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.