My Name is Not Easy
Debby Dahl Edwardson
Although readers may be familiar with the compulsory relocation of Native American children to boarding schools, where they were required to give up their language, their dress, their food, their religious beliefs, and even their names; there were other atrocities visited on them as this story of three Eskimo brothers makes clear. Luke, Bunna, and Isaac are sent to Sacred Heart Catholic boarding school, deep in the Alaskan interior and far from the icy waters and wide-open expanses of their Inupiaq village far to the north. Before they can even unpack, the youngest brother, Isaac, is inexplicably whisked away in the school’s station wagon--adopted out, without the family’s permission, to a home in Texas. Luke and Bunna struggle to make their way in this foreign environment, which is fraught with tension between the white kids, the Indians, and the Eskimos. Only the Eskimo children, however, are singled out to swallow radioactive iodine-131 as part of military-sponsored research into cold weather tolerance. The story is told mainly from Luke’s point of view, with alternating chapters told by four classmates--Amiq, the outspoken leader of the Eskimo kids; Chickie, the whitest kid but still an outsider; introspective Junior; and quiet, intense Donna. With the passing years, they forge alliances, experience first loves, and gain strength to return home and make changes. An author’s note identifies the factual episodes behind this well-told, compassionate, and ultimately hopeful tale. Although there are certainly numerous books providing insight into this shameful aspect of America’s imperialism, this provides the unique perspective of Alaskan natives, as well as historically based incidents involving civil disobedience and “peaceful” uses of atomic bombs--all noteworthy discussion starters. 2011, Marshall Cavendish,, $17.99. Ages 10 to 15. Reviewer: Paula McMillen, Ph.D. (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 9780761459804
Inside Out and Back Again
Thanhha Lai
The year is 1975, the end of the Vietnam War, and Saigon is about to fall to the Communists. But ten-year-old Hà is grateful that her family is not among the wealthy who are fleeing Vietnam: “I’m glad we’ve become poor/ so we can stay.” Even as she joins her mother and brother in grieving the absence of her father, missing in military action for nine long years, Hà savors the sight of the papayas ripening on in the back garden and the taste of sugary lotus seeds eaten for the New Year, with its promise of hope and joy. But before the new year is out, Hà and her family have become wartime refugees, trying to make a new life for themselves halfway around the world: “No one would believe me/ but at times/ I would choose/ wartime in Saigon/ over/ peacetime in Alabama.” In haunting poems based on her own childhood experiences as a refugee in the deep South, Lai shares the sting of American ignorance and prejudice, the stigma of being thought “dumb” for not yet being fluent in the perplexities of English language spelling and pronunciation, the kindness of new friends, and the slow acceptance of inevitable change: “Not the same/ but not bad.” Lai’s poems have the stabbing specificity of the Vietnamese refugee experience, but also speak to any sensitive child wrestling with the necessity to compromise with wrenching, world-shifting transitions. 2011, HarperCollins, $15.99. Ages 9 to 12. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D. (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 9780061962783
Flesh and Blood So Cheap
Albert Marrin
On the afternoon of March 25, 1911 it was almost quitting time at the Triangle Shirtwaist garment factory in New York City. Then, without warning, a fire broke out. In a matter of minutes this blaze went out of control and raged through the garment factory. Exits were either clogged or locked and those workers who were able to get out onto the fire escape fell to their death when it collapsed under the weight of the workers. Women workers were seen in the windows of the shop as they called down from the ninth floor for help. Firemen arrived in a matter of minutes but found that their ladders could only reach the sixth floor. In less than a half hour 146 Triangle workers, many of whom were young immigrant women, died. This was to be the single deadliest day in New York City history until the tragic events of 9/11. In this title Marrin takes readers back to the terrible events affiliated with the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. But, while Marrin does an exceptional job of recounting this tragic event, he is even better at recreating the historical forces that led up to the fire as well as its consequences. In fact, Marrin is outstanding in describing the plight of immigrant workers in America during a time when labor unions were unheard of and employers had almost godlike authority. In addition, the author recounts the legislative reforms that occurred subsequent to the Triangle disaster as well as modern applications of the principles of human dignity and sweatshop exploitation reviewed in this truly outstanding book. 2011, Albert A. Knopf/Random House, $19.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Greg M. Romaneck (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 9780375868894
Chime
Franny Billingsley
Briony is almost too busy hating herself to complete all of the tasks she has decided will serve as penance. She believes she is a witch, a fact that would certainly mean hanging in her rural English village, and there are days when she feels she deserves this fate, because she is certain her power lay behind the destruction of her stepmother and the disabling of her sister. On other days, however, Briony clings to life, finding joy enough to balance the guilt. A slowly developing, hard-won romance, new revelations about family she thought she had lost, and an awakening into her own strengths all shake up Briony and her village forever, and if she manages to survive all the new information, she will be much needed to help put things right in this strange little hamlet. Briony’s character is splendidly developed, with a rich balance of irreverence (carefully used in such a way that she still remains very much of her era, a slightly alternative early twentieth century), hostile insecurity, and stubbornness, all of which she uses to cover the generous, hopeful, romantic self that would leave her too vulnerable in the world. The Old Ones, various witches, elemental spirits, brownies, and other creatures that live all around and in Swampsea, are mysterious and otherworldly while also struggling with the same jealousies and simple (almost always unfulfilled) desires as the townsfolk themselves. Human or otherwise, everyone is, for the most part, just trying to survive, which makes Briony’s passion for actually thriving, for pushing beyond the idea that merely waking up is a measure of success, all the more extraordinary and moving. Fantasy fans will appreciate the lush, spooky setting, but romance fans will also likely find the tentative but promising relationship between Briony and the only man around who actually deserves her to be deeply satisfying. Review Code: R* -- Recommended. A book of special distinction. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2011, Dial, 368p.; Reviewed from galleys, $17.99. Grades 7-10. Reviewer: April Spisak (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2011 (Vol.64, No.6))
Okay For Now
Gary D. Schmidt
Readers may remember Doug Swieteck as a minor character in Schmidt’s Newbery Honor Book, The Wednesday Wars. Here we learn much more about him, as he and his family move from Long Island to a small town in upstate New York. Doug is miserable: he has no friends, he calls their new house “The Dump,” and his life is overshadowed by an older brother suspected of burglary. A thirteen-year-old trying to claim his identity, Doug encounters three formidable authority figures--his mean and whining father with hands quick to strike, a controlling principal obsessed with rules, and a cruel P.E. teacher who was once a U.S. Army drill sergeant. On the other hand, Doug acquires an amazing number of extraordinary allies, including an elderly librarian who turns out to be a superb art teacher, a brilliantly successful playwright, a wealthy mill owner reminiscent of Edmund Gwenn, and a smart, green-eyed girlfriend. Schmidt gives Doug some tough challenges, including helping his oldest brother Lucas, who has returned from Vietnam disabled and depressed. He also must adopt a quest to find and return missing Audubon prints to their folio at the library. As the year progresses, Doug’s life swings through gut-wrenching lows and exhilarating highs more numerous than one might expect in such a short time. When he accidentally triumphs in a Broadway play (with his hero Joe Pepitone in the audience), the plot verges on magic realism (or farce). It is followed swiftly by an unsettling conclusion. Yet the novel is riveting. Schmidt is especially inventive in his use of nine prints from Audubon’s Birds of America, weaving their artistic elements and the boy’s reflections on Audubon’s birds into a convincing metaphor for the transformative power of art. As Doug would say, “Terrific!” 2011, Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99. Ages 10 to 14. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 9780547152608
