Book Review: Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes

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Tortilla Sun imageIzzy and her mother have moved more times than she wants to remember. She’s just getting settled again when her mom announces she’s received a research grant to study in Costa Rica and Izzy will be spending the summer with her nana in New Mexico.

Izzy doesn’t know her grandmother very well, and she’s not at all happy about being dumped for a couple of months while her mom is gone. But once she arrives at the small adobe village near Albuquerque, magic starts to happen. As Izzy begins to discover more about her family and herself she begins to feel like she may have finally found a place to call home.

Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes weaves a little magic into the story and a lot of magic into readers as the tale unwinds. Izzy’s nana has a way with tortillas and a way with people as well. The story of Izzy’s parents and her own past slowly comes out in small bites to help her digest it a little bit at a time, and in the process she comes to know and love the people of the village.

Tortilla Sun had me longing to see the Sandia Mountains, feel the warmth of the sun and hear the call of the wind. New Mexico comes as vividly alive as the bright colors worn by many of its people. This book is recommended for ages 9 to 12, but I think girls up to 14 or 15 may enjoy it too. And the moms are likely to be delighted by Izzy’s journey of self-discovery. Issues to discuss include family heritage, ethnic traditions, dealing with grief and finding acceptance.

There’s a recipe in the back for tortillas that I can’t wait to try, and making them could be a fun mother-daughter book club activity. I highly recommend Tortilla Sun. If you want to find out more about the book before choosing it, you can read the first chapter. You can also download discussion questions in PDF form. And you can watch a video of author Cervantes making tortillas with her daughters.

Book Review: Solomon’s Thieves by Jordan Mechner

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Solomon's Thieves imageSolomon’s Thieves is a new graphic novel that takes the reader back to medieval times and the story of the Knights Templar. The Templars came into being to protect pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land. Over the years they became strong and wealthy in their own right, and kings began to see them as a threat. When the king of France accused them of corruption and heresy, he forced the Pope’s hand into disbanding the entire order. Many Templars were executed.

Solomon’s Thieves tells of those who escaped immediate capture and went into hiding. Many were determined to clear the Templar name, and sought to be reunited with their brethren who were also in hiding. Used to being treated as noble and heroic, these Templars chafed at being cast as outlaws.

There were also rumors of great treasure amassed by the Templars, a treasure that has never been found. The remaining Templars considered it their solemn duty to protect it from being discovered.

Solomon’s Thieves illustrates this moment in history through the story of Martin, who joined the Templars and went on crusade after his childhood love was forced to marry another. This is the first book of a planned trilogy, and includes an afterword from author Jordan Mechner about the history he conducted and more on the Templar story. Illustrations by LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland richly evoke the darkness of the times. I recommend Solomon’s Thieves for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 14 and older.

Book Review: The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

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The Summer of Skinny Dipping imageMia can’t wait to get to her cousin Corinne’s summer house on Long Island. Even though Mia lives in Georgia, the two girls have always had a special bond. But when Mia arrives on Long Island, she can tell right away that this summer will be different. Corinne acts like she’s too cool for Mia, and she’s invited another friend to stay at the beach house over the summer.

When Mia realizes that Corinne and her friends are into alcohol, drugs and sex, she realizes that she must decide if she’ll go along to fit in. Yet she’s unsure if she’s strong enough to reject her cousin and go it alone. Then she meets Simon, who’s staying at a house next door. Simon challenges Mia in unexpected ways.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells explores lots of issues teens face and places them in the world of the wealthy few who own beach homes on Long Island. Issues that come up include teen alcohol and drug use, parents who are too involved in their own issues to notice what their kids are doing, first love, rejection, and fitting in. Many of us can relate to Mia’s desire to be part of the crowd and her discomfort with doing the things that will make her seem cool. She’s not averse to breaking the rules, but she’s not sure which rules she’s willing to break either.

As Mia’s road of discovery unfolds, she realizes that people with seemingly perfect lives can be hiding deep problems, and others admire the very things she feels insecure about. The Summer of Skinny Dipping will make you wish for days with nothing to do but lie on the beach and read while giving you issues to think about. I recommend it for girls aged 15 and up.

Book Review: The Pony Whisperer by Janet Rising

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The Pony Whisperer imagePia is feeling down about having to adjust to a new home for herself and a new stable for her horse, Drummer, after her parents get divorced. She’s worried about making new friends with the other kids who ride, and she hopes Drummer gets along with the new horses too. When she takes a tumble on her first ride on the new trails, she finds she can tell just what Drummer thinks of his situation. She can actually hear him speak. She quickly realizes that her new powers are tied to the small figure of a woman riding a horse she found in the grass when she fell.

Her new power helps her make friends when she solves problems for the other horses in the stable. But when word spreads and TV and news reporters start showing up to interview this new horse whisperer, Pia isn’t sure she’s ready for the spotlight. Plus, some people don’t seem to want her advice. Can she find a way to help the horses without getting in trouble with her parents and being exposed as a fake?

The Pony Whisperer: The Word on the Yard by Janet Rising is a new series that plays to every horse lover’s dream: being able to communicate with horses. There’s a little bit of magic and a lot of everyday worries for tweens and young teens. Issues to discuss in a mother-daughter book club with girls aged 9 to 12 include friendships, making judgments about people, parents dating after divorce, and more.

Book Review: My First Best Friend by Nancy Lindemeyer

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Do you remember the first person you called your best friend? If you do, chances are you’ll enjoy the 30 stories celebrating friendship in a new book from Nancy Lindemeyer, My First Best Friend: Thirty Stories, Lifetime Memories.

Stories feature friends who are still close and continue to think of each other as “the best,” and also stories from those who may have lost contact long ago but still remember how much their special friendship meant then. You’ll find recipes that hold special memories for some of the writers, and poems and quotes that help illustrate the influence friends can have on our lives.

The women in these stories also span the ages, some are enjoying being grandparents together, others are mothering older teens and young adults, and some are just starting out on their own. It’s interesting to see the things that stay the same and the things that are different in how friendships can develop in different historical times. Don’t be surprised if My First Best Friend inspires you to reach for your phone or keyboard to reconnect with your own friend from long ago.

Book Review: The Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechner

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Prince of Persia imageFor years I’ve heard of Prince of Persia as a video game, but as I don’t play games I didn’t know much about it. When I was given the chance to review the new graphic novel inspired by the video, I knew I wanted to take a look. Graphic novels in general are something relatively new for me. I think of them as like picture books for older readers. So many times when my daughters were young we would read a picture book over and over again, and each time we would see something we missed in the illustrations when we read it before. Or, we would look for some of our favorite scenes.

As with picture books, illustrations carry the story in graphic novels too. There’s often not much back story that can’t be found out through dialogue and pictures. Which means graphic novels, while they can be read quickly, are more enjoyable when they are read slowly.

This is definitely the case with Prince of Persia. The action takes place in the kingdom of Marv during two centuries, the 9th and the 13th. The two story lines are similar in some ways: a restless population, both good and corrupt rulers, the people looking for a savior. If you race through it all, it can be confusing, even though the different time periods are depicted in different color tones. As I read I found myself going back a few times to clarify what was happening in one place or another. That’s when I realized I needed to slow down.

While Prince of Persia readers may definitely call to mind scenes from The Arabian Nights and Disney’s Aladdin, this isn’t a book for very young children—violence includes quite a few severed heads and tongues. But the story, once you grasp it, has a few twists that make it enjoyable. It could be fun for mother-daughter book clubs to read this graphic novel, go together as a group to see the movie, The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, then gather to talk about both. The movie is rated PG-13 for violence, so consider that when deciding to take on both adaptations.

Jordan Mechner, creator of the Prince of Persia, had this to say about the novel, the video game and the movie.

Can you talk about translating your video game to the graphic novel and the forthcoming movie? What stayed the same, what had to change?

JM: It might seem on the surface that a video game story should translate fairly easily into a movie screenplay or graphic novel, but in fact games demand a totally different approach to storytelling. For a writer, this makes games one of the most difficult of all forms of literary source material to adapt.

Graphic novels are read; movies are watched; video games are played. The story of the video game “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time” was tailored to support the needs of the game play and give the player the best playing experience—whereas in movies and other linear storytelling formats, the story is primary.

The game story, as proud as I am of it, wouldn’t make a completely satisfying reading or movie-going experience. It works well in concert with the game play, but taken on its own, no matter how well embroidered, it would be a pale echo of the game. That’s why, to write the movie screenplay, I took the characters and plot elements form the video game and rewove them into a new story line that is better suited to the cinema. For the graphic novel, we took an even more radical departure—it doesn’t follow the plot of any of the games, or of the movie.

Book Review: The Turning by Helen Ellis

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The Turning imageMary Richards isn’t sure what’s wrong with her. She got so tired in school she fell asleep…and purred. She’s sprouting fur wherever a cat rubs against her skin. And she’s craving milk. When Nick, the guy she has a crush on, seems to understand what’s happening to her, and he offers to help, she decides that maybe what’s happening to her isn’t so wrong after all.

The Turning: What Curiosity Kills by Helen Ellis is a new teen series focusing on humans who can turn into cats. Ellis pokes fun at Upper-East-Side-priveliged- Manhattan life with her cast of characters—most of whom attend an elite private school populated by scads of fertility drug, embryo implanted twins and children adopted as babies from Asia. Mary and her sister Octavia are the only students adopted out of the foster-child system in the U.S. when they were eight. Their school is super politically correct.

The Turning brings up several issues for Mary: Who can she tell about what’s happening to her? Given the chance to go back to her regular life, will she take it? Can she adapt to her new realities without getting hurt in the sometimes-violent cat life? This first novel is funny and intriguing. While it sometimes feels like a prologue for the books that are to come,  I expect teens interested in finding a new series with an intriguing premise will find a lot to like here.

Book Review: The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott By Kelly O’Connor McNees

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The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott imageLouisa May Alcott is one of the most beloved literary figures in American history. Her book Little Women, has never been out of circulation, and it’s been adapted for the screen and stage many times. As Little Women is widely known to be somewhat autobiographical, it’s easy for readers to feel they know Louisa May as well as they know Jo, her fictional counterpart.

I would expect this familiarity would make writing a novel about Louisa and her real family daunting, especially for first-time novelists. But I’m glad that author Kelly O’Connor McNees took up that challenge when creating The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott. The book is full of enough facts about Louisa’s real life to make her situation come alive for readers, but those facts are woven into the story well enough that they remain interesting instead of becoming a boring list forced into a story line.

We see Louisa as a real women influenced by her own upbringing to reject romance and marriage for herself. We see the struggles she faced when deciding between accepting the reality of love freely offered to her and pursuing her dream of being a writer. Married women in Louisa’s time were mostly relegated to a life of drudgery and endless chores. Few had the option of pursuing anything other than domestic pursuits. Even those who by necessity worked, usually earned their money through sewing or teaching or cleaning.

Louisa’s father plays a prominent role in the book, as he did in her life. His unwillingness to earn money affected the whole household, making the family dependent upon friends and relatives for their support. It’s no wonder that Louisa developed a fierce drive to make money from her writing so she would not be forced into the same situation during her adult life.

Since we all know the real Louisa May Alcott never married, it’s no surprise how her romance in this book will end. But McNees weaves her words so well that you want to keep turning pages anyway, hoping against hope that the outcome will be different than you know it to be. The resolution, when it comes, feels true to Louisa, and satisfying to the reader as well.

Mother-daughter book club members who read The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott will have a lot to discuss including the writer herself, constraints on women of her time and family relationships. Also interesting to discuss will be how men of the times were just as constrained in many ways by the expectations of society. Clubs may also want to consider watching Louisa May Alcott, The Woman Behind Little Women. It’s an excellent documentary created for PBS from the book written by Harriet Reisen. See the website http://www.alcottfilm.com/ for more details about the biography. See McNees’s website for more info about The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott: http://kellyoconnormcnees.com/

I highly recommend any of these titles for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 15 and up.

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