Kirby LarsonRezensionen

It is an adventurous book, and I learned some new things from it. It is about a boy who runs away and lives in a tree that he howled out. He scavenges for food and makes things that are essential for living out of natural things like wood. It is a really good book that my brother and I enjoyed reading.

The Tale of Two Bobbies was a unique true tale that stemmed from a natural disaster. It was heart warming to see how close these two were and how Bobbie was protective of Bobbie due to being blind. A cat with a seeing eye dog is very special.

Though I think she uses too many exclamation points, I love Hattie and think she earns comparisons to Anne Shirley. Both started as just orphan girls and eventually became confident, intrepid women with big dreams.

This story takes place in San Francisco in 1919. Hattie works hard to become a reporter at the Chronicle, facing down sexism, scandal, and her heart tugging her towards Seattle and Charlie. I love that Hattie decides to put her career hopes first instead of just marrying Charlie and settling down as a wife.

Lots of great historical detail (Boeing, postcards, $2.50 for a week at a hotel), a lovable heroine, and a bit of mystery make this a great read.

Continuing my reads of historical American Girls that showed up after I aged out of the target demographic! The newest of the historical line girls, Nanea's story is a different take on WWII than Molly McIntire's, a Hawaiian girl living in Honolulu when the Pearl Harbor attack happens.

Given how I felt about my last middle grade WWII historical fiction from Kirby Larson ([b:The Fences Between Us|8848996|The Fences Between Us|Kirby Larson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328838161l/8848996._SX50_.jpg|11103189]), I was peeking between my fingers hoping this wouldn't be as disrespectful a take. Luckily, AG consulted with an advisory board to make sure Nanea's world felt true to life, and Nanea's far more sympathetic to the plights of her friends than Piper Davis was (I did wonder if Piper's brother was going to cameo, but no).

Nanea is tired of being treated like a baby as the youngest, and wants to be responsible and help her friends and family. When war comes home, she faces opportunities to help all while her world gets tightened under martial law. Some of the dialog felt younger than 9, but I'm two decades past that point so take a chunk of salt with my judgement there.

It looks like starting in 2015, historical line books got condensed into two volumes instead of six, and with illustrations removed- perhaps to appeal to more of a middle grade audience? I couldn't discern split points if this were to be one, and maybe this gives authors more flexibility to flesh out a story in >80 pages. I do feel like illustrations are a classic part of American Girl, though, especially putting faces to the names of friends and family (and earlier this year they announced that illustrations are being added to these in reissues). I don't recall previous books being as on-the-nose describing some of the outfits and things which are surely available for purchase in a catalog...! I also think this could've been a great #ownvoices opportunity, but fine I guess Kirby can keep writing books about youths in WWII because this wasn't terrible.

I've no complaints here- Hula for the Home Front picks up about a week after Growing Up Aloha left off, with school resuming a few months after the Pearl Harbor attack. There's a new girl and Nanea is jealous (and still feeling the pain of Donna moving away as non-essential personnel). Her older brother is also a few months away from turning 18, and she worries that he will enlist in the US Army.

I still feel weird about this two book format vs. the original 6, but we still cover school, birthday, and big life change beats for Nanea, classic American Girl topics. I do miss having illustrations, but this is a good companion to Molly's perspective on how WWII affected young people.

Hmph. That was frustrating, if my updates didn't give away indication of that.

There's an author's note at the end, where Kirby Larson explains why she wanted to write this story- although born and raised in the Seattle area, she didn't learn about Japanese American incarceration until her college years in the 1970s, and while making up for lost time she learned about Pastor Emery "Andy" Andrews, a Baptist minister who followed his Seattle Japantown congregation to Twin Falls, ID and continued his ministry. What a story of hope! Just not one that lends itself well to the teenage-girl-diary format, so let's invent a fictionalized version with a teenage daughter...

Pastor Andrews is an important story of people doing good in the face of apathy. Piper Davis IS apathy. In the first third of the book she's primarily concerned with boys and school and being mad at her dad for not letting her wear lipstick. Then, the Pearl Harbor attacks happen and she becomes afraid for her brother, stationed there on the Arizona. Meanwhile, a church acquaintance (friend would be generous at this point) gets bullied and spat on by boys outside her junior high, but Piper walks on because, "what would those boys think if I stopped?" She bemoans the fact that her father helps so publicly that the newspapers mention him and they get angry phone calls at night- "why can't he help our friends without being so out there?" is essentially one of the entries.

Eventually, the order comes for all people of Japanese descent to leave their homes for remote camps. Piper's father makes the decision to follow his flock and help out where he can. Piper takes this news BADLY because she was looking forward to such a FUN eighth grade year (pausing briefly to consider her church friend Betty living with her family in a one room converted horse stall at the Puyallup fairgrounds, before going back to giving her dad the silent treatment). When they move to Twin Falls, ID, they find that not all the locals are pleased to have sympathetic people in town and it just isn't fair.

While Piper does eventually learn the meaning of friendship, I kept thinking this book would work so much better if it were from Betty Sato's perspective. I'm guessing it isn't so because Kirby Larson probably didn't feel comfortable filling the shoes an #ownvoices author could've used but... c'mon. Telling the story of Japanese American incarceration through a white pastor's kid is like talking about the family detention centers on the border through the eyes of a white pastor's kid in El Paso- glad to see you can meet minimum standards of empathy, but it's hard to take you seriously when you gush about the yellow wallpaper of your new house and then soberly reflect on Betty's camp conditions, briefly. I recognize the argument that maybe this fills a void in white-perspectives-on-Japanese-American-incarceration, but did that gap need to be filled? Do readers that don't know a history need a similar, unaware proxy to learn how to empathize, OR could they read an account by the affected and listen, then reflect?

I was more into The Royal Diaries than Dear America so I don't remember if epilogues saying where characters ended up after they grew up are a thing, but this one irritated me by killing off the friendly guy in camp who showed romantic interest in Piper but she shut down because he filled that big brother void in her life. It sounds like Betty writes the fictional version of [b:Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment|649361|Farewell to Manzanar A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment|Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481673039l/649361._SY75_.jpg|807858] (which came out in 1973! HOW DID KIRBY NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS). I see on other reviews [b:Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi|12505783|Torn Apart The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi (Dear Canada)|Susan Aihoshi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1316410750l/12505783._SX50_.jpg|17491343] is suggested as equivalent but that's for the Canadian equivalent camps- action taken after the US government decided to incarcerate our citizens. Japanese Americans are citizens too- why are they Othered in a book about them??

Shermy is dismayed when Shake comes to stay next door for the summer (the book is divided into three sections - June, July, August - with three chapters in each section). Shermy is a quiet kid who enjoys reading library books; his room is tidy and he keeps a pouch of treasures around his neck. He dislikes wearing his glasses. Shake, on the other hand, shakes up everything around him; he's a whirlwind of energy, and likes making the rules. Shake often rubs Shermy the wrong way, but the two sometimes have fun together too. By the end of the summer, when Shake's mom and stepdad come to pick him up from his Grandma's house, they are sad to leave each other. The story concludes with a postcard from Shake to Shermy, alluding to a move - possibly nearby (and an opportunity for a sequel).

Shermy was pretty sure he'd forgotten how to read without getting interrupted by Shake. (69)

See also: Ivy & Bean by Annie Barrows, Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder

Normally I don't care for animal stories, particularly those based on true events. They tend to be too sweet, too nostalgic, too moralistic. A colleague highly recommended the story so I felt the need to give it a try. Thankfully this tale of friendship between a cat and dog is just right in all three areas. These tail-less pets (hence the "bob" names) keep each other company, and perhaps help each other survive during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Gouache illustrations are realistic.

I listened to the audio. It was excellent!

Wonderful story of a really young orphan homesteader in E. Montana who is given a spread to "prove up" to keep the land. It is during WW1. Shows great love of friends.

Set over the course of several months from 1944-1945, and switching perspectives every chapter between fifth-grader Billie and Diné Marine Denny, Billie's older brother Leo's friend from boot camp. Leo and Denny visit once before shipping out, and they bring an injured dog with them; Denny dubs him Bear, and Billie begs her great-aunt Doff to keep him.

In addition to worrying about her brother, and wondering if her father will ever come back, Billie is having friend troubles: her former best friend Hazel has ditched her for another girl, and Billie tries to win her back before realizing it's hopeless - and not worth it. Fortunately, the astronomy-obsessed new kid, Mexican-American Tito, proves a true friend.

Meanwhile, Denny is in the Pacific, storming the beaches of Iwo Jima and sending coded messages for air support. In a way, it's Bear who saves both humans, and in a rushed epilogue (Billie is in her 40s), Billie (with a dog in tow - Bear's descendant?) visits Denny on the reservation, having discovered his true role in the war: "I can't get over it....When you were little, they tried to prevent you from speaking Navajo, and then the language ends up winning the war for us." (232)

Quotes

"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit." --Aristotle (epigraph to Part Two, p. 81)

The second read was more of an emotional experience than the first due to a variety of factors. I still wish this had been written from the POV of a Japanese-American girl, not a white girl who's privileged. Still a good read, though, and all those Seattle landmarks are real. I live here. I grew up going to the fair, not knowing of its sinister history until someone told me in a hugely snobby way when I was eighteen. Anyway, I'm really glad this book is still in print. The 1940s weren't that long ago, and the author is really good at writing teen POV.

A children's chapter book that takes place during WWI. At sixteen Hattie is an orphan that has been shuttled here and there so much she calls herself Hattie-Here-and-There. When she inherits land from an uncle in Montana, off she goes to become a homesteader all by herself but strong resolve. The story follows her through the first year of the homesteading life. A Newberry winner, I loved this story about a strong and determined young woman.½

Amazing story about a 16-year old orphan who inherits a land-stake claim in Montana. Only problem is: she has to get a harvestable crop within two years to get the land. Great female character. Loved it.

Really well written book that focuses on the experience of Japanese Americans in Seattle, being sent to internment camps. Heart-rending, but ultimately hopeful.

This was a quick, enjoyable read. Neatly tied up rather conveniently, but fun to read.

Sixteen-year-old Hattie inherits a homestead in Montana. There's only one catch: she has to "prove" her claim. That means outsmarting a bad-tempered cow named "Violet", digging holes for fence posts to fence in an area as big as 40 football fields, and surviving the freezing winter, muddy spring, and sizzling summer. All while living in a rackety tiny shed that her uncle put up to serve as a house.

While Hattie is fighting the good fight against all of these challenges, World War I is changing people's opinions about their German neighbors. Standing up for her new friends takes a completely different kind of courage.

Note for sensitive readers: This story has a childbirth scene and there is a death in the family.

Ok as a sequel. Nice picture of reality in San Francisco at that time period. Felt a little muddled and spent too much time on things that I wasn't interested. But it was fun to see Charlie, and sometimes Hattie, again.

A boy and a dog are at the heart of this tale set in 1940s New Orleans. This is a poignant story told from alternating viewpoints and touching on important themes such as race and war, loyalty, bravery, and patriotism. Author’s Note.

In 1927, Japan sent 58 dolls to America as a gesture of good will. Today, 45 of the dolls are accounted for, but 13 remain missing. This story is told from the per - spective of the dolls, giving readers an imaginary glimpse into their world

A 13-year-old girl records her experiences in a diary, beginning in November 1941, including the journey with her father to an Idaho internment camp where her Japanese neighbors have been interned. Author’s Note, Historical Note, Websites, Epilogue, Bibliography, Primary Sources (including photos, maps, and transcript from FDR’s speech to Congress on December 8, 1941).

The true story of a dog and a cat who are left behind by their fam- ily in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; only by sticking together can Bobbi and Bob Cat survive a very frightening time. The kindness of humans enables them to finally be rescued. Afterword.

I finished Hattie Big Sky before I was done with my mask project, and the other audiobook I'm working on (Linda Yueh's What Would the Great Economists Do?) requires more thinking than I could spare while sewing, so I got the Hattie sequel from the library. It's not got the oomph that the first has (and a sequel probably wasn't necessary), but it was fun to hear about San Francisco between the wars while finishing the masks.

This novel totally hit the spot for me, and the sewing/self-sufficiency/flu pandemic content made it perfect to listen to while making masks for my teen for camp. (She's the same age as Hattie, and it's difficult imagining her trying to prove a claim in Montana in 1918.)