You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins and more ...

YOU BRING THE DISTANT NEAR by Mitali Perkins is a multigenerational story of immigrants to America. Two Bengali daughters, Tara/Star and Sonia/Sunny move from London (after Ghana) to New York with their parents. For Tara, who aspires to be an actress, copying Marcia Brady means she has a sense of what to wear and how to act in 1970s America as she and her more rebellious yet studious sister learn to adjust to high school. 

Eventually, they fall in love, marry and have children of their own who struggle in turn with adolescent issues of identity and questions relative to race, culture and tolerance. Those cousins, Chantal and Anna, forge a special relationship with their immigrant grandmother, Ranee, who memorably has her own identity crisis while still revering her late husband. In fact, the title of Perkins’ young adult novel refers to a line in a poem which the patriarch of this family recited to his bride and reflects their sometimes hidden affection and esteem along with the value of acceptance. YOU BRING THE DISTANT NEAR focuses on the importance of family, despite occasional stresses, and on mother-daughter conflicts as well as cultural assimilation. 

The novel is a fairly quick read and its 720 Lexile score should add to appeal for reluctant readers, although girls will have the most interest given the main characters and arc of the story. YOU BRING THE DISTANT NEAR has potential for a Junior Theme with immigrant experience emphasis (it has been referred to as an easier, Indian version of The Joy Luck Club) or possibly as a mother/daughter read for a freshmen or sophomore advisory.  Starred reviews from Booklist, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.

On another note, I was very surprised when I saw the starred reviews (from Booklist, Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal) that LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND by M. T. Anderson had received.  I would agree that it is very well-written by National Book Award winner Anderson, but his vision of a dystopian future was depressing to read, especially given all of the all too real recent news about hurricanes, a major earthquake, identity theft, and immigration restrictions for refugees and dreamers.  Anderson’s work involves a future Earth controlled by an alien species, the vuvv.  Humans such as the main character, Adam, struggle to provide for their families due to a scarcity of jobs.  Healthcare, too, is an issue with high costs and limited availability, plus a polluted environment contributing to disease like Adam’s frequent bouts of diarrhea and gastro-discomfort. Also, social media is used for entertainment with sometimes little regard for factual presentations.  Yes, I guess one should acknowledge Anderson’s satirical points, but even though LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND is more of a novella (about 150 pages), it is still quite a sad, bleak, and disturbing read.

I also recently had a chance read excerpts from 5 young adult novels being published by Penguin this month or next. They included: more gritty science fiction from Marie Lu (Legend) in WARCROSS; Kristin Cashore’s (Graceling) new fantasy titled JANE, UNLIMITED; the start of a horror story called THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE by Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss); plus THINGS I'M SEEING WITHOUT YOU by Peter Bognanni (The House of Tomorrow) and a fractured fairy-tale debut novel, FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS by Julie C. Dao.  A variety of teen reads, but generally dark and a bit grim – the first and last titles especially are getting quite positive reviews; I will post more comments when I finish a full text.

 

The Silence by Mark Alpert and What Goes Up by Katie Kennedy

Are you looking for an adventure story battling alien life forms?  Each of these titles involves a team of young people who set out to save the world and need to defend their own choices.

THE SILENCE by Mark Alpert is the third book in his trilogy (beginning with The Six and continuing with The Siege) involving Adam Armstrong and other young people whose memories were uploaded into machines so as to overcome the physical deaths associated with their terminal illnesses.  Next, those machines and their young inhabitants (called Pioneers) fight for the government against an evil Artificial Intelligence, called Sigma.  As the third book opens, we learn that the newest Pioneer is really a re-constituted Jenny whose mind was injured by Sigma, but who hasn’t died.   Once again, there was some great applications of science (Alpert is a contributing editor at Scientific American, after all), but I struggled with feeling empathy for these humans-in-machines, particularly with their seemingly compulsive need to be always moving and acting without much reflection. If, like me, you enjoyed the first book in the trilogy plus are interested in physics and artificial intelligence, give THE SILENCE a try. Its story line will surprise you.

I also read WHAT GOES UP by Katie Kennedy which involves interplanetary travel and potentially deadly bacteria. Booklist suggests grades 8 to 11, but I am much more inclined to agree with the School Library Journal reviewer who suggests grades 6 to 9.  I found the characters to be extremely immature (portrayed repeatedly as embarrassed by references to vagina, penis or tampons) and yet somehow they were selected and being trained to negotiate with Alien powers.  That said, WHAT GOES UP is an action packed story with likeable characters, Rosa Hayashi and Eddie Toivonen, who come from very different backgrounds.  If you are able to ignore any doubts about NASA’s willingness to allow 16 year-olds to pilot multi-million dollar space ships, this suspenseful, fast-moving adventure may be for you.    

If you have a title to suggest, please let us know.    

New Sceince fiction and fantasy titles

Just about a year ago, I was reading Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel – it was a fantastic debut and I know other science fiction fans will be excited to hear that a second book in the Themis Files series, WAKING GODS, has been released recently.  The sequel begins almost a decade later, but the adventure and suspense are just as strong; that is, non-stop and a bit darker. Giant alien robots are invading the Earth and physicist Rose Franklin along with other human members of the Earth Defense Corps must figure out how to stop the destruction, first in London and then around the globe.   

I am linking to an interview with author Sylvain Neuvel in which she talks about some of her motivations in writing this story, but there’s not much point in sharing more details of the new novel – go grab a copy and start reading. WAKING GODS received starred reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus which says, “Pure, unadulterated literary escapism featuring giant killer robots and the looming end of humankind. In a word: unputdownable.” Enjoy.  

BLOOD ROSE REBELLION by Rosalyn Eves is a debut fantasy novel set in 1847 London.  The main character is a young woman of noble birth who, unlike others of her class, has no magical powers other than being able to break spells. Her “gift” contributes to the ruin of her sister’s debut and Anna Arden is exiled to Hungary with her grandmother.  There, she discovers Romani magic and has to decide if she wants to develop her power and support rebellion by granting more magic abilities to all. 

There are elements of Austrian-Hungarian history, classism, and even sexism in this fantasy story, but the appeal will most likely be to younger (middle school and early high school) readers due to the immaturity of the character, her flirtatious romance and presence of magical creatures. BLOOD ROSE REBELLION is part of a planned trilogy – learn more at the author’s website.