"The Turtle of Oman" by Naomi Shihab Nye

A colleague said of this book that it was "an impossible sell" to kids, because "nothing happens."  She's not wrong.  Ms. Nye, a poet, has written a soft, quiet, gentle little book which doesn't do much.  This is one of those rare children's books where the action is significantly more internal than external (think "The Wanderer" by Sharon Creech).  Aref is a young boy in Oman (8 or 9) who is about to move to the United States with his family for three years.  He is bereft and in denial about having to pull up stakes from his beloved home, his cat, and his grandfather.  The story chronicles the last five days, as he reluctantly packs his bags.  A bit underfoot, his mother sends him out of the house to have adventures with Grandfather.  Everything is described in detail -- sights, smells, sensations.  It is as if Aref is trying to make a film of every moment, sharing with the reader these memories of everyday life.  The novel is metaphor.  Aref loves turtles, and, like a turtle, he must feel comfortable and move in his own pace to accept the change coming into his life.  Readers can "see" Oman in Aref's beloved words.  I searched online after reading the tale and it looked exactly as I expected it to, now with a familiarity, having had Aref invite me into his world.  Children who have moved a good deal with recognize Aref's pain and sympathize with it, but a page-turning action story it isn't.  A nice way to become familiar with another culture in a non-preachy way, it is.  Don't know that the book will have a huge audience, but for the more mature readers, there will be an appreciation of the subtleties.  Ms. Nye just won the Arbuthnot Lecture award from ALA, a coveted speech opportunity for a select few, so clearly, her words have value.

"All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook" by Leslie Connor

This was one of those books where the cover really doesn't give you a clue.  The smiling cartoon kid is looking up through a window.  Yes, there is something slightly menacing about the angle, the size of the child and the darkness around the window's light, but I pretty much guessed this was about a kid who wanted to grow up to be a judge or something.  Not even close.  This book is about Perry T. Cook, a child of an inmate at a fictional prison, who is allowed to live "inside" until his situation is discovered.  The book isn't dark, but it isn't exactly the light-hearted humor novel I was expecting.  Very readable and with strong characterizations, most of the story is told by Perry, in a first person narrative.  His mother fills in some of the blanks in alternating chapters, but hers are written in third person narrative, which was ... odd?  In any case, huge kudos to Leslie Connor, who doesn't preach and allows the tale to speak for itself.  She has a point to make, about prisons and families, but she isn't heavy handed, and provides viewpoints on all sides, making the questions and answers more grey than black and white.  The big bad guy isn't totally a bad guy, and even Perry's situation is fluid -- one could argue the merits of his staying close to mom, but also note what he misses out on as a result of that.  It is a novel which is both simple and complex in this way, and should have broad appeal, as, in the end, it reads "human."  Good work, thoughtful premise (but get a new cover).

"The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano" by Sonia Marzano

This award-winner was, in my opinion, not bad, but not great.  It is a disagreement with SLJ and other sources, which have given the book stars and high recommendations.  Personally, I found the writing flat, and the sequencing more like slices of life than a narrative.  In a typical novel, events build to a specific conclusion.  This book has a disjointed quality, as if you were looking at a photo album and each chapter was a grouping of sequential stories about those pictures.  In the first half, Evelyn, nee "Rosa", is working to Americanize herself, choosing to work at a store some distance from her family's Puerto Rican Bodega, during a hot New York summer in 1969.  The signs of discontent and change are all around her, but Evelyn's biggest issues are with her mother, who she sees as a doormat.  Younger readers will identify with the culture clash, friendship dramas and need to define oneself.  In the second half, the "revolution" begins, with Evelyn's church being taken over by a group of activists determined to bring social justice to the barrio.  Once she can't ignore what is going on around her, she becomes involved with the efforts, but it is at this point the book becomes even more disconnected, reading like some sort of "If You Were There" history textbook.  There are history lessons, speeches, a poet.  For me, it came off as didactic and preachy.  The timeline gets shot, and it is nearing New Years, then back before Christmas, then back at New Years.  Evelyn magically knows that the protest will last 11 days, then she talks about it going for "weeks" then they are on "day four".  An event happens to Evelyn near the end which has no context, and no reasoning, as if it is just dropped in.  In a similar vein, Ms. Marzano, a well-known Sesame Street actor, makes an unabashed plug for her show in the story, which I found jarring.

As blog readers know, I really dislike books with a "POINT" and this one is about nothing other than "THE POINT."  In any case, it's a nice introduction of Puerto Rican culture for those who know nothing more than "West Side Story", but if you want some slightly different takes, I think Meg Medina did it better in "Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass" and Kekla Magoon had more lyricism in "The Rock and the River".  They aren't the same, of course.  This is about Puerto Ricans, and Ms. Medina's story is about Cubans.  Kekla Magoon writes about revolution, but her stories are about blacks, and often focuses on Chicago, not New York.  Nonetheless, there are similar themes in the books, and of the three, this wasn't my favorite.  Overall, I give it a "meh."

PS -- I am always dissing poor covers, so I should say something about how excellent this cover is.  Not only does it capture every aspect of the book, physically and symbolically, but the red highlights in "Revolution" (evolution) perfectly emphasize the overall theme.