A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi

Eleven-year-old Maryam (Mimi) Scotts has just arrived in Karachi, Pakistan for her summer holidays. (Her mother had lost her teaching job at the Houston Art Institute last year.) Mimi's father left them when she was five-years-old. Mimi's dad is a journalist who travels internationally working on stories. She has followed him online and knows that recently he was working in China. On the flight to Karachi, Mimi decided she was going to "write" to her father about her trip by addressing entries in her journal to her father whom she misses terribly. 

After haggling over the fare, Mimi and her mother take a taxi to her grandparents' home which turns out to "a sprawling white house with a balcony on the second floor and huge windows covered with metal bars." She politely greets her grandparents in Urdu; while her Nana (grandfather) seems friendly and warm, Mimi is intimidated by her Nani (grandmother).

Sakina Ejaz lives with her amma, abba and younger brother Jamshed in a poor neighbourhood in Karachi. She rides every morning with her abba on the back of his motorbike to work at Begum Sahiba's house where she helps her father with his cooking duties. This day the house is expecting guests who happen to be Begum Sahiba's daughter and granddaughter - Mimi and her mother.

After greeting her Nana (grandfather) and Nani (grandmother) Mimi and her mother are taken upstairs by Sakina who is shocked when Mimi talks to her. People don't usually talk to her in Begum Sahiba's home and Sakina doesn't speak English very well. Her poor English is the reason she failed the admissions test to New Haven School. Fortunately, because of her high science and mathematics marks, she has been given another chance at the exam on July 27th. Sakina loves to read and has a small secret reading space in a half room behind their toilet in her family's small house. She's serious about going to school even though she has never attended and she knows her parents need the extra income she earns for their family to survive. But while she practices her other subjects, Sakina struggles to master English. She needs a teacher and Mimi might just be the person to help her.

The next day when Mimi complains about Pakistani fruit being boring, Sakina has her try mango and offers her a deal. Mimi agrees that mango is the most delicious fruit ever. She questions Sakina as to why she has never been to school. Sakina tells Mimi that she learned math, science and some English along with the children who were tutored in the home her abba previously worked at. Sakina makes a deal with Mimi to have her teach her English. 

Gradually the two girls begin to trust one another and become friends. Mimi helps Sakina improve her English while Sakina helps Mimi learn more about Karachi and Pakistani culture. Then Mimi overhears her mother and grandparents talking and learns her father may be working in Karachi. Deeply hurt at her mother's secrecy, Mimi's determination and desire to meet her father only intensify. Meanwhile Sakina's family faces a crisis when her father's diabetes becomes unmanageable and they are unable to afford his medication. This means even if Sakina passes the exam, their poverty may mean she will never attend. Can the two girls help each other achieve their most heartfelt desires?

Discussion

Set in the bustling city of Karachi, Pakistan, the hometown of author Saadia Faruqi, A Thousand Questions is a story about two girls whose misconceptions about each other's lives and cultures are challenged. Through friendship they learn about each other's culture, find what binds them together and work to help one another.

Mimi Scotts, a young American girl visiting her grandparents' home in Karachi appears to have a charmed life with her stylish American clothing and the opportunity to attend school. But Mimi is a girl who has been mourning the loss of her father ever since he abruptly left when she was five years old. We learn later in the novel that he left after being offered "...this really exciting assignment in Iraq, right in the middle of an insurgency. It would have killed my career not to go."  What followed was one assignment after another that Mimi's father felt he couldn't refuse. He abandoned Mimi and her mother. This absence becomes a huge hole in Mimi's life and is deepened when Mimi discovers that her mother has been keeping a secret from her while in Pakistan: that her father is living in Karachi. It's hard to accept Mimi's mother's excuse as to why she kept this secret from Mimi. While it's understandable that she would be angry with his abandonment, nevertheless Mimi has the right and the need to have a relationship with her father, no matter what she may think of her ex-husband. It's this lack of empathy and understanding that makes her the least likeable character in the novel.

Eventually Mimi confronts her mother about what she has done over the last few years. Mimi challenges her mother."You're just....hiding. That's it. You're hiding from everything painful in your life, not even caring that you don't have the right to keep information from other people." She tells her mother to stop pretending and to acknowledge her pain, that she has "...a hole in my heart where he used to be, and I can't just forget that." 

In contrast to Mimi is Sakina Ejaz who is a servant in Mimi's grandparents' home. Sakina has a mother and a father but her life is hard. Her family has no money for school and she works alongside her father who is cook for Mimi's grandparents. She wants to become a teacher and help others but struggles with deep internal conflict: her desire for an education amidst her responsibility to earn money for her family.  This conflict is especially heartbreaking as it is a very real one for many girls in the developing world, who are either married off young to pay off debt or who must work to support their families. 

At first Mimi sees Sakina as the servant girl in her grandparents' home. But her view of Sakina changes as she gets to know her better. She admires Sakina's maturity and responsibility.  "Her life is so different from mine, I suddenly think. She actually works for a living, contributes to her family, has an opinion about grown-up things." This is in contrast to Mimi's life where everything is provided for her. Mimi's view of Sakina's life changes again when she goes to visit her. She tells Sakina, "I used to think I was better off than you because I had more stuff, but it's not really true." While Sakina has less "stuff" she has an intact family, including a father who is involved in her life. Sakina too has her own misconceptions about Americans. She tells Mimi she's lucky to be rich and living in America but Mimi tells her "Rich? We have no money in Houston. It's only here that we seem rich."

Despite their differences in culture and opportunities, the two girls form a friendship and begin to work together to help each other: Mimi helps Sakina improve her English so she can pass an entrance exam into school and Sakina takes Mimi's journal to her father's office which leads to him reconnecting with Mimi. The story weaves itself between these two narratives: Mimi's desire to find her father once she learns he might actually be in Karachi and Sakina's desire to attend school despite her father's illness and their poverty. Both girls' situations evoke sympathy and this story serves to demonstrate that people everywhere, no matter culture or race experience troubles in life. The message is that we all need to work together to help one another. Faruqi offers a balanced story, having her characters point out that both America or Pakistan are countries with similar problems such as poverty and government corruption, although both are likely worse in Pakistan.

A Thousand Questions  offers young readers a contrast in cultures and shows that with empathy we can bridge the differences that exist between people. The novel ends on a hopeful note, with Mimi and Sakina both experiencing positive changes in their lives and looking forward to continuing their friendship. This heartfelt novel will be enjoyed by middle-grade readers. The author provides a glossary of Pakistani words as well as some information about the city of Karachi in her Author's Note at the back.

 Book Details:

A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi
New York: Quill Tree Books       2020
310 pp.

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman

The Bridge Home is a story of family, loss, forgiveness, redemption and second chances. Two sisters flee an abusive home, living on the streets with two boys until illness forces one of them to take a chance that will change all their lives.

Eleven-year-old Viji and her intellectually-challenged sister Rukku live in Chennai, India with their Amma and Appa. Their Appa is a violent man who beats Amma. One night Amma is so badly beaten that her arm is broken and she has to go to the hospital. The next day, Appa attempts to apologize by giving Viji and Rukku gifts but Viji rejects her father's attempt and he becomes physically abusive. Viji knows that unlike her Amma who hopes the beatings will stop someday, she must leave. The next morning taking food, extra clothing, a book her teacher gave her and some money, Viji leades Rukku out of their home to the bus station where they take the bus from their village to the city. In the city they barely escape from the bus driver who attempts to kidnap them. Their first bit of luck happens when they meet a kindly lady who runs a teashop with her husband. When Rukku breaks a glass cup, Viji offers to work to pay for the broken cup and it is then that they meet Teashop Aunty.

At night they wander onto an abandoned, ruined bridge with their newfound puppy Kutti. There they meet two boys, Muthu and an older boy, Arul. The next morning they return to Teashop Aunty who gives Rukku a large bag of beads and shows her how to tie knots and braid the strings together. The two girls wander to the temple looking for work but end up encountering a wealthy woman and her daughter Praba who wants Viji and Rukku's little dog. They are chased away by the gardener and their first day ends without work or food.  That night Arul brings them food and a tarp for shelter. While telling Rukku a story, Muthu refers to Viji as Akka or older sister, which makes her feel like they are family.

Viji, Rukku, Muthu and Arul spend the next months working as ragpickers on various dumps in the city.  This job disgusts Viji as it is smelly and covers her in grime and filth. Rukku uses the beads to make necklaces and they manage to sell all but one, earning a small fortune of hundreds of rupees. The four children are eventually forced to leave their tent homes on the bridge after they are pursued and set upon by the waste mart man who tries to kidnap them. Salvaging the remaining money from the necklaces they sold, the four children relocate to a graveyard and set up new tents against one of the tombstones.

The monsoon rains arrive and with them hordes of mosquitoes. On a visit to a Catholic church, the children encounter a kindly woman, Dr. Celina Pinto who is the director of  Safe Home for Working Children. Celina Aunty as she is called, offers them a place to live, go to school and work. Viji is immediately attracted to this offer because she has a dream of some day becoming a teacher. Muthu and Arul run out of the church with Viji and Rukku following them, but not before Celina Aunty hands Viji her card. Later on Muthu reveals that he doesn't believe Celina Aunty because he was sold by his stepbrother into slave labour in a factory making handbags. There he was beaten and starved.

The monsoon and mosquitoes bring illness to both Muthu and Rukku. At first Viji tres to help by selling Kutti and buying medicine but it soon becomes apparent that both are very very ill. Viji must trust her instincts and reach out to Celina Aunty in the hopes she can save them and herself.


Discussion

Venkatraman who grew up in India, the daughter of a single mother, was introduced at a young age to charitable work for underprivileged children in her native country. Her interest and work with organizations devoted to helping the thousands of homeless and underprivileged children both in India and in the United States were the inspiration for this novel. It is evident from her portrayal of  homeless children in India, that this is an issue close to Venkatraman's heart.

With sensitivity and compassion, Venkatraman portrays the plight of two young sisters who flee from their abusive father. Viji makes the decision to leave, partly to protect her younger, disabled sister. "If I wanted a better future, I needed to change the live we had. Now." Fiercely protective of her sister Rukku who is developmentally challenged, Viji promises that they will always be together no matter what. It is a promise that is destined to be broken, although through no fault of Viji's.

Living on the street is difficult  especially for Viji who wonders if her dream of being a teacher is lost forever. Viji wonders, "Could we ever recover enough to clean ourselves up and go to school? Or was that dream as impossible as pretending the trash dump was a treasure trove?" When Viji challenges Arul and Muthu to consider the future they tell her they only worry about each day but Viji is determined to hope and dream. "I couldn't -- wouldn't let the boys destroy my hope we'd find a better life, somehow." She wonders how they can live without dreams.

When Rukku becomes very ill, Viji wants to reach out to Celina Aunty, a kind woman who has offered them help, but she doesn't know if she is able to trust her feeling that this woman is a good person. Eventually though, she must find the courage to trust Celina Aunty who proves that Viji's initial impression was correct.

Rukku's death from dengue fever and pneumonia devastates Viji. With Rukku gone, Viji's life seems to have no purpose. Celina Aunty attempts to help Viji cope with the loss of her sister, attempting to get her to write about it since she can't seem to talk about what has happened. Viji mistakenly believes that Celina Aunty is attempting to convert her and tells her that she doesn't believe in God. But Celina Aunty encourages her to "have faith in the goodness within yourself."

Viji must contend with the immense guilt she feels over Rukku's death. She reasons that Rukku would be alive today if she hadn't forced her to leave home. That guilt is "like a rock was sitting on my chest, weight me down so I couldn't rise out of bed." Viji is angry that her sister is gone; the loss of her sister makes her feel alone. Arul points out that he and Muthu are now her family and he admonishes her, "Start looking at what you haven't lost...Start giving thanks for what you do have." He points out that she has a second chance "to do something more with your life..."

Perhaps the most touching scene in the entire book occurs when Celina Aunty takes Viji to a home for people with disabilities like Rukku. The realization that Rukku could have gone to school causes Viji immense pain and grief. But out of this experience comes the first reawakening of a purpose in Viji's life; the desire to return and help at the school. Celina Aunty's suggestion that Viji may one day be able to teach there gives her hope. "Celina Aunty's words made my dream glimmer again. Faint and far away, but not lost."

Viji takes the first steps towards achieving that dream when she refuses to return home with her Appa during his visit to Celina Aunty's home. Recognizing that she must move forward Viji refuses her father's offer to return home. With a mixture of forgiveness and pity, and maturity and courage far beyond her years, Viji understands that her home and future is with Celina Aunty, despite her father's promises to be better.

Not only has Venkatraman crafted a feisty, strong heroine in Viji but her supporting characters are also well drawn. There is the thoughtful Arul who brings Viji and Rukku a tarp after their first night on the beach, and who offers to go to the waste man so that Viji and Rukku can "see the nice part of the beach..." There is Muthu whose playful ways help Rukku and there is Rukku who surprises even Viji. Viji marvels at how Rukku grows during their time out on the street. "Ever since we'd left, you'd been behaving so differently from before. You hadn't once lost your temper. You'd made friends. You even looked different, because you'd been holding your back straight all the time." In the end it is Rukku who helps Viji move forward in life, who gives Viji her purpose again, who gives her the strength to forgive and to remember. At the end of the novel Viji recognizes how Rukku really helped her in her life.
"All this while, I thought I'd looked after you, but now I see it was often the opposite.
You gave me strength.
By never letting me get away with a lie.
By showing me small miracles.
By laughing at all the wrong times.
Together we were such a good team."
Because of Rukku, Viji decides that she will face life "living with my whole heart...And imagining with my whole mind."

The Bridge Home is another fine novel by Padma Venkatraman, one that offers insight and understanding about the plight of poor and homeless children in the developing world, ending with a message of hope. Her novel gives young readers a sense of the childrens' humanity and dignity, by portraying them as young people with dreams and hopes like children everywhere, deserving of a childhood that is safe and nurturing. Perhaps we can all take Celina Aunty's advice to "try thinking about Good. About doing Good."

Book Details:

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books      2019
191 pp.

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

The Big Wave is a novella written by the late American  Pulitzer Prize winning author, Pearl S. Buck about a young Japanese boy who survives a tsunami and learns much about life.

The story is set in a small fishing village in Japan, located on a beach by the ocean. Kino lives on his family's farm, set high up on the mountain overlooking the fishing village. His ancestors have farmed the mountain for generations, terracing the land. Kino's best friend is Jiya the son of a fisherman. Jiya lives in the village on the beach with his parents and his brother. Like all the other homes in the village, Jiya's home has no window facing the sea.

While Jiya fears the ocean, telling his friend "The sea is our enemy",  Kino believes it is beautiful. On hot summer days after work, Kino swims in the clear water of the sea. He and Jiya often swim out to an island owned by an old man, whom everyone calls the Old Gentleman.

Whenever they are on the island, Jiya always watches the sea carefully. This puzzles Kino who questions him about why the sea gets angry. Jiya doesn't have an answer for this. However, Kino gets a sense of the sea's danger when he dives deep and feels its "cold grasp." When Kino asks his father why Jiya and his father fear the ocean his father explains that there is much they do not understand about the sea. His father also reminds him that there is the volcano to be concerned about too on land.

Then one day the volcano which is far from Kino's home, begins to spew out smoke and steam. Kino's father stays awake all night just as do the other fathers in the fishing village on the beach. At noon the next day a red flag is seen at the Old Gentleman's castle on a knoll halfway down the mountain. Kino's father tells him this is a sign for the people to be ready. Soon a bell begins to toll, encouraging the people to shelter within the castle. But few come. Only the children begin to stream out of the fishing village and up the path towards the castle. At Kino's suggestion, he and his father wave a white handkerchief to draw the attention of his friend Jiya. Shortly after Jiya arrives at Kino's home, they look out towards the sea and watch a huge wave race towards the shore. Terrified, Jiya wants to rush down to the village to tell his father but Kino's father holds him fast. The wave, crashes ashore, destroying everything in its path. Jiya and Kino's lives are forever changed.

Discussion

The Big Wave is a story for children about a tsunami that devastates a village and changes forever the life of two boys. Although the story is one of tragedy and loss, of a horrific natural disaster, it is told in a gentle, direct manner. Written in a simple style, the novella's overarching theme is about overcoming tragedy in life.

At the beginning of the story, Kino attempts to understand the world around him. His friend Jiya fears the sea as he is aware of its great power. Kino who is the son of a farmer, is puzzled by his friend's fear because the sea looks so beautiful. But he comes to understand his friend's fear during a deep dive in the ocean. When he tells his father that he feels safe on land, his father reminds him that even the land holds danger that they must be watchful for, in this case the distant volcano. Kino questions his father, "Must we always be afraid of something?" and he is told the he must "learn to live with danger." Kino's father tells him he must accept that danger exists and learn to live with it, knowing that death comes to everyone. However, this is something  that Kino as a young boy, does not want to consider.

A tsunami wipes out the fishing village, orphaning many of the children who were saved by seeking refuge in the Old Gentleman's castle. Jiya who joins Kino's family on their farm, witnesses the destruction of the village and collapses in utter distress. Yet Kino's father is both patient and kind, telling Kino that they must wait for Jiya to grieve. Jiya's body heals first from the shock and gradually his mind and soul do too, as a result of the careful kindness of Kino's family. He chooses to stay with Kino's family rather than live in the wealthy Old Gentleman's home.

The tragedy of the wave changes Jiya forever. Although his life is divided into two separate periods by the tsunami, he "learns to live with his parents and his brother dead..."and to find happiness in life in spite of tragedy. He learns to love everything this is good and to avoid cruelty. Ultimately, Jiya learns the lesson that Kino's father was trying to explain to his own son Kino, years before, that one must accept the dangers in life and learn how to live with them. This is exemplified by his conversation with the Old Gentleman who scolds the grown survivors of the tsunami for rebuilding homes on the beach. Jiya tells the old man that life is filled with dangers, which they must learn to live with especially since their island of Japan has volcanoes and the sea. Even the Old Gentleman's castle is not safe if the earth shakes hard enough.  Jiya builds himself a home on the same beach where his parents died, this time with a window that faces the sea. He tells Kino's father, "If ever the big wave comes back, I shall be ready. I face it. I am not afraid."

The Big Wave is a thoughtful, beautifully written short story that should appeal to many young readers. Pearl S. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for her novel, The Good Earth and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938

Book Details:

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
New York:  HarperTrophy 
57 pp.

Missing Mike by Shari Green

Eleven-year-old Cara Donovan's world is turned upside down when her family is forced to flee from raging wildfires and her beloved rust-coloured mutt, Mike goes missing in the chaos.

Cara's town of Pine Grove in British Columbia has been on evacuation alert for days. Cara's mother has her and older sister Sloane pack keepsakes into plastic bins just in case they need to leave quickly.Cara packs her overnight bag with a change of clothes and a few special treasures.

Then one day a police officer shows up at their door. They must evacuate immediately. Cara was in the backyard with her dog, Mike but when she goes to retrieve him, he is no where to be found.Cara is forced into the family, leaving her beloved dog behind. The drive out of Pine Grove is harrowing and slow, with sparks flying across the road, smoke billowing and deer rushing to safety.

Cara is devastated at the loss of her dog Mike. She got him two years earlier at the animal shelter in  Braeburn. While her parents were interested in the cute fluffy goldendoodle puppies, Cara was drawn to Mike, a
"skinny
grown-up
already-got-in-a-fight
dog
with one eye
and a tattered ear?"

The man at the animal shelter raved about Mike's sweet nature and so they took him home.  Once in the city they arrive at the evacuation center. Because Cara's family rescued a cat on their way out of Pine Grove they are taken to the gym where found animals are taken. Immediately Cara questions a woman if she's seen a rust-coloured dog with one eye, despite the fact that it's unlikely Mike is at the shelter. After registering, Cara's family is slated to stay with a host family, Jasmeet Bains and her husband Bill. The Bains have two children, two boys who are away at camp and a foster child, thirteen-year-old Jewel.

Jewel is very sympathetic to Cara's feelings of loss over Mike. Cara believes that she has abandoned Mike, but Jewel tells her
"No," she says,
"he got lost.
It makes a big difference what words you use
to tell something."

Jewel helps Cara to cope by making posters to put up for Mike. She finds a website for pets lost due to the wildfire and posts Mike's picture online. At the evacuation center, Cara and Jewel put up a poster of Mike. As the wildfire advances and consumes parts of Pine Grove, Cara becomes increasingly distraught about Mike. She imagines terrible scenarios and eventually makes some poor choices that endanger herself and Jewel. As Cara struggles to keep faith and be hopeful, she wonders, will she ever see her beloved Mike again?

Discussion

Missing Mike is a timely novel that explores the meaning of family, the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of community in times of disaster.Green uses wonderfully descriptive free verse captures the danger Cara and her family experience as they travel to safety with the flames raging around them.

"It's dark as night
--black smoke so thick
I can barely see the car ahead of us.
Wind hurls glowing embers
across the road
orange sparks fly
like hailstones made of fire.
Sweat beads on my forehead."

The wildfire forms the backdrop for the story of an eleven-year-old girl who has inadvertently left behind the one thing most precious to her, her beloved dog Mike. Mike isn't a cute little puppy but a dog who has had a rough past as evidenced by his torn ear and missing eye. Despite his fear of coyotes which leads Cara's family to believe that he was once attacked by them, Mike has stood his ground against one to protect Cara. He is special to Cara.

While Cara and her family stay with a host family, the Bains, Cara begins to considers what defines home. When Cara first leaves Pine Grove, she is pre-occupied with the loss of her dog Mike. She doesn't worry too much about her home, after all it will still be there after the fire she thinks. While working on a crossword puzzle, Jewel asks Cara for a 5 letter word for "home" and reveals that she "lived in a car once and it was home." Jewel explains to a shocked Cara that although she's lived in many houses after the car, the car was home because she was with her mom. However, now Jewel feels it isn't necessary for her to have her mother with her for a place to be called home. Instead being safe and wanted make the Bains' house "home". Cara wonders if it possible to have a home without family.

Later on at the shelter, Cara meets her music teacher Miss Francesca Passerini who
"lives in a house surrounded
by overgrown gardens
chock full of flowering plants
and an unusual number
of bird feeders."
In other words, Miss Francesca has a beautiful home which contains her music and her beloved piano which she might lose to the wildfire. But she tells Cara that it doesn't matter because she still has her music inside her. Cara realizes that  "music is Miss Francesca's word for home."

Cara and her older sister Sloane meet a young single father, Wesley who has a little daughter named Angeline.When Cara questions him about if he loses his home, Wesley tells her
"But you know what?" he says softly. "This girl
has my heart.
As long as I've got her
I'm home."
For Wesley being with his daughter is all that matters and that is "home". Remembering this, Cara wonders if having family is what really matters and is what defines home.

When they learn that their house has been destroyed by the wildfires Cara wonders,where they will go and where they will belong if they have no home, no place that's theirs. If a house with it's rooms "where a family lived, shared celebrations and sadness, big moments and boring days" is nothing but a pile of bricks is home? Cara wonders if
"...there's something that remains
through it all
like if Wesley has Angeline
Miss Francesca still hears music
in her heart
Heather is with her relatives
and Jewel is safe
and wanted."

Thinking back on her and Jewel's struggle with the crossword puzzle to find that elusive word for home, Cara realizes that home means something different for every one.
"Turns out
home isn't always with family
but often it is.
It isn't always a place
but sometimes it is.
It isn't always within your grasp
but when you find it
you know to
hold on."

For Cara home is love, friendship and loyalty - something she has with her family and Mike (who she finds waiting at their burned out home). Cara realizes she hasn't lost her "home" at all, instead she's discovered what home really is for her. It is the not only her family but the bond she has with her beloved dog, Mike.

In light of the many wildfires in the past few years, especially in British Columbia, Alberta and northern Ontario, Green's book is very timely. Missing Mike will help young readers understand just how devastating disasters like wildfires can be for those who experience them. Cara and her family lose everything except what they were able to pack before evacuating and at one point Cara wishes she had packed certain special momentos. Maintaining an attitude of hope throughout their ordeal was a struggle for Cara and her family. The novel also portrays how the efforts of the local community at large helped make this challenging time more bearable for Cara and her family.

Overall, Missing Mike is a well written, touching short novel in free verse by Canadian author Sheri Green. Younger readers who love dogs and animal stories in general will enjoy Missing Mike.

Book Details:

Missing Mike by Shari Green
Toronto: Pajama Press     2018
245 pp.

What To Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

David Drucker lives with his mom and dad and has an older sister Lauren whom he affectionately calls Miney because "she's always felt like the only thing in a confusing world that belongs to me." Lauren, "smart and cool and beautiful" was the most popular girl in high school, president of her class and homecoming queen.  

David, who is a strapping six foot two, has an I.Q. of 168 and knows he's different. His doctor has suggested that he has a "borderline case of Asperger's" but David, who's read the DSM-4 (the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) doesn't believe he meets the criteria for such a label. He admittedly has trouble in social situations, preferring routine and order, but he feels he can be empathetic and he can make eye contact. He's been relentlessly bullied and so he's given up trying to fit in, preferring to be alone.

During lunch hour, David always sits by himself in the school cafeteria.  He's done so for the past 622 days until one day Kit Lowell sits down at his table. David, who's not good at names, is tempted to add her to his notebook which he uses to keep track of people, The notebook was his sister Miney's idea, suggested after David was bullied in middle school. Miney felt he was too trusting, and so they made a list of people, dividing them into those trustworthy and those to avoid.

David immediately acknowledges Kit's father's death, something that none of her friends will do.  Kit finds David's directness refreshing. She's decided not to sit with her usual table that includes her best friends Annie and Violet and has chosen David's table because she knows she will be left alone. Kit tells David she doesn't want to talk which he respects. Although it's been a month since her dad was killed in a car accident, Kit doesn't want to go to school. After arriving late to Mr. Schmidt's physics class, Kit abruptly leaves without permission. David decides to follow her out, but he does ask to leave. He finds Kit in the concession hut by the bleachers and tells her that he's not following her but wanted to make sure she was okay.

Kit is puzzled by David's concern for her. She doesn't know much about him except that he's awkward, frequently bumps into people, and wears headphones when he walks around at school. But Kit also remembers that her father suggested she get to know David Drucker, telling her he is an interesting person. And she also notices that beneath his long hair, David is rather cute.

Kit continues to sit with David at lunch hour. When Kit asks him why he always sits alone, David tells her that he shares nothing in common with the other students other than they are the same age and born in the same town and that many of the students have not been nice to him. Kit tells David that she chose his table because she knew if she asked him to leave her alone he would respect her request.

Kit's friends however are not satisfied to leave her alone and they begin confronting her. But Kit continues to sit with David during lunch. To help her, David takes notes in physics class for her, which really impresses her. He also reveals he can make a very good chicken tikka. Kit begins to feel David is a sort of "good weird." After school Kit offers David a ride home which he accepts even though he drove his own car to school. After dropping David off at home, Kit goes to the Pizza Palace where her friends, Gabriel, Justine, Annie and Violet hang out. Several other girls from their school also join them and begin questioning Kit about her new friendship with David. Kit defends spending time with David, telling her friends that he is "pretty interesting".

Meanwhile, David's sister Miney returns unexpectedly from school, with purple hair, bloodshot eyes and a new piercing. David tells his sister about his developing friendship with Kit who has sat with David for four days now and who admits that she enjoys talking with him. This leads Miney to advise David that he needs to ask Kit out to study together or work on a school project. And she decides that David needs a makeover, a new haircut and some new clothes besides the khaki pants he always wears.

Kit's life becomes even more complicated when she uncovers a devastating secret her parents have been keeping from her. She is so angry at her mother that she is no longer speaking with her. At the same time she's also asked David to help her figure out how her father was killed in the car accident. As her friends continue to question her ongoing friendship with David, Kit and David's friendship continues to blossom. But will their new friendship survive as they both face having their inner most secrets unexpectedly revealed?
 
Discussion

What To Say Next is a sweet, touching story about two teens struggling to find their place in the world. David Drucker, a teen with autism, has given up fitting into the social scene in his high school and is a loner. Kit, very different from David, is part of the in-crowd. But since the death of her dad a month earlier, she's struggling with her own guilt leading her to withdraw socially.

Both David and Kit undergo a personal journey of growth and self-revelation throughout the novel.  For Kit this journey involves confronting the secrets both she and her mother are keeping. At the beginning of the novel, Kit wants her friends to acknowledge the death of her father instead of just skirting around the topic. When her friends remark that she is struggling to cope with "everything" Kit thinks, "I shake off my irrational annoyance at her euphemism. Everything is obviously my dad being dead. Why can't she just say that instead?"

Ironically, despite Kit's desire for her friends to talk about her father's death, Kit herself refuses to publicly talk about it because, as it turns out, she's keeping a big secret regarding her father's death. It is a secret orchestrated by her mother, but which terribly burdens Kit. She withdraws from her friends and seeks shelter at David Drucker's table, a loner whom Kit expects will leave her alone.

However David surprises Kit when he immediately acknowledges what has happened to her by stating that her father has died. He "... just said the words right out loud. The unvarnished, ugly truth." Nevertheless the weight of the secret she's carrying around is unbearable and at one point she considers telling her friends the truth about what really happened. "I consider explaining everything to my friends. Finally coming clean. Telling the whole story of this nightmare from beginning to end. But I can't. There are some words we are not allowed to say out loud." 

As Kit's friendship with David blossoms she decides to ask him to help her figure out the physics of her father's car accident and to learn  "...if it could have been stopped. What was the very last second someone should have put their foot on the brake?..."  David agrees to help his new friend, dubbing the effort, "The Accident Project". But when he accompanies Kit to the scene of the accident, she flees. Nevertheless, David is persistent as he wants to help Kit come to terms with her father's death.

When David's mathematical calculations indicate that Kit's father should not be dead she resolves to tell the truth. "On the way over to McCormacks, I resolved to be brave and  honest. I realize I can't keep going, not like this. My mom wanted us to build and then live in a glass house of lies. But it's time to start throwing rocks..." Kit believes that David will keep her secret. She doesn't stop to think how David might feel when he learns the truth. David with his Asperger's doesn't think about Kit, instead he feels betrayed because Kit asked him to find the truth of her father's accident when she knew it all along.

When the truth about the accident is revealed, Kit is finally able to talk to her friends, opening the door to healing and forgiveness. She is relieved to have the truth come out although she now believes David is "the enemy".  One noticeable flaw in Kit is that she never apologizes to David for lying to him and setting him up to solve her father's accident when she knew the truth all along. Instead, she first focuses on David's actions rather than her own.

Besides dealing with her role in her father's car accident, Kit must also come to terms with the secret she's learned about her mother. When Kit searches through her father's files she finds a file filled with special memories of his only child. For Kit this is proof that, "Our lives were good. Maybe even perfect." However, Kit makes a shocking discovery about her family and yet another secret her mother has been keeping. This leaves her feeling confused and hurt. After a night of partying, drinking and kissing David, Kit wakes up the next morning hungover and filled with regret. She begins to understand how her mother could have made the mistake she did. This realization leads to the beginning of her healing the rift with her mother.

For David his journey is more about confronting the real world and learning to live in it. When Kit comes into his world David discovers the value of friendship. "Here's the thing about making a friend that I didn't understand before I started talking to Kit: They grow your world. Allow for previously inconceivable possibilities." He acknowledges that "Before Kit, I never used the word lonely, though that's exactly what I was."

David has relied heavily on his sister Miney's help. It was her idea for him to keep a notebook to help him keep track of the people in his life. Whenever David experienced difficulties, Miney was always there to help him. She helped David grow his friendship with Kit and was the impetus behind his makeover, and his asking Kit out. After his notebook is published on Tumblr, David gradually recovers from his horror and humiliation. When David learns his sister will be leaving soon he realizes he will be fine when she's gone. "The old me would have cried or screamed or begged her to stay. But I'm not the old me anymore. Despite the events of the past seventy hours, I am growing up, getting stronger. I'm miles away from Normal -- I will never live in the same state as Normal, nor do I necessarily want to -- but I'm getting a little closer..."

When David reveals Kit's secret and accuses her in front of everyone at the restaurant, this is a problem Miney cannot fix. To David's great distress he learns Miney is on her way back to school. However Miney tells him, "You don't need my help the way you used to." Instead Miney tells him "But look how quickly you figured out what you did wrong. The old you might have not even noticed that Kit was upset. Or might have insisted that she was being overly sensitive. You're getting better at this empathy thing..."

David recognizes that he needs to apologize to Kit and despite being scared, he devises a creative and very touching way of apologizing. In a series of sweet but practical notes, he explains to Kit that he has Asperger's, and asks for forgiveness to become friends again. In the end though, David gives Kit "one last gift" that of explaining to her that there was nothing she could have done to save her father. "This wasn't your fault. Mathematically or legally. There is nothing you could have done. So instead of trying to watch it happen differently, why don't you try not to watch it at all?" Kit thinks David is simply being kind but he tells her "the math never lies".  This opens the door for Kit to forgive herself, a big step towards healing.

Buxbaum has crafted a beautiful story about the meaning of friendship, forgiveness and redemption. The real gem of this novel is the main character, David Drucker who is endearing and realistic, with a big heart that makes up for all the difficulties his Asperger's creates. He practices krav maga, copies Newtons third law in Latin "to keep it interesting" and tells Kit that if "you were a radio wave, you'd have your very own frequency." He might not have all the social cues worked out, but his intentions are good. What To Say Next encourages us all to be more empathetic, to believe in second chances and to help one another in our own journeys.

Book Details:

What To Say Next by Julie Buxbaum
New York: Delacourt Press      2017
292 pp.

Orphan Train Girl by Christina Baker Kline

This edition of the Orphan Train Girl is based on Kline's New York Times bestseller, Orphan Train and is for younger readers. Orphan Train Girl weaves together two stories, one from the past of Irish immigrant Niamh who is orphaned in a fire in 1929 and one from the present of Native America Molly Ayer who is living in a foster home. Both girls are connected by a common thread that includes the loss of family and identity.

Molly Ayer lives with her foster parents, Dina and Ralph  in Spruce Harbor, Maine. One day while at the Spruce Harbor Public Library, Molly tries to steal a paperback copy of The Secret Garden. She is caught by the librarian, Mrs. LeBlanc and her social worker, Lori is called. Lori arranges for Molly to do twenty hours of community service and Dina and Ralph agree she can continue to stay with them. Molly's best and only friend, Jack has the idea that Molly can help clean Mrs. Daly's attic. Jack's mother cleans Mrs. Daly's home and has mentioned that the elderly woman needs help with this task.

Molly meets Mrs. Daly  who goes by the name of Vivian. Vivian is a very direct person and she asks Molly about her life. Molly tells her that she is a Penobscot Indian and that when she was younger she lived on a reservation near Old Town. She doesn't tell Vivian that her father died in a car crash and her mother was unable to cope and eventually she was placed into care. After being shuffled around to various families she ended up with Dina and Ralph. When Vivian reveals that she is an orphan, and she tells Molly vaguely that there was a fire.

Vivian's backstory is revealed in the chapters about Niamh (pronounced Neeve) Power. Niamh arrives in America with her family, on the Agnes Pauline when she is seven years old. Her family is from County Galway in Ireland and they arrive at Ellis Island having left their country because of the potato famine. Niamh's family thought they would find a better life in America but instead they found "the grimy streets of lower Manhattan, a dishwashing job for Da at a pub, and a small apartment on Elizabeth Street for ten dollars a month."

Nine-year-old Niamh's life is changed forever when a fire sweeps through their apartment. Mam wakes Niamh and takes eighteen-month-old Maisie, while Da tries to waken the twins, James and Dominick. But Niamh finds herself alone on the sidewalk. The doctor tells Niamh that her mother has died and that there is no hope for Maisie. With no family to take her in, Niamh is taken to the Children's Aid Society by her neighbor Mr. Schatzman. Weeks later Niamh finds herself boarding a train along with twenty other orphans, chaperoned by Mrs. Scatcherd and Mr. Curran. Niamh is given charge of a little boy named Carmine. Mrs. Scatcherd tells the children that they are on an orphan train which will take them (hopefully) to new homes in the countryside. One of the older boys, Dutchy doesn't want to be on the train as he'd rather be out on the street working shining shoes.  After a transfer in Chicago's Union Station that did not go well, Niamh finds herself and the rest of the orphans in Minneapolis at the Milwaukee Road Depot. Here people will come with the intention of choosing a child to take home with them. Both Carmine and Dutchy are chosen although Dutchy is not happy. He gives Niamh his lucky penny. Niamh then travels to Alban where she is picked by Mrs. Byrne who renames her Dorothy and sets her to work making clothing. It is the first of several terrible homes Niamh will be sent to before things get better.

As Vivian reveals her story it becomes apparent that she and Molly have much in common and what starts out as a boring task to help an elderly woman might actually come to mean much more to both of them.

Discussion

Orphan Train Girl juxtaposes two narratives, one in the present and one set in 1929-1930 amid the final years of the Orphan Train movement. The stories appear to be very separate- in the present day, Molly who has been caught stealing is sent to help the elderly Vivian clean out her attic while the story set in 1929 is about a poor Irish immigrant girl who is sent on an orphan train to find a new family. However it soon becomes apparent that Niamh's story is really about Vivian when she was young.

The Orphan Train Movement was an attempt to help homeless and poor children by moving them out of cities like Boston and New York to farms and homes in the American West. It ran from 1854 until 1929 and sought to relocate thousands of children who were living on the streets of major American cities, often in abusive gangs. It was felt that adopting them into families in the West would give them a chance at rehabilitation and a better future. Initially the children were placed in cattle cars on trains but near the end of the trains, children travelled in sleeper cars with chaperones. Around two hundred thousand children were relocated in this way, many forever losing contact with their families, relatives and communities back home.  In Orphan Train Girl, Vivian would have been one of the last children transported by these trains. 

Although Vivian and Molly seem very different, their lives are very similar. Vivian loses her family and thus loses connection with her Irish heritage while Molly who is half Penobscot, also doesn't have a family to care for her. Both Vivian and Molly experienced being sent to several homes where they were not treated well. Like Vivian, who ended up with the caring Nielsens, Molly too comes to find that Dina and Ralph also care for her and despite several misunderstandings, they affirm that they want her to stay with them. 

Both Molly and Vivian are able to help each other because of their similar life experiences. Vivian, now elderly has come to terms with her experiences as an orphan and is able to help Molly. Likewise, Molly is the first person Vivian has ever told her story to. '"I've never told anyone else about my early life," Vivian continues. 'I didn't even tell the Nielsens. We didn't discuss things much in those days. Nowadays people talk about everything.'"

Of the two narratives, Vivian's story about her experiences as an orphan train child was the more interesting one. Little has been written about the orphan trains and the ordeals orphan children experienced. Kline's novel certainly highlights how poorly these children were treated both by the social system in place at the time and by their "adoptive" families. Little regard was given to the health and education of these children, many of whom suffered traumatic loss and who were dearly in need of some love and care. Instead they were paraded in front of complete strangers who then chose them (if they were lucky). Most ended up on farms doing labor, others were sent into homes But Kline also shows that orphans today also face many of the same challenges. Molly struggles to fit in at school. However once her home situation improves, like Vivian she begins to reach out more and to make friends. Vivian shows Molly that there is hope for her life to get better.

Orphan Train Girl is an interesting read about the little known practice of the orphan trains in the United States. It should appeal to a limited younger audience interested in historical fiction. Older readers will want to pick up a copy of the adult edition of this novel.

Book Details:

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
HarperCollins Children's Books      2017
228 pp.

Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen

Sixteen year old Petula De Wilde lives with her mother and father in a four-storey walkup called the Arcadia in Vancouver's West End, B.C. A family tragedy, the death of Petula's little sister Maxine three years earlier, has derailed her life and that of her parents.

Petula and her best friend Rachel were ten years old when their mothers were each expecting a second child. Petula and Rachel were "crafting fiends" who spent their weekends making anything and everything. Petula's sister, Maxine Ella was born first and Rachel's brother Owen was born shortly afterwards. Maxine was a sweet, happy child whose favourite book was Where the Wild Things Are.

For Maxine's third birthday, Petula and Rachel made her a wolf costume with brown buttons which Petula sewed on to the front of the suit. One November evening over two years ago, Petula stayed home with Maxine while their parents went shopping. Maxine was fussy that day but Petula still put her down for her nap even though Maxine threw a temper tantrum. Eventually she calmed down and Petula thought Maxine fell asleep. When her parents returned and her father went to get Maxine he found her dead. She had been sucking on one of the buttons and it came loose, lodging in her throat, suffocating her. From this terrible event Petula learned to "always expect the worst."

Since Maxine's death, Petula is always preparing for something terrible to happen and she lives her life with this in mind. She only crosses at designated crosswalks and intersections, she scans the pavement for suspicious objects and bags, she avoids construction sites frequently checks that she's not being followed and carries a rape whistle. Her friendship with Rachel was destroyed when Petula could not bear to see Rachel with Owen and behaved cruelly towards her.

Maxine's death also seriously affected Petula's parents and their marriage. After Maxine's death her parents sold their cozy apartment on Comox. Her father who loved to play music stopped doing so and he's frequently absent from home. Her mother has taken to volunteering for the Vancouver Feline Rescue Association and has taken in six cats. The cats have helped drag Petula's mother "out of her pit of despair after Maxine died, which was something no one else -- not me, not my dad, not her therapist -- had been able to do." But they have also created tension between Petula's mom and dad.

After Maxine's death, Petula is sent to counselling with the school counsellor, Carol Polachuk. However, when she throws a cup at Polachuk, it's decided Petula will attend YART, the school's Youth Art Therapy group once per week. The group is facilitated by Betty Ingledrop who is their art therapist. The group consists of Alonzo Perez who attempted suicide after he came out to his family, Ivan (the Terrible) whose mother drowned two years ago on vacation in Mexico, and Koula Apostolos who is an alcoholic and drug addict. And then there is a new member, the Bionic Man.

The first time Petula sees the Bionic Man is when he is leaving Carol Polachuk's office in the counselling suite. The second time happens when Petula faints during her presentation on the 9/11 disaster. After being checked out by the nurse, Petula talks with Mr. Watley, the principal of St. Margaret SS who encourages her to try to avoid panic attack triggers. When leaving Watley's office, Petula bumps into Bionic Man again. He is at least four inches taller than Petula who stands at 5 ft 11 inches. He introduces himself as Jacob Cohen and offers her his black bionic hand to shake. They meet a third time in English class when Jacob is assigned to be Petula's partner for a class project involving adapting a portion of Wuthering Heights into a screenplay or stage play. Petula want's nothing to do with Jacob but after their YART session he attempts to get her phone number.

On the weekend Jacob shows up a Petula's apartment and meets her parents. He tells them that his family just moved to Vancouver in the past month after his parents got job transfers from Toronto. While at her apartment, Jacob discovers Petula's scrapbook that she keeps with clippings of disasters. She explains to Jacob that she's a pessimist and that the scrapbook reminds her to be vigilant.

As Petula and Jacob's relationship grows, and as she attends more YART sessions, Petula begins to change. Outings with her friends from YART lead Petula to use a public washroom. She reaches out to her estranged friend Rachel and begins to try to recover their friendship. With the encouragement of Jacob, Petula begins to confront her fears. But while Petula and the other YART members open up about their lives, Jacob remains secretive about his past. She can't find him online or on social media and he's insistent that their video project not be posted to YouTube. As Petula begins to heal emotionally, she must face some hard truths about her parents and about the boy she loves.

Discussion

Set in Vancouver, B.C. Optimists Die First is the story of a young girl who struggles to cope with a series of challenging situations in her life and with the help of friends eventually arrives on the path to healing and forgiveness. Petula De Wilde and her parents are still attempting to come to terms with the death of her younger sister, Maxine, when her parents decide to separate. In addition to this, Petula discovers the boy whom she is in a serious relationship with is involved in a drunk-driving accident that resulted in the deaths of his two best friends.

This would seem to be a large number of heavy subjects to tackle but Nielsen manages her story well through the use of humour. Optimists Die First is laugh-out-loud funny at times while realistically portraying Petula's struggles. With the death of her sister, Petula has developed rituals to keep herself and her family safe. Maxine's death has taught Petula that life is filled with danger. "Maxine's death had shown me that dangers lurk around every corner. So even if my grief and guilt made it hard for me to get out of bed, I knew I needed to do what I could to keep my parents together and safe. And I had to keep myself safe too...Because I'm it. I'm the only child my parents have left."

Petula's fears are overwhelming and all-encompassing. She hasn't been on a bus or eaten ground beef in two years, she wears mittens to avoid touching public areas with her hands, she plans never to fly, and she won't walk by construction sites. Besides coping with her enormous list of fears, Petula also feels she must be a caretaker to her parents who are also struggling with Maxine's death. Her father is often absent from home and her mother seems obsessed with collecting cats and suffers from depression. Maxine's death has deeply impacted their marriage and despite counseling they seem unable to resolve their issues. This leaves Petula feeling as though she needs to help her parents as they try to maintain some sense of normalcy.

For example when her father complains about how the cats are a priority for Petula's mother rather than the family, Petula quickly intervenes. "I'll clean it up...I vacuumed up all the clumps of cat fur in the living room. I sprayed all surfaces with antibacterial spray and changed the litter boxes. It was part of my strategy: think ahead to things my parents might argue about and try to fix them before they did." On their twentieth wedding anniversary, Petula with the help of Koula, prepares a special evening for her parents, in the hopes that this might help their marriage. Although her parents show much concern for her, it is her relationships with her peers that ultimately help Petula the most.

Nielsen portrays Petula's journey from obsessive fear and guilt towards healing in a gradual and realistic way. Everyone has their part to play in her journey, from her school principal Mr. Watley to Jacob, to Rachel and her companions in YART.  Watley continues to encourage Petula to avoid the triggers for her panic attacks and when necessary pushes her towards involvement in life. Petula's relationship with Jacob and her developing friendships with her peers in YART  help her begin to live again. With Jacob's encouragement, Petula contacts her best friend Rachel in an attempt to reconcile and the two girls begin crafting again. Rachel is patient and allows Petula to gradually come back into her life. Jacob helps Petula confront some of her other fears too.

One of the strengths of Nielsen's novel is the realistic portrayal of her art therapy group YART, which is populated by quirky but believable teens. The YART  teens push Petula to do the things she's avoided for the past two years, such as eating out in restaurants, using public washrooms, and taking public transit.  Eventually Petula's realizes that "Something was shifting in me. I woke up in the mornings and actually looked forward to the day." Petula is even able to visit her friend Rachel and be around her little brother Owen, realizing "This is what I was so afraid of. This little boy."  And she's finally able to look at Maxine's copy of Where the Wild Things Are and cry over Maxine's death.

Confronting her fears allows Petula to help Jacob confront his own. Koula recognizes that Jacob hasn't been honest with the group. "...we've told him a ton. He hasn't told us much at all. It's like we've peeled back all our layers, and he's only peeled back maybe one." Jacob hadn't told Petula or anyone in YART about his past because he was afraid they would see him as "Jacob, the Drunk Driver Who Killed His Friend." However, with encouragement from Petula, she helps Jacob face down his fear and reach out to the friend who survived, Frankie Goorevitch. But before that Petula must forgive Jacob for the lies he's told and for treating her like a charity case just as she has had to forgive herself and realize that Maxine's death was an accident and no fault of hers.

Optimists Die First is filled with the themes of redemption, forgiveness, acceptance and the meaning of friendship. All these themes are woven throughout the novel and extend to almost all the characters. The book takes it's title from Petula's belief that pessimists are the ones who survive because they are constantly wary. Optimists die first because they are incautious. However Jacob points out to her that pessimists live smaller, limited lives but to Petula their lives are safer and longer.

Overall, Optimists Die First is a well written, engaging novel. Very enjoyable, short and to the point.

Book Details:

Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
Toronto: Tundra Books      2017
224 pp.

Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin

Counting Thyme is a sweet, poignant novel about a young girl's struggle to cope with the changes in her life when her family moves from their home in California to New York city so her brother can receive a last ditch treatment for cancer.

Eleven year old Thyme Owen's family has decided to move from their home in California to New York city when her brother Val is accepted into a drug trial that might save his life. Five year old Val was diagnosed nine months ago with neuroblastoma or nerve cancer.

After spending their last week with Grandma Kay in San Diego, Thyme, her mother and older sister Coriander (Cori) and younger brother Valerian (Val) flew to New York where they were met by her dad who had travelled ahead of them. Thyme is not happy about this temporary move because it means leaving behind her best friend Shani, whom she's known since preschool. The plan is for the Owen family to stay in New York for three months; December, January and February while Val is treated. However when Thyme pressed her mother on whether they would be home in time for Shani's birthday on March 6th, her mother was vague.

Thyme and her family move into a three bedroom apartment in a four-story brick walk-up. Cori and Thyme are not thrilled to be sharing a bedroom. Thyme puts up the Calendar of Us Shani made for her. She also unpacks her Thyme Jar, a glass jar containing slips of paper stating a certain amount of free time she's earned due to chores, good grades or helping out. The time slips began after her eleventh birthday, when Val got sick. Thyme used them at first to spend time with Shani, but once she learned they were moving to New York, she began to save them in the hopes she could return home early to stay with her Grandma Kay or Shani's family.

Cori and Thyme start school in New York with Thyme attending MS 221 near their apartment. She is given a tour the first day by Principal Williams and meets Emily Anderson who takes her to her home room class taught by Mr. Ellison. In this class Thyme meets twins Delia and Celia and a boy named Jake Reese who has "brown skin and hair that stuck out like springs all around his head, dark at the root and sand brown at the end." and who gives Thyme "a floaty feeling". Thyme introduces herself but doesn't tell the class the real reason for her move.

While Thyme struggles to adjust to New York, her older sister Cori seems to have no problems, joining the drama club at school. A call to Shani on the weekend is wonderful until Thyme learns that she has partnered with Jenny Hargrove to finish their social studies project.  When Val begins his treatment, Thyme meets Mrs. Ravelli, a feisty Italian lady hired to help take her to school and cook dinners for the family. Val's treatments cause him considerable pain and this is distracting for Thyme at school as she worries about her brother. One day at lunch, Thyme helps Emily and her friend Lizzie copy flyers for Mr. Calhoun for the Wizard of Oz play that will run during Spring Fling. After Thyme rescues the ruined flyers for Emily, she offers to help Thyme settle into the school.

When Lizzie decides to audition for the part of Dorothy which Emily also wants and believes she should get, Thyme finds herself caught in the middle. She shouldn't care - after all she's leaving New York at the end of February, long before Spring Fling. Meanwhile Cori confronts their mother about her silence on what's happening with Val's treatments and they learn that doctors still have no idea whether the treatment will be successful or even if it's working.

But as Val's treatment progresses, Thyme finds herself building a life in New York city with her new friends Lizzie and Emily and coming to the realization that she might not return to San Diego, especially when she learns of the secret her parents have been keeping from her. When Val experiences a setback, suddenly saving time to return to San Diego is not so important when your younger brother may be running out of time.

Discussion

Author Melanie Conklin first learned about neuroblastoma as a new mother. She quickly became involved in baking cookies for the fund raiser, Cookies For Kids' Cancer. Childhood cancer strikes fear into parents like few other illnesses and it is an illness that has a far reaching effect not only on the children but also their families.

 Counting Thyme explores the challenges families experience as they cope with a family member fighting cancer through the perspective of an eleven year old girl. The focus of the novel is on the journey Thyme experiences over the period of several months: that of accepting her family's situation and the life changes that occur as a result.

Thyme and her sister Cori struggle to cope with Val's cancer diagnosis. His acceptance into a drug trial means temporarily moving to a new city, leaving behind friends, family and starting a new school mid-year. Because the move is to be temporary, Thyme isn't interested in making new friends, only maintaining her friendship with Shani. Her focus is backwards rather than towards the possibilities New York might offer. Although Thyme loves her brother, she wants to be back in San Diego and everything she does, whether it's helping her mother or doing things for Val, is to earn time which she hopes will allow her to leave New York City and return to San Diego before her family. She wants to resume her old life.


Mrs. Ravelli helps Thyme recognize the positive changes in her life. She tells Thyme that based on her life experience making new friends is a good start and that soon they will be "old friends". This upsets Thyme because she is still focused on her friendship with Shani. The possibilities of new friends and experiences in New York is unsettling. "...the idea settled strangely in my mind. With every person I helped, with every conversation I had, I was making ties. Ties to school. To New York. That wasn't what I wanted, but it was happening anyway."

Mrs. Ravelli tells Thyme when she first arrived in New York as an immigrant she was told to go to Little Italy for good pasta like that in the old country. However she found she had to make her own pasta for it to taste like what she remembered. Using this analogy she advises Thyme to make her life the way she wants it, despite her brother's illness. Thyme wonders does that mean returning to her life in San Diego or facing "the promise of something new"?  Thyme finds herself being pulled towards the latter as she develops new friendships with Lizzie, Emily and Jake and becomes involved in the school Spring Fling play - the Wizard of Oz.

When Jake mentions that he doesn't understand why Dorothy didn't get out of the way, knowing the tornado was coming, Thyme understands Dorothy's predicament because her life has been caught up in the tornado of serious illness. "Sometimes, you don't have a choice about where you go. Because it's somebody else's story you're living..."

But more and more life in New York becomes less Val's story and more her own story. She and Jake work on recreating the sound of a tornado for the play,  their friendship blossoms with a hint of a first crush and Thyme finds herself caring immensely when her friends Lizzie and Emily have a falling-out.

Thyme is finally forced to accept her family's circumstances when she discovers her parents have sold their house in San Diego and when Val becomes seriously sick. Her parents acknowledge that they should have told her but they also stress that she is an important part of the family and necessary for Val's recovery. Her dad tells her, "You need all the parts to make the press work. All of them together. That means you, too." while her mother says "Thyme, you're the glue. You're the one Val talks to when he's sad. You're so strong and so brave, taking on this whole new place the way you have..." Thyme realizes that "the missing piece wasn't San Diego after all. It was knowing that I counted. Seeing that I belonged."

The time that Thyme has so diligently collected in her Thyme jar takes on a new meaning for her. The Thyme jar represents her old life in San Diego. She was collecting "time" as a way of holding onto that life. But when Val becomes seriously ill, Thyme realizes that Val is the one who needs that time - the time to go through more treatments and get well. Being healthy Thyme go back whenever to see her friend Shani and in fact her parents offer to send her back on spring break. But for Val, time is more valuable. Realizing this Thyme gives the jar to her mother, she lets it go and in so doing, lets go of her desire to return to San Diego.She realizes that Val needs the time in New York and she needs to be with him.

"I worried that I was too late figuring out what mattered. Too late choosing my brother. It was funny how I'd thought my worries would go away if I could just make it home. But I would have the same problems no matter where I went, because I would still be me, and worries attach to people, not places."

The title of the book then is a double entendre referring to Thyme counting up the hours she saves so she can return to her old life in San Diego and to "Counting Thyme" as in Thyme's life also being important to her family and to herself. Thyme believes her parents are "too busy with Val and work and stuff to listen to me." but Mrs. Ravelli reveals that her mama talks about her all the time.Eventually Thyme discovers that she does count to her parents and to Val.

Conklin vividly portrays life for a family coping with serious illness. Thyme's Grandma Kay has told her that when she and Grandpa moved to San Diego "she spent a lot of time eating canned tuna and waiting for life to go back to normal after they moved." However, "she discovered that there was no normal - just normal for now." Thyme realizes that for her family whose life revolves around Val's illness,  "normal for now meant that things were always changing. Cancer had changed everything: the things I ate, the place I lived...what kind of normal would we find when we got back to San Diego?"

When Val spikes a fever, Mrs. Ravelli comes to Emily's Christmas party to take Thyme to the hospital. Her family spends the days before Christmas waiting to hear back from Val's doctor. Their family mood is often affected by how Val's health goes and good times, while relished, can be fleeting. Thyme states, "When good things happened with Val, the happy feelings stuck to us for days, like a coating of invisible fairy dust -- but even fairy dust runs out of power eventually."

Later on when Val begins his second cycle of treatment, Cori tells everyone about planning a fund-raiser for her drama club and Thyme notes that "for a few minutes, dinner felt normal. Like it was okay to talk about other things besides cancer treatments and acupuncture and blood tests."

Thyme doesn't tell her friends or classmates the real reason she and her family have come to New York because she doesn't want to "become the poor girl whose brother has cancer...And then that's all they would care about, because cancer is the most fascinating thing in the world when it isn't happening to you...And they can't help assuming things...Like, that cancer boy's sister wouldn't want to participate in the end-of-year talent show, because, obviously, she's too busy with cancer-y things to do a skit..."

Overall, Counting Thyme is a heart-warming story about looking forward instead of back, about identity, family and figuring out what matters most in life.


Book Details:

Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons Ltd.     2016
300 pp.

Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban

Paper Wishes is a story for younger children about the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II and how one young girl's life is forever changed.

Ten-year-old Manami Tanaka lives with her parents on Bainbridge Island off the coast of Washington state. It is March 1942, three months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the country is at war with Japan. Manami loves walking on the beach with Grandfather and their beloved little dog, Yujiin. They notice a warship off their island and Manami tells Grandfather that the soldiers make her scared. Grandfather tells her "When the soldiers see you, they are scared, too,". He tells her that the soldiers think "people with Japanese faces and Japanese names will betray us,". 

After school one day Manami's teacher Mrs. Brown asks Manami, her friend Kimmi, Ryo and a few others to stay after school. Mrs. Brown tells them that this is their last day at school and that what is happening is not their fault.

At home the next day, Manami is instructed by her mother to gather the herbs and to pull the onion and garlic bulbs from their garden. Her mother washes all their clothing, towels and sheets. Despite her repeated questions about what is happening, Manami is not told anything until the next day when she learns they must leave their home and their island. But Manami's mother does not know why or where they will go or for how long.

When they walk into town to register and get a medical check-up, Manami notes that all those doing so also have dark hair and dark eyes, just like her family. They are assigned a family number and go home to pack. Several days later Manami's family leave their home along with other Japanese. They take a truck to the port but before they leave Manami hides their little dog, Yujiin in her coat. They board the ferry to the mainland and then prepare to take a bus to the train station. However, just before boarding the bus, Yujiin is discovered and taken away and put in a crate. This upsets Manami terribly. Their train trip takes two days, during which Manami sits still and does not speak.

When they leave the train Manami's family are taken by bus to a place called Manzanar which has barbed wire fences, a guard tower and "buildings covered with black paper." Manzanar is in the middle of a prison and Manami's mother recognizes it for what it really is - a prison. The prison is divided into blocks with each block having fourteen barracks.  Manami's family is assigned to Block 3, Barrack 4. They share their building with another family, the Soto family. Manami learns that her friend Kimmi is in Block 7.

At Manzanar, Manami finds she cannot speak.
"But when I open my mouth to speak, the dirt no longer feels like sand. It sticks to my lips and tongue like red mud. It coats my throat so that I cannot speak.
I think this is what happened to me.
I wish the dirt would cloud my eyes, so that I would not see this place that is and is not my home without Yujiin."

Manami is both sad and angry. So sad and angry that she cannot speak. Her mother presses her to speak but Grandfather tells her to give her time. Eventually the family moves to a newly completed barracks, Barrack 8 in Block 3. Mother takes her seeds and the bulbs and plants a garden. She plants zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers and cantaloupes. The planting of the garden makes Manami realize they may be at Manzanar for a long time.

As time passes the garden begins to sprout but only because Manami must water it everyday. Her father works building new barracks while her mother begins work as a cook. Manami still does not talk and she believes she sometimes hears Yujiin. Kimmi tells her that there will soon be a school in Block 7. Even when her older brother Ron comes to Manzanar, Manami does not speak. The starting of school nor the forced recitation of the pledge does not help, as Manami simply cannot speak. Will she ever find her voice again? Will she ever find Yujiin again?

Discussion

Paper Wishes is a touching story of a young girl who is so deeply affected by the forced move of her family to an internment camp and the loss of her beloved dog Yujiin that she cannot speak. Sepahban tells her story in the form of ten parts labelled from March to December of 1942. Paper Wishes captures the emotions and hardships Japanese Americans experienced as they were forced from their homes, leaving behind everything they had worked for, mainly due to fear and prejudice.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were forced to relocate to camps further inland as result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066. This presidential order resulted in the relocation of approximately 122,000 Japanese Americans from the west coast of the United States. Interestingly as noted by the Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive website, Japanese in Hawaii where Pearl Harbor is located were not relocated or incarcerated. As the website suggests, "The fact that so few Japanese Americans were incarcerated in Hawaii suggests that their mass removal on the West Coast was racially motivated rather than born of "military necessity." Agricultural interest groups in western states and many local politicians had long been opposed to the presence of Japanese Americans and used the attack on Pearl Harbor to step up calls for their removal."

Poster on Bainbridge Island

Sepahban touches on the racism that led to the decision to relocate Japanese Americans but in a gentle way for younger readers. Grandfather remarks to Manami that the soldiers are afraid of her. Manami notices that all the people being sent from their homes look just like her. But the author also shows that not all Americans are prejudiced through the character of Miss Rosalie who tries to befriend Manami. Miss Rosalie is kind, gentle and understanding towards Manami and encourages her to draw. She shows respect towards Manami's family.  She also falls in love with Manami's brother Ron, demonstrating that she is not afraid of someone who is different.

The theme of loss is explored in the novel in several ways; Manami and her family's grief at losing their way of life and their culture, Miss Rosalie's loss when Ron is sent to another camp for his own safety, and especially the loss of  Yujiin which is keenly felt by Grandfather and Manami. Manami is so overwhelmed by the loss of Yujiin she stops speaking. She comes to believe that it is her fault "that Yujiin is alone on the mainland, far from the island." She also believes that it is her "fault that Grandfather has stopped laughing." And she wonders if it is her "fault that Ron is with us in this prison-village, far from college." Manami believes that Yujiin is out there somewhere trying to get back to her. She decides to draw pictures of Yujiin and write promises on the paper: "Come, Yujiin and you can sleep in my bed." Then she walks to the edge of the camp and making a wish releases the paper into the wind. "I have added my paper promises to the air." Manami releases over thirty drawings but Yujiin does not return and Manami wonders if he did not get her drawings. Eventually Manami's loss is acknowledged by Grandfather and eventually he tells Manami she must stop looking for him because he will not come. Acknowledging her grief allows Manami to begin to move forward.

The inner journey Manami makes is reflected in the garden she and her mother plant in the barren desert. Every day the seeds must be watered and they flourish despite the hot, dry climate and a pounding rain storm that batters them into the ground. In October, Manami and her mother dig up the remnants of the garden and prepare it for next year. Manami's mother tells her that this garden was better than the island garden. "The island garden had plenty of rain," Mother says. "So much rain that it only grew shallow roots. This garden never had enough rain. So it had to grow deep roots. The island roots would never have survived the desert summer." The garden is a metaphor for Manami's struggles which have made her a stronger person with "deeper roots".

Paper Wishes explores the themes of family too. When Manami and her family report to register, her father makes sure that the soldiers understand that despite Grandfather's different surname of Ishii, he is part of their family. Manami's brother Ron is the oldest child and a young man and therefore considered responsible for his family. Because of this he returns from college to be with his father and mother, grandfather and Manami.

Paper Wishes would have benefited tremendously from good pencil illustrations. It's a shame so much new juvenile fiction goes without illustrations to accompany the story. Sepahban's character, Manami Tanaka has a very simple interior dialogue suggesting the book is definitely for younger readers. But readers of all ages will find themselves wanting pictures of Manami and her Grandfather walking on the beach with Yujiin, of the soldiers loading the trains or buses, of Manzanar and its barracks with the mountains in the distance, of Miss Rosalie and the school, of the mess hall, of Kimmi and Manami, of Manami sending her pictures into the wind, and of Yujiin.

The author includes a detailed Author's Note and a list of Resources at the back of this delightful short novel. This information will help young readers understand the context of the story. The riot mentioned in the novel actually did happen and was known as the Manzanar Riot.

Overall Paper Wishes is a beautiful and thoughtful treatment of a very sad event in American history.

Image credits: 
Poster: http://www.drshute.com/archives/000099.html  

For more information on the Manzanar War Relocation Center readers are directed to the National Park Service website: https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm. There is a webpage specifically about Japanese Americans as well as a cache of photographs of the people who lived there and the center.

The Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive:  https://calisphere.org/exhibitions/t11/jarda/ 

has a wealth of images and information on the incarceration of Japanese Americans from the west coast.

The University of Washington Libraries Special Collections has a website on Bainbridge Island:http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/collections/exhibits/harmony/exhibit/bainbridge

Information specific to the Japanese American community on Bainbridge Island can be found at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community website, https://bijac.org/.

Book Details:

Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban
New York: Margaret Ferguson Books    2016
181 pp.

A Heart Like Ringo Starr by Linda Oatman High

A Heart Like Ringo Starr is an utterly predictable but sweet story about a young girl whose hopes for a normal life come true.

Faith Hope Stevens was born with a congenital heart defect. Prognosis: likely to die before her nineteenth birthday.  Faith's family runs the Stevens Brothers Funeral Home in Seafoam, Delaware where she lives with her mom and dad and her eight year old brother, Lenny.

"Dead people downstairs,
live humans upstairs --"

Great-Aunt Mary, whom Faith refers to as the "antique fairy" is eccentric in her dress. A hippie from the 1960's Mary tells Faith that love is what matters in life.

Due to her health problems, Faith has been homeschooled. She has little energy to do physical activity.  Her mother is in denial about the possibility of Faith dying from her heart. Lately Faith has been losing weight and shopping trip to Sears with her mother doesn't lift Faith's spirits. No teenager wants to shop at Sears for clothing.

Faith is on the waiting list for a new heart. As a member of "Here's-A-Wish", Faith and her family are entitled to a vacation to Walt Disney World. The vacation in Orlando is magical for Faith and her family. But Faith knows wishing upon a star won't help her. She also knows her parents are grieving about her situation. Faith has a long bucket list of things she wants to do in life as any young person would. But what Faith wants most is
"...a heart
that keeps
the beat
of me 
perfectly,
in dreamy
seamless
rhythm:

Never missing.
Never dropping."

"I want a heart
like a drummer,
a heart
like Ringo Starr,
a heart
to take me
far."

Lenny is impressed with Faith's bucket list but he wants her to have a boyfriend.

"You need to find
your knight
in shining armor,"
Lenny says.

Shortly after they return home, Faith's father must prepare the body of Vinnie Green, a boy Faith's age who was killed in a crash down the road from their house. Vinnie was found drowned in Black Creek. Shortly after this, Faith's father receives a call that there is a heart for her. Faith may finally realize her dream of living a normal life. She will have to confront her own fears of living a life very different from what she's used to.

Discussion

A Heart Like Ringo Starr is a novel in verse and is different from most novels in this genre because the poetry mostly rhymes. This makes A Heart Like Ringo Starr somewhat unusual to read. Like most novels in verse, the storyline is sparse but Oatman High's poetry does convey the story well. Life for Faith before she receives her new heart is vastly different from teens her age. She lives at home where she is schooled and she isn't physically very active. She has typical teenage dreams - to travel, to go to prom, to skydive, to go to concerts and to climb mountains. Despite this Faith has come to terms with her life as it is. However, her entire life changes dramatically after suddenly receiving a new heart. Faith feels lost  and finds herself wishing for her old life and even her damaged heart. As a senior in high school, she doesn't belong and has no friends. She feels like a freak. On a whim, Faith travels to Rehoboth at her Aunt Mary's suggestion where they look for sea glass. On the beach, she stumbles into a handsome guy Jimmy Winters, and from this point on, Faith's entire life is suddenly transformed. Like Faith, Jimmy too came to the beach on a whim. The two seem to connect instantly and this connection changes Faith. She falls instantly in love with Jimmy who seems to accept her as she is. On the surface Faith's radical transformation after meeting Jimmy might feel contrived yet it points out how we all need that connection to someone to feel whole. Faith never experienced this before because her health was always a barrier.

Jimmy Winter's connection to Vinnie Green and Vinnie's connection to Faith stretches credibility, although it is possible. It is this connection that pulls Jimmy and Faith even closer together and makes Faith feel "bereft". This twist in the story is predictable but nonetheless touching.

Oatman High seems to lead readers to incorrectly believe that dead people can donate organs.  Vinnie Green was "found drowned, in Black Creek"  which suggests he had no vital signs when found. Vinnie's organs would not be suitable for donation; major organs can only be donated prior to death. Once a person has died, the organs, especially major organs such as the heart, kidneys and liver are unusable for transplantation because they deteriorate almost immediately. They must be removed while the donor has a beating heart.

A Heart Like Ringo Starr is a quick read for those interested in sick lit, those who enjoy reading novels in verse and like a feel good ending.Recommended for high-low collections.

Book Details:

A Heart Like Ringo Starr by Linda Oatman High
Saddleback Educational Publishing      2015
250 pp.