Buy Bamboo People
Special: $13.69 (Regular price: $16.95)
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Format: Hardcover
Reviewer: Melissa on June 29, 2010
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I’d never read anything by Mitali Perkins before I had the chance to check out her new novel, Bamboo People, but the story sounded like something I’d want to check out and now I’m really glad that I did. Told from the perspective of two teens on different sides of the conflict between the Burmese and Karenni peoples of modern day Burma, readers get to experience all angles, and they will definitely enjoy the journey.

Political narratives can be great, but occasionally, you feel like you’re being hit over the head with info from a single perspective. I would like to commend Mitali Perkins for never going over the edge with this one. Instead of the norm, she gives both voracious readers and reluctant ones alike a chance to learn from and about the conflict from both a child soldier’s and a refugee’s story simultaneously. From this perspective, the audience gets a fuller look at the conflict as a whole, which might only be possible because the author is neither Burmese nor Karenni, but she’s clearly done her research here. At the same time, those who are more familiar with the conflict in Burma will definitely find some amazing characters and a moving narrative to boot.

Some books with multiple narrators move back and forth, alternating between each of them with ease, but Perkins writes half the book continuously in the mind of Chiko and later switches to Tu Reh’s perspective when he is about to meet up with the other character. Clearly, this decision aids the author’s ability to tell a linear story about the events her characters are facing. However, as someone who loves to read and who values physical book collections, there was an added benefit to structuring BambooPeople in this way: I immediately felt a kinship with Chico when I learned that he was reading A Tale Of Two Cities in the opening moments. His ability to read and write sets Chiko apart among his peers and gives him a sense of pleasure, even when he’s at his lowest moments. I can envision a reluctant reader becoming a voracious one following Chiko’s example and that is, in the end, the goal of writing books for children and teens, isn’t it?

Not only are they on “opposite sides” of the conflict, but also Tu Reh’s story is very different from that of Chiko. Both of them have suffered losses, but they react in different ways: while Chiko must find a way to keep his promise to his father to look after his mother, Tu Reh is forced to decide between killing a boy younger than himself or carrying him to safety, even though he’s an enemy. Both of these “stories” are ones with which not only teens can readily identify, but also adults will feel similarly about the novel, so it’s no wonder that Publisher’s Weekly recently gave it a starred review. If you haven’t checked out this novel yet or any of the other books written by Mitali Perkins, I suggest that you find a way to get a copy on July 1st, 2010. Bamboo People will stick with you for quite some time after you’ve finished.

Buy Bamboo People today!

Buy The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Format: Paperback, audio book, eBook
Author: John Boyne
Reviewer: Melissa on April 28th, 2010
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

In 2007, when traveling through Eastern Europe – Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary – with a brief stop in Austria, my sister and I made the time to travel from Krakow, Poland to Auschwitz. We wanted to visit the concentration camp – though we aren’t Jewish – because we both think that knowing and understanding the history of events, like the Holocaust, are important to maintain the collective, human memory. Since that trip, books and films about the holocaust have hit me in a different way than they did previously. John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is no different in that regard. In fact, Boyne’s depiction of the Nazi agenda as both hypocritical and the makers of their own ill fate drew me in and will do the same for readers of all ages.

For those who don’t know, TheBoyInTheStripedPajamas is about a nine-year-old Berlin boy named Bruno, who has to move with his family to the country when his father gets a promotion within the Nazi regime. While in his new home, with the chilling name Out-With, he goes exploring and meets a Jewish boy named Shmuel wearing striped pajamas and they develop a fast friendship. Each day they meet from opposite sides of a barbed wire fence, from opposing sides of the world order at the time. For a nine-year-old, he is quite naïve for the son of an SS officer about his understanding of the world around him, but I personally was able to suspend my disbelief to accept that Bruno might not have understood not only why him and Shmuel weren’t supposed to be friends, but also what was happening on the other side of the fence.

While the main character is only nine, don’t think that this is a middle grade novel – the emotional gravity of the situation makes it ideal for a YA audience. Although this is an emotionally difficult read at some points (any book that deals with the final solution is), I found myself unable to put this novel down once I’d begun reading. I’d pick it up at any chance, albeit while holding my breath at various points. The overall story is pitch perfect, but I did have some trouble digesting the ending. To avoid giving it all away, I’ll say this: the way the novel concludes, which is different from that of the movie version of Boy In The Striped Pajamas, is very unbelievable. I can accept that Bruno might not understand what human beings are capable of doing, but by novel’s end, the reader is left to think that his parents are similarly naïve. Someone else may chalk it up to denial, but for me the end was disappointing, especially when I was so engaged up until then.

However, at the same time, I think that anyone who wants to teach their children about the Holocaust or to get a different perspective on an well-told tale would do well to use The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. While the events are fictionalized, there is a ‘truth’ to this novel that cannot be denied: friendship can exist and flourish between fences of all sorts if we only let it.

Buy The Boy in the Striped Pajamas today!