ARC Review – The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Title: The City We Became

Author: N.K. Jemisin

Rating: ★★★★ 1/2

Synopsis: Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She’s got five.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

Huge thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada for this ARC!

Sam’s Review:

This is my first N.K Jemisin novel. I had read short stories by the author and a lot of her essay work, but this was the first book I physical grabbed and decided to take the plunge with. The City We Became is a fascinating, superhero-esque story, full of so many New Yorkers, some just trying to live their lives, and others who are fulfilling a larger purpose.

This book is brilliant, smart, disturbing, crazy, and might be one of the best love letter’s to NYC imaginable. So much of this story asks the reader to use their imagination, to suspend as much disbelief as possible, and focus on a large scale battle between the major neighborhoods, each with their own desire for power. The city’s five protectors can’t agree with one another, and there’s a big bad coming to destroy New York and swallow it whole.

I LOVED this book. It was so weird and intense throughout, and I loved how every NYC neighborhood had a distinctive personality and character that I am sure feels true to life. The way in which characters come together to fight this apocalyptic event has note of humour, and a great amount of terror. The City We Became has such a great premise, a fantastic ensemble cast, and will keep you turning pages long into the night.

ARC Review – The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert

Title: The Only Black Girls in Town

Author: Brandy Colbert

Rating: ★★★★ 1/2

Synopsis: Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only black girl in town for years. Alberta’s best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can’t understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black-and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her.

Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living.

When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie’s attic, they team up to figure out exactly who’s behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems. 

Huge thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada for this ARC!

Sam’s Review:

Want to read a wonderful book with great characters and a good mystery? The Only Black Girls in Town is Brandy Colbert’s middle grade debut, and my goodness was it a chef’s kiss of a story.

Albert and her family for the longest time, were the only black family in town. Her best friend, Laramie, though wonderful, cannot necessarily understand everything that Alberta goes through in terms of how differently at times she is treated by others. When Alberta learns that a new black girl has moved to town, she is elated. While Alberta is hoping that she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends, she starts to learn that Edie is struggling with being homesick for Brooklyn, New York. When the girls begin to explore Edie’s new home, they find old journals sharing painful secrets of someone’s life who was left behind.

I loved this book! I loved the distinct voices between Alberta and Edie. I love how genuine both girls are with each other and how they don’t shame others for not necessarily knowing what it’s like to be black — in fact this story has the characters doing a great job of educating others! The best parts of the story were the girls reading the journals that had been left behind and having the desire to find out who they in fact belonged to. There’s a really good mystery there, and I loved the end results of the story because the payoff was very good.

This is a great middle grade debut that offers a lot to younger readers. It’s a great story about being different and yet having your differences be complimented and wanted. I love how so many elements, such as Alberta having two dads, is very normalized in the story, and I loved and wanted to hug Edie when she felt homesick. Definitely check out this book if you love a good contemporary story!

Late to the Party ARC Review – Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai

Title: Under a Broken Sky

Author: Mariko Nagai

Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Natsu and her family live a quiet farm life in Manchuria, near the border of the Soviet Union. But the life they’ve known begins to unravel when her father is recruited to the Japanese army, and Natsu and her little sister, Asa, are left orphaned and destitute.

In a desperate move to keep her sister alive, Natsu sells Asa to a Russian family following the 1945 Soviet occupation. The journey to redemption for Natsu’s broken family is rife with struggles, but Natsu is tenacious and will stop at nothing to get her little sister back.

Huge thank you to Raincoast for this ARC!

Sam’s Review:

While I am not a huge lover of historical fiction, Under the Broken Sky caught my eye because it’s a book rooted in Japanese history. More specifically, the 1945 Soviet occupation, which ended up pushing so many Japanese family apart for a variety of reasons, none of them good.

Under the Broken Sky is a story written in verse, as it looks as twelve-year-old Natsu, who has lived with her family near the Manchurian/Soviet border for her entire life. When the Russian began to push into Manchuria, Natsu and her sister Asa are forced to flee, and become orphaned in the process. Even worse is in this period upon which they are destitute, Natsu is forced to sell her sister Asa to a Russian Family in order to ensure her survival.

This story is heartbreaking from start to finish. It’s a difficult tale of losing everything and having to cope with so much happening at a young age. Natsu’s story is horrific, and you feel for both the destruction that she witnesses, and the sacrifices she must make being only twelve-years-old. While I wouldn’t recommend this book to younger middle grade readers, I feel confident that older readers will enjoy the story. It’s a challenging story to stomach at times, but it’s also a very valuable one to say the least.

ARC Review – Gloom Town by Ronald L. Smith

Title: Gloom Town

Author: Ronald L. Smith

Rating: ★★★ 1/2

Synopsis: When twelve-year-old Rory applies for a job at a spooky old mansion in his gloomy seaside town, he finds the owner, Lord Foxglove, odd and unpleasant. But he and his mom need the money, so he takes the job anyway. Rory soon finds out that his new boss is not just strange, he’s not even human—and he’s trying to steal the townspeople’s shadows. Together, Rory and his friend Isabella set out to uncover exactly what Foxglove and his otherworldly accomplices are planning and devise a strategy to defeat them. But can two kids defeat a group of ancient evil beings who are determined to take over the world?

Huge thank you to Raincoast for this ARC!

Sam’s Review:

Gloom Town is the story of twelve-year-old Rory, who decided to apply for a job at a spooky mansion called Foxglove, as a means to help out his mother who is financially struggling. Rory thinks the job should be easy, until he uncovers that their may be something more sinister going on at the manor. Rory finds out that his new employer is a shadowy figure who likes to steal people’s shadows — he’s not even human! Rory and his new friend Izzy must stop the crazy cultists of Foxglove Manor before more people potentially lose their shadows!

This book was a lot of fun and I quite enjoyed it. It definitely has a spooky Harriet The Spy vibe floating through the narrative and Rory and Izzy make for fun investigators to follow. I sort of wished the big bad in this story felt like a real big bad, but I appreciate the effort that went into this book for understanding that cultists might in fact be hard to pitch to a middle grade audience. The friendship between Izzy and Rory is easily the book’s strongest element, especially as they are trying to uncover the big bad, but I just wish that the big bad and it’s reveal had been stronger.

I do think this is going to be a great book to recommend to middle grader fans, if only because it moves at such a quick pace and the mystery element is good, even if the payoff isn’t as strong. There is a lot of fun and quirkiness in this story, and I truly enjoyed my time reading it.

Two Fantastic Graphic Novels

One o f my goals this year is to try and highlight more awesome, standalone graphic novels. Here are two recent reads I absolutely adored!

---

Title: The Okay Witch

Author: Emma Steinkellner

Published: September 3rd 2019 by Aladdin

Thoughts: I loved this graphic novel! There’s the right amount of magic and whimsy! There is also a fantastic message about loving the skin your in and building your self-confidence. Reminded me a bit of Kiki’s Delivery Service, aka my favourite Studio Ghibli movie! This graphic novel is great for anyone who loves a witchy tale or about personal growth (and magic usage!)

 

Title: Go With the Flow

Author: Lily Williams & Karen Schneemann

Published: January 14th 2020 by First Second

Thoughts: Essential reading that needs to be in every public and school library. This book is amazing! It is a fantastic friendship story, it’s also a great book that looks at how unique and different each woman’s period is. This book is all about ensuring equal access to feminine hygiene products in all schools with the hope of ensuring that girls everywhere can get the support they need. This book is funny, it is gorgeously illustrated, and it’s clever as all heck.

---

What are some great, recent graphic novels on your radar?

ARC Review – The Newspaper Club by Beth Vrabel

Title: The Newspaper Club

Author: Beth Vrabel

Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis: Shortly after Nellie Murrow, named for one of the fiercest journalists who ever lived and daughter of two (former) newspaper reporters, move to sleepy Bear Creek, Maine, rumors of vandalism and attacks at the only park in town are keeping Nellie saddled to the house.

Some townspeople say the attacks are gang recruitments. Others blame a vagrant spotted on the hiking trails around town. But when Nellie thinks like a reporter, none of those explanations make sense. Something is happening at the park, but what? All of the fake online news and rumors are clouding the real news.

Nellie wants to break the story–and break free from the front yard-but she can’t do it alone. She needs a whole club if she’s going to start the town’s first independent newspaper–The Cub Report. Creating a newspaper from scratch is going to be tough; but for Nellie, making friends is even harder.

Huge thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada for this ARC!

Sam’s Review:

I loved and read Beth Vrabel’s The Humiliations of Pipi McGee last year, and thought it was such a fun and fantastic middle grade novel. Humour and character connection is definitely a strong point for Vrabel, so I was excited to dig into her latest book, The Newspaper Club.

The Newspaper Club focuses on Nellie Murrow, a talented and up-and-coming journalist, who comes from a long line of news writers and enthusiasts. With rumours of vandalism swirling around Bear Creek, townspeople have become concerned about the safety of their small town. Nellie decides that the larger newspapers aren’t going to look into this situation, she will!

This book is adorable and spunky. Nellie is such a fun heroine! She is inquisitive, clever, almost Harriet the Spy-esque in terms of her abilities. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and seek the truth, something she feels all good reporters should be able to do. When Nellie starts to realize that this story is bigger than her, she creates a club that encourages other children to be apart of.

This is a fantastic story about community engagement and loving your town. There is civic pride, and I love that Nellie is a character who chooses to ask for help because she recognizes that this story is bigger than she can handle on her own. There are strong themes of friendship and camaraderie. While the mystery element is core to the plot, I feel like this book is more about just building relationships and strengthening community.

The Newspaper Club is a fun and fast romp into media. It’s book that you can easily read in a day because it’s just so charming and entertaining.

ARC Review – Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli & Aisha Saeed

Title: Yes No Maybe So

Author: Becky Albertalli & Aisha Saeed

Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis: 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. 

Huge thank you to Harper Collins Canada for this ARC!

Sam’s Review:

I love me a cute and unlikely romance. I am not a huge romance reader per say, but I have enjoyed many stories by Becky Albertalli, though this book was my first real foray into Aisha Saeed’s works.

Yes No Maybe So is a book about voting, societal values, and political action. The friendship turned romance in this story is definitely one readers will root for. Jamie and Maya’s friendship is chockful of fun, humour, and it’s completely genuine from start to finish. While Jamie and Maya spend time going door-to-door to canvass in an upcoming election, both characters find commonality in their backgrounds — Jamie being Jewish, and Maya being Muslim.

What I loved about this story is how genuine both perspectives in the story feel. I feel like readers could easily be friends with either Jamie or Maya, and I feel like they are real people and more than just fictional characters. With this story being politically charged, it offers readers a glimpse into looking at issues of racism, prejudice, and even just how broken the American voting system is. I will say, I loved Maya’s chapters over Jamie’s, but I think it’s because Maya is a bit more closed off and the reader has to work a bit harder to feel like they know her. Saeed does an amazing job of making Maya into this onion who needs each layer to be peeled back until you get to her very kind core.

I think most readers will definitely enjoy Yes No Maybe So. It’s just such a fun story, and I think it handles the political elements very well to readers who may be unfamiliar. This book also makes me want to check out more by Aisha Saeed, as a feel like I’ve now discovered a new author to enjoy. Yes No Maybe So is charming, entertaining, and it will pull your heartstrings in such a wonderful, if predictable way.