Both Sides

On the Horizon is a beautiful book.  One that brought me to tears.  Lois Lowry really makes magic with her words.  She recalls her childhood in Hawaii and her time in Japan and recounts the stories of lives lost at Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. 
War.
What is it good for?
They even wrote a song asking that question.
The song's answer is "Absolutely nothing."
I pray one day we will learn from that answer.
Will there be a time, this side of heaven when we look at one another as children of God?  Only then will it happen. 

The List of Authors Everyone Loves

Rebecca Stead is on that list!  The List of Things that Will Not Change is her latest.  And I did like it.  But for some reason I just can't really get into Stead.  I loved the love.  I heart-broken about Mission.  I thought the relationship between the two main character and her soon to be sister was very real.  I just thought the whole cousin thing wasn't needed.  I am not sure why it just seemed so out of place for me.  But the big secret surrounding Bea and her cousin...it just didn't fit for me and really did a lot of take away from my experience with the book.  

Long Awaited

Well any book from Jewell Parker Rhodes is long awaited!  So it was no surprise that I bought Black Brother, Black Brother on the day it was released!   An excellent story.   Once again Rhodes takes a serious issue and isn't preachy.  She creates REAL characters and man...her characters are just so...I don't know...REAL.  Rhodes is one of my most favorite authors and is really creating classics here.  Classics that will be read years and years from now and hopefully, kids will read them and think, "Was it really that bad?" and not "Well, not much has changed."  

No More Divisions

Efrén Divided was an excellent book that reminds all of us, especially those who are attempting to follow Christ, we are all one.  People matter.  When we put a name and face on those we might otherwise simply call "undocumented" or even, "illegal" it makes a difference.

More Complications

Aren't there always? Of course, Whatever After is not complicated for me!  I love this series and was thrilled to see the second Super Special Abby in Oz.  I see that it listed as Whatever after 13.5 on goodreads.  The first Super Special was Abby in Wonderland.  The Super Specials seem to be books, whereas the "regular" Whatever After books are fairy tale-based and while the regular WA books feature Abby and her brother traveling into a story, it seems that the Super Specials feature Abby heading into fiction with her friends.
That is not complicated for me either, I love both kinds!
BUT what is complicated is the whole Wizard of Oz thing...I know it is a book, but I am thinking of the movie.  And I know that because of TWOOZ, Judy will indeed, as Frank said, never be forgotten BUT she was so abused as a child actress.  Not just by her mother but also by that rotten Louie B. and so it is hard. 
I guess I am thankful for Oz because it can serve as a gateway to finding out more about Judy.  But it pains me to think of her time at MGM. 
So the book was great!  It is just Oz that is complicated. 

I wish I could share this with my mom...

My mother is spending her first Easter with Jesus face-to-face and I am really happy for her, but man, I miss her.  A LOT!  And I hope that in Heaven she was able to get maybe even an advanced copy of The Missing Half of Joey Pigza.  It is one of the audible-only releases, the third in the Hidden Files of Joey Pigza series, written and READ by the incredible Jack Gantos.  The Dented Head of Joey Pigza was the first one.  Next came Pain in the Pigza, which I read and loved but did not write up because last year was a super icky year and so I didn't write up a lot of my reads.
My mom and I listened to both of those books and enjoyed them so much.  She and I were so happy that these hidden files were discovered!  Joey is such a caring, loving young man.  My mother really didn't like his grandmother very much because she can be mean with her words.  But while she is gruff as usual, in this one, her true heart really comes through loud and clear.  A wonderful addition to Joey's story. 

A Rare and Beautiful Bird

Birdie author, J.M.M. Nuanez is proof that writers just seem to have a certain something that others don't...besides the ability to write, I mean!  I have read some really great books this year.  Ones with characters who don't fall into "normal" places and spaces.  Books written a while ago, like Stripped, that were far ahead of their time.  And brand new books like Three Things I Know are True that have address real problems and issues with care and subtlety.  Oh and The Best at It.  Just some great, great stuff. 
Birdie is just beautiful.  I like the way in which the little goodread blurb refers to Birdie as being "gender creative."  Ah how I wish the world would try to be just a little more Jack-like.  Excellent, excellent book.

Bees

A lot of people are afraid of bees.  I get it.  I have been stung by a bee.  I have also been stung by a yellowjacket and a wasp and many, those guys hurt a LOT worse than a bee!  But still, getting stung is not fun.  It is super painful.  At first it doesn't seem SO bad but then whoa...whoa...it hurts more after a few seconds!  A LOT more! 
Anyway, The Queen Bee and Me is a story that shows that people can hurt each other a lot more than a bee or a yellow jacket or a wasp and a hornet.  Well, actually yellowjackets and hornets are wasps (I didn't know this until today!), but you know what I mean!   I think, anyway.  Relationships can be painful.  Especially among middle schoolers.  I really loved this book.  It was so well done, right to the end. 

A Grimes Book is ALWAYS a Perfect Choice

Gravey's Choice is a beautiful book. And as my post title says, any book from Nikki Grimes.  This brilliant work, written in tanka  addresses young Garey (named for Marcus Garvey and I think it is cool that it is brought up in the book because I don't know if kids learn about Garvey in school) is coming of age, deciding who he is and how to be who he is in light of who is dad is, who is mom is, who his friends are.  Fantastic book. 

Controversy

I go to this website a lot, put together by Dr. Debbie Reese.  It is a wonderful resource, especially for someone like me who doesn't know a lot, but tries to do the right thing.  When I read about Race to the Sun, a part of the Rick Riodran Presents imprint, I thought I would not read RTTS, because I really respect Dr. Reese and recommendations.   But after I dug a little deeper, I found that there might be more to RTTS than what Dr. Reese recommends.  I still deeply value her insight.  I do.  But I wanted to read this first.  That is because I had posed the question of what to do about it to the women with whom I work. 
I am posting an email I got from one of my brilliant co-workers.  She is also a published author, but I won't include her name until I okay it with her.  I think what she says makes a lot of sense.

And then I read RTTS and I really, really enjoyed it.  And I also thought that the author's note at the end was heartfelt, informed and important. 

Huh, I hadn't seen all of this, I guess it was buried under all of the American Dirt controversy on my timeline --

We do own this book (standing order probably) but I see that CLP and branches have chosen to to purchase it.

Oh, no I ordered it back in October; I've been ordering all of the Rick Riordan Presents titles.

What do you think?  Withdraw?  Or keep?

Personally I think we keep it?

I mean, it does get tricky with fiction, and fiction for children makes it more complicated. But...

There are a ton of books on our shelves that have iffy representation or outright racist depictions. We keep Little House ("the only good Indian is a dead Indian," the father participating in minstrel shows), Scott O'Dell books (award-winning historical fiction that has since been called out for a ton of cultural appropriation and misrepresentation of indigenous cultures), Harry Potter books (Jewish stereotypes, bad Asian representation, fat shaming of villains, and JKR is saying transphobic things all over twitter).To name just a few -- but the above are all white authors. (Wonder has also been called out for bad disability representation and using a disabled character's story to inspire able-bodied people)

So it doesn't sit right with me that the only one we're looking at pulling from our shelves is by a black & Pueblo author. And one who, while she did recently hit the NYT list, is not famous enough to cause much notice or complaint if we didn't carry her books. It's the "easy" pull, basically.

(I also see this as a bit different to the issue of, say, Thanksgiving books -- which are pretending to give facts about the past but sweep aside actual genocide for a fake happy story and inaccurate caricatures that inspire teachers to dress children up in appropriative costumes)

And things I read while looking this up:

Debbie Reese commenting: https://twitter.com/debreese/status/1217966469960687617

Rebecca Roanhorse commenting (part of her comments are about how there's a lot of anti-blackness in the NDN communities, which I don't know enough to comment on -- but I used to know someone who is half Cherokee and was cut off from the Cherokee side of the family because their mom is white and they and their sibling both looked too white; it's a complicated problem, so while I don't want to dismiss people's critiques, I also don't want to dismiss people's experiences of racism among their communities): https://twitter.com/RoanhorseBex/status/1220751798711046144

https://www.tor.com/2018/07/20/rebecca-roanhorse-reddit-ama-trail-of-lightning-dine-culture/

Notorious

I have always been a fan of Biggie Smalls.  I love him, but I am more a Tupac girl if I had to pick.  Notorious RBG, well I didn't know much about her except that I liked her decisions, so reading Who Is Ruth Bader Ginsberg?  was a great idea and I like her even more!  May she stay on the bench for MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH longer!  Again I find these Who/What/Where/Is/Was books to be just excellent.  I am still hoping for a Judy one though!

Here's What Happened...

one summer at work we had this Summer of Wonder.  And it featured the book Wonder.  Now I have loved this book ever since I read the ARC.  Fell in love with it right away.  LOVED it.  But then the Summer of Wonder just killed it for me.  It was just...I don't know...the way we did it...ah...it is complicated.  But this doesn't take a way from what a great book it really is.  So when I saw White Bird, well I was still thinking of the Summer of Wonder and I really didn't want to read it.  No interest at all.  But man, man, man I am so glad I did.  I listened to it and I know it is a graphic novel and so I will read it, but man the audio was just powerful.  Especially Palacio's author's comments at the end.  IMPORTANT.  Please, please, please let us never forget.  It is happening again.  It is.  Please.  Speak up.  Please.  Love and love and love again.  And do not be afraid.  Do not let others prey on fear and turn us into people who devalue and dehumanize others.  We are all diversely created children of God.  Please, please do not be frightened into hardening your hearts.  Please do not be frightened into thinking that rights for all mean less rights for some.  That is how it begins.

1/3

One-third Nerd was a great, super sweet read.  Very funny, very real.  Good good stuff!  I loved the 47s! I do love stories in which siblings get a long in a realistic way.  And also I loved that divorce isn't seen as a BIG EVIL.  Much too often it is.  And in reality, it is often a very good thing.  The parents in this book really act like adults.  Good stuff. 

Timeless

Andrew Clements is one of those "hits keep on coming" authors who really gets into the heads and hearts and minds of friendship and middle school.  Another great addition to his already impressive catalog!  The Friendship War is awesome!

Good!

One Mixed-Up Night is a book that at first I thought was a fluffy kinda fun story about two kids spending the night in IKEA.  Which I think would be great fun!  And I totally love the way that the kids love IKEA because their reasons are my reasons for loving IKEA.  It also reminds me of the times in my childhood when my brother and I were able to stay all night at Children's Palace, where my dad was a manager who worked so hard, all of the time and would often spend Sundays (when the store wasn't open-- back in the day!) and nights at work just cleaning up.  But it is also a great look at friendship and loss as well.  Good book.

In the Interest of Sanity

I have not posted in SO long and I know that has been so troublesome and sad for so many.
Not.
Thing is, I had shingles.
IN MY MOUTH!
I am so glad it was shingles.  I had no clue what the pain could have been.  When the ER doc told me shingles, I was actually so relieved!
Also I have been preaching a lot, and even did that while I was shingled, and so that was the priority.  So in the interest of my sanity, I am going to make this post all about the millions of Boxcar Children books I read while shingled. 
And I think I  might be done with them.
I do have to say that I enjoy them now!
The last ones I reviewed were books 1-10. 
I have completed the first 24 now! 
And if you look, I actually gave some 3 star reviews.  The Mystery of the Hidden Painting and The Old Motel Mystery and Benny Uncovers a Mystery and The Tree House Mystery! 
I appreciated the differences in how "Indian" language changed...now specific tribes are mentioned, instead of this general term. 

Five More Boxes

This time I binged on the next five in the Boxcar Children series:  Blue Bay Mystery, The Woodshed Mystery, The Lighthouse Mystery, Mountain Top Mystery and Schoolhouse Mystery.  I am not sure if they are getting better, but I can say for sure that Benny isn't as annoying as he once was.  I am going to read all of the ones written by GCW and then try the "new" ones to see the difference.

I WANTED to like it.

But Inkling was just too long and too odd or sad or something for me.  While I really loved The Nest.  Really.  Really REALLY loved it.  But this was just too weird.  Now the thing is, I didn't like Flora and Ulysses because I listened to it and I thought, "THIS won the Newbery?  This is 1954!"  So maybe that is the case with this one!

Extremely Well Done

What Was the Holocaust?  Is one of the best in the What Was/Is series and it is the best book I have read for students this age on the unspeakable horrors of the Nazis and the Holocaust. 
The introduction of the book said it best in that the book would tell what the Holocaust was and who was murdered and who committed such crimes, but it would not explain why because there really is no way to explain such evil. 

Mr. Gantos

makes me proud to be from Western Pennsylvania.  With my Western PA accent and all.  I do feel embarrassed by it sometimes.  I know that many consider it to be low class and look down upon me for it.  I understand.  So when I hear Jack Gantos, brilliant man that he is, speaking with such a thick WPa accent, it honestly can bring me close to tears.  Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories is a fantastic book in that it is completely hilarious and entertaining, just like all of his books, and it also give excellent help and instruction for aspiring writers.