Category Archives: Historical

Review: Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan

Book Review and Content, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Historical, Memoir, Middle Grade 8-12, Nonfiction, , , , ,
Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan

Boy vs. Shark
Paul Gilligan
Tundra Books
Published October 15, 2024

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About Boy vs. Shark

A hilarious middle-grade graphic memoir about boyhood, toxic masculinity and a shark named Jaws. For fans of Guts and New Kid.

In the summer of 1975, 10-year-old Paul Gilligan doesn’t have a whole lot to worry about other than keeping his comic books untarnished, getting tennis balls off roofs and keeping up with the increasingly bold stunts of his best friend, David.

And then Jaws comes to town.

Suddenly everyone is obsessing over this movie about a shark ripping people to pieces. And if you haven’t seen it, not only are you missing out, you’re also kind of a wimp.

Needless to say, Jaws leaves young Paul a cowering mess, and underlines the growing gap between him and David as well as the distance between where he stands and the world’s expectations of a boy’s “manliness.”

And when Jaws himself becomes a kind of macho Jiminy Cricket for Paul, what is a scared and overwhelmed boy to do?

My Review

I really like the way that the author handled references to the movie Jaws in the text. Some of the characters verbally reference different scenes. After Paul watches the movie, he relates what happens in some of the scenes with balloon animals as characters. The absurdity of the images helps keep the content from being scary and overwhelming. I thought that was a really nice touch.

I also appreciated the complexity of the relationships in the novel, especially Paul’s relationship with his dad. Paul’s dad embraces some toxic ideas about who Paul should be as a young man, which causes Paul a lot of stress. At the same time, though, his dad imparts a strong ethic of personal responsibility, which helps guide Paul through a difficult situation.

It’s always great to see three-dimensional parent characters in Kidlit, and in this instance, the fact that the ideals Paul’s dad holds up as masculine are not all good or all bad makes it easier to understand Paul’s feelings of confusion and hurt when he doesn’t perfectly fit his father’s ideals.

I really enjoyed this graphic memoir. The use of the movie worked really well to illustrate the theme, and Gilligan creates a compelling balance of humor and heart in his exploration of masculine values and growing up.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 12.

Representation
Paul’s best friends are an Asian American boy and a Black boy.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to plot points from the movie Jaws. Some bullying in which an older boy makes comments about a younger kid. A boy manipulates others into stealing something from a store.

Drug Content
In one scene, a boy has a bottle of wine under his shirt, which he drops.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

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

The Westing Game
Ellen Raskin
Puffin
Published June 1, 1997 (Orig. 1978)

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About The Westing Game

A Newbery Medal Winner

“A supersharp mystery…confoundingly clever, and very funny.” —Booklist, starred review

A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger—and a possible murderer—to inherit his vast fortune, one thing’s for sure: Sam Westing may be dead…but that won’t stop him from playing one last game!

Winner of the Newbery Medal
Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
An ALA Notable Book
“Great fun for those who enjoy illusion, word play, or sleight of hand.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A fascinating medley of word games, disguises, multiple aliases, and subterfuges—a demanding but rewarding book.” —The Horn Book

My Review

I’ve seen this book on must-read YA lists for a long time, so when I spotted it recently on a sale table at a bookstore, I decided to pick up a copy.

It seems like a convention-setting story. As I read the book, it reframed some of my thoughts about similar stories published more recently. It didn’t detract from anything, but maybe just gave me more context in the genre of game mysteries in the young adult market.

Since it was originally written in 1978, the story contains some of the dated language that we’ve since acknowledged is harmful, particularly to Chinese Americans and disabled people. There are also some references to a character who died by suicide before the story begins that reflect the understanding of mental health more typical of the time the story takes place.

The Westing Game also has a lot of named characters. It involves sixteen people and a few peripheral characters. They’re introduced rapidly at the beginning of the story, as the setup for the game begins almost immediately. I tend to struggle with books that have a ton of named characters, especially when they’re introduced all at once, so this definitely posed a challenge for me.

The narrative moves from an omniscient perspective to a close third-person point of view, highlighting different characters’ motives, thoughts, and responses to various events in the text. The author does a great job differentiating one character’s voice from another, which helped me keep the characters straight once I got deeper into the story.

I liked the mechanism of partners and clues within each round. I also liked getting to see how each team approached the game, who was messing with the other players behind the scenes, and why. There was a lot going on, and the pieces all fit together nicely. It reminded me a little bit of the show Who Is the Mole? on Netflix, but with an added mystery to solve.

Content Notes for The Westing Game

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
The Hoo family is Chinese. One character is a wheelchair user with an unspecified disability. Another pretends to need crutches for attention.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One character uses words and language condemned as bigoted by another character. (It is.) Some ableist descriptions of the boy who uses a wheelchair. Some racist descriptions of or references to the Chinese family. There are also some harmful stereotypes repeated within the text.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to marriage.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Several references to a character who died by suicide. A child encounters a lifeless body.

Drug Content
A married couple goes to a cafe and returns drunk.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

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Show Me a Sign
Ann Clare LeZotte
Scholastic Press
Published March 3, 2020

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About Show Me a Sign

Deaf author and librarian Ann Clare LeZotte weaves an Own Voices story inspired by the true history of a thriving deaf community on Martha’s Vineyard in the early 19th century.
Mary Lambert has always felt safe and protected on her beloved island of Martha’s Vineyard. Her great-grandfather was an early English settler and the first deaf islander. Now, over a hundred years later, many people there – including Mary – are deaf, and nearly everyone can communicate in sign language. Mary has never felt isolated. She is proud of her lineage.

But recent events have delivered winds of change. Mary’s brother died, leaving her family shattered. Tensions over land disputes are mounting between English settlers and the Wampanoag people. And a cunning young scientist has arrived, hoping to discover the origin of the island’s prevalent deafness. His maniacal drive to find answers soon renders Mary a “live specimen” in a cruel experiment. Her struggle to save herself is at the core of this novel.

My Review

I’ve read the other two books in this series, and both reference back to the trauma Mary endures in this book. All three stories are powerfully told. Mary is a compelling character. She’s strong and determined, confident in what she knows is right.

Each book in the series explores different aspects of how the Deaf were treated during the early 19th century while centering Deaf voices and experiences. Now that I’ve read all three books, I feel like I have a better understanding of why the second and third books went in certain directions, and I can’t help but appreciate them even more than I did when I first read them.

The setting and time period felt so real to me, from the descriptions of Mary’s home and daily life to the values and beliefs her family held. I love Mary’s relationship with Ezra Brewer and her best friend, Nancy. Both of those relationships taught her things and offered support in sometimes unexpected ways.

I think readers who enjoy historical novels, especially those set in the northeast United States, will love this first book in the series by Ann Clare LeZotte.

Content Notes for Show Me a Sign

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Mary and many of her community members are Deaf.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
References to racist language, but Mary doesn’t state the words. Some characters make their prejudice against indigenous or black people clear.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mary is embarrassed/uncomfortable when a doctor examines her spine from her neck to her bottom and her throat to her breast.

Spiritual Content
Mary and her family attend church and pray. She and her best friend make up a ritual they hope will help lay to rest the spirit of Mary’s brother, who died before the story begins. Mary speaks to a person who works for her father and lives with and is part of the Wampanoag tribe. They compare spiritual beliefs and beliefs about the land and whether the land can be divided into parcels and owned.

Violent Content
References to Mary’s brother’s death. He was trampled by a horse and carriage in an accident. References to a man beating a child to punish her for her behavior.

Someone kidnaps a girl, imprisoning her against her will. Some scenes show or reference physical abuse and neglect. (A woman hits a girl’s ears. The girl has bruises in other places. She doesn’t receive enough to eat and is forced to labor all day and locked in a room at night.) A man performs medical exams (not sexual) on a girl without her consent.

Drug Content
References to alcoholism and adults drinking alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus

Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

A Place to Hang the Moon
Kate Albus
Margaret Ferguson Books
Published February 2, 2021

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About A Place to Hang the Moon

Set against the backdrop of World War II, Anna, Edmund, and William are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, bouncing from home to home in search of a permanent family.

It is 1940 and Anna, 9, Edmund, 11, and William, 12, have just lost their grandmother. Unfortunately, she left no provision for their guardianship in her will. Her solicitor comes up with a preposterous plan: he will arrange for the children to join a group of schoolchildren who are being evacuated to a village in the country, where they will live with families for the duration of the war. He also hopes that whoever takes the children on might end up willing to adopt them and become their new family–providing, of course, that the children can agree on the choice.

Moving from one family to another, the children suffer the cruel trickery of foster brothers, the cold realities of outdoor toilets, and the hollowness of empty tummies. They seek comfort in the village lending library, whose kind librarian, Nora Muller, seems an excellent candidate–except that she has a German husband whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Nevertheless, Nora’s cottage is a place of bedtime stories and fireplaces, of vegetable gardens and hot, milky tea. Most important, it’s a place where someone thinks they all three hung the moon. Which is really all you need in a mom, if you think about it.

Fans of The War That Saved My Life and other World War II fiction will find an instant classic in A Place to Hang the Moon.

My Review

I have so many things to say about this book I’m having a hard time figuring out where to start. I love the way it’s written from the perspective of all three children. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure that would work, but it actually truly does. It makes them feel like a unit and yet the narrative zooms in on one child’s thoughts or feelings at critical moments in the story.

The book feels firmly anchored in WWII England, and not in a romanticized way. William, Edmund, and Anna face hunger, see families affected by missing family members serving in the military, worry about German invasion and air strikes.

Yet the story also celebrates a love of literature and mentions several beloved children’s stories. In particular, Anna finds comfort in The Little Princess, which holds some parallels to the children’s lives and experience. It also celebrates found family and the power of sibling bonds in a beautiful way.

A Place to Hang the Moon is the first book by Kate Albus that I’ve read, but it absolutely won’t be the last. Fans of historical fiction or sibling stories will not want to miss this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Main characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Two boys bully the main characters, using a slur to describe them. Some characters use a slur meaning German people.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl has an obvious crush on William. Her attention makes him uncomfortable.

Spiritual Content
The children participate in a Nativity play at Christmas at the local church. They celebrate Christmas together.

Violent Content
The opening scene is a funeral wake for the children’s grandmother and former guardian. References to war. The children are aware of other places being bombed and invaded by the German army. In some scenes, children worry that bombs will fall on the place they’ve been evacuated to. Brief reference to an internment camp in which Germans living in England have been imprisoned. Another character dies (offscene).

At one point, the boys go to a farm to participate in a rat extermination event in which a group of boys use sticks, clubs, and other weapons to strike and kill rats. They earn money for each kill. William and Edmund feel pretty disturbed about the whole thing.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Puffin Books
Published February 13, 2024 (Orig. 1813)

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About Pride and Prejudice

Though her sisters are keen on finding men to marry, Elizabeth Bennet would rather wait for someone she loves – certainly not someone like Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, whom she finds to be smug and judgmental, in contrast to the charming George Wickham.

But soon Elizabeth learns that her first impressions may not have been correct, and the quiet, genteel Mr. Darcy might be her true love after all.

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

Today (December 16) is Jane Austen’s birthday. She was born 249 years ago on this day in 1775 and was the seventh of eight children in her family. I read once, in A Most Clever Girl by Jasmine A. Stirling, that when the king asked Austen to write a fluffy romance novel for him, she refused.

Her books have inspired tons of movies and reimagined stories, including Northranger by Rey Terciero, “The Jane Austen Murder Mysteries” by Tirzah Price, and For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund.

My Review

I read this book for the first time in high school– and hated it. The next year, my sister read it and loved it. We watched the BBC version of the movie multiple times that summer, and I ultimately decided to give the book a second chance.

That second reading, I fell in love with the story and especially the wry, clever observations that Austen slips into her descriptions of various characters. Thanks to some persistent insomnia, I decided to revisit this familiar story via audiobook this year. I listened to it more than once.

I love the arc of romance between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, but I think I love the quirks and absurdities woven through the minor characters just as much. I like the way that both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy have to learn things about themselves, their expectations of others, and the judgments they make about others before they can truly find happiness.

And the banter! Haha. The sharp jabs back and forth between Elizabeth and Darcy or either of those and other characters definitely keep me coming back to this book. I also love that Jane, Elizabeth’s sweet, beautiful sister, shares deep truths with Elizabeth that challenge her ideas and values.

At this point, other than The Secret Garden, this is probably the classic book that I’ve read the most. I’m sure this won’t be the last time I read it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
All characters are white and British.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A man convinces a fifteen-year-old girl that she should elope with him. One young woman runs away with a man and lives with him for a time while unmarried. There’s a lot of worry about how this choice will impact not only her reputation but the reputations of the other women in her family. During the time the story was written, these were real concerns that could make life hard for a woman.

Spiritual Content
One character is a clergyman.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
References to wine.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

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Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1)
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Puffin Books
Published August 28, 2014 (Orig. 1908)

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About Anne of Green Gables

The cherished favorite featuring everyone’s favorite red-headed orphan, now in a deluxe hardcover edition with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co.

Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

Anne Gets Into a Lot of “Scrapes”

I remember reading this series to my daughter when she was in fourth grade. We both enjoyed the wild stories about Anne, Matthew, and Marilla and their neighbors at Prince Edward Island. It’s funny reading this book now, in the days when people are so quick to challenge a book, and thinking about some of the scenes and the age group we target this book toward.

For example, Anne accidentally gets her best friend drunk, which causes no small stir. At one point, her teacher shows obvious romantic interest in one of the other students. If a middle grade book published today included those scenes, would people be so quick to accept it, the way we are with Anne of Green Gables?

Perhaps because this is a book that many parents grew up reading or hearing about, it feels like a safe story and isn’t scrutinized the same way that books being published today might be.

I love this series, and I’m not a fan of book bans, so I’m not at all arguing that we should take a closer look at classics and start banning them, too. I do think it’s appropriate to consider the historical context of the work and to reflect on classic literature through the lens of equality, to note things like references to colonialism, which may be tempting to take for granted. Noting those things helps us realize how unchallenged and accepted those ideas were in the time a particular book was written.

My Review

For me, scenes like the one in which Anne accidentally gets her best friend drunk reflect information about Anne’s character and her life before coming to Green Gables. She often gets into “scrapes,” as she calls them, over information she might have known had she grown up with Matthew and Marilla or information she would not have known had she had a more sheltered upbringing with a family on Prince Edward Island.

Her behavior routinely challenges the people in her community, who think of themselves as being the most upstanding and proper. Most often, Anne eventually charms these judgmental characters with her sincerity and exuberance. I love that about her and about the people in her life (that they allow themselves to warm to her).

I love the author’s use of the omniscient point of view. Usually I prefer a close first-person narrative, but Montgomery has a keen sense of when to zoom into a particular character’s viewpoint to deliver a meaningful observation. She reveals Marilla’s surprising love for Anne and shows Matthew’s debilitating shyness.

I also love the strong characterization of the cast. Anne remains dramatic and imaginative. Diana loves Anne’s whimsical nature but remains more practical herself. Marilla grumbles and fusses, but underneath it, her soft heart is moved by her love for others. Matthew is the sweet, softhearted, quiet man who does what needs doing without making a fuss about it.

The novel also centers women as characters, from Anne and Marilla to Mrs. Rachel Lynde, the woman who knows everything going on in the neighborhood, to Miss Stacey, Anne’s teacher, to Mrs. Allen, the minister’s wife and a mentor to Anne, to Anne’s best friend Diana and the other girls she knows from school.

Conclusion

It’s such a sweet book and so full of insight into love and humanity. My older daughter was nine when we read this book together, which turned out to be the perfect age for her.

I enjoyed this reread, and I suspect it won’t be the last time I revisit Anne of Green Gables.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Characters are white. Marilla has chronic headaches and a degenerative vision problem. The text describes some characters as fat, often implying that it’s an asset.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Anne’s teacher has what appears to be a romantic relationship with one of the older students.

Spiritual Content
Anne attends church, and Marilla instructs her to say her prayers every night. There’s a bit of commentary about Christianity off and on throughout the book. For instance, Anne speaks critically of a minister’s prayers, saying it seems like he’s not interested in the words he’s saying or has forgotten their meaning. She questions why paintings of Jesus always show him looking so somber.

When she meets the new minister’s wife, she reflects that Mrs. Allen’s faith brings her joy and comfort and that she’s the kind of person who would be a Christian even if she didn’t need to in order to get into Heaven.

Violent Content
Brief reference to colonialism (people settling on Prince Edward Island). Anne witnesses the death of a person close to her and experiences profound grief after the loss.

Anne relates the plot of a story she’s written to Diana. The tale involves a woman who pushes her best friend off a bridge. The woman’s lover leaps into the river after her, but both drown. The story concludes with the murderer having a mental breakdown and being confined to an institution.

Drug Content
Anne mistakenly offers her best friend Diana currant wine instead of raspberry cordial. Diana drinks three glasses of the beverage and goes home drunk, scandalizing the neighborhood.

Other Negative Content
Brief body shaming. Early in the book, a neighbor criticizes Anne for being too skinny and ugly. Anne retaliates by calling the woman fat. Later, Anne suggests a schoolmate could not play the role of the fairy queen because she’s plus-sized and a fairy queen “should be thin.”

Marilla makes a derisive comment about Italians (not wanting them around or in her house).

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.