I Remember Beirut

Finished December 11

I Remember Beirut by Ziena Abirached

This graphic novel is a recollection of the author's memories from living in Beirut as a child during the Lebanese War. This is a collection of memories illustrated in simple yet bold black and white drawings. It includes maps that help bring the memories to life by showing the overall setting and urban geography of where she and her family lived. Because there are many memories of daily life from how they shopped and went to school, and the limited movement they did, I got a very good sense of what life was like for them.

The optimism she observed in the adults around here despite their situation comes through and I could see how her situation was normalized in this way. I also found it interesting how one memory leads to another, from the man who drove the neighbourhood kids to the closest stop the bus would come to to his one very long fingernail (with the illustration showing one of the ways he used it) to Florence Griffith Joyner's fingernails. This book flows wonderfully, and I found it insightful.

Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret

Finished August 4

Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret by Ondjaki, translated by Stephen Henighan

This historical fiction book is told from the point of view of a boy who lives in a village, Bishop's Beach, near Luanda, the capital of Angola. He lives with his cousins and grandmother and their maid Magdalena. Angola was once a Portuguese colony and now the Soviets are running the country and, their soldiers in the village are building a large Mausoleum for a former Angolan president. There are some houses, a bakery, a garbage dump, a gas station that doesn't actually sell gas, with a lovely beach that fisherman use as a base for their work.

Granma Agnette is the one that tells the children what to do, that protects them in thunderstorms, and that tucks them in at night. Granma Catarina, Agnette's sister, dresses in mourning, stays on the edge of things and provides comfort and support. 

The gas station, located in the middle of a traffic circle, is manned by Comrade Gas Jockey who sleeps most of the time. One of the neighbours who everyone calls Sea Foam, acts and talks in crazy ways, dressing oddly, keeping an animal rumoured to be an alligator in a shed in his yard, is regarded with an edge of fear and a fair bit of awe. The narrator's best friend is Pinduca, who goes by Pi, and due to Sea Foam, is nicknamed 3.14. They also sometimes hang out with a bookish girl the same age, Charlita. Charlita's father Senor Tuarles often threatens to have his wife bring his gun when things get tense, but never uses it.

One of the security soldiers at the construction site, known as blue ants in the village for their uniforms, is enamored of Granma Agnette and visits often. He often talks about his homeland and how cold it is there and asks Agnette to go back there with him. He greets every one with Gudafter-noon, no matter the time of day and thus they have nicknamed him Soviet Comrade Gudafterov Lately there are rumours that someone has heard him utter the word dynamite in his own language and that there are plans to explode the neighbourhood. He has mentioned that they will relocating everyone to nice new houses.

The kids decide that they must prevent this from happening and come up with a plan. Meanwhile Granma Agnette has been getting pain in her leg, and after a visit from one of her daughters, who works at the hospital and a specialist called Dr. Rafael KnockKnock (because he likes to say knock knock and rap on doors before he enters) decide that she must have a toe removed. After this, she is known as Granma Nineteen. 

The narrator travels to the hospital with her, and sees where she is going, and comes home to inform everyone else. They stop at the cemetery on the way to visit Granpa Mbinha's grave. 

This is a story of the wonders of childhood, the silliness and grand schemes. This is a story of families, of their closeness and support. And it is a story of community that even some outsiders recognize and respect. 

A great read. 

This Is The Night Our House Will Catch Fire

Finished September 3

This Is The Night Our House Will Catch Fire: a Memoir by Nick Flynn

This memoir began with Flynn telling stories of his childhood to his young daughter. One story was about the night the first house his mother owned caught fire when he was seven years old. It was across the street from the fire station, and it had significant asbestos content, so although heavily damaged, it didn't burn down. Other stories are about the old man who lived nearby, the fear he instilled and the odd collections of things he had. He talks about the saltmarsh he crossed to get to school, and the world of books he lived in.

Alongside these stories to his daughter he talks about the trips he made back to his hometown with her, his marriage and the insecurities and communication issues that affect it, and his mother's death by suicide. 

The chapters here are short and dreamlike, as he tries to piece together his past and make sense of what are memories and what has been imagined. He examines how that fiery night has stayed with him and still affects him in many ways. The writing caught me and held me to the story, wanting to see what he learned, how he moved forward following his exposure of the past and the secrets he held onto. 

Before We Were Yours

Finished May 3
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

This novel is inspired by real events. The general historical story is true, but the characters in this book are not. However what happened to the historical characters here really happened to people and is a part of history that needs to be brought to light.
This novel has two timelines. One begins in 1939 and takes place mostly in Tennessee. It is the story of a poor family, who lived on a riverboat. Rill is the oldest child in the family and the narrator, and as her story begins, her mother Queenie is in labour. The labour is a difficult one, and the midwife says that it is beyond her skills. As Rill convinces her father Briney to take her mother to the hospital, she is left in charge of her younger siblings: Camellia, Fern, Lark, and her toddler brother Gabion. This family is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the children end up being taken from the boat under false pretences, and brought to an orphanage. Because most of this family is blond, they are more highly prized than some of their fellow victims.
As we see the terrible actions and conditions at the orphanage, and learn of the tactics involved, we understand and Rill, try as hard as she can, will not be able to keep her family together.
The true story of the society woman Georgia Tann, and her children's homes, which was supported by those in power for years, and had assistance from social agencies and lawmakers, is a terrible one. Hundreds of children were taken from their homes, and communities. Some were taken walking to school, some from their homes directly, but all were taken to group homes where they were abused, fed inadequately, and separated from their siblings. Many had loving parents that had no chance to recover their children against the powerful woman who had stolen them.
As Rill tries to fight for her siblings, and another young boy taken at the same time, she learns fear and distrust, and yearns for her river life.
In the present, another young woman, Avery Stafford, a lawyer and daughter of a senator in South Carolina, is home to support her father who is fighting a cancer diagnosis, and accusations of other types. Avery also takes the opportunity to visit her grandmother Judy, who has been placed in a secure care home as dementia gradually takes away her knowledge of the world around her. After a chance encounter with another nursing home resident, Avery begins to dig into both that woman's past and her own grandmother's to find out what connects the two.
This is a story that brings another sad historical experience to light, in a way that lets the reader experience the heartache and loss that these victims dealt with.
Highly recommended.

Hinterland

Finished October 31
Hinterland by Caroline Brothers

As the book opens, Aryan, his little brother Kabir, and a number of other refugees are crossing a river from Turkey to Greece in the middle of the night. Aryan and Kabir are from Afghanistan, fleeing to Iran with their mother when one of their older brothers and their father are killed. Now the two boys are on their own, with a plan to get to London, where they believe people are good and human rights are strong, and they will be able to go to school and have a future. Their mantra as they travel is the recitation of capital cities on their route: Kabul-Tehran-Istanbul-Athens-Rome-Paris-London.
Aryan is protective of Kabir, and has befriended another Afghan refugee Hamid, who seems more knowledgeable. But circumstances soon separate the brothers from Hamid, and they are on their own again.
As they move along their route, sometimes stalling for long periods of time and other times moving quickly, the boys meet people who are helpful and people who take advantage of them. They undergo many difficult situations, but never lose sight of their goal.
The author worked as a journalist and saw many of the places the boys cross through herself, talking to refugees, and those trying to help them, and learning of their stories. Many of those stories inform this book, and the truth of those experiences bring this book to life. You can imagine these boys being real, as so many children are undergoing similar experiences.
The book includes an interview with the author and information for further reading on this subject.
A very captivating and worthwhile read.

Born a Crime

Finished March 18
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

This memoir by the host of The Daily Show looks at his childhood in South Africa, from his birth, through his early adult years. It is well known that his mother was black South African and his father was a white Swiss man, working in South Africa. It becomes clear that his mother was a very independent woman, one who knew that she wanted more than what her place in society should have brought her. She worked hard, and got herself skills beyond most women of her background, and found a way to have a child on her terms.
Trevor was a child that didn't fit into any of society's categories in his country of birth. He watched, and listened, and learned, and he found a way to fit himself in to each situation he encountered. His life wasn't easy, and he didn't always make good choices, but he looks to his mother for instilling in him values, a work ethic, and an outlook on life that made him go out and find a life for himself. This is a book that opens us to a world most of us aren't familiar with, and that isn't shy about some of the more difficult things that Noah dealt with.

Dream Days

Finished April 30
Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame

This novel was originally published in 1898. It seems to have been written for adult readers, although it appealed to younger readers as well.
Reading it now, I found the language a higher level than children's books of today, and don't think the kids I know would find it an easy read. They would definitely enjoy the stories, but might not be familiar with all the vocabulary, and might find the language less natural to the way we talk today.
The book is a collection of eight related stories, all told by an unnamed boy narrator, He has an older brother Edward, and a younger brother Harold, and two sisters, Selina and Charlotte. Charlotte is the youngest of all of them. They live with aunts and uncles, seldom seen in the stories.
To give an example of the language, here are a few phrases:

Not only a long-lost heir--an heir of the melodrama, strutting into your hitherto unsuspected kingdom at just the right moment, loaded up with the consciousness of unguessed merit and of rights so long feloniously withheld--but even to be a common hum-drum domestic heir is a profession to which few would refuse to be apprenticed.

Where the res is angusta, and the weekly books are simply a series of stiff hurdles at each of which in succession the paternal legs falter with growing suspicion of their powers to clear the flight, it is the affair of clothes that the right of succession tells, and 'the hard heir strides about the land' in trousers long ago framed for fraternal limbs--frondes novas et non sua poma.

Here and there in their ranks, however, moves a forlorn one who is blind--blind in the sense of the dulled window-pane on which the pelting raindrops have mingled and run down, obscuring sunshine and the circling birds, happy fields, and storied garden; blind with the spatter of a misery uncomprehended, unanalysed, only felt as something corporeal in its buffeting effects.

Of course not all the writing is like this, some of it is very appealing to younger readers. Perhaps it is that the nature of children's books has changed a lot over the more than one hundred years since this was written, and we now tend to write in simpler words, in simpler ideas. Perhaps we are doing children a disservice in this move away from more complex ideas and language. But there it is, I don't feel that many of the young people I am most familiar with would find this as appealing as their usual reading.
There is also a bit of a cultural change in terms of the nature of violent activity, such as when the young man envisions himself off hunting polar bears, something we really wouldn't see in today's stories. Surprisingly, however, the gender of the children doesn't dictate behaviour as much as one might expect, which is nice.
All that being what it is, the writing is lyrical, flows well, and the stories are imaginative and bring the scenes to life admirably.

 

The Wild Things

Finished March 31
The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

This novel is a tale inspired by the Maurice Sendak picture book Where the Wild Things Are. Max is eight and lives in the suburbs with his mother and his older sister, His mother's boyfriend Gary sometimes stays over too. He visits his dad in the city on weekends sometimes.
As the book begins Max feels left out and builds a snow fort where he launches a snowball attack against his sister and her friends. When they fight back, and then leave, he feels even more left out and initiates more bad behaviour against his sister.
Max's acting out frustrates both his sister and mother and when an angry remark from his mother sends him running, his flight leads to a small sailboat, a trip across the water, and an island where Max encounters a number of strange wild things and engages in a variety of destructive and wild behaviour.
The story of a small boy and his frustrations with his life, and how he exhibits that frustration through his behaviour is one we can see as all too real. It is only on the island where Max sees the consequences of his behaviour and has to deal with them himself that he grows up enough to see how his acts in real life affect his family.
An interesting take on a classic tale.

The Night Rainbow

Finished May 27
The Night Rainbow by Claire King

This enchanting novel lets us into the world of Pea, short for Peony, a girl who is five-and-a-half and dealing with a world that has changed for her. Her papa has died in an accident, and her mother, who is pregnant has retreated into her sadness. Pea spends the day roaming from the farmhouse she lives in down to the lower meadow which is across the stream and past the donkeys, or up to the windy hill, where the windmills turn and she can see the far away sea. She and her younger sister Margot, four, try to do things to bring back mother's smile, but can's seem to get it right.
Pea's mother was pregnant before, but when she went to the hospital she came home without the baby and she was sad. Pea is hoping that this baby will make her happy again.
When Pea meets an older man, Claude, and his dog Merlin, she thinks she might have found a friend, or maybe even a new papa to do the things her old papa used to do like give hugs and fix leaks. But Claude is a lonely a quiet man with secrets of his own. When people see him with Pea they don't seem to like it and Pea wonders why.
Margot seems wise beyond her years, comforting Pea when she is scared, cheering her up when she is sad, and helping her find the right thing to say to her mother.
I've read a few novels that are from a young child's point of view and each one's voice is unique, but they all seem to capture the combination of innocence and knowledge, of wonder and pleasure in simple things that we often lose as we grow up. Pea's voice is sometimes an uncertain one, but that is because her world is a bit uncertain at present.
The story takes place in France, and Pea's mother is English and that foreignness along with her sorrow over her recent losses have distanced her from the others in the village. It is Pea's connection with those who live nearby that will also help reconnect Pea and her mother to each other.

In the Shadow of the Banyan

Finished July 20
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

This novel takes us to Cambodia in the late '70s, in the time of the civil war. Raami is seven years old, the oldest daughter in a royal family. She wears a leg brace as a result of polio. She lives in Phnom Penh, with her father and mother and little sister Radana, her aunt Tata, and Grandmother Queen.
When the Khmer Rouge take over the city, Raami and her family are forced to flee their home. At first they go to their country home, near the Mekong river, but are soon forced out of that by the revolutionary soldiers as well.
As they join others, living in makeshift shelters, forced into further and further hardships, separated from those they love, Raami tries to keep her father's advice in mind. He told her that you can always find a tiny glimpse of beauty no matter what ugliness and destruction is around you. Raami's Papa is a poet and has told her stories ever since she was little, engaging her imagination and teaching her the myths of the Cambodian spiritual world. While witnessing the world changing around her, Raami keeps her imagination and the stories. She is a witness even while being a victim of the regime. Raami's voice is strong and individual and brings the novel to life before us. Raami is a child who is forced to mature under harsh conditions, forced labour and the loss of family members, but she hangs on to a bit of that childhood innocence throughout.
The author was also young, only five, when she too was forced out of her royal house with her family. Bringing portions of her own history into this story adds to the emotional integrity of the book, and the afterword, where she tells us briefly of her own story and her own return to Cambodia as an adult, is moving.
I also found the mention of the youth of many of the soldiers interesting, given the large number of child soldiers today in the Middle East and Africa. This seems to be a theme common to internal uprisings that warrants discussion.
This book is an amazing read, bringing a country in a difficult historical time to life for the reader. I highly recommend it.
My parents visited Cambodia earlier this year, and I look forward to talking to them about it after they read this book.

I am Half-Sick of Shadows

Finished January 12
I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley, read by Jayne Entwistle
I am hooked on this series and the lovely, unexpected Flavia de Luce. The series started with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, continued with The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag, followed by A Red Herring without Mustard. So that makes this the fourth book. Flavia is 11 (still) and has had a busy year. Here it is just before Christmas and her father has rented most of the house out to a film crew to get money to allow the family to stay in their home. The vicar gets the idea to call on the female lead to do an evening entertainment to raise money for the roofing fund for the church and thus the house is further invaded by villagers (in a good way). But like all good country house mysteries, snow arrives in earnest and traps everyone at the house.
The intrigue starts early and Flavia is heavily involved as usual. She manages to insinuate herself into every situation, all the while continuing her own plans for a chemically inspired Christmas that only she could think of. Great fun, with just the right dose of seriousness.

Too Far

Finished July 16
Too Far by Rich Shapero
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This is the story of two young children, Robbie and Fristeen. Robbie's parents have moved to Alaska for his father to do graduate study work. His mother is controlling and worries about his safety. His father encourages his sense of adventure and first moves to independence. His parent's marriage is breaking down and Robbie feels that he is to blame for some of the outbursts.
Fristeen's mother is more interested in her next fix than she is in her daughter. Fristeen runs wild, and is not cared for.
For one summer the two six year olds explore the forest around their homes, finding secret spots, learning about each other and both sharing and protecting each other from the two worlds.
In the forest they are led forward by Dawn and the Dream Man. They encounter the malevolent force Shivers that threatens them. This is a summer that will change their lives, and that they will never forget.
An interesting story and a glimpse into the mind of a young child.

Meandering Book

Finished June 6
The Pattern in the Carpet: a personal history with jigsaws by Margaret Drabble
This is by an author I like and I found it very interesting. It was about more than jigsaws, although a theme of jigsaws did meander through it. Drabble associates jigsaws with her Aunt Phyl, who taught her how to do them as a child, and with whom she shared the entertainment on visits as an adult. Besides jigsaws and their history, she also looks into other childhood games and books, mosaics and tesserae, and various bits of social history.
I found that I read this book slowly, both to keep track of all the different sidelines that were introduced and also to savour the reading.
A very enjoyable and entertaining read.

Teen Novel

Finished Nov 7
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
This is a book that is disturbing. The main character is a 9-year-old boy, Bruno, whose father is a commandant in the German army during World War II. Bruno and his family move from Berlin to a house out in the country. The only things around it are woods and a fenced-in area that Bruno can see from his room. Bruno is lonely and misses his friends from Berlin. His sister, Gretel, is a few years older and not a willing playmate for him. He decides to go adventuring, as he plans to be an explorer when he grows up, and during his first adventure finds a new friend.
As the book follows Bruno's life, we also see the situation and the people around him from his point of view. At the age of nine, and naive, he doesn't truly understand the nature of his father's job, or what is going on in the world. This makes his viewpoint interesting and I think is what really grabs you about the book. As the reader, we understand more than Bruno and yet can see how he would interpret things as he does.
This book is aimed at teens, and older children will be okay with it, particularly if they are engaged in discussion about the book.

Great Read

Finished February 2
The Rope Walk by Carrie Brown
This is a delightful read. Most of it takes place over the summer right after Alice turns ten. If it wasn't for her age, I'd be tempted to call it a coming of age novel. It is over this time period that Alice becomes aware of the adult world and the issues and worries that are present there in a way she hadn't perceived before. This is due to the presence of two new friends in her life. Theo is the mixed race grandson of the older couple next door. He was supposed to be spending the summer with his grandparents, but ends up spending it with Alice's family. Theo is both more adventurous and more fearful than Alice, and coming from New York City is more worldly than she is. Kenneth is an older man, who has come home to live with his middle-aged sister from a cosmopolitan life as an artist. Kenneth has AIDS and is physically frail, and asks Alice to come and read to him. The three choose the journals of Lewis and Clark as reading matter, and Alice and Theo are inspired to build a rope walk for Kenneth so that he can walk alone in the woods behind his house. Alice has grown up with five older brothers and her father, a university professor, so in some ways is older than many children her age, but they have also protected her from the outside world in many ways. Her development over the summer is engrossing to witness and I thoroughly enjoyed this book

Fascinating book about growing up

Finished October 12
Flower Children by Maxine Swann
This novel follows the maturing of four children growing up in rural Pennsylvania with parents that can best be defined as hippies. The parents divorce when the children are quite young and the story moves back and forth between living with the mother, and her various boyfriends, in the countryside, and visiting the father, and his various girlfriends elsewhere. It takes into account the grandparents on the father's side, also somewhat of a hippie nature, with many people coming and going, no focus on financial security and lots of free thinking. The one visit to these grandparents that is described is enchanting and sad at the same time. The visits to their maternal grandmother are quite different. They are on their best behaviour, dressed tidily and behaving politely.
The children are mostly free to spend time on what interests them, and yet are aware of the differences between their home life and that of most of their friends at school. The father in particular treats the children as small adults and talks to them of things like his sex life and other adult subjects.
The last chapter is one of reminisence, as the children visit their childhood home as adults and see it all with adult eyes.
The characters come alive and, with much of the book told from a child's perspective, the observations seem very honest and factual, without the overtones of approval or disapproval.
I really enjoyed this novel.