Run For Your Life by Jane Mitchell

Azari's life has been split in two. The first part of her life was in her village in her home country with her mother and father, her older sister Sharnaz, her younger brothers Kashif and Musa, and her friends Iman and Ruba. The second part of her life is in Ireland where they arrived after hiding among the containers on a ship. 

After being brought to land, Azari and her mother go to the International Protection Office where they are interviewed by a man. In Azari's culture, women do not speak to strange men. Her mother who cannot read or write, refuses to be interviewed by him, leaving fifteen-year-old Azari to answer his questions. Although it is irregular, they allow Azari to tell her story, one that brings up powerful memories, ones she is scared to remember, scared to forget.

After filing an application for asylum, Azari and her mother leave the Centre where they have been staying and go into an old, dark house that is part of the Direct Provision. Azari's mother spends most of her days in bed sleeping, leaving Azari to figure out things on her own. She arranges to meet Sheila from legal aid, who reviews her story. Sheila is not happy that she has to interview Azari rather than her mother.

Weeks pass, Azari begins to learn English and begins to consider resuming running. She purchases leggings, running shorts, and running shoes, after traveling by herself to a nearby department store. But her mother is frantic because respectable women don't go out alone and they don't run. Soon Azari and her mother are moved to another Direct Provision Centre in a small town. They are placed in a room on the first floor that has one large bed and a broken wardrobe. Azari begins running as a way to cope with these changes, giving her a feeling of control. Although this upsets her mother, a black woman named Princess who also lives in the building, encourages Azari.

She starts school in January, in a class with girls two years younger. Azari finds reading English difficult and has never studied geography, history, science or advanced maths. She also attends what the Irish girls call "Black School", a mix of students from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to help them catch up. In gym class, Miss Cullen encourages Azari to join the runners club but she has no means to travel there and there are other issues as well. Azari begins to gradually make friends: an Irish girl named Emer invites her to join the school's lunchtime book club, and Robert, a boy who is part of Miss Cullen's running club, asks her to join him for runs around the village. Running with Robert brings Azari great joy but at the same time she knows this will not meet with her mother's approval. 

As their application for asylum moves forward towards the interview, Azari and her mother must also deal with increasing racism from the villagers, that eventually puts all the refugees in danger. Nevertheless, Azari's taste of freedom, helps her to stay focused on moving forward in every part of her new life in Ireland.

Discussion

Run For Your Life explores the plight of new immigrants to Ireland, the Direct Provision Office which handles immigrants to the country, and the practice of honor killings in some countries. The main character, Azira narrates events as they settle in Ireland, but in flashbacks, also reveals why they had to flee their country, leaving behind family and culture.

Mitchell tackles a large number of issues in this novel including honor killings, forced marriage, domestic abuse, the education of girls, garment factory workers rights, and even acid attacks on women. These issues are significant for the girls and women in Azari's home village. For example, Sharnaz is to be married off, against her will, to an old villager to pay off the family debt. When she runs away and is recaptured, she is to be stoned to death to restore the family and village honor. Sharnaz and Azari, like many girls in the developing world, are taken out of school and sent to work long hours in poor working conditions in a garment factory. Their father frequently beats their mother, who has little say in anything that happens to herself or her children.

Once she arrives in Ireland, Azari is exposed to views that are quite different from those in her village. For example, she has been told by her mother that she must never be alone with a boy or a man, that they will hurt her and bring shame to her. "Boy's aren't safe.", her mother warns. As a result, Azari, doesn't know if she is safe to run with Robert, or even to spend time with him just talking. To do so in her culture back home is shameful. "Then of course, there's the boy in the library. He had a friendly face. I liked talking to him. I liked his smile. But Mother, Sharnaz, Father, the village women, the Farooqs, in fact, probably every person I have ever known, would tell me no respectable woman should be alone with a boy. Men take a woman's honour." However, Princess challenges Azari, telling her, "Sure, some men are not safe...but not all men and boys are not safe and not all the time."

Azari also encounters a much different perspective about her body and menstruation. Azari has been told by her mother that during menstruation she is "impure and unclean" and she is given a set of rules to follow: she cannot attend school, cannot cook food, and must keep her period a secret. Significantly, she is sent to forage in the village rubbish heap. The pamphlets Azari finds in the library change everything. "They tell me things I never knew about my own body. How it works. How I'm not unclean or impure, although that's still how I think of it.  I open the packets and wrappers. Look at the products. Think about how this changes everything I thought I knew. And how I might change what I do from now on."

Mitchell emphasizes the difficulty refugees have in settling in Ireland. Not only are they faced with differences in culture and beliefs as mentioned above, but they also enter a system, called Direct Provision in Ireland, that sees them languishing for years as their application for asylum is processed. In the meantime, they experience poor, crowded living conditions, have limited access to higher education and are often isolated, affecting their mental health and making integration more difficult. 

In Run For Your Life, Azari faces racial discrimination at school and outright hostility in the small community where they are re-located. Eventually, their Direct Provision house is attacked and set fire to, forcing them to be moved again. Despite all the challenges Azari has encountered, she is courageous, and determined to live a life of her own choosing. Run For Your Life ends on a hopeful note, with Azari excited for the future and the possibilities it holds.

Run For Your Life offers a unique perspective on the refugee situation in Ireland. The colourful cover design blends together images from Azari's home country (possibly India??), colourful and sunny, and her new home in Ireland, rainy and green.

Book Details:

Run For Your Life by Jane Mitchell
Dublin, Ireland:    2022
251 pp.

My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom

A young girl cannot wait for her hair to grow. Her mother and grandmother (Nokomis) weren't allowed to have long hair. It was cut at the school they attended. But for a young girl letting her hair grow is important.

The stories and memories of the day Nimishoomis taught her to fish for the first time, were woven into her hair which reached her ears. The birth of her baby brother happened when her hair touched her shoulders. Welcoming him was woven into her hair. Learning how to make moccasins from her cousins is woven into her hair that now fell past her shoulders. 

At the Pow Wow, the girl's hair, down to the middle of her back, was braided by her Auntie Delia. Her aunt's teaching and prayers from that day are woven into her hair. When Nimishoomis passed away, the girl cut her hair so that he would have her "energies".

Discussion

In the exquisite picture book, My Powerful Hair, the significance of hair to Indigenous peoples is explained.  Author Carole Lindstrom, who "...is Anishinaabe/Metis and an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe," explains what hair means to her people. 

Lindstrom was not allowed to grow her hair long when she was growing up. Her mother also did not have long hair, even though she had beautiful, thick black hair. Lindstrom learned that this extended back another generation to her grandmother and great-aunts who also had "...shorn black hair above their ears." This was a product of their forced attendance at Indian boarding schools in the early 1900's. At the boarding school, Lindstrom's grandmother was taught that long hair was "...a sign of 'wildness' and 'savageness'." It's a peculiar view, since at this time most European women had long hair, which was often pinned up. 

To avoid being viewed in this way, Lindstrom's grandmother, mother and herself all wore their hair short. When she learned of this, Lindstrom decided to grow her hair long, as a way of reclaiming her identity and culture. In her Author's Note at the back, Lindstrom explains the generational impact the Indian boarding school had on her own family.

In My Powerful Hair, Indigenous artist Steph Littlebird's  vivid illustrations capture the essence of what hair means to Indigenous peoples. Hair is believed to be a source of strength and holds memories. It is grown long to be close to Mother Earth. Hair is considered a celebration of life, carrying power. Having hair braided by a loved one reinforces the relationship. For Indigenous peoples, stories, memories, culture and connections to one another are woven through hair. The richly coloured illustrations done in Procreate, reinforce this beautiful message of the importance of hair in Indigenous culture.

Book Details:

My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom
New York:  Abrams Books for Young Readers   2023

Sunshine by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

At the time Jarrett begins to volunteer at Camp Sunshine, he is sixteen-years-old and in high school,  living with his grandparents, his own parents mostly out of his life in any meaningful way. His grandmother has lots of questions and wonders how such a camp could be a positive experience. She can't comprehend how it would not be depressing being around kids diagnosed with cancer. But Jarrett is undeterred and so his grandfather drives him to Holy Rosary School to meet the van taking the high school students to camp.

His high school has a tradition of seniors volunteering for a week at Camp Sunshine. Jarrett was one of the lucky ones whose name was chosen at random along with five other students. Those students are Chad O'Halleran, Andrea Kim, Erin Price, Christine Lowery, Jonathan Garnier and two chaperones, the no-nonsense Sister Frances, and chain-smoking Mrs. (MaryBeth) Gormley. They arrive at Camp Sunshine after a three hour drive in the school van. As they drive to their trailer on Brown Road, Sister Frances hands out everyone's assignments.

Jarrett is assigned to a camper named Diego with special needs. Diego has advanced brain cancer, uses a wheelchair and has tubes under his arm and in his chest.

Mrs. Gormley reminds Jarrett and the other students how important this week will be to the campers and their families - it might be the happiest week they have had in a long time. She hints that their perspective will change throughout the week.

Jarrett is overwhelmed as he reads through the camp manual about the medical needs of the campers - something he's not responsible for. The other guys in Jarrett's trailer are nervous since none of them have met someone with cancer.

At orientation that evening, they meet Papa Frank, a kindly retiree who runs the camp program,  and their team leaders, Joy and Gary. 

While waiting in the dining room for Diego and his family, Jarrett meets Shelly Orfaos and her children, Jason, Mary and Eric, who has cancer.

On the first day of camp, Jarrett meets Diego and his parents, Carlos and Carmen who tell Jarrett that Deigo has suffered some cognitive decline and that he doesn't want to be at the camp. But as the week goes on, Diego begins to open up and enjoy himself, and Jarrett finds himself forming a deep bond with little Eric and the other campers who will impact his life in ways he can't imagine.

Discussion

Sunshine is the follow-up to Krosoczka's poignant memoir about growing up in his grandparents home, while dealing with an absent father and a mother with an addiction. 

Sunshine opens with Jarrett on his way to Sunshine Camp to volunteer for a week at the camp for children with terminal cancer. The graphic novel chronicles his journey through the week beginning with the start of camp, to life after camp and into college. In his Author's Note at the back, Jarrett indicates that "While the story in this book centers on that first week that I entered into this important work, some of the incidents and stories that I included are taken from subsequent years of working at Camp Sunshine and The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp." 

Initially Jarrett wonders what he can offer his camper, thirteen-year-old Diego, who has such intense needs and is only a few years younger. Jarrett is also disappointed with his assignment because he wanted to work with younger children. However, as the week goes on, Jarrett's perspective begins to change as he comes to understand how the camp helps the children. Life for them is very different: a world filled with doctors and nurses, while their healthy brothers and sisters are "...lost in the shadows of their siblings' illness." At camp, Jarrett comes to realize that the kids with cancer are "the mainstream kids" for once. Jarrett begins to see the campers in a different way too: he begins "...to look past the wheelchairs, bald heads, and oxygen tanks to see these kids as just...well, kids."  He also realizes these families experience pain, fear, and loneliness and that camp gives them a respite from this. 

As the end of camp approaches, both the campers and the teen volunteers struggle with the intense emotions they are experiencing. The volunteers have grown attached to their campers emotionally, and there is the realization that some of the campers will not survive their illness. For the campers, it means a return to the reality of their lives, hospitals, procedures, doctors and nurses. On the last day, Diego tells Jarrett that going home will mean people looking at him with pity, seeing him as "Diego with cancer." For Jarrett, coming home means a significant change in his perspective on life. Despite Jarrett having some significant issues in his own life regarding his parents, he finds these don't define him anymore and that his pervious worries seem unimportant.

Perhaps the most moving part of Krosoczka's graphic novel is what came a few years after his initial experience at Camp Sunshine. By this time Jarrett was in college and had continued to keep in touch with Eric's family. They had spent summers and even Christmas together. But Jarrett began having a dream that would turn out to be a haunting premonition of what was to come. 

In reflecting on his time at Camp Sunshine, in his Author's Note, Jarrett writes about what he learned from his experience and writes, "Perhaps I connected so quickly with them because I understood what it was like to yearn for childhood during childhood. Trauma has a way of forcing you to grow up while you are still in a small body."  Jarrett was uniquely placed to help campers like Eric and his family, and the young teen, Diego, because he too had experienced fear, loneliness and isolation as a child. When Jarrett and the other teen volunteers were on their way to the camp, the were cautioned by Mrs. Gormley that "this experience is bigger than any of you.", that they would quickly learn from the experience what was important in life,  and that no matter how much work they put into helping the children, they would get back much more than they gave. For Jarrett and his fellow volunteers, that was definitely what happened.

Sunshine is about so much more than volunteering at a camp for kids with cancer. Sharing ourselves with those whose life circumstances are hard, offers the chance to put our own lives in perspective, to bring just a little bit of joy to others while easing their fears, pain, and isolation. For Jarrett Krosoczka, Camp Sunshine gave back more than he anticipated, just as Mrs. Gormley predicted it would! The lovely, joyful picture of Jarrett at the end of the book is proof this is so.

Book Details:

Sunshine by Jarrett J. Kroscoczka
New York: Graphix,      2023
240 pp.

Blood of Troy by Claire M. Andrews

Daphne has returned to Sparta after her successful mission to return to the gods, the Muses, caretakers of the Garden of the Hesperides. They had been stolen by the gods, Ares, Hermes and Nyx, and Daphne returned them to Olympus. This restored power to the gods.

After a poor performance training against Lykou, Daphne finds herself called back by the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, to her palace. Many of the gods are present including Demeter, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Athena, Hades, Hephaestus, Hera, and Apollo. Zeus tells Daphne that there will be a competition in Sparta to be a part of Queen Helen's personal guard and they want her to win it. Zeus wants her to protect his daughter, Queen Helen, who he believes is in danger. King Menelaus has called all the Achaean kings to Sparta for a conclave and when all the rulers of Greece are present, the gods believe that Nyx will seek her revenge.

Daphne returns to the home of her adopted parents, Revna and Ephor Apidanos Diodorus. They inform her that there is to be agon tomorrow. For her brother Pyrrhus, the agon is a chance to redeem himself from being the Deserter of Carneia. Daphne is overjoyed until she realizes that it is she who must win the agon.

As expected, Daphne wins the agon, but just barely, defeating Pyrrhus, who is furious. However, before she moves to the palace, Daphne is visited by the Moirai, "the keepers of destiny and children of Nyx" Each Fate shows Daphne a part of the future. 

The first Fate shows her a bloody battlefield strewn with corpses from Sparta, Tenedos, Athenia and Mycena. The second Fate, Lakhesis tells Daphne "There is a great war on the horizon, like none Greece has ever known. All the kingdoms from every corner of this world will take part and stake their claim. Should you fail in the task assigned to you by the gods, that which you love most will meet its end right here on this battlefield. The Sparta you know will be gone forever more on the bloody fields of Troy."  The third Fate, Atropos tells her they will welcome their destruction and that she will be the ruin of Olympus.  Klotho, the oldest Fate asks her to protect Troy when she fails to protect her queen. Daphne is devastated by what the Fates have revealed to her. And her horror is only compounded by a dream in which Nyx appears and she sees the kings of Greece all murdered on the palace floor.

Daphne quickly discovers that Menelaus, the husband of Queen Helen is a cruel man, determined to control who Helen sees and where she goes. Helen, who is half-sister to Artemis and Apollo, and has a daughter, Hermione, considers the palace her prison. King Menelaus is not friendly towards Daphne. 

Soon the kings from across Greece begin arriving: first  to arrive is Odysseus, Anax of Ithaca, followed by Achilles of Phthia and his Myrmidons, then Alcimedes of Locris, Ajax of Salamis, King Nestor and his sons, and Ariadne Princess of Crete along with the gods Dionysus disguised as Dion of Phrygia and Apollo as Appollodoris. They are followed by the Trojans, dark-haired Hector and golden-haired Paris, two sons of Priam King of Troy. The last person to arrive is Theseus of Athens, who supposedly Daphne killed.

The purpose of the conclave is to arrange potential trades in exchange for the Trojans dropping the Hellesport tax. To the surprise of the Achaeans, the Trojans accept their offer and agree to lift the tax. However, Daphne makes two discoveries that night. Theseus whom she killed is actually Ares, the god of war, and King Menelaus and his hateful brother Agamemnon are plotting a war with Troy. With the Trojans agreeing to lift the tax, initiating a war is now much more difficult. King Menelaus, Agamemnon and Ares decide the only way to bring about war is to capture the Trojan princes who are staying with Daphne's father and family. King Menelaus gives the order to kill the ephor -and his family. 

Horrified, Daphne goes to tell Helen and sends Apollo to warn her father. Helen and Daphne arrive at her father's home, only to find that the Achaeans are only doors away. Daphne learns that her adoptive father is actually Peneios, the river god. Peneios tells the group that the only way to flee Sparta for Troy is by the river Eurotas. The group is pursued to the banks of the river by Ares, Melenaus and the soldiers. At the river Penois won't reveal the name of Daphne's father, but Ligeia tells her that when the Midas Curse is removed, her questions will be answered.

At the river bank, Daphne, Helen, Paris, Hector and Lykou flee in a boat while Penois, Revna, her maid Ligeia and Lykou's family  flee into the forest around Gythium. They are pursued by Ares and the Achaean soldiers. Daphne, Helen, Paris and Hector all manage to flee Sparta. Helen is distraught over leaving her young daughter Hermione. 

Daphne is taken to the wooded throne room in the pantheon. Hera the Queen of Olympus, Dionysus, Athena, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Zeus, Hades and other gods including Apollo, are present. Daphne begs the gods to stop the war but they refuse, telling her there are darker powers at work. Zeus tells Daphne she has failed to protect Helen, instead drawing her into the war. The gods are divided, some side with Zeus, other with Apollo and Daphne. Zeus, furious at Apollo siding with Daphne, binds his son's power. 

When Daphne returns to Earth she finds herself in the beautiful city of Troy. King Priam allows Helen to choose to stay or leave, and Helen decides to stay. Soon after Penthesila, Queen of the Amazons, her sister Hippolyta, along with the Amazons arrive in Troy. Hippolyta reveals that they have heard rumours of Helen being seduced and kidnapped by a Trojan prince. Soon Troy's other allies begin arriving.

As Troy heads towards war, Daphne must not only protect Helen but also deal with the schemes of the gods as they take sides in the war.  Daphne knows the walls of Troy were given a special power by Apollo to protect the city, which can only fall if the invader is invited inside. However, Daphne begins to understand that Troy's walls are protecting something being kept inside from being removed. Too late, Daphne uncovers what that secret is, and its unleashing leads to the destruction of Troy and much that she holds dear.

Discussion

Blood of Troy is the middle novel in the Daughter of Sparta series by Claire M. Andrews. It continues the saga of Daphne Diodorus, who is now tasked to protect Queen Helen of Sparta, but finds herself drawn into the Trojan War.

To understand the relationship between the many characters in this novel, it is helpful to understand some of Greek mythology. It's possible to read the novel without having this background but it makes the novel more enjoyable if the reader already has some knowledge of the gods and goddesses and their relationships to one another. Andrews does incorporate explanations within her novel of the Olympians and the Titans and events like the Titanomachy but a Foreword would also have been helpful in this regard.

The Titans were the twelve children of Uranus and Gaia. There were six sons: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus and six daughters: Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. Uranus and Gaia also birthed the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes. The first generation of Olympians, Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia (Dionysus), Demeter and Hera were the result of the union of Cronus with his older sister Rhea. 

After the birth of these children, they decided not to have anymore children. When Uranus imprisoned six of their children in the Earth along with several of the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes, Gaia asked her other Titan children to help free them but only Cronus agreed to help because he wanted to rule the cosmos. Gaia wanted him to castrate Uranus, which Cronus agreed to do and accomplished with a special adamantine sickle! Cronus then became ruler of the Titans. Uranus cursed Cronus, that his own children would rebel against him.

Cronus, fearful of the curse, swallowed each of his children as they were born. But his wife, Rhea was able to save her youngest child, Zeus who grew to manhood. Zeus tricked his father into vomiting up Zeus's siblings. They, along with the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, rebelled against Cronus and the Titans. After ten years of war, called the Titanomachy,  Zeus and the Olympians were victorious. The major Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus (a type of dungeon of torture) with the Hecantonchires as their guards.

In her Author's Note, Andrews asks, "What is the true story of Helen of Troy?...In actuality, we do not know much about the Trojan War, other than that the archeological evidence points to a war between the Achaeans (known then as Ahhiyawa) and Troy (known then as the city of IIius/Wilusa)..." From her considerable research, Andrews "sought to create a story that was both authentic and original, that does not diminish the myth that has persevered for many millennia, and that would still be a new experience for readers." 

In Blood of Troy, the story of the Trojan War is told from the perspective of a female warrior, Daphne Diodorus. who is an acclaimed Spartan warrior. It also includes other female characters, including Helen Queen of Sparta, Hippolyta and Penthesila of the Amazons, as well as the goddess of the night, Nyx. The retelling is fresh and engaging. Helen does not flee Sparta with her lover Paris, but flees while helping save two of the Trojan princes, Paris and Hector, as well as Daphne and her family who have been hosting the princes. In the novel, as in the Iliad, the gods take sides in the war, some helping Sparta and others like Apollo, Artemis, and Demeter on the side of Troy. The wooden horse, given as a departing gift to Troy by the Spartans, never enters the city unopened. In Blood of Troy, Daphne warns against bringing the wooden horse into the city and instead the Trojans set fire to it outside the gates, exposing the hidden Achaeans within, who are then taken prisoner. While the Spartans do massacre the Trojans, the city is destroyed when Pandora's jar containing Nyx's family is inadvertently uncovered by Daphne.

In Greek mythology, the gods are often busy interfering in the lives of humans, sometimes helping them, other times creating chaos. And in the novel,  the Trojan War is one such event where they interfere in a big way. When Daphne asks the gods of Olympus to help stave off a war between Sparta and Troy they refuse, telling her there are darker forces at work. Lykou  notes the absence of funeral games, their brilliant leader Paidonomos Leonides and the unusual Spartan battle formations, suggesting something evil is in the Achaean camps. When Nyx appears on the battlefield, Daphne begins to suspect that she is working for the downfall of Troy, but to what end she doesn't know. 

Between the deadly skirmishes, Daphne must deal with various gods who are either trying to help or hinder her. Some of the gods help her: Apollo gives Daphne a bangle to wear around her bicep with golden stones that glow different colours. This bangle, he tells her, will protect her when she cannot, and does save her life. Hermes takes her to the island of Lemnos where the god Hephaestus makes her armor and weapons to fight the gods. He also trains Daphne further, so she will be able to fight Ares who has already challenged her.  Other gods are more interested in killing her, including Hera, Ares and Nyx.

Since the Trojan War takes up much of the novel, the story features Daphne in battles against both Spartans and various gods with plenty of blood, gore and death.  Daphne, who is an accomplished Spartan warrior, has struggled all her life to be accepted in her adopted home of Sparta. She doesn't know the identity of her father, which adds to her internal conflict. In addition to this, she must deal with the gods who continue to ask for her help, while never fully divulging their reasons. Her devotion and loyalty to her family comes into conflict because of the tasks the Olympians set for her. By the time Troy falls, she feels she has betrayed by everyone she loves. 

Andrews offers her readers a map of the Greek world and of the city of Troy. Historical fiction should seek to portray the setting as accurately as possible and Andrews definitely accomplishes this. At a whopping 461 pages, Blood of Troy is not a quick read, but it is exciting, filled with action, and a touch of romance. Blood of Troy is suitable for older teens and those adults who love Greek mythology.

Book Details:

Blood of Troy by Claire M. Andrews
New York: Little, Brown and Company     2022
461 pp.

Family Style by Thien Pham

Thien Pham's very first memory was of when he was five years old and his parents, Ha and Quang and his younger brother were in a boat on the sea, fleeing Vietnam. His mother told him not to drink the sea water as it would only make him more thirsty. There was no more food or water and their boat was falling apart. They encountered a large boat that offered them food and water if they paid for it. Thien remembers the delicious watermelon he was given on the big boat. But he and his family were put back on their rickety boat because of threats from pirates.

A pirate boat attacked their small boat. During the attack, Thien's mother held him and told him to keep his eyes closed. Afterwards, Thien remembered the delicious rice ball his mother had saved from the larger ship: "the saltiness of the fish, the sweetness of the rice." Eventually they made it to shore and were bused to Songkhla refugee camp, home to over six thousand, five hundred refugees. Thien's family was able to get housing by paying for it.

At Songkhla, Thien meets Tuan whose family has been at the camp for a long time. Tuan shows Thien around the camp and helps him settle in. Meanwhile his parents get some clothing and food. To earn some money, Thien's father buys a banh cuon stall from Tuyet, a refugee woman leaving the next day for Australia. Tuyet teachers Thien's mother how to make banh cuon. For three months the Phams operate the stall until they are eventually chosen to go to America. 

They arrive in San Jose, California where they are met by the man who sponsored them. Russ takes them to his apartment and cooks them a steak dinner. They stay with Russ for two weeks. Then while unsuccessfully trying to hail a taxi after visiting the Social Security office, Ha and Quang met Nhan, a Vietnamese man who has been in the United States for three years. He explains that many Viet refugees live in a low-income apartment complex, take classes in the day and work at night.

When Russ's landlord tells him the Vietnamese must leave or he will be evicted, the Phams move into an apartment in Nhan's building. There Thien meets his old friend Tuan from the refugee camp. He introduces Thien to potato chips.

Discussion

In Family Style, Thien Pham's graphic memoir tackles the refugee experience from a different perspective, that of foods he experienced along his journey. Each stage of Pham's journey from fleeing Vietnam in a rickety boat, to life in a refugee camp, beginning again in America, growing up as a teenager and even working as a teacher, is defined by a memorable meal or food.

On the refugee boat, the tasty rice ball comes to represent survival, while in Songkhla refugee camp the delicious banh cuon comes to represent hope in the future. When they arrive in San Jose, Russ's steak dinner serves as a welcome to a new land, while the potato chips that Tuan introduces Thien to come to represent some of the good things Thien and his family are experiencing in America. The delicious strawberries that Thien and his family taste after working so hard during the night to pick them, signify the hard work his family must do to stay afloat in America. The Salisbury steak that Thien samples at school and does like signifies the adjustments he and his family will have to make to fit in. Sharing com tam dac biet with his special friend Linda, remind Pham of his heritage and this reminder comes years later when Thien becomes an American citizen and celebrates with his parents and a dinner of his favourite foods, ca kho and rau muong. 

Amidst all these memories of food, Thien Pham and his family struggle to attain the "American dream", opening a croissant restaurant that morphs into a video store.  Meanwhile Thien is shown to experience all the struggles of fitting in with peers that most teens do, working a job, attending high school, and dealing with a first crush.

Despite all the challenges Thien Pham and his family faced, Family Style captures a spirit of joy, hope and sense of family that many Viet refugees brought to America and Canada. Pham's memoir highlights how Viet families helped one another, from those who swam out from shore at the refugee camp every time a new boat appeared, to the children who helped new arrivals settle into camp or at school in America, to how families helped one another to survive and achieve success in a new country by finding housing and work.

This engaging and heartwarming graphic novel is for fans of When Stars Are Scattered, American Born Chinese and other stories of the refugee experience. 

Book Details:

Family Style. Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham
New York:  First Second     2023
235 pp.

One Last Shot by Kip Wilson

Gerda Pohorylle lives in Stuttgart, Germany with her parents, Heinrich and Gisela and her two younger brothers, Oskar and Karl, her Tante Terra and her husband, Onkel Moritz. Gerda's father runs a delivery business.

In 1921, eleven-year-old Gerda is aware that the Jews are being blamed for anything that goes wrong, including Germany losing the First World War. Her Tante Terra tells her to be her true self at home but to blend in outside the home in "German spaces". Gerda is the only Jewish girl in her class at the Konigin-Charlotte-Realschule. There, she fits in fine during the weekdays, but on Saturdays when attending school in the morning, her Shabbat duties mark her as different.

In 1925, Onkel Moritz hires Gerda's papa as a permanent employee in his delivery business. Gerda also becomes friends with Meta Schwarz, whose flat she visits everyday after school. In her teen years, Gerda begins to realize that she also wants to please herself and not just her parents.

In September of 1927, Gerda along with Meta, attends finishing school in Switzerland. Her tuition to the Villa Florrisant in Chamblandes-Pully is paid for by Tante Terra. At Villa Florrisant  the two girls discover "the sanctuary of their dreams".  Gerda dreams of making a future for herself and sees the school as helping her to do that. She excels in languages, becoming fluent in French and English, while also learning a bit of Spanish.

After returning home to Stuttgart, Gerda is noticed by a tall, young man named Hans Bote, while playing tennis with Meta. Hans, who is called Pieter, is not Jewish and works as a salesman for an American company. Despite the fact that neither her parents nor Tante Terra like him, Gerda agrees to many Pieter. However, when her father moves the family to Leipzig to expand the family business, their relationship becomes a long-distance one.

In Leipzig in 1929, Gerda falls in with intellectuals and fellow Jews, becoming politically involved and learning about the dangers of nationalism and the Nazis. She becomes involved in Leipzig's left-wing youth movement where she meets one of it's leaders, Georg Kuritzkes. After visiting Stuttgart, Gerda breaks off her engagement to Pieter.

After the stock market collapse of 1929 and into 1930, Gerda finds herself attending political rallies for equality and workers' rights, to abolish Nazism, fascism and nationalism. But the results of the Reichstag elections of 1930 see a weakening center and the Nazis gaining strength. By 1933, Hitler is appointed Chancellor and Gerda and others now focus on resistance, posting anti-Nazi posters and distributing flyers. Gerda's brothers are soon involved.

In March 1933, the Gestapo come for Oskar but take Gerda in his place when he's not home. She is held for three weeks at Gestapo headquarters before being released at the intercession of a Polish diplomat. Gerda learns that the Nazis have ordered a one day boycott of Jewish businesses. Her papa begins liquidating his business so the Nazis can't take it away. Gerda's parents now want her to leave Germany. Karl and Oskar tell her that they will help their parents survive.

In September 1933, Gerda heads to Paris, France leaving behind her family and friends. She shares an apartment with her friend Ruth Cerf, finds a job as a secretary, and spends time meeting people at the Paris cafes.

 In August 1934, Hitler is now President of the Reich as well as Chancellor. In September, Ruth insists that Gerda accompany her to a small park in Montparnasse, where a photographer, Andre Friedmann wants to photographer her. Gerda and Andre experience an immediate attraction to one another and begin to develop a friendship. At this time, Gerda is involved somewhat with Willi Chardack, a friend from Leipzig, with Pieter who visits her in Paris, and with Georg whom she visits in Italy. However, their common Jewish ancestry, and their desire "to do something big in this world" leads them to fall in love and into a partnership. With Andre, Gerda becomes a photojournalist, determined to capture the reality of war and fascism, no matter the personal cost.

Discussion

Gerda Taro's story is told by Kip Wilson in free verse, in seven parts titled Beginnings, Growing Up, Change, Independence, Partners, Success, and Extremes. Wilson, an amateur black-and-white photographer knew of Robert Capa but had never heard of Gerda Taro (Gerta Pohorylle).

To pen One Last Shot, Wilson had to rely on Gerda's biographers, Irme Schaker and Jane Rogoyska who wrote about many of the events portrayed in this novel. As a result, One Last Shot is not a biography but more a fictionalized account of Gerda's life. Primary sources for the life of Gerda Taro were quite limited as none of her family survived the Holocaust, and she left no diaries or correspondence.

In One Last Shot, Wilson portrays Gerda as a free-spirited young woman, full of adventure and determination. Wilson's poetry captures Gerda's zest for life, shown by the many friends she had. What is surprising was her involvement with many men at a time when society was still very conservative regarding women. She loved the cultures of the countries she visited and hated what fascism was doing to the people of Europe. Because of this, Gerda was determined to fight fascism any way she could. This resistance began with protests and joining groups but eventually Gerda became aware of the power of the photograph to show the realities of fascism, nationalism and war. 

Wilson captures Gerda's increasing disregard for the dangers present on the battlefield - the one last shot always being her goal. Unfortunately, this disregard for her own safety would result in her horrific and untimely death. But Robert and Gerda's style of photo-journalism would soon become the norm during most of the conflicts in the 20th century. It would allow the world to witness the reality of war, which continued to be glamorized.

Wilson's Authors Note, which details the inspiration behind the novel, also discusses fact vs. fiction in the novel and provides information on the Spanish Civil War and how Gerda's life came to light. Wilson also offers a list of the major characters in the story in Dramatis Personae, a Selected Sources listing, and a Glossary of German, French and Spanish terms used.

One Last Shot is highly recommended for readers who are interested in learning about amazing women trailblazers in the last one hundred years.

Book Details:

One Last Shot by Kip Wilson
New York: Versify      2023

405 pp.