Review and quotes: FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN

Title: Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

Book Beginnings quote: 

(Kyoto, Japan. Summer 1950) It came quickly, the pain. It arrived with startling fanfare. Nothing could stop it once it had set on its morbid path.

Friday56 quote: 

"Well, yes. Yes, we are. But I'm not...I'm not supposed to be here. She told me that I couldn't talk to you unless you talked to me first and...well...you didn't. And I'm not allowed to leave my room without permission."

Summary: In 1948 Nori's mother drops her off at the home of grandparents she has never met with these words of advice: "Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist." That is the last time Nori sees her mother. In her grandparents' home Nori is confined to her bedroom in the attic unless she is let out to take a bath of acid designed to lighten her skin, skin too dark according to Japanese standards because of her African American father. Her grandparents worry that if anyone knows about Nori's existence it will be a stain on their royal Japanese pedigree. Nori is obedient to a fault. Though lonely she still has an active and curious mind. When her half-brother, Akira, moves onto the estate Nori takes a rare opportunity to speak to him even though it is forbidden. In Akira she finds an ally and a friend. The story spans decades and takes place on several continents. It is a story about human connections and the ties that bind us together and break us apart.

Review: I am torn in half as I analyze Fifty Words For Rain. Half of me was completely swept up in this historical saga of Japan as it emerges from its old empire and the lives that are made or destroyed by it. Yet, I wanted more---the details that would make the setting come alive and the motivations of the characters more understandable. And I also want to love/like at least some of the characters at least most of the time but often the characters, especially Nori, would disappoint. In fact, the ending was maddeningly unexpected and awful. Either the author was setting us up for a sequel or just wanted to shock the readers. Either way, I was unsatisfied. 

Fifty Words for Rain is a book club selection and I suspect that we will have a fairly good discussion about the book, especially if one of our members attends. She lived in Japan for a few years and taught Japanese language at the high school level. I'm curious what she will think of the book and how her perspective will help me cope with the bits of the story that I found so distressing. Though not a personal favorite I find myself agreeing with the reviewer from Publisher's Weekly, "Lemmie’s heartbreaking story of familial obligations packs an emotional wallop." I did find myself wiping away tears several times as the story unfolded. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material.     

-Anne

TTT: Spring Cleaning my TBR list

Top Ten Tuesday: Time to make decisions about the longest books on my TBR list and do a little spring cleaning.

I just checked. I have 231 books on my TBR list. These ten books (below) have been on the list the longest. Time to decide about what to do with them--- to read or not to read. 

Let's see. 

The Orphan Master's Son (2013); A Visit From the Goon Squad (2011); and Interpreters of Maladies (2000) are the first three books on my list and all are Pulitzer Prize winners (winning date in parenthesis.) I have a personal challenge to read past Pulitzer Prize winners, so these three books stay on the list.

The fourth book, Without You There Is No Us, is a book I purchased after meeting the author. I am still curious about the topic and since I own a copy of the book, it will stay on the list.

The fifth book is a toss up. Love and Other Demons is by the master of Magical Realism, Gabriel Marquez Garcia. His book One Hundred Years of Solitude was one of the most difficult but most satisfying books I've ever read. The reviews on this one are generally very good and the premise sounds different and so captivating. I need to conduct some more research before I remove or keep it on the list. 

The Atomic Weight of Love. Hmm. I can't even remember why I placed this one on my TBR pile. One reviewer on Goodreads said that the audiobook recording of this was so good it held her hostage while she listened. If my library has the audiobook version for check-out I will keep it on the list, if not, off it goes. 

The Notorious RBG. I saw a wonderful documentary film about Ruth Bader Ginsburg before she died last year. I am wondering if this is when I placed this book on my list. I still love her and want to read about her. It stays.

The fourth and eighth book on my list are about the same topic: North Korea. I remember why I put A Thousand Miles to Freedom on the list---my hubby and daughter listened to it as they drove east toward New York and my daughter's grad school. They both liked it a lot and told me all about it. Since I don't need to read both but I am committed to reading the one I own, this one will be removed from the list.

I'm guessing I placed the ninth book, Ways of Going Home, on the list because it is set in South America and I read so few books set on that continent. That is not a good enough reason to keep a book on the list. Off it goes. 

A Slip of the Keyboard is nonfiction by a favorite fiction author, Terry Pratchett. He died in 2015 and I'm positive I was still in mourning when I placed it on my list in 2016. Reviews on Goodreads are all positive but I'm wondering if I'd do better just consuming more of his fiction? I need to do more research including finding out if a copy is available from the public library.

So let's see if this was a valuable exercise. Out of ten books I decided to remove or clean up two or 20% of them. That seems like time well spent. If I were to have the same success rate at culling down my whole TBR, I'd end up removing 42 titles. Now that would be an accomplishment. Imagine removing more books from your TBR in one year than the number you add?

-Anne

Sunday Salon, March 7th

Raccoon at Northwest Trek showing off for us

Ian loves the river otters

Weather: We just squeezed in a walk with the dog. It was raining earlier but it cleared just in time. It was cold and windy, though, so we didn't take the long route.

Family: Yesterday we went to Northwest Trek again. It is near our home and we are trying to get our money's worth since we bought a membership for my grandson and I for the year. He loves the play area. I love the animals. The little raccoon above was the most photogenic of all the critters we saw. Well, unless you want to consider Ian as a 'critter.' Here he is hugging a sculpture of an otter.

Earlier in the week I took a weird tumble down the stairs oddly hurting my shin. I think what I did was slipped in my socks and my opposite leg hit the stairs on my shin bone. I am not crippled at all but the swelling and the coloring of the bruise is pretty nasty.

Jamie fell asleep finally once he was in the stroller. It was a lovely spring day, too.

Even though I am not vaccinated yet I am starting duty as weekly babysitter for my grandchildren. Wednesday was my first day on duty and I certainly don't have my grandma muscles built up. Jamie is a bit of a chunker so I might build up some strong muscles by the time summer hits as I carry him around. Jamie doesn't want to miss anything going on so talking him into taking a nap is hard, even if he is tired. I resorted to a long walk with him in the stroller, which seems to have a soporific effect on him.

Books: It was a good reading week.

• Completed
• Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang. A YA Graphic Memoir by the illustrator/author about his school's basketball season. This book is great and I highly recommend it. It was a Printz Honor book in 2021. Print.
• Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie. This is a book club selection for April. Set in Japan right after WWII about tradition and acceptance. I think the writing is strong but I didn't care for the story. E-Book and Audiobook.
• The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley. Another book club selection. This one is a mystery. What happened to Miles? I can't say anything nice about this book. Print.
  
• Currently reading
• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Yet another book club selection. This is historical fiction about Shakespeare's son Hamnet. Print and audiobook. 1%.
• Ready, Player Two by Ernest Cline. I started this audiobook in December but had to set it aside  after listening to only about 15% of the book because other commitments pushed it out of the way. This week my daughter joined me in listening to it and we made great progress. It is a fun sequel to Ready, Player One. 78% audiobook.
• Fury and Grace: 40 days of Paintings and Poetry From Prison by Rev. Riley Pickett. I am enjoying this Lenten devotional. Each daily reading is only a few pages so progress is slow, as it should be. 42% print.

Cancel culture? The silliness in the right-wing press about the cancellation of a few Dr. Seuss books is astonishing to me. My sister shared this excellent article "Dr. Seuss and the Bible" in Emmaus Always. I highly recommend that you read the whole thing but let me pull out a few quotes that may be helpful in framing the discussion with people who want to be outraged about this.

• "The decision to cease publication of those six books is not in any way an effort to ban Dr. Seuss from the school libraries or to tarnish the image of Theodore Seuss Geisel, the creator of Dr. Seuss. It rather simply recognizes a much deeper truth that racial bias is baked deep into our world and even in something so beloved as Dr. Seuss."
• "One of the key principles I learned in seminary for interpreting scripture was to be aware of the “canon within the canon.” “Canon” refers to that body of literature one considers to be holy. Within that body are passages which you might say are holier than others, or which you use as a guide to understand the meaning of the whole... The example I often used in preaching was to compare Psalm 137:9, “Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!” to the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” There is simply no way that one can read those two texts as equal guides for living a godly life."
• "Is there a canon within the canon of Dr. Seuss? That might be stretching the concept a little far when considering the merits of green eggs and ham v. red fish, blue fish! But Geisel did produce a volume of other literature that may provide some clues on his values and beliefs. In Horton Hears a Who! Geisel writes, A person’s a person, no matter how small! It does not take great imagination to insert descriptions of race, gender, religion, gender identity or any other characteristic in lieu of size and to read that as an affirmation of all humanity."

A few funnies:

Today my husband and I were just talking about how achy and creaky we are becoming...

Disgusting... not funny at all.

This would be Carly's cats...

Speaking of Carly's cats: The puzzle cats were busy this week. We finished one puzzle and are well into a second. Hard work for a cat to supervise this much puzzling.

-Anne

Four short reviews and I'm caught up

It is only the first part of March and already I am four books behind on my want-to-review book list. My tardiness is to your benefit...four reviews in one post.

Anxious People by Fredrick Backman

It is New Year's Eve day in a Swedish town (not Stockholm) when an overwrought young parent on the verge of divorce and losing child custody, attempts to rob a bank to pay for rent. As luck would have it, the bank is cashless. In an attempt to get away from the police the would-be bank robber runs into a nearby building and unintentionally turns an ordinary real estate open house into a hostage situation.

The eight diverse strangers attending the open house all are very peculiar and anxious people, hence the book title. Sobbing and still wearing a face mask, the bank-robber apologizes, "I'm having quite a complicated day here!" So it everyone else, including the two police officers who are trying to remedy the hostage situation without calling in the Stockholmers. Since neither officer, a father-son duo, have handled a hostage situation before they have to Google what to do. 

In the beginning none of the characters are likeable or relatable but as the story unfolds we get to know what makes each person anxious that changes and there a satisfying yet unexpected ending. As the headline of the book review in USA Today says, "kindness and compassion win the day."

I, unfortunately, had to read this book in two parts separated by two months in between. (Darn libraries don't let readers have the books they check out endlessly!) For this reason, the book seemed choppy (Duh!) but once I was able to get settled in the second time to finish it, I was charmed. Quirky doesn't even begin to explain the characters and plot of this book. If you are a fan of A Man Called Ove or Beartown by the same author, I'm sure you will appreciate Anxious People, too.

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

In 2001, not long after 9/11, an airplane headed toward Dominican Republic crashed in Queens and killed all 260 people on board. The crash devastated the Dominican community in New York since hardly any family was left unscathed. Author Elizabeth Acevedo took a kernel of the tragedy of that true plane wreck and its aftermath and reworked it into Clap With You Land when another plane crashes and kills everyone on board including a man returning to D.R. from New York. Waiting for his arrival is his daughter, Camino. What this girl doesn't know is that her father has another daughter, Yahaira, and a different wife left behind in New York. Two different families in two separate countries affected by one man's death.

Last year it seemed like everyone was talking about this YA novel by the award-winning Dominican-American author Acevedo. Her first novel, Poet X, won all kinds of awards the year it was published and like that novel this one is written in verse. In alternating chapters we meet the two sisters who eventually make contact months after the death of their father. Acevedo handles their different perspectives in culture, setting, and upbringing with ease. Each girl has a unique voice in her chapters, too. Camino's verses are more flowing and straightforward, almost like reading prose. Yahaira's chapters are more energetic, the poetry coming at the reader in a more staccato style. Since I listened to the audiobook I was made aware of it by the reader's reading style than the actual words on the page.

The title of the book  is revealed to the readers in one of Yahaira's chapters. When she travels to D.R. to meet her sister, all the people on board the flight clap when they land in D.R., a traditional welcome home gesture. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a multicultural YA novel or someone who enjoys reading poetry. I am a huge fan of Acevedo and will probably read everything she writes. The reviewer for Kirkus Reviews says this book deserves a standing ovation. I agree.

The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein

Back in 2012 I read the first book in Wein's excellent series of WWII tales involving one or more members of the Beaufort-Stuart family, Code Name Verity. The Enigma Game is the fourth book in this series (but it would be the second book chronologically after The Pearl Thief) but it certainly also works as a stand-alone title. 

The story is set in a Scottish countryside near a air force base in 1940. A fifteen-year-old orphan, Louisa, is charged with escorting an elderly German opera singer from London to live with a niece who owns a hotel and bar not far from the base. There Louisa meets several people working out of the air force base: Jamie Beaufort-Stuart is a pilot commanding a squadron and Ellen McEwan who is from a Traveller family and is volunteering as a military driver. (Both of these characters were introduced in The Pearl Thief.) One day a German pilot lands on the airfield flying a white flag. Under guard he is billeted at the hotel until someone from intelligence can make their way to the air field to interview him. Until that person arrives the air force uses the aunt to interpret his German. It is clear he is trying to communicate with some particular person who goes by a code name. When no one arrives from London, the man loses his nerve and flies off. But before he leaves he hides an enigma machine and the code to decipher it. Louisa finds the machine and figures out how to interpret the code. She and others communicate what they learn to Jamie Beaufort-Stuart to help thwart German plans of attack. 

Wein seems to have a skill for weaving historical information into spine-thrilling plots and creating fully dimensional, interesting characters. She also clearly knows what she is talking about when it comes to flying those old fighter planes from WWII and she puts that knowledge to good use in The Enigma Game. I am a huge Elizabeth Wein fan and enjoy this series and this book immensely.

The Last Resort by Melissa Stapley

The Harmony Resort offers hope for struggling marriages. It is run by a celebrity couple, Miles and Grace Markell and they offer a "last resort" or chance at saving the marriages in a beautiful Mexican setting. Couples who attend the conference may have marriages that look perfect and they certainly have plenty of money but inwardly things are crumbling. Miles and Grace offer them hope for a marriage recovery. The only problem is that Miles and Grace also have a crumbling marriage and the facade they are putting up has started to crumble. When a tropical storm traps the hosts and their guests on the resort secrets are revealed, alliances are tested, and no one remains the same in the end.

The Last Resort is the March selection for one of my book clubs. It came in a book club kit from the public library. Books in these kits are generally good discussion books and have some literary merit. This book misses the mark on both of these scores, I'm afraid. I didn't like it at all. In fact, the only reason I am reviewing it is because I promised myself that I would review all book club selections I read this year.

Miles is a monster and has followers almost like he is a cult-leader. Maybe we can talk about what we know about cults and cult leaders. Grace is a battered wife. We could certainly talk about the topic of spousal abuse. Marriages fail for a variety of reasons, I guess that could be another topic of discussion. What I hope we don't try to talk about is plot (unrelatable), the characters (single dimensional), or the setting (can't picture it.) As you can tell I am no fan of this book and I don't recommend it.

-Anne

A Spring Walk

Gods-eye; pussy willow; heather through a fence; crocuses; Jamie in stroller; plum blossoms; daphne; tet-a-tets; Jamie awakes for some time with Grandpa!

Yesterday I babysat my grandsons for the day while my daughter and son-in-law were working. It has been a long time since I had both boys alone and my "grandma-babysitting-muscles" were rusty. Ian, age three, is happy and easy to be around, but wants quite a bit of 'pay-attention-to-me' moments. Jamie, 6 months, isn't an easy baby and is hard to soothe. He wants his mommy or will make everyone miserable telling us about it. At 2 pm, after a very short nap, Jamie was crying again, so I called my daughter and asked for tricks. She suggested taking him for a walk in his stroller. With brother Ian napping and grandpa working in the other room, Jamie and I headed out for a beautiful Spring walk. Within the length of two houses, Jamie was a sleep and as long as I kept moving he stayed that way. Alone with my thoughts I had the benefit of noticing the signs of spring in my neighborhood.

The first things I noticed are not pictured: the sound of lawnmowers and the croak of frogs in a nearby pond, two for-sure signs of spring around here. The gods-eye yarn thingy lasted the whole winter in one piece. In fact, the fairies that hung them left four in our yard last Spring or early summer and all are still there, a little frayed but still colorful ans swinging from the branches of our trees in the front yard. 

The pussy willows, the earliest sign of spring around here, are almost past their prime. Whereas the flowering plum street trees haven't started blooming yet with the one exception I found and caught on my camera. 

The crocuses and heather were blooming everywhere giving off nice splashes of purple to enjoy.  I only saw one other daffodil blooming outside of the bunch of Tet-a-tets in my own backyard. The daphne is another early bloomer but I was disappointed that I couldn't smell its beautiful scent. Don made me smell peanut butter after I cam in and complained about it, worried that I might have COVID-19. I could smell the peanuts but not the flowers. No disease for me. 

After returning from the walk, Jamie was sleeping soundly so I sat on my front porch and let him nap in the stroller while I enjoyed just being outside after a long winter inside. About the time that grandpa came out to see what I was doing, he woke up. 

What a lovely spring walk.

-Anne

Review and quotes: APPLE (SKIN TO THE CORE)

Title: Apple (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gansworth

Book Beginnings quote: from the first poem, "Uncle Tomahawk Hangs Around the Fort Until He Finds His Own Metaphor."

Socials and Powwows bring us together, because

they celebrate all the ways we maintain our own

ways of life. We know the dances and the songs,

the exact rhythm patterns for drums and rattles.

 

But we've borrowed dances from other nations. We have

no alligators in the Northeast, no real-world example to borrow

in creating these moves, and yet, Alligator Dance has

been with us for so long, it feels like ours, free and clear.

Friday56 quote: from the poem, "Jaboozie Gives Me Two Lessons in Tradition."

We are at that in-between place, no longer

kids, not quite teenagers. We've been playing 

all day at her house halfway down Dog Street

from mine. She's been teaching me how to match 

colors and tie knots to catch the hollow glass

globes used in beadwork. In the middle of her 

rhythmic, perfectly gradient green beaded turtle

shell, she places one ridiculous bright yellow

bead, off-center in one plate...

...She says in every piece of art you make

if you are Haudenosaunee, you include one flaw,

intentionally, so you acknowledge that only

the Creator can make something perfect.

Summary: Apple (Skin to the Core) is a memoir written in verse by artist and poet Eric Gansworth. He is a member of the Ononadaga Indian tribe living among the Tuscaroras, living on the Rez (reservation) yet an outsider on the inside. This is the story of his family, starting with the horrible boarding schools three of his four grandparents were sent to as children to "kill the Indian but save the man." Gansworth was the youngest of many children, born into a family of poverty and an absent father. The memoir is divided into sections as Eric tells us his story and the story of his family from his childhood on the Rez to his current life as an artist living off the reservation.

Review: Apple (Skin to the Core) was a 2021 Printz Honor book, an award that goes to the top YA books published in the US. The award is based on merit not necessarily on teen appeal. Though I was tremendously moved by many of the poems, others left me flat or I didn't understand at all. The books is long, 339 pages, and many of the poems are long, too. For this reason I have a hard time imagining that many teens will clamor to check this one out. However if they do, there is still a lot to like.

For one thing, reading the book helped me understand the experience of being an 'outsider' in a culture. "When we are born outsiders, we sometimes / find bridges we can make with our own stories / embracing the ways they are connected, instead / of pointing out the gaps between two sides"(284). And calling an Indian 'Apple' is to accuse him of being red on the outside but white on the inside. It is hard to be an outsider who is always accused of doing or being something wrong.

The poem that spoke to me, actually cut me to the quick, is titled "Lines Spoken to Me Through High School and, Let's Face It. Beyond." Each line starts with "You're (or your, or you've)..." with some compliment like "You're pretty smart... / You're pretty articulate..." followed by "you know, for an Indian" (171). Have I said or thought something like this? Oh gawd, I hope not. My heart breaks to think of rude things people say so thoughtlessly.

Gansworth must be approximately my age. He had a brother who served in the military in Vietnam, like many of my friends' siblings and he was (is) a big Beatles fan, like me. In fact, one whole section of poems In Apple (Skin to the Core) are titled for all the songs in my favorite Beatles album, Abbey Road. In the notes at the end of the book, he talks about that album and how it served as an inspiration for this memoir. "Abbey Road was the Beatles' last attempt to exist in that one identity before transforming into something else...I'm well versed in the act of taking last fragments of one's identity before leaving it for another, losing the old one forever" (334).

This book may not become everyone's favorite but I suggest that you give it go and see which of Gansworth's poems speak to you or deliver the message you need to hear today.

Source: print edition from public library.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material.     

-Anne

What was I reading?

 

What I was reading...

On my birthday, two weeks ago (Feb. 19th)---

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

This is quite possibly the best book club selection we've ever discussed. Check out my review (hyperlinked) to see why I think this.
 

A year ago (2020) ---

The Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

My, oh my, what a weird book. But as I look back on my review I think it has a lot of literary merit. (Click on hyperlinked title to read that review.)

Three years ago (2017)---

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

This is an incredible, INCREDIBLE audiobook using over 160 unique voices. I highly recommend it in the audio format. Others who read the print version weren't so sure.

Six years ago (2015)---

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I enjoy looking back on my old reviews. I remember being very fond of this book, but my review reminds me why and now I can say it again:  if you haven't read this book year, what are waiting for?

What about you? What were you reading last year and a few years ago?

-Anne

Nonfiction/Information book reviews: THE FIGHTING INFANTRYMAN and WINGED WONDERS

As a secondary school librarian I used the term 'nonfiction' a lot. Heck, over half my library was full of nonfiction titles. But if my job were an elementary school librarian I would have to learn to call them 'information books.' Today I will be reviewing two information books designed for elementary grade children and these two reviews will fill out my review of the 21 Cybils finalist books I read as a judge for the award. By now I hope you have read the other nineteen reviews and are aware of how excellent all the finalist selections were this year.

Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery by Meeg Pincus.

 

This delightful children's information book has a lot going for it. First the subject--butterflies. Secondly, the unraveling of a mystery that stumped scientists for many, many years. And thirdly, the knowledge that school children helped solve the mystery---Where do all the monarchs go when they migrate? In 1976 the world learned the answer. They migrate to the Oyamel fir tree groves of Central Mexico which is almost two miles above sea level. But who should get credit for this discovery?

Author Meeg Pincus and illustrator Yas Imamura show the readers how it was a team of people who, when all their parts were put together, solved the mystery. It was the college teacher who spent all summer chasing monarchs in his car trying to determine where they were going. It was the school children in Minnesota who painstakingly attached tiny papers onto the wings so if anyone found it they'd know how far the monarch flew on its journey. It was the hippie and his girlfriend who marched around the forests of Mexico until they found the spot where millions and millions of monarchs covered every  branch. It was the Mexican people who showed the hippies where to go.

If I were a elementary teacher teaching a science until, I would use this book for sure. It has darling illustrations and clearly shows the students the scientific steps taken to solve this wonderful mystery.

Source: e-book provided by the publisher.

The Fighting Infantryman: The Story of Albert D.J. Cashier, Transgender Civil War Soldier by Rob Sanders, illustrated by Nabi Ali

Albert Cashier was a born a girl in Ireland in the 1800s but wearing boys clothes was much more convenient when herding sheep. Later when Albert and his stepfather stowed away on a ship coming to American it seemed safer to dress as a boy during the journey and by the time they arrived in New York the old name was discarded and Albert was his name. For many years Albert worked at jobs only men would be hired for. Though short he grew up to be strong. When the Civil War was beginning Albert volunteered to serve but he had to pass the physical first. When the doctor only looked at his hands and feet, Albert passed and served honorably in the Union Army for four years. His secret was still intact. After the war he returned to Illinois and lived a quiet life surviving off his small war pension and the odd jobs he could pick up. One day when he was in his 60s Albert was in a car accident. The doctors and nurses agreed to keep his secret once they discovered his gender. Somehow it got out anyway and many people didn't believe that he was the 'man' who served in the Civil War so they wanted to take away his small pension. But members of his army company stood up for him and said that yes, this was the Albert they knew. Because of this accident and the news that accompanied his story, we now know about Albert Cashier, a transgender Civil War hero.

There is really no discussion of Albert's sexuality, just about his gender. I read this book to my three-year-old grandson in front of his parents. Afterwards I looked up and said, "I hope you are okay with this." Ian's Dad said, "He is already familiar with this topic because of Mulan." Just more information for a little kid to confirm that people are people and it is okay to be who we are!

 

The book has plenty of back matter which includes a photograph of Albert Cashier. I think this book is completely appropriate for elementary children.

Source: Print edition from the publisher.

-Anne

TTT: My Most Popular Blog Posts in 2020

 Top Ten Tuesday: 

(Off the board) My most popular blog posts in 2020 based on comments / traffic.

1. Review: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Letham. Feb. 28, 2020. (4/1202)

2. Review: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Jan.2, 2020 (25/182)

3. Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite books published in the last decade. Jan. 13, 2020 (35/199)

4. Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney. Jan. 17, 2020. (23/167)

5. Top Ten Tuesday: Starred Reviews. Feb. 3, 2020. (19/318)

6. Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Like that I Don't Talk About Much. April 13, 2020. (26/182)

7. Review: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. April 24, 2020. (27/303)

8. Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish I'd Read as a Child. April 27, 2020 (46/593)

9. Editorial: Black Lives Matter---A Look at the Literature. June 5, 2020 (14/238)

10. Review: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds. June 13, 2020 (12/755)

11. Sunday Salon: Independence Day and So Much More. July 5, 2020. (34/230)

12. Top Ten Tuesday: Pets I Have or Would Name After Book Characters. Nov. 16, 2020. (44/150)

13. Sunday Salon: Sept. 13th. Sept. 13, 2020. (27/197)

14. Sunday Salon: On the Count Down. Oct. 24, 2020. (25/188)

Wow. this was harder to do than one would think. I'm actually not exactly sure if I really captured the most popular posts or not. I do think it is interesting that most are from the first half of the year, which makes sense in terms of more time on the Internet.

-Anne

Nonfiction review: WALK TOWARD THE RISING SUN

Ger Duany is one of 20,000 children who left Sudan during its decades long civil war. These children are commonly called the 'Lost Boys of Sudan.' Walk Toward the Rising Sun: From Child Soldier to Ambassador for Peace is his story.

Ger Duany was born in village named Akobo in what is now South Sudan. His goals in life were modest: to be a good son and brother, maybe get an education, and when he was grown to become a soldier like this father. He wanted to make his parents proud of him. But then his village was attacked by the Sudanese Army and as a young teen he found himself a soldier himself, carrying a gun, and fighting with anyone at the drop of a hat. At fourteen he escaped to Ethiopia and lived in a refugee camp for a while. There for the first time in his life he went to school and found that he really enjoyed the intellectual stimulation. He didn't want to return home because of the lack of schools there but he did eventually go back to Sudan. In his young life he had encountered so much death and destruction when he was offered the chance to go to America via Kenya, he jumped at the chance.

Once in America life didn't seem to unfold as he planned either. First off he was embarrassed to be the oldest student in his high school with the lowest level of education. He also found other Sudanese boys to hang out with and would often get into fights. He didn't know how to be a good student with so little practice at it. After moving around a bit he finally ended up living with his relatives in Indiana, finished high school, and got a college scholarship to play basketball. Though he was very tall he wasn't very solid and injuries became a problem for him causing him to lose his scholarships. Around the same time he was approached to audition for a movie that Reese Witherspoon was making that was set in Africa. He got the part. Later while living in New York he found himself working as a male model. 

On the outside life seemed good. But on the inside Ger Duany was plagued by nightmares and desperately wanted to know about his family left behind in Sudan. When he did get back to Sudan and was able to see both of his parents the path forward began to, emerge for him. He realized that his childhood traumas didn't need to dominate his life as an adult. Once freed from these demons he could finally move forward with purpose and hopefully could be an inspiration for others. He is still acting and modeling but now he is also a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a Peace Ambassador. 

At the end of the book he is reminded of the time, as a teen, when he and his family had to flee without a map just heading in the direction of the rising sun. He says:

"I pray these stories about my journey will engage, entertain, and galvanize you. May all your journeys continue toward the rising sun."

What I liked about the book:

• Like the book The Cat I Never Named about the Bosnian War, I learned so much that I didn't know about the Sudan Civil War. These first hand accounts are important sources of information to open up our minds about the travails of other citizens of the world, helping create empathy and understanding. 
• I listened to the audiobook read by Ger Duany. His English isn't perfect and his accent helped me to feel the setting and people better.

What I didn't like about the book:

• Ger Duany's anguish and feelings weren't always apparent through the printed word. I wondered if this was a translated memoir, originally written in Arabic or his native language but it wasn't.

Source: Print book from the library and Audible purchase for the audiobook.

-Anne