Author Archives: Alicia Abdul

You want a friend around you and if they can’t be around you, at least you know that they’re thinking about you or you’re thinking about them. You might have a picture of them on your phone or hanging in your house to remind you of a good time and the moment you’re back together, it’s like you never left.

I don’t necessarily remember the ending or even the main character’s name of a book, rather I remember the feeling I got when I closed it. And that feeling stays with me like the feelings of being with or talking to friends. And just like that picture on the wall, I’ve got a bookshelf that’s the perfect reminder of all of our favorite pastimes together. It’s not a cluttered shelf with the new crowding out the best. It’s simply, a bookshelf of the best.

My book friends can be grouped in to a few different categories like we have friends at work, childhood friends, or college friends. I’ve got ‘beautifully written’ friends like A Northern Light by Donnelly, North of Beautiful by Chen, and Flash Burnout by Madigan. I’ve got ‘creative’ friends like The Vagina Monologues by Ensler, Crank by Hopkins, and The Virgin Suicides by Eugenides. ‘Classics’ like Emily Dickinson’s poetry and Brave New World by Huxley. Or, ‘can’t-put-down’s’ like Loving Frank by Horan.

At any time, like calling up a good friend, I can just pull one off the shelf with a cup of tea, snuggle in, and indulge, as I have indulged in sharing what makes Eliot’s quote realistic and apropos for any reader.

Rich characters that shine in stories where hardship, pain, sorrow, or pure joy are played out is the hallmark of a gifted writer, and extra points when the secondary characters are as vibrant as the main one. For the second installment related to a new favorite quote, let’s discuss how books can be accessible and wise counselors.

I’m going to skip over YA titles like Crank by Hopkins or Hole In My Life by Gantos and talk about four newer titles that certainly have their place as catalysts for conversations about the real world issues teens can encounter and how to respond—or not.

Addiction is tough, but when you’re watching an adult continually make horrible decisions that affect them and their families, like Gabi, there’s not much to help navigate through it other than some humor. In Gabi, Girl in Pieces by Quintero, it’s exactly her humor that makes it memorable. So first, you need a dose of humor. Second, like Riordan Hall’s first book, Sugar, you’ll need the help of family. For Mercy, an emotionally abusive mother and brother dependent on her for more than any teenager should have to support, its Mercy’s older brother, who has pulled himself out of the tumultuousness that is now helping her too. Second, you need a cheerleader. And speaking of a cheerleader, Arlie from Mikulencak’s Burn Girl, has a long-lost uncle and best friend along with a new boyfriend who are her biggest supporters. They need her to move on from her mother’s fatal overdose and her burns from a meth explosion years ago. So, third is not just a family member for support but friends who are rooting for you as well.

In each of these three books, our female main characters show perseverance in the face of adversity and how they do it is just a little bit different: humor, family, and friends. For Quinero, Riordan Hall, and Mikulencak, they nailed it. They made the books easily readable, with likeable characters who have just enough to help them get through- and can teach us all a lesson while we’re reading them.

I don’t usually seek out movie adaptations of books, especially if they’re favorite books because let’s face it, there is nothing better than the book. In a few instances, years after the movies have had their releases, I’m presented with watching it and think because of the distance between the actual reading then the viewing, that I will be less critical. I can think of two adaptations that were spot on– Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, with it’s movie directed by Jessica Sharzer and The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, with it’s movie directed by Sofia Coppola. Now I can add a third to the list: Temple Grandin’s story. While I’ve only read Sy Montgomery’s book subtitled How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World and none of her others… yet, I also remembered that Claire Danes had played her in a movie and thought, I’m going to give it a whirl.

Both the Montgomery’s book and Danes’ portrayal were emotional roller coasters of the historical period where autism was thought of as childhood schizophrenia and parents were pressured to institutionalize, but the importance of relationships that can motivate, focus, or develop others. I was enamored with the conceptual understanding shared with viewers by the director, Mick Jackson, as well as the human element. I was touched with the outpouring of gratitude the movie closed with, I was inspired by the portrayal of a girl who can see in pictures in the book and how obstacles can lead to new adventures. This is a pairing as good as chocolate and peanut butter.

While trolling Pinterest tonight, this quote caught me and especially the last line. In the last three years, I have become so enamored with YA nonfiction both graphic and narrative and immediately thought back to my most recent read, Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s newest, Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America, which is as much a biography of her life as it is about discovery, science, and the law inserted sometimes blatantly and sometimes surreptitiously among the pages and images. How did I not know about North Brother Island? How did I not know that typhoid fever and typhus, while somewhat homo-phonic are not the just the same disease in different stages?

I love it for its explosiveness and its research, which leads me back to books being the most patient of teachers. What is one reason that I start most of my conversations with people with “I read…” BECAUSE books are our teachers. And because this quote has captured my imagination, my newest posts will connect books as friends and as counselors.