RSS

Category Archives: Adult

Flow

20200408BlogBanner

2020-04-05 14.57.23 Maybe it’s because I’m a woman or maybe it’s because I’m a librarian, but either way, I want to take a moment to celebrate books about periods. They’ve been kind of having a moment. And I knew I wanted to share a post about periods two days ago when I finished Lily Williams and Karen Schneeman’s graphic novel published by First Second this past January called Go With the Flow. It’s a celebration of menstruation and friendship alongside actively advocating for rights.

Memorable character: While Sasha is the new girl, she’s not the most memorable. Abby is the one that’s rocking the boat. She’s the girl that wants to get something done and she uses her voice and influence through a blog and face time with the school principal about why pads and tampons aren’t stocked in the bathrooms and why they should cost money in the first place. One of the harsher realities of friendship is ushered in when Abby goes rogue and ends up putting the other girls in a tight spot where their communication sees them through (and a good ol’ fashioned apology), but you can’t blame the passionate girl for her actions when she believes so strongly. It leads to the first of a few memorable panels interspersed throughout the book for a memorable quote Abby uses in her blog said by Gloria Steinem: “If men could menstruate, men would brag about how long and how much.”

2020-04-05 19.51.58 But let’s also give it up for the most memorable scene where Sasha’s blood-stained pants are showing as the girls usher her to the bathroom and why the book works so well in its graphic novel format. Most can empathize or sympathize with her situation and it’s the kind of thing that is discussed in other books discussing periods: the truthful portrayal.

I advise graphic novel lovers, middle grade fans, advocates, and the like to read and purchase multiple copies of this book to share. It allows girls to be seen by showing the myriad of experiences with periods.

And once you’re done with Go With the Flow, I urge you to pick up others that cover the same topic. Here are some of my other favorites.

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on April 8, 2020 in Adult, Authors, Blogging, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Short Story, Young Adult

Reading time capsule: Part II

04 Apr

20200404BlogBanner

Yesterday’s post was what I would put into a reading time capsule outside of the actual books themselves. Today I tackle what books I would want in the time capsule. And like picking your favorite dress or favorite child, it’s just impossible, but I’m giving it my best shot… and how big is the capsule??!?

Saga graphic novel collection by Vaughan and Staples. I just spent the last nine days re-reading a volume a day and loving every minute of it
Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen is the first book I remember laughing out loud at while reading
Every Ruta Sepetys book written and I’m going to go sci-fi here and say that when she writes another, just virtually drop it in there because I know I’ll want to read those too
Deathwatch by Robb White was the first book I remember recommending to a student as a first year teacher where the kid came back to thank me for my awesome recommendation
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle is a book I read several years ago and still bring up at least once a week in conversation. The number of Post-its sticking out of that book made it look ten times fatter
Crank by Ellen Hopkins. It’s verse style was somewhat revolutionary at the time and it’s loosely fictionalized version of her daughter’s experience brought so much out in the open. She became our first author visit at the high school that we hosted and we haven’t looked back in ten years
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram because I was on the William C. Morris award committee that named it the 2019 winner
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan had a whole mood and is one of the most impactful book written for adults when I live in a world reading mostly YA
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson came out the year I graduated high school. I read it the following year in a YA lit class while I was studying English education and we met Anderson when she visited a local school district as a college class. Her depiction of high school brought back every sight, smell, and sound and who knew as a more than decades-old high school librarian that I would still be recommending it along with the graphic novel and companion Shout
You can’t not add a few classics: mine would be The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides is another book that is full of big mood that skillfully and sinfully explores femalehood. I don’t have sisters, but I get the Lisbon girls and I remember connecting just as deeply to Sofia Coppola’s big screen adaptation (and buying the soundtrack)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was the first book that I actually photocopied several pages out of to keep in a folder to go back and re-read whenever I wanted

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Do I have honorable mentions? Ones that I’d stuff in the crevices and crannies of the capsule. Here are a few of those that are less memories-driven but more emotionally-connected. Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman, The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner, Hole In My Life by Jack Gantos, The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, every Jason Reynolds book published, Ghosts of War by Ryan Smithson, The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, North of Beautiful by Justina Chen, Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Rupi Kaur’s poetry, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, and A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly.

What are some of yours?

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on April 4, 2020 in Adult, Authors, Blogging, Fiction, Graphic novels, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction, Poetry, Verse, Young Adult

Delicious books

28 Feb

DeliciousBooks

Fat Tuesday is also Paczki Day. Paczkis are Polish doughnuts usually with jelly filling and rolled in either powdered sugar or granulated sugar. They’re made on Fat Tuesday in preparation for the Lenten season’s austerity. This past Monday, I homemade them and was excited to share them with my family, colleagues, and neighbors who all know my love for baking.

So it won’t come as any surprise that I also enjoy reading about books with cooking and baking in them. I’ve read Notes from a Young Black Chef (nonfiction biography) and With the Fire on High (young adult fiction) to Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant (nonfiction short story collection) and Maker Comics: Bake Like a Pro! (graphic novel) to name a few.

Recently I’ve read two others that I’d like to share a bit about: the Love Sugar Magic middle grade series and Salty, Bitter, Sweet.

While the rest of the series will be in the queue, I have only listened to the first book called A Dash of Sugar in which Leonora Legrono’s family owns a bakery preparing for The Day of the Dead when she accidentally discovers that she is a bruja, a witch of Mexican ancestry like her mother and the rest of her sisters who use magic in the kitchen. It’s a heartfelt mix of family, culture, and baking with a deliciously humorous plot.

The second, Salty, Bitter, Sweet, is firmly a young adult title that follows Isabella Fields to France on her father and stepmother’s cherry farm where she is going to be apprenticing with a famous chef and a group of teenagers vying for a spot in his Michelin-rated restaurant. Her passion for perfection in the kitchen is thwarted by the mishaps during her apprenticeship and her stepmother’s stepson visiting for the summer. It’s a solid, well-woven story with a beautiful backdrop and rich stories of fond family memories in the kitchen. Look for it on March 3rd.

In the comments below, please recommend any more books about food that I should read!

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on February 28, 2020 in Adult, Authors, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Short Story, Upcoming Releases, Young Adult

“Santa, can you bring my mommy a new heart?”

21 Dec

This post was originally published on the Times Union Books Blog.

I’m going to end the year making you ugly cry, so be prepared. Yet, I’m still going to connect it back to a book but also share a much more important message that is best said via video.

This is my cousin. Since I don’t have a sister, she is the closest thing as a cousin who lived up the road most of my life. And that was what has happened over the last few months which culminated in a heart transplant, the gift of new life, on December 4th.

I had been out to visit her before things turned worse and as I returned to work, I saw a book that had been sitting on our shelves. For some reason I thought that maybe I’d read it but I wasn’t sure, so I took it with me to lunch and was instantly drawn in because it mirrored the real life experience my cousin was going through: the right book at the right time. I’m sure we’ve all experienced that at one time. The book was The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery by Rob Dunn, which is a fascinating deep dive into the heart from 2015 in a fairly comprehensive look that includes chapters on da Vinci and dogs as well as air pollution and what animal’s heart could likely be the most useful in transplantation. Dunn is an associate professor of Ecology and Evolution and brings a bevy of knowledge. While the title itself is taken from one of the stories, the book as a whole brings together multiple stories that adequately represent his opening statistic: one in three adults in the world will die of a disease of the cardiovascular system. Dunn does well by the couch scientist in us all to tell the story of the heart without complicated medical jargon and chronologically explain our understanding of this vital organ. As a reader, I know much more about how hearts work and respect how he goes about explaining it all through the brilliance and courageousness of professionals (and sometimes non-professionals).

I was particularly struck by the romantic notion that people had in the 1400s that Dunn shares

“In the 1400s, it was often said that the story of each lived life was written on the inside walls of the heart by a scribbling and obsessive God. When the heart was finally opened and examined in detail later in the same century, no such notes were discovered. Still, each mended heart bears the mark of a different kind of narration. Each mended heart beats out a conclusion to the struggles of the scientists, artists, surgeons, and writers who, with heroism, hubris, and insight, have done battle with the heart’s mysteries for millenia. Each mended heart beats out a story of frailty but also of possibility.”

For my cousin, mending her heart wasn’t possible, she needed a new one. She got one because someone decided to donate theirs. So, my message is two-fold: donate life through blood and organ donation. If you need a goal for 2020, make it this if you’re not already. And second, take this opportunity to learn, explore, escape, re-evaluate, and empathize with books. If that’s not a 2020 goal to read more, add that to your list too.

Signing off for 2019.

2 Comments

Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 21, 2019 in Adult, Authors, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction, Short Story

The top 15 of 2019 on the 15th

15 Dec

Top15of2019 (1)

Let’s make this a thing!

Last year I shared two lists: an adult and a YA/middle grade top 10 based on the books published in that calendar year. This year, absent from my list will be any fiction titles since I’m finishing up my term on YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults blogging team. Our final list will be available soon and in the meantime you can see the titles we’ve all blogged about throughout the year.

Now onto my top 15 published today, December 15th for 2019.

Graphic novels (in no particular order)

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell: The color palette and storyline is richly detailed with the internal romantic lives of teenagers, especially highlighting unrequited and abusive relationships in a powerful story.
Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen: A family-focused middle grade graphic novel with a vividly earthy color palette and a magical understanding of our natural world that has a message.
White Bird by R.J. Palacio: The historical graphic novel wrapped in a contemporary story that shows the power of technology and the need for youth to talk to their older relatives to reveal the secret stories that might never get told.
Maker Comics: Bake like a Pro! by Falynn Koch: I love baking, so this is my absolutely favorite maker comic to date. It’s so practical and useful wrapped in the goofy story of wizards honing their skills.
Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau: The same use of a smart color palette like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, this romantic GLBTQ story in a bakery clearly has me gah-gah.
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks: An endearing slow burning romance at a pumpkin patch where what you wish for isn’t always what you really need. The adventures were a humorous addition to a good ol’ fashioned romance in the fall. The setting is it’s own lovely character.
Kiss #8 by Colleen A.F. Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw: Ah, what more can be said about a girl figuring out relationships while the readers follow along.
Hephaistos: God of Fire by George O’Connor: I’m all about this graphic novel series that keeps mythology alive for us all.

A picture book

Liberty Arrives!: How America’s Grandest Statue Found Her Home by Robert Byrd: I read it and then immediately booked a trip to the Statue of Liberty with my family. Yes, we were one of the lucky 400 per day to head up to her crown on a chilly October morning. So you should read the book and take the trip too.

And those fabulously fascinating nonfiction titles (again, in no particular order):

The Miracle and Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets by Sarah Miller: It’s a shocking look at five babies born in 1934 that shouldn’t have survived but did, then were ripped from their parents and raised as an amusement park attraction whose visits per year rivaled Niagara Falls.
Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein: A truly spectacular behind the scenes look at Onwuachi’s rise to popular chef that mixes the personal and the professional (and includes recipes!)
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty: We all know I’m obsessed with Doughty and this one didn’t disappoint by sharing funny, gross, and impossibly weird questions posed by kids and Doughty’s straightforward and quirky answers that are truthful and entertaining.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Making of America by Teri Kanefield: Her series always entertains and informs about those that built America. Kanefield never shies away from details that are less than stellar about these individuals and does the same with FDR.
Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson: I mean, Anderson powerful words in prose format? Yes, please. The story is meant to be uncomfortable but also powerful and uplifting. A true battlecry for a new era.
Rising Water: The Story of the Thai Cave Rescue by Marc Aronson: Whenever I’m talking about this book to teens, I’m always sharing how I knew what the outcome was and I was still sweating whether they were going to make it out alive! That is how capable Aronson is as a writer in manipulating our emotions.

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 15, 2019 in Adult, Authors, Cover Love, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Verse, Young Adult

Breaking it up

03 Jun

BreakingItUp

One of the discussions that occurs each time a readathon is on the horizon is about diversifying the book stack– not in terms of representation but format.

Do you have an audiobook so you can take a walk? A few short story or essay collections stacked alongside Harry Potter. For the basic reason that even though reading is exercise for the mind, our bodies need some if we sit too long reading and that reading the same thing might get a little boring. So add some stimulus with a graphic novel. Change the brain chemistry by switching from truth to fiction and back again.

So while I have a large committee commitment to read fiction– if I stuck solely to fiction for this entire year, my brain would explode or worse yet, seize up. I need change like the four seasons of upstate New York where I reside. I spend my lunch reading middle grade nonfiction or a sunny summerish day in the backyard with an adult biography.

Here were some recent non-YA fiction that I’ve read recently

The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein
Liberty Arrives!: How America’s Grandest Statue Found Her Home by Robert Byrd
Caught!: Nabbing History’s Most Wanted by Georgia Bragg
High: Everything You Wanted to Know About Drugs, Alcohol, and Addiction by David and Nic Sheff
Sea Sirens by Amy Chu
A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon by Suzanne Slade

If you’re feeling like you’re in a rut, when was the last time you read something just for you? Or outside of your comfort zone? Or reliving the good old days and reading a picture book. Consider diversification to keep it fresh.

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on June 3, 2019 in Adult, Authors, Childrens, Graphic novels, Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Story, Verse

Peek behind the curtain: the teenage brain

18 Jan

peekbehindthecurtain

The last several years, I’ve been increasingly interested in expanding my knowledge about the teens I work with. My own children are elementary-aged, so it’s preparation for their own teenage years, but in the meantime, it’s is exactly right for my job working as a high school librarian.

Beside running a professional development course with the book Brain Literacy for Educators and Psychologists by Virginia W. Berninger and being able to apply the science to several books I have read recently (Proust and the Squid: The Story of Science and the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf– which has an update on my TBR list called Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World.) Then, there’s the book that I’m recommending to parents of teens, parents who WILL have teens soon, and those that work with teens in any capacity. As with many of the nonfiction titles I read because I’m curious about the topic, the Post-it count was high. I should really buy stock in the company.

Title: Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain

Author: Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

Relevance: As I said above, if you have teenagers (or will soon) and/or work with teenagers, books like these remind us of our own teenage selves, provide scientific research and snapshots of studies with conclusions we can use to better inform our interactions with teens. And it’s not all negative. We need to continue to learn about the brain as science speeds forth and isn’t what you knew during teacher training programs or even that book from twenty years ago when you just started out.

Ah-ha! Post-it note: Synaptic pruning occurs voraciously during adolescence and embodies the motto “if you don’t use it, you lose it”, which is being investigated as a cause of the education slump that occurs around middle schools years (at different points for everyone in their development process) in which grades and performance dip for a short period of time.

Memorable quote or fact: The brain takes of 1/5 of the energy used by the body.

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on January 18, 2019 in Adult, Nonfiction

Top 10 of 2018: Adult edition

26 Dec

Copy of Top10of2018

Clearly I read a bit more young adult and middle grade titles than adult titles because my job is working with teens, but as I get older I enjoy taking the time out to read some adult titles. You’ll probably notice a bit of a theme, like the stuff in my Netflix queue, so if you didn’t get to read any of these titles when they were published this past year, put them on your list for 2019.

Top 10 of 2018- Adult Edition

A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong: Detailing a 2008 rape report by Marie after a man broke into her apartment, the writers share the circuitous way in which a man was finally brought to justice after a long hard traumatic road.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones: From it’s superb cover to the dynamic storytelling of Celestial and Roy’s relationship after he’s imprisoned is a slow burn that is full of frustration, love, resentment, and loyalty.
Bingo Love written by Tee Franklin and illustrated by Jenn St. Onge: A queer love story with rich illustrations and a painful yet sentimental relationship about two women, Hazel and Mari who after meeting years ago were apart yet find their way back together decades in the making.
How to be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery: Featuring thirteen animals who had an impact on her life and are reflected in the dozens of books she’s published for teens and adults over the years, it allows all of us to pause and reflect on how animals affect our lives from their presence to their absence.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara: True crime fans will likely have already bought this the day it came out and it was made more superb by the fact that the Golden State Killer was literally identified not too long ago after McNamara’s quest to identify him over years of her life. We’ve all been sucked into a project that won’t loosen it’s grip and this is evidence of one woman’s true obsession.
Impossible Owls: Essays by Brian Phillips: I picked this one up after seeing it on a best list for 2018 since I’ve also been reading more essay collections. Phillips is a dynamic storyteller and makes the most mundane fascinating but also allows readers to peek behind the curtain of activities like the Iditarod and seeing tigers in the jungles of India.
Not that Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay: Gay’s strong voice is a lightning rod of thoughtful observations that go without saying.
Period: Twelve Voices Tell the Bloody Truth edited by Kate Farrell: The compilation of stories about menstruation is a worthy read for everyone because they are honest, emotional, beautiful, and empowering. Let’s change the dialogue.
Saga Volume 9 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: Now they’re taking a break after that ending? Gut-wrenching! But this space opera is the most creative and original work featuring star-crossed lovers and their journey filled with imaginative characters including Alana, Marko, and their daughter, Hazel.
Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures by Nick Pyenson: He’s probably biased because he’s a Smithsonian researcher on whales and I’m probably biased because I love whales and marine life in general. From digging up bones and to understanding their immensity, it’s also a message to humans inhabiting this planet that we must take care of all creatures and not hunt them to extinction.

I love animals, can’t you tell? I like true crime but you figured that out too. And a well-drawn and imaginatively well-written graphic novel, check. Let’s celebrate the diversity and creativity of the books that were published in 2018 and tip our hats to the authors continuing to hone their craft and new writers that will bring that much more for 2019.

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 26, 2018 in Adult, Authors, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction

Four for Friday

28 Sep

FourForFridayCanva

With school being back full-swing, I’m still reading plenty but finding the time to sit down and share some of them hasn’t happened… until now. So, here’s four fantastic books for a Friday night!

FourforFriday

Number one: Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge picks one day, November 23, 2013 and researches, interviews, and writes about the lives of ten young people aged 18 and under and how they lost their lives to gun violence with a side of commentary on guns in America- so raw and emotional with plenty of thoughtful, discussion-worthy sidebars.

Number two: Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World by Mackenzi Lee has the best feminist voice to share a nonfiction story collection of these 52 women from across the globe from all time periods. Lee’s humor and contemporary lens might make it dated years from now with her vocabulary and word choice, but it’s an unforgettable and beautiful collective biography with no shortage of combined entertainment and research.

Number three: Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison is visually stunning and as she states, it started with sketches she did during Black History Month and took on a life of it’s own and then eventually became this gem. Highlighting historical and contemporary black women and how they led the way is through an illustration and one-page biography for the two-page spreads.

Number four: Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden keeps the classic story alive. And while it took a few pages to get used to our carrot-topped Anne with an E and Matthew’s long hair it finds its pace and story and pays homage to Green Gables and those that live (or come to live) there.

Go in to the weekend knowing you have some books to put on hold. Or if you can’t wait, purchase!

Leave a comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on September 28, 2018 in Adult, Childrens, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Young Adult

My six sensational summer reads + one

03 Sep

SixSensationalSummerReads

I did make a significant dent in my to-be-read pile. I feel accomplished but as always lament not reading more, but I like living life as well. As I transition back into school library life, I’m pausing this Labor Day to share my six favorite books from this summer.

As a disclaimer, these books weren’t necessarily published this summer nor are they summer themed.

Seafire by Natalie Parker– A daring group of lady pirates led by the fantastically illustrated Caledonia who is out for revenge against an evil man whose army killed her brother year ago. I wrote a full post here.
The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King by Holly Black– I couldn’t have picked a more opportune time to start the first book, during my 24-hour readathon in July where I slowly indulged in Black’s world and language and characters then quickly jumped to the second book after much praise from students and colleagues alike. Jude has been stolen away to fairy after her parents were murdered and now as dangerous liaisons are threatening her and her sister, she needs all of her own weapons and power to either ascend to the throne or put people there she can control.
Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner– We need more funny in books and this has a campy element with serious undertones when Rayne and Delilah aka Josie and Delia run a late-night public access show adding skits and commentary for old-style horror classic flicks. It was delightful but still mad me cry. Read about it here.
The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling– Yes, I waited nearly twenty years to actually read the series but I do not regret it. Reading alongside my rising fourth graders as they both completed the series between spring and last week, I have an epic appreciation for the world that Rowling built. Here were my reflections.
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee– Notice a theme with some of the others? It was the summer of the woman. This was a late night read like Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee where I laughed and fought alongside Felicity where she rages against the patriarchy while saving another on her quest to be a licensed medical doctor way back in the 18th century.
(A tie between these two adult novels) An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi– I always make some time to read adult novels and because of my participation in an adult summer reading program through a local public library, both of these were on my long list to be read and then appeared on the challenges, so I threw caution to the wind and adored both for their intricate storytelling that was atmospheric and languid for all of the right reasons. A slow unfolding of generations or the passage of time and its affects on the character’s lives. In the former, it was imprisonment and whether a marriage could survive and the second, a historical novel about the passage of time and the connection of families from 18th century Ghana to contemporary America.