Sacrifice is a prominent theme in this book. Mina is willing to sacrifice herself in place of the intended sea bride, as the intended sea bride is in love with her brother. To protect her brother, she sacrifices herself to the sea God. This reminds me of the theme of the necessity of sacrifice/the price to be paid in order to appease the divine. I‘m curious to see how the theme of sacrifice will continue to play out in this book.

I thought Mina‘s love interest would be the Sea God. However, how the book is narrated makes me think she dislikes Shin but simultaneously finds him attractive…the classic love to hate trope. Or maybe Shin is secretly the Sea God? Who knows! The uncertainty is driving the plot!

The red string that connects Mina to the Sea God reminds me of the string simile Mr Rochester makes to describe the connection he feels to Jane in Jane Eyre. I‘m wondering if this will end as a Beauty and the Beast sort of story where Mina will redeem the Sea God by falling in love with him.

I‘m enjoying this fantasy Korean novel! Mina blames the Sea God for the world‘s tribulations, but when she meets him, she realizes he is not a malevolent creature. Rather, she learns that mankind causes its own suffering through waging war against each other, etc. From a religious/philosophical perspective, rather than blame…

Even though Manu feels her mother betrayed her, the loyalty and love she still has for her is shown as her mother is arrested by ICE. Manu initially refuses to let her mother be arrested without her/is dedicated to staying with her. However, her mother displays her selfless and devoted love by insisting Manu save herself. This reminds me of how even though our loved ones disappoint us at times, true love is selfless and remains loyal.

This book reminds me of how Solito mixes Spanish into the text. I enjoy how the Spanish phrases allow the reader to connect more to the characters‘ culture. I also find Manu‘s Argentinian, female, and werewolf identities as a unique mixture. Though the author is certainly influenced by Harry Potter, she uses these identities to make the main character unique.

Manuela‘s father being the son of a man belonging to a large criminal group made me think of how some people are born into dangerous criminal situations with no choice of their own. Sometimes people born in these situations are even coerced into participating in this activity/their lives and families are threatened if they don‘t comply. It shows the complexity of many people involved with illegal activity.

Manuela‘s strange physical characteristics and Harry Potter‘s unexplained ability to move objects at the beginning of the Harry Potter series mirror each other. Their personal discovery of being superhuman and going to a special school also mirror each other.

Wow, this has been my favorite book from this class! One of my favorite lines was, “The United Nations may decide whether I leave or stay…but only I could decide what I would make of my life”. Omar learned a lesson essential to living a positive life: one cannot control all aspects of their circumstances but one can control how they respond to/what they make of those circumstances. This book promotes gratitude, hope, family, and perseverance!

It broke my heart when Omar thought he saw his mom in a crowd and was disappointed. He seemed ashamed of himself for having any expectation of seeing her. It made him wonder whether she had chosen to abandon them. His hopelessness and worries of being unwanted were really sad to read. Also, though Omar‘s circumstances are much more difficult than most, it was relatable how he wanted to go back to school to distract his mind from overthinking.

Omar‘s joy from finally having access to education and the way he excitedly shares his knowledge with his brother reminds me of how privileged I and many in this country are to have access to an education. Though knowledge is immaterial, it is powerful! Aside from that, jumping to another topic, I love how Omar‘s religion is incorporated into the book, as his connection with God provided hope and perspective amidst his sorrows.

Family means everything to Omar in this book. He is dedicated to his brother Hassan, and though he and Hassan‘s lives are tragic, they are able to make it through hard times because of their love and care for one another. When Omar considers going to school, he is afraid to leave Hassan even briefly because he is traumatized by losing his mother and father. The picture of his old town being burned and the nightmares displayed in the image of the…

The author likes to juxtapose Omar and Samir‘s characters. While Samir is spontaneous, deceitful, and selfish, Omar is conscientious, honest, and introspective. He feels obligated to lead a moral life whereas Samir seems apathetic toward morality.

Samir, the trickster on the Silk Road, seems to be confident in his ability to use charm to manipulate others into giving him monetary goods. While he seems confident, as the story continues, it becomes more evident his dishonesty has tarnished his feelings of satisfaction and happiness. He is not so in love with himself after all. Omar, the main character, notices Samir seems to “love and hate himself too much at the same time”.

I really thought I‘d like this book, but I‘m struggling to pay attention while reading it. The character development seems shallow, and the humor sometimes falls flat, although I could see upper elementary schoolers liking the humor in this book. The plot is slow and, at least for me, doesn‘t flow well. However, maybe I am just experiencing burn out from reading so much and otherwise would like the book hahaha!

The author does well at portraying how nuanced this story is. She allows us to see the humanity of both those who were perpetrators of the hate page as well as those affected. This makes the story more real as compared to an informational piece like a short news article. The detailed accounts taken from the students allows the reader to empathize with those affected by the situation on a more personal level.

It‘s interesting how the more Charles was exposed to radical humor online, the more he normalized it. This reminds me of how in “What the Fact?”, it mentions how social media can lead to algorithms/recommendations that lead individuals to believe dangerous ideologies are acceptable or even normal.

I can‘t imagine the fear, self-consciousness, and self-loathing this hate account must have created amongst those who were targeted by it. When a part of your identity is targeted, it is a very nerve-wracking experience. What was posted was absolutely unacceptable and perverted.

The narrative form allows the reader to see how something so clearly harmful and dangerous was overlooked and deemed as acceptable. The desire for peer acceptance, the “need” to post radical material in order to gain attention, and the friends who did not question the content but rather encouraged it all shows how this hate page was able to grow. It‘s important to be willing to call out hate, even if you‘re accused of taking things too seriously.

I agree that often people don‘t engage with the news to learn about current events but rather to confirm their biases. Much news is catered to people‘s values. Often journalists target the values of their audience in order to stir them up for or against something. This allows the journalist (especially those with soc media platforms) to gather a larger audience. It‘s easy to gather an audience that way, as the viewers receive a confirmation bias.

Yasmin‘s comments on the importance of local news interested me. Generally national and global news has become the focus of our attention. However, we have much more access to making changes on a local level than a national or global one. With a loss of informative local news, citizens are less aware of how local government is spending money, controversies within the community, the state of the education system, etc.

After exploring the unreliability of media, I thought, “how can I discern truth?” I like how the author mentions deductive and inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is based in perception but can‘t always be proven. Although we can‘t prove all of our perceptions as 100% accurate, that‘s okay! Our beliefs can exist on a scale and shape our worldview for good. However, we should be willing to have our beliefs challenged/explore new info and POVs.

Two things that have particularly interested me from this book are the Soviet Union‘s tactics in spreading disinformation for political purposes and how those tactics are still used + the use of bots and trolls in disseminating false information.

This is one of my chosen books! I love any sort of literature that delves into history/geography, so when I saw the setting of this book was the Silk Road, it caught my eye. Early in the book, I‘m already seeing references to all sorts of religions and cities of the eastern world. I love looking up unfamiliar places on maps, and I could see myself teaching some history/culture/geography while reading a book like this with students.

“The memory hurt her almost physically” (334) and “everything she and Kath had done could be erased so easily” (378) were quotes I found relatable regarding loss of loved ones. Whether it be through death, a lost relationship, etc, it‘s hard to not replay the memories of a past lover, friend, or family member and long for them. Lo does an exceptional job at evoking emotions in the reader, and her writing flows naturally without embellishment.

When Lily is about to confront her mom about the Telegraph Club, she thinks “you (her mom) will never look at me like this (with affection) again” (325). When her mom hears the news, she says it must have been a mistake and that “whoever Wallace saw…it wasn‘t Lily” (327). Lily‘s mother refuses to see her daughter. It‘s heartbreaking to think of her mother‘s unwillingness to love her.

(part 2 of post 1) - In contrast, Kath and Lily support and encourage each other‘s interests. On page 221, Lily is said to miss “having Kath listen to her. Rockets to the moon didn‘t seem so far-fetched when Kath listened to her”. I also noticed Shirley tries to make Lily do things that make her uncomfortable (go to the dance with Will, be on her pageant board, etc). Unlike Shirley, Kath always makes sure Lily feels comfortable in new situations.

While reading this book, I noticed a theme of authentic vs superficial friendship. Shirley consistently ignores Lily‘s interests and instead focuses their conversations on herself. On p.215, Lily considers sharing her interest in studying aeronautical engineering, but she “knew Shirley wouldn‘t be interested, and she might even be resentful of Lily‘s aspirations”…(continue to next post).

When Faery was trapped in the woods, he told Whimsy he didn‘t want her help/to put her at risk of danger. Depression can lead to self-isolation and feelings of unworthiness. One may feel they are a burden to others. But in order to leave the forrest (a representation of depression) Faery and Whimsy had to fight together. There is power in uniting with others to overcome suffering. We were never meant to go through life‘s trials alone.

Throughout this book, I noticed Whimsy‘s narration was guarded. At first, she did not let the reader nor Faery fully into her world. When she felt familiarity with Faery, it scared her. Not only was Whimsy disconnected from those around her, but she was also disconnected from herself. The group therapy passage on page 29 was a great representation of how mental illness can make one afraid of oneself/create a discomfort with one‘s own thoughts.

part 2 - …when Fae and Whimsy finally confront the truth, or in other words, bravely surrender themselves to it, they are freed from the forrest. So many struggle with mental illness yet deny they have a problem or refuse to receive the help they need. However, by confronting their illness and bravely reaching out for help, they are able to receive the support they need.

There was an evident transformation in both Faery and Whimsy in this book. At the beginning of the story, they both felt unworthy of love and rejected light. On page 13, it says the sun tried to love Fae but he ran away. Oftentimes mental illness can cause individuals to feel guilty and unloveable. Just a page before is written “there is bravery in surrendering” (12). When Fae and Whimsy finally confront the truth…(next post).

In “The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn”, Isaiah‘s home life leads him to find an escape in reading/typing his father‘s old works at the library. The stuffiness of the motel room where his family lives made me think of how an unstable home life can leave a child feeling a sense of homelessness…like there‘s nowhere secure for them to turn to. This can definitely affect a child‘s behavior at school, with other adults, peers, etc.

At the beginning of “The Difficult Path”, Lingsi experiences a lack of agency as a servant and a prospect for an arranged marriage. When Lingsi is taken by pirates, her ability to read makes her useful and saves her from a more brutal fate. This illustrates how literacy enhances an individual‘s agency.

In the story “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court”, I like how the narrator says there is a part of our brain that tries to justify procrastination or laziness. He is particularly referring to wanting to sleep in rather than practice basketball. I like how in the next line he says, “Reach into your own skull and smack this part of your brain upside the head”. It was a good reminder of the importance of diligence for achieving goals.

In the Editor‘s note at the beginning of the book, I liked how the editor mentioned humanity‘s proclivity to tell stories. Our stories as individuals and groups help us form our identity. (page xii)

By the end of this book, Javiercito creates another family. It made me think of how those who support us through life and engage in the struggle of life with us become family. When Patricia, Carla, and Chino leave, he thinks of how they are the only ones who will ever fully understand his experience. Though their time together was short and their leaving compared to the fleeting nature of a dream, he knows they have left a lifelong impact.

Zamora‘s story being told from the perspective of his nine year old self allows the reader to live vicariously through Javiercito. If the story were a reflection told from his adult perspective, the reader wouldn‘t be able to understand the experience as well on a personal level. Rather than use lots of facts or explanations, Zamora chooses to use succinct, observational phrases that highlight the uncertainty he experienced.

I thought Zamora did an excellent job at using figurative language to convey certain sensations or ideas throughout the book. For example, Javier really wants to express something but instead “swallows” the thought “like a big gulp of cough syrup” (40). He also describes everything in the desert as “having a fever” which helped me imagine how the desert air and landscape must have felt (202).

…Javier realizes his grandpa is much more nuanced than he thought. His grandpa‘s past remains somewhat mysterious but begins to reveal itself; the reader can‘t help wonder how his alcoholism, career as an officer, failed marriage, and childhood have affected him. Before parting ways, it is clear the abuelo loves Javier, and his teary eyes and long hugs show a softer side beneath his hard exterior. This part particularly touched me.

Javier‘s relationship with his abuelo particularly interested me, as I think his abuelo is a good representation of a round character. There are moments throughout the story when Javier has traumatic flashbacks of his grandpa abusing his abuelita and mother. These memories seem to make Javier hesitant in his interactions with his abuelo. However, after spending more time together in the immigration process, Javier realizes…(refer to next post).