long but the story itself is worth your time. 5 paws!

The Year We Fell from Space, by Amy Sarig King

     Author King used to write using the initials A.S. King, but has since started to include her full name. No matter, she is - paws down! - my favorite realistic fiction writer! I have not read every one of her books, but more than half, and I have never, ever, finished one of her books and not been sad to see the story end! Ever!

    The Year We Fell from Space is not King's newest book, but one I happened to come across this school year, and it is good! The overall theme is divorce, which isn't groundbreaking in teen books, but this story really dives into divorce from the perspective of one 6th grade girl, Liberty. And as a rescue dog, I have never been married or divorced, obviously, but I know how it feels to be on the outside of a relationship, right? Kind of like I was divorced from my family at some point (which turned out well for me, because I am in a new and awesome family now!).

    As usual, King weaves many different elements into the story, including the stars and space, where the title comes from. What she does as well as anyone I have ever read is writes just like a person would think (and act). Every character in her stories, even minor characters, are so real and believable...by the time I finish a King book I am disappointed  that my new friends are now "gone".

    This may not be her all-time best book, but it is as good as any other, which means it is better than most realistic fiction books you'll probably ever read! Do yourself a favor, and treat yourself to a Amy Sarig King book soon (this one?)! And then let me now what you think...I think you'll give it 5 paws, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

     It is Thanksgiving Day, and I wanted to take a moment and share some thankful thoughts with you, readers of young adult books and friends to this blog! 

    I enjoy this holiday because it reminds me to reflect on the many things I have to be thankful for...not all rescue dogs get rescued, so I'm especially thankful to have a warm bed in a nice home where two humans truly love me! Being a uber-smart dog, one who reads and writes this blog, also makes me thankful for all of the wonderful books my humans give me access to, as well as the libraries that provide all of us with free reading material! What a gift they are!  Whether they are school libraries or public libraries, they work hard to keep us all reading, and give us choices in what we read! I am hopeful this continues into the future.

    I'm thankful for you, fellow readers young and old (and dog lovers), supporters of this dog's thoughts and opinions on books available to you at school! I'm also thankful for Harry Potter (and author J.K. Rowling), for starting this avalanche of writing for children, teens and young adults that has resulted in thousands of new authors and books since we all first met Harry and Hogwarts!

    I hope you have something to be thankful for today, my friends, even if it something small. Always remember that the only constant in life is change, so bad days turn to good days eventually, and sometimes good days don't last as long as we'd like...but they will change! Keep reading good books, and this blog, and I look forward to the next wonderful year between the pages!

💓 Zelda

Maizy Chen's Last Chance, by Lisa Yee

     I had the opportunity to hear author Lisa Yee speak in person a couple of weeks ago, and she is a wonderful storyteller, in print and live! Although I have seen her books before reading Maizy Chen, I had never read any of them. But Yee mentioned during her presentation that this book was her best and favorite so far, a culmination of all of her writing into what she feels is her best book yet. What better book to start with than an author's best, right?

    Maizy Chen is a Chinese-American girl growing up with her Mom in Los Angeles. Mom decides they both need to travel to Last Chance, Minnesota to spend the summer with Maizy's grandfather, who has become ill. Her Opa and Oma (grandparents) own a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, which becomes the hub of the story, with all other aspects of the story growing out from the restaurant like spokes on a wheel. Even though Maizy was born in the United States, her appearance makes her the target of racism. As the story unfolds, Maizy finds this is not new - there is a history of racism towards Asian Americans throughout time, and that it still continues today, even in little towns like Last Chance.

    I really enjoyed Maizy Chen, as did others, based on the awards that the book shows off on its cover. Yee's book won a Newbery Honor Award, was a National Book Award Finalist, and won the Children's Literature Award. The overall story told here is deserving of this recognition, and the fact that Asian Americans are still so rarely written about in young adult and teen lit is an added reason why Yee's books are so important. Outside of Yee, Grace Lin, and Tae Keller, I don't know of many other writers of Asian descent or whose books offer windows into Asian American life. I believe that number will grow, as it is for other non-White writers and stories. 

    That said, Maizy Chen's Last Chance is a good book, but I had trouble here and there following the choppy sections of the story. Yee wrote in a train-of-thought style, to some degree, and while that made it easier to feel part of Maizy's life, it sometimes made the story hard to follow. Not in any major ways, but in small ways. It is still a good book that I recommend, and even more so because it tells stories not told often in the books we read - not yet, anyway. Yee also has a new series called The Misfits that looks really interesting, illustrated by Dan Santat, an excellent artist whose work you would probably recognize right away. Maizy gets 4 paws, and I hope to try The Misfits soon!

Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Michele Wood

     Box, written by Weatherford and illustrated by Wood, won the Newbery Honor Award, given for exceptional children's writing and illustrating. Don't be put off by the reference to "children" - books that won the Newbery Award or Honor are exceptionally good books, no matter who they are written for!

    Henry Brown was born into slavery in Richmond, Virginia in 1815. This makes his story very important for many reasons: his history is local, Richmond history; slavery is the "peculiar institution" that shaped our nation, not just then, but every day up to and including the present. Every person in this country today is affected by our slave history, whether we are aware of it or not; it's a real life story, with both good and bad choices and people in it. In Henry's case, choices that were often out of his control changed his life in remarkable, sometimes heart wrenching ways. As a pup now calling Richmond, Virginia my home, I feel deeply the importance of this story. If we do not learn about and from our past, we will repeat it.

    Box appears to be a picture book, but really lives in the Biography section of the library. It is based on Henry Brown's own book, which he wrote and published in 1849, just before leaving the United States out of fear of being returned to slavery if he stayed. You see, to escape slavery and find his wife and children, he built a wooden box and had himself mailed to Pennsylvania, a free (or non-slave) state at that time. The time he spent in a small wooden box wasn't long, in the larger scheme of a lifetime, but it nearly killed him just the same.

    A powerful, yet short, book, and beautifully illustrated, Box stayed with me long after I finished it. If you, Reader, are also in Richmond, you can view an artist's rendering of Brown's box near the riverfront in Shockoe Bottom. After reading this short book and viewing it's accompanying artwork, you won't be the same afterward. A brilliant and important book. 5 paws.