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Review: This Town is On Fire by Pamela N. Harris

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This Town is on Fire by Pamela N. Harris

This Town is On Fire
Pamela N. Harris
Quill Tree Books
Published June 20, 2023

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About This Town is On Fire

From the critically acclaimed author of When You Look Like Us comes a page-turning YA contemporary novel about what happens when the latest “Becky” on the internet is your best friend.

A lot is up in the air in Naomi Henry’s her spot as a varsity cheer flier, her classmates’ reaction to the debut of her natural hair, and her crush on the guy who’s always been like a brother to her. With so much uncertainty, she feels lucky to have a best friend like Kylie to keep her grounded. After all, they’re practically sisters—Naomi’s mom took care of Kylie and her twin brother for years. But then a video of Kylie calling the cops on two Black teens in a shopping store parking lot goes viral. Naomi is shaken, and her town is reeling from the publicity.

While Naomi tries to reckon with Kylie, the other Black students in their high school are questioning their friendship, and her former friends are wondering where this new “woke” Naomi came from. Although Naomi wants to stand by her best friend, she now can’t help but see everything in a different light. As tensions in her town escalate, Naomi finds herself engaging in protests that are on the cusp of being illegal. And then a bomb explodes, and someone is found dead.   Will Naomi be caught in the center of the blast? 

Golden Kite Award winner Pamela N. Harris has crafted a taut novel that delves into big issues, and is the perfect next read for fans of I’m Not Dying with You Tonight and The Black Kids.

My Review

My only gripe with this book at all is that it’s over 400 pages long, which is on the long side for a contemporary YA novel.

That said, the book doesn’t really feel that long. It jumps back and forth between the past (the start of Naomi’s senior year of high school) and the present (immediately after rescue workers pulled her from the wreckage caused by a bomb at a bowling alley). This made the story feel really urgent. You’re piecing together what happened from clues in the scenes reflecting the past.

The characters in the book have a lot of depth and layers to them. Kylie’s ignorance goes viral, sure. And she doesn’t truly seem to understand why people react the way they do. Naomi can’t unsee that ignorance. But does it completely erase all the connection there is between the girls? This is something Naomi has to figure out for herself.

She forms connections with other Black students, and for the first time, she feels truly seen. Those relationships energize her in a new way and make her feel unguarded and free in ways she didn’t expect. But those aren’t simple relationships, either. She experiences betrayal among these new friends, too.

Harris does a phenomenal job of showing the complexities of relationships and reminding us that the people involved are the only ones who get to decide what the relationship means to them. The writing is razor-sharp and raw with honesty. This is a story I won’t soon forget.

Content Notes for This Town is On Fire

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
List.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
List.

Romance/Sexual Content
List.

Spiritual Content
List.

Violent Content
List.

Drug Content
List.

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 Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich

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The Game of Silence (Birchbark House #2)
Louise Erdrich
HarperCollins
Published June 13, 2006

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About The Game of Silence

Winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, The Game of Silence is the second novel in the critically acclaimed Birchbark House series by New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich.

Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior. One day in 1850, Omakayas’s island is visited by a group of mysterious people. From them, she learns that the chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island and move farther west.

That day, Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, could be in danger: Her way of life. Her home.

The Birchbark House Series is the story of one Ojibwe family’s journey through one hundred years in America. The New York Times Book Review raved about The Game of Silence: “Erdrich has created a world, fictional but real: absorbing, funny, serious and convincingly human.”

My Review

It’s easy to see why this series has won the awards and received the acclaim that it has. The author welcomes readers into the story of a young Ojibwe girl as she navigates changing seasons, life as a middle child, and the recipient of a powerful gift of dreams.

Omakayas learns about medicine from her grandmother. They collect plants for different purposes and help others who fall sick or become injured. She watches her older sister growing up and falling in love, though she doesn’t fully understand what’s happening and feels shut out of her sister’s thoughts and feelings sometimes.

The relationships between characters strike the perfect balance between presenting information as a child would understand it and offering clues that older readers will interpret to more fully explain what’s happening. This is especially true of the relationships between female characters, such as Omakayas and her older sister, her mother, and her grandmother.

The story also includes characters who don’t fit the traditional expectations for women or men. One example is a woman named Old Tallow, who lives on her own with several dogs and is a renowned hunter. Another instance is Omakayas’s cousin, Two Strike Girl, who refuses to help with what she terms “women’s work” and impresses the tribe when she brings down a bull moose with a single shot. The tribe leaders sense that she could become a great leader, or she could make choices that put her life or the lives of others in danger. They feel it’s important to nurture the girl’s strong spirit and understand her path will look different than the others’.

Readers who enjoy mid-nineteenth century history, especially American history, will enjoy this clever, beautiful story about community, family, and finding one’s own path.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Omakayas and her family are Ojibwe. Most characters in the book are Ojibwe.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Omakayas witnesses and participates in spiritual practices and rituals of her people. Her family are friends with a priest who serves at a church in a nearby town, but they do not share the same beliefs. There are references to other tribe members who practice Catholicism.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone hunts and shoots a moose. Omakayas helps her grandmother, a healer, remove a frostbitten finger from someone in their care.

Drug Content
Some tribe members smoke tobacco in a pipe. Vague references to alcohol. (No one drinks alcohol on scene.)

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: 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: Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings by Dionna L. Mann

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Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings
Dionna L. Mann
Margaret Ferguson Books
Published August 6, 2024

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About Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings

Growing up in segregated 1930’s Charlottesville, ten-year-old Allie is determined to find a man for her mama to marry— but not just any man will do!

Allie’s life with Mama isn’t bad, but she knows it could be better if Mama would find someone to marry. Allie’s worst enemy, her NOT-friend Gwen, has a daddy, and Allie wants someone like that—someone to fix things when they break, someone who likes to sing, and has a kind-smile.

So Allie makes a plan—her super secret Man-For-Mama plan. She has a list of candidates with a clear top Mr. Johnson, who owns the antique store. Best of all, Mr. Johnson went to school with Mama, and he wants to get reacquainted! The battle’s half won, and Allie is sure that when he tries Mama’s yummy chicken and dumplings, he’ll be head over heels.

But someone else is interested in Mr. Coles, Allie’s teacher, who’s also Gwen’s uncle! Mama can’t marry him—no way is Allie going to be related to Gwen. On top of it all, Allie’s best friend is moving to Chicago; Allie keeps getting in trouble; and everyone seems to think she’s jealous of Gwen, for some reason. Nothing is going how she planned, but Allie is determined to get things back on track toward the life she knows she and Mama both deserve. . . even if Mama doesn’t agree yet.

My Review

Earlier this year, I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and it made me realize how little literature I’ve read set before the Civil Rights Act written by Black authors. It seems wild to me now that I’ve noticed it. When I saw this novel, I decided reading it would be a great opportunity to add some more perspective.

I love Allie’s voice. She’s precocious and smart. Her friendship with Jewel is incredibly sweet. The girls support one another and share such a close bond. It was easy to empathize with Allie’s grief when Jewel moves away.

I think the story also has great layering in terms of showing the difference between Allie’s perspective on what’s happening and making the larger picture, or what the adults see going on, available to readers to pick up between the lines. Some of those moments made me laugh. A few were pretty poignant.

One of the things I enjoyed a lot is that Allie is a musician who plays the flute. She also often describes her experiences in terms of sounds, so the story contains a lot of onomatopoeia. The sounds were well-described, so I knew exactly what the descriptions meant. I thought that was a cool way to showcase Allie’s connection to sound as a musician and add a fun element to the story.

All in all, this is a delightful debut. I am really excited to see what Dionna Mann writes in the future. I have a feeling I’ll be picking up any subsequent novels she writes as well as recommending this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Allie is trying to start a romance between her mom and a local businessman.

Spiritual Content
References to attending church. A couple of scenes take place after the service.

Violent Content
Two girls get into a fistfight after one swipes a toy belonging to the other.

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.

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.

Review: Asking for a Friend by Kara H. L. Chen

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Asking for a Friend
Kara H. L. Chen
Quill Tree Books
Published July 23, 2024

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About Asking for a Friend

This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao.

Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:

1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.

2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.

When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

My Review

There’s nothing like reading a great rom-com when you need an escape from the world. Reading this book cheered me up quite a bit. It does wrestle with some big issues as Juliana grapples with the pressure to win the AABC competition, which is her father’s legacy. Her mom expects her to partner with the boy she thinks is the smartest and hardest working, but when he drops Juliana as a partner, she has to improvise a new plan.

It took me a long time to realize that Juliana and Garrett had a history. I think it was vaguely alluded to when she decides to work with him, but I assumed they went to school together or knew each other from community events. I didn’t realize there was more to it until much later in the book.

The conflict between Juliana’s older sister and her mom is really sad, especially since they’ve already lost her dad. The book does a great job contextualizing Juliana and her mom’s choices. I never felt like I didn’t understand why they did what they did, even if I wished they did something different.

The slow-burn romance kept me reading and, when I wasn’t reading, thinking about the story. Garrett is a great character, and I love the way he encourages Juliana without trying to control her.

All in all, this is a fun, light romance. Readers who enjoyed Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) by Livia Blackburne or The Charmed List by Julie Abe will like this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Juliana and many other characters are Taiwanese Americans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
About a half-dozen instances of profanity in the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Juliana’s older sister got pregnant unexpectedly while in college and dropped out.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Juliana’s mom disowned her sister after finding out about her pregnancy. Juliana’s dad passed away from cancer a few years before the story begins.

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: Unbecoming by Seema Yasmin

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

Unbecoming
Seema Yasmin
Simon & Schuster
Published July 9, 2024

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About Unbecoming

Two Muslim teens in Texas fight for access to abortion while one harbors a painful secret in this funny and heartfelt near-future speculative novel perfect for fans of Unpregnant .

In a not-too-distant America, abortions are prosecuted and the right to choose is no longer an option. But best friends Laylah and Noor want to change the world. After graduating high school, they’ll become an OBGYN and a journalist, but in the meantime, they’re working on an illegal guide to abortion in Texas.

In response to the unfair laws, underground networks of clinics have sprung up, but the good fight has gotten even more precarious as it becomes harder to secure safe medication and supplies. Both Layla and Noor are passionate about getting their guide completed so it can help those in need, but Laylah treats their project with an urgency Noor doesn’t understand—that may have something to do with the strange goings-on between their mosque and a local politician.

Fighting for what they believe in may involve even more obstacles than they bargained for, but the two best friends will continue as they always together.

My Review

The book begins with a note from the author explaining that she began writing this story about a dystopian future in which girls and women could not access birth control or abortions before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. I don’t know how that change in the law impacted her journey writing the book, but I imagine there were some big, complicated feelings.

This was a hard book for me to read, but I think the author does an amazing job balancing the hard parts of the story with lighter parts, such as Laylah’s Bollywood blackouts. (I kind of wish there were more of those, honestly.) There are also lots of scenes showing baking and celebrating the joy of preparing and eating food together. The book also lifts up the power of support women offer other women. Most of the story’s central characters are female.

Unbecoming also shows the messy side of activism. It’s easy for anyone to believe claims that echo what we already believe to be true and to do harm by perpetuating unverified information. It’s also easy for us to reduce our understanding of people to one idea or one virtue/vice. And it’s easy amid fear and turmoil to forget that we need each other; we need community and a support network.

Though this story left me feeling more somber than many others I’ve read lately, I think it raises some really important questions and offers valuable insights about friendship, activism, and community.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Laylah and Noor are both Muslim. Noor is pansexual and in a relationship with a girl. Laylah’s little brother has Down Syndrome.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
F-bombs appear somewhat frequently with other profanity used here and there.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to sex. Kissing between girls.

Spiritual Content
Noor recalls attending events at the mosque and why she stopped going. Laylah is still connected to the mosque community and prays at different times of day.

Violent Content
References to the death penalty. References to police brutality against protestors.

Drug Content
Birth control and hormone therapy of any kind are outlawed in the book. Medications that cause an abortion or are used for IVF are also illegal.

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.