Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Title: Flygirl
Author: Sherri L. Smith
Number of Pages: 275 pages
My Rating: 5/5

Ida Mae's dad taught her how to fly in the plane he used for cropdusting, but being both black and female, it's not easy for her to get her pilot's license. While she's saving up the money she earns cleaning houses to go to the one school she knows licenses both women and blacks, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and suddenly they're in the middle of a war. When her little brother shows her a newspaper article about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), she knows she has to join...even if it means passing for white.

I really liked this book a lot. I read it in two days, which is quick for me, but it was really hard to put down! I love that Smith really doesn't pull any punches. Passing allows Ida Mae to do what she loves, but it changes her forever. The scene where her mom visits her during her training was especially tough to read.

There are several other reviews here.


Mooch from BookMooch.

Line, by Yua Kotegawa

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Popular schoolgirl Chiko finds a lost cell phone in a subway station, and answers it when it begins to ring. A mysterious voice tells her that someone is going to die in ten minutes in front of the train station, but if she can get there in time, she can save the person. Run!

Soon Chiko is tearing all over Tokyo, accompanied by her jaded classmate Bando, desperate to save even one person before their time runs out. But, like the somewhat similar and also very good X-Day, by Setona Mizushiro, what seems like the set-up for straight-up horror is actually a story about loneliness, connection, and community.

Despite some rather implausible moments, and I mean even given the premise, this manga tells a compelling and affecting story. The understatedly romantic nature of the connection between the two girls is enhanced with sensual pin-ups of the two of them between each chapter.

Complete in one volume. By the creator of Anne Freaks, which I haven’t read.

View on Amazon: Line

X-Day (Volumes 1 & 2)

Anne Freaks Volume 1 (v. 1)

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Title: The First Part Last
Author: Angela Johnson
Number of Pages: 132 pages
My Rating: 4/5

Sixteen-year-old Bobby is living with his mom, trying to finish up high school, and raising his baby daughter by himself. With chapters alternating between "now" and "then", this tells the story of how Bobby ended up a single parent and what happens after.

This was well-written and enjoyable, though I thought having Nia end up a vegetable in a nursing home was a little over the top. It's nice to see a book about a teen father (and a black teen father at that), and I liked that even though Bobby's parents were divorced, his dad was still in the picture and he even goes to live with his dad near the end. His older brother is also shown being an active parent to his own kids.


Mooch from BookMooch.