Tag: Diverse Characters

Other Cool Blogs: Children Non-Fiction Recommendations

Erin Penn Leave a comment


Amazon Cover

Are you looking for children and YA books? Last year I recommended the blog booksyalove.com (May 22, 2025)  for a bunch of YA recommendation from a librarian. I have found another librarian site, this time for children and I love the mix of diverse reads among the options. For the A-to-Z challenge in 2025, Christina Dankert searched out Nonfiction picture books and about half of the 37 books she covered would qualify as diverse reads – and she started strong with “A is for Activist.”

Reading is powerful. Seeing your history unfold in pictures can be lifechanging. Whether Ho’onani Hula Warrior or Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom, a budding scientific dancer will have something new to learn (and maybe the parent as well). The full list of links for the books covered in the challenge can be found in the “A to Z Blog Challenge Reflection 2025” (cut and paste option: https://christinadankert.com/2025/05/03/a-to-z-blog-challenge-reflection-2025/ ). She also covered books for the 2024 challenge.

The extra wonderful thing about a librarian recommending books is it is highly likely the book is available in your local library. I have paged through her 37 recommendations and only one of the ones I was interested in reading wasn’t available through my local library; the other dozen or so have been added to my TBR pile. Yes, they are children books but they will widen my knowledge (non-fiction) without a big time commitment. If you follow me over on GoodReads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4918831.Erin_Penn) or StoryGraph (https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/erin_penn), you should see some children picture book reviews pop up throughout the year.

Book Review (SERIES): Seashell Key

Erin Penn Leave a comment

It is your Lucky Day to live through The Monster Storm at Seashell Key, an tourist island where the children of the people who work there explore their world and attend school. This chapter book series containing diversity and good pictures, peaks with the second book of the series. I read all of these through the local library system.

Seashell Key Series by Lourdes Heuer (author) and Lynnor Bontigao (illustrator)

Book 1: Seashell Key
Book 2: The Monster Storm
Book 3: The Lucky Day

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SEASHELL KEY

Seashell Key is the first in author Lourdes Heuer and award-winning illustrator Lynnor Bontigao’s young chapter book series―perfect for fans of Princess in Black and Mercy Watson, about a diverse community of kids living in a beautiful seaside town!

Welcome to Seashell Key! Summer is here, and the children of this cozy coastal town are ready to welcome visitors to their little oasis. There’s Mateo, who runs his little kite-making business, Sail and Soar, alongside his dad’s Sky and Sea store; Sasha and Sophia, who comb the seashore next to their mother’s sandwich stand; and Eli, Ezra, and Elana, who live in the cozy-but-cramped lighthouse and entertain passing tourists with tall tales.

Filled with a vibrant cast and lots of summery fun, this is the start of an exciting chapter book series.

MY REVIEW for SEASHELL KEY

A pleasant child book with a mix of female and male characters (in equal number for the children!).

Things that could have been better:
(1) The female and male division of “traditional” to be stronger than it is. Mateo’s (single?) father run a retail shop and flies a plane; Sasha & Sophia’s (single?) mother owns a lunch counter and the kids also eat at Mrs. Cerise’s fruit stand. So small business owners, but split along gender lines for “traditional” tasks of food preparation. (Parent genders match their children.)
(2) Children interests are also gender-coded. Mateo makes kits, Sasha draws pictures, Sophia dances-writes poetry-and-sings, Eli is interested in investigation, Ezra in science fiction, and (yay for breaking tradition) Elana in digging-and-archeology.
(3) The very small discouragement of school and keeping things clean. “Sometimes she suggests they study. Sometimes she suggests they clean. These are both terrible, terrible suggestions.” But the person reacting is the younger sister who is a disorganized artistic type. With parent supervision of a child reading this section, the parent can point out Sasha is an organized person and Sophia is a disorganized person, but both are able to function and get things done is fine, thereby mitigating the school bashing. I get tired of the constant school bashing in children’s books. We don’t have to say it is great, but nor do we need to disparage it. School, like work, is a fact of life. It has good and bad.

Things that are great:
1) Seeing tourists show up again and again throughout the book. Parents can work with children to take apart the pictures. The illustrator, Lynnor Bontigao, has done an amazing job.
2) All the different animals Sasha draws.
3) All the different kites Mateo makes.
4) The celebration of imagination of all the children.
(Homeschoolers and summer-vacationers can definitely use any of the four stories within this book as a jumping point for different activities.)

Each of the four stories/”acts” has a story arc of three chapters. Introduction of the characters, problem/want to solve, and the action of solving it. The children each come up with their own solutions to their need-to-explore/fight-the-boredom at the start of summer.

The bedrock for this series is community, in particular the tourist community of Seashell Key and the children of the year-round residents.

Plus a star for diversity. Checked out from the local library.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE MONSTER STORM

The Monster Storm is the second book in author Lourdes Heuer and award-winning illustrator Lynnor Bontigao’s young chapter book series Seashell Key―perfect for fans of Princess in Black and Mercy Watson―about a diverse community of kids living in a beautiful seaside town!

It’s fall on the island of Seashell Key! A monster storm is on the horizon, but that won’t stop Mateo from entering the fall festival competitions, or Sophia and Sasha from showing off their swimming skills. When the storm finally hits, Eli, Ezra, and Elana gather around the flashlight to tell spooky stories about the monster of Seashell Key―that is if they can agree on what the monster actually is! When the storm finally passes, the gang has to work together to find Pixie the dog―hopefully before the monster of Seashell Key finds her!

Filled with a vibrant cast and lots of fall fun, this is a great addition to an exciting new chapter book series.

MY REVIEW for THE MONSTER STORM

Wow, the second of the series is a step above for children’s books.

Again, amazing illustrations by Lynnor Bontigao. The chapter where Eli, Ezra, and Elana ride out the storm in the lighthouse by telling spooky stories have all three children in the pictures of the stories. Each picture has so many hidden details, starting with the kites of the first page, no doubt made by Mateo. Going through the pictures with a new reader will be an adventure in-and-of-itself.

The format is the same as the first book of the series – this time the first day of fall instead of the first day of summer for Seashell Key. Instead of tourists in the background, we have the building of a storm and dealing with the day after. Four Acts, each of the first three concentrating on one family group/child then finally collecting them all for a final adventure. Each act has three chapters.

With the introductions completed in the first book, this time we dive right into the stories. Mateo is a maker, so be prepared to have the child-reader want to emulate his creations from a banana-cheese-sour-cream pie to the no-scarecow. Each child we previously met personality shines through during the competition. Sasha embrace of reality to Sophia’s love of imagination; these two are so clearly different from each other, but their sibling bond still comes through. Elana’s history and archelogy interest makes the obvious choice of a ghost for the costume contest.

The final act, where the beat of the storytelling from the “scary” stories being repeated when they discover the green water monster is perfect. (If you like to watch for great storytelling by an author.)

Also, if you are a storyteller and want to see how it is done, this is a excellent book to pick apart for character building and connecting groups of characters together. I have read several “adult” books where every scene is isolated and the characters in one scene is not connected to the next, aside from the main character – Seashell Key seamlessly has the isolated groups come together. If you are a person who loves character building, this series is doing it well.

Library book.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE LUCKY DAY

The Lucky Day is the third book from author Lourdes Heuer and award-winning illustrator Lynnor Bontigao’s young chapter-book series—perfect for fans of Princess in Black and Mercy Watson—about the adventures of a diverse community of kids living in a beautiful seaside town.

It’s the last day of school before spring break, but there’s still so much to do! Mateo is on a mission to catch a leprechaun, and Sasha and Sophia can’t wait to work on their school garden. Elena just wants to read about dinosaurs, but when she finds a secret map in her textbook, she’ll need all her friends to help her find the treasure of Seashell Key—and make a treasure map of their own!

Filled with a vibrant cast and lots of spring fun, this is a great addition to an exciting new chapter book series.

MY REVIEW for THE LUCKY DAY

I absolutely adored the second book of this series. This third book returns to one of my ongoing objections of children’s book: the maligning of school.
“Tomorrow is the start of spring break. But today is a school day. Bad luck!”

Then the day goes on to be a wonderful day of school, the first day of spring.

Illustrations by Lynnor Bontigao continue to support the narrative, while also providing interaction for young readers who may still be more interested in the pictures than in reading. The structure of four acts persists, though this time the children are separated by age group as appropriate for school. Mateo and Eli are first in Math class, and like the previous first acts of the book series, Mateo makes things. Sasha, Sophia, and Ezra are together in Science class; all three bringing their unique energies to a gardening project. Elena makes friends with a new kid in language arts. And the fourth act, everyone is together in art class and then after-school.

The series has lots of cool ideas of projects to do with a homeschooler or active child of the kindergarten through third grade age. The children in the narrative aren’t always perfect angels, but they are always exploring, figuring out things to do, and making things happen. There is agency here. There is diversity in the tourist town the children live in, both in the adults and in the children.

Checked out from the library.

Book Review: Strange Fruit

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Amazon Cover

Strange Fruit, Volume I: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History by Joel Christian Gill

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Strange Fruit Volume I is a collection of stories from early African American history that represent the oddity of success in the face of great adversity. Each of the nine illustrated chapters chronicles an uncelebrated African American hero or event. From the adventures of lawman Bass Reeves, to Henry “Box” Brown’s daring escape from slavery.

 

MY REVIEW

Strange Fruit was a poem written by Abel Meeropol and sung by Billie Holiday. One of the cultural memories of Black American History which white America lacks but needs to become aware of.

Ever read a comic book with a bibliography? Strange Fruits is a graphic novel by Joel Christian Gill about nine tales of black folks (researched and pulled from obscurity). Some of them are traditional hero winning the day, but others like Theophilus Thomas, chess master, ends with questions or heartbreak.

White America cuts tales short so winning leaves a high, a success, an accomplishment – no need to seek further justice as the winning was won. Black tales witness the temporary achievements, but leave no doubt that the system hasn’t been completely fixed. The war isn’t over, and may never be over. Battles need to be fought every generation.

Mr. Gill starts with “Henry ‘Box’ Brown” – an upbeat traditional tale, followed by a glimpse of people overcoming with “Harry ‘Bucky’ Lew” and Richard Potter’s Greatest Illusion. The tales then twist and turn, like your gut when faced with the triumph and question of “Theophilus Thompson” and the complete destructive heartbreak of “The Shame” and “The Noyes Academy.” The creator of the graphic novels returns to the triumphs and questions with Marshall Taylor and Spottswood Rice. And finally Bass Reeves, another hero traditional tale, but ends with giving a hint of appropriation. – It’s not enough to outlaw reading and writing, and destroying communities and education systems, Jim Crow and his ilk need to take the few stories saved and make them their own. It’s time to claim the tales back.

A great series of stories shaped together into a single, satisfying narrative.

Book Review (SERIES): The Forever Desert

Erin Penn Leave a comment

The Forever Desert by Moses Ose Utomi (He also has a young adult series out, which I haven’t read yet.)
Book 1: The Lies of the Ajungo
Book 2: The Truth of the Aleke
Book 3: The Memory of the Ogisi

This quote from the final novella of the series is the reason why we need to read other voices:

The cruelty of forgotten transgressions. The cruelty of children absolved of the sins of their parents but never disinherited from their plunder. The cruelty was an evil inscribed into history, so that those who came afterward would know nothing else.

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE LIES OF THE AJUNGO

Moses Ose Utomi’s debut novella, The Lies of the Ajungo, follows one boy’s epic quest to bring water back to his city and save his mother’s life. Prepare to enter the Forever Desert.

They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are no heroes in the City of Lies. They say there are no friends beyond the City of Lies. But would you believe what they say in the City of Lies?

In the City of Lies, they cut out your tongue when you turn thirteen, to appease the terrifying Ajungo Empire and make sure it continues sending water. Tutu will be thirteen in three days, but his parched mother won’t last that long. So Tutu goes to his oba and makes a deal: she provides water for his mother, and in exchange he will travel out into the desert and bring back water for the city. Thus begins Tutu’s quest for the salvation of his mother, his city, and himself.

The Lies of the Ajungo opens the curtains on a tremendous world, and begins the epic fable of the Forever Desert.

MY REVIEW for THE LIES OF THE AJUNGO

When you live in the City of Lies, there are no heroes nor is there water. One thirteen-year-old male (not a boy … and this is not a YA science fiction story) leaves to find water. But is there truth, heroes, or water beyond the City of Lies?

The Lies of the Ajungo is a very good science fiction / fantasy story.

Ebook read through the local library system.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE TRUTH OF THE ALEKE

Moses Ose Utomi returns to his Forever Desert series with The Truth of the Aleke, continuing his epic fable about truth, falsehood, and the shackles of history.

The Aleke is cruel. The Aleke is clever. The Aleke is coming.

Five hundred years after the events of The Lies of the Ajungo, the City of Truth stands as the last remaining free city of the Forever Desert. A bastion of freedom and peace, the city has successfully weathered near-constant attacks from the Cult of Tutu, who have besieged it for three centuries, attempting to destroy its warriors and subjugate its people.

Seventeen-year-old Osi is a Junior Peacekeeper in the City. When the mysterious leader of the Cult, known only as the Aleke, commits a massacre in the capitol and steals the sacred God’s Eyes, Osi steps forward to valiantly defend his home. For his bravery he is tasked with a tremendous responsibility―destroy the Cult of Tutu, bring back the God’s Eyes, and discover the truth of the Aleke.

MY REVIEW for THE TRUTH OF THE ALEKE

Five hundred years have history remembered differently. (Note in normal life, history can be remembered differently in months (example, how many people remember the Suez Canal being blocked for six days in 2021) – 500 years is overkill. See below in spoilers for editing comments on that.)

Anyway, back to the review. Much more complicated than The Lies, The Truth has layers of gray rarely seen under the bright sun of the Forever Desert harsh light. One of the differences I have found in BIPoC stories vs. typical dominate culture mainstream narratives is easy answers are not always available. Survival vs right vs wrong vs growth vs family vs culture vs power vs hope, all mix together into a messy reality.

The Truth of the Aleke is uncomfortably messy and worth the short read a novella gives. Comparing and contrasting The Lies against The Truth would make a great book club discussion.

Ebook read through my local library.

SPOILERS: As is often the case with science fiction and fantasy, the time for things to change is SEVERALLY overestimated. America is ONLY 250 years old – four generations or less if the oldest of a generation is shaking hands with the youngest of the next. History is being rewritten daily. Entire nations are blended and erased in 200 years. Climate changes from snow higher than houses and missing summers to glaciers melting. The fact that the Forever Desert doesn’t change, but three hundred years of active war is a thing doesn’t make sense except in a fantasy setting. Fantasy keeps breaking this out and it just bothers me.

Addition comment. I always dislike the use of foreshadowing at the end of chapters to create a false tension. Stuff like “If he knew what would happen, he would have run” (not a quote from this book). It just feels cheesy to me and is a personal preference.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE MEMORY OF THE OGISI

The epic conclusion to Moses Ose Utomi’s critically-acclaimed Forever Desert series, The Memory of the Ogisi shatters every truth, interrogates every lie, and is a story of oppression you’ll never forget.

Even deserts have a beginning. Even gardens have an end. Even water has a story.

The City of a Thousand Stories stands resolute on the edge of the Forever Desert. It is a lush metropolis, where water flows into every mouth that thirsts and knowledge sprouts in every mind that craves it. Yet despite their prosperity, no one can remember how the city began. It is a dire state of affairs: a people who do not learn their past cannot chart their future.

Ethike is an Ogisi, one of the City’s many historians, who has devoted his life to studying a little-known figure named Osi. He believes Osi to be the key to the city’s origins, but his years of research have only raised more questions about Osi’s identity. Until, one day, he believes he has found the answer.

Spurred by his love for his city and his family, Ethike ventures into the Forever Desert in search of the Lost Tomb of Osi. If he can find it, he will finally be able to prove his worth to the City’s Elders and cement Osi’s role in history. But history is a story told by the powerful. What Ethike uncovers beneath the sand is a power far beyond anything he could have expected…and it wants vengeance.

MY REVIEW for THE MEMORY OF THE OGISI

“Evil didn’t change. The evil of yesteryear was no different from the evil of today, … History was a story with no ending.”

The third and final installment of The Forever Desert trilogy continues the masterful cadence of oral storytelling in prose form. While the weakest of the three narratives, The Memory still is powerful. The power of the tongue, ears, and eyes continues to be controlled for political purposes; a means to control the narrative of the people, because, as the first book says “an untongued people cannot tell their story.” When stories cannot be shared, when they are banned, when they are erased from existence, history is also removed.

History removed is history without ending, and the cycles of the past will continue into the future.

Monsters, heroes, magic, desert, all play their role. Even water has a story. And Cities lie.

Hardback book checked out through the local library. Keep history honest and known, support your local library.

M is for Martine – Book Review (SERIES): Teixcalaan

Erin Penn

A duology where language and poetry meet with space opera science fiction – all the rich world of Dune and the language of Lord of the Rings.

Teixcalaan by Arkady Martine

  1. A Memory Called Empire
  2. A Desolation Called Peace

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

Arkady Martine’s debut novel A Memory Called Empire is a fascinating space opera and an interstellar mystery adventure.

MY REVIEW for A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE

Worldbuilding, Characters, Plot, and … something not quite right? maybe? (spoiler area)
Or … wow, is my book club going to have a LOT to talk about when we meet.

Worldbuilding
Ms. Martine explores how language and cultural heritage drives a government’s, a people’s future. The City/World/Empire (same word/symbol) is the center of their own world, anyone not them is a barbarian. Poetry and story and art drives choices from encrypting letters to declaring war. Names, web-eye interfaces, and careful release of information combine to create the world of the City-Empire. Into this world comes an Ambassador from a mining conglomerate-colony-government, not of Empire descent – either herself or the people she represents. They have an alphabet, spin-stations, and inserts of mental scans. She is seduced by their poetry, but the ambassador is not them and can never be them.

The poetry dependence reminds me of Japan, and India, and Viking heritages. Rune or kanji for the language where one picture means one thing and a thousand things at the same time. A Memory Called Empire is rich in worldbuilding and I loved every moment of it.

Characters
These are people of Empire and Indigenous/the Colonized. The Ambassador both totally in love with the big, beautiful, brutal empire and its hundreds of years of culture and history – and totally tied to her upbringing where generations count at 14 – so around 300 years. She will never be Empire. Back home, her government strives to be just helpful enough that the Empire doesn’t try to fix them and useless enough to not be worth taking over.

Meanwhile the Ambassador makes friends with the locals and Ms. Martine hits pitch perfect the patronage and patronizing of people who earnestly want to help the poor barbarian navigate in civilization. Except Mahit (the Ambassador) isn’t as barbaric as they expect and they are not as civilized as they thought. The first thing they have to help her with is investigating the last Ambassador’s possible assassination.

Plot
So many strands weaving together. The murder investigation, the Ambassador integration into the political world, the Ambassador integration with herself, the empire sliding into the end of a reign with big unknown of succession, and the secrets the small mining government is holding very tightly to its chest. There are hints of love, sabotage, war, plus poetry structure impacting everything.

Overall, no matter what type of thing you read for, this book has it in spades.

So why didn’t I completely love it? (on to editorial analysis – if not your cup of teach skip it, also lots of spoilers here. If you like hyper analysis and have read the book, continue on.)

SPOILER START
I never really liked the main character. I emphasized, I understood, I sympathized … but liked, not so much. And she doesn’t change. Who she is at the end of the story is the same as the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, part of the story is “coming of age” and she does come of age. But she just becomes more “her” in the process.

And that is true about all the characters. No one changes, except to become more of themselves. Plot doesn’t drive them or twist them. When they enter a scene in the book, they leave with nearly all the same goals and drives intact.

In fact, the only thing that really changes is the Empire. It was pouring in one direction, roaring like a river, an ocean, to drown a quadrant in an aggressive acquisition/assimilation. The Ambassador manages to put a pebble into the bed of the river and sends it spinning off into a slight change of direction. Will it return to the old bed? That will be revealed in the next book. But right now, the Empire’s war horn is singing a different tune.

It’s weird to have a book with so little character growth. Instead of growth, we have character polish. Each character is shaped like a statue, not pottery – instead of adding clay, the author chips away the stone until only the character remains. Within the story, each strikes the other, creating facets along the fractures to become the perfect true-self gems. Mahit, Three Seagrass, Nineteen Adze, and Twelve Azalea all shine so … brightly … tragically … perfectly … by the end.
SPOILER END

(checked out through the library system – support your local library)

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction—and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.

Or it might create something far stranger . . .

MY REVIEW for A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE

The star-spanning Teixcalaan space saga continues with all the poetry, politics, and personalities of the first installment. If you love epic science fiction, the likes of Dune but more accessible, you need this series.

The first story covered the fall and rise of an Emperor. Book two focuses on a possible war on many fronts. The depth of worldbuilding of the internal Empire politics of the military crossing swords with the greater politics of the Empire politicians, with their ankles being nibbled on by rats from systems which haven’t been conquered yet, while a new threat that is actually an EXTERNAL threat to the Empire as it devours the Edges of the World.

The first story is about poetry and culture; the second is about language and society.

There is no promise of a third book that I can find, but the unrest of the Empire and the City’s AI continues its threads in the second book. I fully expect the third book to focus on this … maybe … if there is a third book. Book one was published in 2019, book two in 2021. With that schedule book three in 2023 … and it is mid-2025 now. I want the third book of this series. I can see the shape of the poem – like Xanadu, unfinished yet the ghost edges provide structure leaving you hungering for more.

Each story has worked as a complete stand-alone. People sometimes ask if you would be willing to live in the world you love to read. This is a universe I want to inhabit.

(Read through Kindle Unlimited AND also borrowed from a library, support your local library system!)