Book Review: Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught

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Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry cover imageDani’s Grandma Beans always told her, “Sooner or later, we’re all gonna be okay.” But Dani wonders how that could possibly be true. Her best friend told her he’s not allowed to be friends with her anymore and her grandma slips away with dementia more and more each day. But when Grandma Beans tells Dani to find the papers, to get the key and open the box, Dani starts to unravel a mystery that concerns an old friendship gone bad and how it relates to the history of civil rights in Oxford, Mississippi.

Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught is a rich and complicated novel that addresses several issues of historical and contemporary importance. It’s aimed at young readers aged 9 to 12, but teens and adults will find just as much to appreciate in the story.

Dani, who is 12, has a white mother and an African American father. Her Grandma Beans is her dad’s mother, and she lived through the tumultuous events aimed at desegregating Mississippi in the 1960s. As Dani uncovers the segregated history of the town she lives in, she sees the vast differences between that time and the present. In current times, she feels no threat from being biracial. But she recognizes that many people struggled for years to make conditions change. And some of them paid a steep price to help that change happen.

Issues addressed include the value of friendship and actions that may destroy even the best of friendships, slavery and the Civil War, the Meredith riots in Oxford that occurred when James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at Ole Miss, aging grandparents and dementia, family secrets and more.

Even with an abundance of meaty issues to encourage thought and discussion, Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry doesn’t stray into preaching to get its messages across. Instead it stays true to telling the honest story of a 12-year-old girl concerned about her family, her friends, and her place in the world. I highly recommend it for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 9 and up.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: My Dad is a Clown by José Carlos Andrés

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My Dad is a Clown cover imageClowns sometimes get a bad rap, portrayed as frightening or creepy. But in My Dad is a Clown, a picture book by José Carlos Andrés, young readers get an idea of what it means to be a clown. The story is told by a young boy. Here’s how it begins:

“The other day at school, a classmate got angry at me and said, ‘Clown!’

I thanked him and gave him a kiss. He didn’t understand, but we became friends again.

My dad is a clown and I am very proud of him and his job, which is one of the most important jobs. Imagine how important it is. He makes people laugh.”

The boy has another dad named Pascual, who is a doctor. Pascual says the two men have two of the most important professions. One heals the body and the other heals the soul. But My Dad is a Clown also shows how much work it takes to be funny and make people laugh. It’s a tender look at a job most people give little thought to.

Quirky illustrations by Natalia Hernández are in black, white, and red. The story is also told in Spanish, making this book great for readers learning either English or Spanish.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson

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The Youngest Marcher cover imageAudrey Faye Hendricks was the youngest known child to be arrested during a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama. Her story is told in a picture book, The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist, by Cynthia Levinson.

The year was 1963, when Audrey was nine. She had heard her parents and other grownups talk about the unfairness of racial segregation and ask for people to protest. Understandably, many people were afraid of being hurt and arrested and didn’t want to put their families at risk.

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked children to march, Audrey volunteered right away. She was arrested and spent one frightening week in juvenile hall. Others, mostly teens in high school, joined her over the week until the cells were full. Two months after her ordeal, Birmingham erased its segregation laws.

Today it’s hard to imagine the time when blacks weren’t allowed to drink from the same water fountains as whites, couldn’t sit in the same sections of restaurants, use the same elevators, or sit downstairs at a movie theater. It’s also hard to imagine the courage of a nine year old protesting when she knew she would be arrested, or that her parents allowed her to take action. Which is why picture books about children like Audrey are so important. They let young readers know that even children like them can make a difference when they stand up for something they know to be right.

Vanessa Brantley Newton’s illustrations show Audrey as she was, a young, curious, happy child with a determination to change things she knew to be wrong. An author’s note about Audrey’s time in jail and The Children’s March followed by a timeline of other events puts Audrey’s actions in historical perspective. Hers is an inspirational story with a message to resonate through the ages.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

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Book Review: Loving Vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell

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Loving vs. Virginia cover imageMildred Jeter and Richard Loving met each other when they were children living in the same neighborhood, something unusual for segregated Virginia in the 1940s and 50s. They fell in love and went to Washington, D.C. to get married, as it was illegal for them to marry in their own state. But they also found it was illegal for them to live as a married couple in Virginia, and they were banished from their homes. Yet they fought back through the courts, and the Loving vs. Virginia case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in their favor.

Patricia Hruby Powell tells their story in verse in the documentary novel, Loving vs. Virginia. Readers hear the story from the perspective of both Mildred and Richard beginning when they were teens first becoming aware of each other. Their courtship is similar to that of any two people falling in love, except they have to be careful not to let the local sheriff get wind of it.

Inserted into the story are historical documents that make clear what the two were up against. For instance, a Virginia Health Bulletin from March of 1924 outlines a new law “to preserve racial integrity.” This law was to prevent biracial children from entering schools for whites only. Quotes from judges and elected officials defending the need for racial segregation underscore the larger struggle taking place in the nation for civil rights.

Artwork by Shadra Strickland brings the two people at the center of this historic struggle for permission to marry across racial lines to life. Readers see them for they were: two people who wanted only to love each other and raise their children where they chose. I recommend Loving vs. Virginia for readers aged 9 and up.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: The Best Man by Richard Peck

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The Best ManRichard Peck is a master at creating captivating young characters learning life lessons from the adults around them. He has another winner in The Best Man. With characteristic wit and humor, Peck has given readers another character to love, Archer Magill, a young boy who learns from his friends and family as he figures out what it means to grow up.

From Lynette, Archer learns about sticking with your friends even when it’s not cool. From Mr. McLeod, a student teacher, he learns how to stand up to bullies. From his grandpa and his dad, he learns to take pride in the things you build. And from his uncle Paul he learns that sometimes you have to break the rules to do what’s right. Ultimately, he finds that when you are true to yourself you can follow the right course for your life, even when that course riles some people up.

Issues to discuss in mother-daughter book clubs include bullying, human sexuality, old age and dying, and family relationships. I recommend it for groups with girls aged 10 to 13.

I checked out a copy of this book to read and give my honest review.

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Book Review: The Girl Who Rode the Wind by Stacy Gregg

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The Girl Who Rode the Wind cover imageLola never would have guessed that getting suspended from school would be her ticket to go on a trip to Italy with her grandmother. Once she gets there, she learns all about the Palio, a horse race that’s been run through the streets of Siena for countless generations. She also learns about the rivalries between different groups who run the race, and how her own grandma was involved in a long-ago intrigue. When Lola befriends a local boy and a special horse, she gets an unexpected invitation…and discovers a family secret.

The Girl Who Rode the Wind by Stacy Gregg combines historical and contemporary fiction to create a satisfying story that should appeal to adventurers and horse lovers aged 9 and up.

Lola is independent, a girl who doesn’t mind working hard for the things she wants to achieve. She has learned about horses at her family’s stables in New York, where her dad and brothers train racehorses. But her grandma has taught her how to look into a horse’s eyes and see if he has the heart of a champion. She see’s that in Nico, the horse she helps care for in Siena.

The Girl Who Rode the Wind should provide interesting discussion for mother-daughter book clubs. Topics include Lola’s independence and how it affects her life, World War II Italy, running away from troubles instead of facing them, the Palio horse race, and more. I highly recommend it.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: Art Play by Marion Deuchars

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Art Play cover imageMarion Deuchars believes making art is easy if you’re willing to give it a try. Unfortunately, too many kids (and adults) don’t believe they can draw or paint or create anything good enough to be called “art.” Deuchars’ book, Art Play, aims to banish that notion.

Art Play is oversized and printed on paper that is perfect for experimenting with lines, colors, shapes, and more. Deuchars includes 50 guided activities to build kids’ confidence in their ability to make art. Some are simple, such as crosshatching pencil lines in a square. Others are a little more complicated, such as the 3-D Hand Illusion, where young artists can learn to make what appears to be a 3-D drawing just by tracing their hands and learning how to create lines that trick the eye into seeing what’s not there. Even more involved is a fingerprint stencil bird, which has instructions for making a stencil and then using inked fingerprints to create a shape.

Most activities can be completed with simple things already found around the house or with a few inexpensive supplies that can be picked up at a large variety store or an art store.

Art Play should inspire hours of fun for parents and kids to enjoy together and on their own. It makes a great gift or it can be kept on hand to inspire rainy day/cold weather creativity. I highly recommend it.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Storm Walker by Mike Revell

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Storm Walker cover image

Owen doesn’t like to think about the longest day in his life, the day a year ago when his mom died. He is finally beginning to find joy in the good things in his life, like being with his best friend and playing soccer. But Owen is worried about his dad, who can’t seem to get over his grief. Things look up when his dad starts writing again; then Owen finds himself going out of his own reality and into a fantasy world, his dad’s story. Can he help both their lives by getting his dad to finish the tale, or will he get lost in the life of Jake, the character his dad created?

Storm Walker by Mike Revell examines the nature of grief through an inventive story about a boy who will always feel the loss of his mom but who also wants to live a vibrant life with his dad again. Owen’s forays into his dad’s story are difficult, as the world he enters is bleak and dangerous. He also loses big chunks of his own life, and begins to feel the separation from everyone important to him. Still, he persists because he wants to help his dad.

As Storm Walker moves between the two story lines, readers are pulled into what is happening in both. It’s a technique that’s not easy to accomplish, but Revell does a great job of keeping readers interested in what’s happening with Owen as well as with Jake, his literary doppelganger. The stories weave together in a way that will keep readers guessing about what happens next right up until the end.

I recommend Storm Walker for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 9 to 12.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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