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

The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly

When her mother Mei-Mei was alive, she would often make up stories for her daughter, Soledad Madrid, now 12.  Younger sister Dominga, or Ming, now 6, was too young to remember her mother who died shortly after their older sister Amelia drowned.  And it didn't take long for their father remarry, and for all of them to immigrate from the Philippines to a small town in southern Louisiana, including the ghost (?) of Amelia.  Amelia often offers Sol helpful advice about staying on the truthful side of things.  But when their father returned to the Philippines without them, Sol and Ming were left in the care of their very cruel and abusive stepmother Vea.

To help her sister cope with their unhappy life, Sol makes up stories, her own or embellishing the ones she remembers their mother telling her.  One of those stories was about their mother's made-up legendary sister Auntie Jove, a beautiful, clever world traveller/adventurer. Ming decides to write to her in the Philippines, in the hope of being rescued from Vea's evil clutches.  She tells Sol that she has received a response and Auntie Jove will be arriving on June 3rd.

While Ming escapes into the idea that Auntie Jove will be coming to rescue them, an idea she believes wholeheartedly, even to the point of packing her suitcase, Sol finds refuge in her best friend Manny, who is Mexican, and a new friend, wealthy Caroline. Caroline is an albino who is the outcast in her family and a girl they had formerly bullied, calling her Casper and even causing her to need stitches after Sol threw a pinecone at her.  But Sol also begins to realize that her little sister is in deep trouble.  Already feeling some guilt about Amelia's death, Sol decides to build her little sister a tree house after Ming tells her about the tree house at school that she hid in during recess.  It is Sol's hope that she can use for refuge from Vea when she needs to,

Sol is more than just a spunky protagonist, she has a strong, independent spirit, and deep down, despite the lying, stealing and bullying she indulges in, she does know right from wrong, and sometimes wrong can also become a survival strategy.  And though she sees the truth of the circumstances she and Ming are caught in,  she is still a child herself, and so she doesn't always have the means to effect change.  Luckily, she meets people who can help her.

Sol. Manny and Caroline decide to sneak into the junkyard to find material for the tree house, but when the junkyard owner discovers them, Sol get caught.  Not surprisingly, she and the junkyard owner reach an accord, from which springs a friendship.

The same thing happens with their silent neighbor, Mrs. Yeung, who may not be able to speak English but who is completely capable of understanding the cruelty that is going on behind the Madrid's closed door and who isn't afraid of Vea.

But sometimes, just when things seem to be at their worst and circumstances looked so hopeless, hope may just be on the horizon.

Reality and fantasy, truth and fiction are at the heart of The Land of Forgotten Girls.  In fact, the title comes from a story that Sol makes up for Ming, about two princesses.   For Sol, navigating between imaginary stories and reality is a life-saving coping mechanism, but for Ming, it is a danger as she slips more and more into the imaginary and depression, and less in reality.

Vea is a character you won't soon forget.  She's an angry, sadistic woman, who knows that she will never hurt Sol to the extent that she would like to, but that Ming is easy prey for her.  She also knows that the older sister's protectiveness towards her little sister is the way to hurt Sol.  But she misjudges Sol's strength and determination that she and Ming will survive Vea however they can.

The Land of Forgotten Girls is a coming-of-age story about the difficulties of the immigrant experience, of feeling invisible to the world and never fitting in, of always being on the outside and no one caring what happens to you.  Some of the themes touched on are loss betrayal, sister relationships, friendships, child abuse, racism, and hope.

In the end, though, I wish Kelly had included more about being Filipino in an adopted country, the way she had in Blackbird Fly, her debut novel.  And I wish the ending had been for definitive.  But I would still recommend this novel to young readers.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

MAY IS ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH