Tag: diversity

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Words in the Dust

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

words in the dustWords in the Dust (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011) by Trent Reedy is an amazing story inspired by a true story of a real girl in Afghanistan. The author uses sensory details and language to make the reader see Zulaika’s world and how many in that culture view us.
Here’s a brief introduction:
Zulaikha is forgetting how to write the letters of the alphabet her mother taught her. Boys’ call her “donkeyface,” shopkeepers look at her in disgust, her father’s second wife doesn’t like to look at her cleft lip, and she even has difficulty eating. But when the Americans come, they offer to fix her mouth. Zulaikha knows it will change her world if the surgery works out.
You’ll definitely want to go to Trent’s website to see how he wrote this story “by accident” and who and what book inspired him. There you’ll also get to see two other covers of the book–one for the UK and one for Germany.

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Inside Out and Back Again

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

inside outThe Newbery honor book Inside Out and Back Again (HarperCollins, 2011) by Thanhha Lai is written in verse snapshots. Here’s a brief summary of the story:
It’s 1975, 10-year-old Hà, her mother and 3 older brothers must leave Saigon, Vietnam. Schools were closed a month early, the president has resigned, the communists are coming. They pack up and head for the Navy ships to escape. They end up on the island of Guam and then in Alabama.

Thanhha brings Hà and her family to life. I love the line: “It’s hard to be grateful when you feel stupid because you don’t know the language.”

I also enjoyed the inside story on how the author wrote this award winning story. Read the article here. Read more about her and her books here.

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
GrandPlan11-year-old Dini and her best friend, Maddie, love watching Bollywood movies and are big fans of movie star Dolly Singh. When Dini’s mother drops the big news that the family is moving to India for two years, the girls are heartbroken at being separated. If Dini and her family were at least going to Bombai where the filmi people are, she might get to see her favorite movie star. But, no, they are going to a little town called Swapnagiri. However, fate has something surreal in mind for Dini. Of course, fate does get some help from Dini herself.
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything (Atheneum, 2011) by Uma Krishnaswami and illustrated by Abigail Halpin is a fun read. I liked a look into a world I know nothing about. I especially like how all the threads of the different people and their stories come together in this novel.
Go to Uma’s website to see other books by this prolific author. She also teaches for the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
And if you, like me, enjoy the cover of this book go to Abigail’s website and see what else she is up to and see some of her art.

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Blessing’s Bead

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

BlessingsbeadIsn’t this a beautiful cover?
Blessing’s Bead (Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009) by Debby Dahl Edwardson is an interesting mix of historical and contemporary. I’ll be honest I felt the historical section was a bit slow at first–maybe because there were so many characters–but once I got going it was good. The contemporary section pulled me in right away. I loved how the cultural information was done. It was great how the two stories meet up.
Here’s a brief look at each section:
It’s 1917 and Nutaaq watches her sister Aaluk and the young Siberian wearing the string of cobalt beads. Nutaaq does well in a race and gets one bead. Her sister goes off to marry the Siberian, then illness strikes the village and very few are left.
70 years later, Blessing and her little brother are sent away from their mother to live with their grandmother. Blessing feels like an outsider with the Inupiaq, but then begins to learn about her family’s history. She finds a blue bead, which she treasures without quite knowing why.
Debby writes with authenticity about her adopted culture in Barrow, Alaska. Read more here and the kudos for Blessing’s Bead. Debby’s site has many extras, so you may want to spend some time there. I did and now I’m putting her other novel and her picture book on my TBR pile!

Posted in So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Island’s End

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Island’s EndIsland’s End (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011) by Padma Venkatraman is modern day fiction that almost feels historical. But that’s because it is inspired by people who live as their ancestors did on the Andaman Islands near India. It’s a great story that you won’t want to miss.
Here’s a brief intro:
Living on an isolated island, Uido is woken by a dream that tells her to go to the beach where she and her little brother witness strangers arriving by boat. The siblings chase them off, but the strangers keep coming back and tempt the tribe with things not available on their island. Meanwhile Uido is chosen to be trained as the next oko-jumu (spiritual leader). When her brother is struck with a disease brought by the strangers and is dying, Uido must decide what to do for her brother and her tribe.
This is the second book by Padma. Read more about her here.
climbing.jpgNow after reading about her award winning first book, I need to get a hold of it, too! Check out the website for Climbing the Stairs.