I knew I wasn’t going to create my book of the month post yesterday to post for today because I was in the middle of the book I was going to bestow that title to. I would carve out time today after an early morning walk with my librarian friend, Stacey, a little food shopping, and some other reading, to finish this book. And I was not wrong. And I was not disappointed. Behold, my June selection!
Published this past August, I have been on the wait list at the public library for quite some time. Once it came in, I brought it home and immediately felt the apprehensiveness of cracking the spine because I could feel the magnetic pulse of a book that would move me.
Nezhukumatathil is a poet, so it’s without question that she has a command of words. And as an avid lover of nature as evidenced by these vignettes, she has a command for sharing it with others. She’s like a literary Sy Montgomery and I say that as kindness for both. Montgomery is a scrapper, woman’s woman scientist who gets her hands dirty, her armpits sweaty in the forest, and rolls up her sleeves for the work. Who then parlays that into fascinating books for kids (and adults) about her adventures and learning from tarantulas to octopus. Nezhukumatathil is an explorer and an observer who won’t shy away from the experience, but isn’t in it for the scientific study but rather the enlightenment it will provide. And that is equally beautiful.
The vignettes of birds, plants, and animals are only several pages in length but leave a life lesson within each that pulls the reader closer to nature and asks the existential questions along with it. The writing was magical. The descriptions were breathtaking. And the muted illustration was a cherry on top to this tiny but powerful book.
Thanks for Edelweiss, I read a digital advanced copy and implore Balzer + Bray to fast track this book’s publication because I can’t possibly wait until September 1st to share Punching the Air with the teens (and staff) at our high school library. I think I have 12 copies on our order list and am debating whether to add more. Likewise, I’ve already mentioned it to a few art teachers about doing a collaboration using it.
In January 2019, I was in Seattle, Washington attending the Youth Media Awards as a member of the William C. Morris Award Committee. The winner was Adib Khorram’s Darius the Great Is Not Okay. Fast forward to May 2020 and I had the distinct pleasure of reading an advanced copy of its sequel, Darius the Great Deserves Better. If it was still winter, it would be akin to sipping that morning hot cocoa while watching the fluffy snow fall but since it’s spring in our little area of upstate New York, reading Khorram’s follow up felt like the blooms of a magnolia tree. Brightness and beauty. 
Darius’s grandfather might not survive after their trip to Iran last year, the family’s financial situation sends Darius’s father to a project out of state, and the dream internship turned job that Darius has coveted might not be what he really wants. This is the backdrop where Darius’s romantic predicaments set the wheels in motion while he keeps up with school and soccer. The story is wholehearted. It’s big love. 
Readers Be Advised 