In Romanov, Nadine Brandes explores what happened to the Romanov family in Russia from the time of their captivity after the forced abdication of the throne through their executions and beyond. ​The Unabridged crew had a chance to interview Nadine about this awesome book; see the link at the bottom of this post to check out everything she shared! 

This novel focuses on the young, spunky, courageous Anastasia (Nastya), who is a teenager when the abdication happens. However, Brandes also explores the other family members through Nastya's relationships with them. Through the course of the novel, the readers get to know Natstya's siblings, especially the eldest, Maria, and Alexei, Nastya's sickly brother who was heir to the throne prior to the revolution. 

In this historical fiction young adult novel mingled with fantasy, magic and imagination play a powerful role in the way that events unfold for some of the members of the Romanov family. During their captivity, the Romanovs find unexpected friendships and even love. Some of the soldiers who guard the family find themselves questioning the Bolsheviks' decisions as they discover the kindness, playfulness, and cheerfulness of the Romanov children.  Both Nastya and Maria find themselves falling for soldiers who guard them, and comrades Ivan and Zash take different attitudes toward their situation, but both struggle to manage their feelings. 

In this novel, Brandes explores how loyalty to a cause can come into question when faced with the humanity of those on the other side. The Romanov family members, led by their father's example, are kind and compassionate toward the soldiers who guard them, which evolves into unexpected understanding between the two groups. Both Nastya and Zash find their feelings for each other growing stronger as their time together lengthens. However, the political complexities keep them all on edge as the situation for the family grows ever more desperate.

One of the aspects of the novel that I most appreciated was the question of culpability and the role of forgiveness. Though tensions are high throughout the period of captivity, tender moments also surround the Romanov family, and that tenderness evolves into a complicated love. In this passage, Nastya considers what has happened and thinks, “I realized that a part of forgiveness was accepting the things that someone had done -- and the pain that came with that -- and moving on with love. Forgiveness was a personal batter that must always be fought in my heart. Daily. And though I was tired of running and fighting and surviving... I wasn't ready to surrender that battle yet.” Nastya has to reconcile her ideals with the reality surrounding her. She also has to consider what she hopes for her beloved country in the face of the current turmoil. Ultimately, she must decide what she hopes for herself and for the land she loves, forcing her to make hard choices.

This was a great novel rife with interesting historical tidbits and rich with complex character dynamics. It brings to life the family, time period, and location of the Romanov regime as it came to its end.

Thank you to Partner Netgalley for my advance copy of this novel. I loved The Belles and was so excited to read the sequel, The Everlasting Rose. Set in the dystopian world of Orléans , this novel reveals the way that quests for beauty and power can spiral out of control as the quest to become the most beautiful and most powerful gets in the way of compassion, equity, and all forms of understanding. 

The Belles  opens in a world where most people are born gris, meaning that their natural complexion is gray, with red eyes, straw-like hair, and gray whiskers on their faces. This condition is both unattractive and painful. The only exception to this natural state is the Belles, who are born lovely with all different complexions, shapes, and demeanors, but who are all able to use the power within their blood to help others beautify themselves. The Belles are raised to beautify others, and when they come of age, that becomes their duty. In order to avoid this natural but uncomfortable state of being gray, the citizens of Orléans must have routine beauty procedures done, which can only be performed by the Belles. They pay high prices and suffer extreme pain to endure the beauty procedures. Camille Beauregard and her sisters are coming of age at the beginning of The Belles, and they become the group of Belles able to assist all of the people of Orléans, including the royal family, with these procedures. However, as Camille gets deeper into her journey, she quickly realizes that the world is not as it seems and that her talents can be misused and can cause harm. 

The Everlasting Rose picks up where The Belles left off, and it captivates the reader immediately. I loved the main characters in the novel and found myself swept up in their riveting adventure, rooting for them to succeed, even though they were facing staggering odds. Camellia Beauregard leads us through the complex world of the royal family as Princess Sophia makes her way toward the throne. Camille discovers that she has powers she did not realize she possessed, but she also realizes that she can be forced and manipulated into doing things that are horrendous. Her unlikely companion, Rémy, and her sister Edel, are both fascinating supporting characters with their own agendas and desires. Additionally, the teacup dragons who travel with them are so precious and fun!  

I love the way Clayton demonstrates the power of suggestion, the pressure to fit in, and the role of gossip and the media in what shapes society. I also love her commentary on the way that subliminal messages and peer pressure can lead us all to feel that there is some kind of artificial beauty ideal that we should achieve-- and that the pursuit of that false ideal can destroy us or cause us to destroy others.

Camille's courage, determination, loyalty, and resolute unwillingness to back down make her the kind of woman I hope to be and hope for my daughters to be. She is ready to bring about change, and she faces the uncertain future with resilience and passion. 

​In short, I cannot wait for Book Three!

Quick Summary: This is a novel set during the time period of the American civil war, but in the story, during the war, the soldiers become the undead, and through bites, they contaminated more people. In the years that follow, teens of color are put into combat schools to learn to be attendants for wealthy white people. Jane McKeene is a teen participating in the combat training program, but when she is abruptly shipped off to a settlement out west, she discovers even more challenges in their unstable world.
My Take: I loved this novel. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it because "zombie books" aren't typically my favorite, but I adored Jane's forthright, courageous character from the beginning, and I was captivated by the horrendous circumstances put in place by the white, privileged people in power in the society. 
My conclusion: This is a powerful read - fast moving with rich characters and complex circumstances. Jane McKeene is one of my all-time favorite YA characters - she's clever, sassy, and determined. Most importantly, I love the way that Justina Ireland provides insightful commentary on the ways that American culture has systemically and mercilessly oppressed people groups in order to further the causes of the few privileged people within the society (who use their privilege to maintain the hegemonic social structure) and the fierce bravery of those who stand against that structure.  4/5 stars. 
Favorite Quotes: 

• “It’s a cruel, cruel world. And the people are the worst part.”  - While the society was being overtaken by the shamblers (their term for the undead), it's clear throughout the book that the evil and corruption plaguing them lies within those in power, not the undead. 
• “The day I came squealing and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me. I guess it should have been obvious to everyone right then that I wasn't going to have a normal life.”  - I loved Jane's perspective and sense of humor throughout the novel. She understood the complexities and cruelties of the world around her, and while she did not sit passively by and accept the status quo, she also did not begrudge her life. She accepted it with courage, levity, and determination, and she forged onward toward a better future.

What I added to my TBR list: Jen talked about Patrick Ness’s The Knife of Never Letting Go, and that reminded me that all three of those books are on my shelf (thanks to Green Valley Book Fair!) and await my reading of them. Maybe I'll tackle them in 2019 - this year I'm really focusing on The Unread Shelf project and reading what I own.
Teaching Tips: This would be an awesome book to use for lit circles. It is a great read for teens and would work well in any class from grades 9-12 (and could be handled by some middle school students as well). As far as lit circles go, this book could be in a group with other books about the civil war era, but it could also fit nicely with books about oppression, justice, and the power of young people to change the world around them.
Podcast Highlights: I particularly loved the discussion about Jane as a protagonist who is more complex and real than many of the female teen protagonists we see in dystopian or apocalyptic YA novels. I think Sara was right that Jane is more real and richer in depth than many of the female protagonists in YA novels.

Quick Summary: In this episode, we discussed three of the choices for Global Read Aloud this year. If you're unfamiliar with Global Read Aloud, it is a movement focused on connecting classrooms around the world through shared reading experiences. Below are the summaries we wrote for each of the novels we discuss in the podcast.

• Samira Ahmed's Love, Hate and Other Filters: Maya Aziz is an aspiring filmmaker, a senior in high school who is balancing determining her own future with pleasing her traditional Indian immigrant parents.  This novel addresses her crush on a white classmate, Phil; her potential relationship with Kareem, a boy from her own Muslim culture; and the prejudice that follows an act of terrorism that has a huge impact on Maya’s (and her parents’) consideration of her identity.
  
  
• Aisha Saeed's Amal Unbound: Amal is a twelve-year-old girl in a small village in Pakistan. As the oldest sibling with a new baby on the way, she has many responsibilities to her family. As those pressures build and her time in school, a place of refuge for her, decreases, she feels increasingly distraught. A momentary loss of composure in the village marketplace causes a major shift in her life circumstances, forcing her into a life of indentured servitude for the local landlord who oversees the village. As her world spirals out of control, she has to struggle to decide who she will be and how she will move forward.
  
  
• Alan Gratz's Refugee: This story examines the lives of three different refugees coming from different time periods and circumstances-- Josef is a Jewish boy fleeing from Nazi Germany, Isabel is a Cuban girl fleeing the Castro regime in 1994, and Mahmoud is a Syrian boy escaping war-torn Aleppo in 2015. Refugee is the story of the journey each of these young people take with their families in search of refuge from political persecution in their own countries.

My Take: While I enjoyed aspects of all three of these novels, I loved Refugee  the most. I found all three of the story lines totally captivating, and I love a book with multiple narrators. What I most appreciated is the way that Gratz uses the different storylines to break down some misconceptions and negative attitudes that people seem to have toward refugees. I also loved Amal Unbound and so appreciated the insight Ahmed gave into life in a Pakistani village. I appreciated the way Ahmed revealed the complex cultural dynamics that lead toward girls being uneducated and the way she highlighted the brave steps girls around Pakistan are taking to change the culture and their larger world.
My conclusions: 

• Love, Hate and Other Filters - 3 out of 5 stars
• Amal Unbound - 5 out of 5 stars
• Refugee - 5 out of 5 stars

Teaching Tips: All three of these novels would work well in the classroom. Love, Hate, and Other Filters would be a great lit circle book and could be taught with other books about hate crimes, terrorism, or second generation experiences. Amal Unbound is a quick, powerful read and could definitely be read whole class as it is fascinating and moves quickly. We're planning to teach Refugee  whole class with our tenth grade students. However, having done some read aloud with them so far this year, we've realized that Refugee  is likely going to be too much to get through with read aloud alone. We're planning to get enough copies for the students so that we can read parts aloud but then let them read by themselves in between the sections we'll read together. 
Podcast Highlights: It was so fun to discuss all three of these books with Jen and Sara, and I loved hearing their perspectives. ​