"Crow" by Barbara Wright

Crow by Barbara Wright

Historical fiction

304 pages

Ages 10+

 

Summary:

Moses Thomas is a 12-year-old African-American boy living with his family in 1898 Wilmington, NC. More than a half century after emancipation, blacks and whites have been coexisting in Wilmington fairly peacefully.

However, when the editor of the black newspaper writes an editorial suggesting that white woman can be attracted to black men, the white supremacist Red Shirt militia rises up and takes the city by force, shooting and stabbing black men and setting fire to black businesses.

Moses is forced into the realization that the fair world his father tried to create for him does not yet exist, and that in the face of hatred, logic and reason mean nothing.

Read-alikes:

Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood
The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Coming up next:

Found: The Missing, Book 1 by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Happy Reading! <3
Krystal

Best of the Best...FAIL!

So, I tried, not very valiantly, to complete the Best of the Best challenge. However, my MLIS coursework proved to be more time-consuming that had initially thought. Oops! New plan...

I am going to review here all of the teen and children's books I read. I may throw in a few adult books every now and again if I feel they may be of interest to teens, or if I just find them super awesome!

At least I'm not the only failure...

Happy Reading! <3
Krystal

"How to Save a Life" by Sara Zarr

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr is the story of two teen girls, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old, who, though very different in terms of their personalities, beliefs, and life experiences, find a way to fit into each other's lives after being forced together.

Jill has been raised by her mom and dad, who are wealthy and educated and live in a prosperous neighborhood in Colorado. The story begins one year after Jill's father died in a car accident. Jill's mother, seeking to give her love to another decides to adopt a baby from a pregnant teenager.

Mandy has been raised by a mother that never wanted her and a long string of her mother's boyfriends. At 18, Mandy discovers she is pregnant, and seeking to give her unborn child a better future than her own, takes a train to Denver to meet a widow looking to adopt her baby. The struggles that both girls face are realistically portrayed and both elicit sympathy from the reader--Mandy especially.

The parallel stories of a girl who lost her perfect father and a girl who never had one to lose, and how the two of them could find a new family in each other.

How to Save a Life reminds me of:

Dawson's Creek's Jen Lindley played by Michelle Williams

This is not the greatest video, and you should all watch every season of Dawson's Creek for a full understanding of the enigma that is Jen Lindley, but how awesome is it that this video is set to the song, "How to Save a Life," by The Fray?

This one's better!

Jack telling Jen that she is his "soul mate" can only be truly appreciated by those who watched every episode of this show...

Where the Heart Is: A pregnant 17-year-old rebuilds her life after being abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart. Based on the the book Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts.

Trailer provided by Video Detective

Next review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

 

Happy reading! <3
Krystal

"Shine" by Lauren Myracle

Shine by Lauren Myracle was like an indie drama where Matthew Shepard meets Appalachia country meets depression-era feminist literature meets Southern mystery. The multiple plot points dealing with sexual orientation, small town politics, rape, meth use and addiction, family, parentlessness, and the struggles of young people in the Appalachian region come together to create an environment that seems both foreign and familiar. The story has a ghostly sadness to it, but it is also full of hope.

Things Shine reminds me of:

The Girl by Meridel Le Sueur

Matthew Shepard

Hounddog starring Dakota Fanning 

HOUNDDOG: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: Movie Trailers, Afemo Omilami

Undertow starring Jamie Bell 

 

Next review: How to Save a Life by Sarah Zarr

Happy reading! <3
Krystal

Best of the Best

I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to write for my first blog entry and what I'm going to write about for all of the following blog entries. While perusing YALSA's blog The Hub, I came across a posting with information about YALSA's 2012 Best of the BestReading Challenge.

Challenge objective: Read/listen to 25 of the 80 titles on YALSA’s 2012 Best of the Best list to finish the challenge. Bonus objective: read/listen to all 80 titles to conquer the challenge.

To register for this challenge, you just have to leave a comment on The Hub's post, here: Best of the Best Challenge


The real challenge: Where to begin?!

Hmmm...perhaps with Lauren Myracle's Shine, one of the Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults 

I'll keep you all updated along the way, providing reviews and other related stuff that I find amusing and/or interesting.

Happy reading! <3
Krystal