Author Archives: Alicia Abdul

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.  

Conversations are taking place about mental health. Mental health and guns, mental health and mass shootings, mental health and healthcare, and the list goes on. So it’s perfect that there are so many well-timed YA books recently with characters dealing with mental health and whether they are based in reality or have magical elements, I’m feeling warm from the beauty of the writing and the creativity that the authors have come at the topics that they must be discussed!

• My absolute favorite recently was Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman, not only for the sensitivity and range of the characters and topic but to read the afterword in which Shusterman describes his own son’s mental health. It only serves to endear readers as books like Stuck in Neutral did with Terry Trueman.
• Next was the short, dark prose of Patrick Downes in Fell of Dark, who is a newcomer as far as I can gather. With intersecting stories of two youth struggling to combat their illnesses and end up meeting, consequences could be explosive. Though as with many books, I enjoyed how well put-together it was complete with fitting quotes to lead off certain chapters.
• The Nest by Kenneth Oppel was reminiscent of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, but with it’s own spin that was just as much hallucinogenic and psychosomatic as truly about mental illness, but I’d still put it in this category. With the main character struggling for attention while his parents deal with the forewarned and untimely death of his little sister, he talks with and becomes a pawn of the queen bee in a bee’s nest growing a changeling baby/new sister to replace the ‘broken’ one that is taking up his parents’ attention.
• And last,  Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick, whose stunning first line will be as remembered as the actual story of a boy plotting to kill his former best friend and himself after he connects with some of his favorite people– like his senior neighbor, a girl he has a crush on, a violinist he listens to during lunch, and a favorite teacher. The issues are real and the fact that Leonard is looking for people to pull him out of his own thoughts is heartbreaking and vivid.

All I know is that more needs to be published and it definitely needs to be discussed in book groups, individually, and anywhere else and with whoever.

It seemed like I was batting a thousand recently with a string of flops. Does everyone else have those streaks where it seems like every book you pick up just isn’t what you’re looking for in terms of topic, readability, or meeting expectations?

I recently tried Rosamund Hodge’s second, Crimson Bound, after adoring Cruel Beauty. In Crimson Bound, her attempt was Little Red Riding Hood meets the tale, The Girl with No Hands, instead of a creepy, gothic horror with a beautifully-illustrated cover, I felt like all I got was a beautifully-illustrated cover. Likewise, I adored The Paris Wife by Paula McLain but Circling the Sun fell short as another period piece and maybe it was because I tried reading Beryl’s story, West with the Night, and couldn’t engage which is why McLain’s attempt at telling her story fell flat too. And last, a new contemporary YA story, Those Girls by Lauren Saft felt so shallow and toxic that the edgy topic (which I can appreciate it many other YA titles) wasn’t my bag for her attempt.

Maybe in another frame of mind, time, or place, I could have kept with them, but frankly, I know I won’t revisit them because there are too many books and too little time for that.

The first time I read To Kill a Mockingbird it was in high school and there was only one scene that engaged me at all and that was the scene where there was a scuffle in the woods. For most of the book I was indifferent to the writing and situation, whether that was the uncomfortable read-aloud time in class or not, it just wasn’t for me.

Recently though I had a conversation about re-reading books, namely the ‘classics’ that are well-read for a reason: because of universal themes, engaging characters, beautiful language, or historical poignancy to name a few. I had read The Great Gatsby in high school and disliked it also, but re-read it in college and it spoke to me. So I know that time does change things. Who we are as people specifically. Joan Didion wrote “I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be” and this is so apt. I’m morphing and changing in leaps and bounds. Finding my voice, making a statement, living out who I am.

With the renewed interest in Harper Lee because of an impending release of a new title, I mentioned that I disliked Mockingbird, but that I would consider re-reading it because of who I am today versus who I was as a self-centered sixteen year old. I’m about to crack open by own copy soon and am eager to discover my feelings for it as an avid reader and adult.

Has an opinion of a book ever changed for you?

There are no words- no wait- there are plenty of words. Should I clear my calendar for all of June, make the biggest pot of tea, and pretend like the world doesn’t exist? #bea15 #sljdod15

The last in New York City for the foreseeable future, I’m super-pumped to spend the day at School Library Journal’s Day of Dialog and then popping over to Book Expo Thursday and Friday. Here were some of my favorite ARCs gathered from the past: Gabrielle Zevin’s Birthright series, Holly Black’s The Darkest Part of the Forest, Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann, Melissa Marr’s Carnival of Souls, and The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau.

It’s always awesome to come away with books that leave my hands and wind up in the homes of my students just as much as me getting my hands on them to read them and interact with the authors. I love it all. Can’t wait to tweet it out @librarycrazy.

I have been slowly reading Neal Shusterman’s Challenger Deep. Not because it’s awful and I’m postponing ever really finishing it, it’s because it’s so good I don’t want it to end. What books have you spent way too much time reading just because you didn’t want them to end?