Review: Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Young Readers by David Grann

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Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Young Readers: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
David Grann
Crown Books for Young Readers
Published November 16, 2021

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About Killers of the Flower Moon

A young reader edition of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist about one of history’s most ruthless and shocking crimes, the Reign of Terror against the Osage people.

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. An undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau, infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection to bring an end to the deadly crime spree. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

In this youngification of the adult bestseller, critically acclaimed author David Grann revisits the gripping investigation into the shocking crimes against the Osage people. It is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to continue for so long and provides essential information for young readers about a shameful period in U.S. history.

My Review

This book promises to shock readers, and it absolutely delivered on that promise to me. Wow. My jaw dropped several times as I read about the calculated, brazen murders of Osage Tribe members in the 1920s. I don’t remember learning anything about this in my history classes, though the Teapot Dome scandal and Edgar Hoover’s rise to the top of the FBI were events I had a little familiarity with.

One of the things the book does really well is to present the facts about how laws requiring indigenous people to have a court-appointed guardian (white person) managing their wealth directly led to the swindling and murder of the Osage. Shocking and terrible.

This chapter in US history deserves to be much more widely known. I listened to the book as an audiobook and read the whole thing in less than a week. It was so compelling. The whole thing is divided into three parts. The first part centers around Mollie Burkhart. The second follows federal law enforcement officer Tom White, and the third part follows a journalist who begins looking back at the murder cases in the early 2000s.

I’m really glad I read this book. It makes me realize that there are so many parts of American history that I don’t know nearly enough about. This book is a great resource for young readers who, like me, want to learn more about parts of history that we don’t acknowledge nearly enough.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
The narrative focuses on Mollie Burkhart, her family, and Osage tribe members. Several prominent people in the book are white, including law enforcement and high-profile people in the town.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mentions of marriage and divorce.

Spiritual Content
Brief references to Osage spiritual traditions and celebrations. Mollie Burkhart celebrated holidays and feasts with her tribe and also attended the Catholic church and valued her Catholic faith.

Violent Content
Systemic racism. For example, the book chronicles how the Osage people were required to have a “guardian” (read: white person) who was in charge of their bank accounts. This led to rampant financial abuse. The book quotes newspaper articles and historical figures, noting when they’ve used racist terms.

Brief mentions of Mollie’s generation being forced to attend a boarding school where they were required to stop speaking their native language. The book doesn’t use the term residential schools, but I think that’s what it’s talking about.

Several scenes briefly describe a murder scene. They’re never overly gory. Just the facts, stated as briefly as possible.

Drug Content
This happened during prohibition, but several characters drank alcohol anyway. In one chapter, the author describes a woman who arrives drunk at a family dinner and makes a scene.

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 Judgment of Yoyo Gold by Isaac Blum

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The Judgment of Yoyo Gold
Isaac Blum
Philomel Books
Published October 15, 2024

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About The Judgment of Yoyo Gold

A smart and powerful story set in the Orthodox Jewish community about what it means to fit in, break out, and find your own way, by the award-winning author of The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen. This book is Gossip Girl + My Name Is Asher Lev + I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.

Yoyo Gold has always played the role of the perfect Jewish daughter. She keeps kosher, looks after her siblings, and volunteers at the local food bank. She respects the decisions of her rabbi father and encourages her friends to observe the rules of their Orthodox faith. But when she sees her best friend cast out of the community over a seemingly innocent transgression, Yoyo’s eyes are opened to the truth of her neighbors’ hypocrisies for the first time. And what she sees leaves her shocked and unmoored.

As Yoyo’s frustration builds, so does the pressure to speak out, even if she can only do so anonymously on TikTok, an app that’s always been forbidden to her. But when one of her videos goes viral—and her decisions wind up impacting not only her own life but also her relationship with the boy she’s falling for—Yoyo’s world is thrown into chaos. She is forced to choose which path to take, for her community, for her family, and most importantly, for herself.

Award-winning author Isaac Blum returns with a new novel that asks what it really means to be part of a community—and what it means to break free.

My Review

I feel like this is one of those books whose sum is greater than its parts. It’s a girl’s exploration of her faith and what it means to her. It’s a dry, funny story about growing up and falling in love.

One of my favorite things about the book is all the moments in which Yoyo responds to a situation with some unexpected, funny aside. Sometimes it’s a quick after-the-fact joke. Those moments consistently took me by surprise and added levity to the scene.

I also like how much of the story centers around female relationships with one another and the power of those connections to protect or destroy. The girls could be cruel to one another. In a close community like Yoyo’s, rumors could be devastating. But that same close community meant that girls holding space for one another and offering support or understanding also had a huge impact.

At this point, I think we’ve all read books about faith deconstruction in which the main character grows up and discards the beliefs and values they were raised to hold. The message is usually something along the lines of exposing hypocrisy and casting off faith which held one back from living a fuller, more authentic life.

This isn’t that story. It’s frank in its assessment of the strictures of the Orthodox faith. Yoyo’s questions are genuine, and her struggle is real. But it isn’t a binary question of whether she will embrace her faith or discard it. Her path forward isn’t simple, but it does lead her toward greater authenticity and a greater understanding of what her role in her family and community and her faith mean to her.

I can tell I’m going to be thinking about this book for a long time, and I’m really excited to read more by Isaac Blum. I have his debut novel, but hadn’t gotten to it yet. I’m going to have to fix that very soon!

Readers who enjoy faith exploration or stories about someone’s journey toward a more authentic life will want to read this one.

Content Notes for The Judgment of Yoyo Gold

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Most characters are Jewish. One of Yoyo’s friends is Korean American and Jewish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A very small number of swear words.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to touching over clothes.

Spiritual Content
Yoyo is part of an Orthodox community and adheres to strict faith practices and beliefs. Through the story she explores her relationship with her faith and with those rules. Is she doing things because she wants to or because it’s expected? Does she agree with the values of the community? What happens when someone breaks the rules? The story references Shabbos services, holidays, and other Jewish traditions.

Violent Content
Some references to antisemitic comments on Yoyo’s social media. Reference to sexually violent comments. (Yoyo doesn’t repeat what commenters said, only that it’s explicit and violent.)

Drug Content
Yoyo and other teens drink alcohol at a party. Yoyo sees someone using a vape pen.

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: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

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Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Viking Classics
Published November 22, 2022 (Orig. 1847)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Wuthering Heights

“Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.” -Catherine

Emily Brontë’s 1847 gothic novel is set on the windy moors of Yorkshire and depicts the tragic and ill-fated love between Catherine Earnshaw and her father’s adopted son, Heathcliff.

Using vivid imagery to portray their volatile, passionate relationship, Brontë has crafted a timeless masterpiece that honestly depicts the pain and anguish felt from love, hatred, and revenge.

For over 150 years, millions of readers have found Wuthering Heights to be a must-read of the greatest classical novels in English Literature. It has been translated into stage, film and television for decades. Completed as her only novel before her death, Emily Brontë is generally considered one of the most talented and gifted storytellers to have ever lived.

About My Review

This is one of the books I am sure I read in school, and my only surviving memories of it are how much I didn’t like it. Because I want to read the Remixed Classics version, WHAT SOULS ARE MADE OF by Tasha Suri, I wanted to reread the original to give me a grid for the remix and how things changed. I’m not a literature expert, so this definitely won’t be a technical review.

Why I Reread Wuthering Heights

My memories of this book before this reread were pretty thin. I remembered Heathcliffe as an unpredictably violent person and Cathy as a lovesick girl. I did not remember the abusive behavior by so many of the characters in this book, including Catherine. So much yikes.

My Review

Honestly, by the time I hit chapter ten, I felt like Heathcliffe, who’d been found as a very young child and dragged home by perhaps a well-meaning man, was the person I sympathized with most. He didn’t ask for all the bananas behavior of the Earnshaws, and he certainly didn’t ask to place himself in the center of a group of people who treated him so abominably. And then.

He ruined it. I love that he went away and made his fortune and educated himself. Good for him for breaking away. Then, he comes back and vows to destroy the people who harmed or betrayed him in his youth. That was such a waste of his time.

Catherine continues to be terrible to him and pretty much anyone around her. Heathcliffe continues his plot to ruin the lives of the Lintons and Earnshaws. For a while, he’s completely successful. He abuses his wife, his son, and his daughter-in-law. Eventually, near the end of his life, Catherine’s daughter and nephew seem to find their way past the animosity they’ve been raised to feel for one another, and the story ends with a possibility of hope.

Racism in Wuthering Heights?

Again, I’m not a literary expert by any stretch of the imagination. I do want to point out that multiple times, especially at the beginning of the book and the end, characters refer to Heathcliffe using the G-slur used against the Romani people. At multiple other times, characters use words that suggest a darker complexion to label him as a bad person. The narrator, Ellen, also refers to Heathcliffe’s son (who is white-passing) as a “monkey.” It’s unclear whether she meant to insult his behavior alone or was referencing his heritage.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Characters describe Heathcliffe as having darker skin and several times refer to him with the G-slur used against Romani people.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
The G-slur is used multiple times. Mild profanity used somewhat infrequently. Cathy uses cruel language to label her cousin, Hareton, who can’t read, as Heathcliffe barred him from learning.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
A man has a strange dream after reading a sermon about forgiveness. One character, a cold, cruel older man behaves piously and speaks authoritatively about scripture and God.

The narrator warns Heathcliffe that he should get a Bible and read it to see where he should repent and change his ways. She asks him if she can summon a minister of any denomination to speak with him. He refuses.

Violent Content
A man has a creepy nightmare about a child grabbing his hand and demanding that he let her in through his window. A boy physically abuses his adopted brother. A girl hits a servant, shakes a child, and hits her lover. A drunk man threatens to harm multiple people. He shoves a knife into a young woman’s mouth before trying to throw a child off a balcony.

Multiple on-scene deaths from illness.

A man hits more than one woman and locks doors to prevent her being able to leave. He threatens a young woman, forcing her to marry someone. A man shows a woman a gun and tells her to lock herself in her room at night or else he may try to murder the room’s occupants.

Drug Content
One minor character repeatedly gets drunk and violent.

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Review: Don’t Let the Forest In by C. G. Drews

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Don’t Let the Forest In
C. G. Drews
Feiwel & Friends
Published October 29, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Don’t Let the Forest In

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him.

Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won’t say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew’s wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas’s drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator…

My Review

I got so completely lost in this book. I couldn’t stop reading it. The story has this dark, creepy vibe that curls around two boys who are outcasts for different reasons. Thomas’s anger keeps other people at a distance the same way that Andrew’s shyness does, but they share a close bond with each other.

As the story progresses, Andrew changes. At the beginning, he feels powerless to steer even his own existence. But as the monsters get scarier and the forest gets (literally) under his skin, he begins to take action in his own way. I loved that arc in which he finds his voice and claims ownership of his life.

The desperation in the quest to stop the monsters had me leaping from one chapter to the next. I needed to know who was going to win: the forest with its monsters, or the prince and his poet.

I’ve read The Boy Who Steals Houses by C. G. Drews before, and I really enjoyed that one. This book takes Drews’ storytelling to a whole new level, though. The tension in the horror elements. The characters you just want to rescue right off the page. The secrets and twisty plotlines. I love it all. Sign me up for all their future projects, please and thanks.

All that to say– if you’re looking for a dark, forest-y Halloween story, grab a copy of this one immediately.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Andrew is asexual. Other characters identify as LGBTQIA+ as well.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A couple of F-bombs and infrequent use of swearing.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys.

Spiritual Content
Monsters appear and attack people. A seed sprouts inside someone’s body, and plants begin to grow inside them.

Violent Content
Body horror. Graphic descriptions of blood/gore. Descriptions of an eating disorder. Homophobic bullying. References to Andrew punching through a mirror.

Drug Content
None.

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: Dog Trouble by Kristin Varner

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Dog Trouble
Kristin Varner
First Second
Published October 29, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Dog Trouble

From the author of Horse Trouble comes a graphic novel perfect for fans of PAWS and Allergic!

Ash is a good kid at heart. But his grades are slipping, and when he gets caught vandalizing an old building, it’s the last straw. It’s decided: Ash will spend some time away from the city, at his dad’s place on Ferncliff Island.

It’s bad enough that Ash has no friends on the island (just an annoying little stepsister), but his parents are also making him do community service! He volunteers at the local animal shelter, even though he’s not really a dog person. Dogs slobber! They smell! And the dogs at the shelter bark, bark, and bark. But as Ash bonds with the dogs―especially Cooper, a clever, fun-loving pointer that gives sloppy kisses―he starts to see that maybe his time on Ferncliff Island isn’t a total loss.

My Review

If a book had the power to make me a dog person, this one would probably do it! (I don’t hate dogs, but I’m solidly a cat person.)

The story follows Ash, a boy who must spend his summer volunteering at an animal shelter after getting into trouble with some friends. At the start of many of the chapters, a dog profile appears, introducing readers to a dog that will appear later in the story and giving some information about its breed and personality. Some terms related to the care of animals appear in bold in the text. Those are defined at the bottom of the page. I liked that format of keeping the panels focused on the story but continually making caring for animals accessible to inexperienced readers.

Ash makes a lot of mistakes, and sometimes, even when he’s doing the right things, accidents happen. I loved that his supervisor at the shelter responded calmly, acknowledged his anxiety, and helped him navigate whatever issue was at hand.

Ash also makes an unexpected friend and forms a closer bond with his stepsister than he imagined would be possible through his experience of staying with his dad for the summer. Having gone through some of the blended family challenges, I felt like the portrayal of those relationships made a lot of sense, and the evolution felt organic.

All in all, if you love dogs and/or stories about navigating family challenges or skateboarding, Dog Trouble is one story you won’t want to miss.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Representation
Ash’s parents are divorced. His stepmom and stepsister are Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to animal abuse or trauma. (Nothing shown on scene.) One of the dogs in the book dies (off-scene). The loss is unexpected and difficult for Ash.

Drug Content
None.

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.

MMGM Review: Unsinkable Cayenne by Jessica Vitalis

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Unsinkable Cayenne
Jessica Vitalis
Greenwillow Books
Published October 29, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Unsinkable Cayenne

When her unconventional parents finally agree to settle down in one place, twelve-year-old Cayenne’s dreams come true—but the reality of fitting in is much harder than she imagined. Acclaimed author Jessica Vitalis crafts an unforgettable historical novel-in-verse about belonging, family, and social class for fans of Lisa Fipps’s Starfish and Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home.

Cayenne and her family drift from place to place, living in their van. It hasn’t been a bad life—Cayenne and her mother birdwatch in every new location, they have a cozy setup in the van, and they sing and dance and bond over campfires most nights. But they’ve never belonged anywhere.

As Cayenne enters seventh grade, her parents decide to settle down in a small Montana town. Cayenne hopes that this means she will finally fit in and make some friends. But it turns out that staying in one place isn’t easy.

As her social studies class studies the Titanic tragedy (the wreckage has just been discovered and her teacher is obsessed), Cayenne sees more and more parallels between the social strata of the infamous ship and her own life. Will she ever squeeze her way into the popular girls’ clique, even though they live in fancy houses on the hill, and she lives in a tiny, rundown home with chickens in the front yard? Is it possible that the rich boy she likes actually likes her back? Can she find a way to make room for herself in this town? Does she really want to? Maybe being “normal” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Unsinkable Cayenne is a character-driven novel-in-verse about family, friendship, first crushes, and fitting in. Set in the mid-1980s, this literary novel is for readers of Megan E. Freeman’s Alone and Erin Entrada Kelly’s We Dream of Space.

My Review

This is the first book by Jessica Vitalis that I’ve ever read, though Coyote Queen is already on my reading list! I saw nothing but high praise for that one and added it to my reading list immediately. If I wasn’t planning to read it before, I would definitely be planning to now.

I love novels in verse because it gives an author a chance to tell a story in which each word really counts. Delivering rich characters and vivid settings in just a few words takes really precise writing, and I can’t help but appreciate when it’s done well– as in this book.

Cayenne lives an unapologetically unconventional lifestyle. While she longs for the stability of a more permanent home and school experience, she understands how much her parents value the life they’ve crafted. She relates her experiences sans outside judgment. This is simply how her life is.

At school, her history teacher introduces a unit of study on the Titanic, which allows Cayenne and her classmates to think about the impact of classism through a really specific situation in which someone’s class dramatically impacted their likelihood of survival. Cayenne relates to the prejudice and classism described in the disaster as she tries to navigate relationships with kids whose families have fancier houses and clothes than hers.

It’s a thoughtful story filled with metaphors about birds and emotive descriptions of middle school moments that will still resonate today. I could see readers of Starfish or other thought-provoking novels in verse really enjoying this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Cayenne’s dad has depression.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to nudity.

Spiritual Content
List.

Violent Content
Cayenne learns about the Titanic disaster.

Drug Content
Cayenne’s dad smokes pot.

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.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.