Other Women's Stories: What I'm reading this week (11/11/19)

Last week I finished:

The four children's book reviews below are for books read for Cybils award judging and represent my opinions. My reviews do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other panelists.

A couple of years ago, I enjoyed reading Trevor Noah's Born a Crime (see my review here). As part of Cybils judging, I just read his young reader's edition called It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime. I was interested to see how the book for children differed, but given the over two years that has elapsed since reading the adult version, I guess I can't accurately judge that. I found the books remarkably similar, and I couldn't spot any differences such as stories or chapters in one and not the other or additional information in one or the other. In fact, I don't think the language in the children's version was any simpler, and certainly the portions that discussed apartheid were not. I would think this book is more high school YA level than middle-grade, but I'm no expert. I certainly wouldn't give it to a fourth-grader, but perhaps a mature eighth-grader. In the book, Noah tells about growing up as apartheid in South Africa was ending. It was a confusing time, and the transition was not necessarily smooth. Growing up mixed-raced in a country where the races were separated by law, he was "born a crime." Just going outside with his black mother was a challenge, and it could be dangerous. It's an important story for children to hear lest they never learn about the destruction that extreme racism brings. Noah is good about breaking down apartheid and racism to its building blocks, and when you break it down that far, you realize just how nonsensical it is. I recommend both books for stimulating thought and conversation. Do note, though, there is much talk of illegal hustling (piracy, petty theft, etc.) on Noah's part that might be inappropriate for children. I was hoping it would have been better dealt with when he know his audience was younger, but it was presented much the same way as in the adult version. It's presented matter-of-factly, but he doesn't seem to have much remorse, given that it's "what he had to do" to get by. My rating: 4 stars.

Last year I enjoyed listening to Jessica Fellowes The Mitford Murders, (see my review here) and I tried to get to the second book in the series, Bright Young Dead, all year, finally giving in to the audio version for it too. This is a series (the third is due out in January) of books loosely based on real events using fictionalized versions of the Mitford sisters as characters. The six Mitford sisters (they had a brother as well) were children in an aristocratic English family in the early part of the 20th-century. One of the sisters (I forget which) was close friends with Kick Kennedy, JFK's sister. I'm still unsure why the author used the Mitford girls as her characters when a made-up family would be just as interesting, but there you have it. In this installment, the older girls are having a party involving a scavenger hunt when one of the male attendees, Adrian Curtis, turns up dead. The main character, Louisa, the Mitfords' nursery maid, is convinced that the Curtis's maid, Dulcie, didn't do it, though all evidence points in her direction and she's taken into custody. These are fun books, a little fluffy, with some moments of high drama as well as high society snootiness. I don't love the audios as I found the female narrator's male character voices annoying, but the audio is still okay. I look forward to the next one, and hopefully I get to it before I've forgotten all the characters again. My rating: 3 stars.

I love puzzles and trivia, and I was inordinately excited to read Can You Crack the Code by Ella Schwartz. I hope the right kids find this book, because I can imagine it really appealing to a certain type of kid. The book discusses various codes, codebreaking, ciphers, cryptography, encryption, and gives you tons of historical information about the topic. Young codebreakers can try their hand at solving ciphers throughout the book. I found it engaging and fascinating. It's something I've always been kind of interested in, but not interested enough to pick up an adult book about it. This is the perfect book for learning about the topic without becoming overloaded or bored. I had a lot of fun with it. My rating: 4 stars.

There are certain historical figures that I know by name and reputation only, folks I'd like to know more about, but I'm not interested enough to seek out a whole biography of them. Caught! by Georgia Bragg was a great resource for learning more about the notorious ones. Each chapter plucks another scoundrel from the pages of history and gives you the interested facts about their life, their crimes, and their eventual capture. Here's a list of a few of the folks discussed: Al Capone, Joan of Arc, Jesse James, John Wilkes Booth, Blackbeard, Rasputin, and Typhoid Mary. The best part about the book is that it is often hilarious. The chapters are very conversational, and there are witty quips throughout that actually made me laugh. I enjoyed reading this book very much, and I learned a lot, too. My rating: 4 stars.

A part of the She Dared series, the biography Bethany Hamilton gives a look at the teenaged surfer who lost her left arm to a tiger shark attack, but taught herself how to surf competitively again. She's a remarkable woman with a remarkable story, but this book wasn't the best at presenting that. I've never been one to read a biography of a person when an autobiography exists, and I think I'd enjoy Hamilton's book Soul Surfer more. The book was lackluster and bland. There's a fine art to taking an adult story and presenting it to children in a satisfying, engaging, and inspiring way. This book just didn't hit the mark, though it inspired me to seek out other books, which isn't all bad. My rating: 3 stars.

This week I'll finish: