Tag: #MDR

Posted in books, favorites, middle grade books, motherdaughterreviews, Native American, reviews

#MDR The Second chance of Benjamin Waterfalls

Posted on by ALSanchezBooks

Our last #motherdaughterreviews is ending on a high note, not only is this my final review for the year, it’s also my favorite Middle grade book pick for this year.

Last month we picked The Second chance of Benjamin Waterfalls by James Bird, sadly November and December were very busy, but I’m finally sharing our thoughts.

Title: The Second chance of Benjamin Waterfalls
Author: James Bird
Publisher: Feieel Friends imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing group
Publish Date: April 19, 2022
Page Length: 288
Genre: Contemporary /Realistic Fiction
Recommended reading age: Upper Middle Grade / Young adult

Summary:

Benjamin Waterfalls comes from a broken home, and the quickest fix he’s found for his life is to fill that emptiness with stuff he steals and then sells. But he’s been caught one too many times, and when he appears before a tough judge, his mother proposes sending him to “boot camp” at the Ojibwe reservation where they used to live.

Soon he is on his way to Grand Portage, Minnesota, to live with his father – the man Benny hasn’t seen in years. Not only is “boot camp” not what he expects, but his rehabilitation seems to be in the hands of the tribal leader’s daughter, who wears a mask. Why? Finding the answer to this and so many other questions prove tougher than any military-style boot camp. Will answers be enough for Benny to turn his life around and embrace his second chance?

Her review:

This was a very interesting story. It’s a new perspective that I’ve never thought of before and it’s a different inna fun and relatable way. My favorite parts are qhen Benjamin and Niimi meet in the bookstore, when they interact for the first time, which js the start of their friendship; and towards the end, George opens up a but and is friendly towards Benny. Both parts are impacting and sweet, along with being a large step towards Bennys new future. This book is different and fun and truly shows the meaning of second chances.

My review:

This book deserves more hype. It is a wonderful coming of age story. A very troubled boy is learning that his actions have consequences. He is flawed and he does not immediately see that what her does is wrong. He frequently makes wrong choices. I like that he does not immediately change for the better, that it takes him time to finally see how his actions affect him.

There is entertaining banter, bad dad jokes and positive messaging for kids. I also loved how the story weaves in the teachings and customs of the Ojibwe tribe, and how the author included Anishinaabe words within the text. The love the author transmits throughout the book for his community is heartwarming. And we see Benny slowly coming to appreciate his heritage as the book progresses.

I think this one is great option for older middle grade readers (11 and up), but honestly even if older teens, this book is just great for anyone.

Whats your favorite book about second chances? (Can be any genre)

Posted in AAPI, books, middle grade books, motherdaughterreviews, reviews

#MDR Troublemaker

Posted on by ALSanchezBooks

For this months Mother Daughter review we chose Troublemaker. We wanted to pick a book that had representation for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) heritage month that is celebrated this month of May.

We are also continuing with our “low key” buddy read with it. Basically anyone who wants to join reads the book at their own pace and posts on IG using this months #mdrmay22 with their thoughts on the book. I will comment on that post and also share on my stories. So easy!

Title: Troublemaker
Author: John Cho & Sarah Suk
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: March 22, 2022
Page Length: 224
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended reading age: Middle Grade
Representation: Korean American

Summary:

Troublemaker follows the events of the LA Riots through the eyes of 12-year-old Jordan as he navigates school and family. This book will highlight the unique Korean American perspective.

12-year-old Jordan feels like he can’t live up to the example his older sister set, or his parent’s expectations. When he returns home from school one day hoping to hide his suspension, Los Angeles has reached a turning point. In the wake of the acquittal of the police officers filmed beating Rodney King, as well as the shooting of a young black teen, Latasha Harlins by a Korean store owner, the country is at the precipice of confronting its racist past and present. 

As tensions escalate, Jordan’s father leaves to check on the family store, spurring Jordan and his friends to embark on a dangerous journey to come to his aide, and come to terms with the racism within and affecting their community.

*Content Warning: Guns, mentions of rioting, police brutality, murder, and arson. The plot is about a boy who’s hiding a gun in his backpack he wants to take to his father’s convenience store during the LA riots in order to provide him protection from looting.

Her review:

Troublemaker is a great book. It has a well-written storyline, great characters, and a well-developed plot. It’s fun, exciting and fast-paced. My favorite part has to be the end, where everything resolves for Jordan, Appa, Umma, and even Mike. They all come to an agreement and settle things between each other. My least favorite part was the description of the Big Fight, the big argument between Jordan and Appa. It was intense, and definitely not happy. Regardless, the overall story is really good and fun to read.

My review:

I’ll start this out by saying that for such a short book it deals with several serious topics. I think it does so in a clear way, without skirting around them. It’s very common to think that middle grade books only focus on fantasy, but many historical and contemporary fiction books deal with many important issues and this one did it in a great way.

Some of the important topics this one touched on were immigration. The immigrants experience and that of the kids, the family expectations and dealing with them. Jordan expresses his concern of not living up to his parents expectations of him, much of his internal conflict is him dealing with his own feeling of failing his family.

Jordan and his family are from Korea, and the book uses some korean words as well as mentions several customs, foods and his experience as an immigrant.

Another topic that is very central to the story is violence. The story takes place around the events of the park 1992 LA riots, that came about from protest of police brutality. The topic is discussed on several occasions and the underlying sentiment is that of what is the cause of the violence and why are people responding in such a way.

Jordan worries about his father. The central plot is Jordan deciding to take his father’s gun and bring it to his family’s shop. His decision to help him, while coming from a good place, takes a dangerous turn. Over and over he makes what we as readers think are bad choices. As a parent I couldn’t help but worry deeply about what will happen to him.

In the end, Jordan finally accepts he has made many bad choices, and owns up to them and from each of these, Jordan later finds a lesson. By confronting his sister and father and admitting his mistakes he takes the first step to mend the breaks in his relationship with his family. He also has a great realization that he is not entirely bad, or his sister is entirely good. That a good person can make bad choices but that doesn’t have to define who he is.

Finally, even though the events in the book take place 30 years ago, they are contemporary to today’s situations. It is a great discussion starter in regards to sadly frequent events of police brutality, protests as a response to them. Also about gun ownership and the responsibility that entails.

Thanks for reading our review. We hope you can join us with this book and others in the following months!

Posted in books, motherdaughterreviews, reviews, zodiac

# MDR The Twelve

Posted on by ALSanchezBooks

This month we continue with a lovely book about Chinese zodiac mythology part of the Treasures of the Twelve book series as we continue to highlight books that feature authors, characters and stories from different cultural and ethnic groups.

The Twelve by Cindy Lin.

Publisher: Harper Collins

Originally Published: July 2, 2019.

Summary:

Usagi, a 12-year-old orphan, lives in hiding with her little sister Uma and her friend Tora. They have to steal food in order to survive because if the Dragonlord’s strikers find them, children with Zodiac powers, they will be taken away. Tora and Usagi try to be careful with the use of their powers, but Uma is young, very powerful and reckless, and this gets her, Tora and another child captured. As Usagi tried to flee she gets rescued by a group of traveling entertainers, but she realizes she has seen them before, they have zodiac powers as well, and now with their help she must find a way to improve her skills and rescue her sister and her friends.

Her review:

My opinion about The Twelve is that is is super cool. My favorite part is when Usagi gets to Mt. Jade and joins the other people with zodiac powers, it was important for her to meet others with zodiac powers so she can improve them. I love that part because it is interesting what people can do with zodiac powers and I learned about the Chinese Zodiac. People with zodiac powers could control water, wood, metal and they could use them to defend themselves.

My review:

During the past year reading MG books with my daughter I’ve noticed many of her book choices revolve around the fantasy and magic themes. The ones she has enjoyed the most usually have a different take on them, by highlighting or using elements of different cultures.

The twist in this book is by way of using the Chinese zodiac animals as sources for special abilities in the people born under each sign, along with some elemental power from the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water that are believed to be the fundamental elements of everything in the universe. Usagi was born in the year of the rabbit and her element is wood, when the story starts Usagi has the ability to do a rabbit leap but fails and hurts herself often and has very strong rabbit hearing which she masters well, hearing things that are miles away. As the story progresses she is helped by her new friends improve her jumps, master the rabbit run and she discovers her new elemental power and learns how to use it.

In this story then we found many things we value: family love, loyalty, friendship, perseverance, bravery, strength, kindness. There is also the things they are fighting greed for power, deceit, betrayal. We see as Usagi grows in the story and to me it did not sound as a forced growth, she struggles and follows the advice of her friends to get better, she makes mistakes and she apologizes and tries to fix them. I love how Usagi’s focus remains firm, in saving her sister and her friends, and how the love for her family is the main driver throughout. There was a part of the story where I picked up an upcoming twist before it happened, this by no way ruined the book as the twist ended up being much more complex than I explected. Finally this was a book I knew was the first of a series when I read it, so I was not surpried when most plot lines did not resolve by the books end. Despite this, I think the conclusion was very well written.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book very much and I’m looking forward to the following book in the series.

Have you read this book? Let us know what you thought about it or if you are interested in reading it in the comments.

For our next book we will be reading Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega, perfect for a #spooktober read and one of our picks for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage month, I hope you can read along.

Posted in books, motherdaughterreviews, reviews

# MDR Aru Shah and the End of Time

Posted on by ALSanchezBooks

We are back! We’ve taken a long hiatus from reviewing in past few months, I blame pandemic madness… but still we have been reading and we are ready to continue our fun project of reviewing middle grade books together.

One thing we wanted to focus on the next few book review posts is giving space to books about and authors of multicultural, multi-ethnic origin and backgrounds and BIPOC. So we are starting with one of my daughters favorite book series Aru Shah (Pandava Series). I hope you join us on our journey.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi.

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (with Rick Riordan Presents imprint)

Originally Published: March 27, 2018.

Summary:

Aru has never felt she fit in with the kids in her school, she often finds herself lying about trips to Paris and having a chauffeur, instead of letting her friends know she lives in a Museum and she is frequently alone while her mother travels the world looking for new artifacts for the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture exhibits. So as she is trying to impress some of her so called friends, she lights a famous cursed lamp and finds that the tales her mother has told her are not myths at all.

As she is now tasked to stop the demon she accidentally released, she finds out she is a reincarnations of one of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata. Along with a Pigeon guide and her newly found sister Mini she has to journey through the Kingdom of Death and figure out how to stop the Sleeper demon before he destroys the world.

We are sure Mini would have been the first to take out a face mask from her backpack and put it on.

Her review:

I loved Aru Shah and the End of time because it was exciting, made me curious and kept me reading more, I found Hindu mythology to be very interesting and cool. My favorite part is when Aru and Mini encounter Eck and Do. I like this part because they are funny and make me laugh. This is one of my favorite books and I’m enjoying reading the other books in the series and cannot wait to read more.

My review:

I can see why my daughter kept insisting I read this book. Putting myself in her shoes I would have loved this when I was her age.

Aru is very relatable, she is an imperfect kid just trying to fit in. Being insecure and trying to impress the popular kids in her class, is nothing new. Aru has been hiding her culture and heritage, wishing she was someone else. As she meets Mini, and starts their quest to defeat the evil Sleeper demon, they must face obstacles that test their resolve, bringing out Aru’s wit, and Mini’s smarts. Mini is always prepared, but lacks confidence in herself. Aru grows throughout the book as she learns and embraces her heritage and as she takes on the role of big sister to Mini and helping Mini by giving her support and becoming more confident in her abilities.

I had very little knowledge of Hindu mythology before reading this book. I’ve always been fascinated by Greek and Egyptian mythology since I was my daughters age, and I’ve been enjoying the Percy Jackson series with her. I love how Rick Riordan has started promoting authors of different backgrounds with books that highlight other cultures with their very rich mythology, stories and customs. With the exposure from the Aru series I’m interested in learning more of Hindu mythology going forward and look forward to reading the other books in the series.

I think this book is great for kids and adults even if they are not familiar with Hindu mythology, and specially if they already like mythology and fantasy stories. The underlying theme of learning and embracing ones culture and heritage is one I really value. Our kids deserve to know that they don’t have to change to be like everyone else just to feel like they fit in and by reading books that show just that we introduce a small seed we can help cultivate.

For our next book we will be reading The Twelve by Cindy Lin. I hope you can join us.

Posted in motherdaughterreviews

#MDR The Button War: A Tale of the Great War

Posted on by ALSanchezBooks

For our second edition of our Mother-Daughter reviews and we read and discussed The Button War: A Tale of the Great War by award-winning author AVI.

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Originally published: June 12, 2018

Summary:

In a small village in 1914 Poland a group of 12 year old boys spends their free time fooling around in the nearby forest and playing games of their own making. Patryk finds a button in the forest and Jurek makes up a game of finding the best button to become the Button King and rule them all. Soon, after a German bomb destroys their school, they find themselves in a wind whirl of events that put them in the middle of chaos and war. As things get more dangerous in their small village, with the Russian and the German army in direct conflict to control the town, so does their game. Patryk struggles to keep his friend Jurek in check as more and more of his friends get hurt in their attempt to collect buttons.

Her review:

I really liked the Button War because it is very adventurous and because it’s of World War I. My favorite part is when the Russian soldiers leave the town and the German soldiers take their place. I liked this part because in my imagination the soldiers come with gleaming, new blue uniforms with shiny golden buttons. Their cardo is gleaming pitch black, because the cargo are cannons. What I didn’t really like is that Jurek acts like a bully, and he’s really mean.

Patryk and Jurek and friends in the town square. Drawing by my daughter IL.

My review:

This book was a bit unsettling to me. The topic of war is never an easy one to tackle, but in a middle grade book I find it even harder as most brush off the violence to the sidelines. This book does not do that, it faces head on the destruction and death from the very beginning. When we first meet Patryk and Jurek the first thing I noticed was how Patryk struggles on how to stand up to his friend. Jurek is essentially a bully, but he is also violent, angry and reckless. Having lost his parents and being in the care of his slightly older sister, he doesn’t have much of an authority figure in his life. When Patryk finds a button in the forest, Jurek gets jealous and angry and soon devises a game, to collect the “best button” and become the Button King to rule all the boys.

The boys watching as a plane drops a bomb on the school. Drawing by my daughter IL.

The rest of the boys in the group pretty much do whatever Jurek and Patryk say, but they mostly expect Patryk to stand up to Jurek and be the voice of reason. Patryk on the other hand, has a false sense that by continuing with the game and winning is the only way to stop Jurek. However Jurek does not stop, his actions become more dangerous and reckless. Even as his friends start getting hurt and killed, he just sees this as their weakness and proof he should be the leader and king.

The Germans march into town. Drawing by my daughter IL.

It’s was hard as a mother and an adult to read Patryk’s accounts and not want to scream at him to just “stop playing the game!”, but trying to get into the head of a 12-year old boy I can see how just saying no and quitting is not an option, by thinking it just demonstrates weakness, when in reality it would be a strength to stand up to Jurek.

I saw also many parallels in the war that is going on between the Germans and the Russians and the war between the boys. And like in all wars, even though one side can be declared the winner, the pain, death, and destruction that was left in the path is there, no one is ever really a winner, and you can see that in the story of the boys.

Jurek and Patryk stealing buttons. Drawing by my daughter IL.

The book is supposed to be for kids 10-14 years old, I do think that some advanced readers may very well be able to read it at an earlier age, but to handle the topics in it really depends on the maturity of the child. So I think each parent should decide if their reader has the maturity to understands these topics or at least be available and willing to discuss it with them.

In our case, this is not a book I would have chosen to get her, knowing she prefers fantasy in general. But she read it during the summer break and then chose to read it again for her school assignment to read a historical fiction book and present it in the form of a puppet show. So I decided to also read it this time around. I’m glad I did, we had a good discussion after we both read it, talking about war, violence, bullying and confronting people who may be causing harm to others.

Have you or your child read it? Have you read any other books by AVI that you would recommend?


Our next #MDR book will be The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.

Posted in motherdaughterreviews

#MDR Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment

Posted on by ALSanchezBooks

This is our first edition of our Mother-Daughter reviews and we will be reviewing Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein. Illustrated by Beverly Johnson

Publisher: Little, Brown/Patterson

Originally published: October 8, 2018

Summary:

Max (Maxine) Einstein is no regular 12 year old. She attends NYU after successfully hacking their computer system, plays speed chess in the park, and comes up with ideas to make her and her roommates living accommodations warmer in the NYC winter above the horse barn where they are squatting. Oh yes, by the way, Max is a homeless orphan. With her smarts, wit and resilience she has been able to make it on her own, but then her world gets turned upside down when The Corp starts trying to get their hands on her to use her smarts for their benefit. They are not the only ones looking for her, The CMI is also after Max. This mysterious organization wants her to help them save the worlds problems. Will she go with the ones who offer her money, fame and potential information about her unknown family? Or will she choose to work with the unknown “benefactor” asking her to compete for a spot on his world changing group?

Her review:

What I liked about Max Einstein is that it’s inspiring you to dream big and not to give up on your dreams. My favorite part was when the kids joined together to help putting solar panels on families homes in Africa. It’s my favorite because the book teaches you about teamwork.

My review:

First thing I’d like to do is complain. Why didn’t I have a book like this to read when I was 9 years old?

Seriously though, Max is a new class of heroine. She is a young, smart and fun girl. She is honest, not afraid to speak her mind or tell adults how they could do things better. She is always positive, but not painstakingly optimistic, as she has suffered and endured a lot in her young age.

This book does not shy away from difficult topics: orphaned girl, homelessness (not only Max but her adult friends she lives with), foster care and group homes. These are topics we hardly ever discuss with our growing kids, but this book is a great starting point to talk about it and learn as a family.

Teamwork and problem solving: Max learns what it’s like to have friends her own age, friends who come from all over the world, though I would have loved to have a latino kid in the mix. She also learns how every one of them, even if they are geniuses in their own right, have different areas of interest and knowledge and that whenever they work together they come up with better ideas than when they are on their own.

STEM and Albert Einstein: this book has science, math, technology and Einstein all over. Albert Einstein is Max’s idol and she quotes him and frequently uses his ideas as a base for her problem solving.

My daughter’s and my favorite quote: “Imagination is more important than knowledge”.

Extras: the book has several good activities in the back. Questions to pose to kids about what they’d do to change the world. Suggestions on how to start their own world-changing club. And even a fun slime making recipe which we tried out.

We had never made slime before, but the recipe was very easy to follow.

Even my 4 yo joined us and made his blue slime.

All in all, I think this was a fantastic book. It was fun, entertaining and inspiring. I wish I had this book when I was 9 yo. We can’t wait to read what happens on Max Einstein’s next adventure.

The new Max Einstein book, Rebels with a cause was just released September 9th. It’s definitely on our wish list (or Christmas list 😅).

Max Einstein by IL (my daughter).

Have you or your child read it?

Let me know what you thought about it in the comments.

Our next #MDR book will be The Button War by AVI.

Posted in motherdaughterreviews

Introducing: #MotherDaughterReviews

Posted on by ALSanchezBooks

I’m so excited to share this new little project we’re working on (and by we I mean me and my lovely 9 yo daughter). I’ve been thinking of ways I can be engaged more in her reading. She has been a very independent reader for almost 3 years now, and it was much easier when she was younger and her books were soooo much shorter to read them with her or listen as she read aloud. Now that she devours a book or more a week it has been much harder to do that. I often try keeping up by reading what she reads so we can discuss the book, but usually by the time I’m done she is 3 books ahead of me.
So with this little project I’m challenging myself to do less late night social media and more reading.
The goal is to write a review for the books she reads from her and my perspective. I’m so very excited and hope some of you may join in on our discussions.
On each post I plan on announcing the following book we will be reading so if anyone wants to read along or has already read it and wants to chime in. Some books may be newer releases and some older, even maybe some classics, we will try to do different genres too as we go.
So for our first installment we will be reviewing Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein.
So stay tunned! Can’t wait!

Estoy muy emocionada de compartir este pequeño nuevo proyecto en el que estamos trabajando (y me refiero a mí y a mi encantadora hija de 9 años). He estado pensando en formas en que puedo participar más en su lectura. Ella ha sido una lectora muy independiente durante casi 3 años, y era mucho más fácil cuando era más pequeña y sus libros eran mucho más cortos para leerlos con ella o escucharla mientras leía en voz alta. Ahora que devora un libro o más por semana, ha sido mucho más difícil hacerlo. A menudo trato leer lo que ella lee para que podamos discutir el libro, pero por lo general cuando termino, ella me lleva 3 libros por delante.
Entonces, con este pequeño proyecto, me estoy desafiando a mí misma a pasar menos tiempo en redes sociales en las noches y a leer más.
El objetivo es escribir una reseña de los libros que leemos desde su perspectiva y la mía. Estoy muy emocionada y espero que algunos de ustedes se unan a nuestras discusiones.
En cada publicación planeo anunciar el siguiente libro que estaremos leyendo, por si alguien quiere leerlo o ya lo ha leído y desea intervenir. Algunos libros pueden ser más nuevos y algunos más viejos, incluso quizás algunos clásicos, intentaremos hacer diferentes géneros también a medida que avanzamos.
Entonces, para nuestra primera entrega discutiremos Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment por James Patterson y Chris Grabenstein.
¡Así que estén atentos! ¡No puedo esperar!