![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In an author’s note, Linda Sue Park writes, “The racism that Hanna confronts is largely autobiographical: I have faced almost exactly the same incidents of racism depicted in the book. Spunky and creative, resilient and willing to ask others for help, Hanna attains her goals, even as she bears scars from ill treatment. But she also encounters adults who are fair and kind and meets young people who like and respect her. As Hanna strives to attain her goals, she confronts racism once again. ![]() Hanna dreams of graduating from school in honor of her deceased mother, becoming a seamstress of women’s dresses, and finding a friend. In 1880, Hanna and her father arrive in Dakota Territory after having left their home in California, traveling from place to place, each time longing to set up a home, but always being driven out by discrimination because of Hanna’s ancestry. Reminiscent of the setting and characters of the Little House books, Prairie Lotus relates the story of Hanna Edmunds, the 14-year-old daughter of a white father and Chinese mother, who has died. As a Korean-American child, she knew what discrimination felt like. Author Linda Sue Park wrote this relevant and compelling novel as “an attempt at a painful reconciliation.” As a child, she loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, but she grew increasingly uncomfortable with the way members of the First Nations were depicted and regarded in that narrative. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() McQuiston does an admirable job of balancing trauma with healing. For those with religious trauma who are still dealing with the ramifications of growing up queer in heavily homophobic communities, this novel will be both cathartic and potentially triggering. There’s room for many different lived experiences within the narrative, and all are explored with care. ![]() Right off the bat, it’s important to acknowledge how beautifully I Kissed Shara Wheeler weaves a variety of queer characters into the story. Along the way, she and her newfound friends confront the image of Shara they thought they knew, and Chloe will find that maybe her small town and its inhabitants aren’t what she thought they were. Angry that Shara vanishing will make her default valedictorian and wanting to beat her fair and square (no other reason of course, wink), Chloe teams up with Smith and Rory to find Shara. Popular, beautiful Shara kisses her boyfriend Smith, bad boy next door Rory, and a stunned Chloe before vanishing, leaving only pink letters and clues for the trio to follow to find her. Raised by two moms and openly bisexual, Chloe has always felt out of place at her Christian school in Alabama. Chloe Green has her eyes on the prize: win valedictorian, finally vanquish her academic enemy Shara Wheeler, graduate high school, and say goodbye to her small town and its homophobic inhabitants. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Guise introduces the idea and then goes on to say why it works. A mini-habit is a habit of doing something every day that is very small. Easy enough for anyone, literally, anyone, to understand. Being the second book, it builds upon the previous book, Mini-Habits, about which I will now shut up introducing and get on with reviewing. My first book review for Guise was for the second and most recent work of his I’d read, How to Be an Imperfectionist. ![]() They both took my world and turned it very gently on its head, rummaged in its pockets, and took out all the useless bits to show me why I was wrong. Only pretty much, because books that really stick with me (enough to get a review) are rare, and Stephen Guise has written two that have really stuck with me. It’s pretty much only coincidence that two of my three book reviews so far are by the same author. ![]() |