Jane Against The World (YA Nonfiction)

"Imagine that you're sixteen years old and still in school. Now imagine that you have just discovered that you're pregnant--or your girlfriend is pregnant. 

     What does that mean to you?

     What does that mean to your life from now on?

     What do you want to do?

     What can you do?

     What are you going to do?"

     The short first page of Karen Blumenthal's Jane Against The World: Roe V. Wade And The Fight For Reproductive Rights really personalizes an explosive and controversial issue for younger readers. What if the person potentially needing an abortion was you or someone you love?

     In a situation I'd never anticipated that person was me. A sonogram showed me that the fetus I was carrying had no heartbeat, a situation incompatible with life. The miscarriage went on and on. After forty days of bone deep chills, fever, and agonizing cramps I got an abortion. It was done in a hospital as a routine medical procedure. I remember thinking how lucky I was that I wasn't in a country where this action or even a simple miscarriage could have put me in prison, unable to parent my beloved daughters. That was when pregnant people enjoyed the protection of Roe V. Wade.

       When this landmark legislation was overturned chaos ensued. Now states differ widely on what is a legal reason to terminate a pregnancy and some have very few. Going to another state isn't always even feasible. Girls and women can be trapped in really horrendous situations. A woman I know found out that a very much wanted unborn, because of a genetic defect, would never know a moment of consciousness and wouldn't live beyond 18 months. In many states she would have to carry this fetus to term. 

     "The issue is not whether we do or don't have abortions. The issue is where--in some dirty hotel room or some dingy back room of a doctor's office, or in a hospital under proper medical care."

     I think we can agree that the third option is the best. And knowledge is one of the most essential tools to achieve access to it for all people needing abortions. Jane Against The World gives a comprehensive analysis of the the long history leading up to Roe V. Wade. It gives readers a candid look at the events and actors involved. But I think what I like best about Jane Against The World is the intersectional approach it takes, showing its relationship to classism, racism, eugenics, and forced sterilization. It's the book I'd give my daughters if they weren't already probably more knowledgeable than me.

     I see this fine book as a most worthwhile acquisition for high school and public libraries.

On a purrrsonal note, I was able to see my friend Lynn Plourde for the first time in ages. Lynn is the author of over 40 excellent published books, many of which I've reviewed for this blog and the Bangor Daily News. She was doing a children's program for the Old Town Public Library. I always enjoy watching Lynn in action. She has a special ability to connect with kids--keeping them engaged and excited. I learn so much. And it was such a treat to have time to chat afterwards. Lynn and I go way back. And I sure am lucky to have her in my life.

A great big shout out goes out to the incomparable one and only Lynn Plourde. Your library most likely has at least a few of her fine books. Check them out, especially when you need a simply irresistible read aloud. Also to the staff of the Old Town Public Library. 

Jules Hathaway 

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My diploma

Well, fam, it finally came and I couldn't be more proud. Earning it was a for real challge--especially after the stroke. But I did it. Now on to getting a job and getting my manuscript published. 

Tomorrow is the trailer coop barbeque. I have dozens of gorgeous backpacks stuffed with school supplies ready to give out to the kids. It's Backpack Project's 6th year and going strong thanks to our generous contributors. 

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How We Ricochet

     "Takes a moment for it to sink in: the gunman is the dead man, the injured are the women I heard him shoot, the retail store is the last place I visited. 

     I was there."

     Betty, protagonist of Faith Gardner's How We Ricochet had expected a trip to the mall to buy her mother work clothes for her new job to be rather boring. In fact she'd ditched her mom and older sister, Joy, to go to the nearby cupcake shop. She was there when a gunman opened fire in the clothes store where she'd left her family. 

     "'We're fucking lucky,' Joy says. 'There were so many bullets. We should have died.'

     'I'm so glad you're okay,' Mom says, holding Joy's head to her chest."

     But Joy really isn't. The sister who Betty considered a badass--who rode a motorcycle, played bass guitar, and gave herself a tattoo--now can't leave the house. She's dropped her college classes. And she's ditched her job for so long that she's lost it.

     But her mother's way of coping has her MIA when it comes to her older daughter's crisis. Being interviewed by NBC has inspired her to become a gun control activist. Between this engagement and her job that pays the bills she really doesn't have time for anything else. And now she's getting death threats.

     The dead gunman's younger brother is an acquaintance of Betty. In desperation she tries to befriend him. Maybe he can give her the insights that can assuage Joy's crippling fears and empower her to keep her family safe.

On a purrrsonal note, I've regained another skill. A guy in my trailer coop told me I can swim in his pool. I hadn't been in a pool since before the stroke. It was literally sink or swim. At first I kept sinking like a stone. But I kept trying. I got to where I could swim across the pool. It felt so good to be cutting through the water with an evening breezes mitigating the sun's heat. Truly a time of unmitigated joy!!!

A great big shout out goes out to the kind neighbor with the pool. 

Jules Hathaway 

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I'm sharing this picture because bees are such precious pollinators and a challenge to capture in pictures--they're in constant motion. 

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Disposable (adult nonfiction)

"For too many people, misery is the formal policy of the United States. The lucky few at the top tell a different story about this country. America is fair, they say, and the meritorious rise to the top. The reality is less flattering."

     Back when people were trying to understand COVID-19 patterns became discernible in the contagion and mortality statistics. Some groups were becoming ill and dying at much higher rates than others. Pretty predictably those were the people the rich and powerful and the legislators in their pockets considered disposable: the BIPOC, the poor, people with disabilities and comorbidities, older people, and the essential workers who had to go into jobs where catching a potentially fatal disease and bringing it home to loved ones was a clear and present danger and they often weren't provided the most basic personal protection equipment by the companies that were gleaning huge profits from their forced sacrifices. 

     A lot of people were shocked by the revelations. Not Sarah Jones, a senior writer for New York magazine. In Disposable: America's Contempt For The Underclass she makes one thing perfectly clear: COVID-19 didn't start anything; it simply made evident what the rich and powerful were hiding for a long time--basically since this nation's inception...

     ...that there is an inherent and vicious conflict of interest between those at the top who want to make obscene amounts of money while keeping the majority of fellow citizens poor enough to exploit ruthlessly and the rest of us. I'll give you an example from the book that is very personal to me. Even as COVID-19 was keeping the grim reaper working overtime, even as most of us were sorta focused on staying alive, the rich and their friends in government were flat out stating that the emphasis on life saving was misguided. Those of us considered disposable shouldn't stand in the way of reopening the country to business as usual even if we'd pay the ultimate price. I was an older person--68 to be exact--when this was going down. My reaction to the more than suggestion that I should lay down my life on the altar of capitalism was NO FUCKING WAY!

     Jones does a deep dive into all aspects of the brutal COVID-19 reckoning and the national history that made it inevitable. She does a very commendable job balancing facts and statistics with the stories of many who needlessly lost their lives. If you're bothered by the brutal inequities that sacrificed the lives of millions for the profit of the few and you want things to change, especially if, like me, you're considered acceptable collateral damage, Disposable most definitely belongs on your summer reading list. 

On a purrrsonal note, I really lucked out in the pandemic. I was just starting grad school when UMaine went online and my biggest challenge was adapting from in person to virtual learning. I think I had a mild case in Christmas break '22, but I was fine after a week of lying around. Eugene was an essential worker so we had a continuous source of income. I was able to get zoom counseling for anxiety through my school. I had precious Tobago for company and my family and friends to keep me from feeling isolated. I wasn't even bored because I binge ordered inter library loans and my friend, Emily who can drive to deliver them right to my door and Eugene and I could safely get away for weekends at our camp in the woods. And I had the assurance that when UMaine went back to in person learning my job would be waiting for me. 

A great big shout out goes out to Jones for her brilliant truth telling. 

Jules Hathaway 

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My best weekend yard sale finds. I now have a dedicated hiking backpack. 

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Between Two Brothers (juvenile fiction)

     When I was a preteen suddenly having to cope with a drastically changed family and community after my younger sister, Harriet, survived spinal meningitis with severe and permanent residual brain damage I felt isolated. I didn't know anyone else in my situation. As a devoted reader I turned to the library to find a character like myself...

     ...only to find nothing. There were no siblings of children with profound disabilities as protagonists. Actually there were very few people with handicaps in books and they tended to be portrayed as saintly overcomers of odds or tragic victims. Fortunately today this situation has changed for the better. One of the best examples of this is Crystal Allen's Between Two Brothers. 

     Ice (Isaiah) and his older brother, Seth, are much closer than most sibling pairs. The farming family brothers are best friends who look out for one another. They have a special saying, between brothers, to emphasize their sibling solidarity. As Seth starts his last year of school Ice is determined to make the most of their last full year together...

     ...except it doesn't exactly work out that way. Seth starts blowing off commitments he's made to Ice. Then Ice learns that Seth will be leaving for college a semester early. The boys fight. Ice is filled with regret and a need to apologize...

     ...which doesn't happen because Seth gets in a car accident, suffering such severe brain injury he has to be put in a medically induced coma. His doctor doesn't know if he'll ever again walk, talk, or even open his eyes.

     The ring of authenticity is there in all facets of the book from Ice's complex and sometimes contradictory personality through Allen's refusal to provide an unrealistic happy ever after to realistic descriptions of the challenges the family faces such as when they have two days to acquire the medical equipment and expertise to care for Seth when he comes home from the hospital. 

     So it should come as no surprise that Allen wrote from life experience. A catastrophic accident changed her family dynamics. She could see the impact not only on her injured child, but on her older child, herself, and her husband. Although its characters are fictional, she describes Between Two Brothers as the story she was living. 

On a very purrrsonal note, when I was 11 one evening I wanted to play with Harriet's new Mouse Trap game. Harriet said no. I said "I hate you. I hope you die." Mom and I spent the weekend at a Girl Scout camping weekend. Then Sunday we were speeding back because Harriet was in the hospital probably dying. I thought God was fulfilling what He thought was a request. I asked him please not to kill her. So I thought it was my fault when she didn't die but was never the same. I wish my parents were as unified as Ice's parents were. My father wanted to give Harriet's custody to a state hospital, not waste money on her. My mother thought Harriet's disabilities were only temporary. She could still become a lawyer. The first Christmas after Harriet's catastrophic illness she gave a recording of famous supreme court cases. I wisely refrained from saying that Harriet had as much of practicing law as our cats did.

I real love an Emile Zola quote Allen includes in the introduction: "We are like books. Most people only see our cover. The minority read only the introduction. Many people believe the critics. Few will know our content." A great big shout out goes out to the really special people in my life who have gone past my cover and introduction to see (and love) my content. 

I will have amazing news to include in my next book review. 

Jules Hathaway 

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