The World on Either Side

August 2, 2019

Gr 8 Up-Sixteen-year-old Valentine has found it extremely difficult to get over the death of her boyfriend Amir, so much so that she refuses to get out of bed, go to school, or see her friends-and she attempts suicide. To help her daughter recover, Valentine's mother forces her to go on a trek through Thailand where she encounters extreme physical danger, makes new friends, begins to love both a boy and a baby elephant, and finds the courage to go on. Set in the area of Thailand that borders Myanmar (Burma), Valentine encounters members of the Karen tribes and learns of the conflict between them and the Myanmar government army that is engaged in a genocidal war. Thereby lies some of the issues of the book. While the research is apparent, the book contains no source notes or acknowledgments. Also, some of the items presented as facts are only partially true. A brief explanation of the conflict as a preface or author's note would have been a nice addition to supplement the narrative and to introduce readers to the conflict that forms one of the main plots of the book. While the novel attempts to put the events into context, it also has such complexity for a fairly short book that the author often defaults to preachiness in order to get her lesson across. The characters are well developed but not always believable. VERDICT While this is an exciting read with a compelling plot, it's not recommended because of its flaws.-Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2019
In Terrana's debut, a grieving Toronto teen travels to Thailand for a mountain trek that goes terribly awry. Valentine is overwhelmed with despair when her boyfriend, Amir, is punched to death at a football game. After Valentine is hospitalized following a drug overdose, her mother, a newly minted Buddhist, takes her on a "shock-treatment" tour of the mountains near the Thai-Myanmar border. Valentine's journey opens her eyes to issues such as the ethical paradoxes of tourism and the atrocities of armed conflict in the region. But her grief is still so raw that she mutilates herself; and Lin, the mahout's helper she's attracted to despite her guilt, is tortured by his own past. A gruesome encounter with elephant poachers separates Valentine and Lin from their party. The two plunge deeper into the jungle to flee the savage hunters and guide an orphaned baby elephant to safety. The visceral first-person narrative moves fluidly between Valentine's harrowing flight, her conflicted relationships with Lin and her mother, and the poetry in which she seeks an answer: Even when besieged by violence and death, can one keep walking toward love and life? The trekkers are assumed white, and Amir is an Arab Canadian Coptic Christian. Other characters are Thai, Burmese, and Karen. Despite her mother's gentle pushback, Valentine and fellow trekkers never fully move past their judgmental reactions to local customs. An often grim, sometimes lyrical, and ultimately hopeful tale of grief and redemption. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)

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