Phoenix

I saw that Kimberly Brubaker Bradley had written a new book, so I got Phoenix (Book 1 of the Ride On series) from the library. The book description says, "Harper’s life has just exploded. Her parents are getting a divorce. And she suspects her best friend, Cat, may have known the reason for it long before she did. Now Harper and her mom are starting over in a cramped house, in a new town, where everything feels unfamiliar, including the riding barn next door. Harper’s never been around horses before. And no, she does not want to learn to ride—Until a truck dumps a starved and neglected horse right in Harper’s yard. Harper has no idea what to do with a live horse, let alone a nearly dead one. But one look at this horse’s huge eyes and skinny body, and something inside Harper unlocks. The horse is named Phoenix, she decides. And she will not give up on him. Neither, it turns out, will Phoenix give up on her. She doesn’t know it yet, but this is Harper’s first step—toward new friends, new challenges, new adventures. Toward riding."

This was a nice read. I liked that it was a short middle grade book (only 162 pages), which is hard to find. I really liked the characters and rooted for Harper as she sorted through some difficult situations and emotions. I would enjoy reading more the series and would recommend this to my kids. I didn't LOVE this book like I have some of the author's other books, but I still enjoyed the read and was engaged in the story. (P.S. I think technically this is an older middle grade book, like ages 10–14.)

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

A Year Without Home

I saw A Year Without Home by V.D. Bidania on a new book list and got it from the library. The book description says, "For eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, home is the lush, humid jungles and highlands of Laos. Home is where she can roll down the grassy hill with her younger siblings after her chores, walk to school, and pick ripe peaches from her family’s trees. But home becomes impossible to hold onto when the communist government takes over after U.S. troops pull out of the Vietnam War. The communists will be searching for any American allies, like Gao Sheng’s father, a Hmong captain in the Lao Army who fought alongside the Americans against the Vietnamese. If he’s caught, he’ll be killed. As the adults frantically make plans – contacting family, preparing a route, and bundling up their silver and gold, Gao Sheng wonders if she will ever return to her beloved Laos and what’s to become of her family now. Gao Sheng only knows that a good daughter doesn’t ask questions or complain. A good daughter doesn’t let her family down. Even though sometimes, she wishes she could be just a kid rolling down a grassy hill again. On foot, by taxi and finally in a canoe, Gao Sheng and her family make haste from the mountains to the capitol Vientiane and across the rushing Mekong River, to finally arrive at an overcrowded refugee camp in Thailand. As a year passes at the camp, Gao Sheng discovers how to rebuild home no matter where she is and finally find her voice."

This was a great read. It took me awhile to get through (which is surprising since it's written in verse and I usually breeze through these kinds of books), but once I got into it, I was engaged and kept wanting to pick it up. I was not sure to put this book as liked or loved, but once I finished and then read the Author's Note, it definitely moved into loved as I learned about the experiences being based on her family's real experience. I thought it was a powerful story, and the author wrote it perfectly well for children -- they can  understand the experiences of a refugee, but the book is never too heavy for this audience. I loved how the author portrayed Gao Sheng's feelings and her desire to find her place. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

Anxietyland

I got Anxietyland by Gemma Correll (a graphic novel memoir) after seeing it on a new-book list at the library. The book description reads, "In 2018, Gemma Correll had a panic attack that lasted for weeks on end. Unable to do much more than walk aimlessly through the streets of Berkeley, Correll admitted herself to the hospital to reckon with The Bad Feeling that had been her companion since she was a child. With her ingenious and charming illustrations 'bursting with personality...peppered with witty asides' (Publishers Weekly), Correll leads readers through the amusement park in her own mind—featuring severe anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, and dissociation—a frightening and darkly funny world that 'feels like a place apart from "real" life.' A hilarious thrill ride exploring the mysteries of the mind-body connection, Gemma Correll’s graphic memoir is shot through with the absurd knowledge that there is no linear way through Anxietyland, nor any cure-alls—but there are ways to feel better if you keep trying to move forward."

This was an amazing book. I found the book relatable and both serious and funny. (Like she addressed everything related to her mental illness as real but somehow also made me laugh out loud.) The illustrations were amazing, and it was the type of graphic novel I enjoyed reading. I feel like she helped readers understand what it is like to live with mental illness. For those who don't have anxiety, she helped explain what the journey is like, and for those who do, it just helps them feel less alone. She was super vulnerable and authentic, and I just loved reading her experiences. I'm having my 15-year-old daughter read this next.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

The Anxious Generation

I have had The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt on my to-read list for awhile and finally got through the hold list on the library. The book description says, "After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the 'play-based childhood' began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the 'phone-based childhood' in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this 'great rewiring of childhood' has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies. Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the 'collective action problems' that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood."

This was a great read. I was super engaged and was glad to see the author addressing these issues. I felt validated with some of the choices I've made with my kids regarding technology but also became aware of the choices I could make differently in terms of overprotecting my kids in the real world. I thought the book was super eye-opening, so I am planning to pick it for a future book club pick so I can discuss it with others. I thought the book made some great points about the impact it could make if lots of members of the community made the same choices to kind of change the expectations in our communities. This was a really thought-provoking read that addresses the current issues facing our kids--definitely would recommend.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

I Cheerfully Refuse

I read I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger on audiobook for book club. The book description says, "Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved and pursued musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. Rainy, an endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure and a lawless society. Amidst the Gulliver-like challenges of life at sea and no safe landings, Rainy is lifted by physical beauty, surprising humor, generous strangers, and an unexpected companion in a young girl who comes aboard. And as his innate guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his strengthening wake."

I really enjoyed this book. The story was engaging, and it was beautifully written. There were parts (even on audiobook!) that just stuck out to me and made me want to write them down. Like Rainy's description of Lark as "making the world better by being in it." The book was one of those ones that just made me amazed how authors even come up with storylines because the book had so many twists and turns that I never really knew where things were going, but I enjoyed it all. I always loved Rainy as a steady character who stayed true to who he was. I loved Sol and the parts where Rainy was reading to her and teaching her the letters. There were super annoying characters (the grandpa) and characters who just made the book worth reading (can't think of their names at the moment but the couple who Rainy meets who helps him and then he goes back to them in the end) and characters who were disturbing (Werryck). The book also just had an underlying message about the power of books, which I thought was beautiful. The story had some heavy parts and parts where it was just another bad thing and I had to put the book down for a bit to just cope before I could bear it again, but that just shows how engaging the story was. Overall, this was a great read--I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

The Dividing Sky

I read The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew for book club. The book description says, "In 2364, eighteen-year-old Liv Newman dreams of a future beyond her lower-class life in the Metro. As a Proxy, she uses the neurochip in her brain to sell memories to wealthy clients. Maybe a few illegally, but money equals freedom. So when a customer offers her a ludicrous sum to go on an assignment in no-man's-land, Liv accepts. Now she just has to survive. Rookie Forceman Adrian Rao believes in order over all. After discovering that a renegade Proxy's shady dealings are messing with citizens' brain chemistry, he vows to extinguish the threat. But when he tracks Liv down, there's one problem: her memories are gone. Can Adrian bring himself to condemn her for crimes she doesn't remember? As Liv and Adrian navigate the world beyond the Metro and their growing feelings for one another, they grapple with who they are, who they could be, and whether another way of living is possible."

It's been awhile since I read a dystopian type book, so this took me a little bit to make sure I was following the story and the new world correctly. But once I got into the story, I was invested and enjoyed following it to see what happened to the characters and how things worked out. It was a fun premise, and again, I probably would have had more to say if I'd written this review right after finishing.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Seeking Persephone

I read Seeking Persephone by Sarah Eden for book club. The book description says, "When Persephone Lancaster receives a marriage proposal from the ill-tempered Duke of Kielder, she refuses—and then reconsiders. The obscene sum of money he’s offering Persephone would save her family from ruin. With her characteristic optimism, she travels to the far reaches of Northumberland to wed a greatly feared stranger. Lodged deep in a thick forest infested with wild dogs, the Duke’s castle is as cold and forbidding as the Duke himself, a man with terrible scars on his body and his soul. But the Duke’s steely determination to protect his heart at all costs is challenged by his growing attachment to his lovely and gentle bride. With caring persistence, Persephone attempts to pierce the Duke’s armor and reach the man beneath. Yet he cannot tolerate such exposure, and his repeated rejections take their toll. But when grave danger arises, the Duke realizes he must face the risk of revealing his true feelings or lose the woman he cannot live without."

This was a fun read. I was interested in the story and enjoyed the characters. Some parts made me roll my eyes a little bit, but I enjoyed the book, and it made me laugh. I wish I had written this review right after I read the book and then I'd probably have more to say, but alas.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)