Book Review: The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan by Salma Hussain (MG novel), published by Tundra Books

 In 1991, the eldest of a family of soon-to-be five, Mona Hasan has a happy life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates until...until her parents ruin her life by moving the family to a foreign country--Canada.

As a Westerner, I think I see the world clearly. I think I know-- But I had tunnel vision. Enter Mona Hasan.

Crushes, poor haircuts, fashion decisions, arguments with her younger sister, Mona Hasan is a relatable preteen protagonist and the perfect character to open my western eyes to life in another country.

What Mona taught me about the UAE...

Girls can become math teachers but not bankers.

The female body isn't discussed in school.

'Fridays are Holy days and school is closed.' (p. 5)

Mona is a smart, capable, wise pre-teen with a good amount of self-confidence and self-esteem.

Mona wisdom...

'Prehaps alongside reading the [newspaper] headlines of everything happening in the world, we also need to read about and remind ourselves of the extraordinary lives being lived by ordinary people every single day.' (p. 278)

'how big my gazoongas get and what my body looks like is not anywhere as astonishing and incredible as what my body can do.' (p. 141)

'Isn't it  so strange that kids all around the world play different kinds of games but have the exact same amount of fun?' (p. 130)

'why can't we just share the unimportant stuff (like land) with everyone.' (p. 102) 

However, Mona does have flaws. For example, she's not always the nicest person in the room.  

The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan

Salma Hussain

Tundra Books

2022

I received my copy from the author.

Set in a country weathering through war, The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan could have been a scary book. However, because Mona is sheltered from adult concerns, the book is full of humour and thoughtful reflection.

photo by ldyck

October on this Blog...

Go Red for Dyslexia

Winners of the 2022 BC and Yukon Book Prize

and...

Scotiabank Giller Prize

and...

Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize

and...

City of Victoria Butler Book Prize

and...

It's literary awards season and we're celebrating on this blog. I'm devoting the entire month to reviewing books...

Sunday, October 2

Book Review: These Precious Days (essays) by Ann Patchett

Sunday, October 16

Book Review: Everyone in this room will someday be dead (novel) by Emily Austin

Sunday, October 24

Book Review: Hannah and Ariela (novel) by Johnnie Bernhard

Sunday, October 31

 The Dollhouse: a ghost story by Charis Cotter

What happened to and on Sunday, October 9? Well, you know I couldn't go an entire month without sharing a short story. And so...

Sunday, October 9

Mistakes (short story) by Leanne Dyck

This short story was inspired by my years caring for children in Day Care Centres. 

And I'll sneak other stories in here and there. Keep your eyes open...

Oh, yes and on Wednesday, October 12 I'll record Books and share it on this blog. And with your help, there will be more recordings. I'm always open to suggestions.

Riddle: What gets stronger as it grows older?

Book Review: Red Fox Road (MG) (wilderness adventure) by Frances Greenslade

Red Fox Road asks the question what do you do when someone you love leaves?

Buy this book

Published by Puffin Canada

an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers

Published in 2020

In March, to celebrate her thirteenth birthday, Frances Fox's parents--Leonard and Adele--give her a wilderness adventure. One early morning in April, the family leave their home in Pentiction, BC to hike the Grand Canyon in Oregon. These plans are upended when their truck stalls, leaving them stranded.

Leonard is a mail carrier for Canada Post...

'If there was one thing Dad was good at, he always said, it was walking.' (p. 126)

So he sets off to find help, leaving Frances and Adele behind.

This isn't the first time Frances has been left. Her twin sister Phoebe died five and a half years ago. Her beloved grandma died two years ago. Frances's mom, Adele, has been hospitalized more than once due to mental health crises.

 Frances is a survivor. In the opening scene of Red Fox Road, we see Frances in the truck's backseat with a survival guidebook on her lap.

Frances dreams about living in her grandma's cabin on Gem Lake --'like Grandma did, all by herself, all summer long.' (p. 17)

However, Frances soon learns that surviving in the bush requires providing for her basic needs—food, water, shelter—and maintaining a positive attitude. Is Frances up for the challenge?

'My mind...can be my best friend or it can be my worst enemy, Fierce Frances said, "Don't hang out with your worst enemy. Who does that? Hang out with your best friend."' (p.96)

Red Fox Road is a hopeful, thoughtful story with a relatable character. Once you start reading, you'll root for "Fierce" Frances and won't be able to leave her. Once you begin reading Red Fox Road, you'll be transfixed and keep turning the pages until the end.

 

February on this blog...

Book Reviews

Two books about being Muslim in North America...

Sunday, February 7

How It All Blew Up

by Arvin Ahmadi

Sunday, February 21

The Parkour Club

by Pam Withers and Arooj Hayat

A Poem and a Short Story

Sunday, February 14

St. Valentine's Day

The Crush (poem)

by Leanne Dyck

Sunday, February 28

Who's Bigger? (short story)

by Leanne Dyck

Virtual Author Readings

Wednesday, February 3

Something Good to Eat (short story)

inspired by Icelandic folklore

Wednesday, February 10

Island Storyteller on Stage (short story)

inspired by my love of reading my writing to a supportive audience

Wednesday, February 17

Storytime (short story)

to celebrate I Read Canada Day

Wednesday, February 24

Ice Angel (short story)

about meeting a magical child on a dark night

Sharing my author journey...

Sometimes I'm caught up short by a thought. Thought: I really have no idea how to write this scene.

From 2012 to 2019: a collection of book reviews by Leanne Dyck

photo by ldyck

Your favourite book based on how many page views the book review received.

If you click the title the link will take you to my book review. If you click the publisher it will take you to their web site.

2012

The Sentimentalist
Johanna Shibrub
psychological fiction
Douglas & McIntyre
won the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize

a daughter gets to know her father

2013

Half-Blood Blues
Esi Edugyan
historical fiction
Dundurn Press
won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize

set in Paris during 1940, a jazz musician is arrested by the Nazis

2014

Indian Horse
Richard Wagamese
historical fiction
Douglas & McIntyre
won the Blurt Award for First Nations, Metis and Inuit Literature in 2013

an aboriginal hockey player journeys back through his life 

2015

The Robber Bride
Margaret Atwood
literary fiction
McClelland & Stewart
an imprint of Penguin Random House

three women's three-decade troubled relationship with a woman named Zenia

2016

Burn
Paula Weston
young adult fantasy
Tundra Books
an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada

the fourth and final book in the Rephaim series

2017

Short
Holly Goldberg Sloan
middle grade
Dial Books for Young Readers
Penguin Young Readers Group

about a short girl in the big adult world of theater

2018

The Birth House
Ami McKay
historical fiction
Vintage Canada
a division of Random House Canada

chronicles Dora Rare's life as she learns the ancient healing science of midwifery


note:  what's the difference between a division and an imprint?
Bookjobs defines division as a branch of a publishing company and imprint as the identifying name of a specific line of books


2019

A Wake for the Dreamland
Laurel Deedrick-Mayne
historical fiction
Friesen Press

about the faithfulness and devotion of enduring friendship

What will you read this year?

I have enticing suggestions. For example...

Next Sunday evening...



Empire of Wild
Cherie Dimaline

Will Joan find her husband? Where did he go? Did the rogarou get him? What is a rogarou?

"snow" by ldyck

Sharing my author journey...

I've been working on expanding a manuscript that I've been working on for a while. It's a collection of knitting-themed

Guest Post: author Robin Stevenson

Author Robin Stevenson

How/why did you start to write?

I've always loved books but didn't start writing until 2005, while I was on maternity leave from a crisis counselling job. I got hooked on it pretty much instantly.

How did you become an author? What was your first published piece? Where was it published? How long ago?

My first teen novel, Out of Order, actually began as a short story. I sent it off to a literary journal, and in response I received a very kind rejection letter and some helpful feedback. Among other things, the editor suggested that I needed to explore the relationship between the two main characters--both teenage girls--in more depth. I started writing more about these characters, trying to figure out who they were and how they had come to be in the situation they were in, and the story very quickly grew well beyond the bounds of a short story. I thought it might work as a teen novel, so after a few drafts some further polishing, I submitted the first chapters and a synopsis to Orca. They requested the full manuscript, and a few weeks later offered me a publishing contract. Out of Order was published in Canada and the US in the fall of 2007.
I have continued to publish with Orca, writing early chapter books, juvenile novels, and young adult fiction. I have two new books coming out this fall: a teen novel called Escape Velocity, and an early chapter book called Ben the Inventor. That will bring me up to twelve books altogether, with two more under contract and scheduled for publication in 2012 and 2013.

What did you do before embarking on your writing career? Was it an asset to your writing? How?

I worked for ten years as a counsellor and social worker. Counselling taught me to pay close attention to people, to relationships, and to communication; it gave me an opportunity to be involved in people's lives during difficult times and to learn more about how people understand themselves and their lives. I learned a great deal about child and adolescent development, family dynamics, trauma, loss and countless other issues. I think my ability to create realistic, complex and believable characters has been strengthened as a result.

What inspires you?

Family and friends, travel, books, my students, conversations, experiences, news, stories, debate... Just about everything, actually.

Please share one of your successful marketing techniques

Honestly, I don't do nearly as much as I probably should. I decided that the best way to promote a book was to write and publish another...and another...and another. But I may just be choosing to believe that his is a good strategy because I am more interested in spending my time writing than marketing!

Parting words

If you want to know more about me and my books, please visit my website at www.robinstevenson.com . And feel free to send me an e-mail--I love hearing form readers and from other writers.

Robin Stevenson's fall 2011 releases...
Excerpt

I slip the key into the file cabinet lock and it opens easily. I glance over my shoulder at the front door. If Zoe comes home, she'll be furious. I tell myself that it's her fault I'm doing this. If she would tell me the truth, I wouldn't be forced to hunt for answers.


I open the top drawer, my heart pounding. A row of file folders, alternating blue and grey, all neatly labeled. Clippings, Documents, Letters... I stop, about to pull out the Letters file, but then I notice the next file: Lou. The skin on the back of my neck prickles, and I shiver, I raise my hand to lift out the file and just as my fingers touch it, I hear my mother's key in the lock.


Blurb


It's the end of a long hot summer in Alberta's Badlands, and fifteen-year-old Lou is restless and dreaming of escape. Then an unexpected crisis turns her dream into reality and Lou is forced to leave Alberta and stay with the mother she has never known. Lou is overflowing with anger, hurt, and, most of all, unanswered questions. Why did her mother never want her? She is convinced that the answers lie hidden in her mother's novels, and is determined to find the truth...no matter what the cost.


Blurb

Inventors invent Inventions! That's what Ben and his best friend Jack like to say. So when Ben discovers that Jack's family is planning to move to another city, he decides they should put their inventions to work. The boys figure that if no one buys Jack's house, Jack won't have to move away, so all they need is a plan to scare of potential buyers! Inventors are good at coming up with plans. But when Plans A, B and C fail to bring the result the boys had in hoped for, Ben discovers that not everything in life stays the same--and that while change can be hard, sometimes it isn't all bad.

Praise for Robin Stevenson's books...

A Thousand Shades of Blue (2008) was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Awards and the BC Book Prizes. Here's what reviewers said:

"[Stevenson] eschews cliche in her keen and credible exploration of family dynamics... Readers looking for a family drama with adroit characterization, serious issues, and a little risky romance on the side should sign up for this voyage." (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)

"Rachel comes across as a real teen with whom readers will identify. Using the small boat as a setting highlights the cramped, suffocating feeling many young people have when spending a lot of time with parents and siblings. The book has no easy answers...giving the novel a refreshing realism." (School Library Journal)

Inferno (2009) was selected for the ALA Rainbow List and was a finalist for the BC Book Prizes. Here's what reviewers had to say:

"[Stevenson} does a terrific job, capturing the impossibly large emotion and the power that propels teenage girls... This is a skillful writing featuring a strong female protagonist. A good story well told." (January Magazine)

"Stevenson creates a compelling portrait of autonomy vs. conformity... Dante's sexuality is refreshingly not a problem, just a fact of life. Readers will recognize themselves and many of their peers in Stevenson's complex, likable characters." (Booklist)

"Stevenson's writing is sharp and her plot tidy and briskly paced, making for a quick, engaging read. Even her integration of the tough themes of relationship abuse and the alienation of queer teens is seamless--not to mention free of heavy-handed lessons." (Quill and Quire)