Review of Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

Antheneum Books for
Young Readers

Copper Sun
By Sharon Draper
5 Stars

Imagine your whole world and everyone you love disappearing in an instant. You are beaten and dragged away in chains. How would you feel? What would you do? This is Amari’s fate when her village in Africa is visited by strange-looking men the color of “goat’s milk.” At first, the villagers are excited to host a welcome celebration. But their joy is cut short when the celebration turns into a savage and deadly attack. Amari suddenly finds herself shackled and driven on a march to the sea where she is branded and taken aboard a ship, never to see her homeland again. She is now a slave, and her future holds nothing but misery, anguish and grief, unless she can escape.

Perhaps too many Americans think of slavery as a thing of the past, and not the Holocaust that it was—the genocide and enslavement of a people. But through Amari, a character who is far from flat or cliché, the reader can relate to the suffering and loss of the slaves who built America with their blood and tears. Amari is so real, so gentle, and so innocent, that it is hard not to instantly become invested in her fate.  But it isn’t just Amari who makes the story interesting. Each character in the story contributes a perspective to this woeful tale that is different but historically significant. For instance, white characters are not a stereotype. They each represent the perspective of a community that made slavery happen. Even the “kind” whites like Sailor Ben, who occasionally takes mercy on Amari, or indentured servant Polly, who could care less for negroes but comes to sympathize with Amari, or Doctor Hoskins, who like so many whites opposes slavery but remains a bystander and does nothing to prevent the abuse, all share guilt for the deaths of many thousands of slaves. Villians like slave-owners Percival and Clay Derby who are on the front lines of purchasing slaves bring the cruelty of the institution to life even when they aren’t being directly cruel.  Each of these characters, and their historical counterparts, allowed their prejudice and self-preservation to stand in the way of humanity. Even African characters, like the Ashanti who betray Amari’s village, bear guilt for slavery—no angle is left unexamined. Draper truly reveals the complicated social ramifications of the slave trade in a way that other novels do not.

The novel is very well researched. Readers will be shocked to know that slaves in the field rarely lasted more than five years before they died and were replaced, or that the knowledge of slaves often far exceeded the expertise of the master. Perhaps most disturbing is the number of slave women who were raped by masters and other whites with power over them. Yet, despite its gritty detail and shocking truths, the story is as easy to understand, exceedingly interesting, and accessible for readers who struggle.

Review of Unwholly by Neal Shusterman

Simon & Schuster BFYR

Unwhollyby Neal Shusterman
5 Scribbles

Everyone thought that “unwinding,” the practice of using every body part from a living teen for transplant, was a humane way to solve two problems at once. After all, The Unwind Accord ended The Heartland Wars that began years ago between the pro-life and pro-choice factions, thus saving thousands of lives and resolving the abortion conflict once and for all in the United States. At the same time, unwinding gave frustrated parents a way to deal with their troubled teens. However, the solution of unwinding isn’t nearly that simple. Now, rogue crooks capture teens (whether Unwinds or not) and sell them for parts on the black market, religious extremists tithe their children to the Harvest Camps, and thousands of AWOL Unwinds are hiding in the desert—but that’s not all. A top-secret, underground group has an even bigger plan now that unwinding is legal, and readers will be shocked when they find out just what that plan entails.

Following the action-packed, tension-filled style of book one in the trilogy, Shusterman hooks the reader and doesn’t let go until the last page. Key characters return in book two, although they are much changed. Connor has become a burdened, brooding young man with more responsibility than he ever wanted—and yet he is in a unique position to understand and guide the AWOL Unwinds under his guardianship. Lev too has grown, although he has begun to struggle spiritually, not fully understanding what his purpose in life might be.  Risa, now confined to a wheelchair, becomes more of an observer, slowly watching her relationship with Connor crumble under the weight of his leadership responsibilities. Despite the heavy character development, however, the introduction of new conflicts and players creates grand culture clashes and skirmishes the reader will scramble to keep up with.  Clever and ironic Public Service Announcements riddle the story, encouraging teens to accept and embrace the special, “divided state” and advertise that unwinding is “an adventure.” Other PSAs encourage adult unwinding, voluntary unwinding, and repealing the 17-year age restriction for Unwinds. All PSAs conclude that citizens should see “Unwinding. [As] not just good medicine, it’s the right idea.” Yet, even more disturbing than the repeated propaganda is the appearance of a new, brainwashed character, Miracolina, who wants more than anything to be unwound for God.  And finally, but perhaps most importantly, is the introduction of a new character so disturbing and chilling that Mary Shelley would be proud to claim him, a character named Camus, who wonders, —“If a human being has a soul, then where is his?”

This timely trilogy speaks to the ethical dilemmas of our generation and promises to become a staple in YA literature. Applause to the next installment in Shusterman’s disturbing vision for the future of our country.

Review of Blood Zero Sky by J. Gates

HCI Books

Blood Zero Sky
by J. Gates
3+ Scribbles
To be released, October 1, 2012.
May Fields never doubts that The Company is good. Thousands of Company employees have risen from poverty’s clutches, millions have embraced Christ, and innovation continues to create newer and better products for humanity. Proudly, she is part of the mechanics of The Company that makes such prosperity happen. But why then, does May long for something more? May isn’t sure--that is until she is kidnapped by an organization that wants more—but does she want what they are offering?

The narrator of the novel and protagonist, May, is very difficult to identify with. She is jaded, empty— and in case the constant reminders in the text don’t help you to remember—homosexual. Yet, her vapid nature and her vacillating values are reflective of the culture that she lives in—she is less heroine and more caricature, and her homosexuality opens the door to addressing sexuality in the eyes of the Christian church; so, in a clumsy way, her character works, so long as the reader remains open to the idea that the plot of the novel is more theme-driven than character-driven. “God, science and company policy” are intertwined in this novel, which can be somewhat jolting, especially when the narrative touches on so many issues, albeit timely ones, relevant to readers.  Whereas individual problems with society have been addressed by numerous authors before, such as implanted net-links and consumerism (M.T. Anderson, Feed), the decline of literacy (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451), discrimination (Shine by Lauren Myracle for one), and Big Brother government (1984, George Orwell), no other novel has combined all of these issues with the corruptive nature of a prosperity-based theology and tossed in gay rights to boot; perhaps such all-encompassing commentary is a bit overwhelming.

However, there is much to be admired in this work. Without a doubt, Gates nails the dystopian genre, and uses current trends to predict the direction the globe might be heading. Standing apart, each issue seems slightly disturbing, but mixed together in an ever-simmering mixture of reality stew it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to anticipate that our world pot might soon boil over. After all, aren’t larger corporations gobbling up smaller businesses? Aren’t some Christian religions now touting prosperity and blessings as the earthly benefit of being a follower? Don’t our youth (and adults) crave the next latest “thing” that is quickly trumped by the next, slightly-improved gadget?  Aren’t the same companies that finance us, also producing the gadgets that we slave to obtain? Aren’t politics and religion, slowly merging their lines into a muddled picture, with liberals being accused of secularism and conservatives holding the keys to the kingdom?” How much farther then until church and state become married?  Thus, is it really much of a stretch to see a world where The Company displaces government?  One where Company “bystanders” allow those who have acquired too much debt to be sent off to Company work camps? Or a world where “…experts agree that debtor-workers across the globe stand to benefit greatly from what’s being called the final consolidation” (and hasn't this sort of happened before)?

Yet, despite a few quirks, this intricate weaving of apparent flaws becomes its own clever style of “propaganda”—one that might achieve the writer’s purpose—a “call to awareness” that all people should stand up and take notice of.

Review of Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray

By Ruta Sepetys



Philomel

5 Scribbles

It is 38 degrees below zero in Trofimovsk, Russia today. Imagine that you were taken there at gunpoint without time to prepare, with only the clothes on your back, maybe a coat and mittens if you’re lucky. Now imagine that you have only what you can find for food and shelter in order to survive the Arctic winter. Would you live to tell about it?

Stalin, the leader of Russia from 1941 to 1953, decided to take over 3 countries, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and to be rid of anyone there who he thought might be a threat to his rule. (At the same time Hitler was on his campaign to erase the Jewish people.) Stalin banished all sorts of the educated—teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, librarians—and those accused of being against Stalin—people who helped others escape , relatives of military workers, even children—to prison camps. Many of these camps were in Siberia. All of the camps were brutal places to be and almost assured the death of the prisoner. Lina is 15 when she is deported to Siberia with her mother and brother. Her courage in the face of such unbelievable danger and cruelty are what draws the reader into the story, and the descriptions of Lina’s artwork (accompanied by her love of the artist Munch) come to life through the author’s vivid descriptions. It isn’t hard to have empathy for Lina’s anger at the prison guards, to mourn for Lina’s helpless brother who becomes an old man before he is a teenager, and to adore her angelic mother who tries so very hard to make their suffering bearable and to see the good in others. All of the characters in the novel, even minor characters, become an extension of ourselves when we read, they become our family and we root for their survival while we dread the worst. And while the story is brutal, through the gift of her writing, the author shows us that in even the most despairing of conditions people can exhibit mercy and kindness. Short, powerful chapters with settings that make the reader’s teeth chatter reveal a part of history that previously existed only in whispers; I, for one, am pleased that Sepetys is now raising her voice into a shout so that all may know and learn about these atrocities.

This informative video explains how the author researched & wrote this story. The book becomes even richer once you've viewed this short video.