Material World

Material World

Adult nonfiction
The date was November 22. Two days after I took the audience at
UMaine's Got Talent by storm with my poem Silver Foxes I got to ace
Millers Analogy Test. Then I walked downtown to volunteer at the
library. Only my friend Janette Landis was about to stop by the Front
Porch Books Christmas party and wondered if I'd join her.
Front Porch Books is in a cozy sun lit room over a garage.
Going there is more like visiting a friend than going to a store. And
once a year when they add fancy cookies and hot spiced cider. Yowza!
I wasn't planning to buy anything. I had very little cash on me. The
place is browser friendly. But there it was set on a little easel
with a ray of sun lighting up its cover, the book of my dreams,
Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel. I actually
had my credit card on me because I needed it as standardized test ID.
I gave in to temptation and violated my cardinal credit card rule:
use only for medical, dental, and vetinary emergencies.
Of course such a book had to be saved for just the right time.
Tonight, December 30, the house is cozy and warm. I've served supper
with no more chores to hand. Lights are sparkling on my lovely
Christmas tree. My Eugene gave me some of his prime chocolates filled
with caramel and nuts. We're talking divine providence here.
Material World lives most excellently up to its promise. It is
the fruit of an ambitious endeavor--an attempt through photographs and
revealing statistics to capture some of the people we share this earth
with and get us thinking about the gap of possessions and
opportunities between the rich and poor societies we live in.
"It is tempting to say that these photographs speak for
themselves. Yes, they do, but only if the reader looks care and
keenly at the wealth of detail presented on every page, noting the
different landscapes, the dwellings, the family sizes, the dress, and,
above all, the dramatic array of each family's material goods, large
or small, laid out in front of the house. Finally, there are the
faces of our fellow human beings, expressing pride, sadness,
weariness, curiosity, and all the other emotions that the camera can
capture..."
If you're anything like me, you'll find Material World
captivating. You get to meet "average" families in 30 countries as
they work, go to school, worship, play, and celebrate special events.
It's like a trip around the world unmarred by obnoxious tourists and
overpriced souvenir shops.
However, if you're anything like me you will also find it
disturbing. The family picture in Bosnia, for example, includes two
armed U.N. soldiers who are not kin. You see very young children
playing sniper because that's what they've grown up seeing. Families
in countries like Etheopia are desperately poor. In a very telling
two page spread titled toilets of the world some countries don't even
show out houses.
Menzel wrote the book out of a conviction that in an
increasingly interconnected world it's important for people to learn
about the lives of folks in other countries. He closes it with a
quote by Albert Einstein. "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can
only be achieved by understanding."
Truly those are words to live by.
On a personal note, I take a day between writing a review and posting
it. Somehow that makes spelling and grammar errors easier to see.
Well I have had the most delightful day possible. I spent it with my
daughter, Amber, and her fiancée, Brian. Amber and I crafted. She is
very talented. And we all ate together. That was the Christmas
present I asked for and the best they could give me. :)
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers. Have a safe and
happy new year.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Everything I Need To Know About Love

Everything I Need To Know About Love

Picture book
Well the day after Christmas I received in the mail the third in
Diane Muldrow's nostalgic Everything I Need To Know series:
Everything I Need To Know About Love I Learned From a Little Golden
book.
You probably have fond memories of Little Golden Books from your
younger days. Some of us made them part of our kids' childhoods.
Affordable and accessible, for many kids they were the only books of
their very own their families could afford.
Everything I Need To Know About Love.... is another great stroll
down memory lane. Sweet thoughts are paired with illustrations from
our favorite little Golden books: The Color Kittens, Tawny Scrawny
Lion, The Jolly Barnyard, The Saggy Baggy Elephant, Nurse Nancy... A
1951 Eloise Wilkens drawing of a boy bringing a heart shaped box to a
house where a little girl watches through the window tells us "Love
makes you bold!" Garth Wiliams 1956 picture of two wide eyed rabbits
instructs us to, "Be ready to take a chance..." My personal favorite,
a family of four cleaning up from a meal reminds us that, "But mostly,
love blooms in life's day-to-day moments."
If you know a Little Golden Books affecianado this would be a
perfect Valentines Day gift.
On a personal note, I want to wish my readers a (safe and) Happy New
Years and a year full of blessings. I shall stay up til midnight
reading near my beautiful Christmas tree and eating candy with Joey
cat on my lap. I'm enjoying the last few days of tranquility til life
gets more hectic.
A great big shout out goes out to my readers who stuck with me this
year and the authors who provided wonderful books that I could
review. Let's see what 2015 brings.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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Timekeeper

Timekeeper

YA fiction
Quite awhile ago I became enchanted with a wonderful time travel
novel called Timeless. In the spirit of the Christmas season I reread
it, enjoying it every bit as much. Then I realized that I actually
had the sequel: Alexandra Monir's Timekeeper. YOWZA!
In Timeless, protagonist Michele, following her mother's
unexpected death, moves from California to New York City to live with
her estranged grandparents. She receives a mysterious gold key that
allows her to time travel and meet some rather fascinating woman
ancestors. She also meets and begins a serious relationship with her
soulmate, Philip. There's only one hitch. His time line is a century
before hers.
Timekeeper takes off where Timeless leaves off. There is a new
boy in Michele's twenty-first century school who she believes to be
the reincarnation of her Philip. Only he is clueless concerning their
back story. Throw in two more complications. Michele's own birth may
be the result of time travel. Also a vindictive woman from the long
ago past has entered her time with the intent of destroying her.
There is enough back story to enjoy the second but I would
strongly encourage anyone new to this series to get both books and
indulge--chocolate highly recommended.
On a personal note, I hope my readers who observe Christmas had a
wonderful day. I know I certainly did. Katie slept over Christmas
Eve so she was there to open gifts with Adam, Eugene, and me. In the
afternoon we went to a wonderful extended family gathering where we
talked and ate and indulged in two lively Hathaway Christmas
traditions: the Yankee swap and the indoor snowball fight using fuzzy
cloth snowballs. Cole really got into that. As a result some of the
snowballs acquired dog slobber. No one minded. Lots of pictures will
amuse us all well into the New Year.
A great big shout out to my sister-in-law, Cheryl Hathaway, the
organizer and hostess with the mostest of the holiday family get
together.
Julia Emily Hathaway




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Monique And The Mango Rains

Monique And The Mango Rains

Adult non fiction
Kris Holloway's Monique And The Mango Rains is an older book
published in 2007. My older daughter, Amber, gave it to me after she
used it as a college textbook.
I adore the book. As a Peace Corps volunteer Holloway spent two
years in a small village in Mali, assisting Monique, a midwife. With
very little education and under conditions we wouldn't let our animals
get treated under Monique delivered babies after giving their mothers
prenatal care, treated malaria, gave shots, taught basic health...was
the end all and be all when it came to health care for the many people
who could not afford a hospital in another town. Holloway and Monique
became close friends. The tone of the book reflects their mutual
caring and respect.
Holloway is candid. In Mali, as in many parts of the world, too
many women die in childbirth because of uncontrolled bleeding or
infections. Lack of clean water kills malnourished children by
diarrhea. Can you imagine a maternity clinic that can't be used
during the rainy season because of holes in the roof?
But there is a lot perpetually busy busy busy Americans,
bombarded with electronic trivia and starved for true connectedness
can learn from more traditional cultures. Contemplating her return to
the United States, Holloway muses, "...I loved living in an inviting
community, where you were always asked to share food and drink, where
you spent time greeting and joking rather than avoiding others because
of a busy schedule. Generations intermingled, there was always an
excuse for celebrating, and death was sad, but not feared."
On a personal note, I have good grad school news. I was invited to do
a select application which means no application fee and guaranteed
scholarship consideration. I have done that by email, sent for
undergrad transcript, contacted my references. I have nearly $500 in
the credit union towards expenses. If all goes well I'll be back in
school in September.
A great big shout out goes out to other moms who are deciding what to
do with their lives after raising their children. Don't stop
believing in yourselves.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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The Language Inside

The Language Inside

YA fiction
Well my cleaning project of going through my books and putting
the ones I'm keeping in order in bookcases is going really well. I
now have one shelf all in order and (thankfully) about a gazillion
books to go. It has been a great sanity saver for a week with no kids
to home, Adam being away doing Wreaths Across America. It gives me a
perfect excuse to read near the lovely Christmas tree, one of my
favorite seasonal activities. And I'm finding some gems such as Holly
Thompson's The Language Inside. I am amazed that I didn't read it
last year when it came out since it's in free verse (poetry being my
first language) and is about cultural difference and adaptation which
I'm totally into.
Japan is home for Emma. It's where she has grown up, where she
has set down roots. So when her mother is diagnosed with breast
cancer and her family flies to Massachusetts to live with her
grandmother so her mother can be treated in Boston Emma is in for
quite the culture shock. She's starting the school year thousands of
miles from her close friends. The crowded former mill town with its
clumps and rows of houses is nothing like the peaceful countryside
she's used to. She desperately misses the ocean. Even her
grandmother's American food tastes hopelessly bland in contrast to the
cuisine she's accustomed to.
Emma also feels guilty to be in America when she's sure she's
needed much more in Japan. She was there in school when the country
was rocked by an earthquake. Some of her relatives had their homes
all but wiped out by the ensuing tsunami. One of her aunts is still
missing. She finds it enormously frustrating to be literally on the
other side of the world when she longs to be with her loved ones,
helping them put their lives back together.
All is not bad in America, however. She begins to volunteer at
a long term care place, helping a poet who has been crippled by a
stroke. She meets a very special friend whose mother lost much of her
family in Cambodia. She discovers a way to use her love of dance to
raise money to help her loved ones in Japan.
Then when she has to decide whether to return with her father in
January or stay with her mother and brother til the end of the school
year she feels split in two.
This is a very fine novel told in what I believe to be the
finest format for story telling.
On a personal note, the tree is up with lights and a few ornaments on
it. It looks really lovely. There is only bare space on the side I
see from my reading chair. I forgot where I put my favorite mostly
cross stitched ornaments. I've been doing an archaeology dig in the
bathroom attached to the master bedroom which doubles as storage space
and finding some. Then tonight I remembered the ornaments I stitched
last winter: a snowy owl, a rocking horse, a Teddy bear, a snowman,
and the word mom surrounded by flowers. All I have to do is put them
in their frames and finish the ornaments I'm working on now. I'll be
all set even if I don't find the rest til next year.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers. I hope this
holiday season is bringing you a maximum of joy and a minimum of
stress. :)
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Summer at Forsaken Lake

Summer at Forsaken Lake

Juvenile fiction
I'm a big fan of Michael D. Beil's Red Blazer Girls series. I
was thrilled to see a book of his with a decidedly different flavor.
Summer at Forsaken Lake is a poignant coming of age story with a male
protagonist discovering his family's past while staying for the first
time with his great uncle at the home where his father once spent
summer vacations.
Nicholas and his obnoxious younger twin sisters are sent from
their New York City home to a rural lake in Ohio to spend summer
vacation with their great uncle. Their mom is a workaholic and their
dad is in Africa serving on Doctors Without Borders. Even though his
friends predict that he'll have the most boring summer of his life,
Nicholas is looking forward to the trip. His father has told him the
old house and the lake are "full of secrets."
At least one secret is quick to reveal itself. A secret
compartment in Nicholas' tower room contains a spiral notebook and a
tin containing an old reel of movie film--evidence of a teen project
of his father, Will.
There's also a cryptic letter to Nicholas' then teenage father
from a girl to whom he gave her first kiss. What was the incident he
took the blame for, requiring him to leave early?
Why did he not finish the movie? Could this girl possibly be the
mother oh Charlie, the girl whose curveball Nicholas finds it
impossible to hit?
Summer at Forsaken Lake combines a page turner of a mystery with
a delightful look at young folks out sailing, bike riding, toasting
marshmellows over a campfire--enjoying the same stuff we did in the
good old days.
On a personal note, Eugene brought home a lovely Christmas tree from
his wood lot. It took a couple of days for it to lose its clumps of
ice and dry off. Now it is lovely with just the colored lights.
Tomorrow I will start adding ornaments. I do so love having a
Christmas tree in our home and putting treasured ornaments on it for
the most magical, mystical time of the year.
A great big shout out goes out to my Eugene for bringing home the tree.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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The Opposite Of Hallelujah

The Opposite Of Hallelujah

YA fiction
Imagine this. You're just about to start your junior year in
high school. For eight years it's been just you and your parents at
home. Now your father tells you that your sister is leaving the
convent where she has resided for eight years to come home. That is
the predicament faced by Caro, narrator of Anna Jarzab's The Opposite
Of Hallelujah.
Caro has had a hard time understanding and explaining Hannah's
decision to become a contemplative nun. When she was twelve she had
said Hannah was dead, sure her friends would never understand the
truth. "To them, nuns were old women who wore nude panty hose to hide
the varicose veins in their legs and seemed like they'd slap you with
a ruler as soon as look at you. Nuns were practically pre-historic,
and it didn't make any sense for my then twenty-three-year-old sister--
tall, thin, blond as Barbie--to be working on her fourth year at the
Sisters of Grace convent in Middleton, Indiana. But she was."
Four years later Caro still has trouble understanding and
explaining. She can't fake the happiness her parents expect her to
show. This sibling returning home is a stranger she hasn't seen in
years.
"...What it might be like to shop with her, watch TV with her, argue
with her, laugh with her. How bizarre to have a sister and still be
an only child. How was I supposed know how to live with someone with
whom the only thing I shared was DNA?" Having no way to explain's
Hannah's reappearance, she puts off telling her friends. Then when a
collision between her home and peer worlds seems inevitable she spins
another lie, even knowing it will come back to haunt her.
Something is seriously wrong with the newly reappeared Hannah.
She sleeps through days and paces at night. She seems immobilized at
the prospect of applying for readmission to college or getting a job.
She barely eats a thing and is wasting away. But her parents, fearful
of pushing her into leaving again, won't push her to get help.
Could the unresolved tragic secret that impelled Hannah to seek
a religious life tear her from her family again in an even sadder way?
This book would be a wonderful read for young people who have
unexpected changes in their life circumstances. It would also make a
good read for parents, teachers, and--you guessed it--guidance
counselors.
On a personal note, I can really relate to Caro. One summer when I
wasn't much older than her my mother took Harriet and me to spend a
summer in a lovely beach cabin at Fire Island. Once a week she went
by ferry to visit her elderly aunt. Then she surprised us by bringing
her home to our apartment. I think this aunt had Alzheimers. People
didn't talk about it then. With Mom in a highly stressful job and
Harriet struggling to complete her education, she became part of my
job description. Let me tell you, it is very difficult for a young
adult to be in charge of someone who can't remember who she is.
A great big shout out goes out to folks who have to deal with
unexpected life challenges and all who help them cope.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Wonder

Wonder

Juvenile fiction
"'If I looked like that,' said the Julian voice, kind of
laughing, 'I swear to God, I'd put a hood over my face every day.'
'I've thought about this a lot,' said the second mummy, sounding
serious, 'and I really think...if I looked like him, seriously, 'I
think that I'd kill myself."
I am once again in the middle of at attempt at cleaning and
organizing the old home space. So far, after organizing my storage
shed, I've cleared enough living room space to accomodate a tree and
scrubbed the floor of the kitchen and recycling corner. Now I'm
giving Orono librarians a break by reading through my own books to see
which to keep and which to donate to the next book sale. I'm even
finding some worthy of reviewing.
One of my most amazing finds was R. J. Palacio's Wonder, source
of the quote with which I started this review. It deals with candor
and sensitivity with a topic that all too often carries a didactic or
saccharine overtone--children who have very visible differences. I
think one reason that it succeeds so admirably is that a number of
people narrate the chapters, conveying the voices of the protagonist
and family members and friends.
Auggie (August) was born with genetic very obvious facial
differences. Even though his mother home schooled him, he has had
enough experience with the outside his family world to know that
people meeting him the first time often startle and say something
cruel or walk away in disgust. He does have friends. But when his
mother decides that it's time for him to attend regular school where
he'll be surrounded by starers it's more than a little scary.
This book covers that first year of official school from the
perspective of Auggie, big sister Olivia, and people in their social
worlds. Auggie has no idea what to expect and how to act. Olivia is
starting a new different school, loves her brother but doesn't want to
be defined by him. Jack and Julian react to being chosen as potential
friends for Auggie by the principal in drastically different ways.
This is an excellent book for kids who are somehow different and
their siblings and parents. I'd also put it on the reading list for
teachers, principals, and especially guidance counselors.
On a personal note, being the sib of a sister with brain damage, I
related very strongly to Olivia. I know what it's like being defined
in reference to a sibling. When I was in college it felt amazing to
be seen as myself, not someone's sister. I was popular and lively and
happy. One night when I was talking to my mother on the phone she
said she was thinking of Harriet going there. In retrospect I feel
that it would not have been a good fit for her. This was the rational
arguement I made. Inwardly I was afraid of losing the refuge where I
was a person in my own right. Only I felt immense guilt because I did
and do love Harriet. Olivia helped me realize that these mixed
feelings are normal.
A great big shout out goes out to kids and adults with differences and
their friends and family members.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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The Great Thanksgiving Escape

The Great Thanksgiving Escape

Picture book
A clan gathering for a holiday can feel very different to a
child than to his enthusiastic parents. That's the message of Mark
Fearing's The Great Thanksgiving Escape which was inspired by his own
childhood memories.
A very reluctant Gavin is taken to his grandma's for
Thanksgiving. He's parked in a room of diapered, drooling, bottle
drinking toddlers until his cousin Rhonda invites him to join her in
breaking out to the backyard swing set. A number of obstacles lie
between them and their destination: the guard dogs, the hall of
aunties, the grand wall of butts, the zombies...
This is a very funny book and great read aloud that may have
parents seeing holiday gatherings from a different perspective.
On a personal note, I kicked butt on Millers, scoring 90th percentile
decades after formal education. Should help me in my quest for grad
school.
A great big shout out goes out to the people who took Millers with
me. May all our dreams come true!
Julia Emily Hathaway


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But I Love Him

But I Love Him

YA fiction
Amanda Grace's But I Love Him is a very powerful novel about a
high school abusive relationship. It's also a quite unusual one, told
in backward chronology. You start with a year later and end up at the
moment Ann and Connor meet. Grace had a reason for this structure.
She wants readers to not second guess and blame the victim. "By
telling the story in reverse chronological order it removes the
reader's ability to judge the protagonist. They don't know the events
that led up to the abuse, so they can only look back and observe."
At the beginning of the book Ann is alone and hurting in a room
of shattered objects, trashed by Connor in a fit of rage, including a
very special gift it took her months to make for him. She's estranged
from her mother and best friend, very isolated. She wonders how
things could have gone so wrong in just a year.
Then slowly, step-by-step, the past unfolds. The story goes
back through Ann seeing Connor's father abuse his mother, through her
final loss of former best friend, Abby, through her leaving her mother
who wants her to abandon Connor, through a pregnancy false alarm...
The characters are convincing, their interactions believable. A
significant read for young people and professionals who work with them.
On a personal note, I am surprised by how many people have potentially
abusive relationships in their histories. I was engaged before my
first attempt at grad school. My family and friends thought my ex
fiancée was the bee's knees. He was always taking me places, buying
me gifts. I alone saw another side to him. He was jealous and had a
temper. There was never anything physical. But he was suspicious
when I spent time with friends or talked on the phone with family
members. I saw red flags. I told him if things stayed the same for
three months I would be out of his life. He started talking about
buying land on a very isolated lake. I told myself there are better
ways of making the 6:00 news than getting carried out in a body bag.
At the end of three months I chose school over him. This is why books
like But I Love Him are so important. They may save lives by helping
girls and women be able to see red flags like I did.
A great big shout out goes out to all who advocate for and help
victims of domestic violence.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Twenty-two Cents

Twenty-two Cents

Juvenile nonfiction
In 2006 Mohammad Yunus and the Organization he had founded,
Grameen Bank, won the Nobel Peace Prize. It's not hard to see why.
By creating a way for people, mostly women, who banks considered
untouchables, or as we say in America, bad credit risks, to get micro
loans to start or expand small businesses he had helped almost twelve
million get better lives for themselves and their families. Paula
Yoo's Twenty-two Cents: Muhummad Yunus and the Village Bank brings
this truly inspiring to life for our children.
Yunus grew up in a family where education and service were
highly valued. He was able to study economics abroad and become a
university professor in his newly liberated homeland of Bangladesh.
The desperate poverty he saw around him drew him out of that ivory
tower and into the streets. He met women who were kept impoverished
by usurious money lenders. But what if they could get the small
advances they needed at modest interest rates?
There are so many things going wrong in the world today it can
be easy for kids and adults to feel discouraged and wonder what one
person can do. Twenty-two Cents reminds us that one person with
determination and the ability to think outside the box can accomplish
quite a lot.
And, by the way, 97% of Grameen Bank's customers pay off their
loans. I don't know what you think, but they don't sound like poor
credit risks to me.
On a personal note, last Friday was Orono Arts Cafe. The date had
been changed from the second Friday to the first Friday. I didn't
have a clue. I was reading in sweats, a sweatshirt, and sock monkey
slippers when Terrie knocked on the door. She gives me rides.
Probably a more normal person would have said, oops, sorry. But I
grabbed a poetry notebook, threw on my coat, and went with her. I
shared Christmas poems which people really enjoyed. I knew they would
much rather see me in sweats and slippers than not at all. Oh, yeah,
Sunday someone gave me a sock monkey and baby sock monkey.
A great big shout out goes out to the Orono Arts Cafe gang. We are
family. Julia Emily Hathaway


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