The Book Search

 It's been lovely having time to read over the last few weeks.  Not working is awesome.  I will, of course, be happy to go back to work, but having time away is pretty terrific too.  And happily, I've been on something of a tear with really great books.  Here are two realistic ones you should totally look for. The first one is called Ahmed Aziz's Epic Year by Nina Hamza.  It's her debut novel and I hope there are more coming, because this one was great!  It's about Ahmed, who's family is moving from Hawaii (where he's lived all his life) to Minnesota (his dad's home town).  The family (mom, dad, little sister Sara, and Ahmed) because his dad has a debilitating (and potentially fatal) liver disease and he can get a hopefully life saving treatment in Minnesota.  It turns out that Ahmed's dad left Minnesota as a young man, partially because his younger brother died of the same liver disease that Ahmed's dad has.  He died as a young man so A...

This week, I've been trying to whittle down the list of middle grade fiction for the CYBILS award.  Some of these books are terrific and I'm SO GLAD I've had a chance to read them. This first one was terrific.  It's called "Listen, Slowly" by Thanhha Lai.  If you read children's literature at all, you might recognize Thanhha Lai's name... she wrote a book a few years ago called "Inside Out and Back Again" which was a Newbery honoree and the National Book Award winner.  I think this one is even more accessible because it's written in prose and the character's voice is so strong and clear, I think she will resonate with a lot of kids.  It's about a Vietnamese American girl named Mai (or Mia in America) who lives in California with her mom and dad and grandmother.  She has lots of friends and likes surfing and hanging out and has big plans for the summer.  Until her parents come to her and tell her that they want her to go with Vie...