Flying Lessons & Other Stories

The Bookworm says... Maybe. Flying Lessons & Other Stories is an anthology edited by Ellen Oh, co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, that includes work by Kwame Alexander, Kelly J. Baptist, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Pena, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories, and I love how there is a common theme between all of the pieces. The common theme that I felt to be most important? Success cannot be achieved without overcoming hardship. Another thing that I appreciate about this collection is the absolute diversity shown in all of the stories. With stories featuring protagonists of different backgrounds, cultures, and situations, each one exhibits a different walk of life. This is a special grouping of short stories that I feel could positively impact lots and lots of middle grade readers. We need more books like this one.

"Papi chose to be invisible today so you won't ever have to be." (from Sol Painting, Inc. by Meg Medina)

DISCLAIMER: review is based on an uncorrected proof. Tentative release date is January 3, 2017.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

The Bookworm says maybe. I recently read the story Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. This book tells the story of a young girl named Minli who lives in a small, poor, struggling village on the face of Fruitless Mountain in China. Minli is fascinated when a man comes through her village selling.......Goldfish? She purchases one of the fish from the man, but when she finds feeding the fish will be too much for her family to handle, she sets him free. Then, does the fish talk to her? Minli goes on an adventure through the jungles and mountains of China meeting some interesting friends (and some people that were NOT her friends) including a talking dragon, some evil fruit throwing monkeys, a poor boy with his buffalo, a weaving goddess, an undercover king, and many more. This story teaches an important lesson of wisdom, gratefulness, forgiveness, and loving your family no matter how much fortune you have. I liked this book, but some parts were slow and seemed to drag along. I would definetly reccomend this book to someone who loves lots of myths and old tales.