Review: "Black Brother, Black Brother," by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Black Brother, Black Brother is on the Texas Bluebonnet list for the 2021-22 school year. This middle-grade novel is set at Middlefield Prep near Boston, Massachusetts. The story opens with a young man waiting to speak to the headmaster at his school. You quickly learn that the person in the office is Donte Ellison, the book's narrator, a young Black middle schooler who has been falsely accused of throwing a pencil at a classmate. The scene quickly escalates and cops are called and Donte is taken to jail.

Donte is a bi-racial student at Middlefield Prep. He is the son of a Black mother, a White father, and a younger brother to a star athlete whose skin tone is lighter than his own dark skin. The book explores themes of racial injustice, colorism, privilege, and prejudice with the art of fencing as a metaphor. Donte picks up fencing to help him deal with the anxieties of being one of the only Black students at this school and in turn, learns lessons about life. 

Jewell Parker Rhodes's tone is hopeful and her writing in this book is very straightforward. It is written to make it easy for its middle-grade readers to understand the nuances that she is writing about. This is definitely a great book that parents can read alongside their children to open up discussions about the books' themes. For further discussion and learning, I highly recommend the podcast episode from Throughline titled the Invention of Race.

Review: "What Would Frida Do," by Arianna Davis

Ariana Davis is the digital director for O, The Oprah Magazine, and has had a lifelong love for renowned painter Frida Kahlo. This biography of Frida is written as an instruction manual on how to live boldly like the artist. It is not a chronological tale of Frida’s life. Instead, the book is divided into ten chapters representing who Frida was and how you as the reader can exemplify these characteristics in your own life.  Chapter titles include: Confidence, Pain, Creativity, Style, Love, Heartbreak, Sex, Identity, Friendship, and Viva La Vida. Each chapter contains snippets of Frida’s life that correlate to the theme, followed by a deeper dive into a particular aspect of her life similar to an inset in a magazine article. Each chapter ends with a section titled “What would Frida do…” and gives the reader advice on how to incorporate the theme into their own life. 

Davis’s digital design background is evident in the book, with beautiful art throughout. One of my favorite parts of the book is the artist’s featured quotes accompanied by beautiful black and white floral motifs.

The writing is a straightforward, comprehensive look into Frida’s life, giving the reader an intimate look at the significance behind so many of Frida’s paintings and self-portraits. I love Frida Kahlo and have had the opportunity to visit Casa Azul in Mexico City, but  I still learned new things about Frida. My only complaint with the book is that some facts are repetitive between chapters, and as a reader, I didn’t find it necessary. Davis’s admiration of Frida is evident in her writing about the artist, and I love that she feels Frida’s presence throughout her writing journey. I highly recommend this book to anyone that appreciates Frida Kahlo’s art and struggles. It is a beautiful tribute to the inspiring artist’s life and an excellent guide for anyone who would like to live as boldly as Frida did.

****originally submitted as a class assignment for INFO 5410/UNT-Masters of Library Science

Review: "Saint X", Alexis Schaitkin

 

One of the perks of being a Little Free Library steward is getting books donated and reading them first. In the past year, Celadon Books, an imprint of Macmillan books, created a program with the LFL organization to send books to stewards to promote their authors' works. Usually, I put them straight in the LFL so that they can get read by others. When Saint X arrived in the mail, the cover art quickly caught my attention. Yes, I will admit that I do judge a book by its cover. I scanned the back cover to read the synopsis, and I was quickly intrigued by the story and just had to read it before passing it along. The book did not disappoint.

The story opens up on a fictional island in the Caribbean, where affluent, White people come to experience the island's culture from a distance. When Alison, a college freshman on vacation with her family, disappears, the novel really begins. The aftermath that this experience has on her family, especially her younger sister and the suspects in her disappearance, is the novel's core. Told in lush language, Schaitkin takes your imagination from Saint X to New York City in vivid detail. The novel is non-linear, going back and forth between memory and present-day to unfold a story about the secrets we keep and how no one really knows another's truth, even you, yourself. While there are elements of suspense this element is just a small part of the story.  I really enjoyed Schaitkin's writing style, and her social commentary on how being born into privilege is merely the luck of the draw.  📖🐛🐛🐛🐛

Review: "All Adults Here," by Emma Strub

This is my book club's selection for July, but I decided to get a head start. I could not put it down. This is the kind of book that, when it ends, you still miss the characters. There are many different storylines, but Straub does a great job of wrapping them all up together with a character-driven storyline. The heartwarming family story about finding love at any age and being true to yourself will have you falling in love even with the characters who sometimes are unlikeable.  We all make mistakes as parents, as children, as friends, but this book will show that it is how you grow from those experiences that makes you ultimately a good person. 

Review: "Efren Divided," Ernesto Cisneros

Efren comes home from school to find that his mother has been deported. She is his "Soperwoman" who always makes their home feel so much more than just a tiny one-room apartment in their LA Latino immigrant neighborhood. This book smart middle schooler is now thrust into the world of ICE, politics, and being responsible for his 5-year-old twin siblings while his Dad takes on extra jobs to get their mother home. This moving, character-driven novel is a story of what it is to grow up as an American citizen when your parents are not. It is an authentic story about identity, friendship, family, and gratitude. Cisneros's writing is engaging and, at times, poignant. This book is for middle-grade readers, but it is definitely a book that anyone of any age can read and come away with an understanding of what life is like for so many undocumented families. 🕮🐛🐛🐛🐛

Review: "How Lucky," by Will Leitch

Daniel lives in a college town and is confined to a wheelchair because he is living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Despite his fatal disease, limited mobility, and speech, he lives life to the fullest with his sidekick best friend who takes him to college tailgates.  Life is great for Daniel until the morning that he sees one of his neighbors get into a car. The next day it is reported that his neighbor has been kidnapped and Daniel realizes that he witnessed her disappearance. The mystery of Ai-Chin's disappearance turns into a gripping, plot-driven psychological suspense. Leitch's writing draws you into the story as you get a glimpse into Daniel's innermost thoughts about his life and his disease. I also liked that the novel is written with contemporary issues in the background of the plot. 

Review: "The Light We Lost", by Jill Santiopolo

 

Lucy and Gabe's love story begins on September 11th, 2001, and spans a little over a decade. The Light We Lost is about first love. It's about the choices we make and the what-ifs. It's about love and regrets. The novel is written as a love letter to the one that got away. While I enjoyed Jill Santopolo's compelling storytelling, I did not find the main characters very likable. Maybe at a different point in my life, I would have loved the characters. As a 40 something-year-old married mother of two using my own personal experience as a lens, I could not sympathize with Lucy and found both men in Lucy's life irritating. As an intelligent, driven young woman, she took no control of her love life. The novel discusses love as a raging wildfire, a bonfire, or a steady hearth. The men in her life were the two extremes and in my opinion, what she needed was a bonfire. Not sure if all books have this, but my edition included some fun features at the end of the book. Book references are a trademark part of their relationship, so Santopolo includes a list of literature mentioned in "Lucy and Gabe's Reading List." Also included are a discussion guide, an interview with the author, and a playlist to listen to while discussing the books. I happen to be listening to it as I write this review. It's a good list of music and can be found on Spotify. 🕮🐛🐛🐛