In an accidental confluence, I found myself reading two books at once – one in print, one in audio – with a lot of similarities.  Both Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards and Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind feature middle school girls called Mo or Momo who struggle with anxiety and making friends, have missing fathers and mothers whose health issues make it hard for them to be fully present in their childrens’ lives.  

Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards by Susan Tan. Roaring Brook Press, 2023. ISBN 978-1250797001. Read from a library copy. Ebook and audiobook available through Libby.

Mo, short for Monica, is fine.  Really. She, her mom and little sister Cece  may have just had to move in with her “Chinese hippy” uncle while her mom gets back on her feet after losing her job and their house. He may have very strange taste in food, and Mo’s mom may have trouble getting out of bed – but things could be worse.  Mo may have chosen to set her things up in a closet rather than share a bedroom with her sister, but at least she has a space to herself. She may have some strong fears about things like toast catching on fire, but fires are dangerous and it’s completely normal to be cautious about them – right?  But Mo and her family have had some serious trauma in their lives, and Mo is struggling hard to keep it all together. 

While not fitting in at her new school, Mo starts spending the lunch period in the library, where she meets a boy named Nathaniel who’s obsessed with ghosts.  He tells her stories about an elephant rumored to be haunting town.  Mo isn’t one to believe in ghosts – but when the elephant appears in her dreams repeatedly, she starts to pay more attention.  With help from a friendly librarian who encourages them to question what they read in local history narratives, Mo and Nathaniel learn more about Maudie the elephant and her brief career as a circus performer in a field that might just be the forbidden junkyard behind Mo’s uncle’s house.  Meanwhile, Mo’s uncle – who is the best – is able to encourage her to explore the way that things might not be fine through listening to rock music after school every afternoon.  

This is clearly a case where Mo and Nathaniel finding out why the ghost of Maudie the elephant is still around both encourages them to break out of their self-imposed isolation and work on their own underlying issues, and I loved that it was told with plenty of humor despite the serious things going on for both Mo and Nathaniel in the present and Maudi the elephant in the past.  I was with them all the way until the very end when (spoiler alert) Mo starts to wonder if Maudie’s ghost was ever real.  That’s a trope that always bugs me – I always want the magic to be real – but I really enjoyed it up to that point. 

Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Siguira. Listening Library, 2023. ASIN B0B6JPGGSH. Listened to the audiobook on Libby; ebook also available.

Momo Arashima used to have a best friend, and used to have a mother who told her stories and played games with her.  Now, though, her former best friend Danny- the only other Japanese-American kid in her class – has stopped talking to her, even joining in the popular kids making fun of her.  Momo has told her mother to stop telling her pretend stories, and while her mother also needs more care from Momo than she’s able to give to her, she no longer allows Momo to go and do things on her own.  Momo’s father disappeared years ago, and Momo’s mother has never given up hoping he’ll return, long after everyone else has assumed he’s dead.

This is clearly a Percy Jackson-style book, so we learn very quickly that Momo’s mother’s pretend stories were never pretend – Momo just convinced herself that she couldn’t see the mythical creatures because teachers and classmates told her she had an overactive imagination.  When a fearsome witch starts chasing her and a fox boy comes to her rescue, Momo is catapulted into adventure.  She soon learns that both her mother and the world are in danger, and her half-human, half-komi heritage makes her uniquely qualified to stop the impending apocalypse.  She and Niko the fox boy are joined by Danny, much to Momo’s chagrin.  The resulting adventures involve lots of world-crossing shenanigans, including attempted thefts, accidentally mortally offending important people, and meeting lots of gods and other beings from Japanese mythology.  There is a lot of focus on the action, but also time for Momo to reflect on who she really is and for she and Danny to try to resolve some of their issues.  This is a solid choice for people looking either for Percy Jackson read-alikes or fantasy celebrating Japanese heritage.  I’m hoping the next book, Momo Arashima Breaks the Mirror of the Sun, which is due out in February 2024, will include more on the fate of Momo’s father.