Nancy Bo Flood

Agirl who uses a motorized wheelchair longs to dance.

The 10-year-old narrator can’t blow out the candles on her birthday cake, but she has one wish: to dance. But how can she “swirl, leap, twirl” when she can move only her head, arms, and fingers? Pretending isn’t enough. At breakfast one morning (a spill-proof cup at the child’s place adds cozy realism), one of her moms reads that the real-life company Young Dance is auditioning dancers of “all abilities, all ages.” Though show more apprehensive, she needs to try. At the instructor’s balletic welcome, she “swirl[s]” her fingers, joining a multiracial circle of dancers. Some dance unaided; some use “canes and crutches, / walkers and wheels.” One wears a prosthesis. Their dancing is emphatically “not pretend”—neither imaginary nor relegated to a form of therapy. Eva’s narration brims with elation as together they “create space, / create shape, / create dance,” culminating in a triumphant performance. The text itself dances across the page, lines tiptoeing phrase by phrase and echoing the shapes of dancers’ movements. Swaney’s simply drawn dancers are rosy-cheeked and cheerful; magic shimmers from their fingers, proudly joining them “[a]s one, / as us.” An author’s note explains that Eva is based on a real dancer; a note from Young Dance’s executive director describes the company. Eva presents as a child of color and wears glasses; her moms present white.

A gorgeous, immersive celebration of dancing and the grace within all bodies. (Picture book. 6-10)

-Kirkus Review show less

Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood is a YA novel about World War II as the Japanese and the Americans are battling across the many islands of the Pacific. The natives of these islands were caught in the crossfire between these armies and many were slaughtered. These islands in the Western Pacific were important as the Americans could launch air strikes from them directly at Japan.

The story is of Joseph a twelve year old islander. He and his family have been living under Japanese show more occupation for a number of years by 1944. The Japanese changed the natives way of life. They weren’t allowed to take their boats out onto the ocean and fish, they were forced into manual labour either in the cane fields or repairing the runways at the airport. When the Americans started their bombing prior to their landing, the natives were on their own to survive as best they could. When it became obvious that the Japanese were not going to win, they gathered as many people as they could and forced them to leap off the cliffs to their death. Joseph’s father and brother-in-law are taken by the Japanese as forced labour so it is up to Joseph to get his family to the caves and then keep them safe.

This story about the indigenous people who were caught up in the battles between the Japanese and the American armies is quite short and being a YA novel, it doesn’t go into the depth I would have liked. These natives had their way of life destroyed and their homeland devastated by the meeting of these two massive forces. Warriors in the Crossfire gives the reader a glimpse of this little known perspective on World War II as seen through the eyes of a twelve year old. show less

When the fighting of WWII reaches the strategic island of Saipan, it falls to 12-year-old Joseph to help his family survive. The war exposes a rift between Joseph and his best friend and cousin, Kento. While Kento's mother and Joseph's mother are sisters from one of the local tribes, Kento's father is Japanese. Should Joseph trust Kento once the fighting begins? Which ties are stronger for Kento – family or nation?

This coming of age novel explores themes of war, family, friendship, show more loyalty, courage, fear, and grief. The point of view of the non-Japanese, non-American inhabitants of a Pacific island is probably unfamiliar to many readers. Each chapter opens with a short free verse poem, adding an emotional dimension to the story. The novel could be used as supplemental reading for a study of the Pacific Theater in World War II. Recommended for middle school age and up. show less

A girl in a wheelchair who can only move her head, arms and fingers, longs to dance and feel the movements of other dancers. Her mother brings her to a class for dancers of all abilities. There the girl meets dancers with canes, crutches and bare feet. She soon discovers the joy and unity of dance. The rhythm of the prose expresses the free movement of an improvisational dance.