YA Book Review: The Chance You Won’t Return by Annie Cardi

The Chance You Won’t Return by Annie Cardi

This is a touching look at how an unusual mental illness affects one teenager’s family. High schooler Alex’s mom believes she is Amelia Earhart, and meanwhile Alex herself is too terrified to even drive a car. As Alex’s mom spirals further into her delusion, Alex must babysit her kid brother and take over more work around the house, all while trying to pass driver’s ed and maintain the illusion of normalcy at school. Alex’s friendships suffer in a believable way as she hides the truth of her mother’s condition from her best friends by diving headfirst into a new relationship with a guy. Through all of this, we learn about the real Amelia Earhart, and there are moments of humor as Alex’s mom doles out “advice” based on the Amelia Earhart’s life experiences. While Alex is sometimes very prickly and overly self-conscious, it is because of this that she feels so authentically teen that I couldn’t can’t help but root for her and hope things would turn out for the best.

Disclaimer: Review based on free ARC from the publisher obtained through NetGalley. Annie Cardi is a local author and fellow winner of the PEN-NE Children’s Book Discovery Award. I picked this book up because I follow her on twitter and am a huge fan of her blog!

#anniecardi #thechanceyouwontreturn

My personal #weneeddiversebooks story

I attended a CBC Diversity event last night where a recurring theme seemed to be fear. People are afraid to publish books in case they get things wrong and there is a backlash or they draw criticism. And it led me to think about my own fears as a writer. I am terrified to blog this and admit my shortcomings to the world, but here goes.

Something I haven’t shared with a lot of people: The reason diversity in children’s literature has become so important to me isn’t because I’m a diverse writer, or because I was subconsciously seeking “mirrors” as a child that I didn’t find, though both of those are absolutely true. The event that really brought it all home for me was when my niece was born with Down syndrome. When I first met my niece, a tiny newborn baby at the time, I reacted in a negative way that I now am completely embarrassed about. I wish I could take back what I did and said, but it’s too late now. Since then, her birth has really opened my eyes to a whole world of innuendoes and insults I hadn’t noticed before, a world where intellectually disabled people are made invisible. I had previously thought I understood how hurtful the word “retarded” can be, but it is only now that I am truly beginning to understand.

And what really galled me was how much of the prejudice that I carried with me and acted upon was learned behavior. Not only things I had specifically been taught in medical school that turned out to be just plain  wrong, but also things I had picked up while reading books and watching TV and movies. From the lack of intellectually disabled children in literature or the lack of positive role models with Down Syndrome in the media, Down Syndrome was something that “other” people lived with. Not someone like me and my family.

I wish I had been taught a better way to notice or engage with intellectually disabled people without waiting for a niece to come into my life. As a writer, learning to write realistic people and families with diverse aspects to their lives will definitely be a long term learning process and a struggle.

I am completely terrified that I am going to get things wrong, that what I write could cut someone I know or love very deeply. But if I’m trying to push myself as a writer to incorporate more of these very realistic people into my stories, that is a risk I’m going to have to take.

#weneeddiversebooks #disability #downsyndrome #writing

Princess Book Recommendation: The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke

The Princess Knight  by Cornelia Funke  (Author), Kerstin Meyer (Illustrator)

I chose this book after looking for some alternative princess stories for my princess-obsessed pre-schooler monkey.

Princess Violetta has grown up with several older brothers and when she is unable to match them in jousting or riding horses, she takes it upon herself to train at night. Unfortunately, one day her father decides it’s time for her to be like the other princesses and get married. So when the King throws a tournament to determine who will win her hand in marriage, the princess decides to compete for herself. And wins. I really enjoyed the message in this one, and though the book does end with a wedding, Princess Violetta chooses her own spouse (and he’s not a knight or a prince). My only issue with this book was the confusing layout–on some pages, the illustrations progress across the page horizontally (kind of like a comic strip), but the words continue normally down the page.

Overall though, this one was a fun princess story that doesn’t emphasize wearing gowns and being pretty, but was still princess-y enough for my pre-schooler to enjoy.

#bookreview #CorneliaFunke #picturebook #preschoolermonkey #KerstinMeyer #ThePrincessKnight #princesses