Guest Reviewer Pick: Disappeared

The following review is by guest reviewer Ruby Shivery, YA librarian, Indian Ridge Middle School in El Paso, Texas. Follow her on Twitter  @rivette3

Disappeared

By Francisco X. Stork

Arthur A. Levine Books

2017

336 pages

ISBN: 978-0-545-94447

Available September 26, 2017

Disappeared unfolds through two alternating voices: Sara, a reporter for El Sol, a Juarez newspaper and Emiliano, her younger brother, a high school student. Set on the Mexican border where violence is often a part of life, Sara crusades against the disappearances of a number of young girls. Her best friend disappears on her way home from work. Many of the young women are sold into sex crimes and used by the cartels. As Sara delves deeper into the story, her boss at the newspaper becomes increasingly concerned for her and her family’s safety. It is dangerous to publish stories about the violence.

Emiliano is an All Star soccer player at school. He provides for his mother and sister stepping into the role of man of the family, a role  left vacant after his father deserted them. As a Jipari (boys scout) Emiliano has created a Folk Art Business by selling piñatas to be sold across the border and made by other Jipari friends.  As corruption grows in his neighborhood, Emiliano faces a tough decision regarding his business. Will he choose the right path for himself and those that he loves and cares about or will he risk it all for financial stability?

Highly recommended grade 9 and up. This story hits very close to home for millions of Texans who share the border with Mexico. The cartel violence is all too real. The instances in this YA novel are cut from the headlines, and that makes this novel all the more important.  

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. Neither I nor my guest reviewer received monetary compensation for this review. 

Book Club Pick: Chasing the North Star

Chasing the North Star
by Robert Morgan
Algonquin of Chapel Hill
2016
308 pages
ISBN: 9781565126275

Chasing the North Star is brilliantly brought to life by master storyteller Robert Morgan.

It is the story of two slaves who use their wits and rely on the kindness (sometimes) of strangers to reach the free states where they will not face the wrath of the whip or the cruelty of a life of slavery. Eighteen year old Jonah escapes after a beating from his master. He is whipped for stealing a book from the master's library. Jonah had borrowed the book to read, but cannot admit it because slaves are forbidden to learn to read even though the mistress of the house taught Jonah and encouraged him to read the Bible. Jonah takes off one night in a rainstorm and begins his long journey North.

He encounters a slave woman at a Jubilee, and she decides to follow him. If he can seek freedom, why can't she? Jonah does not want a companion, and decides to ditch her as soon as possible. Thank goodness Angel does not give up easily and manages to follow Jonah and catch up with him at a jail where she helps him break free once again.

Breathless and harrowing, Chasing the North Star will tug at the heartstrings. It is full of life, heart, strength and spirit. Readers won't easily forget Jonah and his tenacity. This book should be on the reading list for any program featuring the American South. Students of history should be forever grateful to Robert Morgan who is able to take a period of American history and catch all its brutality and fear, yet tell that same story with bravery, insight and compassion.

Readers will love Jonah and his can-do attitude.

Highly, highly recommended adult readers and recommended for book clubs.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation  for this post.

Middle Grades Pick: Sailing To Freedom

Sailing to Freedom
By Martha Bennett Stiles
Henry Holt and Company
2012
245 pages with glossary

Sailing To Freedom is Kentucky's Exhibit Choice for the 2012 National Book Fest.

The year is 1839 and slave ships still deliver human cargo to America’s shores.
Twelve year old Ray Ingle dreams of going to sea with his father. Father tells him he’s still too young and too short, and to appease him, he leaves behind Allie, a tiny capuchin monkey. Ray is appeased for a while, but when his mother falls ill, Ray must live with his greedy and spiteful Uncle Slye. Uncle Slye hates Allie and makes Ray feel terrible, so Ray jumps at the chance to board the Newburyport Beauty and sail with his nice Uncle Thad.

Uncle Thad says Ray can help Cook in the kitchen. Cook is almost as mean as Uncle Slye, but Allie manages to get better food. Soon, she’s stealing the kitchen blind, and Cook is having a fit! They run into trouble and bad weather; next, they have to face tough bounty hunters who are looking for runaway slaves. Uncle Thad has a secret, and every member of the crew keeps the secret safe. Cook used to be a slave, and now is hiding something, too. Cook needs Ray’s help each day, and as he depends on Ray, he comes to trust him.

Told from Ray’s point of view, the story comes alive. Allie the monkey adds comic relief and is a worthy sea-worthy sidekick. The glossary is helpful for readers not familiar with sailing terms.

Recommended grades 4-up. Students may need some background information about America and slave ships, Abolitionists, bounty hunters, and the Amistad.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Ghostly Pick: Shimmer

Shimmer
by Alyson Noel
Square Fish (Macmillan), 2011
192 pages

In this second installment of the Riley Bloom trilogy, Riley continues to help ghosts trapped in the Here & Now to cross over into the hereafter. With the help of Bodhi, a guide sent to help her and her golden lab Buttercup, Riley attends to the needs of the spirit world. The three spiritual friends are all on vacation when their fun is interrupted by a huge hound that is not from this world. Riley follows it until she meets one mean-spirited ghost, Rebecca, the daughter of a southern plantation owner trapped on earth, refusing to leave.

Rebecca is angry and hates everything. She keeps all the ghosts trapped with her in the Here & Now, spitefully keeping them from moving on. With the help of a strange African prince who speaks in riddles, Riley is shown how to help Rebecca. First, Riley must see and understand everything that happened to the plantation's slaves and to Rebecca. Only then, can she save all of them.

Readers who loved Radiance (book one) will be drawn to Shimmer. Riley is a spunky and spirited (yes, pun intended) character who has a mind of her own and rarely listens to Bodhi.

Recommended grades 4-7.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the arc of this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Dystopian Pick: Drought

Drought
by Pam Bachorz
Egmont, 2011
400 pages

Following on the heels of her success with Candor, Bachorz enters a new and frightening world--a world that time forgot, or at least appears to have forgotten. Ruby and her mother live with a small group of Congregants who have settled in the woods. Here they are able to practice their religion without interference; however, their day-to-day existence is decided by Darwin West, an evil man who beats them into subservience and forces them to work and live in conditions few could survive. The Congregants have a secret weapon--when Ruby realizes her blood has the power to save, she begins putting drops of her own blood in the community's water supply. Not only does her blood have the power to sustain them, it has the power to make them have long lives--some of the Congregants have been in the woods over 200 years.

When a young overseer appears to have feelings of sympathy for her group, Ruby dreams of escape. Will she be able to leave her mother and all that she has ever known for the unknown? Will she be able to leave the Congregants without her life-saving blood?

Deeply moving and greatly disturbing, this novel will leave an impression. Like Lowrey's The Giver, Drought brings up ethical and moral questions and skirts religious beliefs held by the community of followers. Readers will be talking about Drought for days, maybe even months after reading it. Unlike her first novel, Drought is not just a young adult novel--it is one that may make it into the "Required Reading Lists" at the high school level.

I read Drought and thought about it for two weeks before reviewing it. I had to let the story sink in and think about its complexity. While appearing to be a ya novel, it is so much more.

Highly recommended grades 9-12. Mature readers at grade 8 may attempt this book, but they may not realize the provocative theme and symbolism. Violence.


Available January 25, 2011.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this review.

Spooky Pick: The Secret of Laurel Oaks

The Secret of Laurel Oaks
by Lois Ruby
Tom Doherty Associates, 2010
274 pages

Thirteen year old Lila has been hearing and seeing strange things ever since family friend and Jemez pueblo member Roberto died. Now that she and her family are visiting Laurel Oaks, a haunted plantation in Louisiana, Lila sees and hears far more than she wants to. When the ghost of a slavegirl named Daphne appears to her and asks Lila for help, Lila knows that she can't pretend she doesn't see the spirits.

Daphne hasn't been able to pass on to the other side, whatever or wherever it may be. Something is keeping her at Laurel Oaks. She has been hanging around the plantation for two centuries, trying to get someone to see or hear her, and finally Lila shows up and seems to have the powers. Daphne didn't poison the Judge's wife and daughters, but she may know who did. Daphne has been trusted by the Judge's wife to pass on her porceline bebes, figurines that were treasured by the wife, and Daphne wants Lila to find them.

Can the mystery be solved? Will the treasure ever be found? Will Daphne's name be cleared after all these years? And what about Lila--will she forever be at the spirits' beck and call?

Chapters are told in turn by Lila in the present and Daphne in the past--during the slave days of the South. Daphne tells of a life in the big house and learning hoodoo from Birdie--a slave woman gifted in spells, witchcraft, and the healing arts. The author weaves a story rich with superstitions and folklore brought from Africa and practiced among slaves in the South.

Readers who like ghost stories or mysteries will like this novel. Spooky and satisfying, the setting of Laurel Oaks and the creepy Louisiana backwoods and swamps make this novel come alive.

Recommended grades 6-8.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I bought this book for my library. I received no monetary compensation for my review.