When Jeff agreed to donate sperm, he never expected a tragedy would leave him raising a three-year-old. Donny never expected the prejudice he'd face as a gay nanny. They need each other, but are they ready to be a family? Views: 66
Fans of Eleanor & Park and The Book Thief will love this startling and heart-warming take on Peter Pan.
What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason?
Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to--the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having "one drop of Japanese blood in them"--things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys.
Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naïve, eighteen-year-old Nora--the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change.
For months, they've lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window.
In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away.
Set in 1953, NORA AND KETTLE explores the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, * a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world. *
**From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-Set in the 1950s, this book is told in the alternating voices of Nora, an upper-class teen struggling to protect her younger sister from their abusive father, and Kettle, a biracial homeless teen persecuted for being Japanese, caring for his makeshift homeless family. The two cross paths repeatedly without realizing until they meet late in the novel and discover they just might be the missing family they each didn't know they were searching for. This is a commendable attempt to present the persecution of Japanese Americans. However, the story's flaws outweigh its noble intentions. Both teen voices are expressed in the same adult tone, and the prose lacks the necessary sense of time and place. Many of the obstacles, such as Kettle's pursuit of work on the docks and Nora's ability to quickly adapt to hard physical labor after living a privileged existence, are easily resolved. VERDICT Pass on this historical fiction title for Kevin C. Pyle's Take What You Can Carry (Macmillan, 2012) or Jeanne Houston's Farewell to Manzanar (HMH, 2002).-Hillary St. George, Los Angeles Public Libraryα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review
World War II is over, but community feelings toward Japanese Americans still run high, and two very different teens are struggling to live in the aftermath. Seventeen-year-old Kettle has been an orphan living on the streets for years, working the docks when he can and trying to care for other street children alongside his brother, Kin. Nora, on the other hand, is the daughter of a wealthy, big-name civil rights lawyer, but that does not protect her from his violent beatings behind closed doors. Existing side by side without knowing it, Kettle and Nora's paths cross one night, and suddenly everything changes. Lyrically written, this powerful and at times painful read captures the reader and does not let go. Told in alternating chapters from the two characters' perspectives, their respective narratives cross and intertwine, drawing Nora and Kettle closer until they finally unite. Parallels to Peter Pan and Wendy provide motif and depth without overwhelming the reader. Firmly rooted in the history of internment camps and racial prejudice, this remarkable novel educates subtly while focusing on themes of home, acceptance, courage, and the danger of secrets. -- Melissa Moore
(Booklist Starred Review) Views: 66
In this bestselling series set in pre-revolutionary Russia, both a peasant and a princess face the prospect of their beloved country being torn apart by conflict within and without.1 The Crown and the Crucible2 A House Divided3 Travail and Triumph4 Heirs of the Motherland5 Dawning of Deliverance6 White Nights, Red Morning7 Passage Into Light Views: 66
She'll put her life on the line for him . . . When Akira Ayres finds the brawny Scot with a musket ball in his thigh, the healer has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to save his life. Even if it means fleeing with him across the Highlands to tend to his wounds while English redcoats are closing in. Though Akira is as fierce and brave as any of her clansmen, even she's intimidated by the fearsome, brutally handsome Highlander who refuses to reveal his name.Yet she can never learn his true identity.Geordie knows if Akira ever discovers he's the Duke of Gordon, both her life and his will be forfeit in a heartbeat. The only way to keep the lass safe is to ensure she's by his side day and night. But the longer he's with her, the harder it becomes to think of letting her go. Despite all their differences, despite the danger-he will face death itself to make her his . . . Views: 66
A gifted writer makes her fiction debut with this lyrical and haunting story of missed chances and enduring love, set against the backdrop of high society Charleston, which probes the eternal question: can we ever truly go home again?When Eliza Poinsett left the elegant world of Charleston for college, she never expected it would take her ten years to return. Now almost a decade later, she is an art historian in London with a charming Etonian boyfriend who adores her. But the past catches up with her when she runs into Henry, her childhood love, at a wedding in the English countryside.Already unnerved by the encounter, Eliza's carefully guarded equilibrium is shattered when she meets Henry again in Charleston, where she's come for her stepsister's debut. Set against a backdrop of stately homes, the seductive Lowcountry landscape, and the entangled lives of families who trace their ancestors back for generations, Eliza has to decide if she is willing to risk... Views: 66
Lady Elinor is searching for treasureThe intrepid Lady Elinor Tremaine is caught up in the Victorian fervor for exploring distant lands. Her travels throw her back in the company of an old friend—this time, far from the security of polite society.And uncovering the secrets of her own heartHarry de Vaux, Viscount Tunbury, has loved Lady Elinor for as long as he can remember— but his family's sordid background put her completely out of his reach. Prowling through Etruscan ruins in Italy with Elinor is exquisite torture. She is so close, and so forbidden... Views: 66
No-nonsense jewelry designer Iris Fortune yearns for a normal life. But life as Vegas magician Cosmo Fortune’s daughter is anything but normal, especially since dear old Dad is also a scam artist. When Cosmo’s latest scheme goes awry and he pulls a real-life disappearing act, Iris is left holding the bag. Now Iris must be a master of illusion—play the poised partner to her politician fiancé while trying to save her father and stay out of reach of Mickey Kincaid, the sexy thief who claims he's only after her jewels. Detective Kincaid is deep undercover and seeks Iris out because of her connection to Cosmo—he never expected to be so drawn to her. While working with Iris to find the elusive con man, Mickey learns a killer has Iris in his sights, and he must do everything he can to save her, without blowing his cover. Mickey's put his life on the line before, but never his heart—and now he’s not sure which is more dangerous... Views: 66
This is why I have had to come back now, traveling these dusty old back roads one more time. For I mean to tell my story, and I mean to tell the truth. I am a believer in the Word, and I am not going to flinch from telling it, not even the terrible things… Florida Grace Shepherd, eleventh child of the itinerant, snake-handling Reverend Virgil Shepherd, grew up traveling across the Appalachian South. In her heart, she raged against the constant hardships that her parents insisted were part of the Lord?™s plan. As she got older, she learned of her father?™s “backsliding” with other women, and watched as it drove her mother to an early grave. Returning to Scrabble Creek, where her happiest memories took place, Grace recounts the harrowing journey of her life with the Lord, from her travels with her father to the day she finally broke free of him only to marry another preacher much older than she, as well as her own stumbles along the rocky and... Views: 66
