Certain books are felt so deeply that it usually takes another day or two to find the words to adequately express coherent thoughts about them. Punching the Air, a collaboration of Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam is one of those books.
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.
With the combination of being told in verse and the powerhouse Zoboi penning it, the words are each tiny raindrops unleashing a torrential downpour of empathy. Amal is in lockup because the justice system is unfair. And the crudeness of his situation behind bars is exacerbated by his talent, thoughts, and loving relationship with his family that does not stop believing in him. That’s also where the book intersects with Salaam who, as one of the wrongfully convicted Central Park Five, uses the prejudice and injustices that transformed his life into a story that gives a mirror to so many black and brown boys.
I wrote down half a dozen lines that punched me in the gut (again from the advanced copy) to foster conversations about the school to prison pipeline.
“On the day of my conviction
I memorize
my inmate number
my crime
my timeOn the day of my conviction
I forget
my school ID number
my top three colleges
my class schedule”
And it reminded me of the recent law that raised the age for teens convicted of crimes being punished through the adult legal system rather than a juvenile one in New York state, where I reside. Multiple passages were apropos of what I’m reading in the newspaper, seeing on the TV, scrolling through on social media.
My blog title says it all. I plead that Balzer + Bray push up the publication day because I can’t wait for September 1st. I need more people to read it so I can talk to them about it. I need it in the hands of my students. I can’t imagine that halfway through 2020, this book won’t get knocked off my top 10 for 2020.
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. 
Once Upon an Eid edited by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed with an additional thirteen contributors is a short story collection centered around the Eid celebration and going in to Ramadan, I can’t think of a better day to talk about it than today though the book doesn’t officially release until May 5th. I was able to get my hands on an early copy but look forward to purchasing my own copy (and dozens for my library) because there will be finalized artwork including G. Willow Wilson’s short story that is formatted as a comic.
Fast forward to 2020 and my digital reading of The Dark Matter of Mona Starr which I had on my TBR on Goodreads since it was announced she’d be releasing a new graphic novel. Then boom. I sat down and in one sitting didn’t move an inch while I poured over the illustrations and words. I knew I’d be writing about it. My initial reviews always go up on Goodreads which are usually fresh and raw after reading (and as soon as I can string a somewhat coherent sentence together after being awestruck) and in that review I said that I needed Gulledge to do a series focused on female character struggles that can be used as guides just as both of these are.
Moving on to an informative picture book, this one details the life of Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the chocolate chip cookie. Ford provides the three versions of how people think the cookie was created and has fun providing you with a well-rounded tale of her passion for food and how her toll house became part of the “Nestle’s Toll House Cookie” recipe stamped on each chocolate chip bag you buy.
Faruqi and Shovan are publishing A Place At the Table next month and I couldn’t be happier that this book exists. When I read it, I felt a warmth for the characters and the food that filled me up with love. Sara is Pakistani American and Elizabeth is Jewish and they both end up in the Southeast Asian cooking class run by Sara’s mother after Sara moves to the school. They befriend one another and find that their connections run a bit deeper as both of their mothers are not naturalized American citizens. But as the title implies, the girls work through typical middle grade angst by finding a place for each other at the table.
And last is an adult title that was recommended to me by a friend. While the book is over ten years old, it will resonate with those who can appreciate all the ways that food affects our lives be it romance or in mourning, friendship or solitude. It’s a series of vignettes that are all centered around Lillian’s cooking school “The School of Essential Ingredients” that she runs on Monday nights. It follows the attendees in various parts of their lives and how they all came to be together in the class. The languid storytelling is part of the appeal, like savoring a meal, and enriches the understanding. I also found myself pausing and re-reading lines that hit me to my core as a cook, baker, lover of food. As said by two participants in the class: “Here’s to kitchens. And here’s to what comes out of them.”
And last, another powerhouse name (in this case two!) attached to a powerhouse book. This one is Sulwe written and inspired by Lupita Nyong’o and illustrated by Vashti Harrison. If I could live inside the illustrations and surround myself with the colors of this book, I would which is ultimately what the story discusses: color. Sulwe feels estranged from others because of the darkness of her skin which is the darkest of her entire family and while she hears that her skin is beautiful, she doesn’t feel like it. She hears taunts and connects words with their connotations that are all too often negative. It isn’t until a magical evening that she’s told the story of the day and the night where she sees the importance of everyone’s differences and how they’re dependent on one another like the sisters of daytime and nighttime.
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.
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.
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.
Readers Be Advised 