As a music adherent with an underlying mental illness, writer Benjamin Bradford shares his challenges, his loves (Anna and Sophie), and his questionable motivations in the novel Everything that Came Before Grace. Readers can’t help but connect with Benjamin as he falls in love, falls into fatherhood, and is essentially forced into adulthood accompanied by musical undertones which help him express otherwise suppressed emotions for benefit of momentary appeasements.
Kid Lit: An Introduction to Literary Criticism by Tom Durwood is informative and interesting to read. It begins by briefly defining children’s literature, kid lit for short, and highlights its history. It covers coming-of-age resources well, so plans for future editions include adding information about picture books and some international literature too. The book is divided into three sections. The first clearly summarizes concepts such as identity, gender, social class, trauma, and war as they relate to literary criticism.
When parents bring children into this world, it is assumed they will provide for them and love them unconditionally. With that, it is also assumed they will teach them responsibility and to work hard to achieve goals in life. As children transition into adulthood, it can be challenging to let them take on adult responsibility, and sometimes parents struggle with that transition. In this story, a mother experiences that struggle and goes too far in assisting her daughter with her college acceptance.
I Am Sam follows a curious pelican named Sam who does not know what he is. Sam is on a journey to figure out who he is, and along his journey, he encounters many animals who help him to determine what kind of animal he is. He makes many new friends on his exploration. He goes to this zoo and figures out that he’s a pelican, but then later that day he gets captured by humans at the zoo. Sam escapes with help from the other zoo animals, and he goes to find more of his species!
My Homework Ate my Dog by Derek Taylor Kent is an exciting book about a kid named Rudy. Rudy burns down his house one day and has to pay for the consequences by attending Danville Reformatory, for “challenging” boys and girls. Danville Reformatory turns kids with discipline problems to A+ students. When the bully from his old school moves to Danville, will they follow the rules together or become A+ students like everyone else?
Cady and Cooper, best friends, and two model students and offspring, decide that before they graduate, they want to do things “normal kids” do. They make a bucket list.
The Love of Vera by Alice Magro is a contemporary romance fiction based on deep thoughts and values of profound love. Gino and Vera are distant cousins who are in love and had suffered the loss of parents. Brought up in a wealthy family with mafia connections, the setting of this book is partly like the acclaimed Godfather series. It takes you on a journey full of romance, action, and adventure. We get to witness love stories from two generations - of Gino and Vera, and uncle Armando and aunt Yolanda. Vera’s college life and her relationship with Gino is well documented in the pages.
A horse named Lafitte is waiting for a rider. He knows he can jump really well, but no one wants to buy him because he is too short. So, he waits. Meanwhile, a girl named Ella is staying with her Aunt Anastasia while her parents get things straightened out at her home.
