Review: A Girl Called Problem

A Girl Called Problem
by Katie Quirk

Book Description:
Thirteen-year-old Shida, whose name means "problem" in Swahili, certainly has a lot of problems in her life -- her father is dead, her depressed mother is rumored to be a witch, her family bears the weight of a curse, and everyone in her rural Tanzanian village expects her to marry rather than pursue her dream of becoming a healer.

So when the elders of Litongo make a controversial decision to move Shida's people to a nearby village, Shida welcomes the change. Surely the opportunity to go to school and learn from a nurse can only mean good things. Nonetheless, mysterious calamities plague Shida's people after their move. Desperate to stay, Shida must prove to her people that life can be better in their new home.

Review: 

I found this book to be surprisingly easy to read and very interesting.  I learned about a period of African history that I knew nothing about previously.  I loved that Shida wanted so desperately to become a learned woman, a nurse, and that, though she met some resistance, there were people who supported her dream and that she persisted to help make her dream come true.  I liked the mystery aspect of this book and was pleased with how things worked out.  

A different book than I would normally read, but one that I would recommend! 

Review: Hokey Pokey

Hokey Pokey

by Jerry Spinelli

 

Book Description:

Welcome to Hokey Pokey. A place and a time, when childhood is at its best: games to play, bikes to ride, experiences to be had. There are no adults in Hokey Pokey, just kids, and the laws governing Hokey Pokey are simple and finite. But when one of the biggest kids, Jack, has his beloved bike stolen—and by a girl, no less—his entire world, and the world of Hokey Pokey, turns to chaos. Without his bike, Jack feels like everything has started to go wrong. He feels different, not like himself, and he knows something is about to change. And even more troubling he alone hears a faint train whistle. But that's impossible: every kid knows there no trains in Hokey Pokey, only tracks.

 

Review:

I had a really hard time with this book. When you start reading it, it's as if you are waking up and have entered a dream.  Nothing is explained very well and Spinelli reveals the way things work veerrrryyyy slowly.

 

At first I really had no idea what Hokey Pokey was supposed to be - why were the kids there, what IS this place?  I was SO confused. It took until more than halfway through the book for me to understand enough to realize that Hokey Pokey was a metaphor for the land of childhood!

 

Not the book for me. :/