I read many, many middle grade books last year, but somehow just one Indian book stands out this time! Here are my top ten, in no particular order. I highly recommend these books to readers ten and above! The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them) Last year, I read many books in verse, primarily because that's what I've been writing. My most recent middle-grade verse read was The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them) by Nadine Aisha Jassat. It's a richly woven book about family and a support system. I always find verse novels to be pacy reads, but this one was even more so because it has multiple secrets at its core, secrets that the reader is curious to uncover. It's a story about stories, and I love how all the stories come together at the end. Book review Odder Odder by Katherine Applegate is the second … [Read more...]
In the Beautiful Country
Verse novels are beautiful. I love how sparse and hard-hitting they are, and I've been reading them all the more because I've been writing verse too. Uncontrollable came out last year, and Fishbowl will be out later this year. But I read In the Beautiful Country by Jane Kuo because it's on the required reading list for a workshop that I'm excited to attend later this year. I'm honoured to have received a Highlights Foundation scholarship for an online workshop of my choice, and I've chosen one on revising my verse novel. In the Beautiful Country is the first book I've read for the workshop!The United States of America is the beautiful country. At least, that's what it is called in Taiwan, which is where Anna, aka Ai Shi, is from. But is it a beautiful country when she cannot understand what her schoolmates are saying? Is it a beautiful country when she is teased and bullied for … [Read more...]