Children's Book Review: Towers Falling By Jewell Parker Rhodes

TOWERS FALLING

By: Jewell Parker Rhodes

Published: July 12, 2016

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Fiction/Junior Fiction

Several years ago, I read Jewell Parker Rhodes book on Hurricane Katrina. It too was written for middle-grade readers as a way to understand what happened during the disaster in New Orleans. NINTH WARD focused on a young girl who lived in Louisana and was tragically affected by Katrina. I thought it was very well done and it left an impact on me.

Parker Rhodes is back with another book perfect for middle-grade readers to try to understand the impact that 9/11 had on adults when the children growing up now, 15 years later (at the time this was written) were not even born yet. None of our children remember the actual event, but it is something we have talked about and watched news features about each year since it happened. As we are coming up on the 16th anniversary of the day America was attacked, this book might be a good way to approach a conversation with your child about what happened and how to understand it.

In this fictional account, Deja doesn't understand why her father is constantly in bed, with a headache, or angry. He no longer works which means her mom has to work even more hours. Deja is often responsible for caring for her younger siblings and they now live in a homeless shelter which is embarrassing and awful. It's the first day of 5th Grade and she's in a new school. Deja puts on her tough outer exterior and decides she isn't going to be nice to anybody in order to protect herself. Everyone else has a lunch box or money at lunch time, but instead, Deja decides to roam the halls. She has no friends...until a couple of kids in her class extend an olive branch. At first, Deja refuses to accept their offer of friendship, but then eventually Sabeen and Ben become her family as well as her teacher, Miss Garcia. All of the teachers are working together to teach about "our history, that's it's alive, and where we are from". Part of this has to do with the attack on 9/11 and Deja doesn't understand why it's important to learn about that one day and why her dad is so upset that her school is talking about it.

Deja tells the story and her voice is realistic and full of emotion. I can totally imagine her feelings of frustration with the school, her new friends, her father, and the other families at the shelter. I understand her unwillingness to trust new people and relationships and her misunderstandings of what is going on with her dad. If nothing else, Deja's story is a reminder for us to be open and honest with our kids, encouraging conversations about what is happening in the news, in our schools, in our communities, and the world around us. Children aren't dumb. They hear things at school, on the TV or radio, or from their friends. The best way to ease their fears is to be honest and open about what is happening. Once that happened for Deja, life became much easier for her and her family.

Jewell Parker Rhodes knows how to get into a child's mind and access their fears and frustrations. Children will be able to identify and empathize with Deja and her friends. Talking about disasters can be difficult, but with a story like TOWERS FALLING or NINTH WARD, you can remind children that there is still good in the world and we can always have hope.

As a side note:

I won this book through Book Club Cookbook. This site features books that would make good book club choices (for children or adults) and features recipes to go along with them to be served along with the discussion. The featured recipe for this book is Jewell Parker Rhodes Pistachio Baklava which is served when Deja visits Sabeen's home. See the recipe, HERE.

Jewell Parker Rhodes - source

Jewell Parker Rhodes has always loved reading and writing stories. Born and raised in Manchester, a largely African-American neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh, she was a voracious reader as a child. She began college as a dance major, but when she discovered there were novels by African Americans, for African Americans, she knew she wanted to be an author. She wrote six novels for adults, two writing guides, and a memoir, but writing for children remained her dream.

Now Jewell has published four children’s books: Ninth Ward, Sugar, Bayou Magic, and Towers Falling. Her fifth, Ghost Boys, will be released in spring of 2018. She's also published six adult novels, two writing guides, and a memoir. When she’s not writing, she’s visiting schools to talk about her books with the kids who read them, or teaching writing at Arizona State University, where she is the Piper Endowed Chair and Founding Artistic Director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.

Jewell has received numerous honors including: the American Book Award, the National Endowment of the Arts Award in Fiction, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Outstanding Writing, and two Arizona Book Awards. Ninth Ward was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, a Notable Book for a Global Society, and a Today Show Al’s Book Club for Kids Selection. Her work has been published in China, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and reproduced in audio for NPR’s “Selected Shorts. For more, visit her website, HERE.

I will be linking up this review on Booking Mama's regular Saturday feature, Kid Konnection. This is a place for bloggers to share posts related to children's and YA books. You will find spotlights, reviews, and sometimes even giveaways by clicking HERE, every Saturday.

To purchase a copy of TOWERS FALLING or NINTH WARD, click the photo below:

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase any of these books through the above links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com. 

Book Review: Working Stiff By Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell

WORKING STIFF
Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

By: Judy Melinek, M.D. and T.J. Mitchell

Published: August 12, 2014

Publisher: Scribner

Non-Fiction

For some reason, I am fascinated by medical memoirs. This one is kind of on the other end of medical...more in the morgue, but still an interesting look at the life of a medical examiner.

Judy Melinek and her husband, T.J. Mitchell have chronicled her two years working as a New York City medical examiner. She discusses some of her most bizarre and intense deaths during that time, including murder scenes, drug overdoses, and accidents. Life in New York City is never dull and each day was full of surprises.

I mostly listened to this on audio, narrated by Tanya Eby. I had both the Kindle and audible narration but found it was easier to listen to than to read. I will warn you that the material is quite graphic. Melinek does not hold back with her descriptions of the death scene or examination of the body. If you are at all squeamish, this book would NOT be for you. But, I found it easier to listen to the graphic descriptions rather than to read them. I did find myself cringing a bit while driving though at the descriptions. Eby's voice was easy to listen to and even found ways to change her voice for the various medical doctors and law enforcement that were on each scene. Eby was actually an Earphones Winner for her narration of WORKING STIFF.

Melinek obviously meets the various people after their life has ended, but finds ways to bring each of them to life by offering various background information either through the police reports or conversations with family. Melinek's own father committed suicide and she spends several pages discussing that impact on her life and attending other suicides while on her job. She even found a way to offer support to one grieving family which, I'm sure, gave her a sense of comfort as well.

The most difficult part of the book to listen to was her chapter discussing her work after 9/11. Even when I started the book and knew what year she was working in New York City, it never even occurred to me that she would be working on September 11, 2001. So, as she started describing her morning I realized the horror she was going to take the readers through on the following pages...and it was beyond horrific. I can't imagine what the first responders, fire department professionals, and law enforcement went through in the days, months, and years following 9/11. What they had to witness and go through was disastrous and life-changing. Listening to this section of the book actually caused me to pull my car over as I was crying too much to drive while listening. This part of the book has left quite an impact on me and will forever change how I view 9/11.

What most impressed me about Melinek was that she was able to separate her work life from her home life. During these early years in her career, she was a wife and mother to a toddler and then pregnant again. After viewing the unimaginable every day, she seamlessly went home and led the role of wife and mother. I, on the other hand, would have had a difficult time separating the two.  She talked about her day just like any other spouse would and then got on with the business of motherhood. She is a great example of working parents in stressful careers.

Judy Melinek, M.D. - source

Judy Melinek, M.D. is a graduate of Harvard University. She trained at UCLA in medicine and pathology, graduating in 1996. Her training at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York is the subject of her memoir, Working Stiff, which she co-wrote with her husband. Currently, Dr. Melinek is an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF, and works as a forensic pathologist in San Francisco. She also travels nationally and internationally to lecture on anatomic and forensic pathology and she has been consulted as a forensic expert in many high-profile legal cases, as well as for the television shows E.R. and Mythbusters. For more info on Judy Melinek, click HERE. 

Tanya Eby - source

To find out more about this award-winning narrator and see all the books she has read to listeners over the years, click HERE.

To purchase a copy of WORKING STIFF, click the photo below:




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Book Review: A Fall of Marigolds By Susan Meissner

A FALL OF MARIGOLDS

By: Susan Meissner

Published: February 4, 2014

Fiction





So many of the books I have read lately take a story from the past and merge it with the present.  I have loved how it was done in other novels like ORPHAN TRAIN, THE STORYTELLER, and CALLING ME HOME and this one didn't disappoint either. When merging stories from the past with the present, there has to be a believable and compelling connection.  In A FALL OF MARIGOLDS, that piece was a scartf as well as the feelings of love and loss .  We are first introduced to Taryn, a widow of 9/11 and now a single mother.  She has never been able to forgive herself for her husband's death in the North Tower.  She has tried to move on with her life by focusing on her job in a fabric store as well as raising her daughter, but ten years later a photo of her on the street on 9/11 resurfaces and forces her to relive everything all over again.

In 1911, there was a terrible fire in Manhattan called the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Clara watched in horror as her friends perished or jumped to end their life.  Clara, after living only two weeks in Manhattan flees to Ellis Island to immerse herself in the hospitals there.  As a nurse, she is subjected to healing those who came to America in hope of a better life.  While caring for a patient, she is intrigued with his loss, so similar to hers and to his deceased wife's scarf.  The scarf will forever change her feelings about love, loss and taking risks.

Taryn and Clara's stories grabbed me at the very beginning and I had a difficult time putting this book down. I thought about them as I went about my day and they even crept into my dreams at night.  The writing was expertly done in a way to put you right into the setting whether it was the year 1911 or 2001. The emotions, the sites, and the people were all so descriptive that I was feeling their sadness, grief, and pain right along with them.  The most emotional part from me was Taryn's experience from 9/11.  I will never know the true horror that occurred that day, but I will never forget how I felt watching it.  Meissner's writing of Taryn finding out her husband wasn't going to make it and being near the towers as they collapsed will be part of my memory for a long time.

Both characters were suffering from extreme grief and at times the novel was burdened by the weight of sadness. These pieces were critical to the story and I can imagine could be difficult for some to read if they too have suffered from a loss.  This would be my only caution about the novel, otherwise, I highly recommend it.  The surprising connection these two women have, a hundred years apart, their grief and eventual recovery, and the hope of a brighter future will move you forward through the emotional pieces of this story. It is a story you won't soon forget.

This would make an excellent choice for book clubs.  There are discussion questions included in the book. Since the story includes a major ethical dilemma, I can see an intense discussion held on that topic alone. A novel that can put you in the story and make you question your own actions if you were in that situation makes the story even more real in your mind.  In both Taryn and Clara's lives there are a number of "What If" situations that the reader will certainly identify with as well.

Susan Meissner will be donating a portion of the proceeds from this book to the Save the Ellis Island Foundation for the restoration of the hospital buildings on Islands Two and Three.  You can learn more about this project at http://saveellisisland.org/.

Susan Meissner - source

Susan Meissner was born in San Diego, California, the second of three. She spent her childhood in just two houses. Her first writings are a laughable collection of oddly worded poems and predictable stories she wrote when she was eight.

She attended Point Loma College in San Diego, and married her husband, Bob, who is now an associate pastor and a chaplain in the Air Force Reserves, in 1980. When she is not working on a new novel, she is directing the small groups ministries at The Church at Rancho Bernardo. She also enjoy teaching workshops on writing and dream-following, spending time with my family, music, reading great books, and traveling.

Click the photo below to purchase your own copy of A FALL OF MARIGOLDS.

Thanks to Penguin Group for sending me a copy of this novel for the purpose of this review.  This review is my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any other way for this review.  If you choose to purchase this novel through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thank for supporting SincerelyStacie.com reviews.