Category Archives: Book Review and Content

Review: Pax by Sarah Pennypacker

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

Pax by Sarah PennypackerPax
Sara Pennypacker
Illustrated by Jon Klassen
Balzer + Bray

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

From Goodreads

Pax was only a kit when his family was killed, and “his boy” Peter rescued him from abandonment and certain death. Now the war front approaches, and when Peter’s father enlists, Peter has to move in with his grandpa. Far worse than being forced to leave home is the fact that Pax can’t go. Peter listens to his stern father—as he usually does—and throws Pax’s favorite toy soldier into the woods. When the fox runs to retrieve it, Peter and his dad get back in the car and leave him there—alone. But before Peter makes it through even one night under his grandfather’s roof, regret and duty spur him to action; he packs for a trek to get his best friend back and sneaks into the night. This is the story of Peter, Pax, and their independent struggles to return to one another against all odds. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Peter and Pax.

My Review

This book, to me, was like Disney’s The Fox and the Hound meets John Boyne’s Stay Where You Are and Then Leave. Well, it was all the things I loved about those stories. Pax was the cutest thing ever, and my heart totally broke for him as he got left behind. I loved Peter, too, for his devotion and loyalty to his fox. I wasn’t totally sure about Vola at first. I sort of expected her to be a brief presence in the story, but she stayed around, and actually, I came to love her, too. There’s one moment where she places her hands on Peter’s head, and it’s this really tender gesture, especially since Peter has been so starved for affection since his mom’s death. I totally bawled. It’s so sweet.

The illustrations also added a lot to the story. I loved the style of the drawings. It made me really want to give the book as a gift for Christmas. And I just might do that!

Some of the descriptions of war are a bit harsh, so this story definitely has some grit to it. In some ways, that only strengthened the power of the other themes about love and the value of a life, any life. If you liked Be Light Like a Bird by Monika Schröder, you will want to check this one out.

Cultural Elements
Vola describes herself as part Creole, part Italian among other things. Peter describes her as someone who used to speak another language that sounded like a song.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Vola swears, saying “dyeableman.” At one we’re told Peter swears. (What he actually says doesn’t appear.)

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Peter describes his connection with Pax as feeling a mental or spiritual connection. Vola tells him about the Buddhist concept of oneness—“two but not two.”

Violent Content
Land mines explode, killing and injuring animals. Vola lost her leg in a similar explosion. Pax learns to hunt and kill prey. He and the other foxes eat mice, etc.

Drug Content
None.

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Review: The Cat King of Havana by Tom Crosshill

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

The Cat King of Havana
Tom Crosshill
Katherine Tegen Books

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Tired of his geeky reputation as “that cat guy” for his successful Lolcat site, Rick decides it’s time to get out from behind the computer and live a little. After meeting a beautiful girl who dances a mean salsa, Rick decides to take dance lessons. The lessons don’t go as smoothly as Rick had hoped. In fact, he’s terrible. But that doesn’t stop him from dancing or from pursuing Ana. When an opportunity comes for him to make a trip to Havana to reconnect with his heritage and learn about his mom, Rick leaps at the chance and brings Ana along with him. But Cuba isn’t all beaches and fun. The longer they stay, the more Rick and Ana witness the struggle of the people under strict government rules. When Rick dares to defy the Cuban government to help a friend, he learns that some sacrifices come with costs to more than himself, and sometimes the price of principles proves too high to pay.

Rick is a true underdog. If you’re looking for the traditional Dirty Dancing type story where the inexperienced dancer suddenly blossoms into an expert just as the romance swells to crescendo, be warned: this isn’t that kind of story. In fact, it’s better. I loved that Rick struggled and worked to gain any competency at dance. It felt real, and a lot of times added moments of humor and insight. I like that his relationship with Ana doesn’t follow a simple romantic path. It made for another fresh element to The Cat King of Havana.

The parts of the story set in Havana definitely made me want to travel, but more than that, they made me think about the Cuban people. I felt like Rick’s journey brought me along with him from tourist to something more in a way that few stories have done for me before.

I found it interesting that instead of taking the usual rebel-slash-principles-mean-everything approach, Crosshill explores a slightly different angle. When Rick breaks rules, he realizes that it’s not only himself, but his family who would bear the consequences. He might be able to hop on a flight to New York with a clear conscience, but he’d be leaving his aunt and cousins behind to pay a high price for his actions. He wrestles long and hard over what to do. I really appreciated that about him. In fact, the one moment of the story that really irritated me is when Ana tells Rick that he’s not a nice guy. And the truth is, he does make some choices that he later reflects on as being bad decisions, but at his core, Rick really is a good guy who cares about the people around him very deeply. I loved that about him. I think he needed to be that way in order for me to truly understand and respect the decisions he made to protect his family.

Overall, I enjoyed The Cat King of Havana quite a bit. Dance fans and fans of stories with overseas settings should definitely give this one a read. In some ways it reminded me a little bit of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, though this story is cleaner and doesn’t dive quite as far into politics as Oscar Wao does.

Cultural Elements
Rick’s mother was Cuban and his father is German. Rick returns to Cuba to reconnect with his mom’s family. With him goes Ana Cabrera, a Puerto Rican girl and Rick’s salsa dance partner. Rick’s best friend is gay, but his experience doesn’t play a large role in the story.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Most of the swearing and crude language is in Spanish. There are only a few curses in English. The Spanish profanity occurs with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Rick’s cousin Yosvany has loads of suggestions on how to get Rick a girl. Most of his advice is in Spanish, and Rick warns against looking up a translation because it’s usually pretty dirty. Yosvany believes in saying whatever’s necessary to get a girl into his bed. Rick experiments with a few of Yosvany’s more romantic suggestions, but ultimately finds lying is not to his taste.

Rick has sex with a girl—no details of the event itself other than that it didn’t last long. He describes losing his virginity as feeling a weight lifted that he didn’t realize he was carrying. He’s definitely felt a lot of pressure to achieve that goal, and he’s not entirely happy about how it all happened, in part because of his own behavior.

Rick witnesses another couple kissing and feels uncomfortable about it.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Rick watches a video taken by a witness to a girl’s kidnapping.

Drug Content
Beer and cocktails are served at some of the clubs Rick visits. He and his friends drink alcohol at places that don’t ask for ID.

Ana’s father is an alcoholic. Her parents separated for a time, but now her mom has let her dad move back in, and Ana worries about what he will do. When one of Rick and Ana’s dance teachers shows up for class drunk, she becomes furious and refuses to dance for him anymore.

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Review: Freedom’s Just Another Word by Caroline Stellings

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Freedom’s Just Another Word
Caroline Stellings
Second Story Press
Available September 6, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Summary (from Goodreads)

The year Louisiana – Easy for short – meets Janis Joplin is the year everything changes. Easy is a car mechanic in her dad’s shop, but she can sing the blues like someone twice her age. So when she hears that Janis Joplin is passing through her small town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Easy is there with her heart – and her voice – in hand. It’s 1970 and Janis Joplin is an electrifying blues-rock singer at the height of her fame – and of her addictions. Yet she recognizes Easy’s talent and asks her to meet her in Texas to sing. So Easy begins an unusual journey that will change everything.

Review

One of my favorite things about Caroline Stellings is her ability to tell a story with huge emotional layering. At its surface, this is a really simple tale about a girl who has a dream and takes a road trip. The backdrop of America in 1970 gives the story some added intensity. I loved that Janis Joplin makes an appearance, and even more that Easy talks so much about Billie Holiday and Bessie Green as influences of her music.

The power punches come in the characters. I don’t want to give anything away, but there were several moments where things unfolded in this perfect way. Like when you make complex origami and on the last step, pull the piece into its final shape, so that suddenly it transforms from being a bunch of sequential folds to a crane or dragon or something so much more than paper. That’s how it felt reading Freedom’s Just Another Word. Like being part of a transformation.

I loved that meeting Janis didn’t suddenly propel Easy to fame. It was a significant moment on her journey, and she learned a lot about herself and others through her encounter. But she had so much more to learn and to give. She just also had to find the courage to take those steps.

At any rate, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. (Check content to make sure it’s okay for your readers as there is some language.) If you enjoy fiction about music or musicians, definitely get yourself a copy of Freedom’s Just Another Word. I loved it.

Cultural Elements
Easy was raised by African American parents. Her mother is white and her father is black. Where she lives in Saskatoon there aren’t very many black people. She experiences some prejudice as a child. When she drives through Texas, she’s threatened and thrown out of a restaurant because of her race. There’s some discussion about places it’s unsafe for her to go, especially at night. Some places won’t let her in, others treat her coldly.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Easy wonders how her mom forgave her father for having an affair with a white woman.

Spiritual Content
Easy meets two nuns and helps them buy a car. One is judgmental and cynical. The other is kind and welcoming to Easy. Later she meets a Reverend Mother who shows a great deal of compassion for the people around her, which moves Easy.

Violent Content
A man threatens Easy’s life if she doesn’t leave his restaurant.

Drug Content
Easy meets Janis Joplin and her gang. They clean out a liquor store, many of them already drunk. Janis wants Southern Comfort, and Easy finds it for her. She reflects on Janis’s hard living way of life with some sadness. Later she meets another heroin addict. When Easy sees Janis again, she talks to her about him. Janis seems sad about the man’s predicament, but expresses no desire to change her habits. Not long afterward she’s found dead of a heroin overdose.

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

Review: For This Life Only by Stacey Kade

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

For This Life Only
Stacey Kade
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

A bonfire he had to escape. Ice on a roadway. A night that changes everything for Jacob Palmer. The night his twin brother is killed in a car accident. Jace almost shared his brother’s fate, and in that moment when his heart stopped, there was no light welcoming him to something after. There was only nothing. And now that Jace has survived, he can’t help feeling like fate got it wrong. Eli, the good son, the one who loved everyone around him, the one who made people feel loved, should have been the one to live.

As Jace wrestles with his guilt and the injuries that make his dream of a baseball scholarship an impossibility, his family fractures further. Jace has questions. The kinds of questions a pastor’s kid isn’t supposed to ask. Then he meets Thera and he discovers that perhaps a notorious psychic’s daughter and a prominent pastor’s son have more in common than he could have imagined. But when he stumbles onto Eli’s unfinished business and a dilemma that could destroy his father’s church, Jace realizes he’s facing more than his own questions of faith, but questions of who he is and what it means to do the right thing regardless of who it might hurt.

One of the things I really liked about this book is that it brings faith into the story in a non-preachy way. This isn’t about Jace’s spiritual journey in terms of having a salvation experience or ultimately answering life’s big questions. It’s really only the beginning of that journey in which he begins to take ownership of what he believes.

I liked the genuine conversations that Jace and Thera share. Their relationship definitely felt like one of those life-changing ones, where each person gets to feel seen and truly understood. I liked that Jace’s relationship with his dad is something he continues to wrestle with. That also felt very real, and it was easy to understand how hurtful and frustrating some things between them were. Though this wasn’t my experience as someone raised in a church, I felt like I could see people that I knew in the faces of characters in this story. It definitely captured some of the hallmark fails of church service and politics.

What’s sad in a way is that there isn’t really anyone on the other side whose faith is genuine, who has come through the fire of asking these big questions. I would have liked even a minor character just to kind of nod to the fact that this happens. But it really wasn’t the point of the story, so I can see why the author may have chosen not to show that point-of-view. Jace’s brother is kind of the closest example we have of that, but he’s absent for so much of the story. Overall, I really liked this book. It was a tough read because of how sad the beginning was, but I definitely enjoyed reading it overall.

Cultural Elements
The central characters felt pretty white middle class to me. Thera may be Greek. Her mother is obese. At one point she talks about what that means to her and how that affects the way people see her and the choices she makes.

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

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and petting between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Jacob wrestles with questions about faith and what happens after death after a life-changing car accident. Though he’s a pastor’s son, he mostly identifies spirituality with rules and pressure to perform a certain way. He discovers that the local psychic’s daughter also feels trapped by the expectations people have about who she is and what she believes. They share a relationship where they allow themselves to question things.

At one point as he’s beginning to question things, Jacob makes a comment about there not being stories in the Bible about people making active choices about what they believe. I find I disagree. It was a minor point not really central to the story, though.

Overall, this is not a story about who’s right or wrong in terms of faith vs psychic energy vs science. There’s some limited exploration of what a life committed to those principles looks like, but the story isn’t really about finding or losing faith. It’s more about appearances and assumptions and finding the courage to live honestly despite what it may do to the expectations others have.

Violent Content
Jacob sustains some serious injuries from a car accident. Not many details of the accident itself. Two boys get into a fist-fight.

Drug Content
Jacob drinks alcohol at a party with his friends.

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

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Review: Tell Me Something Real by Calla Devlin

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

Tell Me Something Real
Calla Devlin
Simon & Schuster / Atheneum

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Her mother’s cancer dominates Vanessa’s life. Alternative treatments in Mexico are the only hope for her mom, whose cancer is terminal. While Vanessa tries to anticipate her mother’s every need and keep her sisters (foul-mouthed Adrienne and saint-obsessed Marie) together, she also dreams of a day when she can pursue her own dreams. She pours out her grief in her music and counts the days until she’ll hear back from music schools about applications she’s secretly sent out.

Then two new members join Vanessa’s family group—a boy whose cancer is in remission and his overprotective mother. As Vanessa and Caleb begin to fall in love, a terrible betrayal rips her family apart. Vanessa and her sisters must sift the wreckage for the truth and discover how to heal.

I started reading this book feeling a little anxious about the whole betrayal aspect. It’s always a gamble, right? You don’t want the character you fall in love with to be the guy who suddenly turns out to be the villain. So it’s a risky thing to read a book where you know something like this will happen and it’s going to be REALLY BAD.

That said, I felt like Devlin handled the betrayal part with real care and power. I was shocked by what happened (I had a short list of things I imagined the betrayal might be, and it turned out to be none of the things on my list) and definitely identified with the girls as they scrambled to piece together their own feelings and care for one another. I liked all three of the sisters. Marie’s obsession with saints fascinated me, especially juxtaposed against her relationship with her mom.

I loved that there are honorable adults in the story. Not all of them are honorable, but as the girls endure this betrayal, it shakes their faith in who the good guys are and who they can trust, especially where adults are concerned. I liked that as I looked around at the cast of characters, there were respect-worthy role models there for the girls to fall back on. We all need that. We all need mentors who’ve gone before us who can encourage us to keep seeking the truth and moving forward. So that really resonated with me.

Just before this book I read One Paris Summer which also features a young talented pianist. It was interesting reading each character’s different reactions to the same composers (some I was familiar with and some I wasn’t) and why certain pieces were significant to them. Both girls found music to be a way to express their grief and strong feelings about the changes in their lives. They’re very different stories, but I felt like both did justice to the healing power of music.

This book is darker than One Paris Summer, but has some real thought-provoking ideas in it. See the content description below to decide whether this book is a good fit for you or your readers.

Cultural Elements

Vanessa and her sisters drive with their mother across the Mexican border to receive cancer treatment that’s illegal in the United States. A nurse named Lupe takes care of Vanessa’s mom, and a cook named Rico dotes on the girls. The major characters are white, middle-class Americans.

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

Romance/Sexual Content
Vanessa states that Adrienne and her boyfriend have been sleeping together for a year. Vanessa herself is a virgin, but when she begins seeing her first boyfriend, she feels this might change. She exchanges kisses with him, and at one point he reaches under her shirt/bra. At one point Adrienne makes posters sexually denigrating to her ex-boyfriend.

Spiritual Content
Marie idolizes saints listed in a book. She quotes them and collects cards with the saints pictured on them. She especially loves the young virgin girls murdered for their strong faith, like Joan of Arc. At one point the family decides a Catholic school may be the best place for Marie because she’ll receive some understanding for her love of saints while also having the structure she desperately needs to survive the tumult at home.

Violent Content
Mild violence. Adrienne has some angry outbursts. One of the girls remembers her mother slapping a nurse and becoming agitated when a doctor tries to draw blood for tests.

Drug Content
Vanessa’s mother receives alternative treatment in Mexico considered by US doctors to be harmful, even toxic. Caleb believes the treatment is harmful and wants to discontinue it, but at seventeen, he doesn’t have the right to refuse treatment his mom requires him to have.

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

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Review: One Paris Summer by Denise Grover Swank

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

One Paris Summer
Denise Grover Swank
Blink / Zondervan

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Anyone would be thrilled to spend the summer in Paris, but Sophie dreads it. Meeting her dad’s new wife and stepdaughter? Leaving her friends behind in the States? Not fun at all. When Sophie arrives, things only get worse. Her dad promised her a piano but never follows through. Her stepsister Camille torments her constantly, and even recruits her friends to help make Sophie miserable. Then one of Camille’s friends reaches out to Sophie. His charm and sweetness are the lifeline Sophie needs to get her through the difficult summer. The two grow closer, but if Camille finds out, she’ll do everything within her power to ruin Sophie’s happiness.

The French setting definitely won me over in this book. I loved the way Swank described different places and streets, cafes and apartments. The relationship between Sophie and her brother Eric added a lot to the story, too. I liked that while at home they were more like rivals, once they arrived in Paris, they became each other’s number one ally. It was sweet and definitely felt real to me.

For the most part, I liked the plot. There were a couple of moments that made me pause. One was when a stranger approaches Sophie outside a restaurant. For a girl who panicked about being alone in a foreign country earlier, she is remarkably unguarded when a strange man strikes up a conversation with her. Later on, a boy lies about his relationship with Sophie, and I just didn’t buy the idea that he’d tell such a farfetched story. I didn’t feel like he had enough motivation to do it, so I didn’t buy in. Which made the ending sort of unravel for me.

I loved the scenes in which Sophie plays the piano. Her music definitely felt like a real, emotional part of her life. I often found myself pulled into her playing and wanting to look up the composers and pieces she practiced.

Cultural Elements
Culture clash occurs between Americans Sophie and her brother and their French step-sister and her friends in Paris. Most of the story takes place in Paris.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
References to swearing, but no cursing appears in the text.

Romance/Sexual Content
Sophie and a boyfriend exchange kisses. She learns about her stepsister sleeping with boys, but doesn’t personally witness any of her behavior other than kissing. At one point she discusses the difference between American dating and French relationships, and mentions that the French are more free about sex. Her French companion disagrees, pointing out that in France, there may be less judgement or shame about sex, but most people only engage when they love each other.

Spiritual Content
Sophie’s parents have a civil ceremony to legally wed and then a separate church ceremony. She’s told that many Catholics prefer the religious ceremony.

Blink is an imprint of Zondervan in which stories do not contain overt Christian themes.

Violent Content
An unknown thief pickpockets Sophie on a subway. A boy handles her roughly, leaving a bruise on her wrist. A boy kisses her when she didn’t expect, and she doesn’t want him to. She’s able to stop him pretty quickly. A boy claims he’s been having sex with her every day, which isn’t true.

Drug Content
At Sophie’s Dad and stepmom’s wedding, all guests except the youngest children share in a champagne toast to the couple. At a Bastille day picnic, Sophie and her friends drink alcohol. She only sips a tiny amount and doesn’t like it. Later, her brother drinks a bottle of cheap wine and ends up sick.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com® book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”