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Showing posts from 2019

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

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The Testaments by Margaret Atwood I’m going to cut right to the chase. This book is well written but we didn’t need it. I expected more. I wanted more and this fell flat. I’ve read The Handmaid’s Tale , more than once, and I genuinely enjoyed it. The single narrative of Offred lent itself to the story well and it was genuinely a terrifying society. I watched the first two series of the show and though I have my reservations about it, I still thought it was a good show. It does a great job answering questions that the book could not because of its singular narrative. It filled out the world. This book revolves around three narratives: Aunt Lydia, who we know had a helping hand in stripping women of their sense of self and molded them to be controlled by the men of Gilead; Agnes, raised in Gilead with a Commander as father, privileged and set to marry well; and Daisy, a teenager raised in Canada hating Gilead and the abuses women endured that she’s learned about since she

Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African Americans in the South by Mike Selby

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Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African Americans in the South by Mike Selby So many stories go untold. So many truths remain hidden. Certain areas of history that you weren’t even aware of become visible and it has the ability to shift the world as you see it. I considered myself well read in regards to the events of Freedom Summer and the works of Civil Rights activist that summer of 1964. Not a scholar or researcher but I had done my due diligence to be knowledgeable of a history, that as a Black woman, has affected my life in so many profound ways. But I have never heard of the Freedom Libraries and their significance to Freedom Summer until I came across this book. Now a whole new chapter of the racial injustices Black people have suffered in this country has been opened to me and I won’t lie, I was distraught while reading this. I love reading and always have. The thought of not being allowed to access books is terrifying and heartbreaking to me.

A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney

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A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney Alice Kingston has been a Dreamwalker for a year now. Ever since the night her dad died and she left the hospital to find Addison Hatta killing a Nightmare. She shouldn’t have been able to see him, not with the Invisibility Verse he had cast earlier. Now she fights Nightmares in Wonderland and protects the Western Gateway. You know regular teenage girl stuff. But now she thinks one of her best friends, Chess, is dead after the largest Nightmare she’s ever faced attacker her at the high school. Her mom knows something is wrong but Alice thinks telling her the truth could endanger her life. And the Black Knight is still out there, searching for her, Hatta, the princess and the Eye. I remember being intrigued by the first book in this series, the fresh take on Wonderland with a kick ass Black Alice who was a superhero in her own right, but I didn’t fall in love with the story. This book however is everything I wanted from the first book

Motherhood so White: A Memoir of Race, Gender and Parenting in America by Nefertiti Austin

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Motherhood so White: A Memoir of Race, Gender and Parenting in America by Nefertiti Austin I remember what it was like being pregnant with my son, flipping through the pages of What To Expect When You’re Expecting and preparing my house for a newborn. I was overwhelmed and excited. Motherhood hadn’t been a dream of mine, but with my husband I wanted an addition to my family. I didn’t gravitate towards books about motherhood having helped raise my two nephews and being around younger children throughout my life. It’s now after being a mother for eleven years, after knowing what it’s like to raise a Black child that I’ve gravitated towards stories of other Black mothers. This is a memoir outside of my realm. I don’t know what it’s like to adopt a child and what that experience entails. But the more Austin wrote about raising her Black son, who is only a year older than my own child, I felt a kinship. Nothing about being a mother is easy and raising a Black child adds a

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

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The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste To put this simply, The Shadow King , is a really well written book that explores the history of the war that took place between Ethiopia and Italy in the 1930s. It tells the story of the women who fought the war, the challenges they faced, the struggle of the Ethiopian people during that time and the Italian colonel who forced innocent people off a cliff. The story begins at the end with Hirut in the 1970s waiting to meet Ettore. She has something that belongs to him and he has been looking for her for decades. But how they got to this meeting, begins when the war does with Hirut, a young woman with her father’s rifle and Ettore, an Italian Jew photographing both the living and dead as he served in the army. One of the parts of this book that really sticks with me is the imagery. Mengiste writes the most beautiful, heartbreaking, descriptive imagery and her prose lends itself to building these images in a really amazing way. Certain ph

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates Hiram had no memory of his mother. Which was strange considering he could remember everything else: the stories of others, the songs sung in the field and the words written on paper. But of his mother he knew nothing. Gone Nachez way he believed. Like many of the other Tasked, she was taken from her family and sold further south. He had his father and his brother, but they were both of the Quality, as much master as blood and the love of the father to son didn’t exist. That is until Maynard, the heir apparent of the plantation Lockless, drowned. Now Master Walker had to rethink what the future of Lockless would contain. But Hiram had other ideas. He was ready to run. Ready to take Sophia, the woman he was falling for, with him. Find the Underground and find freedom. But the story of his grandmother Santi Bess, lingered in him. The story of the woman who walked into the river one night, with forty others and disappeared, never to be seen

Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

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Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar                 Not too long ago I sat in a kindergarten classroom while the history of George Washington was taught. The same old repeated stories were told to this classroom of young children that I heard as a child: he had wooden teeth, he cut down an apple tree, he was the father of our country. My son once sat in that same classroom and heard those same stories A year later he would take a field trip to Mount Vernon and see the home of the famous George Washington. Now, my son was taught about slavery but not in connection with the first president. So, as he learned more about those who had been enslaved like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, I made sure to also inform him that when he went to Mount Vernon, he was also visiting a slave plantation that housed hundreds of enslaved people within its acreage. He was shocked, mortified and sad. They hadn’t show

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite

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Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite Alaine was being sent to Haiti as punishment. Well, sort of. She was getting out of the line of fire after a really dramatic school presentation that almost resulted in the death of another student. In all honesty Alaine was just trying to highlight one of the events that ignited the Hatian revolution, with interesting theatrics. It was a part of her history and she wanted to put on a show! She had been suspended, instead of expelled, and was going to conduct not only independent studies but would also be interning under her aunt, the Minister of Tourism of Haiti. But Alaine would also have the chance to bond with her mother, who she hasn’t lived with in years and has a somewhat strained relationship with. What Alaine doesn’t know is that she could possibly end the curse that has been affecting her family since Haiti won its independence. This was a mix of quite a few things but most importantly this book was f

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

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Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron Arrah doesn’t have magic. She can see it as it comes to the others at the gathering of the five Heka tribes at the Blood Moon festival but it flees from her touch. Even though her mother is the Ka-Priestess of Tara, her grandmother the Chieftan of the Tribe Aatiri and her father an edam of the Tribe Aatiri as well, she has never known magic. Each year she has watched, angry and with less hope, as the magic passes her by. She knows there’s other ways to get magic but trading years of her life to obtain it would make her a charlatan. It would dishonor her and her family and she would never know how much of her life was taken until it was too late. But when children begin to go missing, she feels as if she has no choice but to give some of her life if it means saving others. This story is complicated. It contains magic, gods, demons, legacy and family drama. This might be one of the most intense mother and daughter relationships I’ve ever r

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson                 When Claudia returned home from spending the summer with her grandmamma the first person, she asked about was Monday. They usually exchanged letters over the summer, since neither has a cellphone, and Monday hadn’t responded to any of Claudia’s letter. But even now that she was back, Monday was nowhere to be found. Her number wasn’t working, and she wasn’t at school the first day, or the day after that. Weeks went by and no one had seen Monday. Monday’s mom claimed she was with her father while her sister claimed she was with an aunt. No one even bothered answering questions about August, Monday’s little brother. Claudia’s mother thought she may simple have moved like her family. Claudia’s father thought that maybe they two eighth graders were growing apart. But no one understood that Monday would have never left Claudia like that. And Claudia was left navigating the world without her best, and only friend. As the m

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

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There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon Rishi has always been the traditional Patel brother, steadfast in family tradition and trying his hardest to be a good son. He even encouraged his parents to arrange a marriage for him. Ashish was nothing like Rishi. Deadset on blazing his own path through life, he dated who he wanted, shunned tradition and had dedicated his life to one thing, basketball. But when his heart is broken and his mojo completely crushed, he gives the idea of letting his parents set him up with an Indian girl a shot. Sweetie is also an athlete. She is one of the fastest runners at her high school and has her sights set on running in college. When Ashish’s mom approaches Sweetie’s mother with the prospect of the two dating, she’s immediately stunned. Not because of the Patel family’s reputation, which is in good standing in the community, but because Sweetie’s mom is worried that her weight would cause her to be the source of ridicule. But Sweetie

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas

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On The Come Up by Angie Thomas                 When Bri walked into the Ring that night, she knew she had to deliver. She couldn’t walk through those doors, Law’s daughter and not deliver in this rap battle. Deliver she did and while she get some traction on YouTube, it’s nothing compared to the love she gets after she releases her first recording, “On The Come Up.” But people are taking her words and twisting them. She’s not advocating violence against the police. She’s not the girl with clips on her waist. She is the girl labeled aggressive for doing the simplest things like rolling her eyes. She is the girl with a father who was gunned down and a mother who years ago had to battle a drug addiction. She is Bri and the world is finding out who she is at the same time Bri is.                 I just finished this book, blazed through over 400 pages like it was nothing. I couldn’t put this down. Thomas brought Bri and the people in Garden Heights to life in such a stunnin

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

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If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin                 I’m trying to process what I just read, while I write this review. I am a sack of emotions and it would make no sense trying to lie to anyone about it. This is the story of Tish and Fonny. It begins with Tish visiting Fonny in jail, telling him that she carries his child. From there we learn of their story, how they have always belonged to and eventually loved one another. How her family became his family and how they planned on becoming a family. But within the pages of this book we learn of how families can function but be dysfunctional, how the legal system can and in some ways is meant to break you and how love, the love we have for each other can be the only thing that gives us hope.                 There were moments when the writing in this book took my breath away. It is beautiful. It is romantic. It is full of just this amplified love between two people, and reading about that love was amazing. Then the

The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton

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The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton This is the second book in The Belles series. So be prepared, if you haven’t read The Belles spoilers are abound in this review. Proceed with caution                 Camille, Edel and Remy are on the run. The Queen is dead and Sophia is positioned to take the throne. Even though Camille revived Princess Charlotte before she fled, rumors are circulating that she too is dead. But that’s not the only thing troubling Camille. Most of what she has known her entire life is a lie: where she comes from, how she can use her powers, what lives in her blood. There is so much more to it than just the existence of other Belles outside the favorite generation and it rattles her to her core. And now she is also learning about the Iron Ladies. The resistance trying to tear the concept of beauty down in Orl é ans.                 I reread The Belles before starting this book and I am so glad I did. All the nuances and references to the exi

She Who Hears All Whispers by Davaun Sanders

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She Who Hears All Whispers by Davaun Sanders Suraldisha came to Mataano Qahndob with one plan in mind, kill She Who Hears All Whispers, The Matriarch. She would wield her phagefire to kill The Matriarch and if possible, end the suffering of the people within its wall. But that won’t be easy. Suraldisha isn’t the only one who can wield the phage. The Daughters throughout the city wouldn’t let her destroy the Matriarch and possibly their own power. And The Matriarch listened to the whispers within the city constantly preparing to lay siege. She Who Hears All Whispers is novella with intricate world building and action from start to finish. Sanders starts the complex world building on the first page and it is obvious from the beginning what a dangerous position Suraldisha has placed herself in. What isn’t obvious is how powerful Suraldisha is and throughout pages, the range of that power becomes obvious as does the risky position she has placed herself in.   I enjoyed thi

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin                 Yeine Darr was never looking to rule. She only came to Sky by request of her grandfather, Dekatur Arameri, a man she had never set eyes on before. Yeine’s mother had abdicated the throne and left for the North to be with Yeine’s father. Now both of her parents were dead, she was the ruler of the Darr in the North but considered a barbarian. But when she kneeled in front of her grandfather and he recognized her as kin, she knew other things were at play. Yeine didn’t realize it would be a fight for the throne and she didn’t realize the gods enslaved to the Arameri were involved and that her life was a stake.                 I was not prepared for this book to start off the way that it did. I’ve read Jemisin before so I was expecting amazing world building, an intense and intricate plot and beautiful writing. But she came out in the first chapter hitting readers with a dark chaotic action sequence that put Yeine

The Black Rose by Tananarive Due

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The Black Rose by Tananarive Due                 Have you ever wondered about the life of Madam CJ Walker? Well, of course you’ve heard of her. Without her we would have never had pressing combs and our scalps would have more than likely been a mess. Madam CJ Walker built an empire around Black women’s hair care products. The Black Rose is a historical fiction based on the life of Madam CJ Walker, born Sarah Breedlove. Due used research conducted by Alex Haley and created this novel which looks at the many trials, tribulations and successes experience in both love, family and business by Madam CJ Walker.                 After reading the first few pages, I knew this would be a novel I really enjoyed, because Due is a beautiful writer. She creates detailed worlds with her words, sewing the atmosphere, culture and scenery together in a way that transports readers to that time and place. I felt like I was with Walker as she traveled through the streets in her luxury vehicle

The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake

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The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake I’m making it a point to read classics written by Black authors this year and The Skin I’m In is the first for this year. It’s the story of Maleeka, a young girl in seventh grade who is constantly harassed because of the darkness of her skin and bullied because she’s poor. She is constantly being manipulated by other girls in her grade and it’s taking a toll. When a new teacher comes to her school, with a scarred face the kids find another target. But this teacher, Ms. Saunders, takes a liking to Maleeka. Intimidated and angered by this at first, Maleeka rejects her kindness. Overtime things change but Maleeka has to find her own strength before she can stand up to her abusers. This book has been sitting on my bookshelf screaming to be read for at least a year. Now that I’ve read it, I have a lot of emotions. This book is so painful because it hints at the worst part of people and how some of those traits can appear in young people.

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

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Uglies by Scott Westerfield                 After spending four years with other Uglies in a dormitory, pulling all kinds of tricks, you finally grow up and become a Pretty on your sixteenth birthday. That’s what Talla had been looking forward too. Her best friend Peris was three months older than her, living lavishly in New Pretty Town, going to fancy parties, dressing up and having the time of his life. Alone and lonely, that was when Talla met Shay. Shay would turn sixteen the same day Talla would! But Shay wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a Pretty. And the stories she told Talla about a place where your looks didn’t matter, where you could live without looking pretty like everyone else, seemed appalling to her. But when Shay runs away Talla might not have a choice of whether or not she wants to be a Pretty. Someone might have just stripped that choice away.                 This new world Westerfield created where you become a Pretty and everything is perfect, everyon

Let me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson with lyrics by Malik "Malik-16" Sharif

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Let me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson with lyrics by Malik "Malik-16" Sharif                 They had no idea if this plan would really work. Steph was dead but that didn’t mean his memory had to be. All the tapes he had under his bed, the cd they found, the notebooks filled with lyrics all seemed like possibilities to Steph’s two best friends Jarrell and Quadir and his little sister Jasmine. It gave Jarrell and Quadir a chance to put their best friend on the map. And Jasmine only agreed to help if they promised to help find out who killed her big brother. They had a chance to make Steph a legend, a star. But there were so many things they didn’t know about Steph and there was no way they could have known how dangerous his lyrics could be.                 Everyone handles grief in different ways and I find it very interesting the way these three characters handle their grief by continuing to love and honor their friend through his novel. This is as much a

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

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The Crossover by Kwame Alexander                 I am absolutely loving the amount of Middle Grade/Young Adult novels that I am seeing in verse. In the hands of capable authors like Kwame Alexander they are absolutely extraordinary. This is the first novel I’ve read by Alexander and needless to say I plan on eventually owning them all if any of them are anywhere near the level of skill that is on display in this one. The Crossover is the story of twelve-year old Josh Ball, the only kid his age that can dunk. He’s on the same team as his very talented twin brother Jordan. Their mom is the assistant principal at their school, so their education is just as important as their skills on the court. And their dad, now retired, once played on a championship European team. While Josh has his eyes on a championship, Jordan only has eyes for his girlfriend. With the two seemingly longing for different things, a fracture occurs that not only affects the family, but the team.