Tag: poc

Amari and the Night Brothers

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

Amari’s big brother, Quinton, was always her guide and her protector. He’s been missing for months, and Amari doesn’t understand why people are giving up on him. She’s determined to keep searching. She never expected to receive a magical briefcase that Quinton left for her eyes only… and she definitely never expected to find out that werewolves and mermaids and magic are real. Amari and the Night Brothers is a super fun, immersive world that middle school kids will love sinking their teeth into.

What I loved most:

One of my favorite series is The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis – the name of this blog is pulled from a line in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I feel like every kid loves reading stories where a normal kid (like them) finds out that magic is real, and gets pulled into this mysterious new world without the limitations we have in our current world. Plus, I’m HERE for #OwnVoices books, strong female protagonists, and teaching kids not to accept the constraints placed on them by society, so this book gets a solid 5 out of 5 stars from me.

Read this book if you like:

The Chronicles of Narnia series, the Harry Potter series, strong female protagonists

Book details:

  • Author: B. B. Alston
  • Publisher: Balzar + Bray
  • Date of Publication: January 19, 2021
  • Interest Level: 5th – 8th graders

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

In 1982, a Chinese American man named Vincent Chen was beaten to death by two white men. Off-duty police officers witnessed the murder. The men pled guilty to manslaughter, had to pay a $3,000 fine, were placed on probation for three years, and served no jail time. From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry is the story of how this terrible tragedy sparked the Asian American movement. I listened to the audiobook, and would highly recommend it in this format.

What I loved most:

Y’all, there’s just so much history that I don’t know about. I’ve been trying to intentionally expand my knowledge base over the last few years, and I have so much to learn. Paula Yoo did a great job in From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry of not only discussing the murder of Vincent Chen, but giving the bigger picture of the general culture at the time. Especially with the rise in hate crimes against Asian American people over the last year… this is a crucial read. Check it out.

Read this book if you like:

Know My Name by Chanel Miller, social justice, #BlackLivesMatter, narrative nonfiction

Book details:

  • Author: Paula Yoo
  • Publisher: Norton Young Readers
  • Date of Publication: April 20, 2021
  • Interest Level: High school students – Adults

A Spy in the Struggle

A Spy in the Struggle cover
~ rachelbenzine ~ 1 Comment

Plot:

Yolanda Vance wasn’t planning on becoming an FBI agent. She’s a lawyer by training, and ended up at the FBI after her huge corporate employer got busted for being shady. When the Bureau assigns her to infiltrate an extremist group near the college she attended, saying no isn’t an option. Yet when she meets the group of teenagers that have been labeled extremists by the Bureau, and starts to fall in love with one of their adult mentors, she quickly realizes that not everything the Bureau had told her was true. But y’all, we all know that the Bureau wants their employees to stick to the party line… and when Yolanda starts questioning what she’s been told, she isn’t going to be safe for long.

What I loved most:

Sometimes, you just need to read a book with spies and double crossing and dirty government agencies. I generally don’t read many mysteries or thrillers anymore, because I 50000% get nightmares when I read things that are too dark. This was an engaging, well-written novel that satisfied my desire to read suspense without going way too far off the deep end.

Read this book if you like:

Suspense, spies, trying to figure out how you would handle a tough situation, social justice, activism

Things to be aware of:

There is explicit sexual content in this book. And while it’s not at a nightmare level, there’s definitely violence.

Book details:

  • Author: Aya de Leon
  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Date of Publication: December 29, 2020
  • Interest Level: Adult