Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle

 

Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle is another young adult memoir my school purchased as a book clubs option for our students. I've been making my way through several books from this order to see which ones might appeal to different kids. I decided to give this one a try next.

Enchanted Air tells the story of Margarita's childhood as a Cuban-American girl growing up in the 1950s and 60s. Her mother is from Cuba and her father is American. They live in the United States, but take regular trips to the island to visit family. On these trips, Margarita feels like a whole different person; she loves the tropical atmosphere, the rural lifestyle, and horses that live on her family's farm. This version of herself is more courageous and independent than the shy, nerdy Margarita that she is in America. She treasures the time she spends in Cuba and looks forward to returning there each year. 

Political conflicts, however, soon cut Margarita off from the island she loves. The revolution, and the ensuing hostility between Cuba and the United States, make travel impossible. Tensions also rise at home with neighbors, teachers, and classmates regarding anyone of Cuban descent with suspicion. Margarita feels like half of herself is missing and struggles to adjust to a life without her beloved island. She also worries about her Cuban family, who lose their farm and land in the transition to communism. Eventually, she finds some solace in reading, writing and through travel to other places with her family. She comes to understand that the world is vast and full of beautiful places to explore, and remains hopeful that she will be able to visit Cuba again someday.

I realized while sitting here typing out this summary that it seems like nothing much happens in this book, but it definitely doesn't feel that way when you're reading it. The story is written in verse, and Engle does a wonderful job of capturing not only the pain she felt at her separation from Cuba, but also the typical struggles of growing up and feeling like an outsider. Her story has its sad moments, but it has uplifting moments as well. I was thoroughly engaged in the memoir and moved through it quickly. The language was truly beautiful; I could feel Engle's love for Cuba in the pages alongside her confusion and frustration over the politics that stood between her and her family. 

Enchanted Air is short, but quite striking and memorable. Aside from being a great memoir in its own right, it also touches on aspects of history that many students are unfamiliar with, like the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missle Crisis, and the Cold War, from the perspective of a young person actually impacted by it. It has won a slew of young adult awards since its publication in 2015 and they are certainly well-deserved. I will definitely be recommending this memoir to students in the future.                 

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 21/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 12/24

You Don't Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska

 

You Don't Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska was another one of the books my school purchased for a language arts unit on memoirs. As it was pretty short and very new, I decided to give it a try and see if our students might like it.

This memoir is the diary of Yeva Skalietska, who was twelve years old and living in Ukraine with her grandmother when the war with Russia began in 2022. The town they lived in, Kharkiv, is very close to the Russian border, so Yeva began to see the impacts of the war immediately. She wrote all about her experiences in her diary, documenting her fear and terror of the falling bombs and her sadness at having to leave her home to find safety. Her and her grandmother end up traveling across Ukraine to Hungary, then to Ireland as refugees. Her diary updates paint an informative and emotional picture for readers of what it is like to really live through, and escape from, a war.

Yeva writes about this journey in a thoughtful way that illuminates the impact of war on children. She focuses only on the danger and terror of the situation and how it upended her life. She does not get into any politics or history at all. Her writing is easy to read for a young audience and remains appropriate for middle grades while still being realistic. The short length makes the memoir accessible to younger readers as well. I think that both adults and kids will appreciate this story. Kids will enjoy reading something real from the perspective of someone their own age, and adults will find the young point of view all the more poignant through their older lens.

Ultimately, I can definitely see myself recommending You Don't Know What War Is to our students once they reach their memoir unit. It is a realistic look at how war affects the lives of children and the fact that it is so modern will make it feel relevant in a way that a lot of older works don't. This is definitely a worthwhile read.

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 20/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 12/24

Signs of Survival by Renee Hartman and Joshua M. Greene

 

One of the books my school purchased for our seventh grade memoir unit this year was Signs of Survival by Renee Hartman. This short memoir centers around Hartman's experiences as a young Jewish girl living in Czechoslovakia during the Holocaust. The cover of this one was quite striking, and as I generally try to read at least some of the selections we have available in our student book clubs, I decided to give it a try.

The memoir is told from two perspectives, that of Renee Hartman and her younger sister Herta. Most of the story comes from Renee, who explains that she was around ten years old when the Nazis invaded her hometown of Bratislava. Her parents and younger sister were all deaf, so she has to act as the ears for her family and stay alert to the ever-increasing danger of the occupation. Eventually, the family is separated and Renee and her sister are sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Renee describes how they endured starvation, violence, and illness until they were liberated at the end of the war. Both girls were lucky to make it out alive. Their parents, however, did not survive. Renee and her sister regained their freedom only to find themselves alone. Renee goes onto explain how they created new lives for themselves after the war and the efforts they made to teach others about their experiences. 

It's tricky to critique a memoir, especially one that deals with such a difficult and painful subject. Signs of Survival was certainly an interesting and heartbreaking read, and I have deep respect and admiration for Renee and Herta for sharing their story. It takes great courage and strength to relive the events of a genocide and Hartman manages to explain her experiences in a way that is both truthful and not too graphic. This memoir was written for a young audience, and it is definitely appropriate for upper elementary and middle school students. Its short length means that students won't be intimidated by it, and I expect that many kids will pick it up this year. The Holocaust is one of those subjects that everyone needs to learn about, and this is a very accessible way for students to explore it through the eyes of some of the survivors.

One aspect of the memoir that I wished had been a little different was the amount of detail. The pace is very fast and a lot of specifics that would create more of a solid story structure were missing. The way things looked, smelled, felt, etc. were mostly absent. At the end of the book the collaborating writer, Joshua Greene, reveals that the text for this memoir was transcribed from a collection of video recollections Renee and her sister contributed to for a museum. This is why it doesn't feel like a complete story - it was originally a spoken recording. While this was enough to convey the events of the experience, I couldn't help but feel that reading a transcript version of a video was not the best way to digest this information. By not watching the video, we lose the powerful visual and audio elements of Renee and Herta telling their own story. Also, because people don't speak like they write, we also lose the extra details we would get from a traditionally written text. I wish that a little more writing was added in to round out some of the sparse parts and bring a sense of cohesion to the story.

In the end though, Signs of Survival was still a compelling and important story. While I wish the level of detail had been greater, it was still a very moving and worthwhile read. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for older teens or adults, but it is a wonderful memoir for an upper elementary and middle grades audience. 

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 19/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 12/24

Coo by Kaela Noel

 

My school recently got in a shipment of new books for our book clubs. A lot of them looked really cute, so I decided to choose a few to read on my lunch breaks. Coo by Kaela Noel was my first pick. I was drawn to the beautiful cover at first, and the summary on the back seemed so wholesome that it sealed the deal. 

The novel tells the story of Coo, a young girl abandoned by her parents as an infant. She is discovered by a flock of pigeons that lift her up to the rooftop of the building their dovecote is on and raise her as their own. Coo knows nothing of the world outside of her rooftop; the pigeons are her family and only companions. They brings her plastic bags to fashion into clothes and feed her bits of bread and old pieces of fruit they scavenge from dumpsters. In return, Coo scares off predators, like hawks. She can speak to the pigeons and loves them. They do love her in return, although, being pigeons, they are limited in the amount of affection they show. The exception to this is Burr, the pigeon that first found Coo as a baby. He has a special relationship with her and they look out for each other. 

Everything changes for Coo when Burr is injured one day. He breaks his wing and needs real medical attention to survive. Coo bravely carries him down from their rooftop to find him some help, and this sets off a chain of events that draws her into the world of humans--a place far more complicated than her dovecote ever was. She is able to find help for Burr, but soon after she learns of a city extermination plan that will harm her entire flock. Coo must learn how to navigate her strange new surroundings and figure out how to interact with other humans in order to save her friends.

This was a really cute story, and I enjoyed it a great deal. Of course, the premise is ridiculous and you have to suspend your disbelief in order to read it, but once you get past those things it's a good time. I liked the relationship between Coo and the pigeons. These weren't like cartoon pigeons at all, they spoke in their own, simple dialect, didn't understand a lot of concepts, and retained their pigeon instincts and concerns. There were several points throughout the story where Coo wished for her flock to understand more things or feel complex emotions, like loyalty or sacrifice. She loved them, but most of them could not love her back in the same way. It was interesting to watch her navigate that.

Coo herself was a very sympathetic character that was easy to root for. The human she eventually forms a relationship with, Tully, was much the same. Their story was very sweet and just as I expected, incredibly wholesome. This novel is perfect for the middle school audience it was written for and I think a lot of students will enjoy it, especially those who are into animals. The only potential downside is its length. At 407 pages, kids might be hesitant to pick Coo up. Granted, the pages are very short, but the visual of a thick book is a tough sell for young readers sometimes. Even so, those that aren't intimidated by its size will find a lot to love here.  

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 18/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 12/24