The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

This was my book club's selection for March and even though I couldn't make the meeting I still finished the book (although I finished it a few hours after the meeting was held). I'm glad I did.

This is the story of Belle and Lavinia, a woman and a girl both in slavery on the same Virginia plantation in the late 1700's. Belle is the illegitimate daughter of the plantation owner and Lavinia is a white child who was purchased after her parents died on one of the ships owned by the plantation owner. He kept the girl in payment for her passage from Ireland. She is given to Belle who runs the kitchen house on the plantation and she is raised as Belle's daughter.

Both characters find themselves in between the other slaves and the members of the family. Belle sometimes gets special treatment as the owner's daughter and is anticipating getting her emancipation papers from her father. She is forbidden to marry one of the slaves, who she loves, as her father is trying to find a more "suitable" marriage for her. Lavinia, because she is white is given opportunities the other slaves aren't given.

This was an awful time in history and it can make for difficult reading at times. People are bought and sold and treated like animals. They are put in positions no one should have to face. But through it all you see the strength of many of the characters. Rape, domestic violence, alcohol and drug addiction, incest and child molestation all factor into the story. There is a lot of suffering and death.

While not always an easy read, I still found the story really compelling and couldn't put it down. I worked through this one pretty quickly. The subject matter makes it hard to say I "enjoyed" the book, but I found it to be well-written and a good read. I loved the characters (well the ones I was supposed to love and I hated the ones I was supposed to hate). I do want to say there's not a lot here to set this apart from other books set in this time period, but it is still a good read.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Wesley read this book last fall and has been encouraging me to read it ever since. I started it one day on my lunch break and then a student borrowed it later that afternoon so I never got around to finishing it. He has now ended up with two copies so I have borrowed one and finally got to it. I am so glad I did.

Wonder is the story of August (Auggie) Pullman, a young boy who was born with severe facial deformities. Even after several surgeries his eyes sit too low on his face, his lips are scarred from a cleft palate repair, his ears are misshapen and his his skin looks as if he has been burned. As a result, Auggie has been homeschooled until the fourth grade. But by the time he is ready for fifth grade, his parents decide it is time for him to go to "real school".

Auggie then heads to Beecher Prep, a private school in the heart of New York City. Being the new student is hard, being the new student with Auggie's face is incredibly difficult. He is nervous as he tries to make new friends and deal with the stares and taunts of the other students. What he doesn't know about at first is that the other students are afraid to touch him for fear of catching "the plague". A few students befriend him, but others are cruel and the transition to school is very hard. Auggie wants to quit, but is convinced to continue on.

What will Auggie learn about himself as he goes to school each day, and what will his classmates learn about themselves. At the beginning of the school year they are challenged with the words of Dr. Wayne Dyer, "When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind." Great advice for all of us, but how often do we make that choice?

While this is a book aimed at kids aged 10-12, I'd highly recommend it to anyone. It is a great lesson in looking beyond appearances to see the wonder that lies within each of us. Wes and I are going to check out the movie tomorrow morning and I can hardly wait. I hear they've done a wonderful job of bringing Auggie's story to the big screen and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

The Names of Dead Girls by Eric Rickstad

There are all kinds of books in the world and all kinds of readers. You win some, you lose some and for me this one was a loss. It has a 3.89/5 rating on Goodreads, so there are clearly people who have liked the book, but I am not one of those people.

This book picked up where The Silent Girls left off. The first book ended with a cliffhanger and I was curious to see what happened so I decided to read the second book. But I felt this one to be too dark for me, teen girls were murdered and as the mother of a teen girl I found that unsettling.

When the first book ends you know that the killer Frank Rath has been seeking is now targeting Frank's daughter, Rachel. Frank rejoins the police force to give him greater access to the killer and better methods of keeping Rachel safe. A former victim of the killer goes missing, another local girl is killed and Frank is contacted by a Canadian detective who is investigating the deaths of 3 girls just outside of Montreal. How does it all fit together?

I found the story dark and disturbing. Many of the grammatical issues that bothered me in the first book had been corrected in the second book, but a few remained. But aside from being disturbing, I just didn't find the story compelling. It was hard for me to be inspired to pick it up to keep reading. But I eventually worked my way to the end. It did not end with a cliffhanger but there are some questions that weren't answered. I guess that leaves room for a third book, but if it comes, I won't be reading it.