An often moving account of the realities of having a child with a potentially fatal illness.
A memoir that tells the story of parents seeking a cure for their child’s sickle cell disease.
In her debut book, Nigerian-born Ejiofor presents a mother’s story of a child’s encounter with sickle cell disease—a genetic condition that disproportionately affects people with African ancestry. It begins with her young son undergoing an episode of acute chest syndrome, caused by his sickle cell disease. She goes on to relate the story of the belated discovery of her husband’s carrier status; a previous test had an erroneous result, so the couple thought they weren’t at risk for having children with the disease. The majority of the book, though, chronicles their journey toward achieving the only known cure for sickle cell disease at the time—a risky bone marrow transplant. Ejiofor describes in moving detail the trials that the family went through as their son went through multiple transplant attempts, which included a purposeful weakening of the immune system through chemotherapy to prevent the body’s rejection of donated marrow, intended to create new, healthy blood cells. This book is full of information about sickle cell disease, and the Minnesota-based author clearly seeks to raise awareness of the disorder, noting the advantages of her adopted country’s advanced medical treatments. But the work is primarily about the emotional journey of a parent of a child with a debilitating illness. Ejiofor frequently speaks about the importance of maintaining one’s religious faith during trying times and about the reliability of a mother’s love, which will appeal most to those with similar faiths and family arrangements. Overall, it’s a raw, convincing account of a woman finding courage to also keep trying when things go wrong; it even addresses the tough decision of whether to try to have another child who might be a donor match for the first. The book contains family photos and a bibliography of resources with sickle cell disease information.
An often moving account of the realities of having a child with a potentially fatal illness.Pub Date: June 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63489-419-7
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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SEEN & HEARD
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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