The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli

Han Yu's story was magical. Luli's was hard to get excited about. The book sat on my nightstand half-read for weeks before I really got into it.

Han Yu: A young boy living in 8th century China has a special connection with animals and, when the rest of his family is quarantined at a monastery for a coughing disease, ventures out on a trade route across China all by himself (with a dog and a camel) to earn money for a cure to save them. 

Favorite part: Some merchants try to steal Han Yu's camel Lotus, but then suddenly stop in fear and gather their belongings and book it. Han Yu has no idea what prompted their sudden departure. Later that night, one of the merchants' camels escapes from them and joins Han Yu. Afraid to be accused of robbery, he asks his new friend Du Fu to return the camel to the merchants but then ask if he can keep it. The merchants reveal to Du Fu that they saw a tiger with Han Yu (who they call Tiger Boy) and say he can keep their camel. 

Luli: A young girl living in Chinatown in NYC during the great depression discovers her parents might lose the mortgage on the restaurant they own and tries to help by quitting school and, eventually, selling steamed buns on the street corner.

Least favorite part: Two art robbers try to kidnap Luli and her friend (it just doesn't make sense in their line of work why kidnapping two kids is going to help them secure the ancient Chinese silk they're after) but they are saved by pigeons ex machina swooping down and attacking them! Because a man from a neighboring building trains pigeons? And apparently can command them to perform a coordinated attack on random art thieves? 

Conclusion: I'm not even sure what they taste like, but I would really like to eat some steamed buns right now.

A Sea of Lemon Trees

I had never heard of "The Lemon Grove Incident" before this novel! I'm realizing this happens quite often with Newberys. Maybe I need to study more history, but for now I'll just rely on my Newberys to teach me. 😏

Roberto Alvarez tells his version (in verse) of being lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against his school district (in Lemon Grove, CA) when they decide to kick out all the students with Mexican ancestry and send them to their own school in a barn (in 1930). When the kids are not allowed back in their elementary school after Christmas break, the families form el Comite de Vecinos de Lemon Grove and contact the Mexican consulate for legal assistance. Roberto, born in the United States and fluent in English and Spanish, is chosen to represent all 75 kids because he is a model student. And the judge rules in their favor! A full two decades before Brown v. Board of Education!

I love true stories of people fighting injustice. I love Spanish. I love Spanish-speakers. Three great reasons to love this book. 

All the Blues in the Sky

Sage's best friend dies on her thirteenth birthday and she tells the story of her grief through verse in this novel. It doesn't sound like the premise of a page-turner, but I read it all in one sitting and enjoyed it.

 

Sage is likeable and relatable, flawed and genuine, poetic and deep. Though my experiences with grief have been different from Sage's, I think the book acknowledges and explores that very truth in depth so I could still connect with her. 

When Sage gets her first kiss just weeks after her friend dies, it reminded me of deciding to get married a month after I lost my mom. I told some friends at dinner about my engagement and my friend's husband was super skeptical. He cautioned me about making such an important decision while my grief for my mom was still fresh. Instead of being annoyed, I tried to appreciate that he was making sure I was thinking rationally (but in truth I was still a bit annoyed). Happy and sad and annoyed can all co-exist.

Recommendation: Sure! It's a super quick read and probably would be a great resource for any adolescent or adult at any stage of grief.

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest

A refreshingly unique story: A physically deformed fox named Clare has been working for 6 years as the Usher into the afterlife, helping animal souls head to the correct realm after they die - Progress, Pain, Pleasure or Peace. (If you're curious, I would most definitely head straight to Progress.) But then a snappy, blunt badger shows up and Clare can't figure out where she is supposed to go. 

Genuinely loveable characters: Not for one moment did I believe the lie that Clare was destined for Pain. He was so resourceful, so passionate, so organized, so good at his job and so delightfully unsure of himself. And Gingersnipes! So candid and friendly and helpful and unintentionally funny. 

The narrator: I laughed out loud at some of her break-the-fourth-wall comments to the reader, especially near the beginning of the book (she kind of stops after the first few chapters, but that was probably for the best to immerse oneself in the story). 

I have a new litmus test for how I really feel about a Newbery: Would I recommend it to my fourth grader? For The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, I already did!

One Big Open Sky

One Big Open Sky had all the promise of a great book.

Great premise - a black Mississippi family heads west in 1879 with the hope of land and a new life in Nebraska.

Admirable protagonist - 12-year-old Lettie is smart, loves to read newspapers and journal their journey, and knows how many miles they've traveled without even needing to count; she can just tell.

Promise of intense conflict - racism, bandits, unfriendly wildlife, river crossings, weather!

But despite all this, I had a hard time getting into it. It sat on my nightstand with a non-fiction self-help book my brother recommended collecting dust and tax papers for a couple months. 

I usually enjoy books written in verse, but I think I have a harder time immersing myself in the story. And the three different narrators - Lettie, her mom, and a young woman who joins them halfway through - really had me confused the first several pages. I even continued to get confused near the end because there was no pattern to who was talking when and I just had to go back to the beginning of the section to check who was narrating almost every time. And then there was Thomas - Lettie's dad. He was a deeply flawed character and it was clear everybody had problems with him (especially his wife) except for maybe Lettie. I felt uncomfortable every time I read about him. So when he died . . . honestly, I was so relieved. And maybe that's what the author sort of wanted us to feel but I still didn't like it. 

In the end, I think I liked the book. It just took me a while to get there.

The First State of Being

A time traveler! So fun! This is a cool idea for a book. I especially liked that the author cites future philosophers and future theories because it made the creation of her future more credible and thoughtful.

My one beef (*spoilers*): There is this big reveal at the very end when the time traveler - Ridge Sabio - gets back to his time in the future after visiting the thrilling year of 1999 and he reveals that he met Elizabeth Gibson and his whole family (of time travel scientist geniuses) freaks out and asks him all these questions about her and I was like, wait, who the poop is Elizabeth Gibson? So I RE-READ the entire book to figure out where she was mentioned because she was clearly someone important and I had obviously missed it and discover that she HADN'T been mentioned anywhere in the book. ?? And then I proceed to read the epilogue or post-book-notes or whatever you want to call them and THAT is where you discover who she is. Personally, I think it would have been cooler if the author had made a bigger deal about The Founder (always un-named) during the book because I apparently completely skipped over the two fairly insignificant references to her and therefore had no idea what the Sabios were talking about at the end. BUT the reveal was still very cool and perhaps the author really did want us to be super confused and re-read the book to try to figure out the connection. *shrug*

Across So Many Seas

Across So Many Seas tells four stories of 12-year-old Jewish girls in the same family line, all living in different locations and times but all experiencing oppression and religious persecution in various forms. I thought for sure one of the stories would be set in Europe in the 1930s since that's the Jewish oppression I'm most familiar with, but none of them were! The first story was set in Spain in 1492 and truth be told: I did not know that the Spanish monarchs expelled all the Jews! They all had to convert to Catholicism, leave the country, or die. 

In fourteen hundred ninety two, 

Spain expelled all of the Jews.

Oh, and Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

The next three stories were of grandma (1923, Turkey), mom (1961, Cuba) and granddaughter (2003, Florida) and were more compelling than the first only because we already knew the family and the backstory when the new story began.

My favorite story was about Alegra - a patriotic 12-year-old Cuban Jewish girl who goes to work as a brigadista during Fidel Castro's rise to power. I didn't know about brigadistas before (so much ignorance) but learned some cool stuff. For instance, as a result of Castro's "literacy campaign," the UN recognized Cuba as a fully literate nation just a year later? And Cuba currently has one of the highest literacy rates in the world - 99.8% approximately? And most of the Cuban volunteers who went to live with farming families and teach them to read in the evenings during the campaign were between the ages of 12 and 18?

Enjoyed the book, learned some stuff. Four stars.