The Vanishing Half is set in the 20th century and follows the lives of twins--Desiree and Stella--born into a colorist town named Mallard. As the twins split ways, each to her own adventures, they both share their own unique stories and reveal the trauma involved with their youth. However, despite their differences and their split, they always manage to find each other. This book does a great job of showing aspects of internal discrimination within a community, whether it be race or gender.
Agnes lives happily in Red Creek. She likes the people, the tasks, the Prophet, the God, everything. But Agnes is a sinner. She makes contact with the Outside to treat her little brother of his diabetes. But it’s through this contact with the Outside that Agnes realizes that Red Creek isn’t perfect. That’s when everything starts to go wrong. Stuck between a religious cult and a global pandemic Agnes must fight to stay alive.
The Magic Fish is a heartwarming graphic novel that showcases beautiful parallels between the fairytales Tien reads with his parents and Tien’s own story of trying to tell his family that he’s gay. There’s a lot of difficulties in communicating with parents that don’t speak English well, and wanting to them something so important as being gay. As this young boy navigates through his own struggling Vietnamese, this book shows us that happiness can be reached even through the language barrier.
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, the bestselling author of the Hunger Games, is a children’s fantasy story about a young boy and his baby sister who fall from their New York City home into an underworld infested by massive bats, rats, and insects, as well as humans with nearly transparent skin.
Stardust is a fantasy movie that follows Tristain Thorn and his journey to Wall. Tristan visits Wall to find his mom and to retrieve a star for the women he believes he loves. His journey however ends up being a path of self-discovery and finding true love. To me the movie is about finding your true self and love. Finding love is shown through finding romantic love, self-love, and familial love. I really loved this movie; it was funny, interesting, and the acting was well enjoyed.
Red Glass is a young adult realistic fiction novel by Laura Resau. Sophie lives in Arizona near the Mexican border, and her family often provides short-term shelter for refugees. One night, a young boy comes to live with Sophie and her diverse little family after becoming an orphan trying to cross the border into the United States. When the boy’s family finally makes contact a year later, Sophie and her family will leave the United States to find the boy’s home.
Tomi Nakaji is a young Japanese-American boy growing up on the streets of Hawai’i. All his life knows is school, fishing, his baseball team, and his friends.
So when the Japanese Empire bombs Pearl Harbor, throwing America headfirst into World War Two, the American people are looking for someone to blame. Soon, his grandfather and father are detained solely for their Japanese heritage, even though they are loyal Americans. His mother is fired from her housekeeping job because it “does not look good” to give a Japanese-American woman work.
Adam Stillwater is a boy who’s attached to what’s left of his father and is willing to defend it with his life. He is determined to keep his old time-y pinball arcade even if gaming cafés are all the rage right now. It doesn’t help that the daughter of the founder of said café is his childhood best friend that he became enemies with. But one day a snowstorm hits. The two of them find that when they don’t care as much about the business and just see each other for who they are, there’s something there. But what about when the snowstorm is over?
Fighting Words is an inspiring and eye-opening realistic fiction novel by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. This book is about a 10-year-old girl named Della, and her sister Suki. Della and Suki’s mom had been sent to prison for blowing up a motel bathroom while cooking meth. Della and Suki go into foster care, where they meet Francine. Suki hurts herself, Della fights for what’s right, and both siblings decide to testify against their childhood abuser.
Persepolis 2 is a continuation of the story of Marjane Satrapi’s life during the Iran-Iraq war. Marjane has left Iran for her new life in Vienna; she’s miles from the war, but now she must fight to find a sense of belonging. She is safe outside of Iran, but Marjane misses her life at home. When she finally returns to Iran, she must confront the changes to her home. She’s happy to be reunited with her loved ones, but she must decide if she can have a future in Iran, where repression now governs.
