Brown, India Hill. The Forgotten Girl. First edition. New York, Scholastic Press, 2019.

The Forgotten Girl is a ghost story with some originality.  The theme is essentially bringing a voice to those that have lost theirs. This is an important concept the author explores and it is clear to the reader throughout the telling. The ghost in this ghost story is the symbol for the forgotten voices and I believe the author does a good job of presenting this. Even young readers should be able to pick up on the meaning and importance of the ghost. 

The setting is somewhat original. It is set in a neighborhood with an abandoned graveyard. It is difficult to think this graveyard would go unnoticed for this long, but that fact does not take away from the story too much. The setting is simple, going back and forth between the houses of the main characters, the school and the graveyard. 

The style of this novel could use a bit of work. The imagery the author creates is sometimes hokey. The elements of the supernatural are often not given adequate imagery to create a strong sense of their existence, and there seems to be little resistance from the characters in the story. There doesn’t seem to be much push back in regards to this supernatural. Overall, this is a spooky read for kids, with an important look at highlighting forgotten voices and ensuring we honor stories of our past. 

Higuera, Donna Barba. The Last Cuentista Levine Querido, 2021

The Last Cuentista is a bit more of a complex science fiction story than The Forgotten Girl, but with a similar theme. Memories and storytelling are paramount in this book and how we can be good stewards of our stories and memories is an important topic for young readers to ponder. Though a more complex tale, young readers can definitely pick up on the themes of this book. 

The setting may be a bit more difficult for a young reader to keep track of, as memories of Earth, the new planet and advancing years are sometimes difficult to keep up with. Listening to the audio book was a bit tedious for this reason. Though sometimes difficult to keep track of, the setting and imagery created is beautiful and unique. Because of the back and forth and length of the text,  I believe this book would be best suited for students in 6th grade or higher. 

The style of this book is wonderfully mastered. The imagery is distinct and credible. It is completely believable that the reader has been taken to another planet and another time period. There are scenes of intensity, felt acutely by readers. This is certainly a book to beg readers to ponder worlds, other concepts and simply imagine what life could be.

 Yee, Lisa. Maizy Chen's Last Chance. First edition. New York, Random House Children's Books, 2022.

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance is a readable story about family. The characters are believable and engaging, though the plot is not necessarily fresh. The plot leans on some pretty standard themes like going home again, standing up to bullies and losing love/friendships. There may be too many themes going on here, in fact. It may be difficult for a child to pick up on each and every theme when there are many. I do not think it takes away from the story, some of the ideas just may be lost on young readers. Though the plot lines are not the freshest, they are still engaging. 

Engaging as the characters may be, some do rely on positive stereotyping. The main character, Maizy, is a “cooperative” Asian child. This is a pretty standard presentation of an Asian child.  The grandmother also leans toward a positive stereotype, as she is the “hard working” Asian woman. Though these stereotypes do exist, it does not take away from the plot line. There is a unique immigration story interwoven throughout, as Maisy’s grandfather tells the tale of Lucky, an ancestor, and her coming to America story. Overall, I would say this may not be the most original way to present a storyline, but it does engage and teach some important information about Asian immigration and shows the nuances of racism and toward Asian people. 

Woodson, Jacqueline. Before the Ever After. New York, Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020.

Before the Ever After is a moving, emotional novel in verse. Jacqueline Woodson artfully paints a story of a football player suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease that can result from multiple blows to the head. The verses follow his son’s journey with dealing with his father’s illness, but also dealing with edging toward manhood. Little man is a fully fleshed out character. All of the characters in this story are so real, so artfully thought of that the reader almost feels as if they know the whole family. Each line of the text is full of imagery and pulls the reader further in with each page. From the devastating disease the family deals with, to watching the beautiful way the leaves fall from the trees.  This is a masterful book. There don’t seem to be any stereotypes at play here. There are no caricatures of a person. This is simply a book that sucks you in from the first line and keeps you there until the last. 

 McManis, Charlene Willing and Traci Sorell. Indian No More. First edition. New York, Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, Inc, 2019.

Indian No More is a story of two young girls relocating after the government has taken away their “Indian” status, otherwise known as termination. Termination was a very real policy, starting in 1953. A quick google search will give plenty of hits on the relocation laws. The family in the book are relocated to a neighborhood in LA. This is a time in America where segregation still existed and a Native American family would be considered a nonwhite family. The neighbors surrounding the Native family in the book are also nonwhite, allowing the author to present scenes of discrimination. There is also the use of the ‘n’ word in this book, creating a great opportunity for an adult to have an important conversation with a young reader about discrimination and hateful language. 

The story seems to move along in a way that is in tune with the times. The plot is loosely based on one of the coauthor’s lives, so there is a great sense of accuracy. The language and tone that are set in the story seem authentic and there is a deep sense of the discomfort of the family as they try to align themselves with an American way of life. There is a tone of sadness that creeps in throughout the reading, expertly set by the authors. That tone puts readers right in the living room of the young Native girls, a living room with a new t.v. at that. This is a beautifully written story that presents a time in history that isn’t often written about. It is apparent that the authors went to great lengths to ensure accuracy and authenticity and it shows. 

* Note * I used Howard University’s informational page on termination to confirm accuracy. I also used the information provided by the authors in the back of the book to determine the level of expertise involved. 

https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/indigenous/termination

Cline-Ransome, Lesa. Finding Langston. New York, Holiday House, 2019

Finding Langston is a short novel meant to capture The Great Migration, a time when approximately 6 million black people moved north. The story is centered around a young boy and his father that moved north to Chicago after the boy’s mother died. There isn’t an exact timeline provided in the book, but there are clues offered, as well as a note at the end of the book stating that the story takes place during that time. The setting seems to accurately depict the general time frame being conveyed, but the time frame is more like a background to the central plot. Since the story is really centered around a young boy at a difficult time in his life, the background politics and tone seem to be understated. At the forefront of this novel is the boy’s love for books and his escape into a library, a place he wasn’t able to enter in his hometown. The Hall Branch of the Chicago Public Library was the first to have an African American branch manager and became a meeting place for writers like Langston Hughes. The love of this library is central to the story line, more than other aspects of the setting. The whole book is not only a love letter to Hughes, but to Hall, the man behind the library branch that meant so much to so many. 

*Note* I used the Hall Branch website and the National Archives to corroborate information. 

https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/migrations/great-migration

https://www.chipublib.org/about-hall-branch/

Rinaldi, Ann. My Heart Is On the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl Scholastic, 1999.

The first two novels discussed were beautifully written, with time spent on accuracy. My Heart Is On the Ground is a different account. For starters, the language used in this book is problematic at best. A line from page 9 reads, “When I show her, she reads my writing and I am getting much excited to know I have write something a white person can read (Rinaldi, 9).” There is no need for this Native girl to sound so simple and so ready to please the white man. Not only is this uncomfortable to read, it is also historically inaccurate. In fact, this book has been ridiculed harshly for its inaccuracies.

Cynthia Smith writes of the outrage surrounding the book published by Scholastic. In this book, documenting a Sioux girl’s journey, the boarding school the Native American children were sent to was portrayed as a pleasant time in the girl’s life, when in actuality, Native children were sent there without the ability to leave and many died from the conditions. A line from page 93 reads, “ [Mr. Captain Pratt] said school is almost over for the year and he is most proud of us. He said this summer some children will go home. Others will go on ‘outings’ (Rinaldi, 93).” This is a stark contrast from what was actually experienced. In fact, Smith cites Pratt as a man with a philosophy of “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Under his administration, the school was set up to break spirits, to destroy traditional extended families and cultures, to obliterate memories and languages, and especially to make the children deny their Indianness, inside and out (Smith).” This seems like an instance that a book should be pulled front the shelf, but it seems to still be a party of many collections. 

https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/fiction-posing-as-truth-a-critical-review-of-ann-rinaldi-s-my-heart-is-on-the-ground-the-diary-of-nannie-little-rose-a-sioux-girl/