The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story

 

I love reading Newberys about true events I never knew happened. I was not at all familiar with what was going on in Iran during World War II. 

There is a nearly perfect scene at the climax of the book. Babak and Sana (and Ben) arrive at a checkpoint heading into Ahvaz just after the Bahktiari nomads get there. There are Russian and English soldiers refusing their passage and nobody can understand each other and everyone is yelling in different languages. In a moment, Babak realizes he can help.

Somewhere else in the world, the two sides of the war are the Axis and Allies and all they have to do is shoot at each other from across a frontline. The neutral parts are the leftover places that have no lines, and catch whatever people spill into them from the battlefield. And now here is the mess of it.

Babak tries to get everyone's attention and finally yells, "If you can hear me, clap once." and then, "If you can hear me, clap twice."

After the two claps, it's properly silent now and everyone is staring at Babak. It's such a silly thing to have happened that all the adults are struck mute for a second.

Then Babak finds people in the crowd that speak the languages he needs. The Bakhtiari leader speaks to him in Bahktiari, then he talks to Ben in Farsi, who explains to a soldier in Polish, who communicates to Callum in English, who speaks to a soldier in French, who translates to the commissar in Russian. Then the response travels back through the chain. At first it is strained, but the two parties finally come to a resolution and sort out the "gift" (bribe) that the nomads must pay the soldiers to continue on the road.

I felt this scene was the very essence of the book. Peace is hard. It's harder than war. Making compromises requires effort and education can be a key to that process. Babak tries the whole book to prove to others (and himself) that learning another language is worthwhile, and then this incredible (fictional) stand off illustrates the value of it flawlessly. 

Biggest takeaway: For the first time ever in my life, I want to learn Persian.

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.

Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All

Cute, quick read about the daughter of two very hardworking NYC laundromat owners who goes on adventures with her new friend to find the owners of lost socks left at the laundromat. It explored themes of friendship, racism, cultural differences, familial love and forgiveness but my BIG takeaway was, "I can barely find the owners of lost socks IN MY OWN HOUSE! There is no way Magnolia and Iris found the owners of those socks in ALL of NEW YORK CITY!" For that reason, I feel confident classifying this book as a fantasy. Because finding the sock owner every time after two maybe three conversations felt purely fantastical.

The Wrong Way Home

I am shook.

Another Newbery shocker: A girl escapes a cult with her mom but she's so totally brainwashed that all she wants to do is go back to the cult. Who knew you could appropriately tell the story of a cult to a child audience? 

BUT as a result of reading this very realistic fiction, of course I went down an internet cult rabbit hole. And now I just feel creeped out and disgusted by the absolutely depraved things people are capable of doing. 

While reading, I kept commenting to my husband, "She is totally drinking the Kool-Aid. Still!" and he finally said, "You know that's a reference to mass suicide, right?" and I was like, "Of course!" but then realized I didn't know the full story behind the idiom and it is GROSS and despicable and left me feeling very icky. 

Now I see cults everywhere. I saw a billboard with a reference to Adam and Eve with a UFO on it and I was like, "Wha?" so I googled the website on the billboard and found a cult and then started reading about Scientology and I was like, "Yep, another cult." But THEN I was looking up lists of cults and I found MY very large, established Christian church on a list of cults in Russia (different countries have different lists) and I realized there are people out there who think *I* am drinking the Kool-Aid which made me sad but also gave me a little more empathy for Fern. 

The Wrong Way Home was a great read. It was suspenseful and terrifying but also hopeful and heartwarming. It was interesting to have Fern, the narrator, be the one who was misguided for most of the book and it made me wonder if any young readers would be confused by that. I feel sure, however, that by the time it is necessary to do so, every reader can confidently yell, "DON'T GET IN THE VAN!"

Eagle Drums

Eagle Drums is a retelling of the origin of the Messenger Feast - a traditional Inupiat gathering.  The Inupiat people are indigenous to northern Alaska and the author is a tribally enrolled member. 

All of that is really cool. And the story was good. It was well written and descriptive and interesting. 

But did the brothers really have to die? Their deaths seemed so pointless. And my pervading question throughout (and the whole purpose of the story is for us to wonder this) was, "What is in it for the Eagles? Why are they teaching him all this? What do they get out of making him a master of dance and song and drums and building?" This, by the way, is actually supposed to be the reader's pervading question, because the big reveal at the end is . . . it makes the Eagles immortal. It's so selfish! Why do we care about the Eagles? They killed his brothers! They're jerks! They steal people from their families! Let them get old and die! Maybe that is Inupiat blasphemy, but it is how I feel.

The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams

Positive: Best Newbery book title ever

Negative: Only one woman . . . and she was basically only an object of desire.

Positive: Great "twist" ending

Negative: Literally couldn't find a part to read to my second grader that I thought he would like

Positive: Samir's disguised kindness

Negative: Set in the 12th century

Elf Dog and Owl Head

I have been trying really hard to get my 8-year-old into chapter books. He loves graphic novels, but I'm never sure how much he is reading and how much he is just looking. And while I have grown to enjoy graphic novels, there is something about imagination and setting and story telling that doesn't happen with a graphic novel. The last chapter book I tried to get him excited about was actually above his reading level (which frustrated him), so I had him look at the covers of all my 2024 Newberys and decide which one he wanted to read. Elf Dog (obviously) won. So I read it once on my own and now he's reading it to me. While reading the first chapter, he reacted like this guy reading a fantasy novel. He kept looking at me confused and saying, "What?"  "What is a wyrm?" "Who are the people under the mountain?""Why are they hiding from humans?"

Not going to lie; it was kinda fun.

My review: This book was okay. Just okay. The fantastical bits were mildly entertaining. Angsty DiRossi was annoying. The consequences and explanations were incomplete. I didn't connect with any of the characters (except maybe the know-it-all little sister Juniper). Perhaps the biggest drawback: I just really don't understand people's love of dogs. 

Simon Sort of Says

 I spent the first several chapters of Simon Sort of Says eagerly awaiting the big moment where the author would reveal what tragedy caused Simon's PTSD. That didn't feel right - to be anticipating the description of a tragedy. And I couldn't figure out whether I should be ashamed of feeling that way or whether I should blame the author for structuring the story such that she didn't immediately reveal why Simon is so traumatized but alluding to a horrible event in his past ad nauseam. I did worry she was going to make me wait until the last chapter of the book to get the big reveal, but the truth - that Simon was the sole survivor of a school shooting - came out about halfway through the book. To be fair, if I had read the dust jacket before I read the book, I would have already known. Perhaps then I wouldn't have been so eager to hear a violent story. 

School shootings are completely nonsensical. They are. I can't even wrap my mind around why they happen and how senselessly tragic they are and perhaps that's why they are so completely fascinating - even fictional ones like the one depicted in this book. I can't even BEGIN to understand the trauma someone in Simon's shoes would experience and so I am totally in awe of this author for attempting to do so. I think what she did was important and relevant.

A note about the characters of this book: 

- Simon, Kevin and Agate all seem way too mature to be middle-schoolers. All their conversations are sophisticated, all their quips are clever and almost all their reactions are tempered and appropriate, even when they're in the middle of trauma episodes or panic attacks. But, while I did not think they were realistic middle-schoolers, I did find all three of them to be very likable.

-Simon's parents are so cool. Like, the most ideal pair of understanding and loving parents that someone in a traumatic situation could want. They honestly made me want to be a better parent. This is what the world needs! Better parents! 

The Eyes & The Impossible

In stark contrast to Mexikid, the title of this year's medal winner gave nothing away. And for the first couple chapters, even the text had me completely baffled. A dog's first-person account of being "the Eyes"? What does that even mean? And why has he been alive for hundreds of years? And why is he faster than the speed of sound? And THEN this completely unique and fresh tale of a dog who is an unabashed braggart and also ridiculously bad at telling time unfolds. 

This book is totally magic in the most unexpected way. I laughed out loud pretty much any time Johannes (the dog telling the tale) talks about running or ducks. I wept openly during Bertrand's (his best friend who is a seagull) coda. I relished Johannes' descriptions of familiar and unfamiliar things. 

One of my favorite brag passages:

I began. I took the earth under me and sent it into the past.  I did it again and again, taking the future and tossing it backward, and soon my eyes were glassy with cold speed and I was flying. I broke the speed of foxes and rabbits and kept going. I entered the speed of sound and broke it like a cheap toy. When I was flying across the picnic fields and could see the windmill and could smell the salty ocean, I became light itself. 

 And this one:

And then we'd create a distraction. Yes! When I thought of the distraction I laughed a little, because it was such a good idea that I loved my brain for thinking of it. Yes, a distraction.

 How does someone even come up with an idea for a story like this?

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir

I feel like I predicted the general gist and maybe even a few details of this book just by the title (not a bad thing, by the way). The author - Pedro Martin - tells the story of growing up a first-generation American born to Mexican parents in a graphic novel format. But instead of giving a broad overview of his childhood, the entire book is literally just one event: his family's road trip from California to Mexico in their Winnebago to pick up Pedro's grandpa and bring him back to the U.S. to live with them. With all 8 of his siblings and his parents. 

I think my favorite thing about this memoir (other than the laugh-out-loud funny parts) was that there were so many small details that were so random and genuine that they just felt true and were, consequently, funnier. Like that his mom always snapped bananas in half for a snack in the car or that his brother guzzled a milkshake when they first got to Mexico and the unpasteurized milk in it gave him the runs or that Pedro's only recorded cassette that survived the Mexican border guards' confiscation is one with the song "Shipoopi" from The Music Man. It made me feel like IF I could remember specific details about my own childhood and my family's quirks, I, too, could write a funny memoir. 

Mountains are Free

I genuinely thought this story was 100% fiction until the final four chapters. Admittedly, it still might be  complete fiction since William Tell is sort of just a legend, right? Maybe based on an actual man, but we're talking 1300s so who knows? I generally don't love stories set in the middle ages - they're always so bleak and hopeless and make me feel cold and dirty. I maybe appreciated this one more only because it told an actual story of the Swiss people fighting for their freedom. And Bruno, the main character, is pretty likeable.

Brief summary of Mountains are Free. I have decided it is actually two different books.

Book 1: Chapters 1-7. A mountain-born Swiss boy named Bruno lives with his neighbor, William Tell (who I didn't connect to THE William Tell until the end, as mentioned above), after he is orphaned. He decides to go work for an Austrian lord when they meet in the mountains which he and I realize almost immediately is a horrible idea. The Lord - Rupprecht - is cruel and lives in the feudal system like most of Europe (?) which is completely foreign to Bruno who has always lived as a freeman and goat herder in the Swiss mountains. Bruno travels with him to the Duke of Valberg's castle in Austria and befriends Kyo, a court minstrel, and Zelina, a young ward of the Duke. He witnesses poverty and cruelty from the lords to the peasants and even tries to run away back to the mountains once and is only saved from the dungeon (donjon) by his friend, Kyo. Then, finally, on the night of Zelina's hasty marriage to Rupprecht, the three friends manage to escape the castle in the bustle of an impending war and return to Bruno's home in the mountains of Switzerland.

Book 2: Chapters 8-10. William Tell and other freemen in Switzerland get tired of Austrian vassals trying to take away their freedom. The author tells the famous story of bailiff Gessler forcing William Tell to shoot an arrow off his son's head (as punishment for not bowing to Gessler's hat in the marketplace) and then Tell's admission that he pulled two arrows because he would have shot Gessler with the second if he missed the apple. The Swiss farmers and freemen then fight the bailiffs and Austrian lords placed in their mountains and win! And then a decade later an Austrian army comes to fight them and they win again! Then they are left alone for the next century.

Can you tell why it felt like two different books? Admittedly, Bruno does fight in one of the battles in the latter chapters, but it doesn't even feel like it's about him anymore. His story essentially ends when he returns to the mountains.

Conclusion: 
I'm so glad I don't live in the middle ages.

Children of the Soil

This is the first 1930s Newbery I have read in a long while that I actually had a hard time putting down. And I'm not sure why. The story follows a very poor mom and her two kids during one year in Sweden. There is never any real peril or conflict, though a few of the kids' classmates are punks. I just loved that through the kids' resourcefulness and incredible hard work, they are able to improve their family's situation considerably in just a year. At the start of the novel, they are too poor to even afford an egg for Christmas and by the next winter they own TWO cows. In fact, upon completing the book, I immediately felt the desire to start earning more money for my family. The urge only lasted one morning, but still!

Additional notes:

- The boy's name is Guldklumpen, which may be the most unique name I have ever read in a book ever. And he never uses a nickname! He is Guldklumpen the whole book through.

- Guldklumpen and Nikolina refer to their mom as "the mother" which was weird every time they said it.

- I would much rather my kids grow up poor than rich. So far, so good.

Jane's Island

I would argue there is more explanation of the scientific method and very specific science research in this 100 year old Newbery than in any other I have read. Ellen, a Chicago college student, goes to Massachusetts to be a "nanny" to a 12-year-old aspiring scientist and adventurer named Jane for the summer. Jane's dad is a scientist and does research on planaria (flat worms?) at a nearby laboratory. Ellen and Jane go on all sorts of sciencey, marine-lifey adventures. The characters were interesting. The setting was cool. I had to read it very quickly over Thanksgiving in Texas so I could hand it off to my dad before he went home to return it to his university library in Utah. But he brought me two more!

Out of the Flame

Another biographical fiction! And now that I know it's a legitimate genre, I wasn't as bothered by all the made up stories about real people. EXCEPT for this minor detail: I can't find any internet evidence that the main character actually existed?? 

The story follows Pierre de Bayard, an orphan page who serves King Francois I during the early 1500s, and his life at court with the children of the King (Prince Francois, Prince Henri - future king of France, Prince Charles and Princess Magdaleine and Princess Marguerite). He is nephew of the famous knight Pierre de Bayard, student to the scholar and philosopher Master Fabri and he "owns" a little hunchback dwarf named Jac who is his dearest friend. They go on adventures, he butts heads with Prince Henri, he aspires to be a great knight but also longs to be a scholar like Fabri, he idolizes his Aunt Marguerite, he learns about humanism from Sir Thomas More, he almost gets kidnapped with Henri, then he actually gets kidnapped and gets freed by Native Americans that Cartier brings back from the New World. And the author writes a postscript about what happened with all the characters, including Pierre (who apparently became a famous scholar and mathematician). So I of course looked them all up to read their stories and everyone in the book is totally real - the king, the princes, the king's sister, Cartier the explorer, Thomas More, Pierre's famous uncle who he's named after - but I can't find anything about HIM. 

So was the main character made up?