A warm and tender immigration tale that occasionally stumbles over its rhyming scheme.
Williams chronicles an immigrant family’s journey in this rhyming narrative for middle-grade readers.
The story is told from the perspective of Mina, whose family departs Basseterre, St. Kitts, for Orlando, Florida, “Green cards clenched in trembling hand.” Upon arrival in the U.S., Mina notes there are “No guava trees, no ocean breeze, / Just concrete stretching endlessly.” Mina’s father plants a guava tree at their new home, which stands as a metaphor for growth, rootedness, and resilience throughout the book. At school, Mina makes a friend named Chloe with whom she shares pieces of her home country, including Carnival dances, cricket, and a slushy drink called Frayco. In turn, Chloe introduces Mina to soccer, the library, and the state fair. The girls participate in a bake sale, a sports fundraiser, and a hiking trip. Mina’s parents make big strides in their respective careers. Though life is on the upswing, the family remains homesick. In a letter, Mina’s grandmother asks, “Does the food taste right, or does it feel wrong? / Do the trees sway there, do they hum a song?” Fears regarding their immigrant status and discrimination hover over the family, even after they become citizens. By the end of the book, Mina learns to include both St. Kitts and Florida in her definition of home: “Two worlds I carry, their love combined, / A bridge of hope, uniquely designed.” Williams’ lyrical poetry and chronological narrative make for a lovely, flowing middle-grade read. Abundant sensory details immerse readers in Mina’s surroundings, from her grandmother’s spice-scented scarf to the monkeys’ chatter outside to the snap of a suitcase closing. Mina’s emotional honesty in lines like “my heart’s still home, split in half” invites readers to consider how straddling two cultures feels. The rigid rhyming scheme sometimes results in unnatural expressions, such as, “We search for coconuts in a local store, / But they’re hard as rocks, their taste a chore.” The narrative’s lack of time stamps also makes it difficult to situate the events within a broader societal context.
A warm and tender immigration tale that occasionally stumbles over its rhyming scheme.Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781962776073
Page Count: 222
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A wartime drama with enough depth and psychological complexity to satisfy budding bookworms.
Three plucky orphan siblings are in search of a mother in wartime England.
When their grandmother dies, 12-year-old William, 11-year-old Edmund, and 9-year-old Anna are left in London in the care of an elderly housekeeper. As part of the World War II evacuation of children to safety, they are relocated to the countryside, something the family solicitor hopes may lead to finding adoptive parents. However, they are billeted with the Forresters, an unpleasant family reminiscent of the Dursleys. Bullying by their hosts’ two sons, who despise them; the ever present fear of German attack; and the dread of homelessness test their mettle to the limit. The orphans long to find a home of their own, and good boy William is stressed by his responsibility as head of the small family. Edmund’s desire for revenge against the Forresters and a prank involving a snake get them evicted from their billet, and they end up in a much worse situation. They find sanctuary in the village library and a savior in the librarian, who is married to a German and therefore ostracized by the locals. Mrs. Müller provides them with moral support, a listening ear, and true appreciation and love. The classic books she chooses for them—The Wind in the Willows and Anne of Green Gables, among others—may generate ideas for further reading. All characters are White.
A wartime drama with enough depth and psychological complexity to satisfy budding bookworms. (reading list) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4705-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A bone-chilling tale not to be ignored by the universe.
If Anne Frank had been a boy, this is the story her male counterpart might have told. At least, the very beginning of this historical novel reads as such.
It is 1939, and Yanek Gruener is a 10-year old Jew in Kraków when the Nazis invade Poland. His family is forced to live with multiple other families in a tiny apartment as his beloved neighborhood of Podgórze changes from haven to ghetto in a matter of weeks. Readers will be quickly drawn into this first-person account of dwindling freedoms, daily humiliations and heart-wrenching separations from loved ones. Yet as the story darkens, it begs the age-old question of when and how to introduce children to the extremes of human brutality. Based on the true story of the life of Jack Gruener, who remarkably survived not just one, but 10 different concentration camps, this is an extraordinary, memorable and hopeful saga told in unflinching prose. While Gratz’s words and early images are geared for young people, and are less gory than some accounts, Yanek’s later experiences bear a closer resemblance to Elie Wiesel’s Night than more middle-grade offerings, such as Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars. It may well support classroom work with adult review first.
A bone-chilling tale not to be ignored by the universe. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-45901-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
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