Paul: Tarsus to Redemption, Vol. 1 by Mathew Salisbury

I must begin with a special thanks to the writers of this Manga series; we don't read much of the comic and Manga series available at the library.... especially those marketed to teens. These are terrific alternatives.

If you have a Manga/comic book lover, they will probably like these...

We got the Paul of Tarsus and the Judith books as soon as we saw them. ... A bit to my surprise, my tween and teen both loved them. They haven't had a steady diet of the Manga and comics, so that could be a factor, but I think it's the high quality of these books as well.

The author graduated from John Paul the Great University; if this first book I read (Paul: Tarsus to Redemption Vol.1), is an indication, they are ecumenical books. This one, of course, is based on the story of St. Paul and his conversion from zealous persecutor of Christians to zealous preacher of Christ.

The main biblical characters and events are covered in a Manga-style with some "might have been" embellishments. For example, after Paul's conversion, he meets and is nurtured by the new Christians, (at this time known as followers of The Way). He meets an attractive Christian girl, and later learns that he had killed her brother in his days dedicated to stamping out Chrisitanity. He has already come to repent of his violence, but this helps inspire his "Love it patient, Love is Kind..." missive.

His previous Jewish mentor, Gamaliel, does not approve of Paul's methods in stamping out the Christians. But Septus, the young Roman Paul mentors, is not convinced by Paul's conversion and tries to kill Paul for his betrayal of the Jewish faith just as Paul taught him to do to the Christians.

It's told primarily by pictures being a Manga comic. The rating is for ages 12 and up, although I let my younger ones read it. I think the reason for the rating may be the themes of violence throughout. It's certainly not for the skimpy clothing you find in teen Manga comics. There is fighting, such as the long sequence of fighting between Paul's Christian defender and Septus, Paul's former student. An earlier scene depicts Paul standing in front of young Christian children with a bloody knife, illustrating his depth of descent before his conversion. One theme is the forgiveness and peace he learns to embrace when he follows The Way of Christ.

I may just have to read Judith now for myself....

SAFETY RATING: 3 Flags

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The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes

This is a well-written story about a bi-racial foster child.

Paris and her older brother, Malcolm, are in the process of leaving their foster home when we meet them in the first couple chapters. Their current foster mother is physically abusive, threatens them, and locks them in the closet. Malcolm takes care of Paris as best he can. In this case, by stealing money from his foster mom and running.

They reach their grandmother who cannot keep them. Paris's heart is damaged even further when she is separated from her brother at this point. He is sent away as "incorrigible" for stealing the money from his foster mom.

Paris enters a new foster home with parents, several other foster children, and a new school with a new best friend. Her healing begins with the loving and firm guidance of an understanding family. But the situation is threatened by her mother's re-entry into her life, hoping to be a family again. And, of course, Paris still needs her brother.

One important part of Paris’s healing is learning to keep God close to her. Her brother also finds this help on his own. Paris's new family are members of Star of Bethlehem Baptist church and Paris begins her journey of faith as she finds her gift of singing through the choir.

I like the way the author handles the race issue. At one point, Paris is wounded terribly when her best friend (white) abandons her because her father is a racist… shown in his ugliness by calling Paris a “blonde nigg…” Paris learns, with guidance from her foster mom (white) learns that each individual should be judged by his own actions.

In the end, Paris has to learn to forgive her mother, and she has to make a momentous decision to stay with her foster family or return to her mother.

Nikki Grimes writes convincingly and compellingly. The Great Gilly Hopkins remains my favorite all-time foster-child story, but this is a worthy runner-up.

While this is written in a style for mid tweens, the content is serious: teens and maybe older tweens should have no problem with it, but you may need to consider maturity. There are no gratuitous details, the moral failings of Paris' biological parents are presented matter-of-factly (but should not be passed over lightly), and the abusive parts are not graphic; the real story centers on the love and healing and Paris' resilient spirit.

You may want to consider the seriousness of the topic: her mom is an alcoholic. She and her brother have different fathers. Paris' biological father abandons the family, then the mother abandons her, then she loses her brother. She is locked in a closet by her first foster family where she brushes off a cockroach and huddles with her brother. The hurdles she overcomes are formidable. I imagine most foster children do not get into the system for minor reasons; this may be a good topic to discuss depending on the age/maturity of your child. There is a casual use of the term “butt,” as in… we’ll beat your butts… (Around here that is a coarse and banned term…)

SAFETY RATING: 2 Flags

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A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

I reviewed this author's book, Cracker, so I wasn't surprised that I enjoyed this story quite a bit.

We're back in Vietnam, and this time, we are seeing the war from the point-of-view of Y'Tin, an adolescent Vietnamese boy from the Rhade tribe. He is an apprentice elephant-trainer, and he and his tribe have a close devotion to the elephants that work for them.

The Rhade tribe is a rural tribe who helped the American Special Forces during the Vietnam war. This tells the story of how Y'Tin's village lived somewhat isolated from the fighting while helping Americans track through the Vietnamese jungle. Sadly, it tells how the Americans promised to come back if the North Vietnamese violated the peace treaty and the Rhade had to come to terms with the fact that that promise would not be fulfilled.

Of course, the North Vietnamese did violate the treaty, and they exacted terrible retribution on these people, and the author thankfully tells the story honestly and without beating the drum for a particular agenda.

Be aware that while written for a younger audience (not adults), you may want to consider the age and sensitivity level of your tween. Teens should have no problem, Teens should have no problem, but being as this is war, it is heavy. When the North Vietnamese army invades his village, Y'Tin is tortured by being hung by his feet upside-down. It is a light intro. to torture (if such a thing exists) as it does not get heavy into painful detail, it just gives a general description. Later, Y'Tin helps to dig a mass grave which he escapes but "popping sounds in the night" reveal its purpose. When he goes back to check on his village, he digs enough to encounter a human ear. At this point, he covers it up and flees back into the jungle.

Y'Tin has a respectful and admirable relationship with his father. Respect for authority is portrayed positively. Y'Tin's father is a thoughtful and moral man who weighs sides to importannt issues and reasons them out. He is considering converting to Christianity. All other religious references are an accurate (I trust the author's research) portrayal of the rural tribes' belief: spirits reside in all things, and people have 3 distinct spirits. These spirits need sacrifice for appeasement.

There is also a mention of divorce for Y'Tin's aunt that is matter-of-fact and a seemingly casual acceptance.

The post-script to the book included research information that did not lend itself to the story, and this was fascinating. We learn more about the Rhade, including the fact that right near the Special Forces headquarters here in the U.S., soldiers bought land for many members of these Vietnamese tribes who came here after the war. They are faring much better here, unfortunately, than they are even today in Vietnam.

SAFETY RATING: 2 Flags

Historical Fiction: Vietnam War; 1950's; 1960's; 1970's

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Classical Comics by UK Publishers

Great pieces of literature turned-into-graphic-novel form! It just might spell the end of intelligent life in the Western Literature. But… I suggest that this one signals a worthwhile beginning.

I mean, if the extent of my children’s experience with classical literature ended here, I would be distressed. Beginning here might be a perfect portal or addition.

For example, the only way around here that we could be more saturated with books is to move into the library. Yet, wonder-of-wonders, I have a non-reader. It baffles me daily. She’s drawn to graphic novels and comics. This very child, the only one who has to be assigned reading time instead of dragged away from books…. LIKES THESE.

You need no higher a recommendation. But I will go on.

These comics are quite a notch above the typical anime books for Teens that my little tween wants to read. I don’t have to cringe at the clothes or parts of the story line, except maybe, Frankenstein. But hey, you should know just what you’re getting in each of these. They are true to the original story and text. The artwork is remarkable and worthy of the quality of literature.

Heck, even Shakespeare would enjoy seeing a copy. So give them a try. Maybe they’ll please all kinds of readers in your house…

SAFETY RATING: 3 Flags

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Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop

What a rich tapestry (can’t help the pun) of the experience of children in a textile mill in Vermont, 1910.

The inspiration for this carefully-researched story began with a photograph of a child working in the mills taken by a reformer of the early 1900’s, a man named Lewis Hine.

Grace is only 11. We meet her on her last day of school. Her exuberant mouth and bad timing inspire her teacher to tell her to leave school. Grace thinks working in the mill will be a good alternative because her family needs the money.

Grace’s teacher regrets her hastiness. Grace is one of Ms. Leslie’s most capable students. In fact, she hates to lose her to the mill as much as Grace learns to hate working in it. But at this time, laws against child labor are not enforced. Letters written by Ms. Leslie to the authorities manage to eventually get her fired but do not bring the hoped-for law enforcement.

Grace ends up in a with an uncertain but hopeful future. One that by the end of the novel, you'll strongly desire for each child caught up in the mill life. Sadly, it was rarely something they or their parents hoped for themselves.

One context-approriate expletive, “dam…” and a description of a boy who caught his fingers in the mill-machine should not stop this from being a safe book for mid-older tweens.

In fact, in a large field of excellent historical fiction, Counting on Grace stands out as one lovely flower.

SAFETY RATING: 3 Flags

Historical Fiction: 1910; early 20th century; America; child-labor

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A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

As my Grandma would say, “This story is a hoot!”

Speaking of Grandma’s, this one is a character. She lives in a small town in Illinois. Her granddaughter from Chicago comes to visit her because it's the tail-end of the Great Depression.

Grandma doesn’t let her granddaughter rest. She’s enrolled in school the first day. Grandma doesn’t rest herself. By the end of the first school day, Grandma is taking care of the bully who accompanies Mary Alice home by outwitting her in a most amusing manner involving bare feet and a long homeward trek. The boys who try to destroy Grandma’s outhouse also meet their match involving their bald heads and Grandma’s privy remaining pristine (so to speak).

Mary Alice also turns out to have some spunky tricks up her sleeve much like her eldest relative. It makes you sorry when she finally heads for home at the end of the year.

It does pack a one-two punch in terms of cautions for parents. First… remember the Herdmans in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever? In this story, the characters that are "Herdman-like" end up slipping an illegitimate baby from a teenage mother into the manger during the Nativity. It’s more serious misbehavior than, say, the Herdman’s trying to catch one another in the garage door.

Also, Grandma takes on a boarder who is also an artist. Whilst he is painting a local woman in the buff, the resident snake from the attic drops onto her, and she comes shrieking downstairs, out the front door, and down the road. Grandma shoots the gun in order to alert the townsfolk to come to their windows and watch her as she streaks naked back home.

The descriptions aren’t lurid, just a bit on the mature side. Now you know.

This is a sequel to A Long Way from Chicago which my oldest tween thoroughly enjoyed.

SAFETY RATING: 2 Vatican Flags

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The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The cover of this book grabs the eye and heart. And the story does the same, heart-wise.

The main character is a dog who is chained up 24-7 in the yard of an abusive, violent man who makes his home in a shack in a swamp. The dog is joined by a cat with her 2 kits who share his food and all create a real home in The Underneath: the space under the porch where the man remains unaware of them… for a time, anyway…

This is one of two stories. There is a second story that is told concurrently and overlaps with the first (if you’ve read Holes, you know exactly what I mean). This second story troubled me. It is a story of Indian people changing shape, and assuming form from animal to human. It is also the story of the love of the Indian girl who left her mother, “the Grandma” who has the form of a snake. She left for the love of a man who also took a different shape to share a life with her. The ancient Grandmother-snake wants her daughter back, and the story tells of how her daughter is tricked back into becoming a snake permanently and can't change back. This destroys the happy family-life of the daughter and her husband/child. It is very moving, and in the end, the snake sees a similarity in the dog/cat family of the first story, and she saves them by biting the chain that held the dog because at the last moment, she recognizes the love that she destroyed with her daughter’s family, and she makes a decision that helps her to redeem the selfish mistake she made.

A mature tween may have no problem seeing this as Indian-folklore, but I was sufficiently concerned by the new-age/pagan overtones of the second story, that I skipped it and read only the first story to my younger girls, and I read aloud a version of the snake doing its saviour-bit without the whole background story of Grandma snake.

So while I enjoyed the story as an adult, I would give a strong caution to the novel as a whole and encourage parents to read it first. The violent character of the man and the way he tries to drown a kitten whose mom dies saving it, should be noted for sensitive tweens….

SAFETY RATING: 1 Vatican Flag

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Nothing to Fear by Jackie French Koller

There seems to be something about the Depression-era that inspires the best historical fiction. Nothing to Fear takes place in an urban setting amongst an Irish-Catholic family hit hard by the economic collapse in America.

Danny lives with his mother, sister and father, until his father leaves home to find a job. Danny takes this hard. In the end, his father never makes it home since he was killed while jumping trains to make it back to his family for Christmas.

Through Danny’s eyes, we get a powerful picture of the Depression and its effect on different people: compassion, unkindness, and the mixture of both. It’s an excellent book overall.

The first safety flag I would wave is to let parents know that there was a reference to a child murdered and found in a basement. Also, Danny runs into old neighbors of his who were evicted and now live in a “Hooverville” shantytown in the park. It’s a stark and tragic depiction of poverty that may be disturbing to some tweens.

I’m adding another caution for the portrayal of the Catholic faith. There are references that make the Catholic setting of the book clear: Danny goes to catechism and mass, and there are pictures of Jesus and Mary on the walls. Despite Danny’s exposure to the faith, there is no discernible depth or richness to it. He never has recourse to it, and his only real encounter with God and His strength is a conversation with an older man Hank, who tells Danny that he believes in a higher power watching out for him.

That Danny isn't encouraged by his faith, or even seems to have much understanding of it, is good for parents to discuss, but more important to me is the one-sided caricature of the faith encountered. Specifically, when Danny goes to catechism class, he gives the Sister back-talk. This Sister is the only one depicted in the story. She appears to be a mean, stern, and humorless sort who then makes Danny kneel during the whole class, then makes his neighbor, a girl named Maggie, do the same when she giggles. Then, Maggie passes a note which says, “I saw you naked last night.” (It’s not clear if she actually did…she opened his chained kitchen door a crack when he was taking a bath and stood there awhile, panicking him.) Now, they have to kneel on rice for the rest of the hour. Sister also assigns them the consequence of 5 rosaries to be prayed that evening.

How do Maggie and Danny handle this? There is no sense of repentance for breaching decorum or modesty. There is no respect for Sister and what she might be trying to teach them, at least through the prayers. Maggie scoffs at the idea of doing the rosaries, and Danny expresses some knee-jerk fear and guilt that if he doesn’t do them, he’ll be in mortal trouble. (sin is never mentioned). For an older adolescent attending catechism, Danny has a poor forming in the faith.

Perhaps this was the experience of a lot of Catholics, and that explains a lot nowadays. Still, it’s something to think about in terms of how much you want to parade this view of Catholicism before your children, at least uncritically. It’s not likely to enrich their faith. I’d want my children to recognize the narrow slice of the pie they are receiving here.

Safety Rating: 2 Vatican Flags

Historical Fiction: 1932; Depression Era; America

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Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

I hope you haven’t seen the movie because, once again, the book is better by far. A movie can’t capture Natalie Babbit’s lyrical, beautifully descriptive writing. Tweens may not appreciate her writing abilities as much as an English teacher like me, but they’ll likely be drawn into the story.

Winnie is an 11 year old girl, an only child, living a hum-drum summer at the family home in Treegap. She wanders into the woods and discovers a boy, Jessie, who is sitting by an underground brook. They speak briefly, but when she attempts to drink from the brook as she'd observed the boy doing earlier, events change rapidly. Jessie panics, his family arrives, they panic, and Winnie is suddenly carried off by them in a reluctant kidnapping.

Their explanation for their panicked behavior is quite unbelievable. They explain to Winnie that they had drunk from the creek some 80+ years ago. Much later, they found out that none of them could die. They figured out that it was because of the creek water.

Winnie quickly becomes fond of the quirky, gentle little family which is so different from her own. She is especially fond of Jessie. She will go home, but before that can be resolved, the man in yellow arrives. He obstensibly shows up to return Winnie to her family, but his real interest lies in selling the creek water to the public. In the only cringe-worthy moment of the book, Ma Tuck whacks the man on the back of the head with the butt of a rifle after he threatens Winnie and threatens to reveal this secret to the world. The Tucks have realized this will have horrible results.

Next, Ma Tuck is waiting in jail, headed for the gallows if the man dies. Of course, Ma Tuck can't die, which presents a whole new problem. Death would actually be a good thing in her case. She must be rescued, and Winnie decides to help. She also must decide if she will drink the water when she turns 17, as Jessie has suggested, and join him, literally forever.

Teaching Moments: There is a fascinating theme of the cycle of life and the the intregral role of death. Most interesting to me is the Tuck's explanation of the creek being something left over from a time when the world was originally created in a different way. This harks back to the Garden of Eden.

See: Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Man's First Sin: paragraph 400

Safety Rating: 3 Vatican Flags

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Scat by Carl Hiassen

I started this book with skepticism on 4 points.

1. I read a book of Hiassen's for adults and had a major objection (forgot what it was but remembered his name).

2. I think the mean-teacher caricature popping up in books/movies is a bit overdone, perhaps to the detriment of respect for authority.

3. The theme of harm done to teacher by student is too much for tweens; it's too in-keeping with a debased culture.

4. Enviromentally-themed novels easily slip into subtle hints of overpopulation-of-humans-as-pests.

Fortunately, Carl H. scrubs himself up for the adolescents and comes off mostly clean. The book does begin with the teacher-from-you-know-where in a stand-off with the delinquent, dangerous boy. Subsequently, the next day, the teacher does not return home from a field trip and this boy becomes a suspect in her disappearance. However, the author manages to wrap this all up in a way that redeems everyone except the evil oil-company who is illegally plotting to siphon oil off of a government refuge.

The lead-in scenes with the horrible teacher and scary student are great hooks to draw you into the story. The plot involves two of the bad boy's classmates solving the mystery of the teacher's disappearance, a sound sympathy for endangered species, and a foiling of a criminal plan by unethical oil company CEO's.

The book is not laced with profanity, but some objectionable language pops up consistently from the characters you'd expect would talk that way. (dumba--; smarta--; but-cheeks). I had more reservation when dad said cra_ (yeah, could be worse), and mom said but-. Three times "Oh my G--" was used by a character. Cringe. In the dad's case, he made up for it in my book when he taught his son to "be truthful no matter how hard it may be." Also, one character is an avid environmentalist who stops the criminal behavior of a man hired by the oil company by gluing him naked to a tree...

Safety Rating: 2 Vatican Flags

Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Respect for the integrity of Creation: 2415, 2417

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The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

Once I settled into this writer's style (it took a chapter), I enjoyed it to the end. It's mostly a delightful romp of a book with minor rough edges. The light-hearted pokes at multiculturalism did not hurt.

Mrs. Olinski is a wheelchair-bound teacher who appoints 4 students to be her homeroom representatives for the academic bowl: Nadia, Noah, Ethan, and Julian. The story shifts from the point-of-view of one character to the next, each shift of narration painting a fuller picture of the connections and relationships of these four students as well as their teacher.

What makes the plot of this story unique and elevates it to superior is the theme of kindness vs. malice and how each character faces and chooses to counter the ugliness found in human nature.

Some minor bumps: the mention of 6th grade girls whose bra straps show. The reason it's mentioned was reasonable: they weren't being fashionable but signaling they were entering puberty. There are grandparents who marry and a rejoinder to the question of how you can play the same music over and over made grandma blush: "How can you stand making love to the same woman over and over?" One character with divorced parents is described as "not accustomed to being around married people who like each other." There is a TV talk show with the title: "Mom's who Flirt with their Daughter's Boyfriends." Fortunately, that's all that's mentioned. Last, the school bully writes, "I am an ass," on Julian's backpack. This is dealt with cleverly and graciously by Julian.

I thought I detected a flavor of Eastern mysticism. It's a bit strange how the Indian character in a turban is able to tell the teacher matter-of-factly about her thinking and decisions in choosing her academic team when she had not shared them with him. There's nothing overt about it, it just put my antennae on alert. I couldn't find a directly objectionable statement, but though the term "pyschic" is not used, it comes to mind when the Indian character does a mind-reading stunt...


Safety Rating: 2 Vatican Flags

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Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

The author describes one of the characters in this book as having a "smile that takes over his face." Here, you have a story that will take over your heart. Only gifted writers can achieve the creation of such an endearing protaganist as Hope who keeps you charmed at her wit and insights until the last page.

Hope is a young waitress. She lives with her aunt, a short-order cook. They had to leave New York when the owner of the diner they worked at ran off with a waitress and all the money.

They get jobs in a small town in Wisconsin. The man they work for now (G.T.) has leukemia and is also running for mayor against the current, corrupt mayor. Soon, you'll be rooting for G.T. along with Hope and hoping she can help him win his campaign. The shenanigans of politics, the well-portrayed romances, and the interaction of all the characters is a world you won't want to put down until you read the last page. My 13 year old kept disappearing with this book, under the threat of lost computer time (sure proof the book's a winner.)

Hope's had some blows in life: her mother abandoned her; she doesn't know her father, and she experienced the death of a loved one in the book. While parental abandoment as a theme may not sound appealing for tweens, I think tweens already know about this issue (or will soon) and are not unduly disturbed by it. The key is in how the author handles it. I consider the following 3 mistakes to disqualify a book: 1. Treating irresponsible parents lightly or glossing it over as a non-issue.
2. Conveying an unbalanced or subtle criticism of males (or females, but it's usually the males), or 3. justifying it. This author does none of these.

We watch this character come to terms with abandonment as the tragedy it is. She learns to heal honest emotions of anger without being destructive. Best of all, a man steps up to the plate and admirably acts as a father-figure. The ending is sad but satisfying. As the book says, "When hope gets released in a place, all kinds of things are possible...."

Rating: 3 Vatican Flags

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