Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Marcus Sedgwick GENRE: Middle-Grade Fiction. RATING: 2 stars. Outlier review here, sorry. But this book did nothing for me. 😕 Cassie Cotton has been missing since a few hours. Her friend Fitz, who is also in the same band as she is, ponders over why she must have disappeared and is determined to find her. What adds complications is that Cassie has always been unusual, more so since she claims to hear a weird humming noise from Earth. She believes this to be a distress call by the planet grappling with climate change because of human activity. Though Cassie is the prime focus of the narrative, the emotions come from Fitz’s perspective, as the story is written in his first person pov. There are a few good themes in the book: friendship, bullying, music, respect for the planet and its resources, and parental relationships. As it is set in the present, it also offers a glimpse into children's feelings about the sudden change in lifestyle because of the lockdown. The story is s...

Author: Sara Sartagne Genre: Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Dual Timeline Rating: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A highly interesting story that began slowly and steadily, gained excellent momentum but fell short at the end. If you are not like me and don’t ask too many ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ while reading, you will enjoy the book much better. Story: 2019. Stacie Hayward is a trainee teacher who is the odd one out in a family of high academic achievers. She is also the odd one because she has the unusual ability of seeing ghosts. When a visiting American professor Nate is invited to stay at their house, Stacie’s ghosts disappear from her house. But at an external venue, she is visited by the ghost of a young girl who cautions her about being careful. What danger lies in Stacie’s future? 1619. Sarah Bartlett, a young healer is a small English village, is left all alone after the death of her parents and siblings. She does her best to heal the villagers with her home-brewed concoctions and local...

AUTHOR: Laila Sabreen NARRATORS: Channie Waites, Tamika Katon-Donegal, and Lynette R. Freeman. GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary Drama. RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A YA story where three young Black Muslim American girls become part of an online journal that aims to shatter Islamophobia after a terrorist attack. YA readers will enjoy this work more than adults. Story: Sabriya is an Abington, Virginia resident, loves ballet, and is only of only two Black dancers at her advanced ballet class. She dreams of clearing an audition for a spot at the summer intensive in a ballet theatre. Zakat is from Lullwood, Georgia. She is a senior at a local Islamic school and loves sketching. Her parents, both of whom are engineers, want her to opt for more traditional, secure career choices. Farah is from Inglethorne, California and is interested in programming. Her boyfriend is leaving for college in the summer and she is wondering if their relationship will work long-distance. Plus, her mom wishe...

AUTHOR: Quentin Zuttion GENRE: Graphic Novel RATING: 3.25 Stars. A pretty good graphic novel, quite emotional in places, but its style left me from feeling more fondness for it. Estelle is a nurse at an assisted living centre. Her patients are senior citizens who are unable to care for themselves. Estelle cares for them, plays with them, and makes sure that their final days are comfortable. But once they pass away, she finds herself feeling overwhelmed by the loss. The book covers many stories of such residents who end up impacting Estelle more than she anticipated. The story is quite impactful in its poignancy. Estelle’s emotional upheaval and the loneliness of the residents is well-depicted. While the story feels a bit repetitive after a while, the ending provides the perfect finale and hence makes it worthwhile. However, I didn’t like the artwork. It is in watercolour style and painted mostly in faded blues and greys. While this adds to the melancholic feel of the story, it also cr...

AUTHOR: Sean Dixon ILLUSTRATOR: Lily Snowden-Fine GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: April 12, 2022 RATING: 4 stars. In Lianne Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies” , there is a scene where a little boy is asked to make a family tree for his first grade school assignment. However, he struggles with it as he doesn’t know who his dad is. That was the first time I wondered how schools can insist on traditional family trees in a world where the very meaning of “family” has undergone such a drastic change from its old-fashioned definition of Dad+Mom+kids. When I saw this picture book and saw that it tackled a similar idea, I knew I had to read it. And to a great extent, it does justice to its intent. The concept begins the same way. Ada has been given a paper with a tree drawn on it and she is supposed to draw her family at the appropriate places. However, Ada’s family history isn’t just a simple tree. Through her talks with her parents and their extended family and friends, Ada fi...

AUTHOR: Danya Kukafka GENRE: Literary Fiction RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A haunting read that is going to leave a long book hangover. I loved almost every bit of it. But I have a feeling that you must be in the right kind of mood when you pick this up. Thankfully, it came to me at the correct time. Story: Ansel Packer is an inmate on the death row. His execution is just twelve hours away. He knows his crimes, but has he accepted his fate? The book takes you on a countdown of sorts, with the story beginning at the twelve hours mark and working its way down to zero hour. Interspersed with the above narrative are many other points of view, all from the eyes of various women in Ansel’s life. So you see, this is not just Ansel’s story. It is also the story of all the women whose lives he changed irrevocably, in good ways and in bad, sometimes both, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Ansel’s story is narrated in second person - present tense, while the other narrations of the women in ...

AUTHOR: Lan Samantha Chang GENRE: Retelling, Historical Fiction, Chinese. RATING: 2 stars for the book, and an added 1 star for the narration. In a Nutshell: Strongly mixed feelings. The adaptation from a classic is faithfully done, but those who don’t know the original might just be left furious at the stereotypical depiction of Chinese Americans. Story: Leo Chao has been running a restaurant serving Americanized-Chinese food in Haven, Wisconsin since thirty five years. He isn’t honest, his wife Winnie isn’t happy at being the resident unappreciated cook, ad his three sons have taken their distinct paths in life but none of them are truly satisfied. The eldest, Dagou - a man who thinks more from the heart than from the head, attempted music studies before returning to the restaurant as the head chef. The second, Ming – a successful businessman who hates his Chinese roots, struggles between his two identities. The youngest, James – a medical student who is kind and unambitious much to ...

Author: Dan Bailes Series: Marlon's Marvelous Adventures, #1 Genre: Children's Fiction Rating: 4.25 stars. A cute story about a cat who wants to be friends with a sparrow. Marlon the cat gets mad easily and is known among his friends as Mad Marlon. His friends have taught him the Quiet Count, which he tries his best to use while he’s angry. One day, he sees a little sparrow named Silky and is awed by her beauty. He wishes to be her friend, against all his natural instincts of “creep and pounce.” But will a sparrow really trust a cat to be her friend? This story details Marlon’s attempts at convincing Silky that he’s just like her and will be a good friend, and at the same time, reveals how Marlon strives to maintain his cool in difficult situations. The format is of a story within a story, with Marlon’s tale being narrated by a Mom to her two sons Ben and JJ. (These names, I think, are those of the author’s grandsons. What a sweet gesture!) Marlon’s story is adorable. I loved h...

AUTHOR: Katy Regan GENRE: Contemporary Drama RATING: 4 sentimental stars. In a Nutshell: A slow-paced literary fiction that explores sibling relationships with all its ups and downs. Somewhat predictable, but it still manages to tug at your heartstrings. Story: When Emily was born in 1987, her four year old brother Stephen was probably the happiest. Holding her in his arms, he vows to keep her safe forever. Thirty years have gone by and Stephen and Emily are no longer in touch after a traumatic family incident. Stephen is homeless, he wanders the streets of London with his beloved binoculars around his neck, pursuing his passion for birds and surviving by sketching and selling bird drawings. Emily works with the local council. When circumstances bring them together again, will it be easy to go back to where they were all those decades ago? Can their relationship survive the secrets and the heartbreaks of the past and even the present? Or is the chasm too wide to jump over? The story is...

AUTHOR: Sue Lynn Tan SERIES: The Celestial Kingdom Duology, #1 GENRE: Chinese Fantasy RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: Loved the plot. Loved the Fantasy world and everything out-worldly. Liked the characters. Hated the writing style. Story: Inspired by the Chinese legend of the moon goddess, this story tells of a young girl Xingyin accustomed to living alone on the moon with her mother Chang’e. What she doesn’t know is that Chang’e has been exiled for stealing the elixir of immortality from the Celestial Emperor. Due to her presence coming to light, Xingyin is forced to escape from the moon and somehow lands up in the Celestial Kingdom, working as a maid for a local wealthy family. When there’s an opportunity to train alongside Crown Prince Liwei, she grabs at it, not knowing that her life will change from that moment. What follows is an interesting story of secrets and scandals, battles with strange and scary monsters, and even forbidden romantic entanglements. The story comes to us i...

EDITORS: Tanya Kirk & Lucy Evans GENRE: Horror, Christmas, Anthology RATING: 3 stars. An anthology of horror stories with winter/Christmas as the common theme. Sounds interesting, but the collection was decent at best. On the pro side, the stories are not contemporary. They are all published between 1893 and 1974 and presented in the book in chronological order of publication. The authors are a mix of the popular and the unknown. Thus we get a wide range of spooky tales from the past. I loved how each story began with a brief intro about the author and the story. This helped in knowing more about the author. On the negative side, most of the stories are not at all scary, especially to readers in the 21st century. Some of them are minor psychological thrillers. Most don’t contain anything paranormal. So my experience was a mixed one. Here’s a brief feedback on each story from this collection of twelve. 1. The Ghost at the Crossroads - Frederick Manley – 1893 - 🌟🌟🌟🌟 For the age ...

AUTHOR: Deanna Chesley ILLUSTRATOR: Roksana Barwinska GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: July 29, 2021 RATING: 3 stars. Just a fun book full of imagination. No message or purpose here. The author’s daughter Ellie had asked her the question “What if we had a pet shark?”. Based on this query, the mother and daughter created an entire scenario of what would happen if we had unusual pets at home. That’s how the idea for this book came up. The story also has a little girl named Ellie. She has been on a field trip and when she comes home, she asks her mother the question in the title. Their discussion covers a variety of animals such as sharks, snakes, skunks, bears, giraffes and so on. Each question is answered with one idea of what activity could be done with that animal. The book is written in rhythmic prose, though not all the rhymes are balanced. This makes for a slightly lopsided reading. The illustrations are absolutely sweet. This could be a nice way of learning na...

AUTHOR: Leah Vis GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 26, 2022 RATING: 4.5 stars. This is a sweet book that takes inspiration from one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 13. It takes each of the “Love is…” ideas and depicts them with simple illustrations. Each page has one sentence and a sketch related to the same. The illustrations show how to implement that particular idea of love in our day-to-day life. It is a beautiful way of making children (and adults) understand the simplicity and effectiveness of those lines and we can all make our and others’ lives better with a few changes in behaviour, with a greater measure of love and kindness and patience than on insisting upon one’s own opinions. I especially loved the ending of the book, which incorporated the “Love Never Ends” line into ‘The End”. The drawings are in simply black and white, thereby keeping the focus on the quote itself. This will be a lovely picture book for early reader...

AUTHOR: Kanata Konami GENRE: Graphic Novel RATING: 5 stars. What a beautiful combination of humorous and heartwarming this comic is! Sue, a seventeen year old house cat, is enjoying the relaxation of her ‘senior-citizen’ days. Her plans are thrown for a toss when her owner brings home a mischievous new kitten named Tai-chan. Poor Sue! From being allowed to sleep to being awakened all hours of the day, from getting to eat her meals in peace to being pestered about foods, Sue’s life goes haywire. Do you think Sue will enjoy being a ‘cat-sitter’ to little Tai? Konami Kanata is known for her cat manga ‘Chi's Sweet Home’. This book showed me how adorable her works can be. Tai-chan is drawn in such a cute kawaii style that you will feel tempted to pull his cheeks in every panel. Sue is the perfect antithesis, what with her frustrated looks and overdrawn sighs. The whole book isn’t exactly one story but a series of mini misadventures the two cats get into, mainly because of Tai-chan’s nau...

AUTHOR: Brie Turns ILLUSTRATOR: Remesh Ram GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: December 22, 2021 RATING: 3.5 stars. A fun bedtime story. Little Landon is afraid of bedtime for all the obvious reasons. But when he sees a light shining from under his bed, his curiosity overcomes his fear and he decides to investigate further. What he finds is…. uh-uh….You need to read the book and discover this for yourself. 😉 I thought it will go the usual way of having monsters under the bed and then maybe the monster would turn out to be friendly. But I was absolutely wrong. I didn’t expect what was “under the bed” and children too will be surprised to see the revelation. The language is quite simple and would work well for read-alouds. It is not written in rhythmic prose but in easy sentences. The illustrations are cute enough. Overall, a nice and cute read with some unexpected turns along the way. This will reduce children’s fear of monsters under the bed but it is sure to raise o...

AUTHOR: Six-Word Memoirs GENRE: Non-Fiction. RATING: 3.5 stars. All of us have had a “terrible, horrible, no good” couple of years. In the emotional upheaval of these last two years (and running), the highest impact has no doubt been felt in the field of education. Everyone knows how the medical fraternity have been the heroes of the pandemic, but a very close second have been teachers. From personal connections to two-way communications to friendly interactions, everything was suddenly partitioned with a screen and educators had to figure out almost overnight how to teach through Zoom. Six Word Memoirs are known on Twitter for their six word “American haiku”. In this collection, they bring together six word one-liners from various members connected to education – students, teachers, principals, special trainers, administrators, parents, and so on. In addition, there are also essays by professional educators on how they adapted their teaching sessions to the online mode. While I liked ...

AUTHOR: Sentilong Ozukum GENRE: Horror. RATING: 2 stars. Just my luck! I thought I was reading a thriller and this turned out to be a B-grade horror, what with demonic possession and exorcism and a weird mishmash of science vs. supernatural. The book was written in the first person pov of someone called Dr Abha. I thought this was a female narrator as Abha is a common female Indian name. But at the 40% mark, Dr Abha was revealed to be a "man of science." So the only unique thing about the book, a horror story having a strong female voice of reason, also turned out to be stereotypical. Not worth it. But it's only about 100 pages long. So at least it didn't waste much of my time. The book is available on KU India, but I don't think I'm recommending it. The only reason to go for it would be to support an indie author from the neglected North-Eastern part of the country. (Sentilong Ozukum is from Nagaland, and that's the only reason I picked this book up.)

AUTHOR: Sally Hanan GENRE: Young Adult, Coming of Age. RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A debut Irish fiction with teenage characters dealing with not-so-teenaged issues. The book is engrossing, with just a little more fine-tuning required to make it stand out. Story: 1983, Donegal, Ireland. Seventeen year old Una Gallagher discovers that she is pregnant after a drunken post-party romp with her best friend Cullen. When her mother threatens to send her away to the nuns, Una realises that the only way to keep her baby safe is to run away from home. Her younger sister Ellie is the most heartbroken at her sister’s unexplained disappearance. Cullen too is devastated as he doesn’t know the reason behind Una’s decision. Ellie and Cullen come close to each other in their sorrow. But soon an event occurs which threatens their happiness. Will the three youngsters be able to get their life back on track? The story comes to us in the first person perspectives of Una, Ellie and Cullen. Where the b...

EDITOR: Sandhya Renukamba GENRE: Anthology, Feminism RATING: 3 stars A collection of stories about women who rebel against societal norms. There are 19 stories by 16 authors, the youngest of whom was just 15 years old. While I liked the idea of having a so-called “feminist” anthology, the implementation left me with somewhat mixed feelings. I loved the theme of women taking a step to better their lives rather than waiting for a prince charming or a divine miracle to come their way. The stories don’t necessarily have happy endings but they certainly have hopeful endings. However, I don’t like it when what is tagged as ‘feminism’ is primarily male bashing and mother-in-law bashing. A few of the stories were just that. It felt like they were taken straight from a B-grade 80s/90s Bollywood movies, with the twist being that the woman rebels against those outdated ideas. While this might be true in many parts of the country even now, reading the same thing again and again felt repetitive. ...

AUTHOR: Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara ILLUSTRATOR: Queenbe Monyei SERIES: Little People, BIG DREAMS, #75 GENRE: Children's Picture Book, Biography. PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2022 RATING: 4.25 stars. If you still haven’t heard of Amanda Gorman, you have certainly been living with your head under a rock. This talented young poet stole the hearts of the world with her captivating rendition of her own poem, “The Hill We Climb”, at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. I am not into poetry at all, and yet I was enchanted by this young woman and the way she recited her spoken poem with confidence and exuberance. This little book introduces little readers to the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate of the USA. Though the end of the book includes a detailed glimpse into her life (including her family, her education and her achievements), the main story begins from Amanda’s schooling and how she first became fascinated by poetry. She didn’t allow her speech impediment to stop her but w...