The Book Search

 OOOOOO, it feels SO good to have some time to read!  I found some really great science fiction this week in my Netgalley pile!  And guess what?  These two are on the SSYRA 3-5 list for 2022-2023! This one is called "The Lion of Mars" by Jennifer Holm.  I'm a big fan of Jennifer Holm-I love Turtle in Paradise and Babymouse and the Fourteenth Goldfish and Sunny.  The list is long and I'm so happy to see there's a new addition to the list!  The Lion of Mars is set on Mars.  The American government has sent a group of people to set up a colony there.  There are adults and children who grow their own food (with occasional resupplies from Earth) and make do with what they have.  There are strict rules about living in the colony and one is that there is no contact with the other colonies.  (Wait, what?  I hear you asking!) Yep, there is a French colony, a Finnish colony, a Chinese colony, and a Russian colony.  The Americans don...

One of the trends in libraries and the literary world over the past few years, is to offer readers different view points.  Traditionally, literature has been full of white people.  People of color or other religions or sexual orientations were relegated to best friend roles or were minor characters.   So to have a number of stories, where the main character is a person of color and isn't a stereotype (like  African Americans only portrayed as slaves or in stories about the Civil Rights movement, or Hispanic characters only portrayed as migrants), is to offer a wider variety of people the opportunity to see their own stories in print.  It also offers an opportunity to people like me (a middle aged white lady) to see stories that are different from my own.  Here are two brand new stories that offer voices that are fresh, charismatic, AND happen to be told by and are about people of color. The first one is by author Renee Watson.  I read her book "Pieci...