Month: January 2022

An Emotion of Great Delight

An Emotion of Great DelightAn Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi
Published by HarperCollins on June 1, 2021
ISBN: 0062972413
Pages: 256
Genres: Realistic Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads
five-stars

Written with excellent prose and character development, this book is a definite winner.  Mafi offers readers the opportunity to view what life was like for a teenage Muslim American girl following 9/11.

Shadi experienced societal stress and discrimination as well as surviving overwhelming family drama and sorrow.   Her story is told mostly in 2003 but it shifts over a year as she slowly loses her connections with family and friends.  Readers are led to an approaching emotional breakdown that is beyond understandable.  And yet, the protagonist has a strong sense of self and walks herself back to her family.  Teens will cheer for a romance which is integral to the storyline but it takes a back seat to the family interaction.

Purchase this book for all high school media centers and public libraries which collect YA fiction.  An Emotion of Great Delight would make an excellent choice for mother/daughter book groups.

Recommend for Cream of the Crop

Submitted by Jan Hamilton, retired youth services librarian in Scarborough, ME

five-stars

The Upper World

The Upper WorldThe Upper World by Femi Fadugba
Published by HarperTeen on December 7, 2021
ISBN: 0063078597
Pages: 368
Genres: Science Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads
four-stars

“The Upper World” by Femi Fadugba is a young adult science fiction novel that not only explains time travel to its readers but uses math and physics to do it in a way that is understandable. The book starts with one of the main characters, Esso, a teen in London who is on the verge of getting expelled and caught up in gang violence. During a few harrowing moments in his life, Esso seems to briefly travel into the future and see what is going to happen but is unable to change things.

The other main character, Rhia, is also a London teen, but she lives 15 years in the future from Esso’s time. When adult Esso shows up in her life as a math tutor, she discovers that he knew her missing mother and that he needs her to understand time travel. But why?

The novel is compelling and keeps you guessing about what is going to happen. The math sections about the speed of light and time travel are well explained, but still took me one or two times of rereading before I really understood it. Fadugba is a former science tutor with a master’s degree in physics from Oxford. The characters use British slang which may throw off American readers, but it’s understandable enough with context. A must buy for your young adult section if science fiction is popular.

Reviewed by Kate Radke, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook.

four-stars

Dreams From My Father

Dreams From My FatherDreams from My Father (Adapted for Young Adults): A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Published by Delacorte Press on October 5, 2021
ISBN: 0385738722
Pages: 320
Genres: Biography/Autobiography
Format: Chapter Book Nonfiction
Goodreads
three-stars

Dreams From My Father

 

Barack Obama has adapted his biography, first published in 1995, for Young Adults.  In it he explores his roots, especially his meeting with his many relatives in Kenya.  These were at the core of his personality and were a major influence for his future endeavors.  There are a number of photographs included, which add to the appeal.  Adding this information, one can see how complex Barack Obama’s life was, and the feeling of responsibility he felt for others, and how this will affect his life as the President.  He was especially affected as a Black man with the injustices and racism he endured.  The major emphasis was on his visit to Kenya, but it also covered his time in New York, Indonesia, and his time as a social organizer in Chicago.  I kept waiting for the book to extend to his political career, but it still stopped just before his time at Harvard.  For those wanting to know what Barack Obama’s life was like as a child and want to get to know the people that influenced his formative years, this book works.

 

Reviewed by Ellen Spring, Oceanside High School, Rockland

three-stars

Rise to the Sun

Rise to the SunRise to the Sun by Leah Johnson
Published by Scholastic Press on July 6, 2021
ISBN: 1338662236
Pages: 336
Genres: Realistic Fiction, Romance
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads
five-stars

Recommending for Cream of Crop consideration.  Romance and self-realization are the focus of this satisfying queer Black romance novel that takes place over three days at an open air music festival in Georgia.  Olivia and her best friend Imani are first time attendees with a promise to put their friendship first during the weekend.  Almost immediately, this promise is put in jeopardy when Olivia meets Toni and her best friend Peter, who are veterans to the festival and plan to win The Golden Apple contest so Toni can perform with the weekend headliner.  The romantic sparks fly between Olivia and Toni and the week end becomes a fun, musical adventure that dives deep into each character’s difficult life situations, reactions to each other and the heart realizations that transpire in the old and new relationships. Told in alternating chapters from Olivia and Toni’s point of view, their blossoming relationship will have romance fans swooning while issues of gun violence, nonconsensual image sharing and losing parents are interwoven in each other’s backstories in realistic ways.  A beautiful celebration of love and music.  Suggested for readers in grades 10-12.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Youth Services Librarian, Springvale Public Library

five-stars