Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis

It's 1988 in Tehran, Iran, nine years after the 1979 Revolution that sent the Shah of Iran into exile and the country's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, became the Supreme Leader of Iran.  For 15 year old Farrin Kazemi this meant living a lie.  On the first Monday of each month, her mother hosts a Bring Back the Shah Tea for Ladues of Culture, whose goal is to bring back the son of the Shah, since the Shah is already dead, and remove Ayatollah Khomeini.  Later, when the men join their wives there is dancing and alcohol, both illegal in the new Iran.  Farrin's family can afford many black market luxuries  like alchohol; her father is a successful businessman, building luxury homes, hiring illegal Afghans to do the building for little money and having them deported if they give him any trouble.

Farrin attends a private school for gifted girls.  The secret activites of her parents and her mother's attitude that those who support the Revolution are low-class rabble have left Farrin not just without any friends, but really disliked by Pargol, the power-weilding class monitor, who would like nothing better than to get Farrin in really serious trouble.

But then one day, Farrin hears beautiful music at school and discovers a new girl playing a santour, a forbidden instrument.  Her name is Sadira and by the end of the day, she and Farrin are friends.  And as time goes by, they discover they are attracted to each other beyond friendship.  But the girls must be extra careful.  Such things are illegal and the Revolutionary Guard is always on the look out for infractions of the country's strict laws.

The more Farrin and Sadira hang out together, the deeper their feelings for each other grow.  Farrin even feels she can trust Sadira enough to tell her about her mother's tea parties.  And finally, on a day the school is honoring an Iranian poet, Farrin chooses a is love poem to recite in assembly, hoping Sadira will understand it is her way of expressing her feelings.   When the assembly is abruptly ended, she recites the poem to Sadira when the two girls are alone in the gym.  Moved, the two girls embarce and kiss, just as Pargol enters the gym.

Needless to say, they are forbidden to see each other anymore.  And the principal strongly suggests to the parents that they should consider arranging a marriage for each girl - soon.  Still, Farrin and Sidera manage to find a way to write letters to each other.  But that just isn't enough.  An escape is planned and with the help of Farrin's family chauffeur, Sadira manages to sneak into her house during a tea party.  Planning to leave at daybreak, the girls fall asleep next to each other and that is how the Revolutionary Guard find them when they raid the house.

What's next for Farrin and Sadira in a country where their love is forbidden by law?

Farrin's story is based by the true story of an Iranian women that Deborah Ellis met, as she explains in her Author's Notes at the end of the book, a story that Ellis felt was important enough to tell.  Iran is a country where homosexuality is still punishable by death, as it is in seven other countries in the world.  In still other countries, it is punishable by imprisonment, as we have recently witnessed in Russia recently.  I think these events make Moon at Nine a story totally revelant in today's world, and not just an interesting piece of historical fiction.

That being said, I was a little disappointed in Moon at Nine.  Generally, I like Ellis's writing very much, but I found this book to be somewhat uninspired.  She presents us with a very concrete world, where everything is divided into good or bad.  The story is told from Farrin's point of view, and, for most of the story, I felt that she was a just spoiled brat who only wanted what she wanted and disregarded the possible consequences, rather than the strong-willed person I had expected.  I found when things got dangerous, I really didn't have much sympathy for her, and she didn't have much for anyone else other than herself and Sadira.  Sadira, on the other hand, seemed to be a strong girl who knew her own mind, until Farrin came into her life and suddenly she felt weak and disposable.  I started out liking her very much and, at the end, I did still feel some compassion for her.

Despite not liking this novel as much as I have liked Ellis's other works, for example, The Breadwinner books, I do think it is a very thought provoking and important books for teens to read, if only because it gives such a disturbing perspective of life in a very conservative country.  And it is definitely a welcome addition to the ever evolving body of LGBTQ literature.

NB: Following the Author's Notes is a very useful Book Club Reading Guide.  And, although Moon at Nine is a YA novel, there are some very graphic descriptions towards the end of the book.

This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was received as an eARC from NetGalley

Two Books for Kids about the Human Body

Human Body Lift-The-Flap by Susie Brooks, illustrated by Anthony Lewis

This is a short (just 16 pages) interactive picture book about the human body designed to answer what are probably a child's most frequently asked questions about their own anatomy and physiology.  The first two pages give an overall picture of the body and why each part is important and necessary.  This is followed by two pages on the brain, then two more on the body's skeleton, followed by the heart, the lungs, how the body uses food as fuel, our senses and finally our skin.  Each page comes with flaps that can be lifted for more focused information.  There are 50 flaps altogether.

It isn't a complicated book and the information is kept to a manageable level for the reader, but does answer those initial questions kids have as they become more aware of their own bodies.  I thought it was a nice introduction to the topic of the human body without overwhelming the young reader, although they might not like the board book format.

I wasn't crazy about the lift-the-flap part of the book because my Kiddo isn't so old that I can't remember what ultimately happened to those kinds of books. but I know kids love them.  And most likely, by the time the flaps are gone, the reader will have moved on (but too bad for the younger sibling who will inherit a flap book with no flaps).  I did like the illustrations - they are bright and energetic and wonderfully diverse (except for the last page at the seashore where I would have liked to have seen more diversity).   On the whole, I thought this was a pretty good book for kids about the human body.

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was borrowed from a friend

This book will be available on April 8, 2014

WOW! Surprising Facts About the Human Body by Emma Dods, illustrated by Marc Aspinall

After your young readers have mastered some knowledge about the human body, it's time for them (and even you) to have some fun and discover more things about the body.  For instance, did you know that your thumb and your nose are the same length?

This book is loaded with all kinds of trivia about the body - some really interesting facts, some really gross facts and some funny ones, but all of them are fascinating.  The facts are loosely grouped by subject, and each page has colorful, energetic, whimsical illustrations.  This is the kind of book that will keep kids reading and the kinds of facts that they will no doubt dazzle you with at the dinner table. I remember loving books like this as a child, as did my Kiddo.

I found the pages a little busy, but not annoyingly so.  I did like that the people in the illustrations were widely diverse.  There is even an picture of a girl in a wheelchair that has nothing to do with the theme  on the page, which happens to be hair and nails.

This is in interesting romp though the human body, though I did wonder where author Emma Dods got all her information.  Still, it is a book that will entertain kids with facts they can then take to the schoolyard and amaze their friends with.

This book is recommended for readers age 5+
This book was borrowed from a friend.

These are books 3 and 4 of my 2014 Nonfiction Picture Book Reading Challenge hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy

What's Your Favorite Animal? by Eric Carle and Friends

There are two ways that children ask the same question. The first way is: "If you could be any animal in the world, what would it be?" And the second way is the much simpler, more direct "what's your favorite animal?"

Well, Eric Carle and 13 of his illustrator friends were always asked the second question, and this is the book their answers became.  And what an absolutely enchanting book it is.  In a two page spread, each artist illustrates his favorite animal and tells why it has achieved favorite status for him or her.

I oohed and ahhed over some, like Eric Carle's Cats; I laugh over others, like Nick Bruel's favorite, which not surprisingly isn't Bad Kitty; and I nodded my head in agreement over Tom Lichtenheld's giraffe, because that is my favorite, too.

And there are penguins and rabbits and elephants and horses and all kind of animals, each drawn in their illustrator's own inimitable style and medium:

The illustrator's and their animals on the back
of the dust jacket

This is a very cool book and it will no doubt generate all kinds of inspiration among its young readers, who might want to recreate this book with things like their family or friend's favorite animals, complete with illustrations and reasons why.

And if that isn't enough, kids should get out those Crayola's or paints or whatever their favorite illustrating tools are and draw their own favorite animals, because along with an exhibition of original work by the illustrators from this wonderfully colorful book, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is inviting people to create illustrations depicting their favorite animal.  And because the submission must be in digital form, it means it is open to anyone, anywhere.  Here is a wonderful chance for all budding artists to hang with the best of them.

For more information and submission guidelines, visit The "What's Your Favorite Animal? Project.

But, wait, there's more:

All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  If you haven't been to the museum in Amherst, MA, but are planning a trip there, you are in for a real treat.  When my Kiddo was at Mount Holyoke College, and I went up to visit her, The Eric Carle Museum was one of my favorite places to visit.  So pick up a copy of What's Your Favorite Animal? and have some fun.

This book is recommended for animal lovers of all ages
This book was purchased for my personal library

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee

In this retelling of Han Christian Anderson's fairy tale The Snow Queen, Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard, 11, and her sister Alice, 16, travel north with their father to an unnamed country where it always snows.  It is three days before Christmas and the opening of the world's greatest exhibit of swords.  Mr. Whittard is a sword expert who will be helping the museum's curator, Miss Kaminski, with the exhibit, and he is hoping that the trip will help his daughters better cope with their mother's death.  She was a fantasy writer who believed in anything and everything, including that which is magical.

Ophelia, on the other hand, is a realist, possessing the logical mind of a budding scientist.  But she is also a shy, rather timid girl who is an asthmatic and frequently relies on her inhaler, or puffer, as she calls it.  On their first day at the museum, Miss Kaminski takes Alice, a very attractive girl, under her wing almost immediately, ignoring Ophelia to the point of even getting her name wrong and leaving her to wander around the exhibits by herself.

And that is how she meets the Marvelous Boy, locked away in a room at the far end of this enormous museum, a prisoner of the Snow Queen, for the last 300 years.  The Marvelous Boy begins to tell her his story through the keyhole and convinces her to search for a key that will help free him.

Reluctantly, Ophelia plucks up some courage to look for the key, promising herself that would be that once the boy was free.  But over the next few days, Ophelia finds herself looking for two more keys, encountering hungry Misery Birds, ghosts of young girls begging her not to leave them, and vicious wolves, among other dangers.  Luckily, throughout her questing, she is accompanied by the voice and memory of her mother, encouraging her onwards.

While all this is going on, Ophelia begins to notice changes in Alice under Miss Kaminski's mentoring. Slowly, Ophelia begins to get a sense of something evil about the curator, as Alice falls more and more under her spell, becoming as cold and cruel as Miss Kaminski, interested only in the nice things she is allowed to wear.  The incredibly beautiful, but cold curator is also beginning to suspect that Ophelia is getting wise to who she really is and to her purpose for setting up "Battle: The Greatest Exhibition of Swords in the History of the World."  The last quest the Marvelous Boy sends Ophelia on is to find his magical sword and the One Other who will know what to do with it, before it falls into Miss Kaminski's hands.  If it does, at the stroke of midnight Christmas Eve, Miss Kaminski will have the power to rule the world with it.

At first, I didn't care much for this story since fairy tale retellings are not my favorite subgenre.  But the more I read this book, the more I liked it.  And even after I finished, I found myself thinking about Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy and remembering bits that I particularly enjoyed.  For example, as Ophelia went around the museum, she keep consulting her map of it, and if you look at the end papers, you will find a rendering of the map drawn by illustrator Yoko Tanaka.

I particularly liked that the voice in Ophelia's head was a good kind mother who really was accepting and encouraging, even if she was dead.  It just goes to show that those we loved really can live on in an important way in our memories.

I also really liked the way Foxlee mixed the magic past of the Marvelous Boy that seems confined to the museum only and the present reality of Ophelia's world outside the museum's perimeter.  Computers, airplanes, Ophelia's inhaler, mix nicely with the Marvelous Boy, the magical sword and a Queen who can make it snow for 300 years, and morph into a museum curator.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy is a fun story, a little slow at times, but still very readable.  It is well written with a well developed protagonist, and although this is predictable good vs. evil fairy tale type story, it has a very exciting, satisfying ending.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from a friend

The Book of Maggie Bradstreet by Gretchen Gibbs

It is 1692 and in Andover, Massachusetts, Maggie Bradstreet has received a blank book with many pages to fill up with her thoughts for her 13th birthday.  Maggie, whose father, Dudley Bradstreet, is the magistrate, has been fortunate enough to have learned to read and write beyond what most girls learn at the time.  Still, Maggie would like to have continued with school like her older brother Dudley Jr. is allowed to do.  And unfortunately, Maggie isn't quite as good at needlework, cooking or other household jobs expected of girls and women.

Maggie would much rather go off with her friends - Polly Bridges, whose father is a blacksmith and tends to drink away his profits and is considered not a fit friend for Maggie by her parents; Hannah  Dane, granddaughter of Reverend Francis Dane; and Sarah Abbot, the first to bring the news to Maggie and Hannah that witchcraft is no longer only in Salem but has come to Andover.  And so on May 29, 1692, Maggie, Hannah and Sarah walk the distance to Goody Carrier's house to see her arrested for being a witch, changing life in Andover for everyone.

Like the citizens of Salem, where a witchcraft frenzy was already in full sway, Andover was a Puritan settlement and now the same kind of witchcraft frenzy is stirred up in the Meeting House there, fueled by the afternoon sermons of Rev. Thomas Barnard.  Rev. Dane attempted to be the voice of reason but fear drives people's feeling and before long, arrests are made, including Polly Bridges' mother, an arrest that nearly destroys the family.

Throughout all this, Maggie can only watch and worry.  But she stands by her friend Polly as much as possible.  And because her father is the magistrate, it is his job to write the arrest warrants for all the witchcraft arrests that follow Goody Carrier's that fateful summer and fall of 1692.  But there comes a point when he can no longer go against his conscience and when he refuses to write any more warrants, Maggie, her parents and brother are forced to flee Andover and hide out in New Hampshire, leaving behind Maggie's beloved dog, Tobey.  Tobey pays a heavy price when it is rumored that he has been bewitched by Maggie's Uncle John Bradstreet, as does everyone who is accused of being a witch, a wizard or bewitched by one of them.

At the back of the book, Gretchen Gibbs explains how The Book of Maggie Bradstreet came about. Her parents were both interested in family history and it was her father discovered they were related to Dudley Bradstreet, the magistrate, and how he refused to write any more warrants.  Maggie's diary is, however, historical fiction based on real events and real people, most of whom appear in this book.  Much of the information about the accused and their trials that Maggie details in her fictional diary was obtained from records of the time found at the Historical Societies of Andover.

I found Maggie Bradstreet to be a believable character, because she is far from perfect, even in Puritan society and  one that kids would really be able to relate to.  Because her diary is kept in a secret place, she is honest about her crush on Polly's cousin Tyler, how she feels towards other people, and through her writing, you can see how she begins to develop her own skepticism about witchcraft based on what she sees and hears.

I found The Book of Maggie Bradstreet to be an engaging, thought provoking novel, one that is eminently readable.  I think it also resonates in today's world because it shows how easily people can be swayed to believe even the most unlikely things about their former friends and neighbors.  Which is scary stuff, when you think about it.

I personally like reading books about this period of American history, for much the same reason as Gibbs.  I, too, have family that witnessed but were not involved in the witchcraft accusations, trials and hanging in Salem, MA.  Gibbs enough background information about that, so the story would appeal even to a reader not familiar with the Witch Trials.  She also gives lots of detailed information about what life was life for the Puritans on a daily basis, and the influence their religion had one them, but not so much that it bogs down the story.    

The Book of Maggie Bradstreet includes a map and information about what happened to the people involved in the Witch Trials of Andover.  This book is a nice companion to Elizabeth George Speare's novel The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which takes place a few years before the Salem Witch Trials, but shows how witchcraft was in the air even then.  Maggie Bradstreet is a nice addition to any classroom, home school, or personal library.

This book is recommended for readers 12+
This book was received as an eARC from Net Galley