Almost American Girl

Robin Ha is a new author for me.  Almost American Girl is her second graphic novel, behind Cook Korean: a Comic Book with Recipes.  It tells the story of her emigration to America when she was 14-years-old.

Chuna Ha and her mother have taken many international vacations while they were living in their native Korea.  One day Chuna's mother tells her that they are going to Alabama for a visit with one her mother's friends.  Chuna doesn't think Alabama sounds interesting but packs her bags for the trip. After a month in Huntsville, Alabama Chuna's mother informs her that they are staying there permanently as she is going to marry their host, Kim Minsik.  Chuna is horrified. She hates Alabama and misses her friends in Seoul.  She did not even get the opportunity to say goodbye to them or pack up all of her belongings. While her mother arranges for their belongings to be sent to them in Alabama, Chuna, now Robin, begins her awkward assimilation into American culture.

Almost American Girl is a wonderful coming to America story.  It is told with so much emotion that the reader can "feel her pain" as she learns English while simutaneously attending school and trying to get along with her step family who ignore her most of the time.  It is easy for native born Americans to understand the immigrant experience by reading this story.

I loved the colorful drawings.  Ha used alot of color when she was showing her life in America.  When she looked back on life in Korea the author used sepia tones. You would think that she would have used the sepia for her life in America since she had such a difficult experience adjusting to life here. However, she did adjust and I assume she now enjoys living in America.

This is a must read for graphic novel fans. In addition, I think young adults would benefit from reading this story of a new immigrant. 5 out of 5 stars!

Dragon Hoops

Gene Luen Yang is one of my favorite graphic novelists. His new book Dragon Hoops is a memoir about his 17 years as a teacher at the Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, CA.  The book focuses on his interactions with the school's basketball team during his last year as a teacher.

The author begins with his story as a youth.  Being unathletic he hated sports and focused on academics in school.  After he learns that his first graphic novel will be published, Yang tries to find something interesting to write for his next book.  He decides to have a talk with O'Dowd's coach Lou Richie. The men's varsity basketball team, the Dragons, is headed to the state championships.  Yang decides to follow the team all season, interviewing the athletes, the coach and former coach who had to resign due to a sexual abuse allegation.  This book is the result.

I am not a sports fan but because Yang wrote this book I was excited to buy it.  I knew he would make it interesting and he did.  The book is more than a memoir as Yang gives mini-bios of the athletes on the team as well as the history of the game.  He even has a section on women's basketball. He also delves into the race issue is basketball from all perspectives: middle school, high school and college.  I learned a lot about the game while being entertained with great writing and graphics.  With an impressive 434 color pages,  the artwork was drawn by Yang but colored by Rianne Meyers.

I loved Dragon Hoops and highly recommend it to young adult readers as well as adults.  5 out of 5 stars!

Book of the Month: March

Apartment 6 was my favorite book this month.  It is a psychological thriller that grabbed my attention from the first page.  The book reminded me of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.  Each chapter ended with an eerie type of suspense that kept me reading until I finished it in one sitting.  The book tells the story of a woman named Meagan, alternating between 20 years past and the present.  Meagan's mother was murdered by her father and as an adult she is the victim of domestic violence from her husband.  After meeting a man named Oliver on her work commute, she tells him about her husband.  Soon thereafter Meagan asks Oliver to kill him.  Thus begins Oliver's downward slide as Meagan messes with his mind.

Dreamland

Dreamland is Nancy Bilyeau's latest book.  It takes place in New York City in 1911 with 20-year-old Peggy Batternberg agreeing to spend a summer with her wealthy family at the luxurious Oriental Hotel.  The Hotel is about one mile from Coney Island but because her family disapproves of that type of entertainment she is forbidden to go there.  Peggy preferred to spend her summer working at the Moonrise Bookstore in New York City instead of socializing with her controlling and snobbish family.  In order to help her sister Lydia set a wedding date with Lydia's fiancé Henry Taul, she leaves her job at the bookstore and travels with them for the summer.  A marriage between Lydia and Taul will save the Batternbergs from financial ruin.  A chance visit to Coney Island captivates her even before she meets a poor artist named Stefan in the Dreamland section of the amusement park.  It is love at first sight for both of them and Peggy agrees to meet Stefan often.  However, she has to keep this love affair a secret from her family as they would disapprove of her seeing a poor immigrant. Before long, there are murders occurring with Peggy and Stefan at the center of them.

I loved this book!  It was an engrossing read.  While the beginning was a little slow as the author set up the characters, once the family was settled at the Oriental Hotel the action increased the speed of the novel.  What sets this historical mystery apart from others is that the author addresses discrimination issues such as immigrant rights, women's rights, socioeconomic status, and privilege within the plot.  It works seamlessly with her superb writing.  If there is anything to criticize about the novel it is that the murders do not begin to occur until well into the book.  I expected a historical fiction story based upon the beginning but it turned into a mystery as well.

5 out of 5 stars!

Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting

Allison Aller is one of the top crazy quilters in the world today. Her 2011 book is chock full of eye candy as well as how-to information on crazy quilting.  I read her blog for years and have read every book on this subject.  I can honestly say that Aller's book is the mother of all books on crazy quilting. Much of what she wrote in her blog is in this book.  It is a physical book that cannot be deleted online, making it a great reference guide.  In addition, this book has more eye candy than other crazy quilting books that I have seen.

As with all other crazy quilting instructional books there is the usual section for beginners where materials, fabrics and tools are discussed. Ideas for selecting fabrics and threads for embellishment are shown in color photos. Instructions on how to print images from your computer onto a special fabric that you can print from a printer are also included.  Several traditional embroidery stitches are shown too.  The photos of her work are where the reader gathers ideas on seam treatments.  Aller normally combines 5 or 6 embroidery stitches into one seam treatment.

What I liked most about the book is Aller's methods for piecing the squares that she later embellishes with embroidery.  For many years I made my squares too big.  Her squares are just 6 inches square while mine were 12 inches or more.  The reason that her embellishments cover the square entirely is because those squares are small.  The heavy embellishment is what makes her crazy quilts  look exquisite.

Another interesting feature of Aller's work is that she does not always attach her squares in a traditional shape.  Included in the book are designs that the reader can follow to make a landscape quilt out of crazy quilt squares.  Another design attaches several squares into a larger square for the middle of a piece and then attaches borders that are later embellished.  Sometimes the borders are embellished to continue looking like a border.  Sometimes they are not.

Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting is the best book on the subject that I have seen.  If you are interested in learning about this craft I highly recommend her book over others that are out there.

Hide Away

Jason Pinter's latest book is the first in a new series.  I am not sure what type of mysteries the Rachel Marin Series will be. It is hard to tell from Hide Away. Rachel is not in law enforcement so I am assuming that she is an amateur sleuth. However, in Hide Away Rachel did not do an investigation of the crime. She was present at a number of events but did not go out and look for evidence or interview witnesses. 

The publisher's summary of the book:

"On the surface, Rachel Marin is an ordinary single mother; on the inside, she’s a fierce, brilliant vigilante. After an unspeakable crime shatters her life, she changes her identity and moves to a small town in Illinois, hoping to spare her children from further trauma…or worse. But crime follows her everywhere. 

When the former mayor winds up dead, Rachel can’t help but get involved. Where local detectives see suicide, she sees murder. They resent her for butting in—especially since she’s always one step ahead. But her investigative genius may be her undoing: the deeper she digs, the harder it is to keep her own secrets buried. 

Her persistence makes her the target of both the cops and a killer. Meanwhile, the terrifying truth about her past threatens to come to light, and Rachel learns the hard way that she can’t trust anyone. Surrounded by danger, she must keep her steely resolve, protect her family, and stay one step ahead, or else she may become the next victim."

I think the book has a few failures.  Rachel does not have a defined role.  Being a vigilante, as the publisher summary states, is not enough.  She needs to be involved in the investigation of a crime and the author has not shown if she will be an amateur sleuth.  If she is not a sleuth then who is she?  Also, I did not think that she was a likable character.  She bored me.  Other characters stated that she was crazy but the author did not give her any attributes of a crazy or eccentric person.  How can a series have a heroine that is undefined in the first book? The reader does not know what to expect in future novels. 

Hide Away was an OK book.  I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

Botanical Drawing in Color

Wendy Hollander's instructional guidebook on drawing botanicals in colored pencil is a beginner's guide to mastering the realistic form of plants.  As colored pencil artists know, in every colored pencil book there are the usual chapters on art supplies, how to use colored pencils, and color theory.  This book is no different.  What is different are the instructions on mastering this particular subject matter. These may include how to depict elements that overlap, understanding the form of plants, determining what parts of a plant to include and ignore in your drawings, measuring your subject matter in perspective, and how to plan a composition.

The book is filled with exercises for readers to practice.  The author recommends that the reader practice each exercise even if they already know how to do the exercise.  While many of the author's own drawings are shown, she prefers that readers not use them as a guide for exercises.  It is best to use your own plants and learn your own style of drawing.  The exercises fill about 75% of the book and cover topics such as how to draw a cup and a ribbon that twists and turns, taking a flower apart and drawing each part of it separately before drawing the entire flower, and drawing under magnification.

If the reader follows the author's advice and uses their own plants in the exercises, they will come away with knowledge on how to create their own drawing designs in the future.  In this regard the book helps an artist become creative on their own.  Personally, I have been taking my time with the exercises and am considering a thirty to sixty day plan for working on them daily.  I then should be able to create a final design.  Right?  We shall see.