RSS

Readers advisory for February ’22

28 Feb

The end of month brings a brief pause to reflect on what I’ve read over the past month. I’ve usually always worked toward identifying that one book that made me pause. I also read a lot so one book each month is difficult and why I generally break the one book rule I’ve self-imposed, hence why I changed the title of the month’s-end post to readers advisory.

This month I decided to pull my favorite children’s book, young adult, and adult title. In order, a nonfiction, a graphic novel, and the audiobook.

Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes ‘the French chef’ written by Alex Prud’homme and illustrated by Sarah Green was an easy choice for a book everyone should read because children’s biographies are superbly informative in addition to capturing (when done right) the essence of the topic at hand. In this case, the nephew of Child, writes a celebratory story of how Child didn’t become ‘the French chef’ until very late in life, proving that you can do anything you set your mind to and have a passion for. Using Green’s bright and vivid illustrations to compliment the story, it is a feel-good story that’s food-centered.

Yasmeen written by Saif A. Ahmed and illustrated by Fabiana Moscolo is a graphic novel with a hard truth to face. That many girls were kidnapped, raped, tortured, and maimed as part of the unrest in the Middle East. Yasmeen is an Iraqi girl whose family settled in Texas after leaving their war torn home but without her because she had been captured and used as a pawn. The graphic novel does not sugarcoat her trauma and the fight she gave to break free. But what levels this graphic novel up is the intricate use of time in the panels and on the pages which takes an astute reader of the format because of the level of understanding of the story, characters, and setting. A passive reader will not understand the story completely. And it’s powerful. You do not want to miss anything.

I listened to the audiobook read by Michelle Zauner, the author and subject of Crying in H Mart: A Memoir. While I did not know who she was and had only downloaded the audiobook because of it’s popularity and subject matter (you’ll often find that I read and share about food memoirs or food stories). I recognize that there is wide general appeal, but it went deeper for me as I’m sure that others who feel like they do about the book can attest; it’s Zauner’s relationship and caretaking of her cancer-stricken mother and simultaneously about the food of her life through the lens of her now suffering mother. Food is balm. Food is love. Food is history. Food is memory. I don’t often reread books, but because I had listened to the audiobook, I’ve considered rereading it in print because I remember several times stopping in my tracks while listening to a poignant phrase or sentence or scene.

What did you read this past month that you loved?

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 28, 2022 in Adult, Audiobooks, Book of the Month, Childrens, Fiction, Graphic novels, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

Down the rabbit hole

26 Feb

Several years ago I read Higginbotham’s Midnight at Chernobyl and recognized the depth of research that went in to writing a book of that heft, literally and figuratively. I had also read Blankman’s historical fiction called The Blackbird Girls that deals with Chernobyl and religion for a tween audience. Then with the attack on Ukraine by Russia this past week, I decided to put Marino’s Escape from Chernobyl at the top of my TBR where it was sitting somewhere in the middle and it brought me back to the tragedy, drama, and cover up that was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, especially with the ticking clock to start each chapter.

And it didn’t end there; in a rare move, my husband ordered the HBO miniseries Chernobyl that had aired several years ago that so many had talked about but we had never watched because I had mentioned it.

He is glued to the TV watching the news coverage on multiple channels plus the radio. So between my reading and the current state of affairs, we mixed some drinks and sat down to binge the series on a Friday night. What a powerful mix of dramatic storytelling and truth. I can learn quite a bit from books, but there’s something about the visual elements of the series that aided in a deeper understanding of the politics and science that dominated the narrative of this disaster.

And what did I spend some time doing this morning? Researching other books to read and putting a few on hold at my library and downloading another via Hoopla. I’m already down the rabbit hole. I figured I would keep going.

What topics have wrapped you up in a multimedia quest to learn as much as you could about them?

 
3 Comments

Posted by on February 26, 2022 in Adult, Fiction, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Research, Shows, Young Adult

 

Pigskin picks

13 Feb

In honor of the Super Bowl today, here are a few pigskin picks.

Whether fiction or nonfiction, these all hit on topics associated with the game.

  • A verse novel that features ZJ’s dad whose brain is failing him after multiple concussions playing the sport which inalterably changes the family
  • DJ is a girl playing a male-dominated sport
  • Based on Green’s own past with the sport, this fictional story of Ben, a middle school quarterback deciding whether the cost of the game is worth it seeing his dad suffering from debilitating pain from his years playing professional football
  • Love, Zac always gives me goosebumps. Most of the story is Zac’s own words from the journals he kept and Forgrave’s commentary about the status of the sport of American football
  • Some men gave some, some men gave all and Tillman gave up a career in professional football to serve his country and paid the ultimate price

Each of these stories is worthy of a read, just maybe not during the game today. Go Rams. Go Bengals. I’m just hear for the cider and snacks.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 13, 2022 in Authors, Fiction, Nonfiction, Verse, Young Adult

 

Alone versus together

05 Feb

Marc-Andre Leclerc is the focus of a documentary on Netflix called The Alpinist. As a teenager and into his twenties he was an adventurous, nature-loving outdoorsman who became an alpinist. It was his skill and focus that drew attention to him, but also his boyish charm and why documentarians wanted to capture his story. As they followed him to document his ascents, there was a particularly daring one that he hadn’t told the filmmakers about and when they asked him after the fact, why with such an amazing feat, he didn’t let them know he was doing it, he gregariously responds that it wouldn’t be pure unless he was doing it alone: no cameras, no accompaniment. At this juncture in history, everything is documented, often to the detriment of the experience.

That’s in marked contrast to my recent read of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air that documents his climb to the top of Mount Everest with several groups which led to tragedy on the mountain. Krakauer not only made it to the top but he survived. The origins of the trip were to document the ever-growing commercialization of climbing Mount Everest for a writing gig, but then became so much more with the tragedy and why Krakauer ended up writing a book about the experience. The commercialization is a fascinating element. If you made it to the summit, wouldn’t you want some evidence of the feat? Would you be content to look around or would you be grasping for a camera? In the book, one thing struck me and that was that there was never a chance to be alone for these climbers. From every camp they made it to as they trudged up the mountain, there were sherpas, guides, and partnerships to keep everyone safe and secure though Krakauer mentioned one man whose goal was to make it to the top alone after biking to Nepal. There are those that solo and those that don’t. Is one more dangerous than the other?

The documentary and book are riveting. Krakauer’s book had been on my list to read and after watching The Alpinist, it was time. Both were curious looks into a world I don’t have any direct experience with but showcase daring and adventure- though I have occasionally dappled in adventure, nothing to this extent for sure. It’s a phenomenal pairing, this documentary and the book, both of which I recommend especially for those of us in the Northeast in the depths of winter.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 5, 2022 in Adult, Authors, Nonfiction, Shows

 

Readers advisory from January ’22

31 Jan

Continual improvement is something to strive for, taking to heart Maya Angelou’s quote

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

So what used to be the “outstanding book of the month”, I’ve rebranded “readers advisory” taking into account my blog and handles on various social media. This will be a book I read during the month to highlight which will range from children’s books to adult, any genre, and published whenever. And in true obnoxious fashion, I couldn’t pick just one from this past month– really I could have picked three or four, though I’ve distilled it down to two.

Both young adult fiction, one already released and one that will be published in June. Yet what they have in common is eloquent storytelling. Chim’s historical fiction title Freedom Swimmer taught me about the Cultural Revolution and actual freedom swimmers through the intertwined stories of two characters. Albert’s witchy fiction is a mystery layered with magic, real magic in which Ivy discovers her mother’s history with witchcraft and how that has affected Ivy’s life and her own gifts. I could not put either down when I picked them up.

In addition their evocative covers highlight elements of the story that draw readers in be it the placid waters as a boy dives in or the hot pink text and gold rabbit doorknocker. Teens will pull them off the shelves from the covers alone. Freedom Swimmer is quick, almost too quick, while Albert sculpts a robust story that engages readers from start to finish.

This two-some cannot be more different, yet they both stuck with me after I had finished reading them and that’s why I have an advisory out for all to read them.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 31, 2022 in Book of the Month, Cover Love, Fiction, Upcoming Releases, Young Adult

 

Saga continues

27 Jan

I left work and went directly to my local comic book shop that is about a half mile from my high school library. Then, I went home to settle in in my reading chair with a blanket, a drink, and issue #55.

Preparing last weekend, I read the first fifty-four issues spread across nine volumes to fall back into the world that is so eloquently illustrated and created by the brains and hands of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. This was my third re-reading. My second reading was in direct response to the pandemic shutdown. On March 13th, I decided I would read a volume a day. The creators also took a step back which Vaughan discusses in his note at the back of issue #55. Their hiatus included necessary recharging, but also plotting the trajectory of the series in addition to growing families (congratulations Fiona!)

Revisiting this world– a world that is dark but has a fighting spirit, a world that is is full of sex and violence, a world of varied creatures, planets, and cultures all surviving– is as much about escape as it is a celebration of an epic space opera from the brains of actual human beings that create art. I do not cosplay per se, but I’ve been known to throw a Ms. Marvel handmade costume on when the occasion calls or make my own witch cap like Coco’s from Witch Hat Atelier, but those that do create intricate costumes inspired by Saga is awe-inspiring. I actually think I might have to have something for the next time “character from a book or movie” shows up during a school spirit week. Either way, readers of Saga have a visceral connection to the content and the art.

Therefore, spending an hour gushing over the next steps in where Vaughan and Staples will take it on release day was magical. I won’t spoil anything because #54 left us with so much to discuss, so I’m eager to hear from other Saga fans out there!

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 27, 2022 in Adult, Authors, Book Birthday, Comics, Cover Love

 

Cupid’s arrow straight to my heart with An Arrow to the Moon

26 Jan

During lunch I typically read something from the shelves or the new cart that I can get through during the period which is usually a graphic novel, a manga, a short nonfiction book over a few days. This is in addition to the audiobook I have on for the car and housework. And in addition to the book I’m reading in the course of the day or week. So I know I’m in love with a book when my general reading book becomes my lunch reading book. That’s what happened when Emily X.R. Pan’s book, to be released in April, made its way into my life.

An Arrow To The Moon is includes elements of magical realism that were present in her first book The Astonishing Color of After. But this one had a layer of moodiness that lent an atmosphere of quiet desperation. Hunter’s family has hidden themselves away in ways Hunter has yet to grasp. But protecting his younger brother Cody helps him find purpose. He also has an instant connection to Luna, a girl who thought she wanted to be the stereotypical perfect Asian child: going to college, getting a well-paying job, doing as her parents say, staying away from boys. And that first connection (for a 90s girl who still owns the Romeo + Juliet DVD as well as the movie soundtrack) happens at a fish tank.

And the pieces begin to fit together. Pan’s use of multiple perspectives continually refreshes the story in addition to her short chapters though the book itself is a hearty 400 pages. I hurried up and then slowed down; I wanted to know what was going to happen next but I also didn’t want it to end. Though when it did I clutched it to my chest in awe of how Pan wove Chinese mythology with a pair of contemporary star-crossed lovers battling misperceptions and parental infidelity, secret-keeping and their own mythological beginnings. It has magic and it is magic.

This one was like Cupid’s arrow striking my heart, my big bookish heart that is a sucker for atmospheric and intelligent writing eager for something new and different. THIS was it.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 26, 2022 in Authors, Cover Love, Fiction, Upcoming Releases, Young Adult

 

No ‘case of the Mondays’ here

25 Jan

Maybe it was because I stayed up way past my bedtime to watch the Bills and the Chiefs game that jazzed me for the week. No, that can’t be it. It was the impending Youth Media Awards on Monday morning that got me excited for the week. Being the chairperson for the Excellence in Nonfiction Award, this was the day. The day where we awarded the winner her medal in front of a pre-recorded but live-stream of the ceremony at the advantageous time of 9am EST and shared the finalists (which had already been shared in December) so that everyone could go out and read them widely– although I’m pretty sure many had already had these titles on their radar.

I wore a new dress, I bought myself a chai tea latte– which I never do– and drove in to work early to log in to our committee’s watch party Meet. My body was buzzing and I was overcome with emotion. It was a different emotion than being in Seattle in 2019 where everyone was together in person for the ALA annual conference and Youth Media Awards both because it was a shared in-person experience but also because it was my first on an award committee. I had already served on a selection committee, but an award committee has a whole different feel. This emotion was a mix of pride, excitement, honor, and pure joy.

The watch party was exactly where I wanted to be because my committee made up of two Lauras, Janet, Rebecca, Mike, Ginny, Yolanda, and Jeana was phenomenal. We had fun and got our work done. We talked for hours about the crop of nonfiction books published in 2021 over the course of a year. We debated. We respectfully disagreed. We laughed. Then Monday morning, we had Oregonians who were logging in at 6am, barely a cuppa something hot in their hands and those of us that were a bit into our work day. And we shared the same excitement to share the books out and hear what the other committees selected as well.

If you’re a librarian, it’s one of the most indescribable feelings to work together toward a shared goal like committee membership is. I urge you to take the leap if you haven’t already.

If you’re an avid reader and book lover, tune in each year to celebrate the love of children’s and young adult literature. Buy the books. Share the books.

If you’re a child or young adult, read. Read. Read. You’re who the authors and illustrators write for.

I won’t pretend I didn’t tear up because I’m good at hiding it. But I was so damn proud. Of the work we did, of the American Library Association and YALSA for their efforts to continue the tradition of the Youth Media Awards, of the authors and illustrators who do the work that we get to celebrate. It’s a shared love of knowledge, art, and words that fills my cup in ways that other things just can’t. There was certainly no ‘case of the Mondays’ for me yesterday. I’ll probably be riding this excitement until February 24th when we get to celebrate with the finalists and winner. Tune in because it’s not over quite yet.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 25, 2022 in Authors, Events, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

Four and please, plenty more

24 Jan

Jennifer Dugan will publish four young adult fiction novels come May 17, 2022 with her newest, Melt With You. She does have some comics which I haven’t read, however, I have read all four of her YA fiction titles and I can tell you she works some unbelievable magic in between the pages of her books typically focused on love and coming-of-age.

First, let’s celebrate her titles and covers which are the first things teen readers see and evaluate. The titles tells you exactly what you’re getting and the covers do too. The artwork is soft but mixes the contemporary story with the illustrated style that pulls a person toward it.

Second, the books are character-centered. You can tell from the covers which all feature the main characters on the covers, but also the minute you step into the book, you’re in the middle of someone’s head: how they feel, what their conflict is, how they want to move forward and problem-solve (or avoid it).

And third, they’re feel-good stories. Yes, there is the conflict that needs to be resolved but ultimately, the issue that the character is experiencing is able to be overcome or dealt with. Dugan’s stories are the ones that make it easy to believe that teens can overcome obstacles and work through issues. Oftentimes I find as I’m booktalking in my high school library that there is death, destruction, and heartbreak around every corner. Those books have a place but too many in a row makes it seem like being a teenager is a dark, hopeless place and that’s not true. They’ll raise their hand and ask for a funny book or a romance and ask why everyone’s parents are dead.

It doesn’t hurt that Dugan is somewhat local to us here in upstate New York and as I’m writing this, I’m writing myself a Post-it reminder to contact her to arrange a visit to our school in the near future.

And as the title of my post proclaims, I hope that she doesn’t stop at four, but has plenty more to come.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 24, 2022 in Authors, Cover Love, Fiction, Upcoming Releases, Young Adult

 

It usually begins with a book

20 Jan

My middle school sons spent the last few months working with a talented group of middle schoolers (and a few elementary schoolers) in their junior production of Willy Wonka. It was a magical experience altogether and not just because my kids were a part of it but because the directors chose bright and fun props and costumes to make the viewer experience a feast for the eyes. And isn’t that what Willy Wonka does when the Golden Ticket winners enter the factory that has been closed to the public for many years?

When it all came to a close after the third and final performance, I reflected on where it began. With a book by Roald Dahl called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

And isn’t that how most things start… with a book? We don’t give them nearly enough credit sometimes. The best blockbuster movies (and then the reboots upon reboots) and plays, fanfiction and t-shirts– usually based on a book. There are two versions of the book made into a movie, both of which were watched by my kids in preparation for their theatrical performance.

But it usually begins with a book.

And of course I decided to do what I do best and return to the OG- Dahl’s book and found that I highlighted one of the closing passages that seems to always stay true in any version:

“Listen,” Mr. Wonka said, “I’m an old man. I’m much older than you think. I can’t go on forever. I’ve got no children of my own, no family at all. So who is going to run the factory when I get too old to do it myself? Someone’s got to keep it going- if only for the sake of the Oompa-Loompas. Mind you, there are thousands of clever men who would give anything for the chance to come in and take over for me, but I don’t want that sort of person. I don’t want a grown-up person at all. A grownup won’t listen to me; he won’t learn. He will try to do things his own way and not mine. So I have to have a child. I want a good sensible loving child, one to whom I can tell all my most precious candy-making secrets- while I am still alive.”

Imagination. The way a child’s brain works to find the magic and the beauty, right from their own imagination. I can hear the music now.

If ever you need a break, borrow a children’s book (or five) and unlock your own imagination. It can begin with a book.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 20, 2022 in Authors, Childrens, Events, Fiction, Middle grade, Shows

 
← Older posts
Newer posts →