Dustborn

All Delta of Dead River wants is to protect her pack and protect her secret.  It is even more important now that Asher, who shared the secret was killed and the pack was diminished by about half.  But when her sister dies in childbirth things become even more complicated.  When she tries to learn the truth and save her family she ends up putting them more in danger and even finding that Asher is alive and that she has a long lost brother leads to more confusion and a lack of trust rather than assistance and peace.  Can Delta discover the truth about the map and find a place where water flows and people can live together in harmony?  Is the place even real?

This was a cool dystopian story with lots of twists and turns and some neat characters.  A solid choice and edgy enough for older middle grade students.

Unsettled

 

I do enjoy a good novel in verse - it is a relatively quick read which helps because I am seriously behind.  I also like the idea of less is more in many areas of life and writing a book like this requires punch without being wordy.

This is a solid middle grade novel in verse based on the author's experiences.  It is about a girl and her family who move from Pakistan and how they try to fit in, learn new things, stand up for themselves, and ultimately feel settled.  One to hand to anyone who is new or to those who aren't to develop empathy for those who are.

Finding Junie Kim

 

I find that lately my reviews are focused on what I liked and then what I didn't like because at the end of the day I haven't been thrilled with a book totally... and so it is with this one.  While there are things I really appreciated about it, overall it feel short for me.

What I Liked: The Korean War tie in.  So much of that time period is lost...  schools rarely make it that far in US History or World History and even then it is told from a US perspective.  The focus on bullying and how Junie ultimately dealt with it.

What I Didn't Like:  The writing style, especially between Junie and her grandparents as they were telling their stories seemed unnatural.  Junie's contemplation of suicide seemed very sudden and the build up to it didn't seem strong enough.  Too much reliance on 2016 as a point in history where certain issues emerged.  If this book is to last in middle grade libraries that reference will soon be lost to the readers.  Instead of taking a continual dig at the election and results that year a more general approach seems better.  Racism was an issue before and continues to be an issue - yes, there was a spike as some took the election as license to spew their hate, but there is much work still to be done.  I could go on with some of my views on this but I digress.

I wish the book had been a straight up historical fiction about the Korean War aspect or the interaction between Junie and her grandparents and less about the friendship and bullying sideplots.