Final Week Wrap Up

This week I read 5 more books.

The first I picked up A River in Darkness by Masaji Isikawa. This was a memoir of a half-Korean, half-Japanese man who moved to North Korea at age 13 and his harrowing escape nearly 30 years later. I am fascinated by accounts of North Korea and this was a different outlook since he had lived somewhere else for several years and knew what he was missing out on. However, it ends on a very depressing note. Unfortunately, life doesn't always wrap up neatly. I gave this book 4 stars.

The slump was hitting hard so I picked up the shortest book I had; Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia Maclachlan. At only 64 pages, I was able to get through this quickly. I remember loving it quite a bit more as a child. I found it too short, with very little character development. Still, I've always been interested in pioneer life and this was a glimpse into that life. I gave it 3 stars.

Then I picked up another middle grade read called Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. Oh my goodness! This was so lovely. It is a fantasy novel about a cursed child who is whisked away to another world to enter a school of gifted students. Some people have complained its too much a mash-up of Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, and other famous fantastical novels but I feel it stands on it own. There is a sequel coming out in October and I just can't wait. I gave the book 4.5 stars!

I decided to browse Hoopla for some more middle grade reads and decided to listen to A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. This was based on a true story about the war in Southern Sudan in the 1980s and the "lost boys" who walked to refugee camps across the border into Ethiopia. This was an interesting part of history that I knew nothing about. It also focused on how lacking their access to clean healthy water was. While I enjoyed this story, I wish there had been more information about the war and the refugee camps. I gave it 3 stars.

Lastly, I picked up a graphic memoir called Lighter Than my Shadow by Katie Green. This was a graphic novel about Katie's struggle with anorexia. The artwork is simplistic and the story is sad. However, you never really understand why she develops anorexia. Why did she have a need for control? I wish she would've explored that a bit more. I'm grateful this resource is out there for people who are struggling with eating disorders. I gave the book 3 stars.