Genuine Jenn

Book Description:

As a child growing up in Malaysia, Shing Yin Khor had two very different ideas of what “America” meant. The first looked a lot like Hollywood, full of beautiful people and sunlight and freeways. The second looked more like The Grapes of Wrath―a nightmare landscape filled with impoverished people, broken-down cars, barren landscapes, and broken dreams. This book chronicles Shing's solo journey (small adventure-dog included) along the iconic Route 66, beginning in Santa Monica and ending up Chicago. What begins as a road trip ends up as something more like a pilgrimage in search of an American landscape that seems forever shifting and forever out of place.

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About the Author
Shing Yin Khor is a cartoonist and installation artist exploring personal narrative, new human rituals, and collaborative worldbuilding through graphic memoir and large scale art structures, and creating comics at the intersection of race, gender, immigrant stories, and queerness. They make the road trip adventure comic Tiny Adventure Journal, the tender queer science fiction comic Center for Otherworld Science, and is also the author of The American Dream?. They live in Los Angeles.

Review:

The American Dream? is a graphic memoir revolving around Shin Yin Khor, an immigrant from Malaysia. She had moved to Los Angeles and has been living in the city for over a decade. She wanted to learn more about America and the American dream with her trusty sidekick Bug the dog. What better way to find out all about America then going through all of Route 66? As she embarks on her journey visiting tiny towns and meeting all sorts of different people you really get a taste of what Route 66 would be like but just from a book. The memoir is full of little landmarks scattered throughout Route 66. I personally really enjoyed the book it’s great because it’s not just a big history lesson. Shin Yin Khor and her dog make it feel more like an epic journey and you just wanting to figure out what the next landmarks are going to be like.

Out of 5 this book gets a solid 4. I hope that everyone reading this will go out and pick up a copy of this book!

Review by Parker

~*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own. *~

Book Description:

A story that tackles the everyday inner turmoil of growing up and staying true to oneself.

Twelve-year-old Agnes hates everything about her life: her name, her parents' divorce, her best friend's abandonment, her changing body . . . . So while staying with her dad over the summer, she decides to become someone else. She tells people she meets that her name is Chloe, she's fourteen, her parents are married, and she's a dancer and actor--just the life she wants.

But Agnes's fibs quickly stack up and start to complicate her new friendships, especially with Fin, whose mysterious relative runs a local raptor rehab center that fascinates Agnes. The birds, given time and care, heal and fly back home. Agnes, too, wants to get back to wherever she truly belongs. But first she must come to see the good in her real life, however flawed and messy it is, and be honest with her friends, her family, and herself.

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About the Author:

I'm the award-winning Middle Grade author of FROM ALICE TO ZEN, I EMMA FREKE, THE SUGAR MOUNTAIN SNOW BALL, THE ISLAND OF BEYOND, and FLY BACK, AGNES MOON coming in Spring 2020!

My favorite part of writing for tweens is connecting with young readers and aspiring writers. I've visited with thousands of students (schools, libraries, book clubs, Skype) across the USA and as far away as Canada, Ireland, and China!

So if you're interested, check out my website www.elizabethatkinson.com and contact me about my Author Visits and writing workshops!

Review:

Agnes is a twelve year old girl who hates everything about herself, her name, her parent’s divorce, her best friend's abandonment, her changing body... She doesn't know where she belongs. When she crosses the bridge in Bittersweet to Renew where she pretends to be Chloe who’s an actress (mostly theater and some TV ads) with a dancer background with a fabulous life. Her new friends think she’s amazing, her lies start to stack up and it’s getting harder and harder to get out of her mess. When they find out that Chloe is all just a game, they don’t know what to say. Agnes realizes it’s better to be herself than try to be someone she’s not.

I recommended this book for all ages. This book is especially good for girls who feel out of place and need to know other girls go through the same thing. I could connect with Agnes before we’re the same age and have gone through something similar. Being a girl is difficult and it feels good to know you’re not alone.

4.5 out of 5 stars!

Review written by Abby ~ (Seriously Abby Blog)

~*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own. *~