Perchance to Dream by Tamara Belko

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

Source: I won a copy from LibraryThing. The opinions here are my own.

 

I read this book in a little under two hours. This is a story of characters who are broken. How can one broken person help another? We have four characters here who are working through some major issues. Grace has lost her mother to cancer. She is losing her father to alcohol, and she lost herself when she died. Xander lost himself and his music due to Becca, a very broken girlfriend. Mrs. Carter is broken, but few people know this. Music ties Xander, Grace and her father together. They say that music is healing and in this case it seems to be.

I grew up in a house of music. It has always been my go to when I was down or faced with a problem. It is what centered me during my trying physical therapy after double knee replacement. Unfortunately, I had a lot in common with Grace. Often kids aren’t willing to talk about cutting. When they talk with me and find out I truly do understand a door is open. This is a book I will definitely put on my shelves. It is very powerful. I don’t know who might need this book, but I thank the author for creating something so pure and raw. I highly recommend this gut wrenching, honest look at brokenness and healing.

Sorry I Have Been Missing

 

For those of you who have been following my recent review I apologize. I hope to be back soon.  After two and a half years of teaching through the pandemic, it seems that Covid has found me the last weeks of my summer break. Once my husband and I are back on our feet I will be back with more reviews.

Andrew Jackson by Terri Kanefield

 

Genre: Middle Grade, Biography

Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review, The opinions expressed here are my own.

Teri Kanefield does an excellent job of giving us a well rounded view of Andrew Jackson. As a teacher I know that a lot of what is taught in our history classes is a glorified view of men and their actions. We don’t always get the whole picture. We see him in one case going against the supreme court because he thought that his opinion and his decisions as the president were worth more than the judgement of the supreme court. He managed to create an environment in Georgia whereby their actions eventually drove the Cherokee people out of Georgia. He is presented as a passionate family man. He definitely had trust issues when it came to government. However, the author provided a lot of information to entice you to do further research. This is a book that should be in every school library.