Katiaesque

  • Thankful for Books, Part 1

    I went to the library the other day to pick up my latest stack of holdings, and was reminded once again of what a junkie I am. Yes, I am. My name is Katia, and I am a book junkie. 🙂 The library people know me. At my approach, they roll up their sleeves and retreat into…

    Katia Raina

  • The Winner

    Thank you to those of you who responded last week and helped me promote Joyce’s lovely re-issued books. Once again, I let my daughter pick the lucky winner of Joyce Moyer Hostetter’s TWO amazing historical paperbacks, and she chose . . . Medeia Sharif! Which I think is lucky, indeed, because not only is Medeia an avid reader…

    Katia Raina

  • “So” Contemporary: A Book Impression, An Interview and A Giveaway

    Not all YA trilogies have to feature bleak dystopian futures, fantastic beasts and golden compasses. In the process of expanding my reading horizons, I stumbled upon an excellent contemporary “So” trilogy by Kieran Scott. Okay, so it’s not my usual literary fare. But let me assure you, it’s a very fun read — and the story is done…

    Katia Raina

  • “Soldier X” by Don Wulffson: A Book Impression and My Own Take on the 1940s History

    Speak (Penguin) 2001 I usually try to stick to new books when reviewing, but I couldn’t keep silent about this one. My 12-year-old son recommended this book to me, and the concept totally intrigued me. A teenage German soldier gets sent to the front in 1944, at a time when German supplies ae dwindling and…

    Katia Raina

  • “The Berlin Boxing Club” by Robert Sharenow

    I am so ridiculously late with this, but well, here we go… One of my last two historical fiction reviews, after which I will start compiling a new “best of” list, but more about that later… At this summer’s New Jersey SCBWI conference I was fortunate to meet editor Kristin Daly Rens of Balzer & Bray at Harper…

    Katia Raina

  • The Grace Lin Giveaway Winner

    Thanks again to everyone who participated in last week’s giveaway. I know some of you wanted to win so very badly — in retrospect, I should have gotten more copies. Darn! To make the winner’s selection as random as could be, I had my daughter pull a name from a box: And the winner is .…

    Katia Raina

  • A Drifiting Friendship And A Giveaway

    Nothing is constant in the Universe,  except change, great philosophers say. (Change — and love, I would add — sorry Heraclitus!) Have you ever experienced these changes when it comes to friendships? What was the longest friendship you have ever had — and have you managed to keep it going strong through the years? What…

    Katia Raina

  • “Inconvenient,” by Margie Gelbwasser

    Flux, 2010 This isn’t, strictly speaking, historical fiction, though at times it does have that late 1980s, early 90s feel (when it mentions the James Bond movies, the ones with the sexy Russian chicks being viewed in a high school classroom. Also, the protagonist’s parents — and her boyfriend — are old-fashioned, so you won’t see…

    Katia Raina

  • Another Title for My Awesome Recent Historicals List

    “Bitter Melon,” by Cara Chow,  Egmont USA 2011  There is so much to love in this unique YA story, I can only be glad that it happens to be set in 1989-1991, falling very neatly into the category of Recent Historical Fiction, which, of course, makes it a perfect candidate to be included on this…

    Katia Raina

  • Story vs. history

    “A Tugging String,” by David T. Greenberg Dutton, 2008 David T. Greenberg’s book is set in 1960s Alabama, “blending facts, speeches, memories and conjecture.” A twelve-year-old boy, the son of a civil rights lawyer, tries hard to fit in at school. An African-American woman struggles to become a registered voter. As the two stories come together,…

    Katia Raina