Wave by Diana Farid

Wave by Diana Farid,

illustrated by Kris Goto

Cameron Kids, 2022, 320 Pages

Available March 29, 2022

Wave is a novel-in-verse narrated in the first person by Ava, a thirteen-year-old Persian American living in southern California who is mildly OCD. Set in the 1980s, Ava is looking forward to graduating from eight grade and a summer of hanging out at the beach surfing with Phoenix and best friend Naz before school begins again. Ava's parents are divorced, her dad lives in Paris with his new family, and her Iranian born mom is an OB/GYN doctor at the local hospital. Her mom is hoping Ava will follow her into medicine, and signs her up to be a volunteer on Saturdays for the summer, something she isn't too happy about. 

At the hospital, Ava meets patient, Mr. Cameron, in room 509 and discovers that they share a love of poetry by the Persian poet Rumi. 

At school, Ava, who loves music, sings in the choir and her teacher announces that they have been invited to sing at the Fourth of July Freedom Festival, with Ava having a solo part. It means rehearsals even after school ends.  

At the beach, Ava is confronted by a racist volleyball player more than once who instantly dislikes her for her dark olive skin. This is a difficult experience for her since the beach is the one place Ava has always felt she like she fit in since her skin tone could pass for tan. And it's at the beach that she begins to notice small changes in Phoenix. He had been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma as a child, but has been in remission. Now his cancer has returned and his prognosis isn't very good. 

Then, Ava slips and falls at the hospital, breaking her leg. Since her summer of surfing is now curtailed, her mother signs her up for a medicine for teens class every Monday and Wednesday, a class that begins June 29th, which Ava resents since she has made it clear to her mother that she has no interest in medicine and needs to prepare for her solo at the Freedom Festival. 

There's a lot happening in this novel and yet none of it feels unrealistic or overwhelming. Instead, it is a poignant coming-of-age story about identity, friendship, love, loss and grief. But it is also about how music and poetry can help us process life's more difficult challenges, as summed up in the song that Ava wrote about her life.

Farid has included lots of different aspects of Iranian culture throughout the novel and it is interesting that she set her novel in a time when anti-Iranian feelings were running high in this country. The poetry gives the reader not just a sense of waves building as they come in and crash at the shoreline, then draw back out to sea again, but they are so symbolic of the highs and lows of Ava's life that fateful year (the timeline goes from March to November).

Sprinkled throughout the novel are lovely spot illustrations relating to Ava's life. I chuckled when I saw the one with Ava's new walkman. I know exactly how she felt when she received it, I still have mine and yes, it still works. And to go with that walkman, Farid has included a playlist of Phoenix's songs for Ava, and Ava's songs for Phoenix - all very 80s.

Wave is a poignant novel and though some may see it as historical fiction, it will no doubt resonate for today's readers. 

Thank you to Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media for providing me with an ARC of Wave.

Meet the Author:

Diana Farid is the author of When You Breathe, named a 2021 Notable Poetry Book by the National Council of Teachers of English; it was also awarded the California Reading Association’s 2021 EUREKA! Gold Award for nonfiction children’s book. She is a poet and a physician at Stanford University. Wave is her first middle grade novel. For more information, visit dianafarid.com.

Twitter and Instagram: @_artelixir

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle

MMGM: Kyle's Little Sister story and art by BonHyung Jeong

 

Kyle's Little Sister

Story and Art by BonHyung Jeong

JY, an imprint Yen Press, 2021, 240 pages

Sixth grader Grace Bailey is very excited to finally be a middle grader. Well, except for one thing - older brother Kyle is an eight grader in the same school. Grace and Kyle may be siblings, but they couldn't be more different. Kyle is outgoing, good-looking and popular, especially among the girls, and likes to game with his two best friends, Liam and Andrew. Grace is a quiet, shy girl who prefers staying home and gaming with her two best friends, Jay, who is Black and has a big crush on Kyle, and Amy, Andrew's younger sister.

When Amy finds out that Andrew is having a game night with Kyle and Liam at her house, she convinces her mother to let her have an overnight with Jay and Grace at the same time. Everything is going relatively well until Amy starts pushing Jay to let Kyle know how she feels, something Jay does not want to do. When Jay finally tells Amy to stop pushing it, that she's taking Jay's feelings too lightly, Amy explodes. Hurtful words are said, feelings are hurt, Jay goes home, and Amy tells Grace she is only her friend because of their brothers. 

The following Monday, after not receiving any text messages all weekend from Jay or Amy, Grace finds herself alone in school, with no one to hang out with or sit with at lunch. But soon a popular, outgoing girl with blond curly hair named Cam invites her to sit at her table at lunch after finding out Grace's last name is Bailey. It's fun for a while, but when Cam and her other friends start bullying Amy, Grace begins to feel badly for her old friend. Things really come to a head when Grace discovers Cam's ulterior motive for being so friendly to her. Things are so bad that even Kyle begins to notice something's wrong. 

Will Kyle finally help his sister out? Will Grace, Jay, and Amy ever be able to patch things up and become besties again? And who is Audrey and is she friend or just another girl with a Kyle crush?

Kyle's Little Sister is a debut graphic novel for BonHyung Jeong and she has really hit it out of the park, capturing all the big and small happenings and nuances that can only happen in middle school. Her characters are so spot on and so very today even if the story is as old as...middle school. Jeong's has managed to take a handful of characters and give them all distinct personalities. There is nothing ambiguous in the storyline, and motives are clear and uncomplicated, and there is even a nod to the very popular K-Pop phenomena.  

Jeong's art is also uncomplicated, and I love the way she indicates things like the noisy school hallways, and the mutterings and asides of the characters by using a smaller font and not encasing them in a speech bubbles. Her illustrations are done in a soft pastel palette of colors, and her characters are given a variety of facial expressions reflecting their feelings and emotions, and red mouths when they are speaking.  

I'm a big fan of graphic novels and this one about living in the shadow of an older popular sibling is totally relatable and I know this from my own experience. I got really tired of people, especially teachers, saying to me "Aren't you Ginny's little sister? You're nothing like her." I suspect there are many of us out there who can relate to Kyle's Little Sister. 

Art and storyline make this a unique graphic novel about school relationships, sibling rivalry, forgiveness, maturing, and real friendships to share with your young readers. 

Meet the Author/Illustrator

BonHyung Jeong (Bon) studied Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Kyle's Little Sister is her debut graphic novel, made possible with the help of numerous people. She hopes to make connections with others through relatable stories. Currently living in Korea, she's always busy playing console games - exactly like someone in the book. 

This book is recommended for readers 9+

This book was gratefully received from Casey Blackwell at Media Masters Publicity  

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey written and illustrated by Erin Entrada Kelly

 

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey

written and illustrated by Erin Entrada Kelly

Greenwillow Books, 2021, 160 pages

Marisol Rainey, 8, lives in Getty, Louisiana with her Filipino mom, her brother Oz, 12, and her white American dad who is an electrician and works on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Three days a week, dad checks in with his family on the computer and one week a month he helicopters home to visit. Marisol is in the habit of naming things, for example, the refrigerator is named Buster Keaton, an old timey actor from a silent film Marisol watched. In the backyard is a tall magnolia tree named Peppina, named after another silent film called Poor Little Peppina, starring Mark Pickford. Peppina the tree is perfect for climbing, or at least that's what Oz and Marisol's best friend Jada George say. Marisol wouldn't know though, because she is afraid to climb Peppina. Well, really she is afraid of falling out of her. But maybe, just maybe Marisol will someday find the courage to climb that inviting tree.

Actually, Marisol has a great many fears and worries, and wonders why she is so scared of everything when it seems that no one else is. Luckily, she also has a best friend who never makes fun of her for being scared. Jada doesn't even care that Marisol has never climbed Peppina, although Jada climbs her all the time and dangles her foot from a comfy branch. Marisol is especially dismayed when finds out that her mother had climbed many trees back in the Philippines when she was a girl, the kalachuchi tree being her favorite. Will Marisol ever find the courage to climb Peppina and see the world from that new perspective?

Jada

But one day, just before Jada has to go home, she climbs Peppina higher that usual and discover a bird's nest with a feather and a pink ribbon. Marisol wishes she could see the bird's nest, too. Will this be the incentive she needs to gather her courage and climb Peppina?

This is Erin Entrada Kelly's debut chapter book. Not only did she write it, but she also illustrated Marisol's story with black and white spot illustrations throughout, and the result is just delightful. Told in the third person from Marisol's perspective, the chapters are short, with lots of white space between sentences, perfect for older elementary and younger middle grade readers. And I suspect that readers will find Marisol's worries, anxieties, and challenges completely relatable to their own. She also does have a nemesis of sorts, Evie Smythe, a girl who knows just how to put Marisol down and get under her skin to her make her feel bad (and make herself feel superior). But lest you think Marisol is ALL worry and fear, Kelly endows her with a loving family, lots of interests, curiosity, empathy, and she's really good at getting stuffies out of the claw machine. 

There is no maybe about it, Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey is a book you won't want your young readers to miss. It is a appealing story exploring age appropriate themes like biracial families, siblings, friendship, courage, and facing fear. You might even want to think about pair it with Lenore Look's Alvin Ho series and Katie and Kevin Tsang's Sam Wu is not afraid of...series. 

You can download a useful Teaching Guide for Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 8+

This book was gratefully received from Madison Ostrander at SparkPointStudio