Picture Book - Cicada by Shaun Tan

Illustrated by the author

2019 Arthur A. Levine Books

$19.99 (ridiculous anymore!)

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.12 - 1853 ratings

My rating:  2

Endpapers:  (Front) gray city blocks with no personality (Back) the forest and a beautiful sunrise/sunset

1^st line/s:  
    " Cicada work in tall building.
      Data entry clerk.  Seventeen year.
      No sick day.  No mistake.
      Tok Tok Tok!"

My comments:  This poor cicada works for seventeen years for low pay, zero respect, and is constantly bullied and discriminated against.  Okay, I get it.  The ending, yes, is a treat.  But the message is bleak and depressing and much more for an adult than a kid.  And what on earth is "Tok Tok Tok?"  Am I missing something?  Is that supposed to be the sound a cicada makes??  Sorry to say, this book didn't do it for me.  And the jury's out on how most kids would enjoy it.... (I really did like the little guy and felt so sorry for him for those 17 years!)

Goodreads:  From the visionary Shaun Tan, an inspirational story for older picture book readers and beyond
          Cicada tells the story of a hardworking little cicada who is completely unappreciated for what he does. But in the end, just when you think he's given up, he makes a transformation into something ineffably beautiful. A metaphor for growing up? A bit of inspiration for the unappreciated striver in all of us? Yes, yes, and more.

77. Front Desk by Kelly Yang

read on my iPhone - eBook borrowed from Library
2018, Scholastic
286 pgs.
Middle Grades CRF
Finished 8/10/18
Goodreads rating:  4.29 - 1249 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: Contemporary Anaheim, California

First line/s:  "My parents told me that America would be this amazing place where we could live in a house with a dog, do whatever we want, and eat hamburgers till we were red in the face."

My comments:  This is a beautifully written story about a feisty, smart, exceptional 10-year-old that is actually based on the author's true story.  It's about the immigrant experience in southern California.  And although it's about Chinese immigrants, it could be about any immigrant from any country; it puts yourself in their shoes.  I must admit I was upset and pissed through most of the book.  Language barriers, poverty, and of course prejudice are almost insurmountable - but young Mia figures ways around and through obstacles with a never-give-up-attitude that is incredibly believable.  This is a touching, warmhearted story about love and friendship and not giving up.  A winner!

Goodreads synopsis:  Front Desk tells the story of 10-year-old Mia Tang. Every day, Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel while her parents clean the rooms. She’s proud of her job. She loves the guests and treats them like family. When one of the guests gets into trouble with the police, it shakes Mia to her core. Her parents, meanwhile, hide immigrants in the empty rooms at night. If the mean motel owner Mr. Yao finds out, they’ll be doomed!
          Based on the author's life, the story follows Mia — the daughter of first generation Chinese immigrants. 

MOVIE - Moonlight

R (1:50)

Limited release 10/21/16

Viewed 11/29/16 at the Loft with Sheila

RT Critic: 98   Audience:  91
Critic's Consensus:   Moonlightuses one man's story to offer a remarkable and brilliantly crafted look at lives too rarely seen in cinema.

Cag: 4.5 - for the most part, I liked this movie a whole lot

Directed by Barry Jenkins (who also wrote it)

Plan B Entertainment

My comments:  I loved parts one and two.  A lot. But part three threw me off a bit.  The physical change in the main character is too extreme.  He was intensely skinny in the first two parts, and even though he'd bulked up incredibly, he didn't have the leanness that I felt he still would have had.  So it was hard to relate to him as the same character.  And this third part went at what seemed to me like a slower pace.  The story, as a whole, was so sad and so well told - my heart breaks for kids who are brought up in drug-addicted households and poverty, and for kids who have to deal with intense bullying, mentally and physically.  Our world.....or at least some parts of it.  Horrible.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man's struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.