The Astonishing Maybe - an audiobook review

The Astonishing Maybe
By Shaunta Grimes
Read by Ramon De Ocampo
Macmillan Audio

I recently reviewed The Astonishing Maybe for AudioFile Magazine. I can't post my review here; however, I'd like to say just a few things about it.

Gideon Quinton is the book's main character, a rising middle-schooler whose family has recently relocated to Nevada. He is the story's main character, but his new neighbor, Roona, drives the plot. She and her mother are most everything that the Quintons are not. Against all odds, she and Gideon become inseparable.

I don't want to say that this is a book about depression and incarceration and a troubled family because I don't want that to put you off from reading it. What I want to say is that if you have a child or were a child, or are a child, or know a child that comes from a perfectly nice, safe, and boring family—be thankful, be grateful, be kind—and read this book because you need to know that there are other families that are just as loving as yours, but they're struggling and they need you look on their struggles with compassion rather than judgement.

If you have a child,  or are a child, or were a child, or know a child that comes from a family struggling with depression or an incarcerated parent—be caring, be resilient, be persistent—and read this book because you need to know that there are other families out there that are just like yours. You are not alone.

With a sprinkling of magical realism and hopefulness, Shaunta Grimes does a stellar job of tackling difficult topics for young readers. I hope you read or listen to her book.


My review of The Astonishing Mabye for AudioFile Magazine is linked here. [https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/155703/the-astonishing-maybe-by-shaunta-grimes-read-by-ramon-de-ocampo/]

Read an excerpt from The Astonishing Maybe

Unposted #audiobook reviews of 2016

As the year draws to a close, I realized that I've never posted several audio books that I've reviewed for AudioFile Magazine.

Here they are in no particular order (all titles are linked to my full reviews on AudioFile Magazine)

The Last Execution

by Jesper Wung-Sung 

 

A short YA title based on a true story.

"Surreal would be the best description of this book if only it were not based on truth. In 1853, Denmark exercised the death penalty for a final time, cleaving the head from 15-year-old Niels Nelson."  

A Necklace of Raindrops and Other Stories 

by Joan Aiken

"This collection of eight short stories contains gentle tales of fantasy and magic--not the magic of wizards and wands, but of wishing mats and enormous cats and gifts brought by the winds."

 

 

Lock and Key: The Gadwall Incident 

by Ridley Pearson 

 

"This audiobook is a prequel to the Lock and Key series, a contemporary revision of the Sherlock Holmes canon. "

 

Flying 

by Carrie Jones

 The first in a YA series.

"Kate Reinders narrates this campy story about Mana, a high school cheerleader who finds herself battling aliens in a quest to find her missing mom." 

 

 

Swing Sideways 

by Nanci Turner Steveson

 "Narrator Tara Sands realistically interprets a well-off teen's wry observations of her dysfunctional family and their friends.

 

A Big Dose of Lucky

by Martha Jocelyn 

YA series

"Part of the high-interest series Secrets, this audiobook includes support for reluctant readers through narrator Kelly Pruner's clear diction, easy pacing, and decidedly conversational tone."

Guantanamo Boy: a review

Perera, Anna. 2011. Guantanamo Boy. Chicago: Albert Whitman.

(first published in the UK, 2009)
Advance Reader Copy supplied by the publisher.  Due on shelves in August.

"We must remember that once we divide the world into good and bad, then we have to join one camp or the other, and, as you've found out, life's a bit more complex than that."

Funny (or not so funny) - in searching for related links, further information and other reviews on Guantanamo Boy, I actually found myself wondering (worrying?) if my every passing stop along the Internet seeking information related to Guantanamo Bay will be tracked by some government official in a cubicle somewhere.  Just the fact that such a thought crossed my mind, is an indication of the intense fear, distrust and paranoia that is gripping our world because of terrorism.  With that worldwide fear and paranoia as a backdrop for Guantanamo Boy, Anna Perera has crafted an entirely plausible story about a 15-year-old British boy, Khalid, from Rochdale, a large town in Greater Manchester, England.

Khalid is much like any other boy from his town, interested in good grades, his mates, soccer ("footy"), girls, and online gaming.  Though his family is Muslim, Khalid is a casual practitioner.  When his family visits Pakistan to assist an aunt, Khalid's father inexplicably disappears.  Khalid goes to check the address where his father was last seen, threading his way through a street protest enroute.  Unable to find his father, he returns to his aunt's home where he is later kidnapped in the late night hours,

Surely only his dad could be coming through the door without knocking this time of night?

But he's badly mistaken. Blocking the hallway is a gang of fierce-looking men dressed in dark shalwar kameez.  Black cloths wrapped around their heads.  Black gloves on their hands.  Two angry blue eyes, the rest brown, burn into Khalid as the figures move towards him like cartoon gangsters with square bodies.  Confused by the image, he staggers, bumping backwards into the wall.  Arms up to stop them getting nearer.  Too shocked and terrified to react as they shoulder him to the kitchen and close the door before pushing him to his knees and waving a gun at him as if he's a violent criminal.  Then vice-like hands clamp his mouth tight until they plaster it with duct tape.  No chance to wonder what the hell is going on, let alone scream out loud.

And so begins Khalid's descent into a frightening labyrinth of secret prisons, interrogation rooms, and finally Guantanamo Bay detention center.
A few lengthy passages are didactic in nature, but they are few in number. Khalid's unique perspective as a boy, a British citizen and non-practicing Muslim of Pakistani descent, offers a superb vantage point into the previously termed War on Terror. His sensibilities are Western, his concerns are adolescent, his perspective is that of  outsider - he has known discrimination in England, he is too Western for his Pakistani relatives, he has little in common with his fellow inmates.  Khalid is the perfect protagonist for this third-person narrative.

Heart-wrenching and frighteningly enlightening, Guantanmo Boy is not without bright spots - the power of small acts of kindness, the love of family, the virtue of forgiveness.  A thought-provoking read for teens and young adults.

Contains an Afterword by the founder and director, of Reprieve.
 Teacher's Guide

More reviews @
Finding Wonderland
guardian.co.uk

One Crazy Summer

Williams-Garcia, Rita. 2010. One Crazy Summer. New York: Harper Collins.

If you haven't heard of One Crazy Summer, you will.  Rita Williams-Garcia's latest middle grade fiction is getting a lot of buzz, and justifiably so.

One Crazy Summer is set in a poor neighborhood of Oakland, California, 1968.  Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern (three African-American girls, aged 11, 9 and 7) travel on their own from Brooklyn to Oakland.  Their father, against the judgment of the girls' grandmother and caretaker, Big Mama, has decided that it's time for the girls to meet Cecile, the mother that deserted them.  With visions of Disneyland, movie stars, and Tinkerbell dancing in their heads, they set off on the plane determined not to make, as Big Mama says, "Negro spectacles" of themselves.  This is advice that Delphine, the oldest, has heard often.  She is smart and savvy with a good head on her shoulders, and she knows how to keep her sisters in line.  Not much can throw her for a loop, but then, she hasn't met crazy Cecile yet.  Cecile, or Nzila, as she is known among the Black Panthers, is consumed by her passion - poetry.  She writes powerful and moving poems for "the people" - important work, and she is not about to be disturbed by three young girls and their constant needs for food and attention. She operates a one-woman printing press in her kitchen - no children allowed. Instead of Disneyland and the beach, she shoos the girls off daily to the local center run by the Black Panthers.  There, in the midst of an impoverished, minority neighborhood, the girls receive free breakfast, kind words, and an education the likes of which they would never have gotten in Brooklyn.  Slowly, they begin to understand the plight of "the people" - the Blacks, the poor, the immigrants, even Cecile.

Although this book has several great themes (Civil Rights, sisterhood, community) and well-rounded strong-willed characters, you can read about them in any number of reviews.  As for me, with my teenage daughter preparing to take a trip to Europe next month with the Girl Scouts, one thing from One Crazy Summer jumped out at me - the mind-opening, positive power of travel.  Had Delphine, Vonetta and Fern stayed in their quiet, stable Brooklyn home, they would have been safe and well-cared for, however, they would have missed many experiences (both good and bad) that would likely shape their lives, their attitudes, their opinions, forever.  Visiting new places and seeing the world through the eyes of people different from ourselves is a powerful experience.  Delphine's wise father recognized that. So do I.

A heavy topic made light by the hearts of three winning sisters, smart and practical Delphine, carefree and adaptable Vonetta, and Fern, small, but determined  Highly recommended.

A detailed review of the book is at Fuse #8 and another at Dog Ear.

An excerpt read by the author is available at teachingbooks.net.

Jacket Knack offers an interesting post about the inviting cover art by Sally Wern Comport.

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Al Capone Shines My Shoes

Choldenko, Gennifer. 2009. Al Capone Shines My Shoes. New York: Dial.


The year is 1935 and 12-year old Moose Flanagan and his sister, Natalie, are still living with their parents on Alcatraz Island where Moose's dad is a prison guard.  The famous mobster, Al Capone is still in residence as well.  In Al Capone Does My Shirts, Al Capone  helped Moose by engineering Natalie's acceptance into a special-needs school in San Francisco.  The action in Al Capone Shines My Shoes begins when Moose receives a note in his prison-laundered clothing, "your turn."

Moose narrates the events that follow this missive from the powerful Al Capone, and there is plenty of action and suspense to satisfy readers.  However, this book has far more to offer.  As historical fiction, its location and period is certainly unique to the genre.  What child wouldn't be interested in life on Alcatraz Island when Al Capone resided there?  It's also a glimpse into a bygone era where 12-year-old kids can chaperone younger children on day-long trips in San Francisco and spend most of their time unsupervised, no modern "helicopter parents" appear in this book. For better or worse, life was just different back then.

But what truly makes this a great book, is the relationship and depth of the younger characters.  Rarely is there a children's book that offers insight into so many characters.  By the end of Al Capone Shines My Shoes, the reader will identify with all of the island's young inhabitants - Jimmy, Moose's best friend who struggles to keep up with Moose's athletic prowess and easy likability; Jimmy's little sister, Theresa, who is much smarter than her seven years belie; the beautiful and spoiled Piper, the warden's daughter who acts out to ease her own misery; Janet Trixle, the tagalong daughter of one of the island's officers, Annie, Moose's good-natured and athletic girl friend, the story's narrator, Moose, who is learning much about love and life, and of course, Natalie, his autistic sister. Natalie's role in this story is not the role of the disabled sister, however.  She is just another of the children.  Yes, her disability causes complications and tension, but every child causes complications and tension, and Natalie is just another child.  In the eyes of the Flanagans, and indeed, all of the local children, Natalie is simply Natalie - no better, no worse than anyone else.  And although the Esther P. Marinoff School may try to "cure" Natalie, the Flanagan's are the only ones with the proper prescription - love.

Al Capone, guard towers, prison escapes, baseball, mysterious notes, lies, cover-ups, adventure, love, honesty, friendship, responsibility - Gennifer Choldenko puts them all together brilliantly.


A discussion guide for the book may be found here.

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