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.

Gather, by Kenneth M. Cadow

     Author Cadow's first book, Gather is the story of Ian, short for Dorian (named after Dorian Gray?), a teenager growing up in rural Vermont. Ian's mom is a drug addict, his dad left his life long before, and Ian is living on farmland that has been in his family for generations. He loves the farm and the surrounding land, and he knows it like the back of his hand. But trying to keep his mom sober, safe and working as well as trying to navigate high school proves to be a lot for Ian. He'd much rather be outside doing something productive with his hands and Gather than inside, trying to manage classrooms and bullies. 

    Gather, the name of this book, is also the name of the stray dog that wanders into Ian's life early in the story, and becomes Ian's best friend. But this isn't a dog book, or really a book about the dog, which makes the reader wonder at using the dog's name as the title. If someone came into the library and asked for a "dog book", Gather wouldn't be the first book I would mention (or even the second) - as a dog book, that is. It is a very good book, winner of the Printz Honor Award and a National Book Award Finalist. But it's isn't a "dog book", it's a book with a dog in it.

    Gather, the book, reminds me a lot of a 1950s book Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. Written long before I was even a wee pup, I remember it being raw and real and honest, with language a teenager would use if she or he was really examining the world around them and reporting very honestly what they saw and felt. At that time, this was new and exciting for a young reader like me! That is what Gather is, a newer version of Catcher in the Rye. I don't think it will hold a place in history like Catcher has, but it's pretty solid. The language is strong, but realistic coming from Ian's mouth and mind. Not everything goes wrong for Ian, but plenty of things don't end well. 

    I would recommend this to any 8th grader, or more mature 7th grader, wanting to read some realistic fiction that is more real than most. A lot of windows in this story, and a few mirrors as well. It took me a while to really fall into Cadow's writing style, but once I did, this was hard to put down. I look forward to his next book. This one is a solid 4 paws and a wag!

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo

     The Beatryce Prophecy is not author Kate DiCamillo's latest book, but the latest one I have come across and read. It was published in 2019, which means I'm a few books behind with her, but oh, what joy to read DiCamillo's writing! This is probably the 6th or 7th DiCamillo book I have read over the years, and every single one made me happy to have read it after I was finished. This book is no exception, and in fact, this may be my favorite DiCamillo book yet!

    Beatryce is a girl who finds herself in a monastery, covered in dirt, laying next to a very spirited goat, in the barn, not knowing who she is or where she has come from. Brother Edik, the monk who discovers her in the barn, also learns she has a very dangerous secret, one that has her being hunted by soldiers of the king. Brother Edik shaves her head to help her blend with the rest of the monks, but when word spreads in the monastery of her secret, she is sent out into the woods and told never to return. What transpires changes the lives of everyone - Beatryce, Brother Edik, the goat...the entire kingdom!

    DiCamillo asks near the end of this book whether this story is taking place in the past or the future. No matter, because whenever it is taking place this book is magic! DiCamillo is a master storyteller, and her writing will absolutely put hope and joy in your heart! Artist Sophie Blackall's drawings further enhance the beauty of this book. I love this story, and almost started it over as soon as I finished the last page. Treat yourself - more than once, even - and read this (or any!) DiCamillo offering! 5 paws!