This is the story of Daniel; he’s not sitting beside you as you read this book but it’ll seem like he is.  Daniel is telling his classmates about Iran, exactly how he remembers it and what it was like when he left that country, because that’s important.

Twelve-year-old Daniel currently lives in Oklahoma with his family. Residing in Mrs. Miller’s classroom, Daniel knows about inequity and how individuals feel about Persians.  Giving his own personal story, Daniel wants his classmates to know him, to know who he is, as a person.  So, sit back and enjoy his story.  For these are his own memories, his whole personal life (his twelve years) you will be holding securely in your own two hands.

I adored this book, I really did.  I loved how he wrote the book; the way that I felt a part of it and how the style of writing he used, personalized the book.  The stories he wrote were interesting and they felt genuine and vivid.  When the family fled Iran with their hard, gray suitcase and his memories of his extended family, even the smallest of details, felt so important.  What a great treasure!

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” ….. “It’ll be alright in the end, folks.  If it’s not alright, then it’s not the end.” 

(Wow, I really enjoyed this and it made me stop and think, it’s so true. If you want a happy ending to whatever is happening, keep going till you get one.  If you feel you’re getting an unhappy ending, keep going, perhaps you’re not at the end and you can change things.)

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

A great story to share with young readers. These women's journeys are inspiring and show what hard work can accomplish. While it is unfortunate that they were unrecognized for so long, it is wonderful to see their stories told in a variety of formats (picture books, adult non-fiction, film) in recent years.

Overall, the book was well done. Any of the issues I had with it pretty much stem from taking a full chapter book for adults and trying to reduce it down to a short read understandable to children. That's a big task and overall it was done well.

The illustrations were lovely. There was nice detail and I really enjoyed the space-themed/math-themed backgrounds. It was also cool to have other important figures from the time period come up in the illustrations such as Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., and Daisy Bates (although it might have been nice to label them somewhere since they were not explicitly mentioned in the text). These worked as a great point to branch off into discussions of the Civil Rights movements and a few important figures in African American history.

The book nicely incorporates definitions for tricky and unfamiliar works throughout the text. This is a great way to add in some extra teaching moments while still keeping the story going. There is also a glossary of terms at the end of the book.

I also thought the book did well setting the stage in describing segregation in a simple way that would be easy for children to understand. Throughout the book, it showed some of the changes made throughout time in a very simplified way. This worked well and allowed for expansion through discussion and explanation when reading with an adult.

I did find some of the narration choppy because of the time stretch and multiple women highlighted. It may have worked better to incorporate chapters for each woman instead of blurring them all together. Also, because it is so simplified, most of the women are reduced to "good at math. Really good." While this was obviously an important feature, I wish they were more developed and their other characteristics highlighted. One doesn't become NASA's first African-American supervisor or first female African-American aerospace engineer solely because one is good at math. It takes drive, passion, persuasion, persistence, bravery, determination, and a willingness to fight for what you want. I wanted more of these characteristics to come out, but again the small space dedicated to each woman didn't really allow for much elaboration.

At the end of the book are some additional resources for further information about the women. Besides the glossary, there is also a timeline of events including when each woman started and ended their work at NACA/NASA and a brief bio about each woman.

Overall, the book was well done. The short space only allowed for a very simplified version of events, but it is a great introduction to the contribution these women made as well as the history of segregation and the Civil Rights Movement.

True Crime novelist J T Hunter has another terrifying story to tell and I am eager to share it. I love reading crime, fiction and nonfiction, and this confirms for me the monsters that are the scariest are of the human kind.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

The lead detective, George Murtie has a varied and fascinating life story, but Israel Keyes, an Army veteran, loving husband and father, and small business owner turned serial killer is the star of the performance.

Information was cultivated from reports, videos, court documents, interviews, newspapers and Facebook postings..

We will be traveling from Vermont to Alaska, with some stops in between.

Samantha Koenig…bad luck and what ifs would plague me if I were her loving father. Israel Keyes didn’t choose her specifically, he chose the place. She just happened to be there.

IF his story is true, she was compliant, having many opportunities to try and escape, but Israel has convinced her not to. I always wonder how I would act and I can only hope it would be immediate and violent, a fight to the death, seeing he (?) would probably kill me anyway, might as well fight and go down on my own terms.

The more I read, the more I think I have seen this on TV.

Sounds to me like he was exactly what he wanted to be, the guy next door….but, no emotions. Everything he did was for fun. He played the authorities and took his own way out.

Devil in the Darkness by J T Hunter is written in an easy to read format. There is some repetition, but that is to be expected when gathering information from people and places at different times, being true to the facts as J T knows them.

All in all, a well written, grimly told story of evil that walks the earth in the guise of a man.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Devil in the Darkness by J T Hunter.

4 Stars