When Loose Ends Meet

The Atlas of Reds and Blues by Devi S. Laskar

11 Feb 2020 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Black and White Are Not Colors • The second-generation Bengali woman known as Mother in Devi S. Laskar’s emotionally raw debut novel, The Atlas of Reds and Blues, is forty-three years, six months, twenty-five days old when an unexpected, swift, and tragic chain of events transpires. Upon returning home from dropping her three young daughters at school, agents storm her house, she refuses to remain silent, then she finds herself lying on her driveway in an Atlanta suburb, bleeding from […]

Categories: Adult Readers, Appeared in India Currents Magazine, Book Reviews • Tags: 2nd generation, family, guns, violence to POC

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Hello Now by Jenny Valentine

10 Feb 2020 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 9-12 Jude, a flat-out realist, hates living on the edge and starting anew. When Jude’s mother no longer has a job, and money gets tight, they move to a seaside community, where Jude feels incredibly alone. Understandably, she thinks love and magic are myths; however, her interest is piqued when Novo appears across the street, clad in head-to-toe black, yet spreading vibrant colors, love, and harmony to all who see him. Jude is transfixed, wondering who he is and […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers • Tags: a new start, magic, now

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An English Made in India by Kalpana Mohan

An English Made in India: How a Foreign Language Became Local by Kalpana Mohan

22 Jan 2020 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Language is fluid, and anyone who has successfully made it to adulthood has experienced slang growing into accepted usage and accepted usage shifting as new verbal practices infiltrate conversation and the written word. Such is the conundrum India has encountered since the British East India Company carried out the will of its crown. In her engaging, entertaining, and educational book, An English Made in India: How a Foreign Language Became Local, Kalpana Mohan cleverly mixes pieces of India’s history with […]

Categories: Adult Readers, Appeared in India Currents Magazine, Book Reviews, India, language • Tags: India, language, non-fiction

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My Best Books for Youth in 2019

25 Dec 2019 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

I am a Books for Youth reviewer for Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association, and I have the privilege of reading a wide variety of early, middle grade, young adult books each year. I enjoy reading debut novels, works from authors just a few books old, and books from established authors. I take joy in the fact that there’s such excitement in this world of books, and I love its changes, particularly in terms of diversity. My 2019 […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

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Beginners Welcome by Cindy Baldwin

1 Dec 2019 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 3-6 On the heels of her father’s sudden death, Annie Lee is struck both by his absence and the loss of his infectious love of music. Her situation is further complicated by having to move and start sixth grade at a new school, away from her two best friends. She finds respite at Brightleaf Mall, where she secretly begins taking piano lessons from an older gentleman named Ray. To Annie Lee, Ray’s music is magical, and she believes the […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Readers • Tags: Durham NC, music, parental loss, piano lessons

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The End of the World as I Know It by Matthew Landis

27 Oct 2019 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 5-8 It’s been nearly a year since Derrick “Dee” Waters lost his mom, a Major in the Air Force deployed in Iraq. Since then, he’s been convinced that the apocalypse is scheduled to happen this September 21, which is 19 days away. He’s consumed by a doomsday blog and outfitting a shed to keep him safe when the fated day rolls around. Dee’s family and friends have learned to deal with his fixation, but when his next-door neighbor, Misty, […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Middle Grade Readers • Tags: middle grade, military parent, parental loss

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I Never Told You by Bernie Brown

27 Oct 2019 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

SHOUT OUT! Bernie Brown’s debut novel, I Never Told You, is an emotional mother-daughter story that moves geographically from a small town in Iowa to a competitive art school in Chicago to the glitz and glam of Hollywood in 1965. Anna and her daughter Katya love each other, but there are important parts of their lives they can’t share with each other, moving them apart emotionally as well. The chasm between them deepens, and only tragedy can bring them together. […]

Categories: Adult Readers, Book Reviews, Brief Book Shout-Out • Tags: 1965, coming of age, mother-daughter

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The Poison Garden by A. J. Banner

26 Oct 2019 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

SHOUT OUT! Damn! I couldn’t put this book down, and it’s A. J. Banner’s fault! Like her previous three domestic psychological thrillers, this newly-published novel is tight and compact. Set on one of the islands of the Pacific Northwest, it has more twists and turns than a mountain road. In under 200 pages, she manages to draw in the reader with a grip that never releases until the last page. If you’re looking for a read that has creepy and […]

Categories: Adult Readers, ARC provided via NetGalley.com, Book Reviews, Brief Book Shout-Out • Tags: domestic thriller, Pacific Northwest, psychological thriller

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The How & the Why by Cynthia Hand

28 Sep 2019 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 8-12 Being adopted as a baby has given Cass a good life with loving parents and the best friend ever. But now that she’s 18, she feels the urge to search for the woman who gave her life. Little by little—while still mindful of her parents’ feelings—Cass chips away at the blank wall dividing her from information she desperately needs in order to complete her sense of self. The narrative is told via two alternating voices that are rich […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers • Tags: adoption, teen pregnancy

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