Everything Sad is Untrue: (a true story). Audiobook

 

Rating: 4 out of 5 | a coming of age story that we have not yet heard

My Thoughts:

Plot/Theme--

This coming of age story, read by the author, is an interesting look into what it is like to grow up as an Iranian immigrant in middle America, specifically in Oklahoma. Khosrou, called Daniel by the white people, is a middle schooler in Oklahoma. His stories, long winded and tumbling like the tornadoes of Oklahoma, are likened to the kinds of stories Sheherazade must have told in One Thousand and One Nights. In other words, these stories  sound fantastically horrible and fictional, and yet I think they are told by 12-year old Daniel, as a way to live another day in this hostile classroom.

He uses the middle school strategy of talking about gross things like poop and blood, but in a way that is poetic and heartbreaking. . . because yes, we know that this is true. When Khosrou continues to emphasize why his mother is unstoppable, as well as how his father is immovable, it is heartbreaking. 

Recommendation --

As this child's culture is not familiar to me, and probably to most middle schoolers in Hawai'i, the audiobook, either as a read along or standalone, is the best introduction to this "window" memoir. Readers need to hear the patois of the author and how he pronounces those names and words that are not foreign to him, but foreign to our eyes and ears. That is the best way to respect his story. 

From the Publisher:

At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the
moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy...and further back to the fieldsnear the river Aras, where rain-soaked flowers
bled red like the yolk of the sunset had burst over everything, and further back still to the jasmine-scented city of Isfahan. Like Scheherazade in a hostile classroom, Daniel weaves a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth. And it is (a true story).

Publication Information:

• Author/Narrator: Daniel Nayeri
• Publisher: Listening Library
• Release Date: August 25, 2020

My Mother, the Mermaid Chaser

 

Rating: 5 for generational trauma and healing, prose in two voices, complexity

My Thoughts:

I am actually taking the time to read this again. In my quest to finish it, I read it quickly, but I am re reading it to take my time and enjoy this haunting story. This is a companion piece to Hoang's earler book, My Father, the Panda Killer. I always meant to read that one first. The title is compelling and the title is just as stunning. The timing of that one, though was not ideal personally. It had nothing to do with when the publisher released it. Just that I was in the midst of submitting for a promotion at the university and I needed to focus on writing rather than reading.  Long story short, I read this one first. The absence, the seeming gaps in understanding and motive seemed to be a result of my not reading the first book. I still have not read the first book. However, on my rereading, I realize that this feeling of missing, of absence, that I viscerally felt as a reader may be part of the intended tone of this piece. 

This book is in two voices, and whenever I read books in two alternating voices, the story is meant to be jarring. The reader is along for the ride, but from the backseat. I equate it to feeling like I have been kidnapped with my blindfold on. I am trying to figure out who these people are based on just the story being unveiled by the two people in the front (they are not having a dialogue, they are just having alternate monologues). 

Paul is the heart of this story. He sits in contrast to his sister Jane who is more central in My Father, the Panda Killer. Paul is the open, soft one and Jane is his hard, sharp edged counter. At least that is what I get from this one. It is perhaps why I am waiting to put a little more reading distance between this book and Jane's book. 

One thing that Hoang does that is very crucial for YA is that her prose balances the very heavy trauma with tenderness, humor and empathy. The anticipatory questions I had early on were "When is it better for a mother to abandon her children to an abusive father?" "What might be the implications of this abandonment on the children as they grow up?" Hoang does not shy away from showing the trauma, but she also opens up a door for empathy to seep in.  

As I was rushing through on the first read, there are some slow parts that I skipped over to get to the end, however, I picked it up again because some stories, like this one, deserve a little more patience to blossom. 

From the Publisher:

San Jose, 2008: Paul yearns to know more about the mother who abandoned his family, but she is the only topic no one discusses. Now’s he’s in Vietnam, feeling displaced and considered an outsider. Plus, a ghost is haunting him even though he doesn’t believe in ghosts. His cousin and the grandmother he’s never met before now keep telling him that he’ll get answers only if he’s willing to open his ears.

Vũng Tâu, 1975: Ngọc Lan is eleven when her family breaks apart: her brother is drafted into the army; her father leaves on the last helicopter to the US. She and her sister are sent from Vietnam on a harrowing journey by boat. Only Ngọc Lan will survive. But what is the American dream when you are haunted by the death of your sister, missing your homeland; seeing ghostly mermaid sightings; lost in an abusive marriage; struggling as a parent?

Told in the alternating perspectives of Paul and Ngọc Lan, My Mother, the Mermaid Chaser is a haunting story about the intergenerational effects of war, estranged family bonds, and how a teenager discovers a new connection to a lost part of himself.

Publication Information:

Author: Jamie Jo Hoang

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers (September 23, 2025)

Print length: 384 pages

Grade level: 7-9

Only This Beautiful Moment

 

Stars: 5  This has the potential to be a literature circle option

My Thoughts: 

This may be the template that Randy Ribay used for his own intergenerational trauma and love note book Everything We Never Had. Like Everything, this is about three generations of males in one family. They also share each person's story as a young man, but they do intersect in each otherʻs family as the grandson, the son/father, and Baba. 

This one holds so many secrets and so many cultural and historical barriers for this family, both in America and in Tehran that it feels like a documentary of one family with the backdrop of old Hollywood and 1970s Tehran. 

In the classroom:

If using this in the classroom for a literature circle, pair this with Everything. In addition,  add something in multiple voices that are also a reflection of the historical reality in which it is set even if it does not span generations by using Traci Chee's We Are Not Free and Nick Brook's Promise Boys. Promise is the only one set solely in a fictional time and place. It is also a murder mystery with lots of voices so it allows you as the teacher to differentiate the content while still keeping the same student learning objectives for each group (SLOs). Just some food for thought. 

From the Publisher:

2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.

1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country’s burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse—he’s forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed.

1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he’s thrust into has a dark side.

Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today.

Publication Information:

Author: Abdi Nezemian

Publisher: Harper Collins (May 9, 2023)

Print length: 398 pages

Ex Marks the Spot

 

Stars: 4 for being as comfy and delicious as your favorite pajamas

My Thoughts:

This devour-worthy story has mystery, a great scavenger hunt and enough regret and drama to keep readers surprised. While Gemma always thought she had no family besides her mom, a surprise visit from a lawyer about an inheritance in Taiwan from her recently deceased grandfather puts her in a tailspin. Not only does she need the "inheritance" for her college, but she needs to figure out how to get to Taiwan. Of course her high school academic rival (and her ex) is running a summer program to Taiwan. Gemma must swallow her pride and dig up some pitiful story to get a spot on the Taiwan trip.

Gemma hates Xander, but luckily, Xander (Alex) does not hate her, so he uses his enormous charm with his family to accept her at the very last minute. The two teens were not ready for the "blood feud" type of resentment between  Xander's mom towards Gemma's mom, but between Gemma's grandfather's riddles  and Gemma's utter inability to speak anything but English, she has to learn to trust Xander and clue him in on what she is trying to do. She really is a fish out of water. Together, they travel around Taiwan and learn more about both of their grandfather's lives. The most interesting part of this book is not the romance between Xander and Gemma. That is inevitable. The real hook is the story of these two families. It is the misunderstandings, the hidden lives, the loss of relationships, and the understanding of a loved one even after they are gone. 

From the Publisher:

For Gemma's whole life, it has always been her and her mom against the world. As far as she knew, all her grandparents—and thus her ties to Taiwanese culture—were dead. Until one day when a mysterious man shows up at her door with two shocking the news that her grandfather has just recently passed, and the first clue to a treasure hunt that Gemma hopes will lead to her inheritance.

There's just one major problem: to complete the hunt, she has to go to her grandfather's home in Taiwan. And the only way she can get there is by asking her ex and biggest high-school rival, Xander, for help. But after swallowing her pride, Gemma finds herself halfway across the world, ready to unearth her life-changing prize. Soon Gemma discovers that the treasure hunt is about much more than money—it's about finally learning about her family, her cultural roots, and maybe even finding true love.

Publication Information:

Author: Gloria Chao

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers (December 31, 2024)

Paperback: 384 pages

Grade level: 7-9