fiction Archives - Page 243 of 708

Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit
by Colby Cedar Smith (Author)
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Booktalk: In this novel in verse is loosely based on the author’s paternal grandmother, Mary is the American-born daughter of Greek and French immigrants living in Detroit in the 1930s. Mary lives in a tiny apartment with her immigrant parents, her brothers, and her twin sister, and she questions why her parents ever came to America. She yearns for true love, to own her own business, and to be an independent, modern American woman–much to the chagrin of her parents, who want her to be a “good Greek girl.” Written from the perspective of three profoundly different narrators, Mary’s story is peppered with flashbacks to her parents’ childhoods in Greece and northern France. Their stories connect with Mary’s as they address issues of arranged marriage, learning about independence, and yearning to grow beyond one’s own culture.

Snippet:

A 2021 Cybils Poetry nominee

The First Blade of Sweetgrass
by Suzanne Greenlaw (Author), Gabriel Frey (Author), and Nancy Baker (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: A modern Wabanaki girl is excited to accompany her grandmother for the first time to harvest sweetgrass for basket making. Musquon must overcome her impatience while learning to distinguish sweetgrass from other salt marsh grasses, but slowly the spirit and peace of her surroundings speak to her, and she gathers sweetgrass as her ancestors have done for centuries, leaving the first blade she sees to grow for future generations.

Snippet: As Grandmother’s blue truck crested the hill, Musqon saw the ocean for the first time that day. The water’s surface sparkled in the sunlight. “Look, Uhkomi. Is this where we pick the sweetgrass?” Musqon asked excitedly.