Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

 

Summary from Goodreads:

New York Times bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.

YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.

MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.

Review:

I have some mixed feelings on this book. On the one hand, I love that there’s a book that encourages young people to become active in politics. It’s literally about two characters discovering what’s happening in their local govermenent and fighting their hardest to make a difference. Yes, there’s a love story. And there are side stories too with Jamie’s sister’s bat mitzvah, and Maya’s parent’s separation. But, at its core, this is a political story. And I loved this.

I also loved watching the friendship grow between Jamie and Maya. I love the idea of a relationship blooming over shared political interests. Maya gets Jamie out of his shell and teaches him that he can canvas and make speeches in front of people. And Jamie shows Maya that she can be honest to her friends and family and speak up about her feelings and what she deserves. They learn from each other and grow together. And because of this, I liked them together.

I also love the whole idea of a Jewish/Muslim love story. I love that they are fighting for the same things, and both are targeted by the same bigots in the story. I do believe this book was a work of peace, meant to bring people and cultures together. And I think in most regards the authors accomplished that here. I love that though both characters are so fundamentally different, they have a lot in common. If you like the show, the Office, you are in for a treat! The scene where they watch the Office together over the phone, was so adorable!

But, I do feel like some things were sugarcoated and this bothered me. At one point, when canvassing, a particularly awful human says some terrible things to Maya and she tells Jamie that no one has ever said anything like that to her before….I had to step back and go, “What? How is that possible?” I have been harassed for being Jewish, female, and other things, and my skin is white. I just find it hard to believe that Maya’s life could be that sheltered.

And then, I also felt like Jamie’s faith was understood a little more than Maya’s. I know I’m Jewish and I’m not an expert on Ramadan, but I know it’s about a lot more than fasting. And I kind of wish the book talked a little bit more about the holiday that Maya was recognizing for so long. So much emphasis was on Jamie’s sister celebration and what she had to do for it. But, all I learned about Maya’s holiday involved food (or the lack of it).

And then there was the ending. It made me feel uncomfortable –like her culture and her family’s wishes were being ignored, or they weren’t as important as Jamie’s culture. Don’t get me wrong. I love a romance as much as the next person. But…it just felt wrong to me. Maybe Jamie should have recognized Maya’s culture and respected what her family wanted or worked harder to get to know her family at least. I don’t know. It just rubbed me the wrong way, especially in today’s climate. And that’s sad because I know the authors were going for a book about peace and political activism. I just feel like it would have come across a lot stronger with a bit more editing and a new ending. I give it a 7/10.

A Good Week in Books (221)

What a weird year this is turning out to be. I say this after spending a large portion of my day online shopping for an office chair, something I should have done months ago….I’ve been splitting my work time between the library and home. And I kind of like it. I get a lot more work done, uninterrupted. And I’ve had drastically fewer migraines over the past couple of months. I’ve learned a lot about live streaming, digital copyright laws, and crafting. Now, I just need a chair that isn’t a kitchen table chair, so I’m more comfortable. I do miss working directly with children. Videos and screens are no replacement. But, I guess I’m adjusting? It’s crazy to know how much I can actually do from home.

I’ve been reading here and there. My reading schedule isn’t what I thought it would be while stuck in my house so much. I’ve been working a lot. And it’s not so easy to focus on one thing at a time. However, I’ve finished a couple of lighter YA books recently. I picked up a couple of older ARCs and I received one new book for review thanks to Swoon Reads. I hope everyone else is doing okay out there!

The new books:

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Deadly Curious by Cindy Anstey

The Phantom Twin by Lisa Brown

Summary from Goodreads:

A young woman is haunted by the ghost of her conjoined twin, in Lisa Brown's The Phantom Twin, a sweetly spooky graphic novel set in a turn-of-the-century sideshow.

Isabel and Jane are the Extraordinary Peabody Sisters, conjoined twins in a traveling carnival freak show—until an ambitious surgeon tries to separate them and fails, causing Jane's death.

Isabel has lost an arm and a leg but gained a ghostly companion: Her dead twin is now her phantom limb. Haunted, altered, and alone for the first time, can Isabel build a new life that's truly her own?

Review:

I’ve always loved twin stories. I think it all started with those terrible 90’s movies with the Olsen twins…So the idea of twins who are physically attached to each other? And there’s a ghost? And there are blurbs by Neil Gaiman and Ransom Riggs… Count me in.

This story is dark! I should have known, with those blurbs. First off, the twins have a surgery to separate and one of them dies right away and becomes a ghost that haunts the other (who now is missing an arm and a leg)! Isabel perseveres through it all though. She goes back to the circus, stands up to bullies, and falls in love.

I wasn’t expecting it to be so sad. I guess I was expecting more of an adventure/horror story. And I got this dark, sad, but equally riveting story of these twins who survived quite a lot. I found the freak show community to be really interesting. I’m glad the girls had a “home” there for as long as they did, even though it wasn’t always great.

The artwork in this book is what makes it though. The way the ghost is a mirror image of Isabel is just so creepy and spot-on. I love how the tattoo parlor was drawn too, and the circus. I easily could have kept turning pages and looked at more. It was really just stunning to look at. I loved it. All in all, this wasn’t what I was expecting. It was sadder and darker. I couldn’t put it down. I read it in one sitting. The art was gorgeous. And I really liked it. I give it an 8/10.

How to be Luminous by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

Summary from Goodreads:

When seventeen-year-old Minnie Sloe's mother disappears, so does her ability to see color. How can young artist Minnie create when all she sees is black-and-white?

Middle child Minnie and her two sisters have always been able to get through anything together: growing up without fathers, living the eccentric artist lifestyle, and riding out their mother's mental highs and lows. But when they lose their mother, Minnie wonders if she could lose everything: her family, her future, her first love . . . and maybe even her mind.

Review:

I remember being super impressed by Hapgood’s first YA book: The Square Root of Summer, so I was really excited to read another book by her. This wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. It took me a while to get into it. I almost stopped and gave up on this book several times. It’s no that it was bad. I just wasn’t feeling it. It’s sad. And it reads like a lot like a lot of other YA novels where the main character is dealing with the loss of her mother. To be honest, it reminded me a lot of The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan. But, at least that one involves traveling to another country….This one is just really slow.

Eventually, I did slip into the story. I liked the story of the sisters. I found all of the scenes with the three of them together to be the most interesting. I love the idea of a house of artist sisters.

However, I just don’t understand how they couldn’t all communicate. Pretty much all of main character’s problems would have been fixed with more communication, and it drove me crazy that the sisters weren’t talking to each other. None of that seemed healthy. Also, the whole older sister not talking to her younger sister because of a boy….ugh…..and then the love triangle? There were some serious flaws going on here.

I found the color/art elements to be interesting. I liked all the images of the clay, the paintings, the dinosaurs, everything to be so interesting. I genuinely think they added cool details to the story, as compared to just being reasons for why the mom was “flighty,” as is often the case with artist parents in YA novels. And I guess that’s the full circle of my problems. So much of this book is stuff I have seen before. It’s a book of YA tropes: grief, uncommunicative family, loss of a parent, love triangle, magical realism, artistic parent figure who also suffers mental illness, etc. The author’s first book felt so fresh. And this one feels almost the opposite. I was expecting more.

I didn’t hate this. It was perfectly fine. I just wanted more than fine. And I wasn’t in the mood for a grief novel, during a pandemic (which isn’t really the book’s fault), but still. Not the best. I give this one a 6/10.

Giant Days: Not on the Test Edition, Fall Semester by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, and Max Sarin

Summary from Goodreads:

Going off to university is always a time of change and growth, but for Esther, Susan, and Daisy, things are about to get a little weird.

Susan, Esther, and Daisy started at university and became fast friends. Now, away from home for the first time, the girls, along with their male hall-mates, Ed and McGraw, find that college is more than academia and bad microwavable meals. In the face of holiday balls, hometown rivals, “personal experimentation,” and regretful hookups, they may be lucky just to make it past their freshman year.

Giant Days: Not On The Test Edition, written by John Allison (Bad Machinery, Scary Go Round) and illustrated by Disney artist Lissa Treiman and newcomer Max Sarin collects the first two volumes of the Eisner Award and Harvey Award-nominated series as well as issue one of the original webcomic in a deluxe hardcover.

Review:

So, I have to own up to something: I’m not good at accepting book recommendations. I’m a pro at giving them. Literally, it’s my job. I give them all the time. I take pride in recommending the right books for people. But, I’m so bad at getting to the books others recommend for me. I think part of it is that I love coming to books on my own. I love reading reviews. I love blogs, review journals, and articles. I hate being contacted by companies that want to do that part of my job for me…Seriously, it’s one of my favorite parts about being a librarian: finding good books and buying them.

However, I recognize this about myself. I feel bad that Nick, my husband, has a skyscraper-sized pile of books I’ve recommended to him, and I have practically two he’s recommended for me. So, I recently told him he could find me 3 graphic novels he thought I might enjoy. This was the book that was his top choice. So, I read it first. I haven’t gotten to the other choices yet….I will soon!

And, my verdict is that I really enjoyed it. This was a fun coming of age/college themed graphic novel. There were things I loved about it. I loved the friendship story. At it’s core, it’s about the three girls having each other’s backs no matter what. And I love this so much. I loved that it was more about their friendship than it was about the boys or the classes or anything else. I also loved that a lot of it felt real. I thought it was a good portrayal of the first year of college. There’s partying, test cramming, crushes, dancing, friends, awkwardness, finding yourself, and so much more and I feel like the writers understood this. It was the right amount social, right amount private, right amount experimental.

I also loved the art! I almost feel like the art is the more adult art of Raina Telgemeier. That’s it. This is the book to give to all the fans of Smile when they go to college! It has a similar aesthetic, but with more adult themes.

I didn’t love everything. Some parts of the story dragged for me. It could be that I was reading it in a format though where I had many, many volumes all attached together. So the flow felt a little off at points. The timeline was strange. Like it wasn’t fluid. You’d be in the middle of the school year, and then all of a sudden at the begiining….and then on vacation, and then back in the middle? I got a little confused.

Also there was one sort of fantasy fight scene in the cafeteria that didn’t make any sense to me. It just didn’t fit with the rest of the story, which isn’t fantasy at all. Like the whole giant book is contemporary fiction, and then out of nowhere, we have one fight scene where the girls are ninjas? Also, confusing.

Overall though, I loved it. I loved the girl power. I love the friendship story. I definitely plan on reading more. I know Nick owns more volumes, so I’ll definitely see where this story goes. And I’m curious to see what else he recommended for me. I give this one an 8/10.

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Summary from Goodreads:

In his latest graphic novel, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches.

Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.

But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships.

Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.

Review:

I was not expecting to love this book! I am not a sports person at all. The crazy, cool, fancy book cover and the author’s name grabbed me and pulled me out of my regular reading order. I was just planning on reading a few pages to see what was up. And I read half of the book before realizing it. Excellent graphic novels have this magic to them. They can just suck me in and envelope me in a story without any real effort. I just wasn’t expecting that to happen with a book all about basketball.

I watch zero sports. My husband and I actively dislike them. We go on dinner/movie dates during the super bowl, even when it’s our state’s team playing. We are book and movie people. Nick likes playing video games. And I like crafts. But, neither of us enjoys watching or playing sports. I really thought there was zero chance I’d get sucked into this. I do really enjoy this author. I know he can tell a good story. I guess I was curious. Also, the book literally feels like a basketball. I can’t stop touching it. It has these deep grooves to it. If you can get a physical copy of it, go for it! It’s so much fun to touch. I guess the combo of the author’s name and the feel of the book drew me in.

I’m so glad it did. The book is kind of made up of three stories. It’s the story of Gene, the teacher, who also typically doesn’t like sports. It’s the story of the kids (aka: characters), who come from all over the world to play high school basketball at Gene’s school in the hopes of getting on to a college team. And these kids of various backgrounds and cultures are fascinating. The third story is of basketball itself. It’s the history of the sport, which I apparently knew nothing about. Yang goes into the sports creation and delves deep into its associations with poorer incomes, urban settings, and Catholic schools.

I weirdly found the history of the sport to be the most interesting. Not only am I not a sports person, but I’m not a nonfiction person either! However, learning about the socio-economic past and the racism behind the sport was so interesting –especially right now. Of course it makes sense that a sport that requires little to no equipment or space would be a sport that could easily be picked up by those with little to no funds.

And then there’s the kids who came from other countries to play basketball here! One came all the way from China. Other kids came from rougher local neighborhoods. The team is a mixed bag of cultures, religions, and races. It also takes place during a critical moment with the Black Lives Matter movement, and between reading that and the discussion about racism in the sport, I couldn’t help but find this book to be so critical in current topics for discussion today. There’s also a young basketball player who discuses the persecution of the people of his faith (the Sikh). I can see this book being used in classrooms to discuss many important topics.

At its core though, this is a book about the sport. It’s about the ups and downs of winning and loosing –how you can’t always predict the outcome. Good guys always beat the bad guys in comic books, Gene notes at one point in the story, but the sports team you want to win, might not defeat their foes. I love that Gene gets sucked into basketball in the book, and I, the reader, do too. The sport is its own comic book, its own superhero. I give this a 10/10.

The Trials of Apollo Book 4: The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan

Summary from Goodreads:

In his penultimate adventure, a devastated but determined Apollo travels to Camp Jupiter, where he must learn what it is to be a hero, or die trying.

It's not easy being Apollo, especially when you've been turned into a human and banished from Olympus. On his path to restoring five ancient oracles and reclaiming his godly powers, Apollo (aka Lester Papadopoulos) has faced both triumphs and tragedies. Now his journey takes him to Camp Jupiter in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Roman demigods are preparing for a desperate last stand against the evil Triumvirate of Roman emperors. Hazel, Reyna, Frank, Tyson, Ella, and many other old friends will need Apollo's aid to survive the onslaught. Unfortunately, the answer to their salvation lies in the forgotten tomb of a Roman ruler . . . someone even worse than the emperors Apollo has already faced.

Review:

I couldn’t remember why I postponed reading this one. I knew I had a subconscious reason for stalling. I just didn’t remember why. Then one day in quarantine, I found this on my TBR pile and was like, “How have I not read this yet? It came out ages ago!” Then, I started reading and a few pages in, I remembered….

A character I cared about died in the previous book! How did I forget this? I mean I must have subconsciously remembered because why else did it take me so long to get to this book? Also, I didn’t think in my wildest dreams that I would ever say this, but I think this series has become my favorite by Riordan….I love this series so much. Not only does Riordan combine both the Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus series in one here, but he also involves the Gods in a way he never has before.

I was not expecting to love Apollo. I grew to seriously love him by the last book. But in this book, my love ran even deeper! When I first started the series, I was entertained by him and often annoyed by him. I often skipped his haikus and found them trivial in the scope of the story. Now, he’s come so far. I love his character as much, if not more than the other heroes. And I read every haiku! I cried with Apollo at the beginning when he had to explain a certain death.

I actually cried with Apollo a couple more times in this book. This book really messes with your heart. These heroes are not safe. And they are all (as always) willing to die, to save everyone. So, you never know what’s going to happen! People need to be saved all the time in these books! There are no breaks. Literally. This book is jam-packed with high stakes battles, car accidents, killer unicorns, evil birds, silent Gods, prophecies, the undead, terrible war wounds, bombs, explosions, and I know I’m not even remembering it all. It was crazy. It was hard to put this book down.

I’m so glad I finally read this. I cannot wait for the final book. The last book is taking place in New York. So, I know more old friends will be there. But, also, I just need to know how the prophecy ends. Does Apollo finally get to go back? More importantly, do I want him to? And what’s the last haiku going to be? I give this one a 9/10.

The One and Only Bob Katherine Applegate

Summary from Goodreads:

Bob sets out on a dangerous journey in search of his long-lost sister with the help of his two best friends, Ivan and Ruby. As a hurricane approaches and time is running out, Bob finds courage he never knew he had and learns the true meaning of friendship and family.

Review:

I discovered Ivan rather late in the game. I feel like I only just listened to the audio book, on my short drives to and from work. But, time feels so strange now. 2020 has got to be one of the strangest years of my life. And time just doesn’t seem to work as it normally would. How is it the middle of June right now?

I had no idea there was going to be a sequel to Ivan! It was lucky happenstance that I chose to read The One and Only Ivan just months prior to the release of this sequel. It was also extraordinarily lucky that I happened to open an email that mentioned a webinar with the author! I can get what seems like hundreds of emails a day in (in my work account). I often delete emails that mention webinars because I don’t have the time to attend them, let alone read about them. However due to working so much from home this year and having a little more time for digital, professional development, I read the email about a Q and A session with Katherine Applegate, and I was shocked to learn about this sequel!

I went ahead and pre-ordered the book right away for my library, and got in line for the eAudio. I attended the webinar of course, and remembered why this author was just so amazing. She has this way of getting into the heads of her animal characters. She really can think how you’d imagine a dog or a gorilla might think. And it was so wonderful to hear her talk about Bob and Ivan, and the upcoming movie (which I also didn’t know about!).

Reading this sequel was a special treat. I had no idea it was coming, or that I might even have wanted it to begin with. But, I think I secretly did. It was a little bit more closure than we were allowed before. It was a few more answers to questions I never hoped I could possibly go back to.

Bob was never my favorite character. It was fun hearing Katherine Applegate talk about how he was hers. She saw him as the comic relief. But, I never viewed him as such. I found him a little hard to love. I immediately took to Ruby and Ivan. But, I had to grow to love Bob, and even then, there were always parts to him that bothered me a little. I guess this book filled in those parts. I got to see fully what made him the way he was. His story is a sad one. And he’s such a great a character. I’m glad I had the chance to get to know him more.

Did I love this book as much as the first one? No. I think part of the reason Ivan was so magical was because there aren’t many gorilla books out there. Ivan was truly one of a kind. I have read a million and one dog books. There are now even adult books written from the dog’s perspective. And in that regard, this felt a little less special –a little less fresh. Bob isn’t as unique as Ivan. I know that’s not necessarily fair. How can I compare a dog to a gorilla? Though, it is what it is. This book did have a lot of action in it, possibly more than the first one. There were natural weather disasters, rescue missions, family dramas, and lots of new characters. The reunions with old characters were definitely the standout moments for me. I can see kids loving this book just as much as the first one. It just wasn’t quite as special for me. I give it an 8/10