American Shakespeare

Today I read that Arthur Miller is America's Shakespeare.  The same has been said for August Wilson.   I like Miller but I don't like Shakespeare, but I still know that is a compliment!  I like August Wilson better than Miller, but I do like Miller!  Broken Glass is a very thought-provoking story.  It is set in 1938 in Brooklyn where a woman of Jewish heritage is experiencing paralysis brought on at least in part by news of Kristallnacht and the horrors that are beginning in Europe with the rise of Hitler.

It's a short play but packed with a lot.  Self-denial and self-hatred and the complexities of love.  Powerful.

Stories

are so powerful.  I guess that is one of the reasons why I am passionate about librarians defining their work as a service. That's why I like language like "patron" instead of "customer."  I just feel like we, those who work in libraries are in a service profession.  A relational profession.  One in which we need to be ready, as I often say, to "open a vein" to serve our community.

Long has my motto been, "It's better to burn out than rust away." And when I read a book like Mara's Stories:  Glimmers in the Darkness, I know I am right.

Here is the remarkable Gary D. Schmidt, although there is no D. on the cover, serving all of us, by sharing tales from the Jewish tradition as if they were told from a concentration camp prisoner to those around her, in the evenings, after another day of hell has passed.

These are beautiful and horrifying and hopeful and heart-breaking.  And the author talks about their origin at the end of the book, which makes it all even more  powerful.  Once again, a must-read for all.

And as a librarian, I need to make sure that as many people as possible have the experience of hearing stories such as these. 

More and More All-of-a-Kind Family!

Yes, so I am in love with the All-of-a-Kind Family.  I am.  I love them so much! And now I have read All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown and More All-of-a-Kind Family and I wish the next one was an audiobook, too.  I will end up reading it, but it would be a joy to listen to the further adventures of this wonderful family!

A Much Better Choice!

All-of-a-Kind Family was fabulous!  As I mentioned before, I saw a recommendation for this book when I was looking at reviews of Meet Rebecca.   This is a lovely, very funny and informative and I am definitely going to read or listen to another one in the series.
This is set in the early 1900s in NYC's Lower East Side and follows a family with five kids, Russian immigrants, like Rebecca's family.  Really good and it gives a much better look at the customs of a faithful family.

Meet Rebecca, not Rachel!

For some reason I always refer to Rebecca Rubin as Rachel Rubin!  I have no idea why!  But this American Girl is featured in the first American Girl book that I have read all the way through!  So now I think I will always remember her name!  Meet Rebecca takes us back to New York City in 1911.  One can learn a lot from this book about what life was like for one Jewish Russian immigrant family.  This is an interesting site that I found that gives a little more information into what NYC was like for the immigrants and also why each group came to America at that time.  Here is some more information about the pogroms in Russia that would have brought families like the Rubins to a new country.
One of the comments on goodreads said that All-of-a-Kind Family is a better book that deals with the same time period.  I am listening to it now!  It is very good!  While Meet Rebecca isn't great, it isn't bad.  And if you already are used to the typical American Girl book, then it won't be a disappointment.