Tag: spoiler alert

Book Review: The Trumpet of the Swan

Posted on by Maya Escobar

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Request It!

To begin with, E.B. White’s beautifully detailed story of The Trumpet of the Swan has been a personal favorite of mine over the years, surpassing even the most coveted or widely celebrated novels I have read throughout the years.

Set in a whimsical America where animals and humans are able to communicate, a young boy, Sam Beaver, discovers an anomaly of sorts on his yearly trip to Montana. There, he meets Louis, a trumpeter swan–only a cygnet at the time–who cannot trumpet. In fact, he is entirely mute. Thus, Sam teaches Louis how to read and write, yet the stark reality still remains–Louis cannot mate if he is unable to express his feelings and “trumpet” his utmost adoration and love towards another swan. After Louis’ father breaks into a store to steal a trumpet to aid Louis’ unfortunate situation, Louis sets off on a journey to become a musician and to pursue a fellow swan, Serena. Louis’ hard work leads to more riveting events to unfold: he becomes a famed trumpet player, successfully woos Serena, and even creates a new family of his own.

Despite the delight of the story’s tale itself, White’s motivational message of persevering through difficulties only adds to the appeal, especially given that his stories are aimed towards kids. Similarly to how he addressed slightly darker themes in Charlotte’s Web (such as death), White effectively conveys the message of the societal/physical impact of disability to children in a mannerism that is comprehensible and easy to feel empathetic and/or compassionately towards at any age. 

Aside from Louis and Sam, the other side characters were quite surface-level, which allows readers to remain focused on solely Louis’ journey without feeling pressured to do so just because he is the main character. Furthermore, although the secondary characters–such as Sam’s father–were not incredibly detailed, that did not impact my overall satisfaction with the story. Rather, it allowed the story to flow more easily because there was less to keep up with. Although the plot was somewhat slower-paced at times and some portions of the story were a little less well-written, nonetheless, I personally felt it added to the charm of White’s writing style as a whole rather than take away from the novel. 

To conclude, I remain steadfast in the claim that The Trumpet of the Swan will forever hold a cherished place in its readers’ hearts, no matter the age. Notwithstanding its minor setbacks in pacing and inconsistent cohesiveness, White’s tale has continued to captivate me with every read through the wonder of nature and everything in between. I highly recommend The Trumpet of the Swan for individuals who are looking for a relaxing read (with a perfect amount  of childlike fascination sprinkled within its pages), or simply a fun story to read to the younger ones at night.
 
Reviewed by Teen Volunteer, 1/2/25.

 

Book Review: Sisters Red

Posted on by Maya Escobar

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Request It!

Jackson Pearce’s Sisters Red is a strikingly contemporary (and thoroughly entertaining) retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story set in modern America. Scarlett and Rosie, sisters with a commitment to being werewolf hunters, join up with Silas, their childhood friend and neighbor. Though the three are somewhat alienated from the community, the story brings deep bonding and interdependence among them. The characters are well fleshed out: Scarlett is fully committed to the hunt while Rosie doubts that it is her calling, and Silas gives a glimpse of what life beyond hunting could be. These different outlooks create interesting power dynamics between the three, especially regarding the theme of going with the flow of societal expectations versus forging one’s own path.

A particularly empowering element of the story is the emphasis on independence. Each character is trying to be self-sufficient, but most especially Rosie and Scarlett, who come across as capable and strong. Although this theme is commendable, the repetition of it throughout did feel overstated at times. The writing style of the novel, however, is fluid and engaging; thus, this is an easy and enjoyable novel to read.

Against this minor setback, Sisters Red is a great retake on the classic fairytale of Red Riding Hood. The depth in character development, considered themes, and relatable struggles make this novel quite intriguing. With its unique spinoff on the beloved story and an empowering narration, the novel gives a refreshing read that is memorable for a long time even after one has finished reading it. I would definitely recommend this book for those who love these kinds of modern adaptations, but not so much for the classic thriller-readers. 

Reviewed by Teen Volunteer, 12/23/24.

Book Review: Wonder

Posted on by Maya Escobar

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Request It!

R.J. Palacio’s heartwarming story of Wonder centers around the life of ten-year-old August “Auggie” Pullman. Although he doesn’t behave any differently than any other child of his age (he plays on his Xbox and adores ice cream), his facial deformity prevents him from being accepted by others. The plot is  narrated through the diverse perspectives of himself and those around him, detailing a multifaceted plot that explores the challenges of feeling isolated and the importance of friendship towards developing self-confidence. 

The story is kicked off when August gets abruptly pulled out of his “homeschooled life” and placed into Beecher Prep, a private middle school. Although he is initially faced with bullying from his peers and pity from his classmates, eventually,  Auggie gradually transforms the hearts of those around him and overcomes these challenges. I found Palacio’s ability to simultaneously depict Auggie’s internal struggles and emotional growth as both poignant and rather inspiring because of how relatable and natural it was carried out. 

A particular aspect of the storytelling that I believe is exceptionally unique is that the book is told through multiple perspectives. Personally, Palacio’s unique formatting of the novel was definitely one of its greatest strengths and truly unique. These varying viewpoints provide an understanding of how Auggie’s story affects those around him through viewpoints invisible from his own. Via’s perspective (his sister’s), for instance, highlights the sacrifices and emotional burdens siblings of children with disabilities often bear, providing insight in her ambition to become a doctor as well as Auggie’s impact towards her own social life as such. 

The wonderful themes of friendship and kindness permeate the story as small acts of compassion can ultimately lead up to large ripples of change among a community. The precept of “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind,” serves as a gratifying moral compass not only for the characters, but also for the audience, regardless of age, gender, race, or anything in between. Auggie’s journey only serves as a vessel to reinforce Palacio’s beautiful message, ultimately leading to a conclusion that celebrates his resilience and never-ending empathy towards others. 

While Wonder is primarily aimed at middle-school readers, like said, its themes resonate with audiences of all ages. To wrap it up, Wonder is a testament to the power that empathy towards others hold, and a reminder that even the smallest gestures of kindness can make the world a better place. I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking an inspiring and meaningful read, especially to those who have already read it once. 

Reviewed by Teen Volunteer, 12/17/24.

 

Book Review: Chinese Cinderella

Posted on by Maya Escobar

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

Request It!

Chinese Cinderella is a tribute to the unwanted and lonely children of the world – an autobiography of an unwanted daughter in a powerful Chinese family. The story allows the reader to glimpse into life in twentieth-century China, where Mah describes the post-war environment she grew up in in Tianjin in detail, being occupied by Japanese soldiers and the French alike. Writing about her biography was “difficult and painful to write, but [she] felt compelled to do so.” Her autobiography recounts the painful experiences of her childhood, being considered “bad luck” by her family due to her mother passing away giving birth to her. Her father remarries, and Mah is subjected to the neglect and abuse of her new stepmother and siblings, while traversing her new life in Shanghai. 

Chinese Cinderella is not a recount of Mah’s memories – but a story of courage, hard work, and truth to oneself – despite lacking the love and understanding she had wished for her whole childhood. It’s truly a testament to everyone who feels unloved and unsupported in this world, from the “Chinese Cinderella” herself. She teaches you that you may defy your own odds, build your own future, and you will always find your own kind of love. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m genuinely grateful I came upon this book; everyone should get to read it.

Reviewed by Teen Volunteer, 11/17/24.

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Posted on by Maya Escobar

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Request It!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was published on August 14, 2018, and encompasses several genres — such as romance, mystery, and coming of age. The story is set in a fictional town named “Barkley Cove” in North Carolina. Kya’s home is in the outskirts of the town, where she lives in the marshes. 

The story is like the tides of the marsh. The wave grows as you watch Kya, the main character, grow. It becomes larger as she builds life experience, and all comes crashing down in a final answer to the story’s long awaited mystery. The author makes the reader ride the wave with uncertainty; will Kya be convicted in this wave — washed away from everything she loves? Or will she remain victorious, and cling to her beloved marshland beneath? 

At times I found the story heartwrenching- Kya, a lone child, is left abandoned by virtually every person she’s ever loved. She finds ways to deal with her everyday life — from survival tactics, to bonding with the marsh’s animals for companionship. I found learning about the complexity of Kya’s mind to be very interesting. Due to being isolated from society, she develops ideas of how nature is far more connected to human society than we would think. She projects social relationships she missed out on as a child onto the life around her, thus making the marsh not just her home, but her whole world. 

The book begins with Kya’s mother leaving the family. This leaves Kya on her toes for the next two decades of her life — where is her mother? Is she doing alright? This event leads to the rest of her family leaving when she’s still a child. Now, on her own, Kya learns how to survive by herself. She maintains her house, sells mussels from the marsh shore, and becomes skilled at avoiding passers-by or truant officers coming to take her to school. When she is riddled with heartbreak and abandonment as an adult, she becomes close with the town’s heartthrob, Chase, to heal the pain, and he builds their relationship off of false promises. When he turns up dead a year later, the town points fingers to Kya for her reputation as the “dirty marsh girl”. Will she make it out of her trials and find real connections? Or will she waste away in jail — her upbringing being the stain on her life that she could never avoid?

Reviewed by Teen Volunteer, 11/16/24.

Book Review: Sweetness & Lightning

Posted on by Maya Escobar

Sweetness & Lightning by Gido Amagakure

Request It!

The story of Sweetness and Lightning takes place half a year after one of our main characters, Kohei, experiences his wife Tae’s passing away. Wrought with confusion and exhaustion, he tirelessly raises their five-year-old daughter, Tsumugi, while maintaining household chores and working as a high school math teacher. Although their days seem to be going at a steady pace, they both knew that there was always something missing from their lives, as Tae was a loving mother and an incredible cook. After months of frozen dinners, Kohei and his daughter find a new light in their life: they team up with one of Kohei’s students, who’s an aspiring cook and the daughter of a restaurant owner. Together, the three of them develop a beautiful friendship while honing their culinary skills. 

Many of us can relate to the main characters’ life in the beginning– the messy, unchecked paperwork laying about; frozen dinners, and stressed family members running on strict schedules. Watching the characters progress throughout the story has been an unforgettable experience for me. Seeing Kohei’s development in not only his cooking, but the bond he has with his daughter is simply beautiful. The story has incredible artwork, and the characters have relatable, down-to-earth experiences. It does a wonderful job of representing grief, yet makes the experience healing instead of mournful. Sweetness and Lighting is an adorable, wholesome series that anyone can enjoy. It’s also a great choice as a beginner’s manga; it’s the first series I ever fell in love with. I highly recommend it!

Reviewed by Teen Volunteer, 11/16/24.

Book Review: Hetty Feather

Posted on by Maya Escobar

Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson

 
Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson is the first of a series written entirely in first person about a Victorian girl who shares the same name as the book’s title. I loved these books when I was little, especially because historical fiction was, and still is, one of my favorite genres. It was also written by my favorite author of my childhood, which definitely didn’t hurt! I recently remembered this series and decided to read the first book to see if I still liked it.

Hetty Feather is born in Victorian London and given up for adoption just a few days after her birth. She is sent to a foster home for the first five years of her life where she is cared for by the loving Cottons family, who foster children as a job. There, she lives with her other fostered siblings and forms a special bond with the Cottons’ only biological child, Jem. The two of them go on many adventures and plan their future together, even though they know Hetty won’t be staying with the Cottons for much longer.

After her fifth birthday, Hetty is driven to a foundling hospital. This was an institution that raised and educated abandoned or orphaned children during the Victorian era. As a bad-tempered child, Hetty is often subject to harsh punishments by the matron. Despite this, she is able to make a few friends with fellow foundlings and even shares a close bond with the kitchen maid, Ida.

A couple of years later, the children are allowed to go to the Queen’s Golden Jubilee under strict supervision. Hetty takes the chance to escape and find her real mother. After several dead ends and an encounter with a sinister man, she is eventually found by the new benefactor for the foundling hospital, Sarah Smith. Sarah takes Hetty back to the hospital but tells the matron that Hetty was kidnapped and doesn’t deserve any punishment, which the matron can’t argue against. Hetty is allowed to see Ida, who finally reveals that she is Hetty’s real mother. The book ends with the two of them imagining a future together, though no one else in the hospital is allowed to know the truth.

The story being written from the perspective of Hetty looking back on her childhood really enhances the narrative because of how she reflects on her old perception of the world. It allows readers to experience it more personally through a narrower and even unreliable point of view, adding to the complexity of it. Older readers can understand the true significance of a situation that younger Hetty can’t, which makes the story have an emotional impact as one can sympathize with her. I can tell the book was very much written for younger children as the style is a little childish. However, I think the themes of love and perseverance are important no matter who the intended audience is.

Ultimately, Hetty Feather is heartwarming and thought-provoking, as it offers a powerful look at childhood resilience. Hetty’s bold personality against real issues, like the loss of personal freedom, allows the narrative to be both insightful and entertaining. The ambiguous ending on whether or not Hetty and Ida are caught makes for a good cliffhanger. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction (like me!) and stories through the lens of an unreliable narrator.
 

Reviewed by Teen Volunteer, 11/14/24.

Book Review: Persepolis

Posted on by Maya Escobar

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Request It!

To be honest, I don’t really read many memoirs. Of course, I’ve heard of some incredible memoirs, such as Viola Davis’s book and Michelle Obama’s, but I’ve never really taking the time to read them. I always thought it took too much work to really immerse yourself and somebody else’s life and to solely focus on their struggles and their past and also the fact that these were actually real events, I thought it was a bit boring.

But I did want to put myself out there and try one for the first time and I couldn’t think of a better way to start my journey of reading memoirs than starting off with Marjane Satrapi’s groundbreaking graphic novel, Persepolis. No, I have to admit, I was a little bit, shocked that this memoir was told in a graphic novel format. I had always thought of memoirs as being a long, lengthy book that could practically bore you to death, no offense to all the memoirs out there. But this book was different. The format was very simple, plain black-and-white drawings with fairly simple drawn characters, and despite this plainness, it’s still intrigued me.

So there I was, reading this novel, not really knowing to expect. And the only thing I can say after reading this is that it completely blew me away. I was shocked by how vivid these recounts were Islamic revolution and how author was able to blend her personal life, family and experiences with the history of our country. It taught me a lot historically, emotionally and it was definitely a fun read. It took us through many stages of her life, starting when she was very young up until the time when she was almost at the end of her teenage years being sent away to go live in Austria.

I loved being able to see the author’s development throughout these life-changing events that occurred throughout her life. From strict laws to intense war, we could see how deeply this impacted her childhood and how she chose to reflect upon that part of her life as an adult. It was like these stories all came to life through these intense, intricate drawings that dazzled me so much, I could not put the book down.

To conclude, for anyone looking to try a new genre that they don’t immediately reach for, I’d say don’t knock it until you try it and if you’re like me, starting out with memoirs, I’d say definitely check out Persepolis. It is truly amazing, and I cannot wait to read the second installment in the series!

Review by Teen Volunteer, 10/16/24.

Book Review: The Kitchen God’s Wife

Posted on by Maya Escobar

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

Request It!

Family relationships are always complicated. From siblings to parents, there are many times where you can feel as though the people living closest to you are actually really far when it comes to perspectives and opinions. In Amy Tan’s debut novel, The Kitchen God’s Wife, I saw a beautiful relationship between a mother and daughter who seem almost worlds apart, until they take time to see the world through each other’s eyes. Written in way that switches between the perspectives of the two main protagonists, I got to see so many aspects of  family bond, experiences, and understanding. 

To set the scene, the daughter has recently been diagnosed with a disease. Knowing that her mother is very over dramatic when it comes to these things, she avoids telling her, and instead tells her aunt. On the other side of this story, her mother hides along and deep past from before her daughter was born. These struggles involve her move from China to the US, her marriage with her daughter’s biological father, and the past that she left behind and that still haunts her to stay. The only person who knows this besides the mother is the aunt, who insists that they admit their past and their real identities.

The novel then moves to describe the mother’s life, including her success and struggles as she grew up before her daughter was born. We see the mother and daughters life side-by-side and compare their struggles, even though they live in two completely different time periods. To give some of my thoughts, I really enjoyed reading this novel. It surprised me a lot because when I first opened the book, I thought I’d mostly be seeing the perspective of the daughter. To be honest, I was also caught off guard by how much the daughter complained about her mother (although I can sometimes relate).

It was very surprising to see the novel take a sudden turn and to see the entire experience and story of the mother. The whole time, I was so immersed in her struggles, achievements, losses, loves, and heartache that the mother had to go through to get to that certain point of her life. It really put the definition in don’t judge a book by its cover! Moreover, I think this novel was a wonderful read and I would definitely recommend it to someone looking for a slice of life, feel good novel that can bring you a different world and see it through someone else’s eyes. 

Review by Teen Volunteer, 10/16/24.

Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Posted on by Maya Escobar

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Request It!

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a novel that follows the lives of two women in Afghanistan. The book is split into four parts, each of which spend time focusing on the lives of the main characters, Mariam and Laila. It starts in the early 1960s from the perspective of 15 year old Mariam, who is the illegitimate daughter of a rich man and his maid. Due to her circumstances, she and her mother are sent to live on the outskirts of her father’s town where he does not need to be reminded of his affair. At the same time, hundreds of miles away, Laila is born into a loving family with two older brothers.

After a series of unfortunate events, Mariam is married off to a much older man so her father could get rid of her once and for all. This man just so happens to live on the very same street as Laila, so they become neighbors. Over the next nineteen years, Mariam faces abuse from her husband while the political climate in Afghanistan gradually rises. Laila’s mother gets increasingly distant when her two sons leave to train for war, which leaves Laila’s father to be the only one their daughter can truly go to for support. When the tension in the country finally snaps, Laila’s house is bombed and she turns out to be the only survivor of her loved ones. Mariam reluctantly takes her under her wing with her abusive husband, and the two of them eventually form an unbreakable bond against all odds.

This story is able to incorporate the struggles that Mariam and Laila face while the raging conflict around them destroys their country. We see how their contrasting childhood experiences impact how they interact and work through the same situation. From dealing with abusive parents and partners to civil wars and dictatorships, the characters learn the importance of sharing meaningful connections with one another in the face of adversity.

Most readers of our generation would agree that the novel serves as an insightful window into another life. It shows us different perspectives of the same situation, which allows us to fully immerse ourselves into the story. It does not provide any direct context of the time it is set in – instead, it gives you glimpses of these things through the lens of the characters. This makes the reality of what is happening in Afghanistan that much more relevant as readers can empathize with them on a personal level. The story can also offer a mirror for some people as it explores universal human experiences such as love, loss, and perseverance.

Overall, A Thousand Splendid Suns is an important piece of literature for those who want to better understand the difficult events unfolding around the world, past or present. Some important content warnings include violence, assault, and verbal and physical abuse. While this book is certainly not for the faint of heart, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to explore new viewpoints and hardships because it brings the reader on an emotional journey that allows for a fulfilling ending.

–Review by Teen Volunteer, 9/21/24

chat loading...