Prairie Lotus

 Prairie Lotus

By Linda Sue Park

I think this book is wonderful! It is a compelling, interesting story, and also tackles some big issues that were relevant in 1880 and are still very relevant today.

Hanna and her father move across the West from Los Angeles, landing in a tiny town called LaForge, in Dakota Territory. Hanna's mother, who died a few years prior, was half Chinese and half Korean, while her dad is white. In LaForge in 1880 there are no other Asians, and Hanna faces racism from the white townspeople. She notices American Indians facing similar injustices.

But Hanna is determined and strong, standing up for herself and committed to helping her dad establish a successful dress-making shop in town.

This story counters Laura Ingalls Wilder's popular "Little House" books, contributing a rich new perspective in historical fiction.

Inside Out & Back Again

Inside Out & Back Again
By Thanhha Lai

This is a beautiful story, in verse, of coming to the United States from Vietnam just at the end of the war, in 1975.
Ten-year-old Ha, along with her mom and three brothers, flees Saigon and survives a harrowing boat ride--eventually ending up in Alabama. There, she struggles to be included in school and learn English while suffering the intolerance and racism of many neighbors and schoolmates.
Stepping into Ha's shoes, we can understand how it feels to have to start over from scratch, leave one home behind and build another, and the power of kindness and compassion.

Refugee

Refugee
By Alan Gratz

We hear a lot about refugees in the news--all over the world people choose to leave their homes or are forced from their homes because of war and other violence, unfair government, religious beliefs, or ethnicity.
In Refugee, Alan Gratz tells the stories of three children and their families: Josef, fleeing from Nazi Germany in the 1930s; Isabel, fleeing Cuba in 1994; and Mahmoud, fleeing Syria in 2015. Each of the journeys is dangerous and terrifying, heartbreaking and true-to-life.
Although the three main characters live in different time periods in history and travel in separate parts of the world, their alternating stories overlap in surprising ways.
Get ready to read this powerful book quickly, because it is hard to put down. And get ready to have a fuller understanding of what people are able to endure and overcome, everyday. 

Fallout

Fallout
By Todd Strasser

What if the Russian government had actually launched a nuclear bomb at the United States in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
During those scary years, some people--like author Todd Strasser's own family--actually dug out bomb shelters under their homes and stocked them with food, emergency supplies, and water. But what would it really be like to spend two weeks underground, surviving an attack? Especially if there were too many people for the shelter, and too few supplies...
Strasser explores this scenario in Fallout, a fictionalized account of survival during the worst WHAT IF? you might be able to imagine.
This is a pretty dark story, but a good one...it's a page-turner, and one that really questions the logic of building and keeping nuclear weapons in the world.

Cloud and Wallfish

Cloud and Wallfish
By Anne Nesbet

1989, East Berlin, Germany.
The setting of this story may or may not be familiar to readers, but this was the year the Berlin Wall came down--the Wall that divided a city, separated families, distinguished very different governments, all within the same country! This Wall served as a literal Iron Curtain, dividing capitalist systems from communist systems.
Noah Keller, an American kid, travels to East Berlin with his parents who suddenly get official permission to cross the border and do "research". But there are some weird things going on; Noah's parents insist that his age, birthday, home town and even his name must be changed while they are living in East Berlin. There are serious Rules to follow, and Noah learns quickly that the secret police may be listening to anyone's conversations, anywhere.
What is Noah's family really doing there?
What is going on?

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
By Ransom Riggs

This is a real page-turner...and pretty spooky, too!
Jacob, 16 years old, was always been enchanted by his grandfather's crazy stories of growing up in an orphanage on a wind-swept island off the coast of Wales--along with a number of children with strange powers and abilities. Jacob has even seen the photos. But as he got older, his grandfather's stories seemed too fantastic to be true. After a mysterious "accident", Jacob is suddenly inspired to investigate the island and track down anyone still connected with the orphanage.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, this novel is a mix of fantasy, reality, mystery and horror...it will keep you guessing!!

This book is part of a trilogy; Hollow City and Library of Souls are the next two books. And Tales of the Peculiar is a collection of short stories that relates to the trilogy. Check them out!

The Lie Tree

The Lie Tree
By Frances Hardinge

The Lie Tree is part historical fiction, part fantasy--a mysterious, intriguingly dark story.
Fourteen year-old Faith Sunderly pretends to be a good, quiet girl because that's what is expected of her in Victorian England. But inside she is a gifted natural scientist, determined to win her famous scientist father's attention.
When he is mysteriously murdered, Faith does some detective work on her own. She discovers a fantastic tree her father has been hiding--a tree that feeds off of lies whispered to it in the dark. In order to learn more, and perhaps unable to resist the power of this strange specimen, Faith begins to spread her own lies. However, this becomes more dangerous that she ever could have imagined... 

Outrun the Moon

Outrun the Moon
By Stacey Lee

Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong will win you over with her spunky attitude, strength, sense of humor, and determination. And she will need all of that and more to survive San Francisco's 1906 earthquake; not only does Mercy face the destruction of her city and beloved Chinatown neighborhood, but she faces discrimination at being a girl AND as a Chinese American.
Against all odds, Mercy talks her way into a private, elite girls school because she's convinced it is her only ticket to becoming the businesswoman she wants to be...but the Great Quake shakes up her plans and brings many unexpected connections, along with devastation and tragedy.
I could not put this book down!

Talking Leaves

Talking Leaves 
by Joseph Bruchac

I read this novel over the winter vacation and found it really interesting, and good!
Told from the perspective of the great Cherokee leader Sequoyah's 13-year-old son, Uwohali, the story relates how the Cherokee alphabet was first invented. At the time, tribe members thought Sequoyah was crazy--or engaging in witchcraft--when he first began to write strange characters and claim to use them for  communication...but eventually his genius invention helped unify the Cherokee people and inspire pride and autonomy.
Joseph Bruchac also wrote Code Talker, which I love.

www.native-languages.org

I Lived on Butterfly Hill

I Lived on Butterfly Hill
By Marjorie Agosín

This is a fictionalized account of a real dictatorship that happened in Chile, a beautiful country in South America. In the novel an 11-year-old girl named Celeste, from Valparaíso (the "San Francisco of Chile") experiences the disappearances of friends and neighbors as the General takes power over her country. Eventually her own parents, who are doctors helping the poor, are forced to go into hiding--and Celeste moves north to Maine to live with her aunt until Chile is safer for her family.
I Lived on Butterfly Hill is slow-paced, written by a Chilean poet and writer, and it has lovely illustrations throughout the story.
Celeste's experience of living far away from her parents--not knowing where they are hiding, for two years--and learning to adapt in a new country is very moving. 

Revolution

Revolution
By Deborah Wiles

This is a hefty book, almost 500 pages. But along with the gripping Civil Rights-era story are pages of photos, leaflets, song lyrics and quotes from the Mississippi Freedom Summer project in 1964.
"The overthrowing of Jim Crow [state laws] by the federal government was a revolution. And it came with its battles. One of those battles was Freedom Summer," writes the author in the book's afterword.
Revolution is an incredible documentary novel about what it took to ensure African Americans in the south could vote and access their rights as citizens of this country. It truly took a  revolution.

Fair Weather

Fair Weather
By Richard Peck

I've been noticing all of these books by Richard Peck on the library shelves--some with gold or silver book award stickers--and I'd never read a single one. So I borrowed this, read it, and now I can't wait to read all the others!
It's 1893, the year of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and Rosie and her older sister, little brother and goofy grandpa head from their isolated farm by train to experience the magic and wonder of the big city and the Fair. Electric lights, running water, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, the world's first Ferris wheel and many other marvels await them....
Richard Peck describes the time period in such wonderful detail, I felt like I was right there, and I learned quite a lot about both country life and city life at the turn of the last century!

Ninth Ward

Ninth Ward
By Jewell Parker Rhodes

Lanesha sees ghosts--all around her neighborhood in New Orleans, including her own mama who died giving birth to her. Growing up with her adopted grandmother, Mama Ya-Ya, Lanesha has become comfortable with the ghosts and even appreciates their company.
When Hurricane Katrina hits the city, Lanesha needs to be stronger than she's ever been, drawing on all the skills and knowledge Mama Ya-Ya has taught her over the past 12 years. Even the ghosts are called upon to help out as Lanesah, Mama Ya-Ya, a neighbor boy and their dog end up in a serious survival situation: the Mississippi River flooding into their home and the waters are rising and rising...
This is an intense book based on the real events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Jepp, who defied the stars

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars
By Katherine Marsh

What a fascinating story! I had never thought about what life would be like for someone with dwarfism at the turn of the 15th century, and now I can't stop thinking about it!

The author, Katherine Marsh, in part was inspired to write this novel after seeing old European paintings depicting "court dwarfs"; basically jesters, or clowns, forced to work for the amusement of royalty. Another inspiration was the history of eccentric astronomer and inventor Tycho Brahe. He lived in a castle off the coast of Denmark, and is famous for many things including wearing a brass nose (he lost his nose in a duel)!

In this remarkable story, a teenage boy--a dwarf--learns to trust himself more than the astrology chart that spells out his uncertain fate. With incredible determination, especially after enduring countless humiliations as a court dwarf, he finds love, community, education, and ultimately happiness on Tycho's island.

The True Adventures of Nicoló Zen

The True Adventures of Nicoló Zen
By Nicholas Christopher


"Magic, danger, and an unstoppable hero..."

Taking place in 18th-century Italy, and including the composer  Antonio Vivaldi as one of the characters, this fun novel is full of intrigue and romance.

I especially enjoyed the beginning, when 14-year-old Nicoló dresses up as a girl in order to get into a an all-girls orphanage, where he can play his enchanted clarinet in a prestigious orchestra.

With magicians, gangsters, lovers, fame and fortune--this story has a lot of twists and turns!

Caminar

Caminar
By Skila Brown

April is National Poetry Month, a perfect time to read a book written entirely in free-verse poetry!

Caminar is an intense, moving story of a Guatemalan boy, Carlos, who flees into the jungle when his remote village is attacked by the Guatemalan military. From his hiding place, Carlos hears his neighbors and family being massacred.

He survives alone until he meets a small band of guerrillas--a rebel group, striving to overcome the military soldiers--heading toward a mountain camp. Not understanding the reasons for the war happening in his country, Carlos grapples with who he should trust, and what responsibilities he must now have.

In beautiful language, the author focuses on the results of the violence on small, rural villages during the horrible Civil War in Guatemala in the 1980's. Although this story is fictionalized, it is in many ways an accurate account of what really happened during that time, and the recovery afterward--that continues in Guatemala to this day.

Turtle in Paradise

Turtle in Paradise
by Jennifer L. Holm

This is a Newbery Honor Book by the creator of the very popular Babymouse series...I didn't realize she wrote historical fiction until I read this great book!

Set in the 1930's in hot and humid Key West, Florida, it's a tough time to be the kid of a single mom desperate for work--it's the middle of the Great Depression.

Eleven-year-old Turtle is sent off to live with her aunt, uncle and 3 wild boy cousins who are just scraping by themselves.

But Turtle is a strong and strong-willed girl, and she makes the best of the situation...not only surviving a hurricane on a tiny island with her cousins, but also navigating the ups and downs of family life--and an unexpected adventure involving pirate treasure!

I was interested to read that this novel is inspired by the author's own Conch great-grandmother, who emigrated to Key West from the Bahamas.

Breaking Stalin's Nose

Breaking Stalin's Nose
By Eugene Yelchin

Maybe the Soviet Union sounds like ancient history to you...but I studied this country and the Russian language all through middle and high school--and college--and it wasn't all that long ago that the giant Soviet Union collapsed!

The brutal dictator Joseph Stalin was before my time--he ruled Russia from 1923 to 1953, but his iron fist and reign of terror had an enduring impact and instilled fear in the Soviet citizens for years and years.

Breaking Stalin's Nose is an illustrated novel and a fascinating account of 2 days in the life of 10-year-old Sasha, a passionate Communist excited to join the Young Pioneers and uphold the dreams of Communism.

Unfortunately his dreams are shattered when his father, who works in the State Security, is arrested and the awful truth of Stalin's power is revealed to poor Sasha.


Another book about Communism and the Soviet Union I read and wrote about in this blog is Laika, a graphic novel about the Soviet space program, a little dog, and the government's hiding of the truth.

Watsons go to Birmingham--1963

The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963
By Christopher Paul Curtis

I had long heard about this book--how funny it is, how important, how well-written...I was not disappointed!

The Watson family is so lovable, especially 10-year-old Kenny, who is constantly trying to understand the crazy behavior of his teenage "juvenile delinquent" brother, Byron.

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the Watson family takes a road trip to Birmingham, Alabama (from Flint, Michigan) to leave Byron with his strict grandma for the summer.

Their visit coincides with the horrific (and real) bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where four African American girls are killed during Sunday school.

This unforgivable event alters the Watson family dynamic...and the course of American history.

Bridge of Time

Bridge of Time
By Lewis Buzbee

This is a fun time travel story, mostly because it's set right here in San Francisco!
Middle schoolers Lee Jones and Joan Lee are best friends, and both have just heard that their parents are planning to divorce...the next morning, while on a boring school field trip to Fort Point, they are suddenly transported back in time to 1864. And who do they run into? Mark Twain (who introduces himself as Sam Clemens).
They have many crazy adventures while learning some unpleasant history lessons, especially with regard to how Chinese immigrants were first treated in San Francisco. And they travel to some other time periods in the City, too, including the future.