The Stone Girl
YA fiction
"...She isn't skinny enough to count her bones there, the way
she's heard some anorexics do, and she can see how counting the bones
would be comforting, a reminder of where your efforts to lose weight
must end: bones that jut out defiantly, saying you cannot get any
thinner than we are. Sethie pinches the skin over her ribs. She
could still be thinner."
High school senior Sethie, protagonist of Alyssa Sheinmel's The
Stone Girl, is in a world of trouble. At 5'4" tall and 111 pounds she
sees herself as disgustingly fat. Rules for losing weight control her
life and conscious thought: when she can eat, what she can eat, how
much of it she is allowed to consume... Her fear of fattening food
has caused her to drop out of yearbook, unsure of her ability to
resist the pizza and Chinese take out the staff noshes on during
meetings. Meals can be battlegrounds. Sometimes she is so hungry and
food looks so good she can't control herself. When a friend shows her
how to make herself vomit she thinks she's found the solution for when
she consumes too many calories.
The other obsession in Sethie's life is not helping her either.
She's over the moon over seemingly perfect Shaw and unsure if her
feelings are reciprocated. True they have sex and do drugs on a
regular basis. However, kisses are few and far between and gestures
like public hand holding that would reassure her of her specialness in
his eyes are absent. In fact she does her best to not anger him and
feels despair when she slips up.
Sethie goes to a hyper competitive school and has a largely
absent mom. So when she takes more and more extreme measures to cope
with her fears no one seems to notice. This is a beautifully written
book by someone who has been there. Sheinmel for years starved
herself to lose weight. It's a must read for parents, teachers,
guidance counselors...anyone who cares about a real life Sethie.
On a personal note, I have maintained a healthy weight 15 months now.
In fact I've even gained 5 pounds with no anxieties whatsoever.
A great big shout out and encouragement to stay strong and believe
things can get better goes out to all people struggling with eating
disorders and the family members and friends who love them.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
My Childhood Under Fire
My Childhood Under Fire
Juvenile/YA autobiography
"Today, in a backyard, children were picking cherries. They
were still unripe, but it was the first fruit the children had seen in
months. Suddenly a shell hit. Seven innocent children were killed--
and only because they wanted a few cherries."
We hear the phrase "collateral damage" bandied around quite a
bit in talk about countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. It is one of
the most demonic phrases ever invented because it desensitizes people
to the unthinkable. On what should be the most wonderful day of her
life a woman loses sixteen friends and family members including her
betrothed. Collateral damage. Can we help it if those civilians keep
getting in the way? Where is Dante when we need him to create a new
ring of Hades for the spin doctors who came up with that?
Nadja Halilbegovich's My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary
should be required reading for the United States. The author feels
that she has lived three lives: her innocent childhood that lasted
until she was twelve, her adulthood in America, and the war years in
between. Her journal covers those years candidly and poignantly. Can
you imagine:
*knowing that even stepping outside your home to play or go to school
can be the last act of your life;
*waiting in terror for the parent who is at work because there is no
guarantee that he or she will return;
*running to a crowded basement shelter every time shelling gets too
close;
*seeing corpses so often they invade your dreams;
*lacking the basics--enough food, water, electricity--much of the time;
*living for years with shrapnel painfully embedded in your legs;
*having to abandon all you love to travel to safety...
What amazed me the most about this book is that its author lived
through all she did and emerged able to feel hope. Fleeing her native
land she had to walk through a long, dark tunnel. In the chapter
entitled New Hope the tunnel becomes a symbol for the civilian
tragedies caused by wars. "...But our common dream is a world of peace
and tolerance, in which we're respected and embraced for who we are.
For this dream, we walk through the mud and darkness together because,
in the end, the tunnel will take us to the world we want to live in.
We must remember our dream and keep walking."
On a personal note, I can't imagine what it would be like to raise
children in this kind of peril. As I write these words and you read
them somewhere there are parents who can't imagine letting their
children out to play. This is so very wrong. It will take a world
working together to change things.
A great big shout out goes out to those parents and children who
deserve so much better.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile/YA autobiography
"Today, in a backyard, children were picking cherries. They
were still unripe, but it was the first fruit the children had seen in
months. Suddenly a shell hit. Seven innocent children were killed--
and only because they wanted a few cherries."
We hear the phrase "collateral damage" bandied around quite a
bit in talk about countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. It is one of
the most demonic phrases ever invented because it desensitizes people
to the unthinkable. On what should be the most wonderful day of her
life a woman loses sixteen friends and family members including her
betrothed. Collateral damage. Can we help it if those civilians keep
getting in the way? Where is Dante when we need him to create a new
ring of Hades for the spin doctors who came up with that?
Nadja Halilbegovich's My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary
should be required reading for the United States. The author feels
that she has lived three lives: her innocent childhood that lasted
until she was twelve, her adulthood in America, and the war years in
between. Her journal covers those years candidly and poignantly. Can
you imagine:
*knowing that even stepping outside your home to play or go to school
can be the last act of your life;
*waiting in terror for the parent who is at work because there is no
guarantee that he or she will return;
*running to a crowded basement shelter every time shelling gets too
close;
*seeing corpses so often they invade your dreams;
*lacking the basics--enough food, water, electricity--much of the time;
*living for years with shrapnel painfully embedded in your legs;
*having to abandon all you love to travel to safety...
What amazed me the most about this book is that its author lived
through all she did and emerged able to feel hope. Fleeing her native
land she had to walk through a long, dark tunnel. In the chapter
entitled New Hope the tunnel becomes a symbol for the civilian
tragedies caused by wars. "...But our common dream is a world of peace
and tolerance, in which we're respected and embraced for who we are.
For this dream, we walk through the mud and darkness together because,
in the end, the tunnel will take us to the world we want to live in.
We must remember our dream and keep walking."
On a personal note, I can't imagine what it would be like to raise
children in this kind of peril. As I write these words and you read
them somewhere there are parents who can't imagine letting their
children out to play. This is so very wrong. It will take a world
working together to change things.
A great big shout out goes out to those parents and children who
deserve so much better.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall
Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall
YA fiction
"I know the girl on the floor, the one
With her neck bent all weird.
I know the girl is me.
But I'm too busy soaring
Toward Heaven to care."
Can you imagine seeing a dodgeball coming at your head, and
waking up in a heaven that looks like your local mall with a boy with
a nail (actually a drill bit) sticking out of his head as your escort
to...where you have no clue? That's the plight of Tessa at the start
of Wendy Mass' Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall. Like Mass' other
offerings, this book, told in free form verse, combines a strong plot,
a touch of the supernatural, and a healthy dose of insight.
Nail Boy gives Tessa a large bag of random seeming objects from
various stages of her life that have been acquired from the mall.
Beginning with her first visit where her mother buys her a tiny pair
of shoes, she relives pieces of her life right up through a disastrous
prom. There has to be a lesson in all this. But what? And will she
live to benefit from it? She's had glimpses of her battered body
hooked up to machines in a hospital.
I agree with the blurb that compares Heaven Looks A Lot Like The
Mall to It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. It has elements
of both and yet its own unique trajectory. It's a very worthwhile
read that can lead to thoughts about one's own life.
On a personal note, I tried to imagine what heaven would look like to
me? A library? A university? The beach? (A mall would have me
thinking I'd gone in the opposite direction). None seemed right.
Then I realized for me heaven wouldn't be a where but a with whom. It
could be anywhere that included family members and friends I had loved
in life and four footed sentient beings, especially cats...lots of
cats! And of course my mentor. Heaven without Betsy would be
anything but.
A great big shout out goes out to the students who are striving to get
all their work done in time for end of semester and, for some,
graduation.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
"I know the girl on the floor, the one
With her neck bent all weird.
I know the girl is me.
But I'm too busy soaring
Toward Heaven to care."
Can you imagine seeing a dodgeball coming at your head, and
waking up in a heaven that looks like your local mall with a boy with
a nail (actually a drill bit) sticking out of his head as your escort
to...where you have no clue? That's the plight of Tessa at the start
of Wendy Mass' Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall. Like Mass' other
offerings, this book, told in free form verse, combines a strong plot,
a touch of the supernatural, and a healthy dose of insight.
Nail Boy gives Tessa a large bag of random seeming objects from
various stages of her life that have been acquired from the mall.
Beginning with her first visit where her mother buys her a tiny pair
of shoes, she relives pieces of her life right up through a disastrous
prom. There has to be a lesson in all this. But what? And will she
live to benefit from it? She's had glimpses of her battered body
hooked up to machines in a hospital.
I agree with the blurb that compares Heaven Looks A Lot Like The
Mall to It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. It has elements
of both and yet its own unique trajectory. It's a very worthwhile
read that can lead to thoughts about one's own life.
On a personal note, I tried to imagine what heaven would look like to
me? A library? A university? The beach? (A mall would have me
thinking I'd gone in the opposite direction). None seemed right.
Then I realized for me heaven wouldn't be a where but a with whom. It
could be anywhere that included family members and friends I had loved
in life and four footed sentient beings, especially cats...lots of
cats! And of course my mentor. Heaven without Betsy would be
anything but.
A great big shout out goes out to the students who are striving to get
all their work done in time for end of semester and, for some,
graduation.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Perfect
Perfect
YA fiction
Isabelle, 13-year-old protagonist of Natasha Friend's Perfect,
lost her beloved father a couple of years ago. Their family maintains
a facade of normalcy--a very fragile veneer. Her mom tells everyone
who asks that they are fine but cries a lot, has hidden her husband's
pictures, and won't let her daughters mention his name. Little
sister, April, is frightened and confused.
Isabelle has her own way of coping. She considers herself
grossly fat. She binge eats and makes herself vomit.
One day April catches her in the act. Her mother makes her
start attending a group for young people with eating disorders. Much
to her surprise, the most popular and perfect seeming girl in her
class is there. How could she need help?
Perfect is ten years old so if your library doesn't have it,
you'll probably have to acquire it through inter library loan. It's
well worth reading.
On a personal note, Perfect was published by Milkweed Editions, a non
profit publisher. I was unable to read their current catelog on my
iPod touch. I plan to try one of the library lap tops. They also
publish poetry. Maybe they might find my work transformative enough.
It's worth a try.
A great big shout out goes out to people struggling with eating
disorders and the families and friends who love them.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
Isabelle, 13-year-old protagonist of Natasha Friend's Perfect,
lost her beloved father a couple of years ago. Their family maintains
a facade of normalcy--a very fragile veneer. Her mom tells everyone
who asks that they are fine but cries a lot, has hidden her husband's
pictures, and won't let her daughters mention his name. Little
sister, April, is frightened and confused.
Isabelle has her own way of coping. She considers herself
grossly fat. She binge eats and makes herself vomit.
One day April catches her in the act. Her mother makes her
start attending a group for young people with eating disorders. Much
to her surprise, the most popular and perfect seeming girl in her
class is there. How could she need help?
Perfect is ten years old so if your library doesn't have it,
you'll probably have to acquire it through inter library loan. It's
well worth reading.
On a personal note, Perfect was published by Milkweed Editions, a non
profit publisher. I was unable to read their current catelog on my
iPod touch. I plan to try one of the library lap tops. They also
publish poetry. Maybe they might find my work transformative enough.
It's worth a try.
A great big shout out goes out to people struggling with eating
disorders and the families and friends who love them.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
One White Dolphin
One White Dolphin
Juvenile fiction
Awhile back I reviewed a book called Wild Wings that showed real
sensitivity for animal lives and human relations. I was thrilled to
find another book by Gill Lewis. One White Dolphin does for ocean
critters what Wild Wings did for raptors.
Kara is in a world of pain. Her beloved mother disappeared over
a year ago, never to be heard from again. She and her father have had
to move in with an aunt who is not all that happy about the
situation. Her father may have to sell Moana, the fishing boat she
and her parents restored in happier days. The new kid (Felix) in
school's dad wants to buy it.
Kara's larger community is facing a difficult transition. Many
people earn livings from the sea. A dredging ban is about to be
lifted. Sure there will be short term profit. But what about the
long term health of the complex ocean ecosystem if the reef is
destroyed?
Into all this chaos comes an almost mythical creature. An
infant albino dolphin is beached in critical medical condition. The
adults think euthanasia is the only option. Even if they could heal
her, they could not release her into her natural habitat without the
nurturing presence of her mother. Kara and Felix believe she deserves
to live.
As she did in Wild Wings, in One White Dolphin Lewis seamlessly
blends a compelling story line and believable characters with crucial
conservation information. This is an enjoyable and worthwhile read.
On a personal note, Sunday Pastor Steve did a water themed church
service which was perfect for World Water Day.
A great big shout out goes out to all who work to raise awareness of
and protect sensitive habitats.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile fiction
Awhile back I reviewed a book called Wild Wings that showed real
sensitivity for animal lives and human relations. I was thrilled to
find another book by Gill Lewis. One White Dolphin does for ocean
critters what Wild Wings did for raptors.
Kara is in a world of pain. Her beloved mother disappeared over
a year ago, never to be heard from again. She and her father have had
to move in with an aunt who is not all that happy about the
situation. Her father may have to sell Moana, the fishing boat she
and her parents restored in happier days. The new kid (Felix) in
school's dad wants to buy it.
Kara's larger community is facing a difficult transition. Many
people earn livings from the sea. A dredging ban is about to be
lifted. Sure there will be short term profit. But what about the
long term health of the complex ocean ecosystem if the reef is
destroyed?
Into all this chaos comes an almost mythical creature. An
infant albino dolphin is beached in critical medical condition. The
adults think euthanasia is the only option. Even if they could heal
her, they could not release her into her natural habitat without the
nurturing presence of her mother. Kara and Felix believe she deserves
to live.
As she did in Wild Wings, in One White Dolphin Lewis seamlessly
blends a compelling story line and believable characters with crucial
conservation information. This is an enjoyable and worthwhile read.
On a personal note, Sunday Pastor Steve did a water themed church
service which was perfect for World Water Day.
A great big shout out goes out to all who work to raise awareness of
and protect sensitive habitats.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Stella
Stella
YA fiction
"You've met someone like me before. If you're at school, I'm
making your life hell. If you have a job, I got the promotion you
deserved. If you have a boyfriend, he's wishing you looked like
me...". Helen Eve's Stella is billed as a mean girls book. It does
cover this territory beautifully. Alternating narrators Stella and
Caitlin inhabit an expensive boarding school with social machinations
that sometimes seem Machiavellian. But their relationship is only one
level of a plot that goes chillingly deeper.
Stella is the Queen Bee of Temperley High, head of the most
exclusive clique on campus, the Stars. There are exactly six girls in
it, mirroring an earlier elite headed by Stella's older sister,
Siena. Their designer star shaped earrings symbolize their unity.
"Not that other people couldn't wear stars if they wanted to--we've
never trademarked it--but cheapening our symbol wouldn't be
adviseable.". In fact at Temperley High doing anything that would
annoy Stella or her girlz is very much not advisable.
Caitlin is the new girl at school, entering in the middle of her
junior year. She's dealing with a new country as well. She and her
father have moved from America to England, leaving behind her mother
and beloved little brother.
At first it looks like Stella and Caitlin will go their separate
ways socially. Caitlin has been befriended by nice girls at about the
opposite end of the social scale from the Stars. Then the unthinkable
happens. Ruby, a Star, commits an act that gets her ostracized from
her clique. Caitlin is Stella's unlikely choice for sixth member.
Perhaps Caitlin has more power than she realizes. Maybe Stella feels
a need to keep an eye on her.
At the end of the year there will be elections for Head Girl and
Boy, the highest student officers, the ones who will choose the
Prefects and basically rule the school. Siena had been elected to
that office. Stella has been training for six years to follow in her
footsteps. She will do aything to achieve what she believes to be her
destiny.
You see Stella is the middle of three perfectly spaced sisters
in a family that could only be described as frighteningly
dysfunctional. Mom has raised her girls to protect their hearts by
letting no one get too close. You know what happened to Siena on her
Elevation night?
Read the book and see.
On a personal note, my most recent Orono Arts Cafe gig had me walking
on clouds. I've really built up rapport with that group. I read
three of my poems. One was about the school closing snow storm we'd
just experienced. One was about an ant invasion of the Orono
Methodist Church kitchen. The final one, Metamorphasis, was about the
ways I'm changing. For emphasis I had worn large blue sparkly
butterfy wings. The people were with me every bit of the way. And I
got so much applause! It was totally breathtaking and intoxicating.
A great big shout out goes out to the wonderful Orono Arts Cafe crew.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
"You've met someone like me before. If you're at school, I'm
making your life hell. If you have a job, I got the promotion you
deserved. If you have a boyfriend, he's wishing you looked like
me...". Helen Eve's Stella is billed as a mean girls book. It does
cover this territory beautifully. Alternating narrators Stella and
Caitlin inhabit an expensive boarding school with social machinations
that sometimes seem Machiavellian. But their relationship is only one
level of a plot that goes chillingly deeper.
Stella is the Queen Bee of Temperley High, head of the most
exclusive clique on campus, the Stars. There are exactly six girls in
it, mirroring an earlier elite headed by Stella's older sister,
Siena. Their designer star shaped earrings symbolize their unity.
"Not that other people couldn't wear stars if they wanted to--we've
never trademarked it--but cheapening our symbol wouldn't be
adviseable.". In fact at Temperley High doing anything that would
annoy Stella or her girlz is very much not advisable.
Caitlin is the new girl at school, entering in the middle of her
junior year. She's dealing with a new country as well. She and her
father have moved from America to England, leaving behind her mother
and beloved little brother.
At first it looks like Stella and Caitlin will go their separate
ways socially. Caitlin has been befriended by nice girls at about the
opposite end of the social scale from the Stars. Then the unthinkable
happens. Ruby, a Star, commits an act that gets her ostracized from
her clique. Caitlin is Stella's unlikely choice for sixth member.
Perhaps Caitlin has more power than she realizes. Maybe Stella feels
a need to keep an eye on her.
At the end of the year there will be elections for Head Girl and
Boy, the highest student officers, the ones who will choose the
Prefects and basically rule the school. Siena had been elected to
that office. Stella has been training for six years to follow in her
footsteps. She will do aything to achieve what she believes to be her
destiny.
You see Stella is the middle of three perfectly spaced sisters
in a family that could only be described as frighteningly
dysfunctional. Mom has raised her girls to protect their hearts by
letting no one get too close. You know what happened to Siena on her
Elevation night?
Read the book and see.
On a personal note, my most recent Orono Arts Cafe gig had me walking
on clouds. I've really built up rapport with that group. I read
three of my poems. One was about the school closing snow storm we'd
just experienced. One was about an ant invasion of the Orono
Methodist Church kitchen. The final one, Metamorphasis, was about the
ways I'm changing. For emphasis I had worn large blue sparkly
butterfy wings. The people were with me every bit of the way. And I
got so much applause! It was totally breathtaking and intoxicating.
A great big shout out goes out to the wonderful Orono Arts Cafe crew.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Vanishing Honeybees
Vanishing Honeybees
Juvenile non fiction
Last fall a group of college students was touring Orono
Community Garden. None of them could identify growing carrots until I
did a Bugs Bunny imitation. I was flabbergasted. Kids today are too
often kept quite in the dark about where their foods come from and the
factors that affect their availability. This is not a good thing.
Sandra Markle's The Case of the Vanishing Honeybee: A Scientific
Mystery gives kids an up close and personal look at a serious problem
the best and brightest scientists around the workd are trying to
solve--with good reason--drastic declines in bee populations. A
number of theories are offered. The lives of bees and their
importance to humans are embedded within this context. Photographs
are pretty amazing. Finally ways people are trying to solve the
problem are described. Kids are given resources for further reading
and ways they can help bees thrive.
On a personal note, even though snow is still piled up very high,
seeds have been ordered for this sumner's Orono Community Garden. As
I do every year, I am looking forward very much to this wonderful
project.
A great big shout out goes out to John and Shelley who will being
together a great crew and give us all a wonderful experience and Mika
our canine mascot extraordinaire.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile non fiction
Last fall a group of college students was touring Orono
Community Garden. None of them could identify growing carrots until I
did a Bugs Bunny imitation. I was flabbergasted. Kids today are too
often kept quite in the dark about where their foods come from and the
factors that affect their availability. This is not a good thing.
Sandra Markle's The Case of the Vanishing Honeybee: A Scientific
Mystery gives kids an up close and personal look at a serious problem
the best and brightest scientists around the workd are trying to
solve--with good reason--drastic declines in bee populations. A
number of theories are offered. The lives of bees and their
importance to humans are embedded within this context. Photographs
are pretty amazing. Finally ways people are trying to solve the
problem are described. Kids are given resources for further reading
and ways they can help bees thrive.
On a personal note, even though snow is still piled up very high,
seeds have been ordered for this sumner's Orono Community Garden. As
I do every year, I am looking forward very much to this wonderful
project.
A great big shout out goes out to John and Shelley who will being
together a great crew and give us all a wonderful experience and Mika
our canine mascot extraordinaire.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Hey, Charleston!
Hey, Charleston!
Picture book
If you ever need an inspiring story of making dreams come true
even in the harshest of circumstances, Anne Rockwell's real life Hey,
Charleston! is a must read.
Daniel Joseph Jenkins was a church pastor in Charleston, South
Carolina. To supplement his meager income he collected and delivered
scrap wood. You'd think he have enough to do keeping body and soul
together. When he found some homeless orphans he took them into his
church and gave them food and a place to sleep.
That was during the Great Depression. The first orphans were
soon joined by others, so many that they had to move to an abandoned
warehouse. Finding funds to keep the children sheltered and fed was a
challenge in itself. Reverand Jenkins had a dream beyond that. He
wanted to buy a farm where children could grow up strong and healthy.
Human nature being what it is, no doubt well meaning people
tried to talk him out of his quest. But he had an unorthodox way of
achieving his goal. You wil find it quite delightful and inspiring.
On a personal note, the minister reminds me of my friend Brenda. She
runs her whole life around the premise that hunger can be ended. When
I met her she was running a food pantry out of her garage. In the
fifteen years since she has grown it into a big operation with a
thrift shop to help finance it. I keep telling her that she'd better
start weight lifting so that when she gets to heaven the crown of
jewels she has waiting won't give her whiplash. ;)
A great big shout out goes out to all who find brave, novel, daring
ways to help others in need.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Picture book
If you ever need an inspiring story of making dreams come true
even in the harshest of circumstances, Anne Rockwell's real life Hey,
Charleston! is a must read.
Daniel Joseph Jenkins was a church pastor in Charleston, South
Carolina. To supplement his meager income he collected and delivered
scrap wood. You'd think he have enough to do keeping body and soul
together. When he found some homeless orphans he took them into his
church and gave them food and a place to sleep.
That was during the Great Depression. The first orphans were
soon joined by others, so many that they had to move to an abandoned
warehouse. Finding funds to keep the children sheltered and fed was a
challenge in itself. Reverand Jenkins had a dream beyond that. He
wanted to buy a farm where children could grow up strong and healthy.
Human nature being what it is, no doubt well meaning people
tried to talk him out of his quest. But he had an unorthodox way of
achieving his goal. You wil find it quite delightful and inspiring.
On a personal note, the minister reminds me of my friend Brenda. She
runs her whole life around the premise that hunger can be ended. When
I met her she was running a food pantry out of her garage. In the
fifteen years since she has grown it into a big operation with a
thrift shop to help finance it. I keep telling her that she'd better
start weight lifting so that when she gets to heaven the crown of
jewels she has waiting won't give her whiplash. ;)
A great big shout out goes out to all who find brave, novel, daring
ways to help others in need.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
The Noisy Paint Box
The Noisy Paint Box
Picture book
You would not think the biography of a long dead painter would
have very young children paying rapt attention. Yet that was the case
when Louise read Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre's The Noisy Paint
Box out loud at the start of a library messy art session. Perhaps it
had to do with a combination of lively narrative and evocative
illustrations. I also think the kids get a kick out of seeing an
artist succeed by going against convention.
Abstract art pioneer Vasily Kandinsky started out as the proper
child of a wealthy Russian family in a time when children were seen
and not heard. He was given an appropriate education. He grew up to
pursue a respectable career as a lawyer. He studied realistic art.
But he had been given a very noisy paintbox when he was quite young.
One day its influence became to great for him to ignore.
If you have a young artist, scientist, explorer, or creator with
a mind of his or her own, The Noisy Paint Box would be a perfect gift.
On a personal note, when I was a child I hated art class. My elderly
spinster art teacher felt that perfect copying of objects or pictures
she brought in was all there was to art. Very few kids did acceptable
work. The rest of us were failures. I was lucky that I had access to
enough art in museums and books that I did not accept her judgement.
As an adult I came into my own field of expression: fabric arts. I
really enjoy seeing what I can do with random yard sale, thrift shop,
and salvaged from damaged and unfinished pieces yarn. I plan soon to
design my own cross stitch pieces built around favorite quotes.
A great big shout out goes out to all, young and old, who achieve by
rebelling against convention.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Picture book
You would not think the biography of a long dead painter would
have very young children paying rapt attention. Yet that was the case
when Louise read Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre's The Noisy Paint
Box out loud at the start of a library messy art session. Perhaps it
had to do with a combination of lively narrative and evocative
illustrations. I also think the kids get a kick out of seeing an
artist succeed by going against convention.
Abstract art pioneer Vasily Kandinsky started out as the proper
child of a wealthy Russian family in a time when children were seen
and not heard. He was given an appropriate education. He grew up to
pursue a respectable career as a lawyer. He studied realistic art.
But he had been given a very noisy paintbox when he was quite young.
One day its influence became to great for him to ignore.
If you have a young artist, scientist, explorer, or creator with
a mind of his or her own, The Noisy Paint Box would be a perfect gift.
On a personal note, when I was a child I hated art class. My elderly
spinster art teacher felt that perfect copying of objects or pictures
she brought in was all there was to art. Very few kids did acceptable
work. The rest of us were failures. I was lucky that I had access to
enough art in museums and books that I did not accept her judgement.
As an adult I came into my own field of expression: fabric arts. I
really enjoy seeing what I can do with random yard sale, thrift shop,
and salvaged from damaged and unfinished pieces yarn. I plan soon to
design my own cross stitch pieces built around favorite quotes.
A great big shout out goes out to all, young and old, who achieve by
rebelling against convention.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Teach Your Own
Teach Your Own
Parenting
"To repeat once again the idea with which I began this book, it
is a most serious mistake to think that learning is an activity
separate from the rest of life, that people do best when they are not
doing anything else and best of all in places where nothing else is
done. It is an equally serious mistake to think that teaching, the
assisting of learning and the sharing of knowledge and skill, is
something that can be done only by a few specialists. When we lock
learning and teaching in the school box, as we do, we do not more
effective teaching and learning in society, but much less."
I have seen home schooling grow in numbers and respectability
exponentially. In the past it was thought parents who carried out
this practice fell into one of two camps. There were qualified home
schoolers--those well off parents who had educational backgrounds
similar to teachers. Then there were all the rest, often stereotyped
as fundamentalists putting their kids at enormous disadvantages to
protect them from evolution or sex ed or anything that interfered with
a literal interpretation of the Bible. Now we know of a wide range of
families that homeschool and a plethora of resources for them.
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Home Schooling by John
Holt and Pat Farenga, source of the quote with which I began this
review, is a wonderful resource for parents considering this course of
action. It is not, however, a guide on how to turn your home into a
miniature public school complete with worksheets and curriculum. The
non school world is incredibly rich and full of opportunities for
parent and child to learn.
Learn, rather than teach, is the key word here. Children are
born with an innate drive to learn. Given access to meaningful and
rewarding activities and caring and supportive adults, they will put
enormous amounts of time and energy into understanding how things work
and developing their interests. Sequestering them with a narrow age
range of peers and bribing and threatening them to consume a
standardized amount of knowledge and prove they have ingested it on
tests can have just the opposite effect. Teach Your Own is a great
guide toward enabling, rather than forcing or bribing, your kids to do
what they are wired to do: gain mastery of the world in which we live.
Teach Your Own is also a good book for the rest of us. It
raises really important philosophical questions. Can schools ever
provide more than standardized top down curriculum? Are university
teaching methods the best ways to empower people to educate younger
generations? Is a highly age and profession segregated society where
children spend increasing amounts of time preparing for life and only
a minority will achieve "good" outcomes the best we have to offer?
For example, in a world of environment destroying factory farms, would
a change to small, sustainable agriculture where children could learn
through meaningful involvement at least part time be a good option for
hands on learners?
These are questions we would do well to ponder. Teach Your Own
could help to kick start these important conversations.
On a personal note, I did a hybrid experience with my kids. I did
have them go to public school. But I advocated when I thought their
needs were not being met. And on my time I gave them a rich range of
experiences from infancy on.
A great big shout out goes out to parents taking ownership of their
children's education.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Parenting
"To repeat once again the idea with which I began this book, it
is a most serious mistake to think that learning is an activity
separate from the rest of life, that people do best when they are not
doing anything else and best of all in places where nothing else is
done. It is an equally serious mistake to think that teaching, the
assisting of learning and the sharing of knowledge and skill, is
something that can be done only by a few specialists. When we lock
learning and teaching in the school box, as we do, we do not more
effective teaching and learning in society, but much less."
I have seen home schooling grow in numbers and respectability
exponentially. In the past it was thought parents who carried out
this practice fell into one of two camps. There were qualified home
schoolers--those well off parents who had educational backgrounds
similar to teachers. Then there were all the rest, often stereotyped
as fundamentalists putting their kids at enormous disadvantages to
protect them from evolution or sex ed or anything that interfered with
a literal interpretation of the Bible. Now we know of a wide range of
families that homeschool and a plethora of resources for them.
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Home Schooling by John
Holt and Pat Farenga, source of the quote with which I began this
review, is a wonderful resource for parents considering this course of
action. It is not, however, a guide on how to turn your home into a
miniature public school complete with worksheets and curriculum. The
non school world is incredibly rich and full of opportunities for
parent and child to learn.
Learn, rather than teach, is the key word here. Children are
born with an innate drive to learn. Given access to meaningful and
rewarding activities and caring and supportive adults, they will put
enormous amounts of time and energy into understanding how things work
and developing their interests. Sequestering them with a narrow age
range of peers and bribing and threatening them to consume a
standardized amount of knowledge and prove they have ingested it on
tests can have just the opposite effect. Teach Your Own is a great
guide toward enabling, rather than forcing or bribing, your kids to do
what they are wired to do: gain mastery of the world in which we live.
Teach Your Own is also a good book for the rest of us. It
raises really important philosophical questions. Can schools ever
provide more than standardized top down curriculum? Are university
teaching methods the best ways to empower people to educate younger
generations? Is a highly age and profession segregated society where
children spend increasing amounts of time preparing for life and only
a minority will achieve "good" outcomes the best we have to offer?
For example, in a world of environment destroying factory farms, would
a change to small, sustainable agriculture where children could learn
through meaningful involvement at least part time be a good option for
hands on learners?
These are questions we would do well to ponder. Teach Your Own
could help to kick start these important conversations.
On a personal note, I did a hybrid experience with my kids. I did
have them go to public school. But I advocated when I thought their
needs were not being met. And on my time I gave them a rich range of
experiences from infancy on.
A great big shout out goes out to parents taking ownership of their
children's education.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Call Of The Klondike
Call Of The Klondike
Juvenile non fiction
One evening at supper David Meisner was given an offer he
couldn't refuse. A friend, Kim Richardson, had a treasure trove of
primary source materials that had been passed down in his family.
Richardson felt they held a compelling story and was looking for an
writer to bring it to life. Meisner was his man.
The story was about a real live gold rush adventure. Meisner
decided it needed authenticity. "How could I write about the
adventures and hardships of the Klondike gold rush while sitting in
the comfort of my home in the lower forty-eight states? Although I
couldn't travel back in time, I could try to trace the steps of the
stampeders to gain a deeper appreciation for what they faced in the
rugged settings of Alaska and the Yukon."
The man picked a winning strategy. Call Of The Klondike: A True
Gold Rush Adventure is the closest you'll get to time travel. You'll
get caught up in the quest Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond embarked
on in 1897. They were in Seattle when groups of miners bearing loads
of gold arrived, quickly becoming the talk of the town. Scads of
people including the mayor dropped everything to head for the new
promised land. The chums were part of that throng. According to
Bond, "We caught the fever and decided to go. Everybody seemed to be
catching it."
Lucky for us Pearce and Bond were prolific journal/letter
writers in a situation where most guys would not have made time to set
pen to very scarce paper. Lucky also that ancestors knew enough to
not throw out the resulting probably far from elegant papers. We can
learn intimately what they encountered throughout their trip,
experiencing their moments of joy ("Last night while looking up at the
stars rolled snugly up in my sleeping bag I saw the grand Northern
lights shooting up from a semicircle above the mountain...It made me
feel we were nearer the presence of our Maker than I have ever been
before...") and despair ("No one can realize the hardships one has to
undergo on a trip of this kind. The elements themselves seem to have
a prejudice against us, and pouring rain has done all it can to make
the trip almost impassible.") and everything in between. Period
photographs gleaned from museums give this volume an almost scrapbook
appearance. It is a wonderful find for kids and parents who enjoy old
time adventures and authentic glimpses of the past.
On a personal note: I was very lucky this year. For my Christmas
present Katie took me to a live production of Grease, my all time
favorite musical, up to the university. It was the total cat's pajamas!
A great big shout out goes out to the cast and crew who brought the
production to life so beautifully.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile non fiction
One evening at supper David Meisner was given an offer he
couldn't refuse. A friend, Kim Richardson, had a treasure trove of
primary source materials that had been passed down in his family.
Richardson felt they held a compelling story and was looking for an
writer to bring it to life. Meisner was his man.
The story was about a real live gold rush adventure. Meisner
decided it needed authenticity. "How could I write about the
adventures and hardships of the Klondike gold rush while sitting in
the comfort of my home in the lower forty-eight states? Although I
couldn't travel back in time, I could try to trace the steps of the
stampeders to gain a deeper appreciation for what they faced in the
rugged settings of Alaska and the Yukon."
The man picked a winning strategy. Call Of The Klondike: A True
Gold Rush Adventure is the closest you'll get to time travel. You'll
get caught up in the quest Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond embarked
on in 1897. They were in Seattle when groups of miners bearing loads
of gold arrived, quickly becoming the talk of the town. Scads of
people including the mayor dropped everything to head for the new
promised land. The chums were part of that throng. According to
Bond, "We caught the fever and decided to go. Everybody seemed to be
catching it."
Lucky for us Pearce and Bond were prolific journal/letter
writers in a situation where most guys would not have made time to set
pen to very scarce paper. Lucky also that ancestors knew enough to
not throw out the resulting probably far from elegant papers. We can
learn intimately what they encountered throughout their trip,
experiencing their moments of joy ("Last night while looking up at the
stars rolled snugly up in my sleeping bag I saw the grand Northern
lights shooting up from a semicircle above the mountain...It made me
feel we were nearer the presence of our Maker than I have ever been
before...") and despair ("No one can realize the hardships one has to
undergo on a trip of this kind. The elements themselves seem to have
a prejudice against us, and pouring rain has done all it can to make
the trip almost impassible.") and everything in between. Period
photographs gleaned from museums give this volume an almost scrapbook
appearance. It is a wonderful find for kids and parents who enjoy old
time adventures and authentic glimpses of the past.
On a personal note: I was very lucky this year. For my Christmas
present Katie took me to a live production of Grease, my all time
favorite musical, up to the university. It was the total cat's pajamas!
A great big shout out goes out to the cast and crew who brought the
production to life so beautifully.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Friday, March 21, 2014
Unhooking the Moon
Unhooking the Moon
Juvenile
It's the rare book that takes a ragtag cast including two run
away orphans, a street hustler, a con artist, and a rapper and raises
their narrative to a fairy tale quest. Gregory Hughes does exactly
that with Unhooking the Moon. It's equal parts mean streets and magic
and very well worth reading.
Bob and his little sister, Rat (Marie Claire), come home from
school one day to find their single parent father dead on the kitchen
floor. Bob is afraid the authorities will put them in homes, maybe
even separate them. Rat may be in danger. She sometimes has
seizures. She always seems to be in a world of her own. Bob fears
that she'll end up in a psychiatric hospital.
There is one glimmer of hope. Their dad had a younger brother
who is believed to be a big city drug kingpin. Perhaps they can get
him to become their guardian. They have to overcome a number of
obstacles in their quest for family. First, they have to convince
adults in their town to help them bury their dad and refrain from
calling the authorities. Second, they have to travel primarily by
boxcar quite a distance to New York City. Since they live in Canada,
this (third) means covertly crossing the border. Fourth, when they
get to the Big Apple they have to find someone who may very well not
want to be found using only a name and a picture.
This is a truly transcendent narrative about the power of love.
Bob may find the Rat aggravating in the way of all or most siblings.
However, when he has to grow up very fast in a tragic situation he
finds himself capable of taking huge risks for the fragile being he
realizes he loves the most. Unhooking the Moon is a wonderfully
appropriate title because you know Bob will find a way to achieve even
that to gain Marie Claire's safety.
On a personal note, I have decided on quite the quest. Maybe no
rappers or con artists (except that I can be quite the little con
artist in service of my causes) will be involved. But it will take
quite a few people to pull this off. I am going to apply to
University of Maine to get started on my masters in education fall
semester 2015. The only way I can afford it is a teaching
assistantship which would be quite competitive. I've converted my
small savings account to be a grad school account. Not that there is
all that much. But it gives me hope.
A great big shout out goes out to all who dream big dreams and take
big risks in the service of love.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile
It's the rare book that takes a ragtag cast including two run
away orphans, a street hustler, a con artist, and a rapper and raises
their narrative to a fairy tale quest. Gregory Hughes does exactly
that with Unhooking the Moon. It's equal parts mean streets and magic
and very well worth reading.
Bob and his little sister, Rat (Marie Claire), come home from
school one day to find their single parent father dead on the kitchen
floor. Bob is afraid the authorities will put them in homes, maybe
even separate them. Rat may be in danger. She sometimes has
seizures. She always seems to be in a world of her own. Bob fears
that she'll end up in a psychiatric hospital.
There is one glimmer of hope. Their dad had a younger brother
who is believed to be a big city drug kingpin. Perhaps they can get
him to become their guardian. They have to overcome a number of
obstacles in their quest for family. First, they have to convince
adults in their town to help them bury their dad and refrain from
calling the authorities. Second, they have to travel primarily by
boxcar quite a distance to New York City. Since they live in Canada,
this (third) means covertly crossing the border. Fourth, when they
get to the Big Apple they have to find someone who may very well not
want to be found using only a name and a picture.
This is a truly transcendent narrative about the power of love.
Bob may find the Rat aggravating in the way of all or most siblings.
However, when he has to grow up very fast in a tragic situation he
finds himself capable of taking huge risks for the fragile being he
realizes he loves the most. Unhooking the Moon is a wonderfully
appropriate title because you know Bob will find a way to achieve even
that to gain Marie Claire's safety.
On a personal note, I have decided on quite the quest. Maybe no
rappers or con artists (except that I can be quite the little con
artist in service of my causes) will be involved. But it will take
quite a few people to pull this off. I am going to apply to
University of Maine to get started on my masters in education fall
semester 2015. The only way I can afford it is a teaching
assistantship which would be quite competitive. I've converted my
small savings account to be a grad school account. Not that there is
all that much. But it gives me hope.
A great big shout out goes out to all who dream big dreams and take
big risks in the service of love.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Turn Left At The Cow
Turn Left At The Cow
Juvenile fiction
"As I was falling in [a stand alone freezer unit], something
rolled out of the box into the bottom of the freezer. The last
thought I had before I landed on it was that I had some mutant form of
jet lag or something. Because I could have sworn it looked just like
a head.
A frozen human head."
After I review a significant and hefty work of non fiction I
often find myself craving something shall we say lighter. Needless to
say after covering the very powerful Five Days At Memorial with its
well researched coverage of a disaster and its aftermath I was ready
for something just plain fun. Not surprisingly I grabbed up Lisa
Bullard's Turn Left At The Cow. It was exactly what my mentor, Dr.
Betsy Webb, would have recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed each and
every chapter.
Trav, author of the quote at the top, has run away from home.
He's had to give up his school and friends and the place he's grown up
so he and his mother could move in with her new husband. He doesn't
want a new dad. He'd like to learn about the old father he never
met. He's flown from California to Minnesota, turning up at his
grandmother's house.
There are a lot of surprises in store for Trav. His first day,
in his grandmother's basement, cleaning out an old freezer as part of
his punishment, Iz, the boy next door's cousin, informs him that she's
going to find the loot his bank robber father hid before he
disappeared. He had no idea his dad was a felon. His realtionship to
his notorious sire shapes the way almost the entire town treats him.
Some shun him as a chip off the old block, a bad seed. Others will
stop at nothing to find the still unclaimed booty.
So when people think he's come into the ill-gained loot, even
though he's as much in the dark concerning its whereabouts as anyone
else, he finds himself in serious danger.
Oh, yeah, I left you hanging on purpose. If you want to learn
about the frozen human head...
...you'll just have to read the book. You'll be glad you did.
On a personal note, that old groundhog, Mr. Puxatawny Phil, must be
chuckling in his burrow at his predictive prescience. Just a week
before the calendar start of spring we've just been clobbered by a big
old snowstorm, a return to winter wonderland. Today it's still coming
down. But tomorrow I plan on some late season sledding.
A great big shout out goes out to Dr. Betsy Webb and the other
superintendents who saw the wisdom in declaring an unexpected snow day.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile fiction
"As I was falling in [a stand alone freezer unit], something
rolled out of the box into the bottom of the freezer. The last
thought I had before I landed on it was that I had some mutant form of
jet lag or something. Because I could have sworn it looked just like
a head.
A frozen human head."
After I review a significant and hefty work of non fiction I
often find myself craving something shall we say lighter. Needless to
say after covering the very powerful Five Days At Memorial with its
well researched coverage of a disaster and its aftermath I was ready
for something just plain fun. Not surprisingly I grabbed up Lisa
Bullard's Turn Left At The Cow. It was exactly what my mentor, Dr.
Betsy Webb, would have recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed each and
every chapter.
Trav, author of the quote at the top, has run away from home.
He's had to give up his school and friends and the place he's grown up
so he and his mother could move in with her new husband. He doesn't
want a new dad. He'd like to learn about the old father he never
met. He's flown from California to Minnesota, turning up at his
grandmother's house.
There are a lot of surprises in store for Trav. His first day,
in his grandmother's basement, cleaning out an old freezer as part of
his punishment, Iz, the boy next door's cousin, informs him that she's
going to find the loot his bank robber father hid before he
disappeared. He had no idea his dad was a felon. His realtionship to
his notorious sire shapes the way almost the entire town treats him.
Some shun him as a chip off the old block, a bad seed. Others will
stop at nothing to find the still unclaimed booty.
So when people think he's come into the ill-gained loot, even
though he's as much in the dark concerning its whereabouts as anyone
else, he finds himself in serious danger.
Oh, yeah, I left you hanging on purpose. If you want to learn
about the frozen human head...
...you'll just have to read the book. You'll be glad you did.
On a personal note, that old groundhog, Mr. Puxatawny Phil, must be
chuckling in his burrow at his predictive prescience. Just a week
before the calendar start of spring we've just been clobbered by a big
old snowstorm, a return to winter wonderland. Today it's still coming
down. But tomorrow I plan on some late season sledding.
A great big shout out goes out to Dr. Betsy Webb and the other
superintendents who saw the wisdom in declaring an unexpected snow day.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Five Days At Memorial
Five Days At Memorial
Adult nonfiction
"Nobody wrote it directly in a message, but some employees began
to worry that the choice of which patients went out first could affect
their medical outcomes. A realization dawned on Memorial's incident
commander, Susan Mulderick, that day. The variability in the sizes of
the helicopters that were landing and the length of time it was taking
to move patients to the helipad left her with one conclusion: not all
of the patients would be getting out alive."
That is one beautifully crafted paragraph, in three terse
sentences building up suspense and a sense of impending doom. You may
very well think I have my hands on Stephen King's latest. The plot
could have come from his dark imagination. A large metropolitan
hospital is brought to its knees by a hurricane followed by severe
flooding. As all the necessities of patient care--electricity, clean
water, sanitation--become unavailable, staff frantically try to get
their fragile charges evacuated. Rescue is too slow. Patients die,
some drugged into that last night by staff wanting to end their
suffering.
I wish it were fiction. The most terrifying thing about Sheri
Fink's Five Days At Memorial: Life And Death In A Storm Ravaged
Hospital is that it's carefully researched and drawn from real life.
The setting is New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center, ravaged by
Hurricane Katrina. Emergency preparedness as a hospital mandate was
then in its infancy and more centered around acts of terrorism than
natural catastrophes. It was also often a matter of filling in the
paperwork for reaccreditation. Not surprisingly, everything that
could go wrong did both inside Memorial and in its communication with
agencies in the outer world.
Five Days At Memorial is riveting on so many levels. The well
written narrative, which additionally covers the legal aftermath, is
as suspenseful as fiction. Helpful background information is segued
in unobtrusively. Characters are well fleshed out so that you get a
real sense of them as people and their struggles to cope with a once
predictable world horribly out of control. Moral and ethical issues
such as triage in the face of limited resources and mercy killing to
prevent suffering are discussed thoughtfully.
Five Days At Memorial is not a book to read and maybe chat up
with your book club and forget. It should make us all think on two
levels.
The first is that there is a need in most of the cities and
towns where we live to carefully scrutinize our institutions and
emergency procedures. Will they fail us when the catastrophe is up
close and personal? We must look beyond the resources and policies to
the more intangible aspects that effect how we act whether we are
willing to acknowledge this. As Fink says, "Emergencies are crucibles
that contain and reveal the daily, slower-burning problems of medicine
and beyond--our vulnerabilities; our trouble grappling with
uncertainty, how we die, how we prioritize and divide what is most
precious and vital and limited; even our biases and blindnesses."
The second is that while we are relatively healthy is the time
to plan advance directives and put it in writing. Our nearest and
dearest, if they're anything like mine, will be more likely to be all
"la la la not listening" than "Gee, thanks, Mom." You can change your
wishes as you evolve. But one of the kindest things you can do for
them is to spare them from making heart wrenching future decisions.
On a personal note, one of my most vivid childhood memories involves a
hurricane. My family lived on the coast. Mom was preparing for
disaster by lugging our valuables to the cellar along with food,
bedding, and other supplies. Dad was arranging the managerie, making
sure predators were not in striking distance of prey. Harriet was
behaving, probably terrified. On retrospect my bouncing all over
exclaiming gleefully that we'd get to sleep in the basement was
probably not all that helpful. The next morning the parents told me
to go to school. En route I saw a tree down across a street and fire
spitting snakes thrashing around it. I ran back home. Maybe I'd get
in trouble but those snaked were too scary. Being disobedient payed
off big time. Those were downed power lines.
A great big shout out goes out to all the folks who work on real
disaster preparedness when they have the luxury of time.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Adult nonfiction
"Nobody wrote it directly in a message, but some employees began
to worry that the choice of which patients went out first could affect
their medical outcomes. A realization dawned on Memorial's incident
commander, Susan Mulderick, that day. The variability in the sizes of
the helicopters that were landing and the length of time it was taking
to move patients to the helipad left her with one conclusion: not all
of the patients would be getting out alive."
That is one beautifully crafted paragraph, in three terse
sentences building up suspense and a sense of impending doom. You may
very well think I have my hands on Stephen King's latest. The plot
could have come from his dark imagination. A large metropolitan
hospital is brought to its knees by a hurricane followed by severe
flooding. As all the necessities of patient care--electricity, clean
water, sanitation--become unavailable, staff frantically try to get
their fragile charges evacuated. Rescue is too slow. Patients die,
some drugged into that last night by staff wanting to end their
suffering.
I wish it were fiction. The most terrifying thing about Sheri
Fink's Five Days At Memorial: Life And Death In A Storm Ravaged
Hospital is that it's carefully researched and drawn from real life.
The setting is New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center, ravaged by
Hurricane Katrina. Emergency preparedness as a hospital mandate was
then in its infancy and more centered around acts of terrorism than
natural catastrophes. It was also often a matter of filling in the
paperwork for reaccreditation. Not surprisingly, everything that
could go wrong did both inside Memorial and in its communication with
agencies in the outer world.
Five Days At Memorial is riveting on so many levels. The well
written narrative, which additionally covers the legal aftermath, is
as suspenseful as fiction. Helpful background information is segued
in unobtrusively. Characters are well fleshed out so that you get a
real sense of them as people and their struggles to cope with a once
predictable world horribly out of control. Moral and ethical issues
such as triage in the face of limited resources and mercy killing to
prevent suffering are discussed thoughtfully.
Five Days At Memorial is not a book to read and maybe chat up
with your book club and forget. It should make us all think on two
levels.
The first is that there is a need in most of the cities and
towns where we live to carefully scrutinize our institutions and
emergency procedures. Will they fail us when the catastrophe is up
close and personal? We must look beyond the resources and policies to
the more intangible aspects that effect how we act whether we are
willing to acknowledge this. As Fink says, "Emergencies are crucibles
that contain and reveal the daily, slower-burning problems of medicine
and beyond--our vulnerabilities; our trouble grappling with
uncertainty, how we die, how we prioritize and divide what is most
precious and vital and limited; even our biases and blindnesses."
The second is that while we are relatively healthy is the time
to plan advance directives and put it in writing. Our nearest and
dearest, if they're anything like mine, will be more likely to be all
"la la la not listening" than "Gee, thanks, Mom." You can change your
wishes as you evolve. But one of the kindest things you can do for
them is to spare them from making heart wrenching future decisions.
On a personal note, one of my most vivid childhood memories involves a
hurricane. My family lived on the coast. Mom was preparing for
disaster by lugging our valuables to the cellar along with food,
bedding, and other supplies. Dad was arranging the managerie, making
sure predators were not in striking distance of prey. Harriet was
behaving, probably terrified. On retrospect my bouncing all over
exclaiming gleefully that we'd get to sleep in the basement was
probably not all that helpful. The next morning the parents told me
to go to school. En route I saw a tree down across a street and fire
spitting snakes thrashing around it. I ran back home. Maybe I'd get
in trouble but those snaked were too scary. Being disobedient payed
off big time. Those were downed power lines.
A great big shout out goes out to all the folks who work on real
disaster preparedness when they have the luxury of time.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Don't You Wish
Don't You Wish
YA fiction
Have you ever read a book where you get so absorbed by the plot
and characters it takes every ounce of self control you possess to not
skip ahead to the last pages to make sure things work out right? That
was what happened to me when I read Roxanne St. Claire's Don't You
Wish. I was so hooked on that book I read part of it outside waiting
for the library to open in below freezing weather.
Annie, St. Claire's protagonist, is one of the front-of-the-
school-bus kids the high school A listers psychologically torture when
they aren't ignoring them. They call them the invisibles. She lives
in a relatively poor family with a pack rat inventor father, a mom who
suffers from nicer house envy, and an obnoxious younger brother who
specializes in burping. Why can't she be another girl with a
beautiful face, a humungous house, and a much more exciting life?
Unlike most people, thanks to an invention of her father's that
actually works, she gets transported into a parallel universe where
her wishes seemingly have come true. She's a filthy rich plastic
surgeon's daughter with a mansion with hired help, scads of upper end
designer clothes, and a dream car. She's the darling of the A list.
Her boyfriend is oh, so hot. She has it made in the shade, right?
Well not exactly. Rich Daddy is a moral sleaze when he is even
around. Rich Mommy is emotionally detached. The new chums shop lift
stuff they could easily afford and act cruel and abusive to their less
fortunate peers and untrusting of each other. Hot boyfriend has only
one thing on his mind.
Which world does she really fit into and feel at home in? If
she decides it's her old life, does she have a ghost of a chance of
getting it back?
Read the book and see. You'll be glad you did.
On a personal note, there are signs of spring. Joey cat has stopped
his near hibernation. He pounces around sniffing everything. The
dogs I see around Orono are jubilant. Skunks have been seen coming
out of hibernation.
A great big shout out goes out to kids and adults who are able to stay
strong despite abuse of A listers. Also to our spring drunk animal
companions.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
Have you ever read a book where you get so absorbed by the plot
and characters it takes every ounce of self control you possess to not
skip ahead to the last pages to make sure things work out right? That
was what happened to me when I read Roxanne St. Claire's Don't You
Wish. I was so hooked on that book I read part of it outside waiting
for the library to open in below freezing weather.
Annie, St. Claire's protagonist, is one of the front-of-the-
school-bus kids the high school A listers psychologically torture when
they aren't ignoring them. They call them the invisibles. She lives
in a relatively poor family with a pack rat inventor father, a mom who
suffers from nicer house envy, and an obnoxious younger brother who
specializes in burping. Why can't she be another girl with a
beautiful face, a humungous house, and a much more exciting life?
Unlike most people, thanks to an invention of her father's that
actually works, she gets transported into a parallel universe where
her wishes seemingly have come true. She's a filthy rich plastic
surgeon's daughter with a mansion with hired help, scads of upper end
designer clothes, and a dream car. She's the darling of the A list.
Her boyfriend is oh, so hot. She has it made in the shade, right?
Well not exactly. Rich Daddy is a moral sleaze when he is even
around. Rich Mommy is emotionally detached. The new chums shop lift
stuff they could easily afford and act cruel and abusive to their less
fortunate peers and untrusting of each other. Hot boyfriend has only
one thing on his mind.
Which world does she really fit into and feel at home in? If
she decides it's her old life, does she have a ghost of a chance of
getting it back?
Read the book and see. You'll be glad you did.
On a personal note, there are signs of spring. Joey cat has stopped
his near hibernation. He pounces around sniffing everything. The
dogs I see around Orono are jubilant. Skunks have been seen coming
out of hibernation.
A great big shout out goes out to kids and adults who are able to stay
strong despite abuse of A listers. Also to our spring drunk animal
companions.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Gated
Gated
YA fiction
"She thought the evil lived outside the walls. She was wrong."
These chilling words come from the cover of Amy Christine Parker's
Gated. If you are a fan of dystopias or thrillers that grab you in
the first chapter and don't let you loose til the last page, you are
in for a real treat.
Lyla's family has lived through scary, terrible times. They
resided in New York City during 9/11. Even before then, however, they
had endured a personal tragedy. Her older sister, Karen, was abducted
in broad daylight, never to return.
Not long after their world fell apart Pioneer entered Lyla's
family's life, brightening up their gloom, offering what they longed
for the most--safety in a frightening, unpredictable world. They
became part of Mandrodage Meadows. Ostensibly it's an isolated
farming community. However, it harbors a chilling secret. Underneath
their buildings and land is a gigantic shelter members call the silo.
It is where they, the chosen, will escape to in the rapidly
approaching apocalypse when the rest of humanity is basically wiped
out. Outsiders and information about the world past the gates are
carefully kept out of the gated community. Pioneer is revered as a
benevolent father figure and savior.
As the date for going underground draws closer Lyla begins to
experience troubling thoughts. When a police officer comes on an
investigation, she is assigned to give his teen age son a tour of
Mondrodage Mountains. Even though he's one of the unchosen she can't
get him off her mind. He doesn't seem as evil as she's been led to
believe outsiders are.
What if Pioneer, about to lock his whole community into an
underground shelter for five years, is wrong?
On a personal note, quite awhile ago my sister was into similar
rapture beliefs. She never became geographically isolated like Ayla
did. But mentally she did buy into the world ending on a certain date
several times. The true believers would get swooped into heaven while
the rest were left to dally with the devil. Only it never happened.
I guess that's why I didn't get worried at Y2K or the end of the
calendar. It felt like same old, same old.
A great big shout goes out to the college students and profs who are
hopefully enjoying their spring break.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
"She thought the evil lived outside the walls. She was wrong."
These chilling words come from the cover of Amy Christine Parker's
Gated. If you are a fan of dystopias or thrillers that grab you in
the first chapter and don't let you loose til the last page, you are
in for a real treat.
Lyla's family has lived through scary, terrible times. They
resided in New York City during 9/11. Even before then, however, they
had endured a personal tragedy. Her older sister, Karen, was abducted
in broad daylight, never to return.
Not long after their world fell apart Pioneer entered Lyla's
family's life, brightening up their gloom, offering what they longed
for the most--safety in a frightening, unpredictable world. They
became part of Mandrodage Meadows. Ostensibly it's an isolated
farming community. However, it harbors a chilling secret. Underneath
their buildings and land is a gigantic shelter members call the silo.
It is where they, the chosen, will escape to in the rapidly
approaching apocalypse when the rest of humanity is basically wiped
out. Outsiders and information about the world past the gates are
carefully kept out of the gated community. Pioneer is revered as a
benevolent father figure and savior.
As the date for going underground draws closer Lyla begins to
experience troubling thoughts. When a police officer comes on an
investigation, she is assigned to give his teen age son a tour of
Mondrodage Mountains. Even though he's one of the unchosen she can't
get him off her mind. He doesn't seem as evil as she's been led to
believe outsiders are.
What if Pioneer, about to lock his whole community into an
underground shelter for five years, is wrong?
On a personal note, quite awhile ago my sister was into similar
rapture beliefs. She never became geographically isolated like Ayla
did. But mentally she did buy into the world ending on a certain date
several times. The true believers would get swooped into heaven while
the rest were left to dally with the devil. Only it never happened.
I guess that's why I didn't get worried at Y2K or the end of the
calendar. It felt like same old, same old.
A great big shout goes out to the college students and profs who are
hopefully enjoying their spring break.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
The Boy From Baby House 10
The Boy From Baby House 10
Adult biography
If you are a parent like me you probably have fond memories of
your children's baby days. I bet you took great pleasure in rocking,
cuddling, and singing to your little ones. Developmental milestones
large and small were occasions for celebration. No one had to tell
you these interactions and their dailiness gave your babieso essential
skills and the confidence to learn and explore.
Now try to imagine a child's life without all the special
touches a loving parent adds:
*books and toys chosen carefully for learning and fun;
*carefully prepared meals and snacks;
*trips outside;
*even gestures of affection, songs, and conversation.
Imagine a twilight existence that would make Oliver Twist's orphanage
experience look good in contrast. Envision one low paid, not really
qualified person in charge of a dozen infants or children, mandated to
only feed and diaper her charges who languish in cribs and immobilized
walkers.
Could even the most gifted and talented child (or adult for that
matter) survive in such a toxic venue? Well there's a little boy
named Vanya, the real life protagonist of Alan Philps and John
Lahutsky's The Boy From Baby House 10. He was institutionized really
early on when medical people diagnosed him with cerebral palsy and
retardation, given up by a mother told it was his only hope. When you
meet him he's a kind, observant, and verbal child...the kind of kid
people notice and want to fight for.
Fight they must. They're up against a bureaucracy with a firm
belief that kids with disabilities have no future and need only be
warehoused as long as they live and breathe and take up space.
They're David going up against a really formidable Goliath. Their
steadfast belief in one little boy's potential and his right to
fulfill it makes for pretty amazing reading.
On a personal note, back in the day when my grad school teaching
assistantship involved teaching in a nursery school I encountered a
child who was at the age of three totally nonverbal. I got it in my
head that by the end of the school year she would be talking. I
arranged it that the other teachers would handle the rest of the class
and I would immerse her in language. I talked about everything she
was seeing and doing. I remember looking her in the eye and saying
"coat" as she stroked her sleeve. Well by the end of the school year
she had caught up with her peers much to the amazement of her
parents. For some reason when she was born they thought she was
severely developmentally delayed. So the first years of her life she
was tended to with no human speech. When her mom and dad saw her as
bright and capable they gave her the enriched environment that helped
her continue to thrive.
A great big shout out goes out to all children who must persist in the
face of enormous obstacles.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Adult biography
If you are a parent like me you probably have fond memories of
your children's baby days. I bet you took great pleasure in rocking,
cuddling, and singing to your little ones. Developmental milestones
large and small were occasions for celebration. No one had to tell
you these interactions and their dailiness gave your babieso essential
skills and the confidence to learn and explore.
Now try to imagine a child's life without all the special
touches a loving parent adds:
*books and toys chosen carefully for learning and fun;
*carefully prepared meals and snacks;
*trips outside;
*even gestures of affection, songs, and conversation.
Imagine a twilight existence that would make Oliver Twist's orphanage
experience look good in contrast. Envision one low paid, not really
qualified person in charge of a dozen infants or children, mandated to
only feed and diaper her charges who languish in cribs and immobilized
walkers.
Could even the most gifted and talented child (or adult for that
matter) survive in such a toxic venue? Well there's a little boy
named Vanya, the real life protagonist of Alan Philps and John
Lahutsky's The Boy From Baby House 10. He was institutionized really
early on when medical people diagnosed him with cerebral palsy and
retardation, given up by a mother told it was his only hope. When you
meet him he's a kind, observant, and verbal child...the kind of kid
people notice and want to fight for.
Fight they must. They're up against a bureaucracy with a firm
belief that kids with disabilities have no future and need only be
warehoused as long as they live and breathe and take up space.
They're David going up against a really formidable Goliath. Their
steadfast belief in one little boy's potential and his right to
fulfill it makes for pretty amazing reading.
On a personal note, back in the day when my grad school teaching
assistantship involved teaching in a nursery school I encountered a
child who was at the age of three totally nonverbal. I got it in my
head that by the end of the school year she would be talking. I
arranged it that the other teachers would handle the rest of the class
and I would immerse her in language. I talked about everything she
was seeing and doing. I remember looking her in the eye and saying
"coat" as she stroked her sleeve. Well by the end of the school year
she had caught up with her peers much to the amazement of her
parents. For some reason when she was born they thought she was
severely developmentally delayed. So the first years of her life she
was tended to with no human speech. When her mom and dad saw her as
bright and capable they gave her the enriched environment that helped
her continue to thrive.
A great big shout out goes out to all children who must persist in the
face of enormous obstacles.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Hanging By A Thread
Hanging By A Thread
YA fiction
If you enjoy a spell-binding mystery, a book you just can't put
down until the last page and then wish it went on forever, you will
find Sophie Littlefield's Hanging By A Thread a perfect antidote for
the cold nights March has to offer for at least the foreseeable
future. It will have you hooked before the end of the first chapter.
Clare, Littlefield's protagonist, has a unusual gift passed down
in her family. If she touches a garment that was worn during an
episode of violence or tragedy she is able to view the event from the
perspective of its owner. It happens quite a bit. In addition to
coming into contact with people in daily life, she is trying to start
a business selling the one-of-a-kind garments she fashions out of used
clothes.
This "gift" (seen as anything but by her proper, conservative
mother) puts Clare in the thick of things as she and Mom move back to
the big old house in which she grew up til her parents' divorce. The
small town is really stressed, parents being extra vigilent with their
children. Two years ago on July 3 a little boy died under suspicious
circumstances. On the first anniversary of his death a teen age girl
went missing. As the second draws near, fueled by a spate of media
articles noting that neither tragedy has been resolved and asking if
the town's children are safe, people are scared.
An unusual designer denim jacket gives Clare the most terrifying
vision of her young life. She learns that it was worn by the girl who
disappeared. As much as she would like to just get rid of it, she
senses that she acquired it for a reason and must work its cryptic
message out, hopefully in time to prevent more tragedies.
YOWZA!
On a personal note, I've just finished another 30 day challenge up to
the University. I got to be one of the two scheduled speakers at the
kickoff luncheon which I enjoyed immensely.
A great big shout put goes out to all the people who did the 30 day
challenge.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
If you enjoy a spell-binding mystery, a book you just can't put
down until the last page and then wish it went on forever, you will
find Sophie Littlefield's Hanging By A Thread a perfect antidote for
the cold nights March has to offer for at least the foreseeable
future. It will have you hooked before the end of the first chapter.
Clare, Littlefield's protagonist, has a unusual gift passed down
in her family. If she touches a garment that was worn during an
episode of violence or tragedy she is able to view the event from the
perspective of its owner. It happens quite a bit. In addition to
coming into contact with people in daily life, she is trying to start
a business selling the one-of-a-kind garments she fashions out of used
clothes.
This "gift" (seen as anything but by her proper, conservative
mother) puts Clare in the thick of things as she and Mom move back to
the big old house in which she grew up til her parents' divorce. The
small town is really stressed, parents being extra vigilent with their
children. Two years ago on July 3 a little boy died under suspicious
circumstances. On the first anniversary of his death a teen age girl
went missing. As the second draws near, fueled by a spate of media
articles noting that neither tragedy has been resolved and asking if
the town's children are safe, people are scared.
An unusual designer denim jacket gives Clare the most terrifying
vision of her young life. She learns that it was worn by the girl who
disappeared. As much as she would like to just get rid of it, she
senses that she acquired it for a reason and must work its cryptic
message out, hopefully in time to prevent more tragedies.
YOWZA!
On a personal note, I've just finished another 30 day challenge up to
the University. I got to be one of the two scheduled speakers at the
kickoff luncheon which I enjoyed immensely.
A great big shout put goes out to all the people who did the 30 day
challenge.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
A Street Cat Named Bob
A Street Cat Named Bob
Adult biography
If you are a cat lover, if you believe that some of our earth
angels, walk on four paws and chow down on Nine Lives or mouse au
natural, you will not want to miss out on James Bowen's A Street Cat
Named Bob And How He Saved My Life.
Bowen, a busker (street musician) and recovering drug addict,
had seen a striking looking ginger cat in the halls of his sheltered
living residence. Although drawn to the creature, he did not
immediately take him in. He was having a hard enough time taking care
of himself, never mind being respondible for another being.
In the long run Bob prevailed and inch by inch eased him into
Bowen's life. Offered a meal, he made himself quite to home in his
apartment. Bowen still did not see his new friend as a permanent
resident. After medical treatments and fattening up surely he would
move on. As if. Bob had found his home and family and dug in with
all four clawed paws.
As Bob and Bowen became a twosome, the cat gave the man
something no human could: hope that he could turn his life around.
If you love cats or just want to read a story that will make your
heart sing, you could not do better than A Street Cat Named Bob.
On a personal note, I read this book on a night so cold even the
inside of the traier felt like a refrigerator. Not surprisingly my
stub tail tuxedo cat Joey was cuddled up with me, his little head on
my shoulder, purring contentedly in my ear.
A great big shout out goes out to the faithful animal companions who
add souch to our lives.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Adult biography
If you are a cat lover, if you believe that some of our earth
angels, walk on four paws and chow down on Nine Lives or mouse au
natural, you will not want to miss out on James Bowen's A Street Cat
Named Bob And How He Saved My Life.
Bowen, a busker (street musician) and recovering drug addict,
had seen a striking looking ginger cat in the halls of his sheltered
living residence. Although drawn to the creature, he did not
immediately take him in. He was having a hard enough time taking care
of himself, never mind being respondible for another being.
In the long run Bob prevailed and inch by inch eased him into
Bowen's life. Offered a meal, he made himself quite to home in his
apartment. Bowen still did not see his new friend as a permanent
resident. After medical treatments and fattening up surely he would
move on. As if. Bob had found his home and family and dug in with
all four clawed paws.
As Bob and Bowen became a twosome, the cat gave the man
something no human could: hope that he could turn his life around.
If you love cats or just want to read a story that will make your
heart sing, you could not do better than A Street Cat Named Bob.
On a personal note, I read this book on a night so cold even the
inside of the traier felt like a refrigerator. Not surprisingly my
stub tail tuxedo cat Joey was cuddled up with me, his little head on
my shoulder, purring contentedly in my ear.
A great big shout out goes out to the faithful animal companions who
add souch to our lives.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Kissing Shakespeare
Kissing Shakespeare
YA fiction
How would you react if you were approached by a young man who
tells you the highly revered writer William Shakespeare needs your
help? That without your intervention his plays and sonnets might
never get written? If you're an avid Bangor Daily News reader you
might suspect you were having a close and potentially dangerous
encounter with a bath salts user. You might also concur with Miranda,
teen age protagonist of Pamela Mingle's Kissing Shakespeare, who sees
Stephen, poser of the question, as a total lunatic. After all
Shakespeare's been deceased for centuries. His plays are being taught
and acted out all around the world. What gives?
Stephen turns out to be a time traveler sent from 16th century
England to find a young lady who will return with him to rescue the
Immortal Bard by seducing him. Shakespeare is being recruited by a
Jesuit priest intent on him taking his vows. This is a very dangerous
proposition. Protestantism is the official religion of England.
Jesuits are being burned to death.
Seeing seducing Shakespeare as the only way of not only saving
world literature, but returning to her own century, Miranda agrees to
her role, playing the part of Stephen's sister Olivia. Fortunately,
since she aspires to follow in her parents' footsteps as a
Shakespearean actress, she knows a lot about the time in question and
is able to use it to adapt to her new and challenging role.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a spy in the midst of her household
putting all in danger with no clue to his or her identity. Ominously,
there is no guarantee that even if the mission goes off as planned
Stephen will be able to return Miranda/Olivia to the twenty-first
century.
Of all the time travel books I have read Kissing Shakespeare has
the most mature plot and characters. It's a good step up for fans of
this wonderful genre.
On a personal note, in February I was involved in Bearfest, a 12 hour
dance marathon up to the University to raise money for children's
medical care. It was wonderful. The music really pumped people up.
It was such a joy to dance for the first time in ages. There was so
much wonderful food to fuel us: cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn,
stacks of boxes of pizzas, mac and cheese, make your own ice cream
sundaes, sandwiches... At midnight people threw scads of glow sticks
shaped into jewelery down from a balcony and two girls were putting
bracelets on me. And yes, this mom, the only one who wasn't
traditional age, was still dancing at 6:00 in the morning. But I did
use it as an excuse to ditch church and go right to bed.
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who participated with me in
Besrfest.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
How would you react if you were approached by a young man who
tells you the highly revered writer William Shakespeare needs your
help? That without your intervention his plays and sonnets might
never get written? If you're an avid Bangor Daily News reader you
might suspect you were having a close and potentially dangerous
encounter with a bath salts user. You might also concur with Miranda,
teen age protagonist of Pamela Mingle's Kissing Shakespeare, who sees
Stephen, poser of the question, as a total lunatic. After all
Shakespeare's been deceased for centuries. His plays are being taught
and acted out all around the world. What gives?
Stephen turns out to be a time traveler sent from 16th century
England to find a young lady who will return with him to rescue the
Immortal Bard by seducing him. Shakespeare is being recruited by a
Jesuit priest intent on him taking his vows. This is a very dangerous
proposition. Protestantism is the official religion of England.
Jesuits are being burned to death.
Seeing seducing Shakespeare as the only way of not only saving
world literature, but returning to her own century, Miranda agrees to
her role, playing the part of Stephen's sister Olivia. Fortunately,
since she aspires to follow in her parents' footsteps as a
Shakespearean actress, she knows a lot about the time in question and
is able to use it to adapt to her new and challenging role.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a spy in the midst of her household
putting all in danger with no clue to his or her identity. Ominously,
there is no guarantee that even if the mission goes off as planned
Stephen will be able to return Miranda/Olivia to the twenty-first
century.
Of all the time travel books I have read Kissing Shakespeare has
the most mature plot and characters. It's a good step up for fans of
this wonderful genre.
On a personal note, in February I was involved in Bearfest, a 12 hour
dance marathon up to the University to raise money for children's
medical care. It was wonderful. The music really pumped people up.
It was such a joy to dance for the first time in ages. There was so
much wonderful food to fuel us: cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn,
stacks of boxes of pizzas, mac and cheese, make your own ice cream
sundaes, sandwiches... At midnight people threw scads of glow sticks
shaped into jewelery down from a balcony and two girls were putting
bracelets on me. And yes, this mom, the only one who wasn't
traditional age, was still dancing at 6:00 in the morning. But I did
use it as an excuse to ditch church and go right to bed.
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who participated with me in
Besrfest.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Watch That Ends The Night
The Watch That Ends The Night
YA fiction
Not surprisingly, in 2012 on the hundred year anniversary of her
sinking, publishers issued a boat load of new Titanic books. Author
Allan Wolf took a novel approach. "...my aim in writing The Watch
That Ends the Night was not to present history. My aim was to present
humanity. The people represented in this book lived and breathed and
loved. They were as real as you or me. They could have been any one
of us.". There is a large cast of characters ranging from the captain
and ship builder of the ill fated liner to the iceberg that caused the
tragedy and a ship rat. (Yep, you read right.). The book covers the
time from the preparation for the voyage to the rescue of suvivors.
It's divided into a prelude, seven watches--the last being the one
that gives this volume its poignant title, and a postlude. Within
each section the actors take turns telling their pieces in free form
verse. You'll get to know:
*Margaret (the Unsinkable Molly) Brown, a socialite returning from a
trip abroad. Unlike the old money folks and more proper nouveau riche
she knows how to speak her mind and has quite a way with words;
*Frederick Fleet, a lookout. Abandoned by his mother, he spent his
childhood in an orphanage. When he was only twelve he embarked on
training to become an able bodied seaman. The rest of the ship's crew
is the closest to family he's ever had;
*Frankie Goldsmith, the dragon hunter. He and his parents are moving
to America to start over again after the death of his baby brother,
Bertie. Although older boys don't share in his belief in fierce
mystical creatures, ship crew members encourage him;
*Jamila, a teen age refugee girl from Lebanon. She and her younger
brother were to travel to America with their father. Only in France
he was pronounced unfit for travel due to trachoma. So, en route to a
very unknown new world, she is alone with a sibling who feels he is
the man of the family and does not want her bossing him around;
*and so many more. It's almost as though you are there with them.
As for the iceberg and the rat, the former waxes philosophically
and has the voice that comes closest to a classic poetic form while
the latter has a very skittery narrative with a focus on finding food
and avoiding danger.
If you're a Titanic fan or simply fond of a good drama you'll
find The Watch That Ends the Night well worth reading.
On a personal note, the messy art project was wonderful. Louise read
to the children about abstract art and they created it. It was so
wonderful to hear them discuss their beautiful and original visions.
A great big shout out goes out to all young artists in the hope that
they will not grow out of a belief in the beauty of their creations.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
Not surprisingly, in 2012 on the hundred year anniversary of her
sinking, publishers issued a boat load of new Titanic books. Author
Allan Wolf took a novel approach. "...my aim in writing The Watch
That Ends the Night was not to present history. My aim was to present
humanity. The people represented in this book lived and breathed and
loved. They were as real as you or me. They could have been any one
of us.". There is a large cast of characters ranging from the captain
and ship builder of the ill fated liner to the iceberg that caused the
tragedy and a ship rat. (Yep, you read right.). The book covers the
time from the preparation for the voyage to the rescue of suvivors.
It's divided into a prelude, seven watches--the last being the one
that gives this volume its poignant title, and a postlude. Within
each section the actors take turns telling their pieces in free form
verse. You'll get to know:
*Margaret (the Unsinkable Molly) Brown, a socialite returning from a
trip abroad. Unlike the old money folks and more proper nouveau riche
she knows how to speak her mind and has quite a way with words;
*Frederick Fleet, a lookout. Abandoned by his mother, he spent his
childhood in an orphanage. When he was only twelve he embarked on
training to become an able bodied seaman. The rest of the ship's crew
is the closest to family he's ever had;
*Frankie Goldsmith, the dragon hunter. He and his parents are moving
to America to start over again after the death of his baby brother,
Bertie. Although older boys don't share in his belief in fierce
mystical creatures, ship crew members encourage him;
*Jamila, a teen age refugee girl from Lebanon. She and her younger
brother were to travel to America with their father. Only in France
he was pronounced unfit for travel due to trachoma. So, en route to a
very unknown new world, she is alone with a sibling who feels he is
the man of the family and does not want her bossing him around;
*and so many more. It's almost as though you are there with them.
As for the iceberg and the rat, the former waxes philosophically
and has the voice that comes closest to a classic poetic form while
the latter has a very skittery narrative with a focus on finding food
and avoiding danger.
If you're a Titanic fan or simply fond of a good drama you'll
find The Watch That Ends the Night well worth reading.
On a personal note, the messy art project was wonderful. Louise read
to the children about abstract art and they created it. It was so
wonderful to hear them discuss their beautiful and original visions.
A great big shout out goes out to all young artists in the hope that
they will not grow out of a belief in the beauty of their creations.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Winter Sky
Winter Sky
Juvenile Fiction
Siria, young protagonist of Patricia Reilly Giff's Winter Sky,
is a very resourceful and brave girl. Her firefighter father has made
her a part of his station family. When she hears sirens at night she
eludes her babysitter, climbs down her fire escape, joining up with
chum Douglas, and bikes to the scene of the fire. She calls it fire
chasing. She has to make sure her dad--who is her entire family--and
his colleagues aren't hurt or worse.
One winter there seem to be a lot more fires, possibly the work
of a serial arsonist. With the safety of those she loves most at
stake, including her father, Siria takes it on herself to investigate
and bring the miscreant to justice.
These days a lot of children worry about a mother or father who
has a dangerous job. In addition to police and fire families, you
have the kids with parents on tours of duty thousands of miles away.
Winter Sky could not possibly be more timely.
On a personal note, the hubby works construction which isn't one of
the safer vocations. The kids and I have had our anxious moments,
especially when he's worked nights in blizzards.
A great big shout out goes out to all kids with family members
sometimes put in harm's way by the work they do.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile Fiction
Siria, young protagonist of Patricia Reilly Giff's Winter Sky,
is a very resourceful and brave girl. Her firefighter father has made
her a part of his station family. When she hears sirens at night she
eludes her babysitter, climbs down her fire escape, joining up with
chum Douglas, and bikes to the scene of the fire. She calls it fire
chasing. She has to make sure her dad--who is her entire family--and
his colleagues aren't hurt or worse.
One winter there seem to be a lot more fires, possibly the work
of a serial arsonist. With the safety of those she loves most at
stake, including her father, Siria takes it on herself to investigate
and bring the miscreant to justice.
These days a lot of children worry about a mother or father who
has a dangerous job. In addition to police and fire families, you
have the kids with parents on tours of duty thousands of miles away.
Winter Sky could not possibly be more timely.
On a personal note, the hubby works construction which isn't one of
the safer vocations. The kids and I have had our anxious moments,
especially when he's worked nights in blizzards.
A great big shout out goes out to all kids with family members
sometimes put in harm's way by the work they do.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Too Cool for This School
Too Cool for This School
Juvenile fiction
Lane, protagonist of Kristen Tracy's Too Cool For this School
seemingly has it made in the shade. She's been chosen 6th grade
captain, a role with plenty of perks and popularity. What could
possibly go wrong?
Try a visiting cousin from Alaska. Mint does not seem to know a
thing about how to behave and dress in middle school. Amazingly,
though, her individualism and confidence make her popular, rather than
rejected. The kids who hover around her include the boys Lane and
best friend Ava have crushes on.
Lane wants nothing more than for Mint to go back where she
belongs. But when Ava comes up with a plan for revenge she has a very
difficult decision to make.
Middle school can be a really challenging time with changing
hormones, increased academic responsibilities, and a potentially much
more dramatic social scene. Whether looking ahead with excitement,
trepidation, or a mixture of both, soon to be primary school graduates
will really enjoy Too Cool For this School.
On a personal note, tomorrow morning when I volunteer at the library
Louise will be doing a messy art project and I will be assisting.
That should be fun.
A great big shout out goes out to our munchkin clients who hopefully
have a wonderful time!
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile fiction
Lane, protagonist of Kristen Tracy's Too Cool For this School
seemingly has it made in the shade. She's been chosen 6th grade
captain, a role with plenty of perks and popularity. What could
possibly go wrong?
Try a visiting cousin from Alaska. Mint does not seem to know a
thing about how to behave and dress in middle school. Amazingly,
though, her individualism and confidence make her popular, rather than
rejected. The kids who hover around her include the boys Lane and
best friend Ava have crushes on.
Lane wants nothing more than for Mint to go back where she
belongs. But when Ava comes up with a plan for revenge she has a very
difficult decision to make.
Middle school can be a really challenging time with changing
hormones, increased academic responsibilities, and a potentially much
more dramatic social scene. Whether looking ahead with excitement,
trepidation, or a mixture of both, soon to be primary school graduates
will really enjoy Too Cool For this School.
On a personal note, tomorrow morning when I volunteer at the library
Louise will be doing a messy art project and I will be assisting.
That should be fun.
A great big shout out goes out to our munchkin clients who hopefully
have a wonderful time!
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Serafina's Promise
Serafina's Promise
Juvenile fiction
"One day, I'll go to school
and learn to read
so I can become a doctor.
I won't forget you, Granpe.
I promise to find a way
to follow your dream.
I promise to make you proud.
Serafina, protagonist of Ann E. Berg's Serafina's Promise, has
big dreams. She wants to be a doctor so she can keep her people
healthy and prevent babies from dying like her little brother did. As
the book starts even the most basic literacy education is out of reach
for her. There is no money for uniforms and expenses. There is
barely enough for food. Her again pregnant mother has endless chores
for her. She has to hike to a ravine twice a day to get water, gather
wood and charcoal, and help her mother and grandmother bundle herbs to
sell. She feels angry feelings buzz in her like bees. All her mom
seems to care about is work.
Growing up in Haiti, Serafina faces even more obstacles than
extreme poverty. A flood sweeps her home away and forces her family
to relocate and start all over. And then there is a devastating
earthquake.
Told in beautifully flowing free form verse, liberally seasoned
with colorful sayings, Serafina's Promise is a loving tribute to
children who struggle to get even the basics of education most of us
in the United States take for granted and families who manage to
persevere when the little they have is wrenched from their grasp. A
saying toward the end of the book says it best.
"Life is hard,
but no matter what happens,
we beat the drum
and we dance again."
On a personal note, this is why in September I plan to celebrate my
birthday with an event to raise money so that girls like Serafina can
go to school.
A great big shout out goes out to all the children who face huge
obstacles to getting the education they dream of.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile fiction
"One day, I'll go to school
and learn to read
so I can become a doctor.
I won't forget you, Granpe.
I promise to find a way
to follow your dream.
I promise to make you proud.
Serafina, protagonist of Ann E. Berg's Serafina's Promise, has
big dreams. She wants to be a doctor so she can keep her people
healthy and prevent babies from dying like her little brother did. As
the book starts even the most basic literacy education is out of reach
for her. There is no money for uniforms and expenses. There is
barely enough for food. Her again pregnant mother has endless chores
for her. She has to hike to a ravine twice a day to get water, gather
wood and charcoal, and help her mother and grandmother bundle herbs to
sell. She feels angry feelings buzz in her like bees. All her mom
seems to care about is work.
Growing up in Haiti, Serafina faces even more obstacles than
extreme poverty. A flood sweeps her home away and forces her family
to relocate and start all over. And then there is a devastating
earthquake.
Told in beautifully flowing free form verse, liberally seasoned
with colorful sayings, Serafina's Promise is a loving tribute to
children who struggle to get even the basics of education most of us
in the United States take for granted and families who manage to
persevere when the little they have is wrenched from their grasp. A
saying toward the end of the book says it best.
"Life is hard,
but no matter what happens,
we beat the drum
and we dance again."
On a personal note, this is why in September I plan to celebrate my
birthday with an event to raise money so that girls like Serafina can
go to school.
A great big shout out goes out to all the children who face huge
obstacles to getting the education they dream of.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
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