Category Archives: Contemporary

Review: The Best Possible Answer by E. Katherine Kottaras

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The Best Possible AnswerThe Best Possible Answer
E. Katherine Kottaras
St. Martin’s Griffin
Available November 1, 2016

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When a panic attack lands Viviana in the hospital, her mother insists that she slow down and stop taking her studies so seriously. But even the thought of slowing down stresses Vivi out. She has summer engineering camp to attend! And SATs to prep for! And college applications to write! Everything has to go perfectly, no room for error. It’s the only way her dad will stop being disappointed in her and come home. And after her failure at school, the one involving Dean and that photo she sent him, Vivi needs something to go right.

But her mom won’t be swayed, so instead, Vivi ends up spending the summer with her best friend working at the community pool. At first it seems like a nice change of pace. But Vivi’s mistakes find her, even in her new quieter life. And she discovers that she’s not the only one who was hiding from the truth. Her father has a secret that could destroy the entire family.

I found it so easy to identify with driven, perfectionist Viviana. I loved her relationships with her mom and sister and the way her friendship with Sammie changed over the course of the story, too. It felt very real and authentic, exactly the kinds of changes relationships can go through in high school. I liked that Vivi’s family was so complex. I liked that her mom’s cancer was something they’d overcome together, and you could still see the shadow of it over them, but it didn’t define them as a family, or her mom as a character. Her mom surprised me. I kind of expected not to like her, and then as the story went on, you could really see the strength she possesses and how much Vivi gets that same strong character from her.

For me, The Best Possible Answer is another win for Kottaras. I loved it. Fans of Eleanor & Park might like it, even though the romance isn’t really a central component. I think Viviana shares a lot of the qualities that drew me to Eleanor.

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Cultural Elements
Vivi’s mother is Russian and Jewish. Her best friend Sammie is Filipino. Viviana has been suffering panic attacks. A neighbor is schizophrenic.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
While Vivi dated a boy named Dean, she sent him a picture of herself naked. After they broke up, he distributed the picture to the whole school. Vivi kisses another boy several times.

Spiritual Content
Vivi and a friend help a schizophrenic man. They also debate whether love exists. Her friend says yes, though Vivi’s less certain. Vivi’s friend Sammie follows horoscopes and believes they come true. Another friend says it’s bogus.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Vivi recalls a party years ago at which she drank a beer, her one and only ever. Later she and some friends go to a college dorm where some other kids have been drinking. They don’t associate much with anyone who’s been drinking though.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

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Review: The Homecoming by Stacie Ramey

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The Homecoming
Stacie Ramey
Sourcebooks Fire
Available November 1, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Trouble with the law sends John back to his mom’s house, a place he hasn’t lived since a year after his brother’s accident. Still reeling from his girlfriend’s death, John’s only plan is to keep his head down until he’s served out his time. Then he’s California bound. Connections, especially with a girl, are the last thing he needs. But as the issues he once left behind begin to catch up with John at home, he finds that his usual retreats—pot and alcohol—aren’t enough. As the pressure builds, John must make a choice: to face the terrible truth about his past or let it destroy him and his family again.

The Homecoming is pretty much exactly the kind of novel I love reading. While John’s coping strategies aren’t my favorite in literature, I can’t help but root for a guy like him. He has a great heart, which we saw a little bit of in Ramey’s earlier novel, The Sister Pact, which describes some of his relationship with Leah from Leah’s sister’s point-of-view. Speaking of sisters, I love John’s relationship with his little sister and found it super endearing.

I liked that the story dealt with issues of family. John’s brother is disabled, and the family struggles a lot with how to manage his care. He’s not a perfectly likeable guy, either, which I found to be different than we often see in literature. His family clearly loved him, but it wasn’t always easy.

A couple of other interesting elements: John discovers a talent for architecture and begins learning the CAD program in a class. It’s a bright moment for him. At his dad’s insistence, he joins the lacrosse team, which also turns out to be a good thing for him. So several scenes show him exploring both of those interests which are a bit unusual for YA. I liked that.

If you like tragic-yet-hopeful contemporary YA, this is definitely a book you should check out.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are all white middle class. John’s brother is disabled.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
John reflects on having been with a number of girls since Leah’s death, but that those relationships were superficial and didn’t touch his heart. He and one girl begin making out and retreat to her room to have sex but are interrupted. At the time, she states that she wants to have a casual relationship with him.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
John’s brother Ryan punches family members and injures them. A car accident injures a boy. Another accident injures a woman and her adult son. During a lacrosse game, another player makes unkind comments to John and other players take turns going after the guy. No detailed descriptions of violence or injuries.

Drug Content
John smokes pot and drinks alcohol, sometimes alone and sometimes with others.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

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Review: Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

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Bone Sparrow
Zana Fraillon
Disney-Hyperion
Available November 1, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Every night, Subhi slips out of the compound in the refugee camp and finds the treasures he believes the magical Night Sea brings him from his far away father. Every morning he shows the gifts to his mother, now barely responsive. Subhi has only known life within the fences of the permanent detention center. Up the hill from the center lives a girl named Jimmie who bears her own grief. She comforts herself with her mother’s necklace pendant, a sparrow carved from bone. She meets Subhi, and begs him to read her mother’s journal to her. Subhi shares the pages, filled with stories and songs as magical as the ones his mother once told. As conditions worsen for both Jimmie and Subhi, each must find courage, as the characters from the songs and stories of their mothers did.

Bone Sparrow is one of those stories that will haunt you. From the first page, the beautiful narrative sucked me in. I immediately loved both Jimmie and Subhi and the colorful cast of characters in and out of the detention center. It reminded me very much of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and left me reeling much the same way that story did.

The latter part of the tale shows some pretty intense violence. Up until that point it felt like a solid, literary middle grade read, but the heaviness of that violence made me reconsider whether that’s really where the book belongs. Bone Sparrow definitely deserves a place on the shelf with John Boyne’s acclaimed novel and others that shine a light on world issues, like Blue Gold by Elizabeth Stewart and Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You by Hanna Jansen.

What really left me speechless was the fact that the conditions Subhi and his family endure in the detention center are in fact based on real situations and reports. The way the Rohingya people have been treated in these camps is unbelievable. I’ve continued to read more about the people and their refugee status. I know that’s a very polarizing idea right now, but I encourage you to look up more information. I’ll post links below the content section of this review.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Jimmie and her family are Australian. Subhi is part of a group of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, once Burma.

Note: The Rohingya people have been denied rights to citizenship by the Myanmar government and driven out or killed. Many live in refugee camps like the one described in this book.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
When a sparrow lands on Subhi’s bed, his sister warns him that this warns of death. At night Subhi believes a magical Night Sea brings him gifts from his father, who lives far away.

Brief mention of Gods in the stories written by Jimmie’s mother. The bone sparrow necklace plays a role in the stories, guiding a man to his lost love and offering protection.

Violent Content
Horrible conditions plague the refugees in the camp. Some begin a hunger strike, sewing their mouths closed. Refugees barricade themselves in one quarter. A fire starts. Soldiers and refugees fight. Subhi witnesses a soldier beat a boy to death.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Links for More Information about the Rohingya

From the Council on Foreign Relations – The Rohingya Migrant Crisis

From Amnesty International: Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh

From CNN- How Asia’s worst refugee crisis isn’t over yet

From the Chicago Tribune- some Rohingya refugees find home in Chicago

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Review: The Row by J. R. Johansson

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

The Row
J. R. Johansson
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Available October 11, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Row

A death sentence. A family torn apart. One girl’s hunt for the truth.

Seventeen-year-old Riley Beckett is no stranger to prison. Her father is a convicted serial killer on death row who has always maintained that he was falsely accused. Riley has never missed a single visit with her father. She wholeheartedly believes that he is innocent.

Then, a month before the execution date, Riley’s world is rocked when, in an attempt to help her move on, her father secretly confesses to her that he actually did carry out the murders. He takes it back almost immediately, but she cannot forget what he’s told her. Determined to uncover the truth for her own sake, she discovers something that will forever change everything she’s believed about the family she loves.

My Review

This was one of those books where every time I thought I knew what was going on, there was some new layer that turned everything upside down. I love books like that, so I definitely enjoyed that element. I loved Riley right from the beginning and especially liked Jordan and his cute little brother Matthew, too. I thought the connection between them definitely added a lot of tension. I liked that Riley made her own search for truth.

The only thing that bothered me about the story was Riley’s voice. I kept forgetting that she was supposed to be seventeen and hearing her as much younger, like fourteen or fifteen. On the whole that didn’t disrupt my ability to get caught up in the story. I liked the characters enough to overlook it.

The Row is a great book for suspense or mystery readers. It definitely had some unexpected surprises for me. If you like Jennifer Lynn Barnes series The Naturals, you definitely want to read this one.

Recommended Ages: 14 up

Cultural Elements
Riley and her parents are white. Jordan and his family are Hispanic.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A few brief kisses. Some vague discussion about a man who had an affair.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of injuries to murder victims. A man attacks a woman and a boy. He breaks bones and stabs the woman in the stomach. He makes it clear that he intends to kill them both. Two men are shot.

Drug Content
Riley learns disturbing news and gets drunk. Later her mother does the same thing.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , ,

Flora and Ulysses
Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick Press

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Flora saves a squirrel from a powerful vacuum cleaner, she discovers that he has super powers. She names him Ulysses and brings him home to teach him what it means to be a hero, and she watches and waits for his true superpowers to emerge. Ulysses’ powers do emerge: a deep love for Flora and the gift of poetry. Her desire to protect him and his power to communicate changes Flora’s life in unexpected ways.

My family and I listened to this as an audiobook on our vacation. I loved the comics that Flora reads and how they were a bond between her and her dad. Ulysses totally had me from the moment he walked onto the page. The tone of the story is playful and fun, but it delves pretty deep into some emotional territory. Flora’s parents have separated, and that really unsettles her. She doubts her mom’s love for her, resenting the household lamp shaped like a shepherdess that her mother keeps in a prized spot in the house. During the separation, Flora’s relationship with her father becomes strained. Having Ulysses in her life is this huge, positive thing, and soon he begins to affect everyone around her.

Throughout the story, we laughed, we teared up. We shouted, “Holy Bagumba!” right there along with Flora and her dad. It was a great read, and a lot of fun.

Cultural Elements
Smalltown America. I don’t recall racial descriptions of characters.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few expressions like, “what the heck,” “holy unanticipated occurences,” and “for the love of Pete” pepper the story. Nothing heavier than that.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
A woman briefly discusses Pascal’s Wager with Flora and what it means. (That believing in God on faith means one has less to lose than not believing. She also mentions that her husband, who has died, is “singing with the angels.”

Flora quotes from a comic that says, “Do not hope. Only observe.” She wrestles to follow this advice but realizes that she can’t help hoping, and that hope is what carries her through some hard moments.

Violent Content
Flora’s mom wants her dad to take Ulysses out and bash him on the head with a shovel to kill him.

At one point, a man with a chef’s knife starts toward Ulysses. With her father’s implied permission, Flora trips the man.

Drug Content
Flora’s mom smokes cigarettes.

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Review: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

The One and Only Ivan
Katherine Applegate
HarperCollins

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Ivan has a small life within the glass walls of his domain in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. He watches TV and spends time with Bob, a stray dog, and Stella, an elephant. He makes art using crayons and paper given to him by his owner, Mack. He doesn’t think of his early life or his far away home in the jungle. And then Ruby, a baby elephant comes to the Big Top Mall, and everything changes. The mall is the wrong place for Ruby, and it’s up to Ivan to make everyone see that. He must find a way to show the humans where he and Ruby belong.

My family and I listened to an audiobook version of this story on our way home from vacation. We had listened to Flora and Ulysses a few days earlier, which was a tough act to follow. As The One and Only Ivan began, I wasn’t sure I’d like it. The beginning contains a lot of descriptions of where Ivan lives and who else lives there. It felt like not much was happening. Not much does happen until Ruby comes into the picture. Suddenly Ivan has a goal, a mission, and he won’t stop until he succeeds. For me, the story was much more entertaining at that point. My favorite character was Bob, the stray dog who always has some smart-aleck comment but who has a sweet heart underneath.

At the end of the story is an author’s note describing how Applegate was inspired by a real gorilla’s tale. Ivan was a real gorilla in captivity who spent later years of his life at the Atlanta Zoo (which I really want to visit!) I thought it was really cool to bring a real story into a novel like this.

Though the overall pace was a little slow for me, I did enjoy reading this book. It has been on my To Read list since it came out in 2012, so I’m glad to finally be able to say I read it. If you like stories featuring animals as central characters, this is a definitely must-read.

Cultural Elements
Most of the characters are animals. I can’t remember any race descriptions.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Ivan mentions that he sometimes flings dung at rude visitors. (He’s in a glass enclosure, so it’s ineffective.)

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

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