Here I Go Again

I'm in the middle of my second reading of BDWR, and it struck me that I would like to say what I'm feeling about it.

Now last year, just about this time I was going bonkers over the first book in the Young Pilots Series, which is Code Name Verity. If you haven't read it, stop what you're doing and go read it. I like advertising it so much because I find the portrayal of friendship so stunning it serves as a great foundation for starting friendships.

And then there is Rose Under Fire. I really don't think I could say anything that sufficiently illustrates how good it is. It sort of leaves me speechless and makes me want to Tell the World about an episode from the war that is important to me. Really, I can't find the words. I'm reading a 768-page history book about the topic, it was so good. There you go. Sometimes, books speak for themselves.

But Black Dove White Raven. It, like Rose, is a bit more about the setting than the story; and I like that about it! I am suddenly interested in Ethiopian culture, when I knew NOTHING about it beforehand. (Well, that's not altogether true... I had read the author's first five books before... four of which are also set in Ethiopia. But that was ancient Ethiopia.) Although it teaches about Ethiopian history, culture and religion, it is also super personal. I feel like I'm a member of the family as the kids struggle and bond together through their stories of early tragedy, growing up in Pennsylvania, and doing the ridiculous by following their mother as she chases down a dream of freedom on the other side of the world. We get to eavesdrop as the two kids take turns telling their story through school lessons, an alternate story-world that they create, and their pilot-under-training notes. We learn that even though they are devastated by the extraordinary circumstances that envelop them, nothing is able to break the strength of their love that crosses all boundaries... cultural, political, or otherwise.

Oh, botheration. Just go read the review from the NY Times. They said it much better.