Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose' Older, 297 pages

Sierra is an artist.  She's been working on a mural at the request of some of her grandfather's friends.  Although she's just started it, they've been nearly begging her to finish quickly.  One night, at a party, a dead body shows up and attacks her.  Sierra knows that her artwork has something to do with it, but all of the people that seem to know something refuse to explain.  Bit by bit, Sierra begins to puzzle out the strange situation she's found herself in, what the shadowshapers are and how they are involved, and what her own role is.  Along the way, she finds some help and starts to get some answers from friends and family members but the situation grows more dangerous with people dying and more dead bodies appearing.  If Sierra can't figure everything out soon, her whole world may come crumbling down.  This book started out a little too slow for me and some of the dialect used in the dialogue made some of the stuff harder to understand for me.  I liked it better by the time I finished the book but this hasn't been one of my favorites.  I really wanted to like it because it's normally the type of book I do like and I've really liked almost all of the books chosen for Read It Forward, but I'm going to have a harder time selling this one personally.  That being said, I think it has teen appeal and the story isn't bad, just not as much emotion or action in it as I would have wanted.

A Handful Of Stars

A Handful Of Stars by Cynthia Lord, 184 pages

Lily is determined to save enough money top get her dog, Logan, cataract surgery.  Logan, partly because of his blindness, leads Lily to a meeting with Salma, a migrant worker who is helping her family pick blueberries.  Salma and Lily end up becoming friends.  Salma helps Lily paint mason bee houses, which Lily is selling to make money for Logan's operation.  Lily ends up helping Salma when Salma decides to enter the Downeast Blueberry Queen contest.  Between all of their activities, Lily and Salma help each other understand the meaning of true friendship and even manage to help Logan along the way.  I really enjoyed this book.  Kids who like realistic fiction should definitely pick this one up.

Saving Baby Doe

Saving Baby Doe by Danette Vigilante    230 pages

Best friends and neighbors Lionel Perez and Anisa Torres are running an errand when they are derailed by an empty construction site. Lionel wants to see the big machinery up close. It’s a good thing, too. When they hear the cries of what they think is a hurt animal, they find an abandoned newborn baby girl in the Porta-Potti.

The 13-year olds aren’t sure exactly what to do, but they know the baby needs help PDQ. Together, they take the baby to a hospital where the two fall under suspicion that the baby is theirs. Once their mother’s arrive, Anisa’s mother forces her to undergo a physical examination to prove that the baby is not hers.

Lionel isn’t cleared right away, and everyone has suspicions. The baby opens up a deep, old wound for Lionel, who was abandoned by his father.  As the older of the three children, Lionel felt the most pain. Unable to stand for the baby to go into foster care, Lionel hatches a plan to kidnap the child. 

To fund his plan, Lionel gets mixed up with a group of drug-dealing teenagers, slightly older than he.

Vigilante creates strong and interesting characters. The mixed-races Brooklyn neighborhood lends authenticity to urban youth. They grow up long before they should.

 The story is well-crafted but stereotypical. A happy ending is surely guaranteed. I give this novel 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Book of Unknown Americans

Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
285 Pages

Arturo and Alma Rivera come to the United States legally to enroll their daughter in a special school in order to help her recover from brain damage she sustained in a fall.  The story follows their immersion into American society as well as a budding romance between their daughter Maribel and Mayor, the boy who lives next door.  Interspersed throughout the story are narratives from other Hispanic Americans who came from several different countries to American.

The novel is well seated in its storytelling and the reader is quickly immersed into a world similar and yet different from their own.   As with any successful novel, you quickly feel empathy for the characters and their predicament and it disabuses of common preconceptions fostered by the American media and politicians.