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In 1978, China is just beginning to recover from the harsh turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.  Living in the furthest northern provinces on a government farm, 11 year old Zhongmei Li dreams of becoming a dancer, but her family is poor and her village is far from anywhere important.  When her older sister reads that the acclaimed Beijing Dance Academy is holding open auditions for the first time in its history, Zhongmei knows that she must do everything she can to win a place for herself and a chance at the future of her dreams.  She convinces her parents to borrow the money for theRead More →

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Love Nancy Drew? Enjoy stories with a multicultural flair? Like smart tween girls whose spunk shines through?  Is so, you’ll really enjoy debut author Sheela Chari’s Vanished.  It’s full of music, mystery, coincidences, deception and fun.  11 year old Neela dreams of being a famous musician, playing her antique Indian instrument, the veena, but in reality when she’s in front of an audience, she’s full of stage fright.  When her grandmother in Indian mysteriously sends Neela an heirloom veena- the one she plays most often that’s intricately carved with a strange dragon – Neela feels that she may finally have the instrument that will help her get over her stage frightRead More →

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Padma Venkatraman’s newest work for middle grade readers, Island’s End, is both a coming of age story and an homage to a way of life that has almost disappeared in our 21st century world.  Set in the Indian Andaman Islands off the coast of Burma, a fictional tribe of aboriginals exists in harmony with the ebb and flow of the jungle and sea of their home.  Uido has lived her life apart from the modern world and is deeply connected to both the natural world of her island and the spiritual world of her tribe’s belief system and so is called upon to train as the spiritual leaderRead More →

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Winifred Conkling’s Sylvia & Aki introduces an unlikely pair of friends: Sylvia Mendez is 9 years old and looking forward to starting the third grade. Her parents are leasing a large asparagus farm in Orange County, CA, and she will be able to enroll in the local elementary school, rather than the poor barrio school she attended last year in Santa Ana, CA.  Aki Munemitsu should be starting fourth grade, but her family has been relocated to the Poston Internment Camp, leaving behind their asparagus farm in Orange County and any hope Aki had for a normal life.  Both girls face heartbreaking challenges: Sylvia and her brothers areRead More →

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August, 1896: 17 year old Willie is a liar and a thief.  She’s fleeing to Indian Territory, using a stolen name and teacher’s certificate, to take a position as English teacher at the Cherokee Female Seminary.  Willie assumes she’ll be teaching backwards Indian children and hopes that the chances of being discovered and sent back to her family farm are slim.  But she’s not prepared for what awaits her in Oklahoma: the Seminary boarding school educates both the daughters of the Cherokee Elite, and the poor tribal girls there on scholarship, many of whom are more educated that Willie is; the Headmistress is stern and extremelyRead More →

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I read a lot of books; fortunately, my profession and one of my hobbies jive like that.  And since I read so many books, I find myself jaded by the repetition on theme, the slight variations on popular books that are churned out in the hopes of finding “the next whatever“, and the lackluster writing and poor editing that occurs in the rush to print more and more.  So it’s a rare day when I am so engrossed in a book I cannot stop reading it and then cannot stop telling people about it.  And on Saturday, I got to have one of those days whenRead More →

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5 years ago, Nora’s father left their small village in Mexico for America, promising that this was the only way to save the family orchard.  Up until a few months ago, her father kept his promise to send money and an occasional note, but now the situation has become dire: no word, no money, and a terrible grapefruit harvest has pushed Nora, her mother, and her grandmother to the brink of ruin.  15 year old Nora hears a whisper in the orchards, telling her to follow her father to Houston and once she finds him, all will be well. She convinces her mother to join her andRead More →

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There’s certainly something special about debut author Trent Reedy’s Words in the Dust.  Zulaikha has never dared to hope: born with a cleft palate, she is teased and shunned by the people in her small Afghan town.  Her prospects for a good husband are dim even though she is a very hard worker, taking care of her family’s compound and watching after her two younger half-brothers.   Her life is very hard, but despite the challenges, now that the Taliban is gone, Zulaikha feels the stirrings of hope that things may get better for her and her family –“Inshallah,” God willing.  Then she meets Meena, an old friend of herRead More →

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Jeffrey Kluger’s Freedom Stone is a rare gem of a book.  He takes the reader on a magical journey to a beautifully realized time and place and leaves the reader feeling connected with the characters long after the last word is read. Lillie has lived her whole life on the Greenfog plantation in South Carolina with her parents and younger brother, Plato.  With the War not going well for the Confederate Army, slave volunteers are being accepted to fight with the promise of freedom for themselves and their families.  Lillie’s father joined up, but months ago he was killed in action and with Union gold found inRead More →