Tag Archives: family

Review: Salvación by Sandra Proudman

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,
Salvacion by Saundra Proudman

Salvación
Sandra Proudman
Wednesday Books
Published May 20, 2025

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About Salvación

In this Latinx YA fantasy inspired by El Zorro, Lola de La Peña becomes the masked heroine Salvación in order to save her family and town from a man who would destroy it for the magic it contains…if she doesn’t fall in love with one of his men first.

Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja, a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with and the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. And when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it’s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule—all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn’t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn’t seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro—who she doesn’t fully trust, but can’t help but fall in love with.

My Review

The setting of this book took me back to my childhood memories of watching Zorro episodes on TV. It’s set in California in a town built up around a mine where someone has discovered a salt with healing power. Lola lives a privileged life in her town, but she wants nothing to do with the fancy dresses and future romance that her family might want for her. Instead, she wants to help others. Particularly, she wants to protect the people in her town from those who would harm them.

The story doesn’t follow a stereotypical superhero path. For one thing, though Lola has a secret identity as Salvación, she shares the identity with her brother. The two of them work as a team, but he stays in the shadows. As Salvación, she’s the face of their team.

I liked exploring the teamwork and their relationship as brother and sister within the story. Lola also isn’t the kind of hero who charges into danger with a sword every time there’s trouble. She does background investigating. She forms relationships. The girl has layers! I love that.

On the whole, I enjoyed the book. It really delivered the vibe of the Zorro TV episodes I watched as a little kid while telling a Latinx-centered story. If you like historical fantasy, you’ll want this one on your reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few instances of profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Salt with magical properties can either help or harm someone.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battle violence. A couple scenes include someone killing a captive or enemy.

Drug Content
Salt with healing properties cures disease and injury. Salt with destructive properties destroys any living thing it touches.

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: Malcolm Lives! by Ibram X. Kendi

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

Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers
Ibram X. Kendi
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published May 13, 2025

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About Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers

In collaboration with the Malcolm X Estate, this powerful biography for young readers is a modern classic in the making, written by #1 New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi.

Published 100 years after his birth, Malcolm Lives! is a ground-breaking narrative biography of one of the most influential Americans of all time.

Dr. Kendi expertly crafts a propulsive telling of Malcolm X’s life—from birth to death. He provides context for both Malcolm’s choices—and those around him—not just painting an intimate picture of a famous figure, but of the social and political landscape of America during the civil rights movement. Ultimately, Malcolm’s true legacy is a journey toward anti-racism. Just like history, Malcolm lives.

With short, evocative chapters, exclusive archival documents, photographs from the Malcolm X Collection at the NYPL Schomburg Center, and extensive backmatter, this is a thoughtful and accessible, must-read for all Americans.

My Review

I feel like my history textbooks never gave the appropriate amount of space to Malcolm X, his life, and his work. I suspect that some of that has to do with the fact that his message was a lot more challenging, especially for white Americans. At times, he was very clear that he had nothing to say to white America. For much of his life, he saw his mission, his calling as being to Black America.

This book doesn’t only relate Malcolm X’s life story from beginning to end. It also offers some context for the choices he made. At certain points, Dr. Kendi asks readers directly to consider the facts of history. He asks reader to think beyond what happened in one moment of Malcolm X’s life, but to look at the pattern of history before his life and since.

Some of the story follows Malcolm X’s life as a member of the Nation of Islam. I think the book explains the goals of the organization and their values really well. It also discusses where the leaders fell short of the values they preached. Dr. Kendi offers some thoughtful critique and, again, some historical context that will help readers place these events in the larger arc of history. He also emphasizes some of the reasons it’s important to know this history.

Conclusion

Earlier this year, I read a biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Jonathan Eig. It’s interesting thinking about the lives of these two men, who lived through many of the same moments in history. They had very different experiences and different ideas about what the best path forward for Black Americans would be. I think reading both books or at least learning about both leaders is something that we should all be doing. Malcolm Lives! does a great job educating readers about Malcolm X’s life and his work in America.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to marriage and dating relationships.

Spiritual Content
The book explains the establishment and history of the Nation of Islam and its teachings. Some brief explanations delve into the difference between the teaching of the Nation of Islam and the Islamic faith.

Violent Content
References to racist violence, lynching deaths, destruction of property, attempted murder, murder, and police brutality. Some reference to self-defense. These things are not described in any detail and are mentioned in the context of history. For example, the narrative discusses how someone set fire to Malcolm X’s house when he was a young child, and how it happened again while he was an adult, and that triggered those childhood memories. The author also draws a parallel between the police response to both crimes.

Drug Content
References to smoking cigarettes and using drugs. Nothing shown graphically. This also shows how seriously Malcolm X took his faith, because he stopped smoking or using drugs when he joined the Nation of Islam and later converted to Islam.

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: Storm Singer by Sarwat Chadda

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

Storm Singer
Sarwat Chadda
Rick Riordan Presents
Published April 15, 2025

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About Storm Singer

Skandar and the Unicorn Thief meets One Thousand and One Nights in this thrilling middle grade fantasy from Rick Riordan Presents author Sarwat Chadda about a girl with the magical power to control the elements with her song.

In a land ruled by fierce winged warriors known as eagle garudas, twelve-year-old Nargis is just a poor, lowly human, a Worm who hates the garudas that killed her parents. But even though she can’t fly—and her childhood attempt left her walking with a crutch—she is far from powerless. Nargis is a spirit able to coax small bits of wind, water, fire, and earth to do her bidding through song…well, sometimes.

When Nargis loses control of her power in a high-stakes kite fight, she is exiled. Cast into the desert, she discovers Mistral, an injured boy who turns out to be an eagle garuda, the prince of her enemies! He’s on a mission to take back his throne from a terrible vulture garuda. In spite of their mutual distrust, the two have no choice but to forge an unlikely alliance if they want to escape the desert alive.

And as Nargis and Mistral battle dangerous assassins, befriend crafty sky pirates, and sneak into the mysterious sky castle of Alamut, Nargis discovers she carries a family secret, one that could bring Monsoon’s rains back to the desert, but only if she’s willing to risk her life in the bargain…

My Review

This book covers so much ground in its 368 pages! We meet Nargis, a Spirit Singer, who can speak to spirits such as wind and fire and ask them for their help. She is still learning her craft and makes many mistakes along the way. The discovery of a wounded stranger sets Nargis off on a somewhat unwilling quest to save her village. This proves challenging for her as an old injury that didn’t heal properly makes it difficult for her to walk without a crutch.

I enjoyed the banter between Nargis and Mistral, the garuda she agrees to help. They have very different backgrounds and beliefs about one another’s culture, so they frequently clash over those ideas or prejudices. The longer they travel together, though, the more they come to respect and trust one another.

At one point, they team up with twin sisters who ride a giant owl. Those girls added some energy and humor to the scenes in which they appeared, too. It also further showed what a diverse world Nargis lived in, and how isolated the communities had become from one another.

Storm Singer was an engaging read. I think it’s a standalone, too, which I love to see in fantasy. It’s nice to have some books where we can enjoy a complete story arc all in one book, especially for people like me who struggle to keep up with a series or remember all the relevant plot points between books. Ha!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters can see and interact with spirits of the earth, wind, water, and fire. Some characters are based on or inspired by Hindu mythology.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Nargis is present when her parents are murdered. She hears what happened, but she can’t see anything. Some scenes describe battles between characters. Descriptions of how a snake and other predator eat their prey are a little graphic. Very brief, though.

Drug Content
A man hides a sleep-inducing substance in a bowl of soup to subdue enemies and escape from them.

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: When Love Gives You Lemons by Steven Salvatore

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

When Love Gives You Lemons
Steven Salvatore
Bloomsbury
Published May 13, 2025

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About When Love Gives You Lemons

In this exuberant YA romance from the critically acclaimed author of And They Lived…, a budding social media influencer sets out to win back his first love at a family wedding in an Italian lemon grove.

Ever since he was a kid, Fielder Lemon’s large, opinionated Italian-American family has lived next to Ricky DeLuca and his large, opinionated Italian-American family. For almost as long, Fielder has known that he wants to marry Ricky one day. And he thought Ricky felt the same way-until Ricky breaks up with Fielder, saying he needs to figure out who he is on his own.

One year later, Fielder is asked to be one of the best men in his cousin’s destination wedding on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, but there’s a twist: his cousin is marrying Ricky’s sister. Fielder hasn’t talked to or seen Ricky once during the last entire, terrible year, but he hasn’t given up on his first love quite yet-and isn’t a wedding in an Italian lemon grove the perfect setting to rekindle their relationship? Except Ricky might have already moved on.

Now, Fielder has less than a week to win back Ricky’s heart while also trying not to ruin his cousin’s wedding. But if there’s one thing Fielder knows, it’s that when life gives you lemons, take a bite!

My Review

I feel like this is going to be a tough review for me. I have loved every book by Steven Salvatore more than their last, so I went into this one with sky-high expectations.

Which proved tricky because I really struggled to like Fielder’s character in those early chapters. He’s really focused on his social media. Clearly he’s missing signals from his boyfriend. He doesn’t seem like a great listener. I wanted to be totally on board with his quest to get his ex back, but I found myself having real questions about whether restarting the relationship would be what was best for Ricky, his ex.

I stuck with the book because it had so many other things that I was enjoying. References to My Best Friend’s Wedding? I’m SO here for it! Big Italian family does wedding in Italy?? YES PLEASE! So I definitely had things I was enjoying. I just really wanted to like Fielder more than I did at the beginning.

However!

Whew. Okay. Does Salvatore know what they’re doing? Yes. Yes, they do! Because wow, the story hit that half-way mark, and Fielder all of a sudden starts to see himself and his life in a different light. His passion to help someone else ignites. It’s like, all these pieces click into place. And in that moment, when Fielder is in the lemon grove, finally understanding how he wants to use his social media account and what he willdo to learn and grow himself, I became the biggest Fielder fan.

From there onward, I just couldn’t get enough of this story. It makes room for complexity and nuance, but it delivers those big romantic moments, too. It was great celebrating the whole adventure with those families.

This book unapologetically centers young gay men, and I’m so happy to celebrate that. We need it.

Ultimately, I am really glad I read this book. I loved the references to My Best Friend’s Wedding. Those quotes and chapter titles referencing the movie were fabulous. If you’re looking for a messy summer rom com with big Italian families, don’t miss this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some instances of strong profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to sex. Kissing. One scene leads into a sex scene with a vague description.

Spiritual Content
References to prayer.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
References to underage drinking (happened off-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: Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring Blake

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

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea
Ashley Herring Blake
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published May 25, 2021

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About Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea

A poignant yet hopeful novel about a girl navigating grief, trauma, and friendship, from Ashley Herring Blake, the award-winning author of Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World.

Hazel Bly used to live in the perfect house with the perfect family in sunny California. But when a kayaking trip goes horribly wrong, Mum is suddenly gone forever and Hazel is left with crippling anxiety and a jagged scar on her face. After Mum’s death, Hazel, her other mother, Mama, and her little sister, Peach, need a fresh start. So for the last two years, the Bly girls have lived all over the country, never settling anywhere for more than a few months.

When the family arrives in Rose Harbor, Maine, there’s a wildness to the small town that feels like magic. But when Mama runs into an old childhood friend—Claire—suddenly Hazel’s tight-knit world is infiltrated. To make it worse, she has a daughter Hazel’s age, Lemon, who can’t stop rambling on and on about the Rose Maid, a local 150-year-old mermaid myth.

Soon, Hazel finds herself just as obsessed with the Rose Maid as Lemon is—because what if magic were real? What if grief really could change you so much, you weren’t even yourself anymore? And what if instead you emerged from the darkness stronger than before?

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for a long time. I finally managed to read it in a book club with other KidLit reviewers, which was a super exciting experience. I get to talk about a book that I read with other humans who have read it! JOY!

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea is one of those books that has a lot going on in it, but the author manages the flow of information, character development, and pacing so well that I didn’t really notice just how much was going on until sitting down to write this review.

The book has a hair of magical realism in it, which I loved. It’s kind of there and up to you what you believe about what happened. It’s left open to interpretation, which I loved.

The characters were really nicely done. Hazel meets three kids who are all part of an Ocean Club summer program. One girl, Lemon, is so enthusiastic. I loved the way that her enthusiasm made her resilient and helped her bulldoze past some of Hazel’s grief-driven frostiness. I also loved Lemon’s two closest friends. They’re protective of Lemon in a way that makes so much sense as we learn about their lives and the history of their friendship.

Hazel’s relationship with Mama was such a tender part of this book, too. It was hard to read some of the earlier scenes with those two in them. It’s so clear they are not communicating and that Mama doesn’t grasp what’s going on with Hazel and the deep, unhealed grief and trauma she’s carrying. It feels like she thinks if she ignores Hazel’s anxiety, it’ll go away. That struck a chord for me.

I loved the overall message about how grief changes you and how we need each other as we grieve. I also loved how new relationships, while scary, can be healing, not only for ourselves. In new relationships, we find opportunities to bring healing to others, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some feelings of attraction between one character and another. Adults kissing.

Spiritual Content
Hazel’s mom attends a Summer Solstice party.

Violent Content
Hazel describes a kayaking accident that left her injured and her mum dead. References to a boat sinking and killing passengers a long time ago. Hazel experiences a panic attack.

Drug Content
Hazel hears her mom agree to another glass of wine while on the phone with her.

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: On the Block: Stories of Home edited by Ellen Oh

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

On the Block: Stories of Home
Edited by Ellen Oh
Crown Books for Young Readers
Published October 22, 2024

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About On the Block: Stories of Home

From We Need Diverse Books comes a heart-warming middle-grade anthology that follows the loosely interconnected lives of multigenerational immigrant families inhabiting the Entrada apartment building. Edited by Ellen Oh, a founding member of WNDB.”The beauty of their shared home does not come from any single person, but instead from the sum of their experiences” -Meg Medina, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

12 Families. 12 Cultures. 1 Building.Welcome to the Entrada, home to these everyday Americans, includingthe new kid on the block, who is both homesick and curiousa Popsicle-bridge builder, a ghost hunter, and a lion dancer their families, friends, and neighbors from all around the world!

Published in partnership with We Need Diverse Books, this uplifting anthology features award-winning authors Tracey Baptiste, David Bowles, Adrianna Cuevas, Sayantani DasGupta, Debbi Michiko Florence, Adam Gidwitz, Erin Entrada Kelly, Minh Lê, Ellen Oh, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Andrea Wang, and Jasmine Warga.

These inspiring stories celebrate family, friendship, culture, and American immigrant life today.

My Review

I love how cleverly this story collection is put together. Each story is identified by the apartment number where the main character lives (or the story takes place… sometimes it’s a grandparents’ apartment) rather than a traditional title. The stories intersect and reference characters appearing in other stories, but each one could be read independently.

It was interesting reading the book and thinking about the location of each apartment in the building. I think it would have been really cool to have a table of contents or a kind of map that organized the stories visually, so that readers could note where each one takes place in relation to the others. A map of the overall building and surrounding area would have been fun, too. Maybe someone will make one online (or has already!).

Several of the stories center on immigrant families sharing traditional celebrations, food, and forming connections across cultural lines. The underlying message about community and neighborliness repeats in each story, sometimes subtly and other times more overtly.

As someone who grew up in a suburban neighborhood, I’m always fascinated with stories about apartment life. I imagine the same is true for other kids who grew up in similar ways.

Ellen Oh, CEO of We Need Diverse Books, edited the collection which features some well-known middle grade authors, and many that I’ve been meaning to read. The only author featured in the collection that I had read before is David Bowles. I will definitely read more by several of these authors.

I also own an e-book version of another collection edited by Ellen Oh, Flying Lessons and Other Stories, so I’m excited to read that now as well.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to a middle school student with a crush on someone.

Spiritual Content
One character lights incense and prays to their ancestors.

Violent Content
Reference to a child dying of pneumonia. (Happens off-scene.)

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.