A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua

A RIVER OF STARS by Vanessa Hua is a well-written debut novel which tells the story of Scarlett Chen, a young and pregnant Chinese woman whose married employer/lover (Boss Yeung) has sent her to Mama Fang’s Perfume Bay near Los Angeles, California so that their child will be born there and have American citizenship. She and a young teenage mother-to-be, Daisy, make a surprising escape one night and despite some very real dangers end up in San Francisco’s Chinatown. There, they rely on neighbors’ goodwill, street smarts, and hard work to survive. Readers will be amazed at Scarlett’s resilience and (sometimes underhanded) resourcefulness, not unlike the similarly named character in Gone with The Wind. I initially requested A RIVER OF STARS because of its focus on the 21st century version of the American Dream, but parenthood, especially the relationship between mothers and daughters, is also very key and could potentially work as a basis for Junior Theme. Literature circles could definitely consider pairing Hua’s novel with other previously reviewed fictional works on immigration, such as Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran or perhaps Go, Went, Gone (to be read by our Global Voices class this year) or A Radius of Us or Behold the Dreamers.  A RIVER OF STARS garnered praise from authors Celeste Ng ("utterly absorbing") and Lisa Ko ("a riveting story"); plus, it was a LibraryReads selection for August 2018 and the BBC and the Economist featured positive reviews.    

Brass by Xhenet Aliu

BRASS by Xhenet Aliu is a new novel that I originally thought might work for Junior Theme because it deals with the American Dream. It’s the parallel stories of a mother and daughter: Elsie, a young girl desperate to leave Waterbury, Connecticut in the mid-1990s, but who ends up pregnant; and Luljeta who seventeen years later is searching for the father she never knew. After a look at a preview copy of BRASS, however, I feel like the language, some scenes, and structure (multiple narrators) is intended for more mature readers. Booklist said, “Advanced YA readers will relish the pouncing wit and sexual candor of young Elsie and Luljeta, as well as their nearly hopeless battles to boost themselves into a better world.” That’s very apt; as a debut effort, I found BRASS to be extremely clever (“… my mother slumping over the assembly line at the Peter Paul Mounds and Almond Joy factory down the street in Naugatuck, where she sometimes felt like a nut but more often she felt like a highball.”), but overly concerned with describing the sexual lives of the characters. BRASS received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal.

Two more for Junior Theme ....

I refer to our Junior Research Project quite often in this blog because it offers an opportunity for students to read a book of their choice, to research and dialogue with other scholars, and to craft their own connections and understanding of the work. Here are two more titles which I will booktalk this year for Junior Theme; both were recommended by School Library Journal as Adult Books for Teens and received starred reviews:  

I Shall by Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe is historical fiction about a strong-willed woman who disguises herself as a man, Ross Stone, in order to fight beside her husband in the American Civil War.  Rosetta Wakefield loves her husband, Jeremiah, and runs off to join him, allowing us to learn more about life (both its boredom and its dangers) as a soldier.   Starred review: Booklist, Kirkus

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez has a contemporary setting and a plot which deals with Latino/Hispanic culture and family life as she tells the story of Maribel and her parents who move legally from Mexico to Delaware. There, Maribel (who has suffered a serious injury) attends a special school and develops a relationship with a young man from Panama.  Starred review: Booklist

It is interesting that neither book cover shows the face of the main character, perhaps implying that there is a more universal experience involved in the story which each book tells. To me, it also emphasizes how we often do not clearly "see" others around us.  Both main characters fight being labeled and struggle against society's prejudices as they pursue a version of the American Dream. Whether students read these books for Junior Theme or simply because of a personal interest, they will find much to contemplate and to apply to their own lives and families as they work on defining an identity and on building empathy for others. 
 

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

The voice of 85-year-old Addie Baum was very real to me and I eagerly “listened” to the stories she told her granddaughter about being an immigrant in Boston, living in poverty, and finding a life partner.  As I read The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, I found myself thinking of my own grandparents and their experiences – the learned wisdom that is often lost and yet so precious when shared in families.

The Boston Girl will have wide appeal, especially to those with immigrant roots. Like Gilman’s Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street, Diamant’s new book will add another story to Jewish American literature. I am excited to be booktalking The Boston Girl next Tuesday on its debut publication day since I think it is definitely a fit for our Junior Theme research project.  Students will enjoy the conversational tone of this novel and be able to develop a research paper touching on one or more of many themes: fitting in and the immigrant experience, American Dream, discrimination and gender, race and religion, and class differences.

I also loved Diamant’s The Red Tent so I hope that reading the newly published The Boston Girl will generate more interest in that earlier noteworthy work, too.