Tag: family

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

- Stephanie Leave a comment

‘I am learning how to be
sad
and happy
at the same time.’ – Jasmine Warga, Other Words for Home

Lately novels in verse have been popping up on the top of my to-read list. Novels in verse are stories that are written using poetry instead of the typical format of a novel (sentences, paragraphs, and chapters). These books don’t have to rhyme, although some do! If you’re looking for a quick read, give a novel in verse a try. My latest read was a novel in verse that hit me right in the feels: the Newberry Award Honor winner, Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga.

Jude and her family live in a beautiful seaside town in Syria. Her parents run a store, while her older brother attends school. When the war in Syria creeps closer to their home, her parents decide that it would be best for Jude and her mother to move to Cincinnati, Ohio to live with relatives. Jude is devastated. She doesn’t want to leave her older brother and father behind, but her parents have already decided they must leave.

When Jude and her mother land in Cincinnati, everything moves too fast and the world is too loud. Her family try to help the two assimilate, but Jude is at a loss. She used to watch old American movies with her brother and best friend, but those movies are nothing like the real America where she now lives. A big confusion for her: Americans need to label everything. Jude and her mother are suddenly ‘Middle Eastern’, something she has never been called before. Jude is incredibly observant, noticing the new opportunities available to her, the new ways people react to her, and the new friends she finds. Jude’s new life is full of so many surprises, both good and bad, but she is able to live up to her brother’s words to ‘be brave’.

This middle grade free verse novel was beautifully written. It is authentically written, descriptive, and thought provoking. Warga talks about many issues that immigrants face when they flee their unsafe homelands and then the issues that pop up once they land in a new place. There are themes of resilience, belonging, family, and identity. This is a story of one family’s transformation before and after the war began in Syria. Their lives will never be the same, but they have no choice.

This title is also available as CD audiobook, Playaway audiobook, and as a Libby eBook and Libby eAudiobook.

Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac

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“No one should feel guilty about the past. Unless they’re not doing anything about the present. That’s what my grandparents say. Think about what we are doing now and how it will affect the world seven generations from today, and not just in the next election.” ― Joseph Bruchac, Rez Dogs

Joseph Bruchac has been one of my favorite authors ever since I read Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two when I was a teenager. When I learned that his novel in verse, Rez Dogs, was an Iowa Children’s Choice Award nominee for 2023-2024, I knew I needed to check that one out.

Rez Dogs is a middle grade novel in verse that tells the story of a twelve year old girl who learns about her Penacook heritage from her grandparents when they are sheltering in place during the coronavirus pandemic.

Malian’s weekend trip to visit her grandparents on a Wabanaki reservation is extended when the new virus that’s all over the news shuts down any travel. Malian’s parents are back in Boston, so they decide that she will stay with her grandparents until they can travel again. Malian is worried, but she knows what she needs to do: she will protect her grandparents just like they protect her. She spends these weeks listening and learning from her grandparents’ stories. Malian misses her parents, but knows she can video chat with them whenever they manage to get signal.

When she needs company, one of the dogs living on the rez shows up in her grandparents’ yard. They have stories to tell about him, given their instant knowledge that he will protect the family as well. Malian names him Malsum. The two become inseparable with Malsum guarding the house, yet being incredibly gentle and loving with the family. The foursome spend this sheltering time learning from each other and making sure their knowledge and history are passed down to people who can make a difference.

This book was more insightful than I thought it would be. There are so many stories shared throughout that I wish I would have written down all of them, so I could look them up later (I did start doing that about halfway through). Malian and her grandparents are keepers of history, just like the author. He highlights how Indigenous communities cared for each other in the past and today in this insightful novel set against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This title is also available as a Playaway audiobook, Libby eBook, and Libby eAudiobook.

“We need to be kind to each other and to all living things, make the circle strong for those who come after us. Instead of just standing up alone like those first stone people, we need to bend our knees and touch the earth.” ― Joseph Bruchac, Rez Dogs

Hummingbird Heart by Travis Dandro

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Trigger warning: suicide, drug addiction, cancer, and death

Travis Dandro illustrates his teenage confusion during family tragedy in his graphic memoir, Hummingbird Heart. This graphic memoir was published in 2022 by Drawn and Quarterly. His first graphic novel,  King of King Court, was published in 2019 and won the Lynd Ward Prize for graphic novel of the year.

Hummingbird Heart chronicles Dandro’s life from right before he learned about his grandmother’s illness to when he moved away for college. This was a messy time in Dandro’s life. His drug-addicted father had just passed away by suicide. Still processing his death, Dandro is shocked to learn that his grandmother has cancer. While in high school, he moves in with his grandmother to be her caretaker. These changes takes place all while Dandro is a teenager. This doesn’t stop him from doing typical teenager things though: shoplifting, pranking, dating, and going on drives with his friends through town. After all, he’s a teenage boy trying to figure out his place.

One Halloween night, Dandro and two of his friends hatch a prank on one of their drives that backfires badly. Two of the boys bear the brunt of the punishment, while the other is left dealing with the fallout. This prank forces Dandro to realize that he needs to grow up. He can’t keep acting like a child. He needs to take responsibility and figure out his future. Dandro and his friends are sure to grow apart the older they get, especially when they move away. Throughout this memoir, Dandro examines the difficulties that teenagers go through as they fight for independence. His writing and drawings highlight the resiliency and his ability to find a way through all the traumas that were happening in his family.

This graphic memoir tugged at my heart through its incredibly detailed illustrations. His drawings switch from intricate drawings of random objects or animals to intensely emotional confrontations between characters. Pages of his work are densely drawn only to be abruptly interrupted by pages of minimal drawing. It keeps readers on the edge of their seats, similar to how Dandro felt during that difficult time in his life.

Throwback by Maurene Goo

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“Just because people don’t show every emotion they have in all caps all the time, doesn’t mean that they’re not feeling them, too.” – Maurene Goo, Throwback

That quote sums up Maurene Goo’s newest young adult book, Throwback. This is the story of a mother and daughter struggling to understand each other and the universe’s plan to force them to talk.

Samantha Kang is the daughter of a first-generation Asian American immigrant. Her mother, Priscilla Jo, is just so hard to relate to. Samantha understands that her mom had a rough time growing up, but come on, her own life is hard too. It doesn’t help matters that her mom has ridiculously high expectations for Samantha in high school.

Priscilla was a former high school cheerleader who subscribed to all of the high school cliches. Sam has no interest in doing anything cliched in school. Their differences come to a head after a family medical emergency leaves the two fighting, throwing barbed words at each other that hurt. Sam only wants to get away from her mom. Calling a rideshare service, Sam expects to go somewhere familiar. Instead she finds herself thrown way back in time.

Sam has landed in the 1990s. With a 17-year-old Priscilla.

Sam is shocked. She has no idea why she is here or how to get home. Stuck dealing with her teenage mother and her obsession with homecoming, Sam also has to deal with backward ’90s attitudes and equally as frustrating outdated technology. What Sam isn’t prepared for are the feelings that are growing for a football player named Jamie, who understands Sam without trying.

With no way to get out of the ’90s, Sam has to figure out why she was sent back. Priscilla must be part of the reason she’s here. The more time Sam spends with Priscilla, the more she realizes that everything she thought she knew about her mom may not be true. Traveling back in time and hanging out with teenage Priscilla may end up being a positive experience.

This title is also available as a Libby eBook and a Libby eAudiobook.

You Lucky Dog by Julia London

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‘She’d done everything right. She’d gotten good grades in school, had gotten a good job, and had worked hard. She’d been a decent daughter, a better sister. She didn’t do drugs or drink much. She’d done everything right. It was not supposed to be this way. She was supposed to have it all by now, not be worrying about how to pay her rent.’ – Julia London, You Lucky Dog

Every once in a while, I need a reading break. When that happens, I look up feel good romances that I know will make me smile or laugh. My latest feel good read was You Lucky Dog by Julia London. I won’t lie – the cover hooked me first, giving me 101 Dalmatians vibes with the twisted together leashes. That plus basset hounds and I was ready to start reading. You Lucky Dog is the first in the the Lucky Dog series.

Carly Kennedy is struggling. Her new business, Carly Kennedy Public Relations, is not going well. She only has two clients, yet they are the neediest clients she has ever had and demand so much of her time. Her parents are divorced and are both now going through separate midlife crises that are way too much. Her mother bought her sister a basset hound WITHOUT asking her, causing said sister to completely melt down. Baxter, the basset, is now Carly’s problem. Baxter is a sad basset hound. In fact, Carly thinks he may be depressed. He can frequently be found with his head wedged in the corner of the room no matter Carly’s best efforts to coax him out. Baxter is growing on her though.

Yet another inconvenience is dropped on Carly’s plate when she comes home from work late one night to discover an imposter basset hound in her house. Her dog walker has switched out her sad basset for this perkier female basset who has no boundaries. This one is on her couch, chewing on things she shouldn’t be touching!

Max Sheffington is also confused. His happy basset hound, Haxel, has been replaced by this depressed male basset hound who, for some reason, will not get out of the corner of the room. Max is even more bewildered when Carly shows up on his front step demanding her dog back. It doesn’t help that Carly is pretty and extremely opinionated, facts that distract Max and simultaneously captivate him. He was expecting his dog walker, something that this gorgeous woman is not. Carly was expecting a stuffy old man given the name of the man she was told had her dog. Instead she finds a handsome man who is corrupting poor Baxter! Her dog is sprawled on the couch and has clearly been eating macaroni and cheese.

What most surprises Carly is that Baxter seems to be at home at Max’s house. He loves Hazel and follows her around. Since Baxter’s mood has improved, Carly decides that she needs to spend more time with Hazel and Max to keep him happy. It doesn’t take long for Carly to realize that there are feelings buzzing between her and Max, even though the two couldn’t be more different. Their lives end up being completely altered by an accidental dog swap.

While I enjoyed the premise, I found myself wanting to shake Carly at points (to be fair, I find myself more likely to want to shake the main characters when I’m reading romance – just TALK to each other already). Some of the solutions to her problems were right in front of her face, but she was just not seeing them. Regardless of my frustrations, this novel was adorable and exactly the brain break I needed. The main characters were both genuinely nice and cared about all the people in their lives. The fact that the author made Max’s brother autistic was a breath of fresh air. His portrayal was done sensitively and seeing him through Max’s eyes from both a scientific and familial point of view was also realistic. All in all, I enjoyed this book and am already searching for the second book, It Started with a Dog.

This title is also available in large print, as a Libby eBook, and Libby eAudiobook.

Lucky Dog series

  1. You Lucky Dog (2020)
  2. It Started with a Dog (2021)

‘That was the problem with social media—there were people in the world who seemingly existed just to tear other people down, but you couldn’t give them any oxygen. You couldn’t let them steal your mojo. And the best way to keep your mojo intact was to stay off social media and allow your publicist to post for you and monitor comments.’ – Julia London, You Lucky Dog

A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey

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“Thing is, when you put something back together it’s never exactly the same as it was before.”
― Laura Taylor Namey, A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey is gorgeously written, exactly what my heart needed. Even though this cover is bubblegum pink, it deals with heavy topics like grief and heartbreak in a sensitive manner. The writing pulled me in from the start with richly descriptive settings and characters that popped off the page.  (FYI the companion book, A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak, is set to be released at the end of September 2023 and I CANNOT WAIT!)

Lila Reyes did not have ‘spend a summer in England’ on her wishlist after graduation. If everything had worked out the way she planned, she would be moving in with her best friend, taking over as head baker at her abuela’s bakery, and spending more time with her boyfriend. Her plans destroyed when the Trifecta happened. Lila, like her plans, fell apart.

After a twenty mile run leaves Lila crying in a field and her family searching for her, her parents, worried about her mental health, send her to Winchester, England for three months. Her instructions are to relax, reset, and recharge. A complete change of scenery is in order, which combined with a family member she hasn’t seen in years has the possibility to rejuvenate her(if Lila would open up a bit). The lack of anything Miami, no sun, no flavorful food, and grumpy people has Lila anxious and wishing desperately to go back home to Miami.

Lila’s attitude changes when she meets Orion Maxwell. Orion is a clerk in his family’s teashop. He doesn’t swoop in to solve Lila’s problem, quite the opposite. Orion has his own heap of problems, helping him understand that Lila needs an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on. Volunteering to be her personal tour guide, Orion takes Lila on trips across the English countryside, showing her that England isn’t as bad as she thinks. Instead England is charming and full of people who only want to help. Lila realizes that the future she originally wanted just months ago may not be where her heart is anymore; part of her may have fallen for England and the boy who showed her how to trust again.

This book is also available as a Libby eBook and Libby eAudiobook.

“I’ve grown to find peace and acceptance in not fighting what I can’t control.”
― Laura Taylor Namey, A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

Did this book catch your interest? Join See YA and discuss this book with us at our October meeting! See YA is our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists.

Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm. Stop by the service desk for more information.

October 4 – A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey

November 1 – Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

It Won’t Always Be Like This: A Graphic Memoir by Malaka Gharib

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Malaka Gharib has been on my radar ever since I saw her debut graphic memoir, I Was Their American Dream, on the shelves at the library. In that book, she discusses being first-generation Filipino Egyptian American. Three years later, she published It Won’t Always Be Like This, which talks about her summers in the Middle East visiting family.  Graphic memoirs are one of my favorite forms of nonfiction, specifically when authors write about their childhoods and their families growing up. Watching the authors come to realizations about their lives is riveting, yet also heartbreaking. I was excited to start It Won’t Always be Like This to see what Malaka Gharib had to say.

Malaka Gharib’s childhood was a bit rocky. Her mother is Filipino and her father Egyptian making Malaka Filipino Egyptian American, plus first generation! Her parents divorced when she was young. Her father eventually left the United States and moved back to Egypt. Sha always thought that her father would eventually come back to the States, but every time she visited, he seemed to have settled into his new life even more.

Her annual summer vacation trip to Egypt when she was nine changed everything. On this trip, her father announced that he had remarried. Malaka now has to navigate her space in her father’s new family. She spends the next fifteen years traveling back to Egypt to visit her father and his growing family. Those years are rough. She is navigating adolescence both in America and in a country where she doesn’t fully understand the religion, language, or culture. She is constantly reevaluating how she fits into her father’s new life. Malaka doesn’t look anything like her siblings (they are fair-haired) and she sticks out. The longer she spends with them, the more Malaka starts to adapt. She opens up to new experiences, new food, new music, and starts to see that Hala, her new stepmother, isn’t actually that different as she thought. She’s actually a bit like Malaka. Seeing Malaka’s childhood memories expressed through an adult lens shows how powerful our memories are in helping form ourselves and our relationships with other. It is all messy and complicated, yet necessary.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto

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“In her experience, it’s best to nod and agree with what people say before doing exactly what you wanted from the very beginning.”
― Jesse Q. Sutanto, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Jesse Q Sutanto proves herself a master of character sketches in Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Instead of telling her story from one character’s perspective, Sutanto has crafted five characters to share secrets from their own points of view: Sana, Riki, Julia, Oliver, and the title-mentioned Vera Wong. This is a story of found family and the love, friendship, and kindness that can be spread by serving tea.

Vera Wong is a lonely shopkeeper, well really a lonely little old lady, who lives above her tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Her shop, aptly named Vera Wong’s World-Famous Teahouse, sadly isn’t doing as well as she would hope. She only has one customer. Her husband is dead and her son Tilbert hardly ever visits. Granted, Tilly is a successful lawyer, but that doesn’t mean he can’t answer her daily texts. She is his mother after all!

Vera enjoys nothing more than designing new tea combinations and trying to figure out just what Tilly is doing that is more important than talking to his mother.  That and waking up at 4:30am and starting her day by going on a power walk. One morning, Vera discovers a dead man lying in the middle of her tea shop. Vera calls the cops, but not before tidying up the shop and investigating the area around the body for clues. When the police show up, the detectives don’t inspire much confidence, leading Vera to decide that she could do a better job than the police and will solve this murder herself! After all, Vera loves her police shows. She is also a Chinese mother who can sniff out guilt just by looking at a person. This shouldn’t be a problem at all. Vera has this all under control.

This title is also available in large print and as a Libby eBook.

How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

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“It’s a whole new beginning, you know? It’s that moment before the universe expanded, when all of matter is the size of a trillionth of a period, all hot and full of nothing but potential. I could be someone who isn’t always and completely eclipsed by my sister and kicked down by my mom. Who could I be? The skyline whips by us, the clouds white. Everything feels new right along with me. Who could I be? I could be anything. No, scratch that. I could be everything.” – How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

If you’re ever not sure to read, ask a librarian for a recommendation. That is how I ended up with my latest five-star read: How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland. This young adult novel with a romance twist was beautifully written and full of tiny bits of humor dropped throughout. Moon Fuentez is an adorably lovable, yet incredibly sarcastic Mexican American teen trying to figure out her place in the world and in her family while on a summer road trip across the country with a group of influencers.

As long as she can remember, Moon Fuentez has been the ugly, unwanted sister. Her twin, Star, has reached social media stardom with Moon tagging behind as her sister’s camerawoman and photo editor. When her mom announces that Star and Moon will be spending their summer touring the country as part of a social media tour with dozens of beautiful influencers, Moon is less than thrilled. She will be working as ‘the merch girl’, giving up her entire summer in service to her sister, yet again.

Moon’s fate starts to change as soon as the two arrive to start the tour. Moon accidentally offends Santiago Phillips, her bunkmate and now her nemesis. They work together since he is ‘the merch guy’. Santiago loves to workout, giving him a massive physique and making him the hottest guy Moon has ever seen. Too bad he can’t stand Moon – he is constantly grumpy and combative whenever they have to work together, which is ALL THE TIME. It’s fine though – she hates him as much as he hates her. (You know where this is going, right?) Their forced proximity leads Moon to think about whether or not their mutual dislike is really true or not. This also leads her to think about how she has been living her life and what she really wants her future to look like.

The descriptions are beautifully written, the characters fully developed, and the story is sweet and serious, yet entertaining. The characters also evolve as the story progresses. Their relationships also change, some in positive ways, others negatively. This book is told first-person from Moon’s point of view with glimpses into Moon’s past between chapters. The author doesn’t shy away from talking about hard topics that some young adult books treat with kid gloves. At the core, this is a book about learning to love yourself, knowing your self-worth, and understanding that you are so much more than you (and others) see yourself and give yourself credit for. This is a serious contender for my favorite book of 2023.

This title is also available as a CD audiobook, single book club books, Libby eBook, and Libby eAudiobook.

Want to talk about How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe with others? Join See YA! See YA is our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists. Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm.  Our next four months of books are listed below:

September 6th –  How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Gilliland Vasquez​​​​​​​

October 4th – Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey​​​​​​​

November 1st – Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

In Limbo by Deb JJ Lee

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“I love you when you’re at your lowest just as much as at your best.” – In Limbo, Deb JJ Lee

TW for suicide and abuse.

Deb Lee’s powerful new memoir explores coming of age in New Jersey as a Korean-American teenager. Deb examines the Korean-American diaspora and mental illness as she mines her history for answers. Deb left Seoul to come to America with her family when she was only three years old.  Ever since she arrived in the United States, she has been excruciatingly aware of her otherness. Her teachers couldn’t, and still can’t very well, pronounce her Korean name. Her English wasn’t perfect, she spoke Korean, but after some time, she slowly lost her Korean and spoke more and more English. Adjusting to the United States was difficult as her face and her eyes pointed her out as different. She felt wrong.

When Deb started high school, her life became harder. She started to feel increasing pressure at home, while dealing with high school changes. Her classes were more difficult than she expected, plus her friendships changed and ended. Deb struggles with finding a safe place to be herself, but luckily she has orchestra (even though that doesn’t last forever either). Her home life becomes increasingly chaotic as fights with her mom become more frequent, violent, and emotionally abusive. Deb has no idea what to do, feeling like she is stuck in limbo with nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help. Her mental health crashes, which results in a suicide attempt. Her healing process after is slow and methodical, but she is resilient, courageous, and willing to start the process. Art, self-care, and therapy help her start to understand herself and her heritage.

The artwork in this graphic memoir is amazing. Deb has drawn pages of evocative, grayscale artwork that give you the feel of memory. Some of their drawings are sharp while others are hazy, fuzzing out and fading to black. If you’re a fan of Tillie Walden, you will enjoy this art style. Deb worked on this for years before she finally was at a place where it was ready for the world. Their desire to wait makes this memoir feel polished and rewarding. This is a realistic depiction of a teen working through mental health experiences. Add in that this is a memoir and this is sure to be helpful to others.