These Things Hidden

Adult mystery

    Well it's mid afternoon on New Year's Eve.  Eugene has gone to spend the day with his brother.  I'm glad that they're close.  But I also have to admit to often wishing that I had a sibling I could spend time with and be close to, one who wasn't severely and irreversibly brain damaged.  

     I've been reviewing some real gems of picture and juvenile books I discovered while shelf reading.  But now we're up to the main event.  Six adult books by my favorite newly discovered adult mystery writer, Heather Gudenkauf.

     The lives of four women are interconnected in These Things Hidden.  They live pretty much in the same area.  They even are acquainted.  But if the secrets that invisibly bind them were discovered all would be thrust into a frightening new normal.

     Claire and her husband, Jonathan l, have had their hearts broken by miscarriage and failed in vitro fertilization.  A child they fostered with the hopes of adoption was abruptly taken away and reunified with her mother after they fell in love with her.  Then baby Joshua came into their life.  Five years later he's starting kindergarten and she's running a bookstore in a building Jonathan restored.  Life is looking good for this little family.

     But there's a fear Claire somehow can't shake.

     Allison has just been released early from prison after five years.  Up through her junior year in high school she'd been an academic achiever, a five sport athlete, and popular with her peers.  Then an ill advised relationship left her pregnant and alone with this knowledge until a home delivery with only sister Brynn in attendance.  She was arrested for drowning her baby in the river behind her home.

     When Allison gets a job at Claire's bookstore somehow Joshua looks very familiar.

     Brynn can't get that night out of her mind.  She also feels guilty for Allison's arrest.  She'd called for medical help when her sister took a turn for the worse.  Her life is looking up.  She's moved away from her demanding parents to live with her beloved grandmother.  She's going to a community college in their companion animal program.

     She wants to see Allison basically when Hell freezes over.

     Charm is a nursing student who is getting practical experience at home as well as in her hospital rotations.  She's caring for her stepfather who is dying of cancer.  She wants nothing to do with her irresponsible, manipulative mother or her selfish bad boy brother.  

     And she knows a lot of Claire's secrets.

     At first slowly and incrementally but then rapidly all things hidden start revealing themselves.  The players and their loved ones struggle to cope with their increasingly precarious lives.

     And the fate of one little boy hangs in the balance.

On a purrrsonal note, darkness has started to fall.  I'm about to start working on the very sensible meatloaf supper I'm making for Eugene and, of course Tim if he wants to stay for dinner.  (Jules)

It's almost time to party.  Better nap now so I won't miss any of the fun.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to our readers who will hopefully soon be safely and safely seeing in 2023.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Lion Lights

Juvenile nonfiction 

"The cows are my family's meat, milk, and hides.  They are our family's wealth, and my job is to protect them.  I must not fail.

I am nine years old."

     Richard Turere, real life narrator of Lion Lights, is Maasai, a member of a people for whom cows are central to identity and life style.  A family's wealth is determined by how many cattle they own.  Formerly nomadic, they are now squeezed into small spaces, often near national parks and game reserves, by colonial greed.

     Nine-year-old Richard, protector of his family's livelihood, was caught in a real bind.  None of the ways he tried to deter the king of beasts seemed to work.  Others killed the lions.  When his family's only bull was slain...

"That meant we'd have to buy another bull or borrow one from another farm to get new calves.  It was like waking up in the morning to find you have lost everything.  All your savings are gone."

...he knew that if he didn't find a way to outwit the lions he'd end up hating and killing them.  Luckily he was creative and persistent.

     All American children should have access to this eye opening addition to diversity literature.

On a purrrsonal note, our children and teens are much more capable than most of us are willing to believe.  We still have them penned up in class rooms passively taking in information and showing comprehension through tests.  How long will it take us to realize that they learn best when actively engaged in solving real world problems?  In high school Adam and several classmates created a low cost water filtration system that was actually used in another country.  Kids from multi generational lobstering families developed passions for science when they were studying ways to keep their way of life feasible for future generations.  (Jules).

Lions are cousins of house cats.  So I am related to royalty.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Richard Turere for his eye opening contribution to juvenile literature.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish

Picture Book

     I'm sure sometime you've heard and sung the classic The Wheels on the Bus.  I started belting it out to my babies straight out of the hospital.  The song and its motions were a staple of the library programs I took their young selves to.  Heck, if it starts up when I'm volunteering I drop my shelf reading and join right in and do my best to add cats to the riders.

     Lil Miss Hot Mess' new take is irresistible.  A group of vibrant and self confident drag queens dances down a street:

*hips swishing 

*shoes stomping 

*jewels blinging 

*shoulders shimmying 

     Can you imagine the story time crowd chanting and dancing to that?

     This is a book whose time has come.  Drag shows with their affirmations of human diversity are going mainstream.  Some libraries are hosting Drag Queen Story Hours.  Such a beautiful step in the right direction.

On a purrrsonal note, it really bothers me that those conservatives who want to keep us worshipping the binary are doing their best to keep us in the dark ages and drag in the dark alleys are going all out to shut down this vibrant form of self expression when kids are in the audience.  Even when the queens are simply reading picture books out loud.  (Jules)

Can't wait til the goodies tonight.  Maybe if I take a nap it will come faster (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the drag community.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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When Langston Daninces

Picture book 

     When writer Kaija Langley and illustrator Keith Mallett collaborated on When Langston Dances they created one of the most eloquent and beautiful picture books ever.  It steamrolls a still too prevalent stereotype with grace and dignity.

     Langston loves ballet.

     "He fell in love the first time his mother took him to see the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.  So many bodies soaring across the stage.  Spinning, leaping, twirling dancers everywhere."

     Langston's mother affirms him when he asks if he has it in him to dance like that.  He practices and practices.  On his first day of professional lessons he is dancing to the studio only to be told by a peer that "Boys don't dance like that."

     Is that going to deter our protagonist?  You'd better believe not.  His new ballet teacher has been waiting for him.  And she has a special surprise.

On a purrrsonal note, this book reminds me of a memory from when my Adam was about Langston's age.  The kids and I were at Cascade Park, a beautiful public green space in Bangor for a back to school event.  Kids were being given free school supplies.  Snacks and music created an air of festivity.  And kids could compete for prizes.  It was Adam and a bunch of horrified little girls for a hula hoop competition.  When told that boys don't hula hoop Adam just said, We'll see about that.  And he was a gracious winner, abstaining from any told you so declarations.  (Jules)

I think I'll nap under the Christmas tree and remind my Jules that I'm their best present every year: the gift that keeps on snuggling.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Langston and Adam.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Lunch Every Day

Picture book

    The unnamed narrator of Kathryn Otoshi's Lunch Every Day is not about to stand in the free and reduced lunch line every day.  Lucky for him there's Skinny Kid whose mom packs a very good lunch.  Whose lunch is so easy to take.  Who also probably has a less violent home life.

     One day someone sees him pushing Skinny Kid.  He gets sent to the principal's office where he gets lectured on living up to his potential.  He pretends to feel bad while really feeling mad.

     But that's the only time he gets called on his behavior.  The lunch taking goes on and on...

     ...until one day the whole class gets invited to Skinny Kid's birthday and he receives quite a surprise.

     And kids and adults who read the Author's Note are in for quite a surprise.

     I think that Lunch Every Day is an important book for children and grownups.  The world tends to take an either or approach to bullying.  Either the bully is exactly that or the victim is a snowflake, someone who has to toughen up to handle the "real world".  The reality is much more complex.  We need to realize kids can get that, maybe better than we can.

     The unusual illustrations work perfectly.  The undetailed faces provide an aura of universality while the characters' posture and proximity to each other communicate eloquently.

On a purrrsonal note, I believe that the book provides a perfect example of a situation in which schools need to practice restorative justice.  Technically there's a free and reduced lunch line.  But kids can see who is in it.  And poverty carries a stigma.  The principal, delivering a lecture, is clearly clueless.  Adults going all righteous on kids they label bullies don't realize that the parts of the brain that govern stuff like judgement and decision making aren't fully operational until twenty-five.  (Jules)

The sun is just rising.  Winter nights are so long.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Otoshi for addressing this issue so eloquently through a powerful text/illustration combination.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Soon-to-be Dead Boys

YA chiller 

     When my older daughter, Amber, recommends a book you better believe I check it out.  She knows what I like to read better than just about anyone else.  And when she gifts me a book I know it's going to be special.  Kylee Awiech's Soon-to-be Dead Boys which she just gave me for Christmas is no exception.  It combines a captivating plot with discussion of an issue that in America is still too often flying under the collective radar.

     "Shelby gives me a slow nod.  I get that look a lot.  My love for all things Pathfinders really scares people sometimes.  I can't help it.  I know what I'm meant to do with my life.  I've known since I was thirteen."

     Ellie feels a serious vocation to become a detective.  She's been a member of Pathfinders, an organization to interest kids in law enforcement careers, for years.  Now as a high school senior she's the team leader.

     The first meeting of the school year the team gets a surprise not even their mentor, Officer Ken, anticipated.  The students break into pairs and compete in an evidence finding competition near the river.  Ellie's best friend, Anika, finds an all too real dead body in the river...

     ...And it's not just any dead body.  The first day of school purple papers had been all over the place.  They contained lists of high school boys, singling them out as catcallers or guys who don't know the meaning of the word no.  The papers end with a warning to the boys that the anonymous authors, unwilling to stay silent any longer, are coming after them.  The dead boy, Dylan Williams had made the list.

     He isn't the only one on it to meet an untimely end.

     Ellie is determined to find the killer.  Even though her single minded pursuit is coming between her and Anika.  Even though she thinks she may be a suspect in one of the cases.  Even though she's doing some not quite ethical things in her pursuit of information.  Even she may be putting herself in serious danger.  

     Toward the end of the book Ellie reflects on how, even though they had done terrible things the murder victims were human beings.

"Who am I, or Shelby, or Brooke, to decide who gets to live and who gets to die?  But what are we supposed to do when it seems there's no system of justice to step in either.  There are so many stories of boys getting away with assault and everyone worrying that punishing them at all will ruin their lives."

     If you are a person with a passion  for justice who enjoys a captivating chiller you're going to find Soon-to-be Dead Boys to be a must read.

On a purrrsonal note, after some library volunteering time today I went to Hannaford to prepare to party.  Chips and sour cream and onion soup mix to make an old school dip.  Two kinds of Pringles.  Three kinds of candy.  I still have Christmas Peeps.  It will be a New Years Eve to remember.  (Jules)

And we're stocked on cat treats.  Party on!!! (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Amber with compliments on her good taste in literature.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Ducks Overboard

Picture book

     Plastic duckies are one of the favorite enticements parents use to get kids into the bathtub.  A lot of people see them as the epitome of cute.  But Marcus Motum's Ducks Overboard shows young readers the sinister side to this iconic toy. 

"You may have seen plastic ducks like me before, but I'll bet none of them has a story quite like mine.  I've been on quite an adventure.  This is the story of that incredible journey--where I came from, how I got lost, the strange and amazing sights I saw, and how I ended up here."

     Motum's narrator is manufactured in a Chinese factory in 1992.  Its shipping container containing bath toys headed out for the United States on a ship.  Only there's a huge storm at sea.  The container falls overboard, breaking to unleash 28,000 plastic ducks and other critters on the ocean.  

     Winds and waves propel the critters to an amazing number of continents.  A two page spread shows a location map that amazed me.  Some even spend time in Arctic ice.

     Our narrator isn't one of the lucky ones, ending up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area TWICE THE SIZE OF TEXAS that traps a major amount of trash.  Weeks, months, and years pass until there's another storm kicks up...

     ...bringing our diminutive narrator's story to a satisfying ending.

     The story is actually true.  The shipping container was lost in the Pacific Ocean in January of 1992.  Scientists have managed to track down most of them.  Only a couple of thousand of them are unaccounted for.

      This isn't just a book for our children to read and forget about.  A lot of interesting and alarming facts are seamlessly woven into the text.  At the end are suggestions for how kids, families, and groups can help in the fight against plastic pollution.  It's a great acquisition for school and public libraries.

On a purrrsonal note, I've been putting in time volunteering at 0rono Public Library now that I've recovered from an exhausting fall semester.  My specialty is shelf reading in the juvenile wing.  I'm going to try to shelf read the whole wing before I'm back in school.  The librarians are very happy to have me for awhile.  I enjoy being at a place where parents and children share a love of reading.  The only danger is that I keep coming across all these wonderful books I just hear to review.  (Jules)

It must be a good place.  The people there love cat shirts and cats.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to librarians, library volunteers, and all those wonderful library card holders.  We are family!

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Rescue & Jessica

Picture book

"Will I be a good service dog? Rescue wondered.

What will my new partner be like?

Will she like me?

Rescue didn't want to let anyone down.

     On a special farm a black lab was growing up.  While many in his family had become seeing eye dogs, it had been decided that he was more suited to being a service dog.  He's trained to fetch objects and open doors and in other ways help someone with a mobility impairment.

"How will I do things on my own? Jessica wondered.

When will I be able to walk again?

What will my life be like?

Her whole family was worried about her, and she didn't want to let anyone down."

     Jessica has been badly hurt.  Part of her left leg has been amputated.  Adapting  to a prosthetic limb is quite a challenge.  Feeling sad about the things she still can't do, she isn't sure if she ever can be happy again.

     Then magic happens for both canine and human.  They're paired up and learn how to bring out the best in each other, even when a setback means that Jessica loses her other leg.

     Many people who are aware of seeing eye dogs don't know of the other amazing things canines can do.  Dogs like Rescue help people with physical disabilities.  There are special dogs for hearing impaired people and children on the autism spectrum.  Canine companions can detect oncoming seizures in people with epilepsy or dangerous blood sugar changes in people with diabetes.

     But it's not just the dogs.  Therapy cats do some pretty good work.

     If my kids were little I'd buy them this book in a heartbeat.  It's also a good acquisition for school and public libraries.

On a purrrsonal note, the moment I'd been looking forward to and dreading happened today.  I got the grade for the big paper which was the last part of my internship.  If my calculations are right I have an A- for the class.  I don't think I can be low enough to not get credit for the hardest class of my whole life which I went through with a symptomatic kidney stone.  New Years Eve is just around the corner and I intend to celebrate.  Thanks to the wonders of inter library loan I have a stack of Heather Gudenkauf mysteries.  Tomorrow I'm bussing to Hannaford to buy human and cat treats.  (Jules)

We are going to live it up, celebrate good times.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to our readers with hopes you have plans for a safe and joyous New Years Eve.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Very Crowded Sukkah

Picture book

      Katherine, who is Jewish, is in my program at UMaine.  She's also a GA for the UMaine diversity office.  Right before Christmas break she wrote a really moving piece on how Christmas is disproportionately highlighted.  We give lip service to Hannukah.  But most people don't learn about the holy days that mean more to Jewish people.

     So my eyes really lit up when, while shelf reading in the Orono Public Library's children's wing I discovered Leslie Kimmelman's Very Crowded Sukkah.  A family is preparing to celebrate Sukkot which is a week long harvest festival.  Sort of a non commercialized Thanksgiving.  They've just finished building and decorating their sukkah, a three sided shed with a roof of branches in which they will eat meals, when a big storm starts.  The sukkah is covered by a tarp.  But Ava, the daughter, feels bad that it's alone in the rain...

     Or is it?

     This deceptively simple picture book captures the basics.  A family could do research to learn about Sukkot.  And what child wouldn't enjoy creating and adorning a Sukkah?  Wilson Center has done so in its parking lot.

On a purrrsonal note, I discovered my pet holiday peeve during the most recent UMaine blood drive.  The room we hold canteen in had acquired a big ass TV.  Each day of the drive we were subjected to six hours of Christmas romance movies.  Luckily I had enough responsibilities to ignore them.  I'm not saying we should scrap them.  But could we please have movies with the traditions of other religions as background?  Like how about Ramadan?  If we ever were an entirely Christian nation we certainly aren't one now.  (Jules)

I'm having lots of fun with my new catnip mouse.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Katherine who gave me lots of computer help with turning in my internship assignments and who gave me enthusiastic consent and support when I got the idea to do a lunch and learn on ageism.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

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Stacey's Extraordinary Words

Picture book

     If political leader and activist Stacey Abrams and I had been kids at the same time and place we would have been chums.  I loved this sharing of an incident from her childhood that helped shape the person she is today.

     Stacey was a lover of words from the beginning.  Sometimes she felt that they understood her better than the peers who teased her about being quiet or awkward.  

     One day Stacey's teacher invited her to be in a spelling bee.  She'd nominated her and a boy named Jake, a mean kid who bullied her friends.  Sometimes she also was his target.

     "She wished she had used her clever words to help Suki or Zivko or herself by speaking up.

     Perhaps at the spelling bee she would be braver.  At the spelling bee, she would not be silent."

     If this was fiction you know how that would have played out.  But this real life story is more complex and interesting.  It's a great book to share with the younger people in your life.

     At the end of of her Author's Note Stacey shares this memory:

     "Like Jake, some kids picked on me and others who were different.  Over the years, I learned how to use my words to do good, even when I am most afraid.  I constantly strive to speak up, especially when it makes me nervous.  And if I am doing my very best, I make room for those who haven't discovered their superpowers.  Yet."

On a purrrsonal note, as regular blog readers know, I'm a big time book and library geek.  I was back in the day.  While my peers were hanging out with Dick, Jane, and Sally watching Spot jump, jump, jump I was navigating the card catalog.  I would have loved to have a friend who shared my passion for reading.

I did stick up for kids who were bullied such as immigrants.  Only in my childhood they usually weren't people of color.  This was before all people of a certain pigmentation banded together under the homogenized term "white".  In my childhood in my part of Massachusetts I remember it as being Eastern Europeans.  We had a Polish community of recent arrivals.  When a newly arrived kid from that group showed up their classmates picked on them over stuff like their long names, their clothes, and the food they carried in for lunch.  Not me!  I was always the one who volunteered to be the friend to show them around and the one who showed up on the playground when the bullies threw down.  (Jules)

At night I go back and forth between my people.  Eugene watches stories on a big ass TV.  Jules reads stories in books.  They both need my snuggling.  I don't know how people in catless homes survive.  (Tobago).

A great big shout out goes out to all word lovers.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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The Little House of Hope

Picture book 

     In an author's note Terry Catasus Jennings reveals that her The Little House of Hope was written out of both anger and pride.  The anger was toward a realtor who boasted of never renting to Hispanics.  Her pride was of her family who arrived from Cuba in 1961 with only $50.  All family members went on become gainfully employed citizens.

     A family, parents and their daughter and son, arrive from Cuba.  When they found a house they could afford:

"It was small.

It smelled like old, wet socks.

It had rickety,  tattered furniture 

from a church basement.

But even though they were far from home,

The family was together.

They were safe."

     The parents work multiple jobs.  The children go to school.  The whole family work on their home and study English.  Soon they are joined by the children's aunt and her baby girl.  The aunt begins a day care.  Then a family of four arrives after an arduous journey from Mexico.  

     Families come and go.

"La casita offered a home for those who didn't have a place to go.

It was a safe place, in a new land."

     Even children hear cruel stereotypes about immigrants.  This tender story can help show them that these new arrivals are people fleeing peril and poverty.  But this story is not only for little kids.  Families and older children can be inspired to help new arrivals in their communities with a very challenging transition.

On a purrrsonal note, I really lucked out when my family was only out of power 22 hours.  Something like 100,000 lost power in the big storm last Friday.  Yesterday, four days later, even with power company people working around the clock, four thousand were still in the dark.  Today it's three thousand.  (Jules)

That was a really scary darkness.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the power company people working around the clock.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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The 9:09 Project

YA fiction 

     When a person (or companion animal) really precious to you dies it tears a real hole in your heart and in your life.  Remembering them evokes grief, but the prospect of forgetting them feels like losing them all over again.  Mark H. Parsons explores this predicament in his poignant coming of age narrative, The 9:09 Project.

     Nearly two years ago Jamison, Parsons' protagonist, had lost his mother to cancer.  His mom had been his beloved parent and then some.  They had shared a form of neurodivergence, synesthesia, which involves senses bleeding into one another.  Jamison, for example, sees letters in different colors.  His mother, experiencing life similarly but with more social skills, had been the interpreter between him and the rest of the world, the only one who really got him.

     Jamison's mother had nurtured his talent in photography.  He's trying to honor her memory through his 9:09 project.  Every night at the time of her death he takes a picture at the same corner.  When a friend helps him transfer his work to social media there are unintended consequences.

     His family isn't talking about their loss.  His father spends evenings in the garage mending damaged antique objects.  His sister seems to be immersing himself in school, fashion, and peers.

     This perceptive and sensitive narrative deserves a place in public and school libraries.  It's also an excellent choice for parent and child book clubs.

On a purrrsonal note, Joey cat came into my family's life as a just weaned tuxedo kitten in 2003. My children were 13, 10, and 6.  When he was 3 we discovered that he was medically fragile.  He was even more precious to us.  He was there for beautiful family years.  Then as the children grew independent and set off on their own he was my beloved companion as I figured out who I was and where I belonged in my new normal world.  Despite his frailties he lived vibrantly and robustly, taking joy in every return home from the vet.  He was with us that blizzard day when I was accepted to the graduate program of my dreams.  We got heartbreaking news at the end of my amazing first year.  Lung cancer.  Thanks to a medicine that boosted his appetite I was able to give us three beautiful months during which he was my world.  I was there when he passed.  

People were quick to tell me that I'd get over Joey's loss soon, sometimes asking if I'd get another cat in the next breath.  But I didn't want to the forgetfulness that would end grieving because it would mean losing him all over again.  Today, over 3 years later he lives on in my heart.

When I was open about my grief a lot of people, even complete strangers, came to me with their tales of losing companion animals.  I was about to start a project to honor these fur babies when oh, snap, pandemic put those plans on hold.  Now I can try again.  What I'm planning is a place on campus with a statue of a dog and a cat where people can go to remember and grieve lost animal companions.  Before the pandemic people I surveyed indicated that they were interested and wanted to help.  So now I've got to start again.

If you've lost a loved one, human or animal, my heart goes out to you.

Jules Hathaway 

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She Drives Me Crazy

YA fiction 

     "I try not to look at Tally now as she bounds down the court in her new gold jersey, but it's like pretending the sun doesn't exist.  She pulls her lips into her mouth like she's trying to keep a neutral expression, but I can tell she's thrilled with how this game is going.  It validates every reason for transferring to a school with a better basketball program, a school where she could finally be noticed."

     Scottie, protagonist of Kelly Quindlen's She Drives Me Crazy, hasn't gotten over ex girlfriend Tally breaking up with her when their basketball teams, archrivals, meet on the court.  She can't focus on the game.  Her team loses big time.

     As if that's not enough to sour a night, Scottie is involved in a minor car accident.  She's got a cheer leader nemesis, Irene, who once had her car towed from a party as a prank.  That's exactly the mean girl who backs into her.

     Scottie's mother decides that she should drive Irene to and from school while her car is in the shop.  At first Scottie hates the idea.  But she quickly realizes that Irene might come in handy.  Scottie has become determined to defeat Tally's team when they meet again on the court.  She learns some information about Irene that she might be able to leverage to get her to help with her plan.  What could possibly go wrong?

     Read the book and see.

On a purrrsonal note, I had a wonderful Christmas.  Santa dropped by while Eugene and I were down for a long winter's nap.  I guess we made the nice list.  I got some really sweet gifts from family members.  Eugene and I dropped in on the party at the in-laws' house.  We saw Katie and Jacob there.  I'd talked to Adam on the phone.  He plans to come up before the next semester starts.  After the party we stopped by Amber and Brian's place.  Then we went to look at the Christmas lights.  I took some pictures.  Even though we do every year this beautiful tradition never loses its magic.  So it was a purrrfect Christmas. (Jules)

I got a really cool catnip mouse and cat treats and lots of attention.  I love Christmas.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to family near and far.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Raising Antiracist Children

Parenting 

     My advisor is amazing.  She's someone I deeply respect.  She's helped me not only choose classes but learn about myself and evolve as a human being work in progress.

     I thought of her last week.  I actually had time to spend in my local library and browse the new books.  I'd been bypassing the parenting section recently.  My kids are well on their own with no intention of procreating. For some reason, though, Britt Hawthorne and Natasha Yglesias' Raising Antiracist Children caught my eye.  Leah is raising a very young child.  She would appreciate wisdom on raising an antiracist child.  

     I decided to review the book as a way of saying thank you to someone who has had a large role in shaping the person I am today.

     Honestly I wish this book had been around decades ago when my children were little.  It's so much more insightful than anything available back then.  Here are some of it's considerable strengths.  

     It reminds parents of the need to go beyond reading and thinking to take actions to help change the world in the right direction.  Being enlightened will not help people from marginalized communities thrive or even survive in a world awash in systemic bias.  The family as a unit can undertake actions that can make a difference.  There is a wealth of ideas.

     It connects the dots between racism and other aspects of our society that often aren't seen as interrelated.  Capitalism and consumerism are one of them.  Parents can learn how family spending patterns can reinforce or fight systemic inequities.  The myth of meritocracy with its underlying assertion that people deserve their privilege or deprivation comes under long overdue scrutiny.  

     There is a focus on community that beautifully combats America's isolating individualism/nuclear family focus.  There are ways of creating diverse and communities.  There also is a reminder of the importance of creating change in community institutions schools and protecting vulnerable ones such as libraries.

     While most books support a one way wisdom flow with the parent shaping the child, it supports the agency of the child.  Our kids are savvy and capable long before most people acknowledge.  In fact a child can hold a parent accountable for errors and inconsistencies.  

     Like I said, I really wish this book had been around when my children were little.  If you have young children or grandchildren it's a must acquire.  It also makes a very affordable gift for a public or school library.

On a purrrsonal note, the day before Christmas Eve which was Tobago's 6th birthday and 3rd adoption anniversary was quite dramatic.  I woke up to a pewter sky spitting rain.  As the day wore on the precip became heavier and more wind whipped.  Tobago was visibly frightened.  Eugene had received a ham from his work.  I should have known better than to try to cook it with the weather being what it was.  The power abruptly shut off with an hour of cooking time left to go.  Tobago went from scared to terrified.  She wasn't the only one scared.  I think the wind was close to hurricane force.  The family home is a 32 year old trailer.  The next day the wind and rain had stopped.  The sun was out.  But the power was out so the house was frigid.  I put on a second pair of pajamas and snuggled with Tobago under a blanket on the sofa near the tree with a book.  My fingers were too stiff to hold a pen.  You better believe Tobago and I were happy campers when the power came on and that furnace started up!  And I was able to finish cooking the ham.  (Jules)

It was scary, so very very scary.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the workers who restored the power.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Memphis

Adult fiction 

     I gave myself an early Christmas present.  I borrowed Tara M. Stringfellow's Memphis from the library and discovered an amazing debut novel by an extremely talented author.  It's this kind of experience that keeps me reviewing at times when logic and a hectic schedule have me debating quitting blogging.

     Joan (10), her little sister, Mya (7), and their mother, Miriam, makeup covering the evidence of a beating, have just driven from North Carolina to Memphis, Tennessee to join Miriam's little sister, August, and her son, Derek, in the family home.  

"The house looked living.  Mama squeezed my hand as the three of us gazed up at it, our bleary exhaustion no match for the animated brightest before us.

     'Papa Myron selected and placed each stone of the house's foundation himself,' she whispered to me and Mya.  'With the patience and diligence of a man deep in love.'"

     As they step on the house's vibrant front porch, Joan pulls out her ever present pocket sketchbook and rummages for a piece of charcoal.  Miriam tells her, "Not now."  Art is a bone of contention between them.  Joan loves drawing and sees art as her vocation.  Miriam writes it off as a pipe dream for a Black girl.  Jaded from the dissolution of her own marriage, she believes that her daughters must have careers that will enable them to earn a good living...

     ...for when the men they marry show their true colors.  I grew up hearing that refrain from my white mother, especially during my acting phase.  I guess some experiences run deep enough to transcend color, place, era...

     ...But Joan is only one of the narrators of this three generational narrative.  Readers become familiar with:

     *Miriam who must balance parenting with a grueling schedule of nursing school, practice experience, and a job to help cover some of the girls' and her expenses;

     *August, who had just gotten by as a two person household on her earnings from her in home beauty salon and suddenly has three more people and a very large dog to provide for.  Plus she has divided loyalties.  On an earlier visit Derek had raped then three-year-old Joan.

     *Matriarch Hazel, the woman for whom the house was built who lost her beloved Myron before the death of her first child.  Myron had just become the police's first Black detective.  His death was no in-the-line-of-work accident;

     and *some of the long term neighbors who play vital roles in their lives.

     Memphis engages the reader by being humble and unassuming and profound and thought provoking at the same time.  It develops universal themes within the context of a very specific place and time.  

     I can't wait to see what Stringfellow comes up with next.

On a purrrsonal note, I spent several days last week running errands in Orono.  I went to the Black Bear Exchange where, in addition to good food, I got a Hannaford gift card.  The same day in the mail I got another in a Christmas card.  I made a library run.  No surprise there, right?  I stopped at the Orono Thrift Shop when they were giving all Christmas stuff away.  Such a lovely tradition!  My church had a Santa closet which is a cupboard and bins where people can take donated gifts for free.  With the bus not running on Saturdays it was a struggle to get one real gift to give each family member in addition to money.  I still didn't have anything for Eugene.  Much to my delight I saw a set of four good quality coffee mugs with camping related sayings still unwrapped.  I'd seen similar sets at a sporting goods store last summer and wanted to buy one for his anniversary gift.  Way out of my league price wise.

When I have my degree and a salaried job I am going to be able to Christmas splurge on my loved ones for the first time ever.  And I know that's not the meaning of the season.  Gonna do it anyway.  (Jules)

I love Christmas.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to our beloved family.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

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Missing Pieces

     If you've been a reader of this blog for any length of time you know what I do when I discover an author I think is the cat's pajamas.  I look for any other books they've authored and set about acquiring them.  I was thrilled when I saw a number of volumes listed for Heather Gudenkauf.  Most are on the way thanks to the magic of inter library loan.  And I was able to find Missing Pieces in Orono Public Library.

     Sarah, Gudenkauf's narrator, is living the good life.  She loves her married home on Larkspur Lane.  Her twin daughters, Emma and Elizabeth, have just moved out to start college.  Jack is a wonderful father and husband.  

     There's only one fly in the ointment.  Jack's parents had died in a car accident when he was fifteen.  He and his little sister were taken in by their Aunt Julia and Uncle Hal who raised them as their own.  He's very reserved about his past, resisting any questions.

     "Did he look more like his mother or his father?  What books did she read to him before bedtime or did she call him by a pet name?  Did his father teach him to bait a hook or skip rocks across a pond?  But every time she broached the subject, Jack would find a way to avoid the conversation.  He wouldn't let her in."

     Jack has only been back to Penny Gate, the small Iowa farming town he was raised in, for funerals and weddings.  The last one was his cousin Dean's marriage when the twins were babies.  Sarah has never been there.

     But all that is about to change.  Jack receives a phone call.  His Aunt Julia has had a bad fall and is hospitalized.  Pretty soon Jack and Sarah are on a plane.  After landing they go right to the hospital where Hal, Dean and wife Celia, and Amy are keeping vigil.  Julia is unconscious.  A social worker has questioned Hal about whether there was any reason Julia might feel unsafe in her home.  Sarah says they must have to ask when there's an accident.

     The next day Julia, still unconscious, goes into a massive seizure.  Because of a do-not-resuscitate order medical personnel can't take extreme measures.  

     A doctor has commented that she didn't think Julia's fall was an accident.  Her injuries were too severe to fit with that scenario.  Soon the Sheriff has declared her death to be a homicide.  Amy is in jail.  But other family members also had motive and opportunity.  Hal's home is being searched for clues.

     And Sarah has learned something disturbing about Jack's past.  His parents didn't die in a car accident.  His mother was brutally murdered in her home.  In fact Jack was the prime suspect until his father vanished.  What else has he been lying about?

     If, like me, you're a fan of Lisa Scottoline and Jodi Picoult, you owe it to yourself to read Missing Pieces.  Meanwhile I'll check out Gudenkauf's other work and let you know what I discover.

On a purrrsonal note, as I write this review I'm in geek paradise.  I don't have to go out into the cold, gusty rain that's predicted to last the day.  I'm still in my new Christmas pajamas, lying on the living room sofa with good Tobago cat snuggled up.  The Christmas tree lights are on.  Who could ask for more?

Actually that's pretty much how I spent the first weekend of vacation.  My kidney stone had been seriously flaring the last two weeks of fall semester.  I'd enjoyed those weeks but ended up totally exhausted.  The very welcome rest helped me start to recover.  (Jules)

The weather outside sounds dismal.  It makes me really grateful for my cozy, warm home.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to readers traveling for Christmas with best wishes for safe arrival at their destinations.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

     

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I Can Make This Promise

Juvenile fiction 

     "They ask me what tribe I'm from.  They ask me if I know what buffalo tastes like.  They ask about my spiritual beliefs.  They ask about the percentages and ratios of my blood."

     Edie, protagonist of Christine Day's I Can Make This Promise, can't answer any of these questions.  Her indigenous mother was adopted as a baby and raised by a white couple.

     One summer, exploring her attic to find a set of popsicle molds, Edie and her best friends find an old fashioned photograph of a woman who looks a lot like her.  The box it came from is filled with more pictures, postcards, and letters.  They discover that the mystery woman was named Edith.

     It turns out that Edie's parents know about Edith.  They're planning to tell Edie about her.  They're waiting until they feel that she's old enough to handle the information.

     Edie's uncle tells her to trust her parents.  But how can she when they're withholding information about her heritage?

     I Can Make This Promise, inspired by Day's life and family history, combines an engaging coming of age narrative with age appropriate information about a not so glorious chapter of American history.

On a purrrsonal note, the last day of finals week the Foster Center had their Christmas party.  It gave me a chance to meet some of Emma's colleagues.  She'd invited me.  It was really nice.  It was a small, congenial group.  The soft Christmas music didn't drown out the conversation.  The atmosphere was mellow and relaxed.  The food was distinctive, brought by different people.  I'd helped Emma make peanut butter cookies.  I met a woman named Katie who I plan to get to know better next semester.  It was such a lovely ending to an amazing but exhausting semester.  (Jules)

And she got home before darkness fell.  (Tobago).

A great big shout out goes out to the Foster Center crew.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Just Us

Adult nonfiction 

     Some books are really hard to describe.  Usually when I run across such a volume I return it to the library unread.  But Claudia Rankine's Just Us: An American Conversation was too intriguing to put down.

     Right handed pages contain poems and essays on what racism feels like in daily life in the most quotidian of spaces and interactions.  The microaggressions and other tribulations that fly under the radar of many whites.  Left handed pages are a scrapbook of photographs, pictures, back stories, and sources.

     One of the essays that really got to me was the one entitled daughter.  It begins with this paragraph:

     "Because I want the world for my daughter, and I do mean the world, I have my most corrupt thought of the year.  It's time for the fall parent-teacher meetings at her predominantly white high school, and I think, if her white father goes on his own, her teachers' unconscious racial bias won't be triggered by me to land on her.  Oh God.  Oh God.  Oh God."

     Can you imagine knowing that your mere presence might be detrimental to your beloved daughter's educational experience and opportunities?

     The piece entitled violent starts with a child's coloring of Goldilocks and the three bears.  The child artist was told he had "ruined" the picture by coloring Goldilocks brown.  Rankine delves into the doll preferences tests and the ways in which white teachers convey suspicion of darker skinned children and judge their behaviors more harshly than those of white peers.

     And what about the myriad microaggressions of white male frequent flyers making the skies not so friendly.

     If, like me, you're white, I suggest you read the book.  It may change the way you perceive the public spaces that we all inhabit.

On a purrrsonal note, Academic Showcase went super well.  It's like a science fair for higher education graduate students.  Students who had seminar showed their posters contrasting different kinds of schools on specific issues.  My internship class did exhibit on our internships.  We were to show artifacts and discuss what we did and what we learned.  It was fun.  I had plenty of people come to my table.  They said they really enjoyed my presentation.  

Well now I'm done with work and classes until spring semester.  About a month vaca.  (Jules)

She'll be here more!  That's my big Christmas present!  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to all the other Academic Showcase participants.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Something to Say

Juvenile fiction 

     "But I'm not like everyone.  And I'm all right with that.  Being unique should be a good thing, but the world is full of people like Mama who think fitting in is more important than being yourself."

     Jenea, protagonist of Lisa Moore Ramee's Something to Say, gets very frustrated with her mother's attempts to help her have the popularity in Junior high that she lacked in elementary school.  The sequined sweatshirt is too sparkly.  The cell phone feels unnecessary.  She's fine with being socially self sufficient.

     On her first day of school Janae takes her lunch to a secluded location.  Much to her surprise, a new red-haired boy, Aubrey, joins her and starts a conversation.  Soon he's getting in her space all over--even going to her home.

     Unexpectedly he's getting to her.  It begins to feel good to have a friend.  Only when she begins to feel like part of an us a school assignment threatens to split them up forever.

     A red hot political issue hovers in the background.  Janae attends John Wayne Junior High.  It turns out that the Duke said some racist things--overlooked in his day, but unacceptable now.  Plus Sylvia Mendez was a child who integrated her whites only elementary school in California before Brown v. Board of Education.  Many people feel that renaming the school after her would more accurately reflect the majority Hispanic nature of the student body.  Tempers run high on both sides.

     I was glad to find a book that addresses renaming controversies.  A number of public schools in Maine have replaced names of athletic teams and mascots that perpetuated negative stereotypes of indigenous Peoples.  At UMaine the psychology building was named Clarence Cook Little Hall.  When people discovered how much of a eugenicist he was there was a movement to rename the building.  I'm happy to report that my school came down on the right side of the issue.

On a purrrsonal note, today when Eugene and I were driving home from grocery shopping I was thinking that days like Christmas can be harder than more usual days.  I think it's all the hype that builds up day after day, week after week making it hard not to build up expectations.  And if they fall through we're sad.  Like I was thinking if I don't see my kids, a very real possibility given Maine winter weather, will it even feel like Christmas?  So I decided to unload my expectations.  Only I'm not going all bah, humbug.  I'm just not letting heavy expectations crush a special day.  I will take joy in what happens.  I'm not a Grinch.  More like a self care champion. (Jules)

It will be a good day.  The big SC has me on the nice list.  (Tobago)

A great shout goes out to all our readers who celebrate winter holidays.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Before She Was Found

     "She strikes quickly, without thinking.  The cold metal rips through fabric and skin easily.  She thought it would be harder, take more effort.  The girl looks at her in confusion, presses her fingers to her abdomen and pulls them away.  The girl looks surprised to find them wet with blood."

     With Christmas rushing at us, is there anyone you're scrambling to find a gift for? If that person is a chiller affecianado I have your problem solved.  Heather Gudenkauf's Before She Was Found is the rare adult mystery as good as YA offerings.  It strikes a balance between cozy mystery (whatever that is) and grim and gruesome.  The chiller element comes from the human psyche rather than the literary equivalent of special effects.  Hey, if you want a fun holiday reading experience buy two copies and gift one to yourself.

     The central characters are three twelve-year-old girls in a small rural town.  Violet is a shy child who does a lot of living  in her head.  She, her older brother, Max, and their mother have just moved to Pitch.  Cora is a socially awkward kid with a popular, gorgeous older sister, Kendall, and a mom who pushes her to be more of a joiner.  Jordyn is the mean girl who bullies Cora.  When she was four her father dropped her off with her grandparents and never came back to get her.

     The girls are having a sleepover at Cora's house.  Around midnight they walk to an abandoned train depot.  Later a woman walking her dog discovers Cora badly mutilated but still alive.  As an ambulance rushes in Violet is discovered, physically unharmed but in a state of shock.  

     Who would hurt two little girls?  That's what the police are seeking to learn.  But this isn't going to be an easy assignment.  The only people who can tell what happened are the injured children.  At least one adult is desperate enough to destroy evidence that might implicate a loved one.  One of the suspects is considered to be an urban legend who if alive would be ninety.

     I started the book this morning, kinda forgot zoom church, and didn't get distracted by anything until I finished the last page.  It's that engaging.

     So if you have a chiller lover on your gift list or want to treat yourself to a great read Before She Was Found is a most excellent choice.

On a purrrsonal note, it has been snowing all weekend.  Eugene has pulled two night shifts plowing.  I asked him when the storm will end.  He said "July".  He's kidding.  Right?  (Jules)

All the white stuff keeps coming down.  Sure hope it doesn't keep Santa away.  (Tobago who has been very good all year)

A great big shout out goes out to all the blizzard battles like Eugene.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

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Muhammad Najem, War Reporter

YA nonfiction graphic novel 

     A lot of adults consider graphic novels to be fluff akin to the comics of my childhood days.  True, some are.  But many of today's offerings are the most badass truth tellers you can find.  Muhhamad Najem and Nora Neus' Muhammad Najeem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria is a prime example.  

     As the narrative starts in 2011 very young Muhammad is in his father's carpentry shop, a place he's always felt safe.  Then Assad's soldiers come to town.  His father must explain some very difficult truths.  As dangerous as Assad's soldiers are, the mukhabarat, the secret police, are even more so.  They could be anyone--even street peddlers.  They must never speak badly of Assad because "Even the walls are listening."

     Pretty soon Muhammad's life takes on a hellish quality.  His family home is demolished.  Death begins to rain from the skies as air strikes become common.  His beloved father is killed while praying in a mosque.  

     Muhammad's older brother, Firas, begins shooting war news footage for the outside world interviewing people whose lives are impacted.  "I want to show how the conflict impacts average people.  The powerful people are making all the decisions, but we have to live with the consequences."

     Muhammad decides to use his phone and social media to show the impact of the war on children and demand that the world listen and care.  His family stands behind him despite all the peril.  

     The decision to use the graphic novel format is genius.  Julie Robine's artwork really helps to bring the narrative to life and get readers to care.

     I'd highly recommend this powerful narrative to readers in the target demographic and way beyond.  Most adults in the United States have no clue what's going on in Syria.  We need to know.  We need to care.  We need to do something.

     Forget the snobbery which tells us that only pictureless volumes are adult books.  Printed words and pictures are processed in different parts of the brain.  So combining them gives twice as much information.

     If there is a teen in your life this would make a great last minute gift.  If you can afford to do so, your library might be in need of a copy.

Jules Hathaway 

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Attack of the Black Rectangles

Juvenile fiction 

   In one enormously fortunate coincidence the minute after I finished reading Amy Sarig King's Attack of the Black Rectangles I picked up my smartphone to scan the NPR daily newsletter.  There was a piece by Ashley Hope Perez on the increasing censorship of children's and YA books in schools and libraries by conservative groups trying to regulate what children can read.  Her Out of Darkness, based on a 1937 school explosion that killed hundreds of kids in Texas, came out to critical acclaim.  Then after the 2020 election a movement to challenge and ban the books available to kids and teens in libraries and schools began picking up momentum.  Out of Darkness became a target of censors.  It has now been banned in at least 29 school districts!

     And it's by far not the only victim of our new children's literature witch hunt.  In 2021 there were 600% more challenges and removals than just the year before.  And this doesn't even count the "softer" forms of censorship such as not purchasing certain books to protect one's job or avoid controversy.

     Perez makes a point I hadn't realized.  Most censorship is done under claims of too sexual for the kids.  However, the vast majority of books with any sex or romance content are white, middle class, hetero, and CIS and get a free pass.  The books that are questioned and pulled are those that "center the experiences of marginalized peoples".

     Perez states that "Young people have the right to the resources and stories that help them mature, learn, and understand their world in all its diversity."  They also deserve to learn how certain groups are tromping all over this precious right and how we all can fight back against this vicious censorship.  Amy Sarig King's Attack of the Black Rectangles neatly introduces younger readers to this rapidly spreading crisis.  

     Mac, King's protagonist, lives in a town that tries to achieve perfection by legislating many aspects of citizens' lives.  Halloween trick or treating has been banned.  Junk food isn't sold in stores.  School dress codes are very strict for girls. Houses can only be painted white.

     One of the staunchest defenders of the rules is Laura Samuel Sett.  Unfortunately she's also Mac's sixth grade teacher.  And she's bringing her attitude to her day job.  Mac's lit circle is assigned Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic.  

     When they get their books Mac and his besties, Marci and Denis, notice that some phrases in their books are covered with black rectangles.  Someone is interfering with their right to read the whole story.

     The kids go to the principal, hoping that she will get them unmarked books and put rules in place to prevent this censorship from happening again.  Although she promises to look into the matter, they can tell that she isn't taking them seriously.  Of course their teacher is hoping they'll lose interest in "adult" matters.

     But they are even more determined to get justice.  Next step is the local school board.

     The censorship described in the book was based on a real life incident in an elementary school.  King has a message for young readers.

     " I want you to care about intellectual freedom--which is the right to read.  I'm pretty sure if you get this far in the book, you do care, and you're probably sick of being treated like someone who knows less than you know.  Good.  Keep it up.  My side of the deal is that I'll keep reminding adults that they need to listen to you more."

     Parents of elementary school kids, if you're looking for a modest priced gift to put under the tree, look no further.

On a purrrsonal note, when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s children's and teen literature was a white, middle class, CIS, heteronormative wasteland.  There was about as much diversity in your typical library as in the fictional suburban cul de sac where Dick, Jane, and Sally watched Spot run, run, run.  And sex was the domain of lurid paperbacks in which a "ruined" girl ended up in a home for unwed mothers or died from a back alley abortion.

     Over the years I've cheered every advance in diversity and inclusion in children's and YA literature.  It makes my blood boil to see groups so determined to undermine that hard earned progress.  As a reviewer I do my best to stand up for endangered books and their authors.

     Last Halloween I was at UMaine cosplaying as Cat in the Hat and carrying a sign that encouraged people to read banned books.  I was pleasantly surprised by how many groups of students talked to me about my sign and really engaged in thoughtful conversations.  

     So now I have an idea for the next Banned Books Week which will happen in Fall Semester 2023.  What if the university has student friendly activities for every day of that week.  What if we invite local high school students to some.  What if students can earn a tee shirt by reading banned books, attending events, and doing community service.

     That's what I'm going to try to pull off with help from a lot of people who deeply care about preserving our children's right to read. (Jules)

The colored lights are on the tree.  They are so pretty at night.  And there are a few ornaments up.  Of course I'm helping with decorating.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to authors of banned books and the librarians and teachers who fight for our children's right to read them.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Dear Maine

Adult nonfiction 

     "Knowing he was next, Prosper jumped up and ran away, zigzagging to avoid the gunshots.  As he ran, he could hear his little cousin crying.  And then he couldn't.

     They shot her too."

     At this time in his life, dodging bullets as his grandfather and cousin were slain in cold blood,  Prosper Ishimwe was eight years old.  His family was scattered in a brutal civil war.  He would never see his mother again.

     I met Prosper years later when he was a grad student at University of Maine.  We moved in the same circles.  He was candid about his early experiences, but not retributive.  He wanted listeners to understand the complexities of his native Rwanda, of the battling groups, and of human nature.  He carried himself with grace, mature, and a rare dignity that simultaneously valued self and other.

     As too often happens, we lost touch after he graduated.  Years later when I was flipping through Morgan Rielly and Reza Jalali's Dear Maine I saw a very familiar face.  Of course I had to borrow the book.

     In this nation where, other than the Indigenous Peoples, our families are all from away, we are betraying our own Statue of Liberty and all she stands for.  Our debates on immigration have devolved into memes, tropes, stereotypes, and slogans.  The Muslims are jihadists looking to enter an after death paradise or terrorists who hate our way of life.  People from Mexico and Central America are drug pushers and rapists.  We're to protect ourselves by banning all but the waspiest of potential immigrants and building a wall.

     Rielly and Jalali interviewed over twenty new Mainers from eighteen countries in five continents, portraying them in their full humanity.  Many of them were trapped in  peril, seeing loved ones killed or knowing they've gone missing, possibly never to return.  Abject poverty at a level most of us can't imagine is another factor.  And of course many families fled so the children wouldn't have to suffer as the parents had.  You get to see their subjects as complex, fallible humans like any of us.

     But this isn't just about victimhood.  The people you meet in the book are survivors and so much more.  They have faith and hope even after some of them basically went through hell on Earth.  They have ideas and initiatives.  They have a vitality much needed in the state that's beat out Florida as the nation's oldest.  

     This is a good book to read if you only have small bits of reading time here and there.  The stories are short and highly engaging.  And each offers up much food for thought.  

Jules Hathaway 

     

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Flight For Freedom

Juvenile nonfiction 

     Decades after the walls between East and West Germany were torn down it can be hard for younger readers to imagine the desperation of many people to escape the poverty and regimentation of the East and the dire risks they took in doing so.  Luckily Kristen Fulton brings a real life attempt to life in Flight For Freedom.

     Peter, Fulton's protagonist, finds a picture of a hot air balloon in his house.  He listens as his parents and their best friends make an escape plan.  They must execute it with total stealth.  Government spies are everywhere.  What seems like a lot of time passes.

     Then one night Peter's parents wake him up.  They go to a remote location where the adults set up the homemade balloon.  Just as the rope attaching it to the ground is cut sirens break the night stillness.

On a purrrsonal note, we finally have our Christmas tree.  Eugene brought it home from his wood lot today.  He has to get some more lights.  Then I'll be able to start decorating it.  (Jules)

We haz our tree!  We haz our tree!  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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The Flying Girl

Juvenile nonfiction 

     It's 1903.  An American girl named Aida, protagonist  of Margarita Engle's The Flying Girl, is walking down a street in Paris.  Looking up, she sees a balloon being piloted by a man and decides that she too will fly.

"Aida's mother scolded, 'No, no, no,

silly girl, don't be so bold.  Ay, ay, ay 

no one will ever marry a girl 

who cares to fly!'"

     Mom doesn't have a winning argument.  Aida has no intentions of marrying anyone who would discredit her ambition.  Soon enough she's living her dream and serving as a role model for other girls.

     BTW Aida was up in the sky six months before the Wright brothers got off the ground.

On a purrrsonal note, last week was the last week of classes.  The highlight for me was the before finals stress buster I planned and carried out with much help from my friends.  I had yarn to make cat toys.  Lisa provided materials to make dog toys.  The student wellness crew helped people do crafts they provided.  Andrea sent hot cocoa and cookies down from the Dean's Suite.  Emma provided the Christmas music.  We had great attendance.  People were engaged with the activities and each other.  The room was totally radiating seasonal joy.  I guess I'm campus activities Barbie.

Cat toys.  Great idea.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to all who participated in the event.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

The Arabic Quilt

Picture book 

     Kanzi, an immigrant from Egypt, protagonist of Aya Khalil's The Arabic Quilt, wants very much to fit in with her new American classmates.  She wishes her parents would give her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of ethnic food for school lunch.  She turns down the volume on Arabic radio music when her mother drives her to school.

     When a classmate begins to make fun of her Kanzi is heartbroken.  But her very observant teacher comes up with a project that will help her classmates see the beauty in being bilingual.

     Khalil herself immigrated from Egypt as a child.  The Arabic Quilt is based on her experiences.

On a purrrsonal note, I was saddened to learn of the death of Betsy Webb.  When I was on school committee representing an insignificant town without a high school she was the Bangor superintendent who made Bangor High the first Maine school with a STEM academy.  But she chose to be a mentor to me.  During those years I learned so much from her.  And we conversed about a lot of non school topics too.  As accomplished as she was, she wanted to be remembered mostly for being kind.  She loved nature and respected it.  Whether ice fishing or hiking or camping she left her devices off.  She told me once that she loved to look at the stars because of how knowing what a small part she was of a vast and amazing universe made her feel.  I'm sure I'm only one of the many people in whose hearts she will live on.

A great big shout out goes out to Betsy Webb.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone