Zane And The Hurricane

Zane And The Hurricane

Juvenile fiction
"I never thought a mutt like Bandit could get me in so much
trouble. Don't get me wrong, he's the best dog in the world, and what
happened wasn't his fault, even if it nearly got me killed. Bandit
didn't cause the hurricane, okay? And it wasn't his idea for us to go
all the way from our home in New Hampshire to the heat and smells of
New Orleans."
When I opened Rodman Philbrick's Zane And The Hurricane and read
this first paragraph of the jacket blurb, I could not put it back on
the shelf. As an animal lover and affecianado of well written
suspense stories, I was doubly hooked. Fortunately this book amply
lived up to the promise of these sentences that not only foreshadowed
the plot, but provided a fine intruduction to the voice of its
protagonist.
Zane enters his house to find his mother all red eyed. Someone
hasn't died. She's located a relative of his father who died before
he was born through the magic of the Internet. So he's scheduled to
travel with his dog to New Orleans to meet a great grandmother with a
strange name. Little does me know an unwelcome guest will arrive
shortly afterward: Hurricane Katrina.
A few days into his visit, Zane gets a disturbing call from his
mother. He and Miss Trissy are to get to the airport ASAP. She'll
arrange for them to join her in New Hampshire. Only flights get
cancelled. Miss Trissy's Pastor gives them seats in the church van
that is evacuating parishoners who have no other means of escape.
It's inching up a ramp when Bandy,
Zane's dog, spooked by dobermans in a nearby SUV, jumps out a window
into traffic...
...followed closely by Zane.
The two are in for the frights of a lifetime, struggling to
survive in a surreal world dominated by disaster.
On a personal note, although it's tempting to chalk Zane's action up
to youth, if it was my Joey who jumped out that window, I probably
would have chased the best cat in the world who is curled up on my lap
purring as I write this, even though I just went and turned 57.
A great big shout out goes out to all who take great risks to rescue
people and animals in disaster situations.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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Saturday Is Dadurday

Saturday Is Dadurday

Picture book
When twins are born into her family, young Mimi, protagonist of
Robin Pulver's Saturday Is Dadurday, and her dad work out a routine
for their favorite day, Saturday. They start off with funny shaped
pancakes and the comics and move on to listing and executing fun
activities.
Well one Friday Dad comes home with the sad news that he has to
work Saturdays from now on. He only just learned himself (typical
corporate America!) and looks as sad as she does. He promises he'll
give her the rest of the day when he gets home.
Making the best of it turns out to be a real challenge for
Mimi. There's one poignant picture where she gazes sadly at her
father who is all tricked out in his business suit, scanning a smart
phone in one hand, holding a cup of coffee in the other. Nothing goes
right. Time drags by. Then suddenly she has an idea that just might
work.
You gotta love the last page where Mimi tackles a delighted dad
who you discover to be wearing bright yellow and green striped socks
under his uber dull grey business suit.
On a personal note, Labor Day I was waiting for the hubby to drive us
and Adam to an extended family barbeque. Katie called to say she had
to work at her part time job which is in the retail world. She just
learned the night before on her closing shift. I found myself
thinking what a predicament a girl her age single parenting little
kids (which lots of 21-year-olds are) without an on call mom would be
in. Imagine trying to snag adequate (or any kind of) child care on
such short notice before a three day weekend? Our big businesses are
far from family friendly and we should very much care.
A great big shout out goes out to parents who must somehow juggle
parenting with unpredictable work hours and their children who must
somehow make the best of it.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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Let's Hear It For The Critters

Let's Hear It For The Critters

Picture books
Recently while shelving at Orono Public Library I came upon two
made to be read aloud picture books. Both involve truly memborable
varmints. Both also boast truly distinctive illustration styles that
blend perfectly with text to create irrisistable works of literature.
I'm sure any of us who count four footers as family members have
experienced these beloved critters on their less that perfect behavior
days. (Joey has shed on and shredded objects and had toileting
accidents.) That's the situation in John Grogan's Bad Dog, Marley!
When Cassie and Baby Louie's parents give in to their passionate pleas
for a puppy, Daddy brings home a tiny yellow furball who doesn't stay
little for long. The bigger he gets, the more trouble he gets into.
When he shreds the sofa the family decides he has to go.
Or does he?
Despite modern details like a microwave, Richard Cowdrey's
richly detailed illustrations have a decidedly 1960's flavor. Think
Dick and Jane (and of course Spot) with attitude. I can't imagine a
parent-child duo reading this lively tail without a whole lotta
laughter.
Carol P. Saul's Barn Cat is a very delightful counting book.
Its quite handsome feline star lingers at the barn door. As growing
numbers of varmints (3 butterflies, 6 dragonflies) loiter around her
domain, she naps and grooms and lets them go on their merry way. (She
does bark at the 8 playful puppies). Don't be misled by her display
of blasé. That fine finicky feline is waiting on something special
and not about to settle for less. Mary Azarian's robust yet delicate
wood carvings perfectly carry the farm setting and the spirit of the
book.
On a personal note, sadly Tuesday was the last day of Orono Community
Garden's delivery to our clients. We've been in growth mode. By the
end of the summer we were giving veggies to about 60 senior
households. The last day was made memorable by the children in my
friend, Pat's cooking and gardening class. They were harvesting the
fine carrots they had grown for our veggie bags. They were so excited
and thrilled and proud! When kids beg to sample carrots and are
delighted to take their favorites home that is a very good thing.
It's why we need school gardens. Getting kids (and maybe parents)
hooked on real food is something we should all strive for.
A great big shout out goes out to all who put up with the sometimes
annoying nuances of our beloved four footed friends.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Goodnight iPad

Goodnight iPad

Picture book
I just borrowed one of the most frightening books I ever read
from the Orono Public Library. No, it was not penned by my birthday
twin, Mr. Stephen King, who will hopefully be doing something fun to
celebrate Sunday. :)
Goodnight iPad, penned under the pseudonym of Ann Droyd by an
unidentified award winning writer) is supposed to be a light hearted
parody of the beloved Goodnight Moon. In my mind it's anything but.
If you carefully study the pictures as you read the text you will see
why.
The story is set in a rather large household. As it begins,
night has fallen. Still every member is using one of the myriad forms
of electronic media. Finally a fed up old woman, grandmother maybe,
trying unsuccessfully to sleep, takes matters into her own hands and
begins collecting and turning off the devices. The others cry, plead,
and even physically try to restrain her.
What's wrong with this picture? Where do I start? Even babies
are using electronic devices which are not good for our youngest
children. The child with a facebook account is nowhere near the age
limit of 13 but able to access plenty of age inappropriate content.
Everyone including the father (tie, business shirt, and cocktail) and
mother (business suit) becomes distraught when the devices are shut
down. Beyond that not being a pretty picture, I find it alarming that
human communication only happens when the others are begging the old
woman not to take their instruments of addiction away.
Yes, the behaviors are exaggerated. Unfortunately real life is
a lot closer to fiction than I'd like. When a mother pushes her
beautiful toddler on a swing with her eyes on her iPhone, when a
father misses his child's soccer goal because he's texting, when
parents complain to Dear Abby about nude photos showing up on a 5-year-
old's Facebook page, I can't help thinking, "What the heck?" OK not
heck.
The author dedicates this book to all the folks who are as
"hopelessly plugged in" as she is. The word hopelessly bothers me.
In my mind when electronic devices come to rule one's life instead of
fitting in as useful implements, that is not a good thing. I know too
many people with serious addictions.
On a personal note, recently while I shelved in the children's wing of
the Orono Public Library I saw a truly beautiful sight. A group of
moms was sitting on the floor, deeply and meaningfully engaged with
each other, their children, and the other mom's children. Impromptu
puppet shows were watched and applauded. Little adventurers were
redirected from potentially dangerous pursuits. Eye contact was the
rule, not the exception. I told these moms they were giving their
children a precious gift many of their peers miss out on.
A great big shout out goes out to all who use electronic media in a
mindful, rather than hopelessly plugged in way and rock the real world.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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Sure Signs Of Crazy

Sure Signs Of Crazy

Juvenile fiction
"You've never met anyone like me. Unless, of course, you've met
someone who survived her mother trying to drown her and now lives with
her alcoholic father. If there are other people like to meet this, I
want to meet them pronto..."
Narrator Sarah Nelson starts Karen Harrington's Sure Signs Of
Crazy with this poignant plea. The defining event of her young life
happened when she was only two. Her mother drowned her twin, Simon,
and almost succeeded in murdering her also. Unfortunately the trials
of her parents (her dad for failing to protect his babies) have become
well known to the legal community and the sensation seeking public.
Sarah and her father have to move frequently, always dreading the
moment someone will connect them with the infamous Jane Nelson and
they'll have to uproot themselves again.
Sarah also has to cope with the moods of an extremely volatile
alcoholic father. There are subjects that must must never be brought
up--including her dead brother and hospitalized mother. There are
trouble words she must be careful not to use. She even keeps two
diaries: a hidden one in which she writes her real thoughts and a
fake decoy journal in which she enters what she thinks would make
anyone potentially reading it think she's normal.
One of the subjects she can't bring up is her concern that, with
a psychologically challenged mother and an alcoholic father, she may
be anything but normal.
The tenth anniversary of her mother's crime is arriving with
journalists more than eager to present an update to the public. When
she returns to school she must make a traditional family tree about
her anything but traditional family.
How can a vulnerable young woman take charge of her life under
circumstances that would be daunting for many adults? Read the book
and see. You'll be glad you did.
On a personal note, when my Amber was almost the same age, Penobscot
County was inundated with the story of an extremely psychologically
challenged woman who started her 5-year-old daughter to death.
Because that mom was clearly unable to comprehend what she had done,
she was hospitalized rather than sent to jail. Over a period of 20
years she engaged in an ardurous recovery and regaining of
privileges. I was very angry when it was all written up on that
anniversary. It very much was not news. Who exactly was served by
doing this to a woman who has to now live with one of the most
terrible realities possible? That's what I'd like to know.
A great big shout out goes out to all journalists who can tell the
difference between news and ratings boosting.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Reality Boy

Reality Boy

I don't remember how many years back I did some babysitting for
a neighbor. Her daughter was quite fond of a reality show in which a
nanny would come to the home of a family experiencing discipline
problems and iron them out. I didn't share the popular opinion that
this was a good thing. Help from a professional seemed fine. It was
the airing it for gazillions of viewers in a format that would last
forever that had me concerned. Some of these kids were much too young
to give anything like informed consent. Would the long term effects
on their treatment by others, their family dynamics, and their life
trajectories be anything but benign?
I'd forgotten about those musings until I picked up A. S. King's
Reality Boy, a fast paced novel that addresses those concerns. High
school student Gerald had some anger management problems and unusual
ways of expressing himself going on when he was five. His family, in
desperation, invited reality television into their home and life in
the form of a nanny and a myriad of cameras that made even intimate
moments accessible to a mass audience and existing in perpetuity in
cyberspace. Almost everyone he meets has seen the most outré behavior
of his young life. It doesn't make friendship or dating exactly
easy. In fact it gives bullies more than enough ammunition. He's in
special ed classes even though he has the potential to handle regular
academic work. The long term effects on his family structure seem to
have been more divisive than anything else. And guess what! He's
still angry.
The story of a young man trying to reshape his life against huge
odds is riveting. The questions it poses about the unintended
consequences of American's far more public life styles, especially for
those too young to grasp all the implications, are unfortunately all
too relevant.
On a personal note, I can remember how I felt when my mom showed
certain photographs involving infant nudity to a limited audience of
friends and family. I can't imagine what it would be like to have the
most embarassing moments of my childhood on display for say my school
committee colleagues, my kids, and the folks who will decide if I'm
grad school material.
A great big shout out goes out to all who try to discover and cope
with the ethics of our all too rapidly evolving technologies and
relationships to them.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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The Misadventures Of The Family Fletcher

The Misadventures Of The Family Fletcher

Juvenile fiction
In just about every neighborhood there is one family that can be
counted on to be outré and unpredictable. I was privileged to be one
of that clan in my growing up working class environs. My mom
successfully led a fight against urban renewal complete with don't
tread on me flag on a 50' flagpole. My father liked possessing exotic
pets but not tending to them. At a very young age I was given
responsibility for mammals while Harriet handled such large reptiles
people threatened to report dad to human services.
We would have gotten on quite nicely with the fictitious
Fletchers, the exotic clan whose escapades Dana Alison Levy brings to
life so colorfully in The Misadventures Of The Family Fletcher. In
addition to two dads, a lazy pug, and a crazed coon cat there's:
*12-year-old Sam, an athlete who has decidedly mixed feelings when he
gets a lead in a school musical;
*10-year-old Jax who must somehow find a way to interview their very
angry next-door neighbor for a project of veterans;
*Eli (also 10--the boys are all adopted) who starts attending an
expensive private gifted and talented school only to find himself
missing public school something awful;
And 6-year-old Frog (Jeremiah), owner of a vivid imagination who can't
get his family to realize his new school chum, Ladybug, is a real girl.
Chapters are told from the alternating viewpoints of the boys.
Each one starts with a note, memo, or similar communication from a
friend, family member, or the ultra cantankerous Mr. Nelson. Kids who
want a fast paced, genuinely funny read or evidence of not having the
strangest family in the world will devour this book.
On a personal note, although my new (marriage and childbirth) family
tends to be a shade more conservative, I keep the outré in the
household by performing my poetry at open mics, celebrating my
birthday through a fund raiser for girls' education in Africa (more
about that upcoming), applying for grad school with only bottle
redemption to pay all fees (more about that upcoming), and being in
outrageous events like dance marathons.
A great big shout out goes out to all individuals and families who
keep life colorful for others to view from a safe distance. :)
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Necessary Lies

Necessary Lies

Adult fiction
The only reason I ever laid eyes on Diane Chamberlain's
Necessary Lies is that someone in Orono Public Library hierarchy
switched the adult fiction and nonfiction displays around and forgot
to send me the memo. I am not a big fan of adult fiction--too much
gratuitous sex and violence and much more than I would ever want to
know about young urban celebrity loving professionals. Thinking I
was on safe nonfiction turf (in a hurry) I picked up a book with a
haunting picture of two young girls running through a field. Back
home I discovered my error in a couple of pages. Amazingly those
pages had me hooked on the novel and the beings who came to life
within its pages.
Necessary Lies is one of these truly rare adult novels that
embues a riveting story populated with complex and nuanced characters
with a poignantly vivid sense of time and place. (Most adult
literature authors who stray from the present time either create a
thin and superficial veneer of the past or do too much telling rather
than showing. In my mind, few adult novels inhabit that just rare
space where setting adds to mood without becoming distressingly
obvious.) The plot centers around two characters inhabiting social
spheres light years apart who become inextricably involved in each
others' lives.
Ivy Hart is a teenage girl in a clan that gives new meaning to
the phrase, dysfunctional family. Because her father is dead and her
mother is institutionalized, she lives with her grandmother, a woman
whose inability to exercise restraint or common sense is symbolized by
her devouring sweets as her blood sugar tests (diabetes) give ominous
results. Her older sister, Mary Ella, and her out-of-wedlock son
round out the household. They all dwell in a primative tenant shack,
fearful of being turned out in favor of a family with strong, working
age boys. Every aspect of their life falls under the jurisdiction of
the Department of Public Welfare.
Jane Forrester, in contrast, would seem to have it made in the
shade. By wedding a pediatrician, she has gained entre into the
Junior League, country club set. Wanting to work before settling down
to raise a family, she has become a Department of Public Welfare
caseworker. However, her work conflicts seriously with her home
life. Her doctor hubby, in true 1960 southern gentleman fashion,
wants her to get over her need to work or at least be more reserved in
what she says--more like his friends' wives. He has no idea she is on
the pill to prevent the pregnancies he desires right away. Except for
one insightful woman, the country club women are a twentieth century
clique of rich mean girls.
Jane had somewhat anticipated these complications. She is truly
blindsided by the extent to which her work conflicts with her ethics.
The total control her bureau has over the lives of its clients,
caseworkers' rights to behave in invasive and demeaning ways, and a
sense that many of their decisions are based on prejudicial
stereotypes rather than actual circumstances wear on her more and
more. For instance, she is troubled by the eugenics program that
allows caseworkers to apply for involuntary sterilization of their
clients, some of whom are deceived about the procedure. Mary Ella has
been told she had her appendix out after the birth of her son. Jane
is being pressured to do the same with Ivy who has petit mal
epilepsy. She considers Ivy to be the most competent member of the
household and knows how desperately the teen wants a family.
"If Ivy were my neighbor, though, noone would think of
sterilizing her. That was the thing. The petition was because she
was poor. Poor and on welfare and unable to speak for herself."
Jane is skating on increasingly thin ice at work and home. She
is isolated from friends who could understand what she is going
through. But she can't shake the conviction that somehow she must
speak for Ivy.
Necessary Lies is one of the most powerful works of fiction it's
ever been my pleasure to read. Fans of To Kill A Mockingbird will be
especially partial to this fine novel.
On a personal note, despite being a tomboy I grew up with a burning
desire to someday have children (after going through the preliminaries
of falling in love and marrying). I have petit mal epilepsy that was
overlooked in my growing up years. I was considered a daydreamer. In
my abortive first attempt at grad school a psychology professor
commented that if she didn't know better she'd think I had petit mal.
I came back with, "You might not know better." Turns out she didn't.
I can't imagine what it would have been like to lose out on the
greatest joy in my life over something that didn't really make a
difference.
A great big shout out goes out to all those who fight against
bureaucracy and its rules because of a conviction of their wrongness.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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A Long Way Home

A Long Way Home

Autobiography
Many of us have had anxious moments losing sight of our children
for even a few minutes. Those of us with memories that go way back
can recall moments of true childhood panic, unable to find adult
family members, surrounded by strangers. Now imagine how it would
feel to be adrift in one of the hugest, most dangerous cities at the
age of five. Or better yet, read Saroo Brierly's A Long Way Home.
This amazing book documents a riveting real world saga of courage and
luck and reminds us of the true meaning of family.
Brierly was born into an impoverished single parent family in
the slums of India. Home was a mud and cowpat floored single room
infested with mice and insects. Hunger was his constant, unwanted
companion. Children at early ages went out scavanging for food and
ways to earn small change.
One day an older brother let Brierly come along to a neighboring
town. Left at a railroad station, he ended up trapped in a train to
Calcutta. There he had to not only constantly search for food and
places to sleep, but to stay out of the clutches of equally destitute
gangs and the adults who would sell them into slavery, prostitution,
or worse.
When a caring person turned Brierly in to a police station his
luck took a turn for the better. After officials tried unsuccessfully
to locate his family he was freed for adoption. Taken in by a family
in Tasmania, he was able to lead a life he could previously dream of.
But he never forgot his beloved birth family or his need to locate them.
On a personal note, one of my more vivid childhood memories concerns
my sister, Harriet, getting lost. We were with our father at the
college library where he worked. I guess she wandered off. It was a
hot, muggy day. When Dad discovered she was missing he was running
what seemed like everywhere, pulling me by the arm and yelling at me
because I couldn't run fast enough. When we arrived at a police
station I was on the verge of collapse. There was Harriet eating a
big bowl of ice cream. Dad was ready to take her and leave. I stood
up to my full unimpressive height and announced that it was NOT FAIR!
I was the one who had behaved. I had to be dragged all over and
yelled at. I was not going anywhere until I had my ice cream! Hey, I
was into the occuppy movement before it existed! Whether I was
convincing or obviously on the verge of heat stroke is anyone's
guess. All I know is the police officers agreed and granted my wish.
A great big shout out goes out to all who search for lost children and
provide safe havens for street kids.
Julia Emily Hathaway




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A Death-Struck Year

A Death-Struck Year

YA fiction
Harsh epidemics that sicken indiscriminately and kill a large
portion of the stricken tend to happen overseas in third world
countries. Not always, though. Most young people and too many in my
generation don't know that at the tail end of World War I our country
was in the grip of a terrifying epidemic that had people fearing
neighbors and even family members. Makiia Lucier's A Death-Struck
Year provides mature YA readers with a look at this tumultous chapter
in our nation's history.
Orphan Cleo, 17, is is boarding at her school while her brother
and his pregnant wife celebrate their 13th anniversary in San
Francisco. At first the dreaded Spanish influenza seems to far away
to be a threat. However, strict precautionary measured are being
taken at the school. It's only a matter of time before government
officials shut it down, quarantining all boarding students.
Cleo is not too good about following orders. She manages to
slip away to her empty home, sure that the housekeeper will be
returning soon. The next day she responds to an ad she sees in the
newspaper. The Red Cross is in desperate need of people to canvass
the city, handing out influenza prevention literature and locating
sufferers who need to be hospitalized.
This mission is a far cry from Cleo's usual cushy life. Her
first morning she rushes two desparately children to a temporary
hospital set up in an auditorium, her clothes soiled with blood and
diaper contents. She is shocked to see how many people are there,
struggling to survive. It's not long before she sees dead bodies.
People would understand if she quit. Not only is she involved in a
truly grim mission, but she risks her own life every time she ventures
out of her house.
Cleo knows that the people she rescues might die abandoned if
she stopped searching. She knows only too well what it's like to wait
for help that might not arrive.
On a personal note, this book gave me, a mature reviewer, nightmares.
I dreamed about being one of the poor, doomed people in it. I woke up
with my heart pounding a mile a minute and could not fall asleep
without a beer, a remedy unavailable to the target audience.
A great big shout out goes out to all who risk their lives these days
to rescue people from and stop the spread of Ebola.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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The Secret Hum Of A Daisy

The Secret Hum Of A Daisy

YA fiction
Families can be a source of joy and belonging. They can also a
source of pain and loss, especially when misunderstandings grow
unchecked. Finally, they can be a source of rediscovery and
redemption. This is the subtle and poignant message of Tracy
Holczer's The Secret Hum of a Daisy.
As the book opens, Grace is at her mother's funeral. You get
the feeling she harbors regrets about her mom's last night on earth.
Then she's being torn from the people with whom they lived, people she
considered family, to reside with a grandmother she does not know.
However, she insists on bedding down in a workshop shed rather than
the room that is awaiting her. She has plans to drive her new
guardian so crazy she'll want to return her.
"Mama had spent my lifetime staying away from this person.
She'd gotten herself off a bus in a place she didn't know and trusted
a world of strangers could take better care of her than her own
mother. I wasn't about to do anything different."
Grace and her mother had moved frequently. At each new home her
mom had created a special treasure hunt to help her feel at home.
Could her mother be making one last treasure hunt from beyond? And
could grandma be someone more complex than the cold woman who sent her
daughter away because of an unplanned pregnancy?
Read the book and see. :)
On a personal note, I had a fantastic Labor Day weekend. Saturday and
Sunday the hubby and I were up to camp. Monday was a family cook out
with all my beautiful children and my future son-in-law.
A great big shout out goes out to all teachers, principals, and other
school staff and admin embarking on another school year.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Riding In Cars With Boys

Riding In Cars With Boys

Adult autobiography
Beverly Donofrio's Riding In Cars With Boys is a very good
example of the wisdom of not judging a book by its cover. Far from
racy, it is a poignant and inspiring story of survival and
redemption. As the story opens, Donofrio is driving her very
unplanned for but treasured son to college and reflecting on her
life: the topic of this bittersweet volume.
When Donofrio was in tenth grade her mother said she could not
go to college. Instead of dreaming, she should study typing and get a
good job after high school. Not surprisingly, she gave up trying to
succeed in school. Equally not surprising, at 17 she was pregnant and
married off to her baby daddy. Divorce at 19 and drug arrest at 21
followed. At 23 she wondered whether her young son would be better
off without her.
Fortunately Donofrio's life was about to take a turn for the
better. When her social worker set her up for a battery of tests, she
scored enough to finally get into college, starting off in a community
college and quickly moving up to a prestigious university.
This book is a great read, particularly for folks who work with
young people from challenging backgrounds: first generation college
students and high school students who aspire to be such and their
peers who at least temporarily give up.
On a personal note: Adam's first day as a high school senior I woke
up to wake him up for school, only to discover that he had fixed
breakfast. Didn't he ever look handsome in his favorite blue button-
down shirt!
A great big shout out goes out to all our students going back to school.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Plastic Ahoy!

Plastic Ahoy!

Juvenile nonfiction
Our children were born into a very plastic filled world.
Playing with toys, drinking beverages, doing just about everything,
they are surrounded by this ubiquitous, human made substance, as we
all are. We dispose of a lot of this plastic. Too much of it
migrates to our oceans. How does it effect marine life?
We don't actually know. We don't even know how much there is.
Right now these are active, ongoing critical areas of research.
Patricia Newman's Plastic Ahoy! Investigating The Great Pacific
Garbage Patch, beautifully illustrated with Annie Crawley's
photographs, takes readers on a voyage of discovery aboard a modern
research vessel. They become acquainted with the questions being
addressed and the equipment and methods being used to do so. At the
end they learn how they can help prevent our present plastic
proliferation without leaving their neighborhoods. Way to motivate
young activists!
There is another really cool aspect to Plastic Ahoy! We don't
have anywhere near enough women in STEM (science, technology,
engineering, math) fields. Well the researchers profiled are women.
Their narratives include the childhood interests and experiences that
inspired them to pursue their fascinating and very relevant fields of
study. YOWZA! Betcha their stories can help inspire the next
generation of amazing women scientists!
On a personal note, the hubby and I went to camp weekend before last.
He worked on building a wood shed while I read and took photographs.
We had a nice bonfire with friends of his.
A great big shout out goes out to all scientists and others working
diligently to protect out precious oceans from the damage wrought by
our species.
Julia Emily Hathaway




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Stubby The War Dog

Stubby The War Dog

Juvenile nonfiction
Happy National Dog Day, readers! Now don't you agree that, in
addition to giving attention to every canine who approaches me,
reviewing a great dog book would be a fitting way to celebrate? Knew
you'd agree. Ann Bausum's Stubby The War Dog is a total must read for
anyone, child or adult, who treasures these faithful, furry four-
footed friends.
In 2010 Bausum, a cat person, doing research for another book,
stumbled on information about Stubby.
"The animal's story seemed so incredible that at first I did not
believe it could be true. How could one dog have been so capable,
survived so many battles, gained so much fame? Surely someone had
made him up." Two years later she found herself researching the life
of this very real creature.
For a celebrity canine, Stubby had a rather inauspicious
beginning. Homeless, his origin shrouded in mystery, he befriended a
group of Connecticut National Guard members who were training for war
on Yale University's athletic grounds. He developed an especially
tight bond with James Robert Conroy, so when Conroy was assigned
overseas he smuggled his canine companion aboard.
Luckily for us, Conroy was diligent about committing stories,
photographs, and other memorabilia to a scrapbook which contained over
90 pages. Stubby was not the only canine conscripted into military
service in World War I. Thousands of trained dogs did everything from
delivering messages and carrier pigeons to helping locate injured
soldiers and killing the rats that infested trenches. However, he was
the most documented. Stubby The Dog is a must read for dog devotees
young and old.
On a personal note, soon I will be out in Community Garden with our
own dog mascot Mika.
A great big shout out goes out to dogs and their human companions.



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First Love

First Love

YA novel
When you think of James Petterson--his juvenile and YA works
that is--you probably think adventure or humor. I can't think of any
other author who has done so much to demystify middle school. I never
expected him, despite his amazing versatility to touch my heart. In
his First Love, written with Emily Raymond, he proves me very wrong.
Axi Moore, teen age narrator, described by her best friend,
Robinson as the word nerd, is the last one you'd expect to ditch
school and her life for an epic coast-to-coast road trip. She's saved
her money from nearly five years instead of splurging on electronics
and clothes. Cutting a couple of classes makes her feel "jittery".
Unlikely or not, before you know it she and Robinson have taken
off on a hot-wired motorcycle. It's only the first of the vehicles
they "borrow" on their journey. Sneaking into a swimming pool,
sleeping wherever they are at night--a tent, a car, a stripper's
apartment...they're living for the day, not thinking to much into the
future.
There's a very bittersweet reason, though. It unfolds gradually
as you read the book, making First Love truly poignant and
unforgettable.
On a personal note, yesterday I put up three meals worth of green
beans. It was the first time I froze veggies. I was quite pleased
with myself. Today is community garden and hopefully I'll get more
beans.
A great big shout out goes out to my community garden gang and other
growers of organic produce.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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