Category Archives: Nonfiction

Review: A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice by Jasmine A. Stirling

Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Nonfiction, , , , , ,
A Most Clever Girl by Jasmine A. Stirling

A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice
Jasmine A. Stirling
Illustrated by Vesper Stamper
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Published March 16, 2021

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About A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice

Witty and mischievous Jane Austen grew up in a house overflowing with words. As a young girl, she delighted in making her family laugh with tales that poked fun at the popular novels of her time, stories that featured fragile ladies and ridiculous plots. Before long, Jane was writing her own stories-uproariously funny ones, using all the details of her life in a country village as inspiration.

In times of joy, Jane’s words burst from her pen. But after facing sorrow and loss, she wondered if she’d ever write again. Jane realized her writing would not be truly her own until she found her unique voice. She didn’t know it then, but that voice would go on to capture readers’ hearts and minds for generations to come.

My Review

I know we’re not really supposed to admit to judging a book by its cover, but as soon as I saw this one, I had a feeling I was going to love it– and I was right! Each page gives some details about Jane Austen’s life, but through the lens of how her experiences impacted her writing. The story strikes a great balance between her biography and her life as an author and even why she was unusual, especially for her day.

The pictures are fantastic. I love the warm, playful colors and the details on every page that really bring the story to life. They make me want to design a children’s library in this style of artwork. It is really just gorgeous.

At the end of the book, there’s a full page, more in-depth biography of Jane Austen that goes into a little bit more detail than the earlier pages do, and I loved reading that as well, to kind of fill in a little more about her life.

I absolutely recommend this book for any young reader or writer and think it’d be a great addition to any classroom or library. I will definitely be adding a finished copy to my own family library!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 6 to 10.

Representation
Jane Austen and her family are English and white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Brief mention that Jane’s father was a church minister.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of A Most Clever Girl in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: The Metric System by David Adler

Book Review and Content, Nonfiction, , , , , ,

The Metric System
David Adler
Holiday House
Published November 3, 2020

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About The Metric System

Think metric! A fun illustrated primer on the internationally recognized metric system for kids.

Used in almost every country in the world, the metric system is an easy-to-use way of calculating length, distance, weight, and volume. Look at the label of a soft drink. You’ll see both ounces and milliliters or gallons and liters listed. For kids who love to interact with their environment and measure and build things, knowledge of the metric system is a must.

Filled with do-it-yourself activities, bright illustrations, and valuable kid-friendly information on how to convert inches into centimeters, pounds into kilograms, and much more, this latest from trusted STEM creators David A. Adler and Edward Miller will have kids thinking in metric in no time. Each book includes a ruler with metric and imperial measurements that can be cut out from the jacket flaps.

David A. Adler and Edward Miller have collaborated on over 10 math books for children, many of which have received praise from educators and starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal.

My Review

This is a cute, straightforward book that briefly discusses the history of the metric system and how different types of quantities are measured with the system. The Metric System shows weight, liquid measurements and length or distance measurements as well as how to convert to and from feet, miles, pounds, or ounces into Metric measurements.

It’s a super quick read, and the text encourages kids to follow directions to make a ruler and a box to practice measurements and better understand the concepts. It seems like a great pick to have in a classroom library for a teacher or homeschool family.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 10.

Representation
Characters pictured include a brown-skinned girl and white boy.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of The Metric System in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Resist! Peaceful Acts that Changed Our World by Diane Stanley

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

RESIST! Peaceful Acts that Changed Our World
Diane Stanley
Neal Porter Books
Published September 1, 2020

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About RESIST! Peaceful Acts that Changed Our World

From music to marches, from sit-ins to walk-outs, history’s activists have led by example until they could no longer be ignored.

Aspiring activists the world over will take inspiration from Resist!, a collection of 21 brief but comprehensive essays, accompanied by striking artwork and rich supplementary material by Diane Stanley, about men and women who have used peaceful resistance and non-violent protests to make their voices heard. Today, a new wave of activists is emerging, and their efforts are more urgent than ever.

Featured figures include: Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Woody Guthrie, Mohandas Gandhi, Irena Sendler, The Hollywood Ten, Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, The Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-in protestors, Martin Luther King, Jr., Larry Itliong, Doloras Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Richard Oakes, The Tree-Sitters of Pureora, Father Luis Olivares, Tank Man, Nelson Mandela, Ryan White, Ai Weiwei, the “It Gets Better” Project, The March For Our Lives protestors, and Greta Thunberg.

Diane Stanley, award-winning author and illustrator of many distinctive informational books for young people writes with passion and conviction of the world’s greatest activists, past and present, in this book which is as hopeful as it is inspiring.

My Review

I think the idea for this book is a really great one. I have a slightly similar book, meant for younger readers, called She Persisted, which briefly tells the story of 13 amazing women, so I was excited to read this book and hopefully add it to my library.

The selection of people and groups the book focuses on are really great. It covers a wide, diverse group of people, and I love that. Some of the people highlighted are obvious choices (Nelson Mandela and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for instance). But I enjoyed reading the stories of protesters I hadn’t heard of before (Father Luis Olivares and Ryan White for example), and finding that perhaps lesser known people I looked up to (like Irena Sendler and Greta Thunberg) also included.

On the other hand, I occasionally felt like the stories either soft-pedaled or sometimes ignored some important context or information about the people in focus. I realize this is for kids, and the biographies are short, so not everything can be mentioned, but it felt like there were a few times that certain things were left out or phrased a certain way that felt a bit misleading.

For instance, in the biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the things that isn’t acknowledged is the tension between the women’s movement and abolitionists and activists working to secure rights for Black men and women. Late in Stanton’s life, she partnered with an unabashed racist, traveling with him and allowing him to finance her platform. She is a hero in her fight for women’s suffrage, but I feel like it’s important to acknowledge that some of her actions alienated and potentially brought harm to others. (The book VOTE!: Women’s Fight for Access to the Ballot Box by Coral Celeste Frazer has great information about the fight for women’s suffrage and includes some great biographical information about critical voices in the movement as well as how the movement has progressed since then.)

I thought it was great that the book included the story about Richard Oakes and the occupation of Alcatraz, but I wish that the conclusion had been more specific. It says that the protest caused the US Government to issue policies more sensitive to indigenous needs and values, and I would have liked to see some examples of those more sensitive policies.

In the biography of Rosa Parks, the text says that she refused to give up her seat because she was tired. This actually isn’t true. Parks had been a lifelong activist, and in fact, in her biography, explains that the only thing she was tired of was the oppression of her people. (If you want to learn more, I recommend Rosa Parks’ autobiography, and this TedTalk by David Ikard.)

On the whole, I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I love the idea and the list of people featured in the book. I think it’s best enjoyed alongside other books that bring a more complete historical context and understanding of some of the people celebrated.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
This book presents biographies on a diverse group of people, from Gandhi to Rosa Parks, to Richard Oakes, to Ai Weiwei.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some of the biographies mention the faith of the person and how it motivated them.

Violent Content
Reference to violent response to peaceful protestors, including pouring soda on them, spitting on them, or using fire hoses and dogs. Often protesters were arrested.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of RESIST! Peaceful Acts that Changed Our World in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.


Review: Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird

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Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplative Prayer
Martin Laird
Oxford University Press
Published July 1, 2006

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About Into the Silent Land

Sitting in stillness, the practice of meditation, and the cultivation of awareness are commonly thought to be the preserves of Hindus and Buddhists. Martin Laird shows that the Christian tradition of contemplation has its own refined teachings on using a prayer word to focus the mind, working with the breath to cultivate stillness, and the practice of inner vigilance or awareness. But this book is not a mere historical survey of these teachings. In Into the Silent Land, we see the ancient wisdom of both the Christian East and West brought sharply to bear on the modern-day longing for radical openness to God in the depths of the heart.

Laird’s book is not like the many presentations for beginners. While useful for those just starting out, this book serves especially as a guide for those who desire to journey yet deeper into the silence of God. The heart of the book focuses on negotiating key moments of struggle on the contemplative path, when the whirlwind of distractions or the brick wall of boredom makes it difficult to continue. Laird shows that these inner struggles, even wounds, that any person of prayer must face, are like riddles, trying to draw out of us our own inner silence. Ultimately Laird shows how the wounds we loathe become vehicles of the healing silence we seek, beyond technique and achievement.

Throughout the language is fresh, direct, and focused on real-life examples of people whose lives are incomparably enriched by the practice of contemplation.

My Review

If I had to name the one book that’s changed my life most this year, INTO THE SILENT LAND has to be it. More than any year before, I’ve struggled with anxiety. Sometimes I get amped up with worry or anger or fear and I can feel my body reacting– heart racing, head pounding, my breathing coming rapidly– and I feel stuck, like I can’t back myself down to a calmer state.

Which is why I looked into this book. I’ve read about and briefly practiced meditation before, but this time I wanted something that integrated with my faith beliefs and practice as well.

The book description says that the writing is fresh and direct. I’d add that it’s also a bit of a difficult read. Like, have your dictionary handy, o ye mortals. Ha. No, seriously, it’s not impossible to read, but you’re not going to skim through this text in an afternoon.

It’s so worth reading, though. I feel like this is a practice that’s made a huge amount of difference in my life. It’s been super helpful in terms of managing stress and anxiety and helping remind me that my faith is a source of comfort.

At any rate, if you’re looking for a Christian meditation practice, I highly recommend this book. It’s a bit structured, but that’s one of the things I really like about it. It feels like cutting away the frills of some religious practice and just going back to a very simple thing. I found that to be really beautiful and helpful, but as faith is a super personal experience, I’m sure it’s not going to be a good fit for everyone.

Please let me know if you’ve read this book or others on meditative prayer. (It looks like Martin Laird has two other books on the subject.) I’d love to read more or talk to someone else who’s read INTO THE SILENT LAND.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Written by an Augustinian friar (a mendicant order of the Catholic church).

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Discusses bible and historical references to the Christian practice of meditative prayer.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note:  This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

Book Review and Content, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

The Lemon Tree (Young Reader’s Edition)
Sandy Tolan
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published November 3, 2020

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About The Lemon Tree

In 1967, a twenty-five-year-old refugee named Bashir Khairi traveled from the Palestinian hill town of Ramallah to Ramla, Israel, with a goal: to see the beloved stone house with the lemon tree in its backyard that he and his family had been forced to leave nineteen years earlier. When he arrived, he was greeted by one of its new residents: Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student whose family had fled Europe following the Holocaust. She had lived in that house since she was eleven months old.

On the stoop of this shared house, Dalia and Bashir began a surprising friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and later tested as political tensions ran high and Israelis and Palestinians each asserted their own right to live on this land. Adapted from the award-winning adult book and based on Sandy Tolan’s extensive research and reporting, The Lemon Tree is a deeply personal story of two people seeking hope, transformation, and home.

My Review

It took me a few chapters to really get hooked on this book. I’m not very familiar with the history of Israel, so I had to read some parts more than once to keep things straight in my head.

Once I started to get to know Dalia and Bashir, I really began to invest in the story. I love that the book follows both of their lives and often lets them tell the story themselves. There are some really moving and hopeful moments, but there are some really tragic and heartbreaking moments, too.

I wish there had been some photos or maps or timelines or other visuals in the book. It’s all narrative, and well-written. I think visuals would have made it easier for me to understand some of what was happening, and I would have loved to have seen photos of Dalia and Bashir and the house.

On the whole, I really enjoyed THE LEMON TREE, and I’m so glad I read it. I hope to share this book with others, too. I think it really showed the differences in perspective between Dalia and Bashir and the struggle to be and remain friends in spite and because of their differences and their connections. I feel like we could all use this kind of hopeful story right now.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Dalia’s family are Sephardic Jews from Bulgaria. Bashir’s family are Palestinians.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to marriages.

Spiritual Content
References to Muslims, Jews and Christians living in Israel and Palestine.

Violent Content
Some journalistic descriptions of military action, bombings, and assassinations.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of THE LEMON TREE in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People by Elizabeth Rusch

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You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People
Elizabeth Rusch
HMH Books for Young Readers
Published March 31, 2020

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About You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People

America is the greatest democracy in the world . . . isn’t it? Author Elizabeth Rusch examines some of the more problematic aspects of our government but, more importantly, offers ways for young people to fix them.

The political landscape has never been so tumultuous: issues with the electoral college, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and a lack of representation in the polls and in our leadership have led to Americans of all ages asking, How did we get here?

The power to change lies with the citizens of this great country—especially teens! Rather than pointing fingers at people and political parties, YOU CALL THIS DEMOCRACY? looks at flaws in the system—and offers a real way out of the mess we are in. Each chapter breaks down a different problem plaguing American democracy, exploring how it’s undemocratic, offering possible solutions (with examples of real-life teens who have already started working toward them), and suggesting ways to effect change—starting NOW!

My Review

I’ve had this book for months, but finally committed to read it the week after the RNC, so I was a bit overwhelmed at that point. I dreaded reading a book that raged about wrongs in the American political system but would leave me feeling helpless to do anything about those issues.

Fortunately, that is NOT what this book does!

One of my favorite things about YOU CALL THIS DEMOCRACY? is the way the author methodically lays out a problem. Why do we do things this way? Who does it hurt? What are some possible solutions, and how could those be enacted? It’s clear and easy to follow. There were a couple issues I wasn’t on board with or at all informed about before picking up this book (lowering the voting age to 16 or 17 being one) where the author made some really great points and explained things so well that now I’m not sure what I think about that issue. I feel like I may have changed my mind, and I certainly want to know more.

The best part of all, though, is that at the end of each chapter, there are sections detailing how to participate in changing the way the government operates. Like procedural, legal, ways to work within the system to actually change things. There are also resources for how to find out what the current laws in your state are and how to join an effort to make changes.

The issues laid out in the book are non-partisan ones. It’s things like gerrymandering. Bringing more transparency to who is funding political campaigns. Stuff that a majority of Americans are in favor of in both major parties. So I liked that, too– it was a break from the demonizing that often feels unavoidable in American political discourse right now.

I love how solutions-focused and how positive the book is. I absolutely recommend this book for anyone who’s looking for ways to participate in making America have a stronger, more representative democracy, no matter your party affiliation. This book has so many great ideas. I highlighted tons of quotes and resources that I really want to go back through and read.

If you are looking for a political book that will leave you encouraged and energized about how to strengthen American democracy, definitely pick up a copy of this one! I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed reading it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Refers to all Americans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of YOU CALL THIS DEMOCRACY in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.