A Book Review Starring "We Were Here" by Matt de la Pena

The short version:
Stockton, CA native Miguel Castaneda is sentenced to live at a boys home in San Jose for an undisclosed offense. There he meets violent loner Mong who convinces him and his roommate Rondell to break out and make their way to Mexico with the promise that they will find jobs at a beach resort. Per the judge's orders Miguel keeps a journal of his experiences, which he continues of his own volition long after feeling obligated to do so.

The long version:
Turns out Miguel (and de la Pena) are really quite excellent at this journal writing thing.

The conceit of the journal as the basis for describing the unfolding events gives the story a real sense of urgency(due in no small part to de la Pena's incredibly storytelling skills). Everything rings true, including the plot developments but also how Miguel interprets and responds to other people and circumstances along the way.

de la Pena has really written a triumphant, engrossing story of what it means to be a teenage boy (with all the masculinity issues that go along with it), what it means to be a first generation Mexican-American, what it means to be mixed race. He covers all those bases with subtle, entertaining language that speaks in a voice of this particular kid. Miguel is funny, smart (but within the context of the character, as opposed to the author's voice) and yet still maintains his innocence and vulnerability and the brazenness and impulsiveness that comes with being a fifteen year old boy.

He not only has created a main character who makes you turn pages, he also creates secondary characters of equal pathos and individuality who you feel for from the start. Mong and Rondell are so wonderfully and painfully realized with such great depth of character. Your heart will break for all of them.

At the same time, de la Pena has realized a plot that could have easily gone awry but never does. A road trip in which three newly homeless, troubled kids try to make from San Jose to the border could have easily devolved into episodic plot points without necessarily evolving in intensity. Even some of the trickier plot points, of which there are a couple, are handled with authenticity and ring true instead of devices.

The book has its necessary violence and explicit language, all well in keeping with the story de la Pena tells. And the story he tells is pretty special.

A Book Review Starring "Hold Tight, Don't Let Go" by Laura Rose Wagner

The short version:
In the aftermath of the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake that destroys their home and kills their mother, 16 year old Magdalie and her "sister" Nadine must live with their uncle in a makeshift camp. When Nadine's American father sends for her, Nadine sort of promises to send for Magdalie. Left essentially on her own for the first time in her life, unable to attend school anymore, Magdalie must adapt to a new way of life while searching for a way to make money so she can join Nadine in America.

The long version:
How long ago must an historical event have occurred to constitute it being the basis for a novel of historical fiction?

I want to call this historical fiction (and I mean that in the best of ways) even though it takes place just five years ago. Wagner does an excellent job of integrating not only the larger events of the earthquake but the daily minutia of life after the earthquake into the narrative of the story. Sometimes when you read historical fiction you get that kitchen-sink feeling that the author was so jazzed to learn his or her stuff that she threw it all in the book. But there is a nice sense of restraint here, Wagner illustrates the devastation of the earthquake as it appears to this 16 year old girl, not in any overwritten, all-encompassing encyclopedic way. She's able to express the craziness and devastation, but also the tedium of having nowhere to go and nothing to do, no jobs or home to attend to.

Aspects of the narrative felt like a first novel. Some of the plot points were very pointed, not terribly nuanced, but still effective. Later in the novel there's a pleasant romance subplot that doesn't feel entirely necessary.

But none of those things detract from the novel overall, in which Wagner has created an engaging main character whom you want to follow and see what happens to her all the while getting an intimate look into a part of the world that feels so far away.

Quite a commendable first novel, particularly given such a large undertaking of melding a traditional narrative with historical events set in (what was for me) an unfamiliar culture.

A Book Review Starring "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander

The short version:
Told in verse, 12 year old twins Josh and Jordan Bell are starters on their junior high school basketball team. But when Jordan gets close to the new girl at school, Josh feels a rift growing between them that grows as their team moves closer to the championships.

The long version:
Endearing and charming middle grade read. Alexander does an excellent job of describing the action and minutia of basketball with vernacular that's accessible and still feels true to a 12 year old voice. The familial relationships between Josh, his brother and his parents are quite lovely.

While the main plot revolves around basketball, it's also a book about how the rules of basketball apply to life. Alexander intersperses the narrative with "basketball rules" that even those not acquainted with the game will have no trouble identifying as life lessons for a middle grader.

The plot takes an unexpected darker turn, unexpected even though Alexander sets the reader up for it quite well. While surprising in a way I wasn't prepared for, this wasn't my novel to write. Maybe I was just too involved, a testament to the writing, but Alexander manages the darker turn and the ensuing conclusion with eloquence and grace.

A Book Review Starring "Game" by Walter Dean Myers

The short version:
New York City senior Drew is looking forward to the second half of basketball season. He's the starting guard at James Baldwin Academy and is hoping a winning season will translate into an athletic scholarship. But he'll have to adapt to the unexpected when a white transfer student gets a starting position and he's forced to consider his coach's team ethic even when he'd rather shoot and play individual ball.

The long version:
My first Walter Dean Myers book!

And what a great first book to start with. As you read his slim book (218 pages) you feel you're in trusted hands. He writes with a confidence and ease that masks the work he put into it.

Drew is an engaging main character you want to follow from the start. He's smart, interesting and well-liked, yet young and still has things to learn, especially when it comes to playing team basketball and adapting to other personalities. His first-person narration is very entertaining and a clear testament to the writer as Myers infuses his narrative with the vernacular of an African-American teen that's accessible and flows well throughout and at the same time is insightful within the mindset of a teen character.

There's a lot of basketball narration to the story. I always find description of sports events hard, even if you're familiar with the sport. Myers has lengthly narrations of multiple games, he not only creates narratives that are visual and fast paced like a game, but does so from Drew's point of view with a street and basketball slang mixed in that comes across seamlessly and makes for an easy read.

I couldn't help reflecting on Myer's New York Times editorial from last summer in which he reflected upon his own childhood growing up without books that were written about and for kids like him. You can't help but feel as if he wrote this book for his younger self, and all the younger selves of him out there today. "Game" was written in 2008 and there's some references to the internet or cell phones that put it in a present day historical context, but Myers also manages to give a nice sense of timelessness to it so you can see the book aging well for kids ten years down the line.

Regarding the size and page length. Myers manages to do a lot in 218 pages. It's a compact book, both in page number and size (maybe it's 8x6 inches, eyeballing it alone) and I think it makes for an inviting book, particularly when it comes to boys who aren't of the million-page-fantasy-tome reading variety. And I think there's something to be said for a book that doesn't physically intimidate a reluctant or occasional reader.

Diversity On the Shelf 2015 Challenge

What should arrive this morning via my library system's inter-library grey envelope but the May, 2014 Diversity Issue of School Library Journal (only a little late, but I'll take it, as we do have a large library system after all). It just so happens that this past week I'd been revisiting Walter Dean Myer's New York Times editorial from this past summer entitled "Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books?"  in which he reflects upon the lack of novels with African-American characters he read growing up and his concern that the landscape hadn't changed all that drastically since his childhood.

At the same time I'd been thinking, in hindsight and perhaps with a hint of smug, that I'VE read a fair number of young adult novels featuring diverse main characters this year and loved them. But when I went back through my Goodreads list of books I'd read I was unpleasantly surprised to come up with this anemic number: 8.

8 out of 102 books I read this year. Eeek.

(Can I count the two I only coincidentally happen to be in the middle of right now which both happen to feature African-American main characters? I must admit I picked them up before coming upon my anemic little number.)

So I was pleasantly surprised to come upon the world of book challenges thanks to an article from SLJ's Diversity Issue. I'm not speaking of zealots burning Catcher In The Rye but rather pages online where you can sign up for challenges to read a certain type or quantity of books. I'm a librarian, I had no idea.

Hence I'm hitching my ride to the Diversity On the Shelf 2015 Challenge in an effort to feed my anemic 2014 number.

Beginning January 1st I'm shooting for the 3rd Shelf of the challenge: 13-18 books featuring diverse main characters.

As I read mostly young adult novels, some of the titles I look forward to reading in 2015 can be found on my beautiful, vacant-but-soon-to-be-filled Diversity on the Shelf 2015 Goodreads bookshelf.

Happy New Year (of Reading)!