National Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Kid Konnection – Review of “The Magic Brush” by Kat Yeh

Jasmine’s grandfather comes to live in their house, and teaches Jasmine to create magical worlds with calligraphy while her little brother Tai-Tai is napping. Agong, or Grandfather, encourages Jasmine to let her imagination take off from the Chinese characters he teaches her each day. Soon they are whiling away the afternoons pretending to fly as high as the moon and stars, play with monkeys on a distant mountaintop, and feast on mooncakes and bubble tea.

Throughout the spring and summer they construct scenarios in which they climb mountains together and fly past the moon. But in the fall, her grandfather becomes ill, and then, he is gone. Jasmine is sad and lonely until one day, Tai-Tai grows too old for his naps, and Jasmine teaches him to make magic just like their grandfather had taught her. And the first Chinese character she teaches him is “agong” – the one that means grandfather.

Discussion: Readers will enjoy the Chinese folk-art illustrations by Huy Voun Lee that depict Jasmine and her grandfather acting out Jasmine’s fantasies. The Mandarin Chinese characters shown on each page to match the pictures are fascinating, and the author includes a pronunciation key at the back of the book. There is also information about the cut-paper collages used for the book, and an explanation of the Chinese treats that are Jasmine’s favorites.

Evaluation: I think children will love this heartwarming book, and adults might shed a tear or two, as I did. The information about Chinese culture and folk art at the end of the story is not only enlightening, but unlike much back matter in picture books, is presented at a level that will make it understandable even to children.

Rating: 4/5

Published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc., 2011

For more multicultural picture books, check out all the resources at The Birthday Party Pledge, a new website dedicated to promoting gifts of multicultural books to the children in our lives.

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For more reviews of books for children and teens, go to Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection, posted on Saturdays. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site.

Review of “Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality” by Elizabeth Eulberg

This review will probably be longer than the short book itself, but unfortunately the author has inspired me to go off on a diatribe.

Eulberg tries to incorporate some good messages into this story but I’m not sure she doesn’t undermine herself at most turns. Her biggest messages seem to be:

(1) There is nothing “wrong” with being gay; in fact, there is no reason for gay kids and their romances and romance angstiness to be treated any differently than hetero romance and angst. The author does a great job on this score.

(2) Preoccupation with looks is absurd and does not indicate true worth. Here, I think Eulberg submarines her own case. In the story, Lexi Anderson, 16, has a seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie (“Mac”) who is pretty much a fictional incarnation of Honey Boo Boo (the nickname of seven-year-old child beauty pageant participant Alana Thompson, who appears in a reality tv show along with her family.) Lexi is considered the one with “the great personality” while Mac is “the beauty.” (Lexi explains that “When a guy uses great personality to describe a girl, it’s the polite way of saying fat and ugly.”) Presumably, the author (via Lexi) aims to show us this is not the case. But the way she goes about it actually vitiates her point.

First of all, notice how fat is paired with ugly. Fat is also paired with unpleasantness in general: the mother is not only a horrid, screeching caricature of pageant moms, but is overweight to boot. The obesity helps contribute to her image of being repulsive. Moreover, Lexi frequently makes observations like this one:

One of the benefits of having a morbidly obese mother is that it has made me overly paranoid about my weight. I stick to mostly non-processed foods, which is basically the opposite of what Mom eats. So I’m not fat and I’m not the most disgusting girl in my class, but I’m nowhere near the prettiest.”

Message: fat equals disgusting.

I’d love to be able to report that Lexi goes on to develop some understanding for her mother, who is divorced, emotionally devastated, financially strapped, and afraid for her future. So okay, she might use food as a way to relax and/or as an antidepressant. How many of us are free enough of those tendencies to throw stones and not exhibit a little compassion? But Lexi’s only epiphany is that you don’t need to look like a full-blown beauty pageant contestant (i.e., tons of hairspray, makeup, provocative clothing, and an anorexic frame) in order to thrive and be happy. But a little bit certainly helps, to Lexi’s mind.

In fact, one of the worst things about the book, to me, is that Lexi turns out, when primped up with makeup and short skirts and tight tees, to be “a hottie” afterall. Thus, she really is a babe, destroying the whole argument that one can simply be a great girl with a great personality and still get the guy or be valuable or whatever other positive message the author would like to convey. What if she weren’t actually a “hottie” in disguise?

This is such a common meme it is almost unrecognizable on a conscious level. But think about The Ugly Duckling. Sure, the duckling got its “revenge” against the bullies when it turned into a beautiful swan, but what about if it just grew up to be an older ugly duck?

And then there’s this most awful bit: When Lexi finally starts dressing for school like a sex kitten, her best friend Cam reports that boys are talking about her:

Cam sighs. ‘They’re all like…’ Cam makes her voice low, ‘Dude, have you seen Lexi, she’s looking hot, wouldn’t mind getting me a piece of that.’ You know, stupid guy stuff.”

Wait for it:

Lexi:

‘Really?’ I try to not make it known how happy this makes me.”

Gaaaah! The author never takes this issue on at all (except obliquely in reference to the pageants), i.e., the perception of girls as sex objects and worse yet, girls being HAPPY to be thought of in that way. GAAAAH! How bad is the societal addiction of women to look attractive to men that “finally” being totally objectified makes girls HAPPY? Gaaaaah!

Lexi does manage to have some good insights in spite of these plot elements that negate them. For instance, she comes to understand that:

…high school is exactly like a beauty pageant. … Instead of a tiara,” she observes, “you’re anointed worthy of a spot at the Beautiful People table [in the cafeteria].”

She also has lots to say about the vileness of pimping little girls in the beauty pageants, although disappointingly, no sophisticated insights on gender, sexuality, power relationships, or even sexual trafficking, which could have been appropriate under the circumstances. And finally, both she and her little sister Mac occasionally sound much more sophisticated than their years, although its possible that living on the pageant circuit can do that to you.

So let’s move on to the good things:

1. The book is fast paced, and keeps your interest.
2. The chapter titles are very clever, reminiscent of the style used in Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.
3. I like Lexi’s constant impulse to interrogate her own behavior and motivations, and to try to be a good person, or at least recognize when she is not.
4. As mentioned above, I love the way the author developed the story with Lexi’s BGayFF Benny. It’s done well enough that I [almost] can forgive the tired trope of Lead Girl’s Best Friend Who Is A Gay Guy.
5. There is a lot of humor, and a spot-on description of the concerns a teenage girl would have on her first date.
6. The story has not one but TWO “hair tuck” quotes for my hair tuck database (and once again a cute guy with a “crooked smile.” Why oh why didn’t a start a database for THOSE passages too?)

Evaluation: I was made very uncomfortable by the handling of both weight and beauty issues in this book. While it seemed as if the author had good intentions, I think maybe she couldn’t quite escape her own socialization. To me, the story didn’t seem as “empowering” as I think she intended it.

Rating: 2.5/5

Published by Point, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., 2013

Review of “Out of Order: Stories from The History of the Supreme Court” by Sandra Day O’Connor

Note: This review is by my husband Jim.

Out of Order, by Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, is an eclectic, somewhat uneven, collection of anecdotes.

At its best, the book features some incisive analyses of major constitutional cases. The author clearly has mastered her craft when it comes to explicating abstruse legal issues. An early chapter covers the history and development of the power relationship between the Court and the President with terse analyses of four seminal cases, from Marbury vs. Madison to Youngstown Sheet & Tube (the steel seizure case). O’Connor shines whenever she states the holding of an important case.

But the book is not pure history or pure law. It is anecdotal without an overriding sense of organization. It jumps from topic to topic, and not all the topics are particularly interesting. For example, it contains an entire chapter devoted to the various oaths (including full quotations of the oaths), judicial and patriotic, that justices take and have taken.

Sandra Day O’Connor taking the oath as an associate justice on Sept. 25, 1981.

Nevertheless, it contains some interesting factoids about the current and previous Courts, such as: (1) written opinions were not required until 1834, during President Andrew Jackson’s administration; (2) the current Chief Justice, John Roberts, was the best oral arguer Justice O’Connor encountered in 25 years on the bench; (3) Justice Antony Scalia produces more laughter (by far) than any other justice; and (4) Justice Byron (“Whizzer”) White led the National Football League in rushing while attending law school. (He played with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Steelers) during the 1938 season.)

The future Supreme Court Justice Byron White got the nickname “Whizzer” while playing for the University of Colorado at Boulder

The book also contains interesting descriptions of the tribulations of earlier justices, who had to “ride circuit,” (i.e., travel—usually by horseback– around the country and conduct trials) as part of their statutory duties. [Justice O’Connor doesn’t go into it, but many of the justices had to share not just rooms, as she notes, but even beds with other judges or attorneys. Abraham Lincoln got to be good friends with some of his “bedmates” from his (Eighth) circuit riding days!]

In addition, O’Connor’s draws some enlightening and engrossing portraits of earlier justices, in particular, James McReynolds and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. as an officer in the Union Army’s 20th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry

I listened to an audio version of the book rather than reading it. That may have made enduring the chapter on judicial oaths more tedious than it would have been in writing. The reader is Justice O’Connor herself. While that adds to the authenticity of the book, the Justice does not have an especially good speaking voice.

Because its organization is not linear, the book need not be read sequentially. Each chapter stands on its own, and can even be read – in a probable unintended play on title, out of order. Taken as a whole, it is a pleasant introduction to Supreme Court lore for those with no background in such matters. The Justice does not get into current controversial issues facing the Court.

For a more sophisticated collection of Supreme Court historical anecdotes, I would recommend The Nine, by Jeffrey Toobin, a large portion of which – ironically – focuses on the pivotal role of Sandra Day O’Connor in recent Court history (see our review, here.)

Rating: 3/5

Note: I listened to the unabridged audio version published by Random house Audio, 2013, on 6 compact discs.

Review of “The Golem and The Jinni” by Helene Wecker

This is yet another book I didn’t expect to like, since I am not a fan of fantasy or magical realism. But of course, I loved it.

It’s an immigrant story in a way, about two very different beings who end up in the melting pot of New York in 1899. One is a golem, and one a jinni.

In Jewish folklore, a golem is a human-like figure made out of clay and brought to life by esoteric magic known only to a select few adept at Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah. Golems – unnaturally strong and unquestionably obedient to their creators – were said to have been created from time to time in olden days to help defend Jews from anti-Semitic attacks.

In Wecker’s story, a Prussian man who cannot find a wife goes to a reclusive old man to request that a golem be made for him to serve as a wife. He packs up the golem and sets out for New York. He dies en route, however, and the golem is left to fend for herself. A kindly rabbi on the street recognized what she was, and took her in to protect her, naming her Chava.

Meanwhile, a parallel story is going on with the unexpected release of a jinni from an old copper flask in a tinsmith shop in New York’s Little Syria. Jinnis (or genies) are the products of Middle Eastern and Muslim mythology, and are said to be spirits made of fire. Many, however, can make themselves look like humans. The tinsmith who inadvertently releases the jinni, in the guise of a handsome young man, vows to protect him much as the rabbi did with Chava, and names him Ahmad.

It is only a matter of time before this woman of earth and man of fire meet, and realize they have more in common than might at first be apparent. As they navigate through their unexpected lives in America, they also get to know each other, helping each other to understand what it means to be human, and maybe even what it means to love.

Discussion: The author’s depiction of the ways the golem and the jinni taught each other how to be, and learned to respect each other’s perspectives, is thoroughly engaging. I also enjoyed the author’s exploration of what it might be like to wake up in an alien world, all alone, having to hide one’s true nature and learn to survive. There are the inevitable humorous moments, as when the jinni, who was born in the 7th Century, marvels at humans:

What drove these short-lived creatures to be so oddly self-destructive, with their punishing journeys and brutal battles?”

Or when the jinni is talking to his benefactor, Arbeely, trying to understand what Christianity is:

‘Let me see if I understand correctly now,’ the Jinni said at one point. ‘You and your relations believe that a ghost living in the sky can grant you wishes.’

‘That is a gross oversimplification, and you know it.’

‘And yet, according to men, we jinn are nothing but children’s tales?”

Later, he talks to Chava about it, who offers a more nuanced perspective:

‘…perhaps the humans did create their God. But does that make him less real? Take this arch. [They are in Central Park.] They created it. Now it exists.’

‘Yes, but it doesn’t grant wishes,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t do anything.

‘True,’ se said. ‘But I look at it, and I feel a certain way. Maybe that’s its purpose.”

And there are plenty of touching moments, such as when the rabbi who “adopted” Chava, and who is an aged widower, explains to her his idea of what love is:

All of us are lonely at some point or another, no matter how many people surround us. And then, we meet someone who seems to understand. She smiles, and for a moment the loneliness disappears.”

As an interesting side note, the author has said in interviews that she is Jewish and her husband is Arab American; their fathers were both immigrants to the U.S.

Evaluation: This author clearly loves her characters, and I couldn’t help but do the same! I was enchanted by this unusual, imaginative, and heartwarming story, and would love to see a sequel!

Rating: 4/5

Published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2013

National Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Kid Konnection – Review of “Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-ji” by F. Zia

Aneel’s grandparents have come from India to stay with them in America. Dada-ji, as you learn in the Hindi glossary at the end of this book, means paternal grandfather. Aneel loves learning from Dada-ji how to stand on his head and sit like a lotus plant. He also loves hearing about his grandparents’ village while he sits “on his grandfather’s lotus lap.”

Dada-ji has great stories. He avers that eating “hot, hot roti” gives him superhuman strength. (Roti means “bread” in Hindi, and is basically a round, flat, unleavened bread cooked on a griddle.) Like Popeye and spinach, when Dada-ji eats roti, he claims he can wrestle water buffalos and tie cobras in a knot!

Aneel decides he needs to make some roti and everyone helps. Dada-ji eats one after another, all the while saying how good it is and how powerful he feels. Together, he and Aneel go outside and have some adventures. Dada-ji says to Aneel:

The power of the hot, hot roti came back to the lad from a village far, far away. Thank you, my tiger. Thank you!”

Evaluation: I love Dada-ji! Everyone needs a fun, supportive grandpa like him! It’s a great story, and the illustrations by Ken Min are very entertaining! As a bonus, there is a glossary of relevant Hindi terms in the back, and on their website, Lee & Low provides a recipe for “hot hot roti.”

Rating: 4.5/5

Published by Lee & Low Books, 2011

For more multicultural picture books, check out all the resources at The Birthday Party Pledge, a new website dedicated to promoting gifts of multicultural books to the children in our lives.

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For more reviews of books for children and teens, go to Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection, posted on Saturdays. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site.

Review of “Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus is a story told in the first person by Kambili, a 15-year-old living in a relatively wealthy house in Nigeria along with her older brother, Jaja; her mother, Beatrice; and father, Eugene. Eugene sees himself as the epitome of Christian piety, but beats his wife and children almost senseless when they exhibit what he deems to be wicked behavior (such as, for example, if the kids come in second rather than first in class).

In the background, a parallel story recounts the repression and turmoil of the current political regime. Kambili’s family is keenly aware that speaking out against injustice can get you imprisoned or even killed, just like speaking out at home can earn Kambili and Jaja a scalding by their father, or worse.

Kambili and Jaja are submissive and dutiful, “until Nsukka.” This is where their Aunty Ifeoma lives, and where they unexpectedly get to spend some time on a visit. There, they see a different vision of family, and learn how good it feels to be free – to laugh, even to cry.

But the regime is not about to give, nor is their father.

Discussion: There are so many momentous themes and symbols and parallels running through this very impressive book. One leitmotif is the tension between those Nigerians who slavishly parrot the colonialist lines (including the one that maintains that whites and everything about them are superior), and those who find value in their own culture and even appearance. Another is the hypocrisy of some fanatic forms of Christianity. The second class role of women is also a theme (and simultaneously a reflection of both the paternalism of the regime and of the father of this household), and leads to perhaps the biggest issue of the book: domestic abuse of women and children, and its enduring devastating effects (not only physical but mental).

Eugene is not just a cardboard evil character. He is loved and respected by those outside his family for his very generous charity and courage. The love that everyone feels for Eugene affects Kambili: though she is afraid of her father, she admires him, and wants nothing more than to please him and for him to love her. The mother wants the same things, although in part, her position is dictated by the strictures imposed on women by society. If Eugene doesn’t want her, her very survival will be in jeopardy. After a particularly brutal beating, she tells Ifeoma:

‘Where would I go if I leave Eugene’s house? Tell
me where would I go? … Do you know how many
mothers pushed their daughters at him? Do you know
how many told him to impregnate them even, and not
bother paying a bride price?”

There is some riveting dialogue in this book that bring to life the many forms of repression of the book, as with the following discussion of religion. At one point, Kambili, trying at all times to parrot the phrases she knows will make her father happy says:

God knows best… God works in mysterious ways.”

Then, Jaja, who has been infected the most by the “undertones of freedom”, snorts at her:

Of course God does. Look what He did to his faithful servant Job, even to His own son. But have you ever wondered why? Why did He have to murder his own son so we would be saved? Why didn’t He just go ahead and save us?”

Evaluation: While this may sound like it is a depressing book, it is not. It certainly has dark moments, but they are counterbalanced by examples of true family love and support; of those who practice a more truly “Christian” faith; and spectacular descriptions of the sights and sounds and smells of Nigeria, with the fragrance of frangipani and hibiscuses mixing with the curry, nutmeg, herbs, and oils. What amazingly complex characters! I am still trying to digest what I think of all of them. And what craftsmanship in the writing! It isn’t easy to weave in so many parallel themes without sounding didactic, and managing to engage our sympathies for every one of them.

This would make one of the best book club discussion books that I have read in a long time!

Rating: 4.5/5

Published by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 2004

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Note: For more information about Ms. Adichie (pronounced “ah-DEE-chee-eh), you can watch her speak here on “The Danger of a Single Story” or read the transcript here. (Thanks to Nymeth for the lecture referral.)

May 15 – National Chocolate Chip Day

According to a recent marketing study, chocolate pulls in $90 billion in global sales annually, $19 billion of it in the United States. Approximately $9 billion of the $19 billion is spent by my household.

In any event, for some hazy reason probably having to do with marketing, today is “universally acknowledged” (to paraphrase Jane Austen) as being National Chocolate Chip Day. I always try to support national holidays, and thus will do my part.

By the way, if you are attempting to sound erudite about chocolate, it helps to know that the plant from which it comes – the cacao tree – is pronounced kah-KOW. I just include this because of the way I always used to say, “c-a-c-a-o however it is pronounced.”

Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, which is formally known as Theobroma Cacao.

What are the essential properties of a dessert utilizing chocolate chips? In my opinion, the most essential is gooeyness. (In fact, I consider gooeyness the most essential for most food, but I’ll wait for other holidays to tell you about that.)

But you know what? You are going to see zillions of recipes today for chocolate chip cookies to help you celebrate this day, so I’m going to go a little outside the box here and offer two alternatives, both of which are from my recipe pins on Pinterest. (Even if you didn’t know which Recipe Board was mine, you could probably guess since almost every recipe label starts with “Gooey” or “Ooey Gooey” or, of course, “Chocolate.”) Because they come from other blogs, I will just link to them, for your clicking, viewing, and cooking pleasure.

First, for an insane sugar rush to start your day, I present:

Glazed Cinnamon Rolls Stuffed with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

And then later, you will need dessert! And so I present Deep Dish Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Click on the links for wonderful recipe ideas, and wonderful ways to celebrate this important day!

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This post will be linked to this Saturday’s Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. where bloggers share food-related posts. Stop by her blog and see what’s cooking this week!