World Kid Lit Month 2023: USBBY Outstanding International Books list

A book from the USBBY Outstanding International Books list:

This place: 150 years retold.
Foreword by Alicia Elliott; colouring by Scott A. Ford and Donovan Yaciuk.
Stories by:
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm. Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, David A. Robertson, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Jen Storm, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette, Chelsea Vowel.
Illustrated by: 
Tara Audibert, Kyle Charles, GMB Chomichuk, Natasha Donovan, Scott B. Henderson, Andrew Lodwick, Scott A. Ford, Donovan Yaciuk, Ryan Howe, and Jen Storm.

Highwater Press, 2019.

Merging together various storytelling traditions – oral, written, and visual – this is a powerful anthology, commemorating Canada’s indigenous peoples.

There are stories of the past, the present, and the future.

As one reviewer said, these are post-apocalyptic tales – indigenous cultures worldwide have lived – still live – in post-apocalyptic worlds, thanks to Western colonisation. 

World Kid Lit Month 2023: GLLI Translated YA Book Prize

A book awarded the GLLI Translated YA Book Prize:

Oksi
By Mari Ahokoivu; translated by Silja-Maaria Aronpuro.

Levine Querido, 2021.

I was trying to decide which pages to photograph.

It would have ended up being the whole book.

A graphic novel retelling of a Finnish fairy tale is one that will haunt you. 

The use of negative space, and of colour, is masterfully done. 

World Kid Lit Month 2023: IBBY Books for Young People with Disabilities

A book from the IBBY Books for Young People with Disabilities list:

Future girl.
By Asphyxia.

Allen & Unwin, 2020.

Dystopian future.

Searching for community.

Searching for acceptance.

Being true to yourself. 

A disability doesn't define you.

A disability isn't all you are. 

World Kid Lit Month 2023: A Comic / Graphic Novel

A Comic / Graphic Novel: 

Helen and the Go-go Ninjas. 
By Ant Sang and Michael Bennett. 

Penguin, 2018. 

I'm not really a graphic novel sort of girl. I mean, I do read them. I went through the obligatory Asterix phase at 11 to 13. 

But this one sticks in my memory. 

It's been a few years since I first read it - and I re-read it.

I find more every time.

And, these last couple of years, it is even more poignant - and pointed - to read. 

World Kid Lit Month 2023: A Young Adult Book

A Young Adult Book: 

Needle. 
By Patrice Lawrence. 

Barrington Stoke, 2022. 

One of Barrington Stoke's dyslexia-friendly publications. 

NB: this review / comment went in a different direction than I planned. It is more personal, and long-winded, so I don't expect you to read it all under the images. Trigger warnings / content warnings. 

As a knitter, I couldn't go past this book.

And, you shouldn't have to apologise for reacting to an act of willful violence and vandalism. 

Blake is an arrogant, entitled, bully. 

Charlene is a knitter. She is many other things, too. A foster kid. An angry kid. 

A grieving child. 

Her name and story hit more forcefully than it might for others. 

Charlene - Charlie - is the name of an angry, grieving, foster kid I knew.

I knew her as my big sister's friend - who had a tough home life*. 

I knew her as a single teen soon-to-be- mum, living with us. No formal fostering - she was an adult at that point. 

I knew her as an ephemeral will-o'-wisp who would drift into our lives - and out again. 

I knew her as the grieving mother - whose baby's funeral was traumatic. My mother was ready to do violence to the priest conducting it. Sins of the mother and all that: cot death, as a punishment for his mother's 'sins'. 

I knew - it was never hidden from me - that she had been abused (details were). That she had / did drugs. That she was a sex worker. I was a little kid in a house of older teens and adults, and conversations happened, and didn't stop, just because I was around. 

I knew her as the supportive friend, who went to our house first, after my grandmother's funeral, to help prepare for the 'after-match'. 

I knew her as the head-injury victim, who was walked to our place late one night.

She had felt faint, so pulled her car over the side of the road. A young man saw it - engine on, lights on - on his way to the shops. It was the same on his way home. 

He opened the door and asked where she was going.

"Home" she said.

And he walked her to our house.

I knew her as the person sobbing in our lounge. I could hear her from my room. I thought my six-year-old niece had had a nightmare. But, it was Charlie.

My Dad thought I should leave.

Charlie said no, I would never do drugs after seeing this. 

I knew her as the one who helped my sister laugh - really laugh - for the first time since she'd come home, with her children, after escaping her abusive husband. 

I knew her as the person who, staying with us after this incident, woke up to the cat vomiting up a bottle of vitamin-C tablets, which my nephew had found and feed to the cat. (We had to put a door and a lock on the pantry after this incident!) 

I knew her as the person who asked if we'd renovated the kitchen - because the sink was a different height from what she remembered.

We hadn't. She wasn't nine-months pregnant, doing the dishes, this time around. 

She's still floating on the edges. 

I get the occasional message from her.

Her demons are ever present. 

She brought so much joy - and perspective - into my life. 

I am glad that I don't see this trajectory in the fictional Charlene. 

* abused, neglected, drugs... 

World Kid Lit Month 2022: Day 30: YA fiction from a country where English isn't the main language

Bingo: YA fiction from a country where English isn't the main language

This book betrays my brother  By Kagiso Lesego Molope

World Lit Lit Month 2022: Day 29: A book from the Middle East

Bingo: A book from the Middle East

The servant by Fatima Sharafeddine From an email from a customer: Almost one month ago, you had recommended many books after I had filled the forum for a librarian to choose books for me.

I went with (Faten the servant), and it was the first book in my entire life that I had read. I was so attached to the reader that I felt so upset when I read the last line and flipped to the next page, hoping for some more.

I might have found it interesting because it talked about a middle eastern girl, and that was just who I am. Could you recommend more books of the same type as that book? Representation matters!

World Kid Lit Month 2022: Day 26: A book by a creator of colour

Bingo: A book by a creator of colour

The things she's seen

By Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina.

This is a tale of horrific acts, told gently, and through the spaces. Through allegory and metaphor.

Through traditional paths.

To say much more would be to ruin it.

World Kid Lit Month 2021: SPAIN

SPAIN: 

All you knead is love. 

By Tanya Guerrero. 

Banished from her abusive home for a summer with her estranged grandmother in Barcelona, 12-year-old Alba feels hope and love while exploring a newly discovered passion for bread baking.

World Kid Lit Month 2021: QATAR

QATAR: 

Love from A to Z. 

By S.K. Ali. 

After a chance meeting in an airport, Adam and Zayneb are thrown together during spring break. Both have obstacles they need to overcome to be themselves and to be together. S.K. Ali creates believable, likeable characters in this character driven novel that explores what it’s like to be a young adult trying to be true to yourself and your beliefs.

World Kid Lit Month 2020: Day 25

 Day 25: Afakasi woman by Lani Wendt Young (2019). 

A collection of heartbreaking intensity and in-your-face matter-of-factness of deep-rooted trauma.

World Kid Lit Month 2020: Day 23

Day 23: identity. 

Another YA book: Invisibly breathing by Eileen Merriman (2019). 

A story of relationships, bullying, truth, and identity.

World Kid Lit Month 2020: Day 22

Day 22: recent young adult books.

Flight of the fantail by Steph Matuku (2018). 

Legacy by Whiti Hereaka (2018). 

If you like your books to be mind-bending, then these are for you. 

World Kid Lit Month 2020: Day 21

 Day 21: graphic novel dystopia!

Helen and the Go-go Ninjas by Ant Sang and Michael Bennett (2018).

A great addition to the dystopian/ post-apocalyptic genre. With added time-travel. 

World Kid Lit Month 2020: Day 19

Day 19: Mandy Hager.

Dear Vincent (2013). 
A story of grief and redemption.

Hager has also written the dystopian/ post-apocalyptic Blood of the Lamb series:

1. The crossing (2009). 
2. Into the wilderness (2010). 
3. Resurrection (2011). 

World Kid Lit Month 2020: Day 17

Day 17: sports for teens. 

This time sport for teens, using sports as a vehicle to explore deeper issues. 

Speed freak by Fleur Beale (2013). 

Aimed at an older audience than Beale's Slide the corner (1993) this title is focused on karting (Slide the corner was rallying). 

Single Fin by Aaron Topp (2006). 

Surfing - and suicide. Yep. Sport as a vehicle. 

World Kid Lit Month 2020: Day 12

Day 12: The wonderful Sherryl Jordan! 

The secret sacrament (2003). 

Time of the eagle (2007). 

Winter of fire (1993 / 2019). 

Rafferty Ferret ratbag (2018). 

These are just a small selection of her varied work. 

Although often Medieval-themed / influenced, her works often go in unexpected places. Sometimes, what seems Medieval or ancient, is actually post-apocalyptic / dystopian. 

Long weekend plans

So, it's a long weekend (yep, I get one, just not the same days as most).
Tomorrow - it's Mum's flatmate's 5th birthday party. The little man is 5! That's so scary!!!
Luckily, his mum has planned the party to end by 1pm, so the afternoon is free (yay, Nana nap!).
What else do I have planned?
Well - one more bootie to knit & sew up before the party for little Froggie.
Then there's the outfit for future baby to knit. And the rest of Button's present.
And... the 10+ books to make headway into for my monthly reading challenges.
And... the pile of translated kids & teens books to read and review.
And... the pile of new NZ kids & teens books to read.
And... a new book has just arrived for me. Can I manage to do anything but read it?!?!? It's sitting beside me, at my desk at work, and all I want to do is read it.
Conspiracy of kings by Megan Whalen Turner. Gen is my fav ever male literary character. And the supporting cast is brilliant. And this is about Sophos - finally! Will he get his girl? Will his girl get him??? I've been waiting for about 10 years to find out.

Coincidental reading

Have you ever had one of those times when things you read, or watch, seems related? I've mentioned the King Arthur-ness of my life a while ago.

Each year we have a Take 5 promotion - bundles of 5 books, vaguely related, for people to issue. And, reasonably randomly, I managed to find 3 books set in Regency England, but with magic. Perfect for the Georgette Heyer and fantasy fan I am. Then there's a couple of books in Regency England - Napoleonic Wars with dragons! Think Horatio Hornblower with Anne McCaffrey.

The first Regency romance/magic: Patricia C Wrede's Mairelon the magician and its sequel The magician's ward (which is far more romance-y, ie contains balls and marriage proposals). In Mairelon, Mairelon is hiding in plain sight as a travelling street magician. Kim, a street rat, is commissioned to steal something out of his caravan - and thus discovers he is a real magician. And, eventuall, Mairelon's true identity is revealed - as is Kim's. Adventure, detective work, magic, and fun. In the sequel, Kim is now being made into a lady, ready to be presented at court as Mairelon's ward.

Then Wrede joined up with Caroline Stevermer (who did alternative-Victorian era with magic in A college of magics) in a delightful series of epistolary novels. Sorcery and Cecelia, the first of these, is an exchange of letters between two cousins - one in London for her first season, the other rusticating. They become tangled up in magic and mystery and romance.

New to the list is Melissa Doyle's The bewitching season which is just at the end of the Regency period with the young Princess Victoria. Twins Persephone and Penelop are off to London for their first season, with the added need to keep their magic secret. But when their governess disappears before their arrival, they become embroiled in a plot to influence the princess.

Now to add dragons and battles! There's Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe and Dragonfrigate Wizard Halcyon Blithe by James Ward. Young Halcyon has come late to his magic, and is 16, not the usual 12/13, when he is sent to a Dragonship as a midshipwizard. Not quite Napoleonic War, but similar world and battles.

Then there's the Temeraire series by Naomi Novak which are Napoleonic. Naval captain Will Laurence and his ship overwhelm a French ship and take their cargo as spoils of war - a cargo which includes a soon-to-hatch dragon egg. Knowing that the dragonic aviators are looked down upon by society, Laurence has his officers draw lots to become the dragon's companion upon hatching. Except the dragon ignores his alloted person, and heads straight for Laurence himself. There's intrigue, battle, and world voyaging galore in this series.

Book review time

M is for magic by Neil Gaiman.

A collection of Gaiman's short stories, chosen for teen readers - but as thought-provoking, creepy, funny... as any selection of his tales should be.

Favourite? "Chivalry" - with Mrs Whitaker buying the Holy Grail at her local Oxfam shop, and Sir Galaad trying to buy it off her. Followed closely by "The witch's headstone."