Book Review: Green on Blue (Afghanistan civil war)

 Green on Blue, by Elliot Ackerman (Simon and Schuster, 243pp PB, $18, 2015)

Ah, Afghanistan - but from the viewpoint of a 'sort of' conscripted Afghan boy-soldier with an American, Mr. Jack, in the far background (blue refers to the US military while green refers to the 'other' side).

A Couple of Short Stories

Much of Green on Blue gives us the daily life of a soldier in the Afghan 'civil war' around a couple of critical incidents that might easily be missed. We start out meeting two brothers growing up alone in a village whose market is bombed by the Taliban: Aziz and his older brother Ali learn to  live on the street as beggars. Ali loses a leg but medical care is rationed, generally for the wealthy. Therefore, in exchange for Aziz joining a militant* group, his salary goes to care for his brother.

Pashtunwali

Author Elliot Ackerman gets the Afghan Code of Ethics down pat: nang** is honor, badal is justice, revenge or retribution, and the book is a demonstration of Pashtunwali all the way through, the unwritten rules that the country lives by. 

Coming of Age

Besides the theme of honor, Green on Blue takes us through winter, the season for military training, followed by the spring offensives, using roadblocks as a common method of gaining funds for supplies. Aziz somehow quickly ascends in rank and is requested by name to accompany some of his higher commanders.

The climax is very much food for thought in that some readers just won't 'get it' while others will thank the publisher for the book club guide and for Phil Klay's (Redeployment) interview of Ackerman in the back.

And yes, there is a dog in this novel and a pet dog at that (an animal not usually considered a pet in this country).

Writing Style

Ackerman, who spent a couple of tours in-country, knows the Afghan military. Still, I wonder at Aziz and his cohorts having IBAs (individual body armor) which would protect them but also slow them down. I also wonder about Mr. Jack, the American traveling alone to coordinate some of the Afghan troops. 

The author also has a unique writing style consisting mainly of many short choppy sentences interspersed with longer ones. The reader does become accustomed to this though.

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*Afghanistan is composed of many tribes, the largest of which is the Pashtun (the two main languages are Pashtu and Dari [similar to Persian Farsi]) tribe who usually rules even though they are located primarily in the south, in Kandahar, rather than around the capital Kabul. During the conflict of the Taliban around 2000, Afghans either took the side of the Americans or of the Taliban.

**Ackerman's book is missing a glossary that would make the reading so much easier:

shalwar kameez (like the Vietnamese woman's ao dai, wide pants with a long tunic)

shura, jurga, loya jurga (council)

zakat (tithe)

Book Review: The Fault in our Stars (OT)(teen love story, cancer)

 The Fault in our Stars, by John Green (Penguin Books, 318pp, $12.99, 2012, a number one book on many lists and now a movie) 

A true, made-up love story but also a life lesson in growing up. . . . another book that is probably on your list of books to read, that keeps getting longer and longer. My advice to you: get it and read it. Then watch the movie. Or, watch the movie and then get the book.

Love the Names!

Our teens are Hazel Grace and Augustus "Gus" Waters - the perfect pair - of names, that is. As far as being a couple, they are so much older than their years: they sprout poetry (with a surprise poet at the end).

Hazel has been stable for three years but homeschooled for that time. Her lungs are weak from thyroid cancer so she must use oxygen. Gus, on the other hand, seems quite healthy, in remission since his leg (and the cancer) was removed. He latches on to Hazel when they meet in a teen cancer survivor therapy group in the basement of a church. Eventually they become close and live through the demise of some of their friends.

Perhaps you have heard of the last wish? Hazel used hers for Disneyworld a couple of years ago but Gus has saved his so far. 

Poetry

The teens speak in poetry more and more as the pages fly by and Hazed and Gus end up in Amsterdam to see their favorite author - a trip full of memories, both good and frustrating. Fortunately, Hazel's mom is wonderful (and her dad is the sensitive one).

After Amsterdam, they hold a pre-funeral that is meaningful and . . . but I won't tell you how the book ends. Suffice it to say that this is a book you will hold in your heart for a long time.

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing (OT)(North Carolina swamps, girl)

Where the Crawdads* Sing, by Delia Owens (Random  House, Reese's Book Club, $18, 2021, 400pp PB, New York Times Bestselling Author)

Where the Crawdads Sing has probably been on your list to read for a long time: my advice is to read it. Now. Especially if you love, and who doesn't - To Kill a Mockingbird.

This reviewer read the large print version so she could read it better in bed at night, in low light. It was still a long book but a short read in that this book simply grasps you and doesn't let go yet, at the same time, it is smooth.

Kya, the March Girl, is left to fend for herself in the swamps at a young age and manages somehow to not only survive but, though terribly shy, to thrive. Author Delia Owens must have either grown up near the North Carolina swamps or perhaps she is an environmentalist, for she gets things right: the bird feathers, the grasses, navigating the coastline and interconnected islands, the shells. How she manages to also make Kya's story so captivating that we want to meet her shows her true skill as a first-time novelist.

The Plot

Kya raises herself, teaches herself to cook (mostly grits), which birds to befriend, which mushrooms to eat, as she spends her days collecting shells and oftentimes, before dawn, gathering mussels to sell to the black man in town. People know about Kya - the kids her age who taunt her for not knowing how to read, and a few adults who take her under their wing, and a couple of boys. One teaches her how to read and shares nature while the other merely takes. And then Kya is recognized for being a naturalist but one of 'her' boys is found dead and so, a trial ensues. 

The Magic of the Writing Style

Owens manages to modify the conversations according to who is speaking and, for Kya, her grasp of English grammar is mirrored as she reads biology textbooks for the more she educates herself, the better her speech becomes. 

*crawfish, crayfish, freshwater crustaceans

And one of the biology books she mentions was written by a professor where I did my undergraduate work!

Book Review: How Books Can Save Democracy (OT) (a little book with big ideas)

 How Books Can Save Democracy, by Michael Fischer (Trinity University Press, 12.95$, 2025, 84pp)

A Little Book That Packs a Big Wallop!

A book so small you can fit it easily in a pocket - new meaning for pocketbook! 

All I can say is, "Wow!" This is the book that can save democracy. It is best for a conversation-starter like in a book club or an upperclass college seminar (where the students have lived a bit and experienced different situations and, perhaps, different cultures, or at least have known different generations and SESs (socio-economic status').

When I found myself highlighting nearly every page in this little book, I knew I had to stop, and start to sing its praises.

How Books Can Save Democracy should be required reading for boards of directors and elected leaders, or anyone encountering varying opinions, power and responsibility for others.   

In a nutshell, literature and resulting discussions are safe places to practice disagreement and compromise, and that can be a good lesson for plain old families like those whose members disagree about politics over Thanksgiving dinner, especially if alcohol is served. People can agree to disagree which is more than simply avoiding a certain subject: it means a give-and-take in the conversation, finding some points to agree on and others not to.

Using titles and quotes from well-known books and authors, from Desmond Tutu to Dickens, author Michael Fischer, an English professor, opens the book with a multi-page synopsis from a case in point: in the park one day, three women friends find they disagree and argue when along comes a man who listens in and sparks them to stop, look and listen to each other. They eventually do.

Suggestion

I would make the opening literary synopsis shorter and from a book most people are familiar with as I would for most of the examples - being a STEM person I am not familiar with much of English literature so perhaps examples from children's books might be more meaningful. I would get more out of examples from To Kill a Mockingbird

or Tom Sawyer,

for example.

However

On the whole, this is an excellent little book to take along with you and read slowly over and over again.

Book Review: Still Alice (OT)(early onset Alzheimer's, also a movie)

 Still Alice, by Lisa Genova (Simon and Schuster, 2009, $16, 293 pp PB)

The Plot

An enthralling movie (2014) made me pick up the book* when I saw it and not want to put it down. For some reason, I identified with Alice even though I am not a Psychology professor at a prestigious college that I and my science professor husband can walk to, don't live in New England, don't have a house on the beach or three adult children with one grand on the way, am not a runner - so I don't know why I liked this book (and movie) so much. Perhaps it is because Julianne Moore won an Academy Award for portraying Alice.

I believe that if you read a book and see the movie, or see a movie and then read the book, that your favorite is the one you read/watch first. In rare circumstances you like both equally: To Kill a Mockingbird,

The Help,

and now, Still Alice. 

The astute inhabitant of today's world will know how the book ends but will keep reading it to hope against hope and to experience what gradual loss of memory feels like from the patient's point of view and because all the characters are likable. We want to shake Alice's husband, however, but love the estranged daughter for handling Alice so naturally - real, with all the bumps experienced in life. 

Written by a neurocientist, you will wonder just how much is true in this work of fiction. Most likely, the science and medicine are true, as well as the characters' feelings, emotions and reactions. And you will find the book and movie to be wonderfully on track** with each other. Remember that Alice has early-onset Alzheimer's which seemed to progress fairly rapidly. And keep it on your bookshelf to read again next year, after watching the movie again.

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* and yes, butterflies are significant

** This reviewer found a couple of scenes in the book that are not in the movie and vice versa but perhaps the bookmark fell out and was replaced in the wrong chapter. . . . 

Book Review: Dog Tags, Strays (Vietnam, Military Working Dog, YA novel)

Dog Tags: Strays, by C. Alexander London (Scholastic, 2012, 210 pp, $5.99, ages 10-14, book 2 in a 4-book series*) Review by Skye Anderson

How Far Would You Go To Save a Life?

We meet Chuck and Ajax, his German Shepherd military working dog (MWD), a scout dog, in Vietnam. Teams like Chuck and Ajax rotate from unit to unit and generally work as point, leading a patrol and acting as an early warning, thus saving lives. Chuck is at the end of his fourth tour, having re-upped because he feels his work in important, but suddenly he receives orders to return to the States near the end of the Vietnam Conflict. 

But what about Ajax? Chuck has been put in for a Bronze Star* but MWDs do not return home. Some have contracted a 'jungle disease' but most are classified as surplus military equipment and are euthanized not released while a war is going on and due to the expense of sending dogs back. A few are turned over to friendly forces, the ARVN.

A Hard Book to Read

About halfway through arises the realization that not all dogs make it back to the States after a conflict: they are euthanized (or were, in previous conflicts) at a rather young age. This can be very difficult for youngsters to learn about, particularly if they have a pet dog. For this reason, it might be a good idea for a parent to read this book first and then decide if the child is ready for it. And, of course, the parent should be ready for a discussion about this (and about other topics such as AWOL).

What The Reader Will Learn**

Young readers will learn a little about being a soldier during wartime in the Vietnam Conflict, as author Alexander London manages to seamlessly sneak in a history lesson or two. The reader will learn a lot about foxholes as all soldiers are experienced in digging and sleeping in.

The Plot

Strays is a thrill a minute (after about halfway) and the soldiers are very lucky as they flit from one situation to another. This reviewer tried to guess what would happen and was usually incorrect. Hopefully the young reader will be able to tell the characters apart (there are several of them) and the epilogue was probably written more for the adult reader, even causing some tears to flow.

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* but after 2 years, 1 month and 19 days, ". . . if anyone deserved the Bronze Star,  it was Ajax. Chuck was just the guy at the other end of the leash." (p. 72)"

** just a couple of things that illustrate poetic license perhaps: in the book, the command to stop firing was "Hold your fire!" but in my Army (1983 and beyond) the command was "Cease fire!" And MWDs nowadays are nearly pets when off-duty and dearly beloved by soldiers in the unit - petted and played with. Author London portrays Ajax as being rather barky and not terribly friendly towards other soldiers in the unit to the point that some fear him. And a dog's thoughts off-duty tend to be "Am I full and am I safe? Is it time to play?"

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Book 1: Semper Fido (Afghanistan, Black Lab)

Book 2: Strays

Book 3: Prisoners of War (WW2, Doberman)

Book 4: Divided We Fall (Civil War, hound)

Book Review: No Ordinary Dog (My Partner from the SEAL Teams to the Bin Laden Raid)

No Ordinary Dog (My Partner from the SEAL Teams to the Bin Laden Raid), by Will Chesney (St. Martin's, 2021, $21, 336pp) Review by Skye Anderson

No wonder No Ordinary Dog is a bestseller! Nevertheless, this reviewer gives you permission to skip chapters 3 and 4: they are simply an extension of the first two chapters about SEAL* training. Additionally, you may skim the last pages also because too much detail is presented, over and over again. 

Author Will Chesney begins the book with his rather elongated (laborious?) story of joining the Navy and the rigors of SEAL training: the details may bog you down plus it is hard to believe he remembered those months in such detail. 

The Dog

Cairo is the Belgian Malinois MWD** (military working dog) who played a part, albeit small, in Operation Neptune Spear but do you know exactly what he did? 

We remember the pictures of him wearing goggles and body armour but did you know he was born in Europe and cost the US Navy 10,000$ as a youngster, before his Navy SEAL training?

The author remarks often on the bond between him and the dog but we don't experience this first-hand, perhaps because the author mentions it so often rather than showing us, instead.

UBL

Osama bin Laden was killed by US SEALs in 2011 in Abbotabad, Pakistan, during a surprise night raid of his residential compound (and surprising to me was the success of the raid). He had been the leader of al Qaeda and came to light after 911.

The Book Club

This reviewer is a member of a veterans' book club that has been meeting for seven  years. She generally reviews our monthly selections, sometimes before we meet and sometimes after our discussions (so she can incorporate some member comments). The group selected this book on her recommendation (she is also a dog trainer) and found out that some book club members had peripherally worked with MWDs but were not "dog-people" while others were dog-people.

We had varied views after reading No Ordinary Dog - from considering it to be poorly written to highly recommended. Some were disappointed in not meeting Cairo for so many pages. The reviewer was particularly disappointed in the use (albeit rarely) of an e-collar (electric - not positive reinforcement)

Every veteran will learn a lot from author Will Chesney, whether it be the continuous training rigors of the Navy's special operations forces (SOF) or the closeness of the SEAL teams or even just the details of the UBL raid and Cairo's part in it.

*SEAL - Sea, Air, and Land

**On page 140, the author seems to mention the story of another MWD in OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom), "Max, Best Friend, Hero, Marine," about a service member who is killed in action and his MWD is given to his family but has trouble readjusting to life back in the States. Watch the trailer here.

Book Review: Camille and the Silver Thorn (OT)(children's book, Christian values)

Camille and the Silver Thorn, by Rhonda Rein (Carriage Light, 2022, 139 pp, $7.99, ages 8-11)

The front cover of the book hooked me! Is it a boy or a girl? Is there a dog or a fox? Love it, whatever.

It is Saturday and 11-year-old Camille is playing outside in her Kansas backyard, checking in with her neighbor every once in a while since her dad is at work and her mom passed away. She notices a little red door, leading to a gnome home, at the base of a large tree and discovers a whole different world within. 

Much like Alice of Alice in Wonderland, Camille goes on an adventure that is too exciting to believe.  Her adventure also includes the opportunity to save a civilization, after she receives training from the elf in the tree (geren-haired Lila Elfonso) and others she meets along the way. 

A Creative Version of Wizard of Oz?

This story moves along at an impressive clip with tests along the way.

The Eyes Have It

Lila the Elf , "about the height of an unsharpened pencil," sees a kindred spirit in Camille as do others in Lila's world. It's in her eyes. It is this that convinces everyone to trust Camille to save their world but it is not easy as she goes from trial to trial and makes progress along the way - but will it be enough? Will Camille be able to do what others have not been able to do - save an entire world?

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Kindle version: 

Book Review: Simple Lies, An Amish Inn Mystery (Christmas, mysterious 'gifts')

Simple Lies: An Amish Inn Mystery, by Jan Fields (Annie's, 2026, $19.99HB, 205pp, a cozy mystery)

The Speed

We like fast-reading books that you can't put down. At the very least, you have to - put it down, but can't wait to get back to it. Many books start out slow - slow enough that readers don't stick with the book and lay it aside. Permanently. Simple Lies starts out slow but then picks up speed.

Weird Christmas in April?

There is noting wrong with Christmas in April. As a matter of fact, it just might be the thing you need. Minus the horror, though. And minus the bones and minus the other weird stuff like shopkeepers in a quaint little town finding packages on their doorstep and, upon opening them, finding stinky moldy hay and bones - but as the gifts inside escalate in horror (rags, a dead mouse, etc.) someone must find out who is doing this and why.

On the Other Hand

On the other hand, we read of an attorney from the big city settling down in a small Amish town as the innkeeper until her ex-fiancee comes to visit and cause havoc. On the other hand, we have the innkeeper's friends who own a quaint little bakery or another store and are her friends, as well as a couple of Amish women who work at the inn and okeeper.her Amish who are actually relatives of our inn-keeper.

And Don't Forget Beans!

Beans is the inn's resident bulldog, a real sleeper. Beans doesn't  have a large role in the story but is a constant and a cover model as well.

Book Review: Inequality by Design (OT) (planned obsolescence?)

Inequality by Design, by Ryan Mattson and Ben Johnson (Upriver Press. $24.95, 264pp PB, 2025)

Inequality by design, Planned obsolescence. But now, along with people's lives and occupations and Socio Economic Status (SES) and educational opportunities and tax brackets.

Authors Ryan Mattson and Ben Johnson have written a book that is spellbinding, a non-fiction book that reads like fiction, a book you simply cannot put down. Inequality by Design follows three highschool seniors from graduation to their lives ten years later and then twenty years later and . . . .Whatever happened to the promise at graduation that hard work will let you climb the ladder to success? Our highschool grads eventually learn that their success also depends on new laws passed by the government, which the average person has no inkling of nor time to pay attention to. All they know is that life is tough through no fault of their own. They are losing ground.

Although graphs are large enough to be read easily, the print accompanying them is readable only by squinting. The cover design shows something breaking, an up arrow and a down arrow, a mountain (?) and a body of water: I would suggest a design that is more obvious to the naive reader. Most importantly, I would put the subtitle on the cover (How a Rigged Economy Fractures America and What We Can Do About It).

The authors somehow make complex ideas understandable in conversational tones. I would take a class from these two in any subject. I would read any book they wrote.

Book Review: We the People (OT) (A Premonition)

We the People, A Premonition, by Russell Razzaque and T. MacGregor (Omni House Press, 2025, $9.99, 244pp PB)

Have you wondered what the future will bring, politically? Children do: they have illogical fears. I know I did- about nuclear war. Well, the future is now, or at least on its way and visible. This dystopian novel creates one such future.

The cover is magnetic - amid a destroyed New York City is featured Lady Liberty with injuries - this contradicts the title, We the People. The reader must read to find out why the contradiction. Or, reading the back cover, the reader is given a glimpse of the plot, setting and characters (and AI). It most likely will be a thriller but perhaps an unsettling thriller (and it's good to have both women and men protagonists).

We the People is a fast read and one that appeals to Hiispanic readers. The authors do a good job of inserting Spanish sentences whose meanings can be deduced in the following text.

The Table of Contents is interesting: chapter titles are One, Two, Three (with the final chapter being called "Now it's over to you!") and appear in Part One, Two or THREE [sic] as if the authors or publisher couldn't come up with better titles - but I like them!

*Lines are spaced rather far apart vertically and, unfortunately, too many errors are still present (the Mariel boat life took place in 1980 not 1982, e.g.) which include occasional uneven spacing between words. Where are the proofreaders when you need them?

Given all this, People is well written, well thought out and a different yet fascinating read for discussion.

Book Review: The Catalysts (OT) (the accelerating forces forging the new world financial order)

The Catalysts (The Accelerating Forces Forging the New World Financial Order), by Amanda Wick (Racket  Publishing, $34.95 PB, 2025, 417pp PB) 

The title, The Catalysts, and the front cover illustration led me to believe this book was about the environment. Great! But I was wrong: the subtitle contains the word, financial. Therefore, I put this book at the bottom of my list to read and review. When its turn came up I found out just how wrong I had been - early on. (P.S. Will the average reader know what a catalyst is, or just the chemistry majors?)

Author Amanda Wick opens her book with a zinger - the January 6 incident in Washington, DC. And she writes a non-fiction book that reads like fiction - fast and fascinating.

Subtitles in each chapter are extremely helpful as is the good-sized print which enables one to read in bed at night under less than ideal lighting circumstances.

An amazingly clear debut text with uncluttered drawings of graphs, key points at the ends of chapters (and it might be good to put them in the beginning of said chapters as well), headings and subheadings and subsubheadings emphasize important points for the reader. 

My final comment would be to write a companion book, shorter, and for the populace rather than for  public policymakers, regulators and concerned citizens.

Book Review: Through the Gates of Hell (OT), American Injustice at Guantanamo Bay

Through the Gates of Hell (OT), American Injustice at Guantanamo Bay, by Joshua Colangelo-Bryan (Humanitas Media, 2025, $27.00HB, 232pp HB)

As I've said before, a good book has a good story to tell and is well-written (also called magic since it is hard to define, but "I know it when I see it" [also said in the past of pornography]).

The reader knows a good book early on - by thumbing through it or by starting to read the first few paragraphs or words.

Many good books have been written by journalists or by former authors though not this book. Through the Gates of Hell is authored by a first-time author - an attorney to boot! Joshua Colangelo-Bryan must attempt to explain a lot of legal lingo in words the average person can understand - without being too boring. I believe he has done a quite good job.

Front cover designs are becoming more and more important in selling what is inside and becoming more fashionable to the book buyer (though not necessarily for the library patron. Hell's front cover, though perhaps I should refer to the book as Gates rather than Hell, depicts a wall topped by barbed wire, a universal photo.

Books have changed the world, from sparking an interest in a youngster so he or she goes into a specific occupation or causes someone to visit a certain foreign country. I am not sure Hell will do this but the author is a highly ethical person, even though an attorney, and that shows in the 'plot.'

And lastly, a good book is good all the way through. Hell is this, also. It is a piece of nonfiction that reads like fiction and brings in the rest of the world.

Through the Gates of Hell is a good book. It is about one of the detainees/prisoners at Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) and his American attorney and the hours they spent talking their case (Jaber's release, after 911), and their legal fight for Jaber's freedom due to perhaps mistaken identity.

A sobering, spellbinding, yet inspirational book. Can we really be the bad guys?

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I have read a few authors that I really like, not only as an author but as a person. Josh is one such person due to his high ethics. At the least, I would like to meet him.

I might suggest that some sensitive readers skip much of the beginning material which depicts treatment of prisoners at Gitmo (Guantanamo). And it was hard for me to believe that much of that treatment was going on - not the Army I knew in the war against terrorism (but I did get an inkling of it when I was in Afghanistan).

Gates does get bogged down in much of the book and that makes it hard to read because we know how it ends, we merely have to read the entire book to find out under what circumstances and when it gets resolved. And some might wonder why the book is about one Bahraini man when there were six at Gitmo at the time.

Book Review: The Immigrant Next Door (OT)(Collected stories of the American experience)

The Immigrant Next Door (Collected stories of the American experience), by JamesKenyon (Meadowlark Press, 2024, 301pp, $25)

What an amazing title! And penned by a veterinarian to boot! Thirty-one stories of 31 immigrants to the  United States - when they came, why they came, and "the rest of the story."

Two chapters, two stories stand out: Elizabeth Drummond Hempfling who saw an ad in her native British newspaper in the late 60s for a nanny for 3-year-old twins in New Hampshire and Isabel Posso Diedrichs from Ecuador, who ended up in Montana (of all places) for college, pledging Kappa Alpha Theta.

The stories belong to the immigrants - people who come to the US, some with the intention of staying and some with not, but who manage to spend their life here anyway.

These stories are mini-biographies with the added bonus of supplying a considerable amount of information about the immigrant's home countries: from Myanmar to Bosnia to Ghana.

Not the first book from this author-veterinarian, The Immigrant Next Door has its hills and valleys of well-written paragraphs and sentences, as if some were carefully crafted, as if some were written by an experienced editor - most just telling a homey story.                                                                            

Suggestions

I was surprised at the dearth of stories from Asia or the Far East (China, Thailand, etc.); nonetheless, a good selection is to be had (read and remembered). You will have your favorites, along with their photos. And the story of how this book came to be is also memorable which may account for the selection of home countries. 

The United States is such a lucky country!

Book Review: The Wire-Walker (OT) (love, care, dreaming)

The Wire-Walker, by James Janko (Regal House Publishing, 2025, #20.95, 310pp PB)

The cover design with illustration, colors, and title is only slightly magnetic and I probably would not have purchased the book, The Wire-Walker. I might have thought it was about a circus, which, in a way, it is. But it is so much more than just a book about a circus. Although the title is 'appropo' I would suggest something more engaging to grab the reader's attention. However, the praise from other authors that is included made my decision for me, even though I knew next to nothing about this part of the world.  

Wire-Walker reads like a work of fiction, which is actually is, with lovely creative prose.

Our 16 year-old Palestinian protagonist lives in a refugee camp* and has learned to walk tightropes so she goes to the 'other' side (Israel) to improve her skills in the circus for kids, The Flying Kids, in which she is an 'aerialist' not a 'tightrope walker.'

One of the subplots will have you reading fast and faster to see what her twin brother finds and finds out. ----------------------------

*Balata has dwellings so crowded they remind me of one of the slums in the Far East with alleys so narrow that one can touch buildings on both sides at the same time and, when looking up,  can see only a sliver of sky and only at noon.

Book Review: Politics, Gangs and Vodou (OT)(Haiti's Struggle for Democracy and Human Rights)

Politics, Gangs and Vodou (Haiti's Struggle for Democracy and Human Rights) by Yvon Milien (Yvon Milien, 2025, $18.99, 268pp) 

Halfway through the introduction and after perusing the 'parts' like the Table of Contents, I realized the reader should read Politics, Gangs, and Vodou in chapter order, for it explains the history and culture, and delves into the future. Then, lo and behold, the next page in the introduction said the same thing but was more forgiving in that the second most valuable way to read the book is to just open it and start where your interests lie.

On second thought, there are 12 sections, each with chapters for a total of 30 chapters. The most memorable divisions in any object are a total of 3 but often goes up to 7 (unsuccessfully). Politics, with12 divisions, is unwieldly with sections that are hard to keep in mind and remember. Many times a book like this would include history, the current day, plans for the future, and maybe culture. However, with short chapters, Politics does a good job.

How can one describe how a nation came to be "born in chains, baptized in fire, and cast into the world alone, . . ."? Once the wealthiest (French) colony in the world due to its climate, soil and indigenous slaves, once Haiti won its freedom, the struggle began.

In order to understand Haiti, author Yvon Milien compares it to the US and compares authoritarianism to democracy, more than just elections, with civilian power and military rule.

Book Review: The Last Bake Sale (OT), The Fight for Fair School Funding

The Last Bake Sale, The Fight for Fair School Funding, by Andru Volinshky (Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2025, $24.95, 224pp )

 

The Last Bake Sale will open your eyes to the issue of underfunded, unequal education for public school students all across the country - and their origins from t he 1600s to the present day. We all live in a bubble and either resides in a school district that funds their schools well or doesn't, but those in the latter districts may not be aware that this has been a problem for eons and is also a problem throughout the nation.

Well-organized, Bake Sale begins with the situation today on the national scene, then focuses several chapters on the situation in New Hampshire and finally proposes some solutions based on New Hampshire where the author resides and has worked on more equitable school funding for many years.

Well-written by an attorney who later ran for (New Hampshire) governor, Bake Sale alternates from being told in the third person to the first person and is very effective in doing so. The reader will almost turn into an expert on New Hampshire school funding over the years nearly to the point of being a word-for-word transcription of some court cases. The reader will become more familiar with Plessy v Ferguson ('separate but equal') and Brown v Board of Education ('separate is not equal').

Readers especially interested in Bake Sale would be those who have lived in New Hampshire or have had children in the school system there (or anywhere) as well as educators and politicians across the country. I would suggest readers take notes because the play-by-play accounts could get detailed and one needs to read this book in chronological order (page by  page).

Book Review: Employment Ethics (OT), Redefining the Employer-Employee Relationship

Employment Ethics, Redefining the Employer-Employee Relationship, by Travis Schachtner (FTS Leaders, 2025, $19.99, 184pp) 

A Gem! 

We have all had a job (or two. . . ) that we just didn't like, but was it the people or the work itself? And how much of a role does salary play, or the manager? Let's redefine the 'employer-employee relationship' in the words of author Travis Schachtner.

Where's the Beef?

It is here. Being a rather small, affordable book enables the reader to carry it with him or her in a purse of pocket, to return to in  spare time. The concerpts are grad school concepts written in everyday language with examples being primarily of blue-collar employment.

Bringing in Maslow's hierarchy of needs and relating it to the real world of work can be challenging but the author does a good job of this (was it his PhD thesis?)

Much (too much?) of the book explains the premise which is: "Employers emphasize financial efficiency seeking to maximize productivity while minimizing labor costs. Employees, however, value their personal time, viewing work as an exchange of giving effort for a certain amount of time for ethical compensation." (p. 44) And much of the time, the author poses questions that outline a poor employer-employee relationship.

 A second theme compares a strong marriage to the employer-employee relationship while a one-night stand (contractors, PT or gig work) or an abusive relationship could be likened to other types of marriages.

And what book would be replete without mention of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the Monogah mining or Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster or Willow Island but do you know what improvements in employment law resulted?

Several chapters end with reflections that are questions to summarize the chapter and cause the reader to evaluate his situation. Anyone picking up this book is probably in a difficult work situation and Employment Ethics, besides acting as a therapist, gives a structure to correct the situation.

Suggestions

I'd like to see Employment Ethics in greater use, perhaps by being shorter or condensing the first third or even by adding illustrations. Although I understand the items on the cover, I'd prefer a cover that is more magnetic and grabs the potential  reader to explore inside. 

Book Review: Befriending China, People-to-People Peacemaking (OT)

Befriending China, People-to-People Peacemaking, by Dee Knight (Solidarity Publications, 2025, $14.95, 187pp)

With a nice cover photo (look closely and you will see the flag of China - the stars - a lovely surprise for those who discover it), and descriptive title and subtitle, Befriending China: People-to-People Peacemaking might be thought of as controversial but there is enough travel story embedded to be enticing reading nonetheless.

The book appears to be written in two parts and perhaps by two people: a travelogue followed by serious comparisons of China and the US and their current relationship, with the world, and future goals. Author Dee Knight has also included how to best travel to China (visa information, etc.)

The author made several recent trips to China, covering much of the country, which is what the reader will take away: the large cities (besides Beijing), the vastness of the western part of the country and their numerous ethnic groups, the 'green-ness' of China (concern for the environment), concern by the government for poverty and what they are doing to help people. And, yes, COVID has a section.

A couple of possible typos caught my eye, which is acceptable in a book (though no more than that) and led me to wonder if the author, editor, or publisher might be British. One of these is the spelling of 'pop sickles' on page xx. That is a difficult word to spell and many have to look it up each time, but it just seemed not quite right.

The map on page 5 might be viewed more frequently if it were in the front of the book and given a caption like other's of the book's illustrations. Several illustrations are accompanied by their sources and a few appeared to be photocopied. The graph on page 80 is interesting in that each bar grows almost at the same rate with no dips in the data while the graph on page 97 (and others) seems 'taken' from a source. All quotes also should be referenced (Pompeo's on page 84) and all graphs need both the x- and y-axes labelled (page 97).

Generally editors settle on a method and stick to it, whatever it might be, since there may be no one correct way of writing a specific thing. For example, US or U. S. - either is correct as long as its use is consistent throughout the document.

Book Review: You're Telling my Kids They Can't Read This Book? (OT)

You're Telling my Kids They Can't Read This Book? by Andrew Laties (Rebel Bookseller, 2025, 106pp, $14) 

Our Hundred-Year Children's-Literature Revolution and How We'll Keep Fighting to Support Our Families' Right to Read

Love the front cover - just the title in white on a black background with the font gradually increasing in size.

With a target audience of  parents, teachers and librarians, You're Telling My Kids They Can't Read This Book is challenging, contemporary and captivating. Librarians and booksellers have done an outstanding job in recent years spreading the word about banned books, censorship and their negative consequences. Telling also tells the viewpoint of publishers, educators, authors, and even students resulting in a short book, well-organized.

Did you know Goodnight, Moon never found its way into the New York City Public Library's children's reading room, because it 'had no plot. . . '? Learn why librarians across the country disliked* Maurice Sendak's 1964 Caldecott-medal-winning Where the Wild Things Are.

This book is not for the faint-hearted especially due to the number of four-letter words in the chapter about students' viewpoints.

Describing the history of children's sections in public libraries was fascinating: every reader will find something to marvel at and remember in Telliing. A possible weak point is the emphasis on the story of Little Black Sambo. I think the subject could have been covered more clearly: the elders among us remember little black Sambo fondly while those of us who are younger may not have heard of him.

It's good to remember in this day and age that in the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes "We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions of those we loathe."

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*Because Max is disobedient to his mother but ultimately receives no punishment

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"Children's librarians today are on the front lines, working against book bans.  Modern librarianship has a punk aesthetic: pink hair, tattoos and a nose ring.

"This wasn't always so.

"For much of the twentieth century, librarians were stereotyped as straight-laced, glasses-wearing, buttoned-up, asexual women, their hair in a tight bun, whose notorious habit was aggressively shushing. . . ." (p. 47)