82. Unsettled by Reem Faruqi

read book, then read on Kindle and liked it less?

2021

352 pgs.
Genre/Level MidGr CRF Verse
Finished  7/30 & 12/23/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.30
My rating: 5 & 3.5
Setting: mostly contemporary Peachtree, GA

My comments: Oh my, written in gorgeous verse.  I found myself reading and rereading beautiful pages of descriptive words.  All the emotions of a 13-year-old girl uprooted from her home, country, family, and life to come to America.  Se speaks gret English, so that's a big help, and for the most part kids aren't super mean - although they tend to ignore her.  She finds a place for herself in the swimming pool which she has always loved, in her art classes, and in her home with her family.  Wonderful story with even more wonderful writing.  I always enjoy reading about and learning more about any middle eastern culture.  (Read in Kindle format a second time five months laterand didn't even remember it, so weird....)

     Cool paragraph/verse from the book:

"My hair is always smooth and silky,

it makes friends easily

with my fingers

and the comb.

If I choose to cover my hair,

like my mother,

what will my face envy?"

Goodreads synopsis:  A stirring, hopeful immigration story of Nurah and her family, who move from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Georgia, from Reem Faruqi, ALA Notable author of the award-winning picture book Lailah’s Lunchbox. Powerful and charming, Other Words for Home meets Front Desk in this debut middle grade novel in verse about finding your footing in a new world.

From Pakistan to Peachtree City—Nurah’s stirring story of finding your place.

When Nurah’s family moves from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Georgia, all she really wants is to blend in, but she stands out for all the wrong reasons. Nurah’s accent, floral-print kurtas, and tea-colored skin make her feel excluded, and she’s left to eat lunch alone under the stairwell, until she meets Stahr at swimming tryouts. Stahr covers her body when in the water, just like Nurah, but for very different reasons.

But in the water Nurah doesn’t want to blend in: She wants to stand out. She wants to win medals like her star athlete brother, Owais—who is going through struggles of his own in America—yet when sibling rivalry gets in the way, she makes a split-second decision of betrayal that changes their fates.

As Nurah slowly begins to sprout wings in the form of strong swimming arms, she gradually gains the courage to stand up to bullies, fight for what she believes in, and find her place.

Poetry Book - Delicious! Poems Celebrating Street Food Around the World by Julie Larios

Illustrated by Julie Paschkis
found at Northeast Harbor Library

2021 Beach Lane Books

32 pgs.

Endpapers:  solid bright yellow

Goodreads rating:   3.63 - 24 ratings

My rating:  4 (5 for illustrations - one of my all-time favorite illustrators, and this book shows why)

My comments:  Brilliant and beautiful, glorious two-age spreads using color themed masterpieces to highlight each poem (can you tell I love the illustrations?)  What a perfect way to highlight a country and its culture!

NY, NY    

Oaxaca, Mexico

Jaffa, Irael

Marrakech, Morocco

Launcester, Tasmania, Australia

St. Petersburg, Russia

Lima, Peru

Mumbai, India

Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia

Seoul, South Korea

Athens, Greece

Dakar, Senegal

Beijing, China

Boston, Massachusetts

By the Sea

Jaffa, Israel

Orange Juice

in an orange cup

from an orange cart

with orange wheels --

and a big, BIG pile

of orange peels.

Goodreads: Journey around the world with this poetry collection celebrating delicious international street food!

          The world is a delicious place! Come along on an international journey to try a hot pretzel in New York City; saffron tea in Mumbai, India; deep fried scorpions in Beijing, China; and much, much more.
          This poetry collection celebrates all the different kinds of street food from around the globe, introducing young readers to snacks they know and ones they’ve never heard of—showing that no matter where we live, we all appreciate a yummy treat!

45. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

listened on Libby/borrowed from library

narrated by the author, Elizabeth Acevedo and Melania-Luisa Marte

Unabridged audio (5:32)
2020
432 pgs.
YA CRF in Verse
Finished 5/5/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.32 - 52,442 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary NYC and Dominican Republic

First line/s: "I know too much of mud.

I know that when a street doesn't have sidewalks

& water rises to flood the tile floors of your home,

learning mud is learning the language of survival."

My comments: Incredible, lovely writing.  Many times when you hear a book read aloud that has been written in verse you cannot tell that it WAS written inverse.  This, read by two readers (one being the author), the poetry just flowed.  Absolutely gorgeous words.  Very sad, depresssing, but the beauty of the writing ... and of the story ... made up for it.  Learning about the "DR" community both in New York City and the Dominican Republic and hearing the story told with a large amount of Spanish verbiage included added to the experience.  And it was read with lovely, lilting accents of two SpanishAmerican narrators.  The story was tough.  But I would consider this a masterpiece.

Goodreads synopsis:   In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.

          Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…
          In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.
          Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.
          And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

Picture Book - Time to Pray by Maha Addasi

Illustrated by Ned Gannon

2010, Boyds Mill Press, Honesdale, PA

HC $17/95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  .10 - 122 ratings

My rating:  4.5

1^st line/s:  "In the darkness, green lights winked at me from the minaret of the nearby mosque.  I heard the voice of the muezzin calling, 'Come to pray, come to pray.'  It was my first night at Grandma's house."

My comments:  Young Yasmin goes to visit her grandmother in a Middle eastern country (doesn't say which one). It looks like she goes all by herself!   Impressive....  She hears the call to prayer five times a day, and her grandmother teaches her all about the different prayers and rituals surrounding them, makes her a "proper" outfit for praying, and takes her to the mosque.  Each double-page spread includes a page of English text and the Arabic translation.  When she returns home (to America, I'm guessing - or maybe Canada), she shares her new knowledge with her parents and feels continually connected to her grandmother when she looks at the miniature mosque that Teta sent home with her.  There's an explanation of the five praryer times at the end of the book.  The illustrations are gorgeous - no white at all.  One of our  visiting Muslim families, when returning the book, told me they've taken this book out several times for their 4 and 6-year-old kids and really enjoy it.

Goodreads:  Yasmin is visiting her grandmother, who lives in a country somewhere in the Middle East. On her first night, she's wakened by the muezzin at the nearby mosque calling the faithful to prayer, and Yasmin watches from her bed as her grandmother prepares to pray. A visit with Grandmother is always special, but this time it is even more so. Her grandmother makes Yasmin prayer clothes, buys her a prayer rug, and teaches her the five prayers that Muslims perform over the course of a day. When it's time for Yasmin to board a plane and return home, her grandmother gives her a present that her granddaughter opens when she arrives: a prayer clock in the shape of a mosque, with an alarm that sounds like a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer. Maha Addasi's warm and endearing story is richly illustrated by Ned Gannon. Features a text in English and Arabic, and includes an author's note and glossary.

46. The Kurdish Bike: A Novel by Alesa Lightbourne

read on my iPhone
2016, Alesa Lightbourne
324 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 5/25/18
Goodread/s rating:   4.4 - 126 ratings
My rating:  3
Contemporary Kurdistan

First line/s:  "Two women laugh exuberantly in a snapshot, their arms around each other, heads close together and aimed toward the camera."

My comments:  This feels like a self-published book, and reads like nonfiction.  There weren't enough details for me.  It was a total "telling," with no "showing."  I couldn't imagine the school, her apartment, the village, the kids.  No showing, only telling.  But was was told was really interesting, though I think it gave me an incomplete picture.  I wanted more, lots more.  Based on a true story and very readable, just lacking the details that I need to form a picture in my head.

Goodreads synopsis: “Courageous teachers wanted to rebuild war-torn nation.” 
          With her marriage over and life gone flat, Theresa Turner responds to an online ad, and lands at a school in Kurdish Iraq. Befriended by a widow in a nearby village, Theresa is embroiled in the joys and agonies of traditional Kurds, especially the women who survived Saddam’s genocide only to be crippled by age-old restrictions, brutality and honor killings. Theresa’s greatest challenge will be balancing respect for cultural values while trying to introduce more enlightened attitudes toward women — at the same time seeking new spiritual dimensions within herself.
 
          The Kurdish Bike is gripping, tender, wry and compassionate — an eye-opener into little-known customs in one of the world’s most explosive regions — a novel of love, betrayal and redemption.

PICTURE BOOK - Ruby's Chinese New Year by Vickie Lee

Illustrated by Joey Chou

2018, Henry Holt

HC $17.95

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.35 - 36 ratings

My rating:  4  (why not a 5?  Some of the pages are a little wildly busy for me)

Endpapers:  Bright yellow-orange

1^st line/s:  "Every year Ruby's grandmother came to visit for Chinese New Year."

My comments:   What a nice way to introduce the twelve Chinese Zodiac animals to kids.  Illustrations are extremely bright and go from edge-of-page to edge-of-page without white borders, which I love.  A nice real aloud for Chinese New Year.  With repetition, which is always fun.

Goodreads:   In this picture book celebrating Chinese New Year, animals from the Chinese zodiac help a little girl deliver a gift to her grandmother.
           Ruby has a special card to give to her grandmother for Chinese New Year. But who will help her get to grandmother’s house to deliver it? Will it be clever Rat, strong Ox, or cautious Rabbit? Ruby meets each of the twelve zodiac animals on her journey. This picture book includes back matter with a focus on the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

PICTURE BOOK - Sona and the Wedding Game by Kashmira Sheth

Illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi

2015, Peachtree, Atlanta

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.62

My rating:4

Endpapers: Pink with intertwined streamers from edge to edge

1^st line/s:  "My grandparents and my ousing have come from India for my sister Nisha-ben's wedding."

My comments:  What a delightful way to explore the customs of another culture and religion!  In this charmingly illustrated story of an older sister's wedding, Sona figures out how to steal the groom's shoes to follow tradition, while the reader learns all sorts of interesting information about an Indian wedding.  It's followed by two very readable Author's Notes pages with more explanation.  Recommended.

Goodreads:  Sona's big sister is getting married and she's been given an important job to do. She has to steal the groom's shoes. She's never attended a wedding before, so she's unfamiliar with this Indian tradition as well as many of the other magical experiences that will occur before and during the special event. But with the assistance of her annoying cousin Vshal, Sona finds a way to steal the shoes and get a very special reward.

11. The Leaving of Things by Jay Antani

read on my Kindle
2013 Bandwagon PRESS
368 pgs.
I would consider it YA, but think it is actually considered Adult - CRF
Finished 2.23.17
Goodreads rating:  3.78 (1871 ratings)
My rating: 4
Contemporary India

First line/s:

My comments:  I actually decided to read this because I love the cover!  For the last dozen years or so, I've had quite a fascination with India, so this novel at this time suited me quite well.  Set in the late 1980s, it reads like a memoir.  Vikram is a young man just graduated from high school who, after living for the last twelve years in Wisconsin, is forced to move back to India with his family.  He doesn't want to.  He has friends, a girlfriend, and college to look forward to.  Back in his native land it is hard to reconcile the American teenager he has become with the oh-so-strange country of his birth.  The story tells of his first year back in India, the homesickness he feels for America, as well as the enlightenment and thrill of new and incredibly different sights, sounds, smells, foods, language, customs, and lifestyle.  This glimpse into modern day (well, almost modern day) India is both fascinating and interesting.

Goodreads synopsis:  Vikram is not your model Indian-American teenager. Rebellious and adrift in late 1980s Wisconsin, he is resentful of his Indian roots and has no clue what he wants from his future—other than to escape his family’s life of endless moving and financial woes. But after a drunken weekend turns disastrous, Vikram’s outraged parents decide to pack up the family and return to India—permanently.
          So begins a profound journey of self-discovery as Vikram, struggling with loneliness, culture shock, and the chaos of daily Indian life, finds his creativity awakened by a new romance and an old camera. His artistic gifts bring him closer to a place and family he barely knew. But a devastating family crisis challenges Vikram’s sense of his destiny, hurtling him toward a crossroads where he must make the fateful choice between India, the land of his soul, and America, the land of his heart

PICTURE BOOK - In Andal's House by Gloria Whelan

Illustrated by Amanda Hall

Copyright, publisher

2013 Sleeping Bear Press

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.64 - 28 ratings

My rating: 3.5

1^st line/s:   "Kumar's mother gave him another helping of mango pickle to go with his dal."

My comments:  This lovely picture book includes , along withing the story, lots of information about contemporary India, including the cast system, Diwali (The Festival of Lights) and bits and pieces about food and family and famous people.

Goodreads:  As a young boy in Gujarat, India, Kumar sometimes feels like he lives in two worlds. First there is the old world where people and their choices are determined by prejudice and bigotry. But then there is the second, modern world: in this world Kumar can be friends with whomever he chooses and his future looks bright. As part of the annual Diwali celebration, Kumar is invited to the house of his classmate Andal to watch fireworks. Andal is from a high-caste Brahmin family so Kumar is especially pleased to be included. But there in Andal's house, Kumar's two worlds collide in a very unpleasant way. Instead of being welcomed as a guest, Kumar is sent away, forbidden to join the festivities. Angry and hurt, Kumar is left questioning his place in Indian society. Where does he fit in? To which world does he really belong?

Books for Kids About Vietnam

Picture Books, 
Dooley, Norah; Everybody Cooks Rice ()
Garland, Sherry, The Lotus Seed (1993) TPPL
Keller, Holly; Grandfather's Dream (1994) TPPL
McKay, Lawrence; Journey Home ()
Shea, Pegi Deitz, Ten Mice for Tet (2003) TPPL
Surat, Michele; Angel Child, Dragon Child ()
Thong, Roseanne, Fly Free! (2010) TPPL
Tran, Truong & Ann Phong; Going Home, Coming Home ()
Trottier, Maxine, The Walking Stick (1998) TPPL

Chapter Books
In Vietnam during the war
Lai, Thanhha, Inside Out and Back Again (2011)
Nhuong, Quang Huynh; The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam()

In American during the war
Partridge, Elizabeth, Dogtag Summer (2011)

Set in Vietnam
Nhuong, Huynh Quang; Water Buffalo Days ()

YA
.
Folktales
Garland, Sherry, Children of the Dragon: Selected Tales from Vietnam (2001) TPPL

How Tiger Got His Stripes: A Folktale from Vietnam (Story Cove)

by Rob Cleveland  (Author) ,

Nonfiction
Alberti, Theresa, Vietnam ABC's (2007) TPPL
Green, Jen; National Gographic Countries of the World: Vietnam (2008) TPPL

Books for Kids about India

Picture Books

Shank, Ned - The Sanyasan's First Day (1999)


Chapter Books

Ellis, Deborah - No Ordinary Day (2011)
House, Silas & Neela Vaswani - Same Sun Here (2012)


YA
.

Adult
.

Movies

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Eat, Pray, Love
Slumdog Millionaire

TO FIND/READ:

Picture Books
Out of the Way!  Out of the Way! (Uma Krishnaswami) 2012
The Rumor (Anushka Ravishankar) 2012

Chapter Books/ Emigrating from India to the US (or being Indian and living in the US)

Blue Jasmine (Kashmira Sheth)
The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen (Perkins)
Monsoon Summer (Perkins)
Climbing the Stairs (Padma Venkatraman)

AdultNonfiction/Memoir

A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan (Pazira)
A Good Indian Wife (Cherian)

Books for Kids about Afghanistan

Picture Books
I See the Sun in Afghanistan (Dedie King/Judith Inglese) 2011, 40 pgs.
The Sky of Afghanistan (Eulate/Wimmer)
Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan (Winter) 2009
Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea (Mortenson/Roth)
The Old Woman and the Eagle (Idries/Delmar)

Chapter Books: Middle Grades & YA
Three Cups of Tea (Mortenson)
Afghan Dreams : Young Voices from Afghanistan
The Breadwinner series (Ellis)
Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War (Ellis)
Shooting Kabul (Senzai)

Nonfiction

National Geographic Countries of the World: AFGHANISTAN
Susan Whitfield, 2008

Population:  almost 32 millions
Official languages: Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashtu
Capital: Kabul

"Afghanistan is largely a land of brown, treeless mountains and gray, dusty deserts.  But nestled among the peaks and plains are small areas of vivid green, where people grow their crops and raise their animals.
"Pistachio trees grow wild in the mountains in the north of Afghanistan...The nuts are regarded as the best in the world.
"Almost all Afghans are Muslims.  It is against the law for Muslim Afghans to convert to another religion.  As in most parts of the Muslim world, public life in Afghanistan is dominated by men.  In most parts of the country women are required to cover their heads and bodies in public....When the Taliban imposed harsh Islamic laws, women became second-class citizens.  Girls were banned from schools and women were beaten for showing their faces in public.  Today, Afghan women are still expected to cover themselves, but in less extreme ways.
"Afghans make flying kites an art form.  The best flyers work in paris.  One holds the wooden spool connected to the kite by strings.  The other pulls the strings to control the movement of the kite in the air.  People take a lot of pride in making and flying their kites.  But it is not always a peaceful pasttime.  In kite fights or duels, the fighters fit their kites with thin, sharp wires or attach pieces of glass.  The aim is for a kite flyer to cut the strings of his opponents until only one kite is left in the air."
"Despite the continuing uncertainty, Afghan people remain optimistic and are working toward rebuilding their lives.  The markets in Kabul and other cities are bustling again. Many educated and skilled Afghans who fled the country under the Taliban are returning to help their country.  In the past, Afghanistan has recovered from many periods of war.  It will do so again."

Adult
Lipstick in Afghanistan (Roberta Gately) 2010

Chirchir is Singing – Kelly Cunnane

Illustrated by Jude Daly

Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011

HC $17.99

32 pages

Rating:  4.5

Endpapers:  Brown earth with a few floating musical notes

Title Page:  her family, walking across the page.  Full color.

Illustrations:  cover most of page, in acrylics.  Sparse yet detailed.  Give a real feel for the setting.

Setting:  Contemporary northwestern Kenya, Kalenjin tribe

OSS:  Young Chirchir wants to help her family with the chores, but is a little too young to be able to actually help.

We meet Chirchir’s family as they are working.  Mama, who is drawing water from the well; Kogo, her grandmother, tending fire to cook chai; Ji-Bet, her sister, spreading a fresh layer of cow dung and ashes on the floor of the kitchen hut; Baba, her father, digging potatoes in the hill garden.  She sings everywhere she goes.  And so she sings to her baby brother, which keeps him entertained , as her voice travels to the rest of her family and keeps them happy, too.

Great language…simile and metaphor, with info in the back about this culture and a glossary and pronounciationguide for the Swahili words used.

Yasmin's Hammer - Ann Malaspina

Illustrated by Doug Ghayka
Lee Lows Books, 2010
$18.95
Endpapers: Royal Blue

Found this at the Chicago Library when I spent some meandering hours there.
Setting: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Two sisters go every day to work in the brickyard in the city of Dhaka. Abba (their father) pedals a rickshaw all day and Amma (their mother) works a a maid. To survive in the city, money must be earned by every family member. That is, until the oldest girl, because she wants to read, go to school, and make something of her life, works extra hard to earn enough to purchase a book. This makes Abba and Amma realize they must do anything they can to get their daughters an education.

Illustrations cover the entire page with the text in the street or walls. This is a heartwarming, eye-opening story that shuld be read to all the kids in the U.S. who take school for granted.

The Wishing Tree - Roseanne Thong

Illustrated by Connie McLennan
Shen's Books, 2004
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Gold & beige decorated Chinese designs

I spent an hour browsing and reading in the Martha Cooper Library on Catalina - a small public library I rarely get to visit. The local neighborhood holds many cultures, and there are many kids' books in different languages here. In other words, a great multicultural find.

There's a huge banyan tree in Ming's hometown where his grandmother would always take him to make a wish for the lunar new year. She would purchase a Ng Bo Dip (Five Treasures Pile), a stack of decorated red and yellow papers. After writing a wish, the papers were rolled into a scroll, secured with string, and attached to a large mandarin orange. When ready, this was flung high into the banyan wishing tree.

For many years Ming and his grandmother enjoyed this yearly custom, until, when Ming was nine, his wish was not fulfilled and his grndmother's sickness does not get better. She dies. The rest of the story deals with grief resolution in a positive, helpful way.

Each two page spread is beautiful with an edge-to-edge illustration on one side and the text is usually within a pale-colored box that looks like paper. The same one inch Chinese patterns found on the endpapers are "seals" at the bottom of the page.

Fantastic explanation in the Author's Note at the end of the book.

Included are directions for making your own Ng Bo Dip and a black and white WISHING PAPER page to photocopy and use as the five pages.

Perfect addition to my 4th grade China study!

One Big Family: Sharing Life in an African Village - Ifeoma Onyefulu

Illustrated by Photographs
Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 1996
28 pages
For: anyone interested in Africa or Nigeria
Rating: topnotch
Endpapers; Brown handmade-looking paper with large black stenciled designs

Of all the reading I've been doing about Africa, this has been one of the most informative and interesting.

Eastern Ethiopian villages have ogbos (or-BOs), which are groups of people of the same five-year age span. They exist as almost a part of the family unit, and members are always a part of that ogbo, no matter how old they become or where they live. Each ogbo has different jobs to help the community, from cleaning and tending and caring to building and ruling the village. In some villages, ogbos ange spans may be just one year, or two, but in Obioma's village of Awkuzu, ogbos have a five year age span.

So we get to see, and visualize (because of Onyefulu's lovely photography) what life in an eastern Ethiopian village looks like. This was a meanignful, helpful glance into a way-of-life that most Americans can only imagine, and it was like a gift. I loved it.

I'm on the way to the library right now to find more of her books. Thank you, Ifeoma Onyefulu!

39. The Heaven Shop - Deborah Ellis

For: Middle school & YA
Fitzhenry & Whiteside (Canada) 2004
186 pages includes author's note and question/answer interview
Rating: 4

Contemporary Malawi, Africa.

Told from 13 year old Binti's point of view, we meet her, her 14 year old brother, Kwasi, and her 16 year old bossy sister, Junie. They live happily in Blantyre, the largest city in Malawi, with their father, who has a coffin-making business run from their modest home. It's called The Heaven Shop. The do well enough to be sent to private school to get a good educations, and Binti is an actress/reader in a radio program that everyone in the country hears in weekly serial form.

HIV and AIDS are everywhere, killing indiscriminately, and about a third of the way through the book, the father weakens and dies. His brothers and sisters take all the family belongings, sell the house and business, and separate the siblings, making them work like servants. Binti has been spoiled, but she becomes stronger and more sure of herself as she takes off to find the grandmother that she barely knows.

The story is one of hope, of course. There is much discussion about AIDS, its stigma, condoms, prostitution, and monthly menstrual cycles, which makes the book still a little too old for my fourth graders. But I'd love to see kids of a bit older persuasion read this - good information, and a clearcut look into the lives of people in subSaharan Africa.

Deborah Ellis wrote Breadwinner, one of my all-time favorite books, about a young girl dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan. A Canadian writer with quite a few awards - well deserved awards -- Deborah Ellis is an author I am always pleased to read. This wa a good one.

36. Year of No Rain - Alice Mead

For: Middle Grades
Dell Yearling/Random House, 2003
130 pgs.
RL 4.5, ages 9-12
Rating: perfect for my 4th grade Africa Unit
Dedication: For the children of South Sudan

It is 1999. Stephen Majok's life is irrevocably changed when his southern Sudan village is attacked, cows and relief food stolen, and most people killed. Stephen had been sent to hide in the woods, and returns to find his mother dead and his older sister gone. No one is left, the food has all been stolen, the rope to the well is gone so water is unavailable, everything seems useless. So Stephen and his two friends set off for Kenya, or at least for somewhere they can find food and shelter.

This is the story of 10-year-old Stephen's journey. Trying to find water, protecting themselves from lions, hiding from trucks and planes that transport soldiers, and even contracting malaria are some of the hazards of this new life. The reader gets a feel for Sudan - its way of life, its landscape, and some customs of the Dinka people. It's somewhat adventurous, and incredibly difficult to imagine. It's real...and it's contemporary. It's happening now, and kids can learn about Africa as well as current events. A tough topic.

Yes the mother dies, but it is not too graphic..."He ducked his head and entered and saw immediately that his mother was there, dead. Keeping his eyes averted, he quickly covered her with a straw mat."

I think Alice Mead did a good job.

The Sanyasin's First Day - Ned Shank

Illustrated by Catherine Stock
Marshall Cavendish, 1999
32 pages
Rating: 4
Ednpapers: Pumpkin

In my search for books about Africa I came across this book, and had no idea what a SANYASIN was. So I checked it out. Didn't take place in Africa, but it was a good story.

A sanyasin is a holy man in India. He gives away all he owns, counts on people to give him rice, and spends his day praying...and begging for rice, it appears.

The busy Indian marketplace is captured beautifully by Catherine Stock as we meet three others on their "first days" -- a female plumber, male policeman, and female farmer. Their stories cleverly intersect in a satisfying story. however, it's the story the pictures tell that most catch my attention.

Note: As of the book flap, in 1999 Ned Shank was married to author Crescent Dragonwagon. Interesting.

23. Carpe Diem - Autumn Cornwell

Audio read by Lynde Houck
Random House, 2008
Book published 2007
7 unabridged cd's
9 hrs. 5 min.
368 pages
80% of the book is based on the author's own experiences!
Check out her website.

Vassar Spore is an overachiever (AP and AAP courses have her GPA soaring around 5.3) who is competing with another student for valedictorian of their class. So when the grandmother she has never met invites her to spend this summer between her junior and senior year in Malaysia, she is sure her parents will support her and say no. At first they do. But then Vassar thinks that Grandma Gerd somehow blackmailed her parents into allowing Vassar to go. Not only does she not want to go, she really, really wants to disover the "secret."

So she sets off to Singapore with ten suitcases and lots of lists and plans. But when she meets Grandma Gerd, her life is turned topsy-turvy. Grandma Gerd is NOT a planner. She looks for found art (what Vassar considers trash), and insists on calling her Frangipani, the middle name that she had given Vassar at her birth. She also "hires" an 18-year old Asian young man to shadow her to keep her out of trouble. And trouble is what Vassar is constantly getting into. For a supposedly smart girl she's pretty.....dumb....most of the time. Hilariously so.

I don't like all the voices that Lynda Houck used. She nailed Vassar. But Grandma Gerd sounded a little too cutesy, and one of her friends sounded like a boy. Oh well, you can't have it all, right?

A little bit of romance, lots of problems with bathrooms and relieving oneself, art and family and hiking....we get wonderful glimpses of Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos, so seldom seen in an American YA novel. Very enjoyable. Cute. Funny. Fun. I'd sure love to meet this author...she must be a riot. Hope she writes more.