Tag Archives: painting

Review: Drawing Deena by Hena Khan

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Drawing Deena by Hena Khan

Drawing Deena
Hena Khan
Salaam Reads
Published February 6, 2024

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About Drawing Deena

From the award-winning author of AMINA’S VOICE and AMINA’S SONG comes a tenderhearted middle grade novel about a young Pakistani American artist determined to manage her anxiety and forge her own creative path.

Deena’s never given a name to the familiar knot in her stomach that appears when her parents argue about money, when it’s time to go to school, or when she struggles to find the right words. She manages to make it through each day with the help of her friends and the art she loves to make.

While her parents’ money troubles cause more and more stress, Deena wonders if she can use her artistic talents to ease their burden. She creates a logo and social media account to promote her mom’s home-based business selling clothes from Pakistan to the local community. With her cousin and friends modeling the outfits and lending their social media know-how, business picks up.

But the success and attention make Deena’s cousin and best friend, Parisa, start to act funny. Suddenly Deena’s latest creative outlet becomes another thing that makes her feel nauseated and unsure of herself. After Deena reaches a breaking point, both she and her mother learn the importance of asking for help and that, with the right support, Deena can create something truly beautiful.

My Review

One of the things I remember most from AMINA’S VOICE and AMINA’S SONG is the way that the author creates these rich family connections and still keeps the story centered on its kid characters. Deena has complex relationships with both her parents, where sometimes she feels like they don’t see or hear her, yet it’s clear they love her, and she loves them, and they have a good relationship in other ways.

In this book, Deena explores both her artistic style and talent, learning about other artists, especially Vincent Van Gogh, whose work she feels a connection with. She also wrestles with feelings of anxiety that build to a panic attack. Like lots of people, she can’t tell at first what’s happening to her body. She only knows she feels nauseated and tense. At first, she doesn’t even connect those feelings to any particular fears or worries.

I liked the way that process played out and the way people in Deena’s life responded to her once they understood what was going on. That part felt really realistic, and I couldn’t help celebrating with Deena as she finds her voice and speaks up for what she needs.

I also really enjoyed the descriptions of artwork in the story. It made me want to visit a museum– and especially to look up the names of the artists mentioned in the book.

Fans of Hena Khan’s earlier books will love this one, and readers who enjoy books about artists will also find lots to love here.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Deena and her family are Pakistani American. Deena has anxiety.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
References to prayer and Muslim celebrations.

Violent Content
Descriptions of a panic attack.

Drug Content
None.

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

Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays

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

Review: Beneath the Swirling Sky by Carolyn Leiloglou

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Beneath the Swirling Sky
Carolyn Leiloglou
Waterbrook
Published September 12, 2023

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About Beneath the Swirling Sky

A house full of paintings, a missing sister, and a family secret send a boy and his cousin into a world where art is the key in this fantasy adventure perfect for fans of The Wingfeather Saga and Pages & Co.

After an experience he’d rather forget, Vincent is determined to be done with art. So when he and his little sister, Lili, spend spring break with their art conservator great-uncle, Vincent’s plan is to stay glued to his phone.

That is, until Lili disappears into one of the world’s most famous paintings and Vincent learns his parents have been hiding something from Their family is the last of The Restorationists, a secret society with the power to travel through paintings—and a duty to protect them from evil forces.

With Lili’s safety on the line, leaving art behind is no longer an option. Vincent must team up with his know-it-all second cousin Georgia, wrestle with why his parents lied to him, and confront both his past and a future he never wanted. Young readers are invited into a captivating universe where paintings become a portal—and adventure and danger lurk beyond every canvas.

My Review

This was a really fun story! I loved the descriptions of the different paintings and the way the characters could travel in and through them. Vincent struggles with self-doubt as an artist, so at first, he resists interacting with the paintings at his uncle’s house. But as he continues to feel a pull toward the art, he gradually recognizes that as part of his unique gifts.

I liked the relationship between Georgia and Vincent, too. She was bold and open, and they made a great team together.

The author’s note at the end of the book makes it pretty clear the author did a LOT of research for this story. I loved the attention to detail that she put into this. The paintings that appear in a private home are all privately owned. Those that appear at museums are museum-owned, though she says museums do trade their paintings around sometimes. I wouldn’t have stopped to really think about it, but I liked knowing that the author did consider where the real originals of those paintings actually are and made it part of the story.

All in all, I liked this one a lot. It sounds like a series opener, so I hope there are future stories about Vincent and his family to come.

Content Notes for Beneath the Swirling Sky

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Vincent’s sister, Lili, is Chinese American and adopted by his family. Vincent’s cousin Georgia is biracial: Mexican-American and white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Vincent walks through a painting that features nude people. He feels uncomfortable and doesn’t look at them. His cousin tells him that there can be a lot of nudity in art and that he doesn’t have to look if he feels uncomfortable. An author’s note affirms this and encourages readers to ask adults for help before searching for art online.

Spiritual Content
Several paintings that Vincent and his cousin encounter are from bible stories. In one, they canoe on the Sea of Galilee while Jesus and his disciples are in a boat during a storm. Vincent learns that art is inspired by God and that he gives gifts for people to use to help others. He hears the story of a lesser-known painter who became a missionary to Africa because she felt called to help people.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Vincent and Georgia discover a group that appears to be kidnapping children. Vincent is forced to spar with another boy. At one point, a guard hits Vincent with a stun gun to subdue him.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: A Warning About Swans by R. M. Romero

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A Warning About Swans
R. M. Romero
Peachtree Teen
Published

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About A Warning About Swans

Swan Lake meets The Last Unicorn by way of the Brothers Grimm in a dreamy, original fairytale in verse which transports readers to the Bavarian Alps.

Bavaria. 1880. Hilde was dreamed into existence by the god Odin, and along with her five sisters, granted cloaks that transform them into swans. Each sister’s cloak is imbued with a unique gift, but Hilde rejects her gift which connects her to the souls of dying creatures and forces her to shepherd them into the afterlife—the “Other Wood.”

While guiding the soul of a hawk to the Other Wood, Hilde meets the handsome Baron Maximilian von Richter, whose father was once a favorite of the king and left him no inheritance. Hilde is intrigued by Richter’s longing for a greater life and strikes a deal with him: She will manifest his dreams of riches, and in return, he will take her to the human world, where she will never have to guide souls again.

But at the court of King Ludwig II in Munich, Hilde struggles to fit in. After learning that fashionable ladies are having themselves painted, she hires non-binary Jewish artist Franz Mendelson, and is stunned when Franz renders her with swan wings. The more time she spends with Franz, the more she feels drawn to the artist’s warm, understanding nature, and the more controlling Richter becomes. When Hilde’s swan cloak suddenly goes missing, only Franz’s ability to paint souls can help Hilde escape her newfound prison.

My Review

Last year I read R. M. Romero’s THE GHOSTS OF ROSE HILL, and it was one of my favorites of the whole year. As soon as I heard she had another book coming out this year, I could not wait to read it. Her writing has this whimsical yet dark, very fairytale-ish feel to it that I can’t get enough of.

It took a minute for the story of A WARNING ABOUT SWANS to really build momentum. The opening sets up the story by showing Hilde and her sisters and their relationship with Odin, who created them, and their lives in the forest. As the story moved into Hilde’s experiences in the world, I felt like it picked up speed and really drew me in.

I loved Hilde’s curiosity and her otherworldliness. She alarms a room full of people at court by dancing as though she isn’t quite human. She has to remember to breathe. And then, there’s Franz. I loved the way their paintings are described and the magical feel of them. It was easy to root for Hilde and Franz to find their way to happiness.

If you liked THE GHOSTS OF ROSE HILL or have been meaning to try a book by R. M. Romero, definitely pick this one up. If you love fairytales or whimsical, otherworldly stories, especially those in verse, A WARNING ABOUT SWANS checks all those boxes and more.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Hilde is described as having brown skin. Franz is nonbinary and Jewish. One minor character is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two characters.

Spiritual Content
Hilde and her sisters were created by Odin and have the ability to make someone’s dreams a reality. They also have magical cloaks which give them the ability to serve the forest in some way. Hilde helps to guide a creature’s spirit to the afterlife.

Violent Content
Brief descriptions of domestic violence, gaslighting, and verbal abuse.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of A WARNING ABOUT SWANS in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Review: We Can Be Heroes by Kyrie McCauley

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We Can Be Heroes
Kyrie McCauley
Katherine Tegen Books
Published September 7, 2021

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About We Can Be Heroes

“Welcome to Bell, proud home of Bell Firearms for two hundred years, and where five months ago, the teen heir to the Bell fortune took his father’s guns to school and killed his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Queen.” —WE CAN BE HEROES PODCAST

Beck and Vivian never could stand each other, but they always tried their best for their mutual friend, Cassie. After the town moves on from Cassie’s murder too fast, Beck and Vivian finally find common ground: vengeance. They memorialize Cassie by secretly painting murals of her around town, a message to the world that Cassie won’t be forgotten. But Beck and Vivian are keeping secrets, like the third passenger riding in Beck’s VW bus with them—Cassie’s ghost.

When their murals catch the attention of a podcaster covering Cassie’s case, they become the catalyst for a debate that Bell Firearms can no longer ignore. With law enforcement closing in on them, Beck and Vivian hurry to give Cassie the closure she needs—by delivering justice to those responsible for her death.

Kyrie McCauley, author of If These Wings Could Fly, delivers a powerful contemporary YA novel about a trio of girls fighting for each other in the aftermath of a school shooting and the lasting bonds of friendship. Perfect for fans of Laura Ruby and Mindy McGinnis.

My Review

This. Book. Just wow. There are a couple scenes toward the end in particular (which I won’t spoil) but which absolutely wrecked me. The relationships between the characters are so incredibly well done. The friendships between the girls. The relationship between Beck and her gentle, not to be pushed around, strong but silent type grandfather. He’s my favorite literary grandpa EVER.

Then. The layering! The way the story wove together truths about domestic violence and powerful snapshots from Greek myths and the story of two girls grappling with crushing grief in a town refusing to face what killed their best friend. The clips from the podcast focused on exposing violence against women. The Latin expression that was so precious to Cassie that comes up again and again through the story: collige virgo rosas.

I just.

I feel like there’s no way that I can review this book and do it justice at all. It might be the best book at weaving all these things together simultaneously and telling a story that bears the weight of the important topics it explores without being dominated by them.

I loved this book. This is going to be the book you hear about from me for like the next year, so if you know me in real life, probably go ahead and read it now. Ha! Really, though. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that felt as gripping and as weighty as this and had the moving writing style to back it up, too. Like maybe since I read THE BOOK THIEF? I’m not sure. I can see why McCauley is compared in the back cover copy to Laura Ruby, who wrote BONE GAP, which was also a densely packed, lyrical, moving book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are three white girls. One girl is a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kiss between boy and girl. A girl recalls briefly that she slept with her boyfriend before she was ready and implies that he pressured or perhaps even forced her to do so.

Spiritual Content
Cassie is dead, but every night she appears as a ghost in the van owned by one of her two best friends.

Violent Content – Trigger warning for domestic violence/abuse and for gun violence and suicide and bullying.
Some descriptions of domestic violence. Some descriptions of a school shooting in which Cassie was killed and one of her best friends injured before the gunman ended his life. Those things happened before the book begins, so they’re related in short flashes of memory by the characters.

At one point, a girl finds a hateful message spray painted on her door. (I’ve referred to this as bullying, but I’m not sure what the right label for it is.)

Drug Content
The girls drink alcohol together and get drunk together as teens more than once.

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

Review: Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

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Starfish
Akemi Dawn Bowman
Simon Pulse
Published September 26, 2017

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About STARFISH

A half-Japanese teen grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school in this debut novel.

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin. 

But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.

A William C. Morris Award Finalist; A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens of 2017; A Junior Library Guild Selection

My Review

I’m a total sucker for books about an artist– and STARFISH absolutely scratched that itch for me. I loved the way descriptions of Kiko’s drawings ended every chapter, and the way the disconnect between her sketches and her paintings played such an important role in the story.

Mom issues are harder for me to read. Maybe because I am a mom? Maybe because they make me want to jump into a book and slap someone. Kiko’s relationship with her mom causes her a lot of self-hate and shame.

When Kiko goes to California, she finally begins looking at her life through eyes that aren’t her mom’s. She discovers connections with her Japanese heritage and begins to dismantle the shame she learned to feel about the way she looked. I loved the emotional journey of STARFISH. I couldn’t help falling in love with Kiko– sweet, insecure, talented Kiko– and kept rooting for her all the way through the last page.

Fans of E. Katherine Kotaras or SISTER PACT by Stacie Ramey will love the focus on and healing power of art in STARFISH.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Kiko and her siblings are half-Japanese. She meets a Japanese man and his family.

Language Content
Extreme profanity once.

Sexual Content – Sexual Abuse Trigger Warning (And Spoiler)
Kissing between a boy and girl.

Early in STARFISH, Kiko goes to a party and a boy leads her into a bedroom. He forcibly kisses her, which she does not want him to do, but she freezes up and feels unable to stop him. Later, he asks her not to tell anyone that it happened, so she doesn’t.

Kiko’s rotten experience with men doesn’t stop there, though. She battles memories of abuse by a family member who touched her lower leg while masturbating in her bedroom in the middle of the night. She pretended to be asleep but told her mom, who refused to believe her.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence – Suicide Trigger Warning
One character in STARFISH makes a suicide attempt. It happens off-scene, and we don’t learn the details of how it happened. Just a warning for sensitive readers that it’s in there.

Drug Content
Kiko goes to a party where teens drink alcohol. She feels pressured to drink with them, but a friend gets her a soda instead.

Review: Your Destination is on the Left by Lauren Spieller

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Your Destination is on the Left
Lauren Spieller
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published on June 26, 2018

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About Your Destination is on the Left
Dessa Rhodes is a modern day nomad. Her family travels in an RV, their lives defined by state lines, exit signs, and the small communal caravan they call home. Among them is Cyrus, her best friend and long-time crush, whom she knows she can never be with. When your families are perpetually linked, it’s too dangerous to take a risk on romance.

Instead, Dessa looks to the future. She wants to be a real artist and going to art school is her ticket to success and a new life. There’s just one problem: she hasn’t been accepted…anywhere. Suddenly her future is wide open, and it looks like she’s going to be stuck traveling forever.

Then an unexpected opportunity presents itself: an internship working with a local artist in Santa Fe. Dessa struggles to prove to her boss—and herself—that she belongs there, but just as she finally hits her stride, her family suffers an unexpected blow. Faced with losing everything that she has worked for, Dessa has a difficult decision to make. Will she say goodbye to her nomadic lifestyle and the boy she loves? Or will she choose to never stop moving?

My Review
I liked that Dessa’s major goal wasn’t to find true love or be in a relationship. While romance is an important element of the story, Dessa’s real goal is to go to college and craft a future for herself. This creates some problems between her and her family as her parents want her to stay with them and continue traveling. It also strains her relationship with her best friend Cyrus, because he reads her desire for another life as a rejection of the life he’s chosen. So Dessa faces a difficult journey as she tries to find a way to do what she feels is best for her without hurting the people she loves most.

At one point, Dessa’s dad asks her to keep a secret from her mom. Dessa keeps the secret, but feels guilty about the lie and frustrated that her dad continues to lie to the family, too. I loved her relationship with her grandmother, who acts as a pillar of strength and a sort of home base for Dessa and her family. She doesn’t direct the story, but she sometimes serves as a mirror, reflecting Dessa’s true desires back to her sometimes without any words.

Dessa’s artwork also plays a major role in the story. I loved that. The descriptions of her artwork and the art of the woman who mentors her had me wishing for a studio and paintbrushes or a day at the museum.

On the whole, I liked the balance between Dessa’s dreams for the future, which she won’t compromise for a relationship that might only be for right now, and her relationships. I loved the way art was represented in and played a role in the story, too. Readers who liked Stacie Ramey’s The Sister Pact and How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras will want to check this one out.

Recommended for Ages 16 and up.

Cultural Elements
Dessa’s family is Greek. Cyrus’s family is black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used regularly throughout the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl and tops removed. Dessa says they don’t have sex but come close.

Spiritual Content
Dessa’s grandmother is Greek Orthodox. There are a couple mentions of her going to church or passing mentions of her faith. At one point, she and Dessa plan to spend time alone together, and her grandmother says, it’s going to be her, Dessa, and the Lord.

Violent Content
Dessa throws a cup of beer in the face of a cruel boy.

Drug Content
Dessa drinks beer with a friend after they both sneak into a bar together, and later drinks champagne (provided by her grandmother) with Cyrus.

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