More February Reading
I've read quite a few children's books recently, yet again trying to interest Solveig in something other than her usual series.
The Melting Pot is by Christopher Cheng, an Australian who has one Chinese parent and one non-Chinese parent. The book is the diary of Edward Chek Chee , also of mixed heritage. He's growing up in Sydney in the early 1900s, when the White Australia policy had recently been put in place and there was a lot of hostility towards Chinese immigrants. Edward struggles to fit into his new school, until he discovers a talent for cricket. He initially wins a lot of respect but at the start of the new year, when his new friends have left, the remaining boys again reject him because of his background. He also finds it hard to fit in in the Chinese community, not knowing much spoken or written Chinese. At the same time, he's valiantly holding his tongue each time his cousin, his mother's sister's daughter, parrots her father's racist views during her weekly visits to Edward's home. Through Edward we learn about the restrictions placed on the movements of Chinese men and women in and out of Australia at this time, the common ignorant views held by most Australians at the time and Chinese customs as followed in Edward's home.
Chaos in Death/Possession in Death (In Death Omnibus) are 2 In Death stories by J.D. Robb published in Sept '11 and Nov '10 respectively (wish I'd checked this before I read them - for some mysterious reason they appear in the book in the wrong order, which quickly becomes obvious once you've barely started the second story). This places them around the time of Indulgence in Death and Treachery in Death in the book series. In Possession, Eve's mind is taken over by a dead woman, who had the ability to see the dead. She was in New York to find her dancer great granddaughter, who had moved to the city a few years earlier but hadn't been heard from for a few months. The great grandmother was murdered but guides Eve to find her killer and her missing relative (this story appeared in an anthology of supernatural stories). In Chaos, 3 young squatters, recovering drug addicts, are found violently killed. An eye-witness describes the killer and it's only because she is so credible that Eve takes her seriously, as she says she saw a green-faced figure with a misshapen jaw and bulging red eyes. Eve can not track down anyone who is capable of make-up or a mask that would produce this effect. She realises that one or more of the staff at the clinic where the victims were being treated is somehow involved.
The Melting Pot is by Christopher Cheng, an Australian who has one Chinese parent and one non-Chinese parent. The book is the diary of Edward Chek Chee , also of mixed heritage. He's growing up in Sydney in the early 1900s, when the White Australia policy had recently been put in place and there was a lot of hostility towards Chinese immigrants. Edward struggles to fit into his new school, until he discovers a talent for cricket. He initially wins a lot of respect but at the start of the new year, when his new friends have left, the remaining boys again reject him because of his background. He also finds it hard to fit in in the Chinese community, not knowing much spoken or written Chinese. At the same time, he's valiantly holding his tongue each time his cousin, his mother's sister's daughter, parrots her father's racist views during her weekly visits to Edward's home. Through Edward we learn about the restrictions placed on the movements of Chinese men and women in and out of Australia at this time, the common ignorant views held by most Australians at the time and Chinese customs as followed in Edward's home.
Chaos in Death/Possession in Death (In Death Omnibus) are 2 In Death stories by J.D. Robb published in Sept '11 and Nov '10 respectively (wish I'd checked this before I read them - for some mysterious reason they appear in the book in the wrong order, which quickly becomes obvious once you've barely started the second story). This places them around the time of Indulgence in Death and Treachery in Death in the book series. In Possession, Eve's mind is taken over by a dead woman, who had the ability to see the dead. She was in New York to find her dancer great granddaughter, who had moved to the city a few years earlier but hadn't been heard from for a few months. The great grandmother was murdered but guides Eve to find her killer and her missing relative (this story appeared in an anthology of supernatural stories). In Chaos, 3 young squatters, recovering drug addicts, are found violently killed. An eye-witness describes the killer and it's only because she is so credible that Eve takes her seriously, as she says she saw a green-faced figure with a misshapen jaw and bulging red eyes. Eve can not track down anyone who is capable of make-up or a mask that would produce this effect. She realises that one or more of the staff at the clinic where the victims were being treated is somehow involved.