A series of short, bite-sized personal narratives that address topics both universal and specific. Themes like body image, romance and connection, bulA series of short, bite-sized personal narratives that address topics both universal and specific. Themes like body image, romance and connection, bullying, religion, ignorance, representation, humiliations, and building community with like-minded or like-experienced people. But while many of these topics are immediately relatable, they are all filtered through a disabled lens.
I haven't read the original, marketed-for-adults version, but I imagine that they chose the most youth-related essays for this adaptation, and they nailed it. It makes me want to read the un-adapted version even more. There is an incredible diversity represented, but throughout these essays it is crystal clear that our society does not do enough to consider accessibility, that any person can become disabled at any time, and that when we talk about the full range of humanity we tend to leave the disabled on the margins. ...more
Diya travels to India to celebrate Diwali with her Grandmother. But even while she enjoys every bit of the celebration, she is thinking back to her neDiya travels to India to celebrate Diwali with her Grandmother. But even while she enjoys every bit of the celebration, she is thinking back to her new classmates at home who look so different from her. Diya finds ways to bring the highlights of her holiday back to share with her new friends.
This is a lovely book about holidays and celebrations, and cultural connections both old and new. There's even a nice author's note. The only thing that would have made it even better is a recipe for some of the Diwali treats!...more
I love the concept of two perspectives slowly melding into one. What starts as two strangers and two groups becomes fast friends helping each other, bI love the concept of two perspectives slowly melding into one. What starts as two strangers and two groups becomes fast friends helping each other, but along the way there are ample opportunities to discuss what one group sees versus what the other group is doing, and how two people can see the same thing in different ways.
Luyken's illustrations are always dynamic and offer layers of meaning and more things to see beyond just the first impression, so they fit well into this premise.
This is a story to read with someone, or to discuss afterward. What did you see in the pages?...more
Another book about hard topics that children have long had to wrestle with. A young girl is taken with her siblings from her family to an Indian residAnother book about hard topics that children have long had to wrestle with. A young girl is taken with her siblings from her family to an Indian residential school where she is treated cruelly. She and her friends survive and later as a much older woman (in the Author's Note), she shares her story with her daughter, who finds a way to share this story of grit and tenacity with a wider audience.
My only real complaint is that there is no explanation for why the kids were being taken to the residential school. From the story, it seems as though the Catholic representatives were merely offering the family the option of sending the kids and the parents sent them as a choice, but my understanding is that it was much more of a deliberate and coercive effort on the part of government, and that the families ended up with little to no choice in the matter. I understand not putting the context in the story itself, because to the children, the context might not have been known or understood. But I think it's an important piece of this story: the inherent contempt that the white government and Christian practitioners had for the Native people, and the fact that the families' options were restricted.
Unfortunately, even a quick search of the residential school in question mainly turned up the latest scandals in trying to find all the improperly buried children who once lived there. But no clear or easy to access information on how they got to that horror in the first place....more
A boy quietly investigates one of his unknown neighbors, who adamantly declares he is not a dog. But is he? A longer picture book with a solid mysteryA boy quietly investigates one of his unknown neighbors, who adamantly declares he is not a dog. But is he? A longer picture book with a solid mystery, and a main character who methodically tries to solve this puzzle....more
A poetic rumination on the idea and fact of river. There's some science, some history, some storytelling, some spirituality: it's a very interconnecteA poetic rumination on the idea and fact of river. There's some science, some history, some storytelling, some spirituality: it's a very interconnected idea of what a river is.
As a nonfiction book, I was disappointed to find no backmatter. But as just a book, this was a lovely depiction of how every so often you need to take a look at how things connect. A river is not just a habitat, an ecosystem, a line on a map. It is so much more....more
This is something I would have loved as a kid, and even as an adult I felt my heart string being gently and warmly plucked. Fiona’s mom struggles withThis is something I would have loved as a kid, and even as an adult I felt my heart string being gently and warmly plucked. Fiona’s mom struggles with addiction, and as the summer gets going she enters a program, leaving Fiona with relatives. Fiona has a social worker/ therapist/ fairy godmother who talks her through some of the hard parts.
Fiona herself sees the real world through the lens of fairy tales, and wants to learn to help people just like her own fairy godmother. The close intertwining of the fairytales echoes That Thing about Bollywood. There’s an imaginativeness to Fiona that reminds me of Anne Shirley, combined with a practical need to help others that brings Dealing with Dragons to mind. So many good elements.
Fiona makes new friends, practices speaking up for herself, and even helps others along the way. It’s all a bit tidy, but there are enough messy elements to make it satisfying, but all delivered with an optimism and determination that makes it thoughtful without being too heavy. The only thing missing are all the relevant recipes (pistachio oatmeal bars, lime coconut cupcakes, and more)....more
Content warning: domestic violence, sexual assault.
Picked it up for the rewilding content, and really enjoyed that part of the storyline. Even the parContent warning: domestic violence, sexual assault.
Picked it up for the rewilding content, and really enjoyed that part of the storyline. Even the parts where Inti, our main character, makes questionable decisions along these lines I found thoughtful and likely to spark conversation.
The sisterly backstory, the light romance, the solitary backwoods birth, the murder and subsequent coverup were all interesting additions, but I found myself getting a little exasperated as the twists and turns came to the end. Things got increasingly gory, disturbing, and unlikely....more
Some books are strange to read now because they do not mention the Covid-19 pandemic, and others are strange because they dive in head on. This is theSome books are strange to read now because they do not mention the Covid-19 pandemic, and others are strange because they dive in head on. This is the latter.
Everything begins with Andre being released from the juvenile detention center to a community monitoring program. Very quickly we establish that Andre did not commit the crime he was accused of, although he knew the thefts were taking place. What he doesn't know is whether his friend and neighbor Eric framed him. From there, the story spirals outward to encompass the challenges of being monitored, a bit of a love story, the mystery of how and why Andre went down for this crime, and where is Eric anyway. And then the story spirals back inward as Covid-19 swells in the community.
Attention quickly shifts to Andre's family: mother a nurse who moves out to protect her family; father a bookstore owner who must shut down while the virus rages; the grandparents who Andre lives with. And then Andre gets sick, and then his grandfather gets sick, and then his dad gets sick.
Once the initial wave of Covid hits, the story spirals back outward again, picking up all the threads from before, and adding the political aspirations of the neighbor family. The mystery around Eric intensifies, as does the romance, and then the protests and Black Lives Matter activism hit full force.
Tucked in among all those plot points are corrupt police officers, racial profiling, fostering and adoption, a suicide attempt, child abuse, a passion for swimming, a best friend, white saviorism(view spoiler)[, and a murder (hide spoiler)]. It's a lot. But the whole year of 2020 was a lot. And this story is a glaring reminder that not everyone's "a lot" was the same.
The story taken as a whole was one perspective of this pandemic, one slice of the chaos happening that spring and summer, set against a backdrop of existing systemic problems. Reading this made me feel a bit like the unexpected reader referenced in How to Read Now: this isn't a book for me, written to comfort me or make me feel better about my place in the world. It was a good story, even if the ending was a bit overwhelming....more
Content warning: mass shooting and suicide, both described after the fact.
This is an odd little book.
The letter-writing began awkwardly, and I had 3.5
Content warning: mass shooting and suicide, both described after the fact.
This is an odd little book.
The letter-writing began awkwardly, and I had a hard time finding a rhythm. Then as I grew accustomed to the epistolary style, I found myself unsettled by the main character, the writer. Because we don't know his personality before the tragedy and loss that strikes his community, it's hard to know what is being caused by grief and what is Lucas' natural state. After some time I decided he came across as child-like. There was something incredibly naive and straightforward about him. And for a long time, I felt as though the whole book, while obviously written for adults, had a children's literature vibe to it. It had me remembering that earlier in the year I read Simon Sort of Says, a book about the same topic, with a similar approach, but it fully embraces that it's a children's book.
Despite the overwhelming awkwardness of the format, the character, the vibe, I found myself pulled in. Until I got to page 185 when the tears started, and I cried intermittently until the end.
Stories about grief are always relevant, but stories about this kind of grief have a particular kind of shriek underneath whatever else makes up the book. I am interested to investigate a bit more about Matthew Quick's process for this book: it was clearly a very personal book for him.
In the end, despite the sadness, I was left with Gordon Lightfoot stuck in my head, which is always comforting for some reason....more
A book about Mary Hamilton and the twentieth century struggle for equal rights, but even more so about names and respect. Would be a great book to staA book about Mary Hamilton and the twentieth century struggle for equal rights, but even more so about names and respect. Would be a great book to start conversations about both my country’s history and general ideas of respectful address. While this book focuses on honorifics (Miss, Mrs. and Mr.) there’s a wide opening for pronouns and preferred names as well.
Everything is laid out very simply and there are additional notes in the back. ...more
A powerful and resonant book about the necessity of accessible public education. This hits very hard as I read this almost four years to the day afterA powerful and resonant book about the necessity of accessible public education. This hits very hard as I read this almost four years to the day after Covid shut our public schools down. But my kids weren’t prevented from education by selfish, racist, narrow-minded bigots. And my kids had online placeholders and a ton of privilege that made the loss of in-person school for 18 months easier to bear. But this story puts all the complaints I heard in 2020 and 2021 into a very unflattering light. Every parent and every citizen who values an educated public should read this story.
The author does a great job at offering context, and reminding readers that court cases take time. It makes me think that while court cases are a big element of making change in our world, it’s a slow and ponderous process and only one element of the process of change.
This begins with a quick breeze through African American history for context, followed by the lead-up to Brown v. Board of Education (I did not know this decision was in response to a collection of lawsuits), then the post-integration-mandate backlash. And here we are at school vouchers. The story continues with how the community rebuilt their public education system and the long term, generation effects of this manifestation of gross racism.
What I’m left with: public schooling should be available for anyone who wants to learn. Schools should never be for-profit venture, and school vouchers have a stink of segregation about them. ...more
A little bit of Orthodox Jewish family and school life, a little bit of forbidden romance, a little bit of anti-SeContent Warning: violent hate crime.
A little bit of Orthodox Jewish family and school life, a little bit of forbidden romance, a little bit of anti-Semitism. There are some nice moments where characters wrestle a bit with their religion, where folks have to look at prejudice and bigotry in ways that are uncomfortable, and when people change their preconceived notions.
Some elements seemed more jagged than others: Hoodie's insta-romance moment hurt, the growing animosity toward him from within his own community was very uncomfortable, and the final tragedy was a harsh truth inserted into a generally light story. I can see the entire story as being very discussable....more
A cute book about problem solving and teamwork. Always love Dan Santat's illustrations, and was pleasantly entertained by the way the pondfolk work toA cute book about problem solving and teamwork. Always love Dan Santat's illustrations, and was pleasantly entertained by the way the pondfolk work together....more
I’m really disappointed that in the eBook version I read there was no way to connect which author wrote which chapter. Clearly they worked together4.5
I’m really disappointed that in the eBook version I read there was no way to connect which author wrote which chapter. Clearly they worked together to create an interlocking storyline made up of all these different perspectives, but I was left wondering if the whole thing was a collaboration or if individual stories held individual voices. A robust author’s note at the end does nothing to clarify the situation.
Otherwise I really enjoyed this. In some ways it reminded me of Look Both Ways, where many perspectives show an overarching narrative. These are all important and vibrant voices and I loved how clearly these chapters portrayed both the diversity and the commonalities of the Asian American experience, navigating the feeling of being part of two cultures especially well. The other piece that I appreciated was how racism is always on display, from overt to snide to subtle, right alongside those who do not subscribe to stereotypes. We always have a choice in how we treat people. ...more
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