Tag: racism

Parachute Kids by Betty C. Tang

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Betty C. Tang’s latest middle grade graphic novel, Parachute Kids, is a mix of fiction and memoir, combining fiction, her family’s first experiences in America, as well as the stories she was told by fellow immigrants she has met. The Lin family’s story is not meant to represent the story of all parachute kids and their families, but is instead meant to introduce readers to the concept of parachute kids, to show their struggle, and to encourage people to share their own stories.

The Lin family is leaving Taiwan to visit the United States for vacation. They have big plans to travel California, hitting all the sites. Unbeknownst to the three Lin siblings, their parents are planning to leave them in the United States while they return to Taiwan. Their parents will return to Taiwan to work while the kids stay behind for better opportunities and schooling. When the parents announce their plans to the kids, big emotions come out: blame, anger, sadness, and more. Once the parents leave and the siblings are left on their own, they are forced to become resilient. They fight, struggle to maintain the household, and are unsure what to do. All they know is they need to stay under the radar since they are without parental guidance and are living as undocumented immigrants with expired visas.

I really enjoyed this book. The author uses different colors to show the change between languages throughout the book, which I appreciated. This book is written for a middle grade audience, but is accessible for adults as well. Tang explores the relationships between the siblings, allowing for growth and struggle to push through. Readers are also allowed a tiny glimpse into the parents’ lives, but this story predominantly takes place from the siblings’ points of view. Parachute Kids doesn’t end with all questions answered, instead leading towards realism with hope for the future. This isn’t the experience of every parachute kid, but there is something in this story to which everyone can relate.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Are you wanting to read something outside your comfort zone? Book clubs are an excellent way to expand your reading palette! Lucky for you, the Davenport Public Library has a wide number of different book clubs for you to join. My latest read, The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris, is the April selection for See YA, an adult book club that reads young adult titles.

The author includes a content warning on her website regarding the heavy topics covered in The Cost of Knowing. These topics include: racism, anxiety, depression, poverty, anti-Black violence, self-harm, parental & sibling death, and mentions of slavery and police brutality. If any of these are triggering to you, feel free to scroll to the bottom of this blog post to learn what the next book is that See YA will be discussing. If you’ve decided to give this book a try, below is a brief description to tell you more.

Alex Rufus is trying. He has been through a lot in his sixteen years of life. Right now he’s juggling his job at the local ice cream shop, his relationship with his girlfriend Talia, and protecting his younger brother Isaiah. In his quest to be perfect in all aspects of his life, Alex finds himself struggling, falling short of almost everyone’s expectations of him.

One major hindrance is that Alex can see the future. Every single time he touches an object or person, he is thrust into a vision of that thing. He sees the future of his car, his hoodie, the ice cream scoop he uses at work, and his future with Talia. That one freaks him out the most. In his vision of Talia, they are on the verge of breaking up with her looking at him with the most hatred in her eyes that he has ever seen. Alex spends his time cursing these visions, wishing that they would stop distracting him so that he could live an anxious-free ordinary life.

Alex’s desire to get rid of these visions increases when touching a photograph calls forth a vision of his younger brother Isaiah’s fast approaching death. Everything changes. Alex is desperate to find a way to break himself from these visions and change the future. Wanting more time with Isaiah, time that he knows he won’t get, he reaches out, bringing up memories of the past while looking for more ways of connection. Growing up as young Black men in America, Alex and Isaiah have had to wrestle with their pasts and their futures, but with such a short amount of time left, Alex is willing to try anything to win this battle against time and death.

This title is also available as a CD audiobook.

See YA (2024)

Join the adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the bestseller lists. Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Eastern Branch. The club meets the first Wednesday of the month at the Eastern Branch at 6:30pm. You can find more information about See YA by visiting LibCal, our online event calendar.

If you’re interested in joining See YA, we will be meeting Wednesday, April 3rd at 6:30pm at the Davenport Public Library | Eastern Avenue Branch to discuss The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris.

April 3: The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris
May 1: Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
June 5: The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

Monstrous : A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer

- Stephanie Leave a comment

My latest graphic novel nonfiction read came from the young adult section! Monstrous : A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer is a new graphic memoir published in June 2023. This title dives deep into the life of the author Sarah Myer, a Korean American, from the time of her adoption to the day she moves away to college. Sarah currently uses the pronouns they/them, but during this graphic memoir they refer to themselves as she, so I will be using she/her pronouns while talking about this book.

Sarah and her sister were both adopted from Korea by a white couple. She and her sister are not biologically related, which provides more fodder for her bullies later in life. Sarah grew up in a rural community with few Asian neighbors. Looking back, Sarah was able to recognize that she was struggling with anxiety before she even started school. Once she started school, the bullying, racism, and taunts became increasingly worse. Sarah found escape from the racist bullying by throwing herself into art and fandoms. She struggled to contain her anger, sometimes letting it explode at her bullies, friends, and family. Sarah’s escapes into drawing and cosplay can only help her so far when the bullying becomes even worse once she starts high school. How she reacts will define her future.

Monstrous is a graphic memoir that I wish I would have had growing up. I am not adopted, but Sarah discusses her struggles with mental health and anxiety throughout the book to which I related.

Last on his feet: Jack Johnson and the battle of the century / art by Youssef Daoudi and poetics by Adrian Matejka

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Jack Johnson was the world’s first Black heavyweight champion. His life is examined in Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century with art by Youssef Daoudi and poetics by Adrian Matejka.

Last on His Feet tells the story of the Battle of the Century: the fight between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries. On July 4, 1910 in Reno, Nevada, Jack Johnson, the world’s first Black heavyweight champion, was preparing to fight Jim Jeffries, a former white heavyweight champion. Why was this called the Battle of the Century? Well, that’s ‘simple’: race. Because of his race, Johnson was the most infamous athlete in the world. The public saw his as a brute beating up people to take what was theirs. Jim Jeffries, on the other hand, was known as ‘the great white hope’. Their battle was going to be legendary.

Johnson’s journey to convince Jeffries to fight took years. He had to chase Jeffries across the globe, trying to get Jeffries to just fight him already. You see, Jeffries was already retired by the time he agreed to fight. Their battle happened at the peak of the Jim Crow era. For weeks leading up to the fight, the public was hollering for Johnson’s blood. The day of, spectators didn’t hold back while hurling insults at Johnson. They were desperate for order to be restored in the world of boxing. Many believed that Johnson had upset the racial hierarchy and that the only way for it to be restored was by Jeffries beating him like he had beaten everyone else.

Last on His Feet also chronicles Johnson’s life before he started boxing, what happened in his personal life while he was boxing, and what he did in the years after the Battle of the Century. This book covers a wide range of years, but all is necessary to understand Johnson’s motivations. It is important to note that this graphic portrait of Jack Johnson may be based on real events, but the author has made some minor changes to locations and dates. At the end of the book, the author has included a timeline of the actual events.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

- Callen Leave a comment

Cover of the novel bearing the text "New York Times Bestselling Author of Mexican Gothic, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno Garcia" over a photorealistic scene: an orange wooden doorway set in a pink ivy-covered wall; a smaller door is set into the larger one, and offset with a green border; A woman in an old-fashioned green dress stands superimposed on a blue background in the smaller arched doorway.Perspective matters: that’s what I kept thinking while reading The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Whose voice tells the story has a huge impact on the story’s effect. In this retelling of HG Well’s original classic science fiction novel, a change of perspective shows us that “monsters” are much more likely to be arrogant white men of power than animal-human hybrids.

In the original story, the narrator was a man shipwrecked on the island of Doctor Moreau, a man who was horrified to see the doctor’s creations: animals he had attempted to turn into humans. The hybrids in that case were obsessive and easily turned to violence as their animal natures inevitably reasserted themselves. In this case, the Doctor’s house is a peaceful haven in the jungle of the Yucatan for the doctor’s daughter Carlota, who knows no other home. Through her eyes we see the beauty of the natural setting and the easy community of the hybrids she has grown up with and loves like family. The handsome city men, sent by the doctor’s patron Hernando Lizalde, who come knocking one day are, by contrast, strange, alien, frightening, thrilling, and soon pose a great danger to her peaceful life. Alternating with her voice is that of the man hired to oversee the estate, the alcoholic Montgomery who is all too aware of his failings and is struggling to find a better sense of meaning. Gradually his growing bond with the hybrids and with Carlota drives him to take action for their protection.

Rather than focusing on the concept of human nature as opposed to, or entwined with, “animal savagery” as HG Wells did (which frankly reads now like eugenics and racism), this book meditates on who has power and how they harm others by using it and/or withholding it. One example of this – and of the power of perspective – is Carlota’s romantic storylines. Both Montgomery and the younger Lizalde are attracted to Carlota, and how they handle that (do they give Carlota any voice or power in that situation, do they act on the attraction, what action do they take) is very revealing about their respective characters’ values, motivations, and views on authority.

For myself, I didn’t find it quite as compelling as Mexican Gothic, but I love its improvements on the original source material and how it makes an iconic story accessible for modern audiences. I also think the questions it raises – questions the original raised as well, about the reasonable boundaries of science and innovation – are important ones to think about. If you like thoughtful retellings, chosen family, women’s empowerment, or the lush, entrancing prose of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, you’ll want to try reading this book.

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

- Callen Leave a comment

My quest to read every retelling and remix of Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca continues! This time around it’s The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas, featuring a mashup of themes and characters from Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Mexican Gothic, and The Death of Jane Lawrence, and a tense descent into bigotry, ghosts, magic, sin, and forging your own path.

Beatriz is the daughter of a general disgraced and murdered at the end of the Mexican War of Independence. She’s never gotten over it, not least because it forced her and her mother to move in with her high-class (and pale-skinned) Tia Fernanda – who never let Beatriz forget what a favor she was doing for them. A proposal from the landowning widower Rodolfo Solorzano seemed to be an unexpected gift that would allow Beatriz and her mother to claim their own home, status, and freedom. Her mother’s refusal to go along with it only strengthened Beatriz’ resolve, and she soon arrives at the hacienda San Isidro ready to make it her own. But little does she know what lurks in the house… between whispers of Rodolfo’s first wife, hostility from Rodolfo’s sister, and sinister red eyes in the darkness, Beatriz is in way over her head. She turns to the local church and finds herself leaning on the unusual young priest Andres in an increasingly terrifying fight for survival.

This is no mere retelling; many of the elements are unique and intriguing. Beatriz feels like a very unique character to me because of her defiant (and desperate) ambition to claw her way to a better life and a true home. Her noble young hero Andres is also refreshing, not least because he gets his own voice in alternating chapters and has his own journey of self-discovery to go on. Even the house itself is different — in this case the house is a nearly sentient character that holds all its history and expresses itself in its own way. All of these attributes are fresh, interesting to read, and deeply expressive of the culture and locale in which this book is set. The reader never forgets all the history that has soaked into the land, nor do they lose sight of the vital cultural contexts — oppressive religion, classism and colorist bigotry, or the violence and hardship of war.

While readable and refreshing, not everything about this book worked for me. The sinister happenings at the hands of “the darkness” were a bit too vague for me to really picture and latch onto, and the romantic plot was too slow-burn for my taste. But if you’re deeply scared of the dark and love forbidden and star-crossed romances, you’ll probably love this book.

Even if you’re like me and DON’T love those elements, there’s a lot to like about this book, so if you like ghost stories, murder mysteries, and romances — with a heaping helping of historical context and sprinkled with feminist and anti-racist social commentary, definitely give this book a try.

Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Samira Ahmed is an author who knows how to rip at your heart strings. So far, I have read two of her young adult fiction titles and they have decimated me, but in a way that had me thinking about the state of the world. Three years ago, I read Internment and had such a devastating book hangover after I finished that I knew I needed to read whatever she published next (Internment is set in a futuristic United States when Muslim-Americans are forced into internment camps. It tells the story of Layla Amin, a seventeen-year-old who leads a revolution against those complicit in silence). Samira’s latest soul-wrenching title is Hollow Fires. I’m still reeling from this book, yet I believe it’s a necessary read especially in today’s climate.

Hollow Fires is a powerful novel that tells the story of the evil that lives around us every day and how alternative facts created by the privileged bend the truth of a narrative to their will and desire. It’s a story of silent complicity, as well as outright and hidden racism. It’s about the will of a young journalist desperate to uncover the truth of what actually happened to a missing boy. If you enjoyed Sadie by Courtney Summers or Dear Martin by Nic Stone, I highly recommend you read this book.

Safiya Mirza wants to become a journalist. She is currently the editor of her private school’s newspaper, reporting on the facts of what is happening at her school, despite the administration wishing to push their own biases onto the paper. Safiya is a scholarship student, growing up in vastly different ways compared to her privileged classmates. Her desire to report only the facts and leave out any personal feelings changes the moment she finds the body of a murdered boy.

Jawad Ali was only fourteen years old. His public school had a makerspace where he was allowed to take recycled materials and repurpose them for whatever he wanted. Having had his current project approved by his teacher, Jawad built a cosplay jetpack to add to his Halloween costume. He brought the finished project to school to show his teacher and friends. One of his teachers mistook his jetpack for a bomb and alerted the police, which led to Jawad being arrested, labeled a terrorist, and eventually kidnapped and murdered. After his arrest, Jawad was cleared by the police, but his school still suspended him. His peers labeled him ‘Bomb Boy’ and his life as he knew it was changed forever.

Safiya is devastated after discovering Jawad’s body. His presence, voice, and smell are haunting her throughout the investigation, leading her to seek out the entire truth about Jawad’s murder and those who killed him because of their hate-fueled beliefs. Jawad was a person whose life was worth remembering exactly how he lived it and not how the media have spun it. Racist acts have been sprouting up all over Safiya’s school, as well as at her mosque and her parents’ store. Concerned they could be related to Jawad’s disappearance and with a lack of confidence in the local police department, Safiya begins an investigation of her own with the help of her friends and Jawad’s voice in her ear.

This book is also available in the following format:

Online Reading Challenge – May

- Ann Leave a comment

Hello again Fellow Readers!

Today we launch a new month of the Online Reading Challenge with books that focus on racial injustice, advocacy and civil rights. These aren’t necessarily “fun” reads, but they’re powerful, moving and important reads.

Our main title is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.

Also available as an e-book and an e-audiobook.

Also in this month’s Book Flight:

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

Also available in Large Print, as an e-book and an e-audiobook.

The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson. In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. The national coalition organized to protest the Till lynching became the foundation of the modern civil rights movement. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, the Emmett Till generation, forever marked by the vicious killing of a boy their own age, launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle into a mass movement. But what actually happened to Emmett Till — not the icon of injustice but the flesh-and-blood boy? Part detective story, part political history, cultural scholar Timothy Tyson draws on a wealth of new evidence, including the only interview ever given by Carolyn Bryant, the white woman in whose name Till was killed.

Also available in Large Print.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father – a crusading local lawyer – risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

Be sure to stop by one of the Davenport library locations for displays with these and many more titles!

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Published in 2019, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow has lived on my to-read shelf for much too long. Deciding to read it based on my love of Harrow’s 2020 book The Once and Future Witches, I was not disappointed. The Ten Thousand Doors of January contains many elements that I enjoy: magical realism, fantasy, antiquities, multiverses, books, and strong-willed women.

January Scaller just wants to find her place in the world. Growing up as the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, January grew up roaming multiple sprawling mansions filled to the brim with peculiar and mysterious treasures. Her father travels the world hunting antiquities to add to Mr. Locke’s collection and as a result, he is seldom home with January. Mr. Locke treats her as well as can be expected, but January never quite fits in. She is instead largely ignored, while simultaneously given fancy clothes and is groomed as yet another piece of his collection. She feels out of place and just wants to find where she truly belongs. Mr. Locke treats her as a precious treasure to be trotted out in front of his rich friends. He can mold her into whatever he wants. January and her father become increasingly separated from each other, leaving January to feel imprisoned in this sprawling mansion and longing to see her father.

One day while January is looking around the rooms, she finds a strange book. The more she reads the book, the more she begins to see that there are other worlds out there full of breathtaking impossibilities. It tells the story of secret doors hidden everywhere that lead to other worlds full of danger, love, and adventure. One story has a deep pull on January. It becomes increasingly difficult for January to separate herself from the book as that one story has woven itself deep into her life.

This book is also available in the following format:

Online Reading Challenge – November

- Ann Leave a comment

Hello Challenge Readers!

It’s time for our November spotlight author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie!

Adichie was born and raised in Nigeria. She came to the United States when she was 19 to attend Drexel University in Philadelphia. She has master’s degrees from John Hopkins and Yale universities and she has held fellowships at Harvard and Princeton. She is a vocal feminist both here and in her native Nigeria and a keen observer of race relations in the United States which is one of the main topics of her best known book Americanah. She now splits her time between the US and Nigeria.

When looking for books similar to Adichie’s work, I looked for titles that explore the immigrant experience in America, especially of people of African heritage. This look at America from an outsider’s view can often be uncomfortable to read, but they can also be enlightening and can open our eyes to issues we may not understand.

Besides Adichie’s books, look for titles by Yaa Gyasi (I highly recommend her book Homegoing) and Jhumpa Lahiri (stories told from the persepective of people from India). Other titles to look for include Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue, American Street by Ibi Zoboi and The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett (although that one is not strictly about immigrants, it is similar to Adichie’s writing).

As always, there will be displays at each of the Davenport Library locations with more titles to choose from.

I am planning on reading Americanah which is about two Nigerian students who fall in love. They are separated when the woman moves to the United States but the man cannot follow and goes to London instead. It has many glowing reviews and I’m looking forward to reading it!

Now it’s your turn, what will you be reading this month?