Dreams from the Endz by Faïza Guène

Dreams from the Endz by Faïza Guène (translated from the French by Sarah Ardizzone)

Note:  Not published in the US!  (but totally worth the postage for inter-library loan)

Ahleme lives with her father and younger brother in the suburbs of Paris.  Her mother died when she was 10, and she and her younger brother (then just an infant), moved from their village in Algeria to live with the father they never knew.  Years later, their father has had an accident, leaving him brain damaged, and Ahleme, at 24, is responsible for caring for both him and her now-teenage brother.  She struggles with finding (and keeping a job), dealing with her friends and their romances, and her regular visits to the immigration office. 

Written in first person and filled with urban slang, Guène's narrative is easily accessible and gives readers an otherwise unknown glimpse into the life of immigrants in France.  At the same time, Ahleme's struggle to figure out her identity and her place in society is a universal one.

I will make one note about the slang however -- if you can read in French (and I definitely cannot!), do read it in French.  The original text contains verlan -- a type of slang that involves reversing the letters or syllables in words.  There is no true equivalent to this in English, so translator Ardizzone uses urban Brittish slang in its place.  And of course, for an American reader, even the Brittish slang is hard to understand at times. 

While not published as a teen novel and with a slightly older protagonist, Dreams from the Endz will still appeal to older teens, and I would recommend for high school and college students -- especially those interested in learning about other cultures.

Readers may also enjoy:
Guène's first novel, Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow (published as Just Like Tomorrow in the UK)
Does my head look big in this? by Randa-Abdel Fattah
Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos

Around the blogs:
Bookwitch,  Les lectures de Liyah (en français), Doble Pirueta (en español),  Wrath (en français),Lectures de Turquoise (en français)

Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah
 

Now, I don't know that much about international publishing, but this just doesn't make sense.  

Ten Things I Hate About Me was  published by Pan Macmillan in Australia in 2006.  The audio was then published by Bolinda Audio (also an Australian company) in 2007.   The US edition will finally be released by Orchard Books (an imprint of Scholastic) in January 2009. 

That  all makes sense.   What I don't understand is why US libraries seem to be able to buy audio books from Bolinda (through Baker and Taylor), but not books from Pan Macmillan.  Anyone out there with insider knowledge?


Long story short, while I'd been waiting for the book to be published here, the book on CD had been sitting on the shelf at one of our other branches. 

Like Does My Head Look Big in This?,  Ten Things I Hate About Me  is the story of a teenage girl of Muslim descent growing up in Australia and dealing with issues of cultural and individual identity. 

Jamilah dies her hair blond and goes by Jamie at school to avoid the ridicule that other Muslim students face.  Even her closest friends (who obviously aren't that close) have no idea about her Lebanese background.   Only her e-mail friend, John, knows the truth about her family heritage.

Outside of school, however, Jamilah/Jamie attends Madrassa (Arabic school) and plays in a Lebanese band.  When her band is asked to play at her school's spring formal... things start to spiral out of control.

Sometimes it seems like I'm saying this about every book that I enjoy, but the characters were well-developed (including the other family members, and friends).   One of the things I liked best was that Jamilah was aware that by dyeing her hair and changing her name she was hiding her identity.  (I've seen other novels where characters did something similar in order to fit in, but never saw their own actions as being representative of deeper issues).   I also love the fact that both of Fattah's novels show a wide range of Muslim characters, even within the same family. 

While it won't be availible here in print until January 2009, I definitely recommend Ten Things I Hate About Me to those who are interested in learning more about the culture of Lebanese Muslims in Australia -- or those who just enjoy a good teen romance.

Edited to add:  In my haste to post, I completely forgot to add a few "read-alikes" and other blog reveiws, so...

If you enjoy the e-correspondence between Jamilah and John, try:
The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
From e to you by Chris D'Lacey and Linda Newbery

If you're interested in reading more about Muslim or Islamic culture, try:
Does My Head Look Big in This? also by Randa Abdel Fattah

Persepolis by Marjane Strapani
Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene
Ask me no questions by Marina Budhos (I'm hesitant to recommend this one, since I haven't read it yet, but there are so few books on Muslim teens that I wanted to include it anyway)

Other blog reviews:
kissthebook, Lowly's Book Blog

The Disappeared by Gloria Whelan

The Disappeared by Gloria Whelan

As I may have mentioned before, my undergrad degree is in Hispanic Studies.*  One of my first upper-level Spanish classes  was Cultures of Dictatorship,  where we studied the totalitarian regimes in Argentina (1976-1986) and Chile (1973-1990), and the cultural production (film, novels, poetry, etc) that came out of both countries during this time.   It was a difficult but interesting class, and I finished the semester even more interested in this period of history -- which is why I was excited to hear about The Disappeared. 

But first, a brief history lesson (I'm assuming here that your high school history classes, like mine, probably never got past the Second World War):

You've seen Evita, right?  Well, after Eva Peron died in 1952, her husband, Juan Peron stayed in power in Argentina for a few more years -- then there was a coup, the military took control of the government, Peron was exiled, and he remarried while in exile.  He came back into power in 1973, then promptly died, leaving Isabel, his wife/vice president, in charge.  In 1976, there was another coup, and another military junta took control of the government. 

And thus began the Guerra sucia (Dirty War), in which the government, scared of another uprising, began systematically kidnapping any citizens expected of being subversivos or revolutionaries.  Those kidnapped were taken to secret prisons, tortured, and sometimes killed.  The government refused to give their families any information on their whereabouts, and thus, they came to be known as los desaparecidos or The Disappeared. 

This horrible period in history is the backdrop for Gloria Whelan's The Disappeared.  The novel alternates between two narrators, brother and sister, Eduardo and Sylvia.   A university student, Eduardo begins participating in protests, and is arrested for his activities.  Sylvia, his younger sister, meets a boy whose father is a high-ranking general, and she decides to seduce him in hopes that he might be able to free her brother. 

Whelan's writing is lyrical and poetic, and the novel moves along quickly, but for some reason I never really felt involved in the story.  I felt as if I was watching the story play out on the screen, rather than experiencing it.   I don't think this is the fault of the author, however.  I simply had expectations for the novel that it couldn't match.   I wanted more insight, more of a personal look into a period of history that I'm already pretty familiar with on academic terms -- I wanted to be able to connect with the characters so that I vicariously experience life during the dictatorship -- and The Disappeared did not fulfill those expectations.

However, I would still recommend the novel for teens -- this period of history will most likely be completely unknown to them, and this novel is a good introduction for those who are completely unfamiliar with it.   It is important, I think, that teens realize that that such horrors have happened in the recent past -- and that our government was at least an implicit supporter of these military regimes.**


More information on the Dirty War and los desaparecidos:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_war
http://www.yendor.com/vanished/

These two films are also very interesting:
La Historial Oficial (The Official Story)
Missing


*essentially -- cultural studies... in Spanish

**Don't even get me started on Kissinger

Round Up #1 -- Why I really, really, really want to go to Australia!

Must. Go. To. Australia.



Now, I know this is a huge generalization, but the more Australian YA fiction I read, the more I'm convinced that this is the future of the "genre". I still have yet to find an Australian author that I don't absolutely fall in love with upon reading their books. And I've read a few of them in recent months (yes, my blog post back log goes back to January)...



And first, about these round-up posts, I realized that many of my readers were coming from google searches for specific titles, so I wanted them to leave my site with a few ideas for other titles they might like, and of course, all of the recommendations are novels that I have read.

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48 Shades of Brown by Nick Earls



While his parents are living in Switzerland, Dan moves in with his mother's much younger sister, and spends his senior year of high school battling calculus and falling for his aunt's other roommate.



After Summer by Nick Earls

After graduating from high school, Alex spends the summer at the shore waiting for his college-entrance results and meets a beautiful girl on the beach.



Other blog reviews (of both of these titles):

Chasing Ray



Readers might also enjoy:

Looking for Alaska, It's Kind of a Funny Story

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Secret Scribbled Notebooks by Joanne Horniman



In three journals, Kate describes her daily life, the birth of her niece, the books that she reads, and her first experiences of love,



Other blog reviews:

Bookshelves of doom, Writings of the Loud Librarian, I'll eat my words medium rare, thank you,



Readers might also enjoy:

Anne of Green Gables -- something about Kate's dreamy ramblings reminded me so much of Anne

This is All: The Pillow Book of Cornelia Kenn -- journals, teenage girls... but a bit, um, bigger?

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The Wolf by Steven Herrick



In this novel of poems, Jack and Lucy go out into the woods in search of a legendary wolf, where an accident causes them to learn about themselves, and each other. (apparently, they don't have wolves in Australia?)



Other blog reviews

The Small Picture (this reviewer also links to an interview with the author)

The Lick and Sniff Reviews



Readers who enjoy novels in poem form may also enjoy Sold, The Braid, and A Bad Boy Can be Good for Girl

Also, something about the woods and the friendship between Jack and Lucy really reminded me of Ronia: the Robbers Daughter .

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One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke



In one of this year's Printz honorees, Lily hopes that her entire family will be able to get along and share one "whole and perfect day" despite all their differences; through a series of coincidences, this day is more than anyone could have imagined.



Other blog reviews:

Liv's Book Reviews, In the Pages, The Goddess of YA Literature



Readers might also enjoy:

Looking for Alibrandi and Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (and her new book is finally coming out here in August!)

Feeling Sorry for Celia and The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

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Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty



A story of family secrets, espionage, and magic, The Spell Book of Listen Taylor is completely unique. I do agree with many of the other bloggers that this title might be better suited to adults, not because it is inappropriate for teens, but because the main characters are closer to middle-age.



Other reviews:

Bookshelves of Doom, Roger Sutton's review from the NY Times, Interactivereader



Readers might also enjoy:

This book is so original that I have absolutely no idea... feel free to leave suggestions in the comments!

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The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky



The story of three sisters growing up in Australia in the period immediately following WWII, a time when the fear of communism was rampant, and a polio outbreak was sweeping the country.



Other reviews:

Lowly's Book Reviews



Readers might also enjoy:

The Loud Silence of Francine Green (same time period, but here in the US)

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Notes from the Teenage Underground by Simmone Howell (ummm... I think I read this one last summer, but somehow I never blogged about it)



Gem, a film buff, plans to spend the summer after her final year of high school making a film with her two best friends.



Other blog reviews:

Pages Et Cetera, Chasing Ray



Readers might also enjoy:

novels by Melina Marchetta and Nick Earls (see links above).

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee

Millicent Min, Girl Genius

by Lisa Yee

After reading all of the Julie books, I immediately had to read Good Luck, Ivy, the companion novel about Julie's best friend Ivy. While I'm not going to review it fully, I was really impressed by the way Yee wove in the historical details without distracting the reader away from the story, and so I decided to read Millicent Min (which I had been putting off for far too long).

As the title suggests, Millicent is a genius. At eleven, she has one year left of high school, and is taking her first college course (a poetry class) over the summer. She's excited to be starting college and finally being with her "intellectual peers" (rather than all those immature high schoolers), so she's looking forward to the summer. But then, her parents decide to sign her up for volleyball AND be forced to tutor Stanford Wong (family friend, and Millicent's sworn enemy).

However, volleyball ends up having one redeeming factor... Millicent meets Emily, a new girl in town, who has no idea that she's a genius, and even thinks that she's "cool." Afraid that she'll lose her first real friend if she tells the truth, Millicent gets swept up in a web of her own lies.

Yee's first person narration really brings Millicent to life, and her voice is realistic and nuanced, showing her to be both highly intelligent and socially confused at the same time. Even the supporting characters are fully realized (especially Stanford, Emily, and Millicent's grandmother Maddy), even as the reader sees them through Millicent's eyes.

Highly recommended for tweens and young teens, and just as Emily's mother gives Millicent a copy of one of the Ramona books*, this would be a great quick read for those wicked smart little kids who read classics for fun.

Both of the sequels to Millicent Min, take place during the same summer, chronicling the same events from the very different perspectives of Stanford Wong and Emily Ebers (respectively). I will admit to being a little disappointed with these sequels only because I had hoped that they took place after Millicent Min, so I could find out what happens next**, and how Millicent adjusts to some of the changes in her family. But, both of the novels were excellent in their own right, and can be read independently of each other.

To find the sequels in a library near you:

Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time

So Totally Emily Ebers

Other Blog Reviews

• Bookshelves of Doom (Millicent Min, Emily Ebers, and Stanford Wong)
• Miss Erin's interview with Lisa Yee, and review of Millicent Min
• Big A little a (review of Emily Ebers, written by Kelly's daughter)
• Little Willow's interview with Lisa Yee
• Planet Esme
• EmilyReads
• Look Books
• The Tome Reader

*This is only one of many references to classic children's literature in the novels. Stanford, for example, has to write several book reports for his summer school English class, including Holes and Number the Stars (and then ends up reading The Outsiders for fun!)

** Please, please, please can we have a sequel?

Happy 100th Birthday, Astrid Lindgren!

Astrid Lindgren, born November 14th, 1907, is best known for her Pippi Longstocking series. However, as much as I liked Pippi*, two of Lindgren's other novels really captured my imagination as I was growing up, and I really believe that these titles never got the attention that they deserved. These two novels are Lotta on Troublemaker Street and Ronia, the Robber's Daughter.

Lotta on Troublemaker Street

Lotta wakes up one morning from a bad dream, convinced that her brother and sister were trying to hurt Bamsie (her favorite stuffed-animal). Upset that no one in her family believes her (and that her mother is trying to make her wear an itchy sweater), Lotta decides to run away.

This short, easy-to-read novel will appeal to fans of the Ramona books (or perhaps, today's Junie B. Jones fans), and it is also wonderful when read aloud.

Ronia, The Robber's Daughter

The first time I read Ronia, I was in Fifth Grade, and I just remember being completely enthralled.

I really can't do this novel justice in a short review, but it is essentially the story of the friendship between Ronia and Birk, children of rival bands of robbers -- a young Romeo and Juliet, in a way (though with a happy ending). And, although romance was never specifically mentioned, my nine-year-old self found the novel to be incredibly romantic .

With strong roots in the folk-tale tradition, this novel transports readers to a completely original world. Highly recommended, this novel has stood up to multiple re-readings**

*I was actually Pippi for Halloween when I was 4

**Okay, fine, I give in. I'll read it again. (and maybe that time, I'll write a real review)

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

First of all, I have to thank Mindy of propernoun.net for recommending this title (in the comments of an earlier post ). I had passed it on the YA shelves many times, but never picked it up (possibly due to the fact that the spine is plaid -- but this is my one and only complaint).

Melina Marchetta is apparently a bit of a celebrity in Australia, due to the popularity of her first novel Looking for Alibrandi* which was even made into a movie.

Francesca's mother has always been the driving force in her life. She was the one who made all the family decisions, the one who got Francesca up in the morning, the one who grilled her about school when she got home. But one day, Francesca wakes up to an oddly silent house; her mother has had a nervous breakdown and won't get out of bed.

But while Francesca has to work to hold her family together, she has other problems as well. To start with, she has just started at a new school, more specifically, a private school that had, up until that year, been an all-boys school.

And, the only people she knows from her old school are 3 other girls, but none of them are really good friends. And then there are the boys, who don't really know what to do with the 30 girls who have suddenly shown up on their doorstep.

I'm really not doing the plot justice, but this is an absolutely wonderful novel about friendship and family. Marchetta seems to know her teen subjects incredibly well (and she would, since she teaches English at a similar private all-boys school), and is never condescending to them. The relationships (platonic and not) between Francesca and her classmates are as real and complex as any adult ones, and their conversations and interactions just rang completely true to me. I highly, highly recommend Saving Francesca, especially to readers who enjoy the novels of Sarah Dessen. I was also reminded strongly of John Green's Looking for Alaska, especially in the strength of the friendships.

*I have it on my holds shelf, so I'll read and report back soon.

Broken Moon by Kim Antieau

* Okay, I'm getting a little behind here, so I'm going to try to post several new reviews tonight (though they may be a little shorter than usual).*

While it may appear to be a simple little book, there's quite a bit going on under the surface of Broken Moon. On a simple level, we have our heroine, Nadira, an 18 year old girl in Pakistan. When her 6-year-old brother is kidnapped to be trained as a camel-jockey, she decides to disguise herself as a boy in order to search for him.

One could read an enjoy the novel on this level, but Antieau has also woven in many other threads for a more complex plot. For example, Nadira is scarred, both physically and emotionally, from her life in the village (I won't go into details because it would give away too much). And then, there is the story of Scheherazade, from which Nadira eventually takes inspiration.

Broken Moon is a quick, but thought-provoking read, and I would highly recommend it to those who enjoyed Sold.

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

That does it. I'm just going to have to go to Australia. With several extra suitcases. Or some really big boxes and lots of packing tape.

Now, I know it's wrong to generalize about authors, or anyone really, based on nationality, but I have yet to read a book by an Australian author that I haven't absolutely adored. E.g.: Markus Zusak, Justine Larbalestier, Jaclyn Moriarty, Elizabeth Knox... and now Randa Abdel-Fattah.

Abdel-Fattah's debut novel, Does My Head Look Big in This?, tells the Amal, a 16-year-old Muslim girl in Australia, who makes the decision to wear the hijab full-time. This is a difficult decision, especially considering that she goes to a private prep school in Melbourne where she is the only Muslim. But, Amal is strong enough to do this for her faith, and witty enough to stand up for herself. Example:

"So if I got drunk every weekend I'd be normal, but because I take about ten minutes out of my day to pray and wear a piece of material on my head, I'm this freak of nature?"(174-5)

What I loved about the novel was the depiction of such a wide variety of Muslim characters and situations. On one hand, we see Amal's friend Leila whose mother cannot even read and who follows the traditions of her village in Turkey rather than the teachings of Islam, expecting Leila to give up her dream of being a lawyer so that she can get married at seventeen. On the other hand, we see Amal's Uncle Joe and Aunt Mandy who have changed their names, dyed their hair, and do everything they possibly can to assimilate and to make themselves appear Australian (and yet, they won't allow their oldest daughter, a college student, to have a boyfriend).

And, better yet, we see that this variety exists in other cultures and religions. Amal becomes friends with her crotchety old neighbor who is Greek Orthodox. Her best friend Simone struggles with her weight and with her mother's repeated diet suggestions. At its heart, this is a novel about family and friendship, about being open to other cultures and traditions, and most importantly, about growing up and making your own decisions. And it made me laugh. What more can a reader want?

Anyway, since plane tickets are a bit out of my price-range at the moment... any suggestions for other Australian authors I should try? Or for blogs/websites where I might get some ideas? I know about insideadog (though I can't figure out how to subscribe to their feed), and The New Misrule Blog, but I'd love to find some other sites.

First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover by Mitali Perkins

Okay, so I lied. I was planning on getting back online last night and finishing this review, but I've been fighting a cold for the past couple days, and the combination of my nice warm bed and portable DVD player with Harry Potter DVDs was just too inviting. But here it is:

In our culture, we seem to have an obsession with celebrity. Just go to the grocery store and look at the sheer number of magazines detailing the lives of Pop stars and Movie Stars and people who are famous for absolutely no reason (take Paris Hilton for example...what is she famous for? but I digress). Politicians, and their families, are also celebrities, and every four years, we watch the presidential campaign with rapt attention, learning every detail we can about their personal lives.

First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover is the story of Sameera Righton (aka Sparrow, or Sammy), the adopted Pakistani daughter of a Republic presidential candidate. As her father's campaign heats up, Sameera joins him on the campaign trail. (She had been finishing up the school year in Belgium, where her father had previously been working on a diplomatic assignment.) When she arrives in California, she finds herself at the mercy of the press, and her father's campaign staff (whose job, it seems, is to "Americanize" her).

Besides giving Sameera a complete makeover, they have also created an online personality for her, complete with a blog (which sounds absolutely nothing like her), and a manga-esque avatar. What they don't know, is that she already has her own blog (though it is friends-only) where she has been writing much more though-provoking posts.

What I loved about this novel, though, was that Mitali Perkins does not only portray what life is like for a celebrity (like so many authors do); she portrays the making of a celebrity, the way the media depicts them and the power they have to represent themselves if they choose to. (Cultural studies buzz words like Interpretive Power and Representation keep popping into my head as I'm writing this*). I haven't seen these themes very much in YA lit, but they are important themes for teens to consider. I'm already looking forward to the sequel, First Daughter: White House Rules (January 2008).

And, just as a side note, I have to point out that Mrs. Graves is by far the coolest librarian I've seen in print in a long time!

P.S. Go check out the book trailer on Mitali Perkin's blog (or on sparrowblog )!

Goy Crazy by Melissa Schorr

Rachel Lowenstein is at a hotel for her younger brother's bar mitzvah, and not very happy about it, when she happens to meet Luke Christiansen. And she falls head-over-heels in "love".

The problem? Luke happens to be Catholic (does the name perhaps give that away?) and attends St. Joseph's Prep School.

Rachel, believing that her parents (and grandmother) would never approve of her dating a "goy," starts seeing him secretly. Instead, she tells her parents that she is going to the dance with Howard (the nice Jewish boy next door who is actually just giving her and Luke a ride)

While a bit predictable, this novel is pure fun. I mean, as soon as Schorr even mentioned Howard, I was pretty sure how it would all turn out. But it was fun getting there, nevertheless.

One little gripe, however -- the cover. It looks like a page out of yearbook, with Rachel and Luke next to each other which makes no sense because 1. yearbooks are usually in alphabetical order, and 2. they don't even go to the same school!

Estrella's Quinceañera by Malín Alegría

Estrella's Quinceañera by Malín Alegría

In the list of cybils nominations, there were several books that deal with multicultural issues, including Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet (which I reviewed a few days ago), Goy Crazy (which I will review soon), Nothing But the Truth (and a few whtie lies), and Estrella's Quinceañera.

Malín Alegría's first novel, Estrella's Quinceañera tells the story of Estrella, a girl from a Hispanic family who goes to a prestigious private school -- and who wants to keep those two worlds as separate as possible. But unfortunately, she's about to turn 15, which is a pretty big deal when your family is from Mexico. Estrella's mom is hellbent on giving her daughter the best quinceañera ever, while completely ignoring what Estrella wants for the big day.

Estrella's school friends on the other hand, not knowing anything about her family's plans (since she doesn't want them to), decide to throw her their own party for her birthday, and to set her up with a cute boy from school... but as always happens in these sorts of books, things don't go quite as planned. Add in Estrella's two former best friends (from before she went to the prep school), and Speedy, a very cute boy from the barrio... and you're in for a very fun ride.

While a little predictable, Estrella's Quinceañera is a fun introduction to Hispanic culture. I especially enjoyed the definitions of the Spanish words at the beginning of each chapter -- which not only define the term, but also contain Estrella's rather sarcastic comments about her family.

Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet by Kashmira Sheth

Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet by Kashmira Sheth

Now, I know it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, but seriously, this cover is too gorgeous to resist. (and interestingly, both Little Willow and TadMack have been discussing covers recently)

Jeeta, at 16, is the youngest of three sisters growing up in Mumbai, India. She watches as her mother arranges marriages for her two older sisters. She has always assumed that such a match would be made for her as well (though her mother has always told her that because of her dark skin it will be harder to find a match for her). However, when she "meets" a boy at the neighborhood swimming pool, she begins to have different ideas. (And I put "meet" in quotes because she only talks to him once -- at least at first -- but I don't want to give anything away). Jeeta also deals with family problems (such as her oldest sister's marital difficulties).

In Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet, Sheth presents her readers with a glimpse into a foreign culture, while Jeeta's emotions will be immediately familiar to teen readers. I'm definitely looking forward to Sheth's next book!