Tobago Babes watching the all neighborhood Channel on one of her cat 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️ TVs.
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Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Heartbreak Symphony
YA fiction
"Making music is like summoning a ghost. Play the right melody, strike the right chords, and people remember the past with their whole bodies. What it felt like to fall in love for the first time. What it felt like to have that heart you never knew could be so big, broken.
The right song sinks its teeth in us and makes us feel in places we thought were numb. The right song hangs us high above the clouds and makes us dream."
From these first two paragraphs you just know that music will play a prominent role in Laekan Zea Kemp's Heartbreak Symphony. It's one of the biggest commonalities of her two protagonists, Aaron and Mia. Aaron takes pride in his ability to find the songs that reach even the most quietest, most reclusive members of a group when he DJs a reunion or party. Mia plays trumpet beautifully but freezes when it's time to perform on stage.
Family tragedy is a second common denominator. Aaron has recently lost his beloved mother to cancer. His father is lost in a world of private grief. His twin brother, Miguel has channeled his grief into explosive anger. Though sharing the same house they seem world's apart. Mia's mother left her family when she was quite young. Her father died six months later. Her brothers, Andres and Jazzy, have done their best to raise her.
They also share in community tragedy. Although they supposedly live in a sanctuary city, ICE is swooping in more and more, breaking into homes, taking beloved community members into custody and sending them far away--if they let them live...
...and now the community is rising up, preparing for a demonstration. As risky as participating will be, they aren't going to let all they love get torn away from them by bullies with badges.
The book has one of the most powerful quotes I've ever read. Andres is frightened, in danger of being deported. He says that maybe it's good to be scared.
"That's the root of it. We fear because we love. We fear because we are loved. These fragile things are what make life worth living, but they're also what makes it so dangerous. Because nothing is safe. But maybe the fact is fleeting should make us love it even more."
Kemp's sophomore YA novel will have readers in tears: at times from sadness and at other times from glimpses of soaring joy. It's a rich and vibrant symphony of nothing less than life itself.
On a personal note, Sunday at home I needed a writing break. I decided to look at cat 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️ shirts on Ebay, sure I could pass on getting Eugene to order one. Then I saw a shirt that had a gorgeous tuxedo cat with the words Tuxedo Mom. If I hadn't been reading Heartbreak Symphony I would have left Ebay and gone back to work. Joey Cat, my beloved ♥️ companion 💖 for sixteen years had been a gorgeous tuxedo cat. I'd just passed the fourth anniversary of his death. The book 📖 had me thinking about how our dead loved ones live on in our hearts 💕 💞 . As long as Joey lives in my heart ❤️ 💙 💜 I am a tuxedo mom. So I told Eugene to send away for the shirt. It will be a fine tribute to one of the most loving, loyal, and joyous cats ever.
Jules Hathaway
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Monday, August 28, 2023
A Scatter Of Light
YA fiction
"This is why I was spending the summer ☀️ in Woodacre instead of Martha's Vineyard: a boy took some topless photos of me and posted them on Tumblr. The photos got around, and somebody spray painted 🎨 slut on my locker, which meant that the school counselor got nasty and called me in to her office."
Aria, narrator of Malinda Lo's A Scatter Of Light, was the victim of nonconsensual posting. She wasn't aware that the photos were taken, never mind let loose on Tumblr. It happened at a house 🏠 party thrown between prom and senior week. She was drunk. She followed him into a bedroom.
But Aria was the one who paid the price. Her summer ☀️ invitations were rescinded. This was a major problem because neither of her long divorced parents could supervise her. Her mother, a famous opera singer, was performing far away. Her father had been accepted at an all summer writers' colony. The only available for chaperoning adult in her life is her artist 🎨 grandmother who lives in a small town in California.
"Jacob didn't seem to get punished at all. In fact, he only seemed to get more popular. Somehow the fact that he had managed to get my shirt off made him someone the other guys looked up to, but the fact that I had taken my shirt off made me a slut."
Have you ever before seen the double standard illustrated as succinctly as in that last sentence?
Aria is sure that her banishment summer ☀️ will be a real drag. She loves ❤️ her grandmother. But what can she do for fun in a rural town with only a post office and a market?
Plenty it seems. Aria's grandmother's gardener, Steph, and her friends start including her in their social life. The book 📖 is set in 2008. The Supreme Court is about to make an important decision about gay marriage. Becoming involved in the LGBTQ community, falling in love with someone 💕 in an already established relationship and learning more about her grandmother's legacies turn a summer Aria had expected to be excruciatingly boring into a most engaging narrative of self discovery, one many readers will be able to personally relate to.
On a purrrsonal note, it's the first day of fall semester at UMaine. I've finally met the student who is going to be the GA for the Commuter Lounge. With Ben Evans having moved on to Virginia Tech I'm currently the one who knows the most about the place. My plan is to mentor her this semester so we can build on the momentum I started last semester as an intern. I am quite excited because I believe we'll work really well together. (Jules)
My Jules is back to school. Sigh. It was a great summer ☀️. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our new and returning Black Bears.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Sunday, August 27, 2023
Foul Is Fair
YA chiller
"Jenny ran back out barefoot in her baby-pink baby-doll dress and flung herself into the back seat across Summer's lap, and Mads was out of the lot and onto the road, singing through six red lights, and everything was still slow and foggy and almost like a dream, but when Jenny threw the box onto my knees I could see it diamond-clear. Hard black Cleopatra bangs on the front and the label spelled out plain: #010112 REVENGE. So I said it out loud:
REVENGE."
So fam, we've found another literary expose of the not so niceness of elite private schools. An illegitimate love child of William Shakespeare's and Stephen King's most Machiavellian works set in a modern prep school would probably look a lot like Foul Is Fair. This is a book for the most hard-core chiller affecianado. And it isn't one I'd recommend reading home alone at night.
It's Elle's sixteenth birthday. She and her Coven--Jenny, Summer, and Mads--crash a Saint Andrew's Prep party. The booze flows freely. A drink spiked with a roofie leaves her prey for gang rape by members of the school's privileged and popular varsity lacrosse team.
Shall we say they've picked the wrong girl. She and her Coven decide that the rapists deserve the death penalty. Elle, now going by her middle name, Jade, gets her influential father to get her transferred to St. Andrew's where, with cosmetic alterations to her appearance, she is able to infiltrate the elite set as New Girl.
Suddenly the lacrosse team members are dying.
And one question is on everyone's lips...
...Who's next?
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday was the barbecue/backpack give away at the trailer park. After a rainy day before and a ⛅️ morning the 🌞 came out just in time. Hot 🌭 s and 🍔 s were grilled on the spot and there were tables loaded with fruit, veggies and dip, sweets... The baked beans and chili were vegetarian. For dessert there was 🍉 and 🍪 s. People were chilling and chatting. Dogs and even three rabbits on leashes dropped by. And the kids loved the loaded back packs. We gave away two dozen. The stress balls donated by University Credit Union were also popular. Now that I've stashed leftover school supplies in my shed it's time to start getting ready for next year which will be our fifth. (Jules)
From what I heard that was quite the party. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all who contributed to the backpacks 🎒 and the barbeque.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Saturday, August 26, 2023
The Wild One
Adult fiction
Hey, readers, we're about to return to summer camp. But it's a darker, creepier session than you may have experienced back in the day.
"But we all played a part in what happened that summer, and so we shared the burden of that silence. For years the three of us were the only ones who knew that I'm the one who killed him. And now I'm back in the same woods where it began, once again helpless beneath towering oaks and elms and pines. They whisper to each other like they, too, want to unleash the truth."
Amanda, protagonist of Colleen McKeegan's The Wild One, didn't want to go to Camp Catalba the summer she was twelve. She'd be missing out on all the fun her elite clique would be having: sleepovers, a first coed party, maybe a first kiss. She fears that by the time school starts again she'll have been replaced in the group.
But when Amanda meets her cabin mates she becomes engaged in their social dynamics. In addition to the official camp 🏕 activities--swimming, color wars, crafts--there are more covert ones. She's determined to be Sarah's best friend and ruin Catherine's life. Ironically when she suspects that something evil is going on it's Catherine who joins her in a rescue attempt that ends in tragedy.
The three girls involved have sworn to keep what really happened secret. Amanda did keep that promise until she met a boyfriend she could really trust...
...until she can't. As he threatens to expose her she must meet up with the now women whose lives will also be impacted...
...back on the abandoned camp 🏕 grounds where it all started.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday was Maine Hello, the move in day for first year students. It's a precision operation. As each car or truck pulls up in front of a dorm a group carries the new student's possessions to their room. The greetings are enthusiastic. The new student and their parents are quite appreciative.
I focused on talking to parents: telling them what a good school they were leaving their child at, assuring them that what they were feeling was valid. They and their kids appreciated that. Some of the new students hugged me. I also talked to some siblings about mixed feelings being understandable. Call me the family whisperer. It was on and off rainy and 🥶. By the time I got back home it was all I could do not to fall asleep.
Today we'll have the barbeque at which I'll distribute the loaded backpack 🎒 s to kids in my trailer park. It's the first time I didn't just lug them around. I sure hope it works out. The sky is pure clouds. But nothing is falling from them. Yet. (Jules)
Hopefully rain holds off. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all the Maine Hello volunteers.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Friday, August 25, 2023
Parachute Kids
Juvenile graphic novel
Reading books to provide content for my beloved 💕 ♥️ 💖 ❤️ 💗 💓 blog never ceases to be an educational experience. I'd never heard of parachute kids, Asian kids left in foreign countries by parents desperate for them to escape peril in their native lands, until I read Betty C. Tang's Parachute Kids. A superb combination of dialog and illustrations makes it a most poignant and powerful narrative.
Feng-Li, youngest of three siblings, is excited about her family's trip to America. She has a great time until her parents drop some unwelcome news on her and her siblings. Her father is about to return to Taiwan. The rest of the family must stay in the United States. Feng-Li, now Ann, has to start a school where she can't keep up with her English speaking peers and none of her classmates seem friendly, not even the only other Chinese girl.
A few days later the siblings get more bad news. Their mother, unable to get her tourist visa extended, must also leave. Her underage children, whose visas will also have expired, will be on their own to cope with a new world in which they have to stay under the radar or face deportation...
...which might not be easy. Ann's older brother, whose actions are at least partly responsible for the move, is joining a pretty sketchy crowd.
And nobody has warned them about the predatory professional scammers.
Tang based her narrative on her personal experiences. In 1979 her mother and father sent her and her siblings to America to escape the war they feared was imminent. At first life was challenging, but eventually her new country became home. As an adult she can see how hard leaving their children must have been for her parents.
"Parachute Kids is not a memoir, but a mixture of fiction, my family's first experiences in America, and anecdotes of immigrant friends I met along the way. I felt compelled to write it because I think it is important for more people to know about these children and their parents."
On a purrrsonal note, I had a really good Thursday. In the morning I gave tours of the Commuter Lounge to groups of international students. They really seemed engaged and excited. They loved choosing best little friends ❤️ 💗 💕 💓 from Black Bear Animal Shelter. I picked up my Maine Hello tee shirt. I went to the library where I met up with Daisy and gave her a tour of downtown Orono. She really liked some of the stores. I ended my day at the Wilson Center potluck dinner. The weather was beautiful. (Jules)
It was a beautiful day. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Daisy with best wishes for a fabulous career at Fogler.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Thursday, August 24, 2023
Felix Ever After
YA romance
"Why am I always the person who just sits to the side and watches? What is it about me that no one likes, that no one wants? It's like it's too much for other people--me having brown skin, and being queer, and being trans on top of that...or, maybe that's just what I tell myself because I'm too afraid to put myself out there again, too afraid of being rejected and getting hurt. Maybe it's a little bit of both."
Felix Love, protagonist of Kacen Callender's Felix Ever After, despite his ironic last name, watches other people kiss, flirt, and dance, desperate to know what it's like to be in love. He's experienced one short romance that ended badly. But that's not his only rejection. When he was quite young his mother abandoned him and his father to start a new family and never looked back. He has nearly five hundred emails to her on his smartphone drafted but never sent.
Felix is attending summer ☀️ art 🎨 classes at his high school, St. Catherine's. His dream school, Brown University, has a meager 9 percent acceptance rate. His grades and test scores aren't anything near exemplary. So he really has to make his portfolio count. He needs not only acceptance but a full ride scholarship. His father is a night doorman at a hotel who gets as many day gigs as he can. And the treatments that Felix requires to stay trans are expensive.
One day, arriving at school, Felix is horrified to find a gallery on the lobby walls: 16" x 16" photos 📸 from his pre transition years labeled with his dead name.
"Photos of who I used to be.
Long hair. Dresses. Pictures of me with these forced smiles. Expressions showing just how uncomfortable I always felt. The physical pain is strained across my face in those photos.
That discomfort is nothing compared to now.
I can't fucking breathe."
Believing that if the school gets involved they won't "do shit", Felix decides to take matters into his own hands. Sure that he knows who the bully is, he's out to destroy him.
But what if he's wrong? What if the situation is more complicated than he realizes?
Felix Ever After is an excellent read for people trying to make sense of intersectional marginalized identities and their friends and family. It would be enlightening for teens and adults who believe and preach that nonbinary identities aren't really. Sadly they'll probably not only not read it but pressure school and public libraries to ban it.
On a purrrsonal note, apart from libraries, independent bookstores are some of our biggest allies in the fight against book censorship. In Penobscot County, Maine we are very lucky to have The Briar Patch in the heart of downtown Bangor. In the not so distant past it was more like Mother Goose's hang out, all sweetness and pastels. But under new management it is a candy 🍬 shop of diversity, inclusion, and truth telling. Cases stretching to over my head are packed with fine offerings. The enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and friendly staff can help you find what you want. I go there when I get a chance to discover 🔥 new books 📚 to review for this blog. If you live in or visit Bangor, Maine make sure to drop in. You'll feel at home in a New York minute. If you live elsewhere you can drop in virtually and order books 📚. Just don't forget to also locate and patronize enlightened bookstores in your area. In today's 🌎 we really need them. (Jules)
The Briar Patch is the 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️ 😺 🐱 😸 's pajamas. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to The Briar Patch and the other fine bookstores keeping diverse, inclusive, and truth telling books 📚 available for readers.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Icebreaker
YA romance
"'I worked for this, too,' I snap.
He laughs, but it's this bitter, angry sound. I've never dropped the gloves for a fight before, but man, I am so beyond tempted right now.
'Yeah', he snaps back. 'You had to work hard with a name like that.'"
Mickey has tough skates ⛸️ to fill. He comes from a legendary ice 🏒 family. His grandfather and father are basically worshipped. As the son following the birth of five 🏒 oriented sisters, he's been groomed for greatness from a toddler hood wobbling on the ice. Now he is only attending college because he's too young for the NHL draft. After his first year he'll be wherever the team that chooses him is located. He's considered one of the two top draft picks.
He's on the same college team as the other draft pick. The sports media focuses of his rivalry with Jaysen, keeping it front and center in a lot of people's minds. Even as they must work to help their team win each has to not let the other not look too good. So there's no way their rivalry could turn into romance, especially in a homophobic environment...
...or is there?
"So, being both depressed and anxious at the same time is absolutely wild.
I have zero desire or motivation to play hockey or do anything other than acquaint myself with my new mattress, but I also have this all-consuming need to be on the ice. To prove myself worthy of my own name."
Mickey is aware that he's different, that he never feels happy in an environment where everyone else seems to. This effects everything: his school work, his relationships with fellow team members, his poor choices in regard to 🍸. He doesn't know what (if anything) he can do to find the happiness that seems to constantly elude him.
This highly nuanced and complex coming of age narrative, written by an ice 🏒 affecianado, will be a great read for players and fans of the sport...
...as well as people like me who are immune to its appeal.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday the community garden really came alive. The children who had grown a pizza garden had their 🍕 party to which all gardeners were invited. They had a professional chef with a wood 🔥 pizza oven who used very local veggies and flowers for toppings. So many different kinds to try! Now I really want to make pizzas so I can put eggplant on mine. The garden crowd was in a very festive mood. There were a bunch of Muslims ☪️ including a beautiful Muslim baby. One of the women is attending UMaine and having trouble with English. I offered to help. I really hope she takes me up on that. After the party we were weeding to cover crop some beds for the winter. Zoey was saying she's made a lot of jam. I said that means she has to bring us shortbread 🍪 s next Tuesday and luckily she agreed. I brought home cauliflower, green beans, cucumbers, and 🍆 s for pizza. (Jules)
People eat some funny looking things. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all participants.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Sunday, August 20, 2023
The Daughter
Adult mystery
"I felt my way to her chest of drawers, and, pulling out a shirt, slipped the hot-water bottle inside. I stepped carefully over to the bed, half tripping on strewn clothes. My hands moved to turn the cover back around her, but it was smooth and flat."
If you're the parent of a teen this is probably one of your worst nightmares. It's nighttime 🌃. You're waiting for your child to come home, maybe watching TV, browsing social media, or curled up with the family cat 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️ or dog 🐕 reading 📚. You shut your eyes 👀 for a minute that turns into several hours. You wake up and groggily glance at the clock. You mentally thank your child for considerately tiptoeing around you on their way to bed.
But you want to make sure they're safe. You find yourself looking at an empty bed. That's what jolts Jenny, protagonist of Jane Shemilt's The Daughter, into full on alert.
Jenny has been living the good life in her comfortable home. Although her schedule and husband Ted's don't always match up their two doctor marriage feels solid. Her high school daughter and twin sons seem to be thriving. She's even able to find time to spend in her studio painting.
But one night 🌙 can change everything. Suddenly police and media are swarming all over. A search gets underway. Police question everyone even tangentially connected with the family.
Some ugly secrets come out into the open. It seems that Jenny's family isn't as picture perfect as she imagined. Her missing daughter, Naomi, supposedly still a virgin, is or was (depending on whether she's still alive) pregnant. One of her sons has become addicted to drugs he stole from her. Ted's alibi for the night of the disappearance turns out to be a lie...
...but at that point adultery seems pretty trifling compared to the possible murder of a beloved child.
I found the narrative to be highly engaging. And I'm not the only one. On a library comment card seven out of eight readers gave it a nine or ten.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday I went to a memorial service I could not believe. If I didn't know better I might have mistaken it for an an old time revival service. The minister kept talking about how we're all Sinners and can't save ourselves on our own merits so we'd better accept Christ as our savior before it's too late. Then he prayed that the "bereaved family" would be moved (presumably by his words) to make the right decision. I'd also been to services which were infomercials for salvation with the deceased depicted as unrecognizably pious and the pitch that if you were as holy you too could join them in Paradise. Adam at five told me that a funeral was a chance to say goodbye to an old friend. People want to remember a loved one as a fabulous but flawed human (not a plaster saint) and hear other people's memories. They want to know that someone they loved was treasured by others. Why do some clergy people seem to forget this?
Jules Hathaway
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Saturday, August 19, 2023
Flow
Adult nonfiction
"Women could also depend on the good ol' terra firma, the ground itself. Female factory workers would often work standing up, sans underwear and knee-deep in straw into which they freely bled. The work station, much like a stall full of farm animals, would be mucked out when the conditions became unbearably filthy."
Can you join me in saying eeeuw!!!
Chances are that a little half of you readers either are or have for decades of your life had a menstrual cycle. Chances are that there's a lot you haven't been told about this basic but complex bodily function. It's still for many a taboo topic. Once I almost caused a riot by suggesting that a church group include period products in care packages for homeless people. In their Flow: The Cultural Story Of Menstruation Elissa Stein and Susan Kim deliver all the facts your mom or health teacher may not have mentioned.
They also deliver the history of how periods have been demonized (by males) and experienced (by females). We get the not so pretty story of how girls and women coped during that time of the month before the arrival of pads and tampons. One way was the scenario quoted at the top of the review. And the whole volume is replete with ads for period products from the 1920s to the 21st century.
The dark side of the industry is also portrayed: how research on products, including those with strong chemicals is conducted by the industry rather than by independent scientists; how some products have stayed on the market until nasty side effects such as toxic shock and cancer have been discovered, how ads have used shame about a natural bodily process to push products...
Flow is an excellent read 📚 for feminist scholars and females who want more ownership of their bodies.
On a purrrsonal note, I had a great time Thursday night. We had a delicious pot luck supper. Then we went outside and sang songs around a camp 🔥. Adam, who has worked as a fire fighter, would be proud of me. I thought to bring out a bucket 🪣 of water. Fall semester I have a class that ends after the less bus home. But since it's on Thursday I can just have supper at Wilson Center and a ride home from there. (Jules)
That's a load off my mind. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the Wilson Center family.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Friday, August 18, 2023
Warrior Girl Unearthed
YA fiction
"Our ancestors' bodies and funerary objects have been written on with markers and pens, handled, and studied by professors, researchers, and students for far too long. Their bodies, laid out in cardboard boxes, on metal shelves, is your university's shameful reminder of the disrespect for human dignity...We ask, would you want your grandmothers and grandfathers to be this way?"
These "Remarks from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe to the University of Michigan Board of Regents" in 2008 are quoted in Angeline Boulley's Warrior Girl Unearthed. In her powerful novel Boulley brings a timely topic--the reluctance of white institutions to return precious items to Indigenous tribes and the tricks they engage in to stall--to life. A truly engaging plot and relatable characters will leave young adult and savvy adult readers more informed (and hopefully angered) about this social justice ⚖️ issue than just about anyone else.
Perry Firekeeper-Birch would be content to stay on Sugar Island forever. Forget about college. Fishing is her dream vocation. Unlike twin sister, Pauline, she can find all she wants and needs in her close knit family and tribal community.
Perry's plans to spend the summer ☀️ before her junior year fishing is over before it starts when she crashes the Jeep she and Pauline were given as a sixteenth birthday gift with many strings attached by their Auntie Daunis. A mother bear gets in her path. Speed was involved. Auntie Daunis pays the $3,200 in damages. In return Perry is to join the Kinomaage internship program Pauline is in and turn over all her paychecks until the debt is paid.
At first Perry considers this a major imposition. She'd much rather be fishing 🎣 with her father and 🐕. She even tries to find alternative jobs by which she can pay her debt. Then she meets Warrior Girl at Mackinac State College.
"This was a person.
I've seen and heard the term human remains at least a hundred times today. But it registers differently now. The remains of a human being who lived and breathed."
Perry becomes passionate about repatriating Warrior Girl's remains. She also begins to recognize the enormity of Indigenous loss.
"I stare at random tourists and wonder how they would react to their ancestors being stolen for research. I'm guessing they would see it as sacrilege. So why were my relatives fair game?"
One day Perry makes a horrific discovery. She will need the cooperation of a number of people, all of whom could get in serious trouble if caught, to rescue forty Indigenous remains from a collector's silo. On this nighttime 🌃 mission they quickly run into peril.
And Indigenous remains are not the only bodies being mistreated. Indigenous girls are going missing only to be discovered too late. One day Perry's friend Shense, the mother of a baby, is on the missing posters.
Warrior Girl Unearthed will quickly hook readers while raising awareness of an important social justice issue. It belongs in all high school and public libraries. I highly recommend it to YA and adult readers. I plan to track
On a purrrsonal note, Perry asks why tourists don't see the harm in using remains of Indigenous peoples for research when they would consider similar abuse of their ancestirs to be sacrilege. Earlier in the book she is told that remains are usually disarticulated and stored by category. It's the othering that allows collectors and researchers to not see Indigenous people and remains as fully human. It's like the rationalizations slave owners made for kidnapping and abusing people. It's like the Nazi practice of branding Jews ✡️ with the numbers that became their identity. Once long ago I saw a large group of neglected grave stones. They bore no names, just numbers. I learned that they were the final resting places of women and girls who had died in a mental institution. For years after that I had nightmares about being buried without my name. Dehumanization and othering give people ways to do awful things while still being respected in their communities. As this book illustrates, it's still going on today.
Jules Hathaway
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Thursday, August 17, 2023
Catch Us When We Fall
Adult fiction
"Ben MacGreavy had been a smart man. Cass cradled a secret pride for the way he always seemed to have the answer to every question. That whip-smart intellect once landed him a spot on Jeopardy!, and his winnings had gotten as high as $22,400 after the first round."
Unfortunately Ben's book smarts weren't matched by street smarts. Too many rounds of scotch had caused him to blow the final question and walk off with the third place consolation prize. Sort of like his relationship with long term girlfriend Cass. Short term jobs alternated with longer term stretches of drunkenness and risk taking.
Now the party is over. Ben has died of alcohol 🍸 poisoning. Cass is left with no money, no home, and no family or friends to turn to for support. She's also pregnant with Ben's child, a baby she very much wants to give birth to and raise, a baby she has to be sober for.
In desperation she turns to Ben's ball player brother, Scott. After paying for her stint in rehab he allows her to move into his home until she comes up with a more long-term solution. Only his rules for staying are strict and include total abstinence. Despite Cass's good intentions for the child growing inside her she is mightily tempted to give in to the urge for just one more drink.
In Catch Us When We Fall Juliette Fay has created complex and relatable characters caught up in and making the best of a situation neither of them would have chosen but that might somehow, against all odds, might be the best thing that could happen for both of them, not to mention the yet to be born catalyst.
On a purrrsonal note, a week and a half until school starts. Leah just mailed out the book 📖 list for Leadership and Change in Higher Education. Whoa! 5 required books! Since I'll be paying tuition for my field experience, will have 2 classes spring semester, and won't be able to work this year financially this last year will be a wing and a prayer. My friend Diane is going to help me drop off the thrift shop stuff and drive me to campus where I'll meet with my career counselor, Kate, and check the textbook prices. Tonight is Wilson Center. At least I won't have to worry about getting home after my night class. Since it's Thursday I can go to Wilson Center after and get a ride home from there. (Jules)
Why is she worrying? My minion Erin just cashed 💸 in my stash of bottles and cans giving me $200 more for my savings account. If she needs money 💰 help to achieve her very worthy goal of earning her degree I can help. My people and I are a team. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Diane, Kate, and Erin.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Wednesday, August 16, 2023
On The Roof Top
Adult historical fiction
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton's On The Roof Top takes readers back to 1950s San Francisco. It's a story of family, exploring the complexities of mother-daughter and sibling relationships. It's also a narrative of a marginalized community struggling to keep their homes, workplaces, and churches from being legally (but not ethically) stolen.
Vivian has seen more than her share of tragedy. She'd fled racial violence earlier in life, moving from the deep South to California. She'd married the love ❤️ of her life, only to lose him shortly before the birth of their third daughter.
These three now grown girls are Vivian's world. As she supported them working as a nurse she cultivated them as a singing trio, coaching them, getting them bookings, creating their costumes, refereeing their spats... It looks like all her hard work is about to pay off. She's landed them a very auspicious audition.
But you know kids aren't always willing to play their designated roles in a parent's plans. First oldest daughter, Ruth, announces that she's pregnant and determined to marry the father of her baby. Then Esther begins to find herself in social activism. Even baby Chloe, Vivian's miracle child, may have ideas of her own.
While all this is going on the family and their community are in a David vs Goliath struggle against gentrification in the guise of urban renewal. High ranking officials, white men in gray flannel suits, have declared their neighborhood blighted. At first making buy out offers to home and business owners, they're now resorting to the legal theft known as eminent domain.
This finely tuned drama of family and home will strike just the right note with historical fiction affecianados.
On a purrrsonal note, I volunteered last evening at community garden. The late summer crops are coming in. I was able to bring home cauliflower, green beans, zucchini, and a cucumber. I learned something about Lyme disease. I was talking to someone who has had it 20 years. There is no cure. It goes between flare ups and dormancy for the rest of your life. That is seriously scary because Eugene doesn't like it when I don't go to camp (like my anxiety is suggesting). Why can't staying safe be simple? (Jules)
It was a really nice day. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the community garden crew.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Pedro & Daniel
Mature YA/adult fiction
"Many of the stories in this novel are difficult to read. They were difficult to write. Those who have known any of the many forms of abuse depicted in these stories may experience triggers. Please see the resources listed below. There is help either a click or a call away. Please ask for help."
Federico Erebia's Pedro & Daniel is one of those books that affirms my belief that the generic YA is way too broad a classification, spanning the seven years where the most cognitive and emotional change occurs in a person's lifetime. It isn't something you want most sixth graders reading. But for the more mature high schooler as well as adult reader it can be a thought provoking and affirming read.
Although Pedro & Daniel is a work of fiction, it is based on Erebia's relationship with his own beloved brother, Daniel, who died of AIDS in 1993 at the age of thirty. Writing the novel was an act of bringing him "back to life" through its pages.
The first part of the book is basically a horror story. The boys' mother was seriously mentally ill. Her extreme physical and psychological abuse made their childhood one of walking on eggshells to avoid setting her off. And all the adults who should have intervened turned a blind eye to their plight.
They have one source of comfort and support: each other. When Pedro, the older brother, is told to bring his one true treasure to show and tell in kindergarten, rather than share a possession, he brings Daniel in. Their evolving relationship is a ray of light in what otherwise is a shitsttorm.
The Catholic Church is a major influence in the family's life. It's very much a place where they don't practice what they preach. Although the official doctrine condemns gays to burning 🔥 in Hell for all eternity, some of the priests take advantage of young male congregants. In one ironic episode Daniel, who is then a student in seminary, is outed to the administration by the priest who has just slept with him. While Daniel is expelled, the priest suffers no consequences whatsoever.
Through those years, even when separated by distance, the brothers' bond strengthens, only to be met with the ultimate test. Daniel is diagnosed with AIDS. As for Pedro:
"I feel so useless. I'm a gay HIV provider, and I can't help my own brother with AIDS. This is a special sort of hell on earth."
Pedro & Daniel is one of the books that the self appointed censors will come after all pitchforks and torches when they learn of its existence. It's one that needs to be defended. For people including teens mature enough to handle the subject matter it's engaging and enlightening. For people experiencing similar kinds of abuse it can be a lifeline.
Jules Hathaway
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Monday, August 14, 2023
You Are Here
Juvenile short story anthology
If you're a fan of multiple author short story anthologies created around a central location and cast you are going to love You Are Here Connecting Flights edited by Ellen Oh.
The setting is a busy airport. People are briskly coming and going...
...until a humongous storm kicks up outside, delaying and canceling many flights. As the airport gets more and more crowded just about anything that can go wrong does. Tempers flare. Interactions between strangers become intense.
There is an important underlying theme. The authors are part of the richly diverse Asian American population as are the characters who undergo experiences of their creators. Adults and children spew hateful words. Even a lot of well meaning people are needlessly clueless. Kids have a learning opportunity embedded in an engaging plot.
Kids who like individual author's stories can find out what else they have written in the biographies in the back.
Creating a book with overlapping characters required a lot of teamwork by phone calls, emails, and zooms. Oh really enjoyed the zooms. She just wishes she'd had the space to include more authors and perspectives.
Oh ends her editor's note with:
"Thank you for joining us on this journey through twelve different looks at the Asian American experience. For some of you, the events represented here will come as an eye-opening surprise, while others of you will recognize elements of your own lives in these pages. But at the core of this book is a reminder that Asian Americans are Americans, too. We belong here. We are part of the fabric of this country that we love dearly, and this book is both an affirmation and a celebration of who we are."
On a purrrsonal note, I had a great weekend. Eugene and I went to camp. Eugene has a best friend named Richard Brown who has a camp just down the road. They were besties when I met Eugene 36 years ago. Gotta respect that. These days they hardly ever get a chance to meet up. Richard and his wife Karen were at their camp. We spent much of Saturday with them, culminating in a bonfire. The last time we'd all been around a bonfire had been in the first year of the pandemic when we had no idea what the future would bring. Sunday on the way home we stopped at a store to buy groceries. I decided I'd better start looking for the piece I needed to complete my first day of Leah's class outfit. With only two weeks I wasn't sure I'd find it. It took me five minutes. (Jules)
Late in the afternoon we started getting thunder and lighting. Then there was pouring rain 🌧 . Mother Nature put on quite a show. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes to Richard and Karen Brown. Good people.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Sunday, August 13, 2023
Lola At Last
YA fiction
"Tully: The reason sloppy photos of me making out with someone else's boyfriend live on in an awful corner of the internet. The reason Meg and Jasmine iced me out and Kat found new friends. The reason my parents shipped me off to France to 'get some space' from my mistakes."
Lola, protagonist of JC Peterson's Lola At Last, is back from her European exile and ready to be reunited with her popular crowd. She's sure everyone has moved on from the incident...
...Except nope. Her best friends, Jasmine and Meg want nothing to do with her. Her twin sister, Kat, has become a part of the nerd set. While Tully, the male half of the incident, is still as popular as ever, having suffered no consequences whatsoever. When she tries to win back the attention and admiration of the crowd Lola shoots off a flare gun, accidentally setting the yacht that is the site of the party 🥳 on fire...
...a yacht that has just been purchased by her brother-in-law, Will. He isn't going to file charges. But he insists that her actions have consequences. He's enrolling her in a program, Hike Like A Girl, in which she'll be part of a group developing hiking and backpacking skills. If she doesn't pull her weight she'll be dropped and Will will be contacted.
At first the program is as terrible as Lola expects it to be. But when she begins to put in an effort to show doubters she can handle it she starts feeling pride and finding aspects of hiking and nature she enjoys.
And there's a boy in Kat's new set who she may just be falling for.
As those of who have lived through the teens know, these can be quite turbulent years when one can feel stuck in and defined by a low point. Lola shows young readers the potential for redemption, for moving on.
On a purrrsonal note, Friday was the fourth anniversary of the death of Joseph Jacob Hathaway ❤️ 💕 ♥️ 💙 💖 💗 aka Joey Cat who was my beloved companion for 16 years. I focused on my favorite memories and how fortunate I was to have him in my life. As far as cats go, he was a good cat who left paw 🐾 prints on the ❤️ 💙 💜 💖 💗 of all who loved him.
Jules Hathaway
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Friday, August 11, 2023
In The Role Of Brie Hutchens
YA fiction
"Brie was almost positive her mom didn't like her.
That wasn't to say her Mom didn't love her. But Brie had a hard time believing that she liked her. For example, Brie didn't believe she was the type of girl her mom would point at and go 'Now that is a good girl' if they met elsewhere. Someone like Kennedy Bishop, on the other hand, was the quintessential good girl. Everyone's mom liked Kennedy Bishop."
For Brie, protagonist of Nicole Mellaby's In The Role Of Brie Hutchins, the best part of the day is when she and her mom watch soap operas together. It's been their thing since early childhood.
In Brie's mind they don't have much else in common. For one thing her mother is a devout Catholic who has her enrolled in parochial school, insists on her attending church twice a week, and seems to have a personal relationship with the Virgin Mary. How will she react when she learns that Brie likes LIKES girls?
And then there's Brie's impending transition to high school. Brie is determined to become an actress. Since fourth grade It's been her dream to attend Monmouth County Performing Arts.
"MCPA was a high school dedicated solely to the performing 🎭 arts--a school where she could learn how to be as good an actress as her favorite soap stars 🌟 on TV--and the brochure had lists of classes that included theater and television 📺 and film acting."
Her mother is not a fan of this idea. She's not impressed with Brie's less than stellar grades. The family would have a really hard time affording her tuition. She feels that an exclusive focus on a vocation very few people have a chance in is not exactly a winning strategy.
Brie's emotions are complicated by her changing feelings about her high achieving rival. She can't be crushing on Kennedy Bishop...
...or can she?
Eighth grade with its imminent transition to high school can be a confusing transition. In The Role Of Brie Hutchins is a wonderful read for people going through or vividly remembering it.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday was an amazing day for me. I started off weeding in the community garden. I had some fresh blueberries and the first sungold tomatoes 🍅 😋 of the season. Delish! I bussed home to shower and change before going to campus and Wilson Center. The pot luck was to die for. Someone had brought in big cartons of blueberries 🫐 and strawberries 🍓 and I had birthday 🎂 white chocolate cocoa 😋 😍. The banned books program went off so well. People participated enthusiastically and authentically. They really enjoyed 😉 ☺️ 🙂 making the bookmarks. They agreed that the hands on activity made engaging in the conversation easier. People thanked me for bringing the program. It felt good to be alive. (Jules)
She came home just about floating on air. Nice. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the participants.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Thursday, August 10, 2023
The Parker Inheritance
Juvenile mystery
"Thus I have created an opportunity for Lambert to earn back everything I took from the city--a fortune totaling $40 million at my last reckoning. I've created a puzzle mystery that will take you deep into the city's past. The person who finds this 'inheritance' will receive a tenth of the money; the remainder will be allocated to the city. In return, the winner must share what he or she learns through the puzzle with the world."
Candice, protagonist of Varian Johnson's The Parker Inheritance, is anticipating a terrible summer. Her divorced mother is having their family's Atlanta home renovated to sell it. So they're temporarily staying in her recently deceased grandmother's home in Lambert, a small town in South Carolina. She'll miss out on so many fun events with her friends. Here the only potential friend is a younger boy book snob. She can wait until she gets back to her Atlanta friends...
...until a box with her name on it turns up in the attic of her grandmother's home. The box 📦 contains a mysterious letter addressed to her grandmother detailing a historical injustice the writer is striving to rectify. It reveals the first in a series of clues. The letter ends on this ominous note:
"Your predecessors failed to protect the Washington family, at great cost. This is you chance to make right what once went so utterly wrong. This is your chance to create a better world for your grandchild. But do not delay. These clues, like Siobhan, will not be of this world forever."
Soon after the chapters begin to alternate: the present day ones following Candice and Brandon's progress in solving the mystery; the backstory ones narrating racist events in Lambert's history.
Since Candice will be returning to Atlanta at summer's end the two detectives are under serious time pressure.
Puzzle loving kids will enjoy trying to solve the mystery before the book's end while learning about the manifestations of racism in our nation's not so long ago past. The Parker Inheritance is an excellent acquisition for school and public libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, my visit to my urologist was not to be the final one I anticipated. There seems to still be a piece of the stone in my kidney. So in nine months I have to have another ultrasound: that torture that involves drinking 32 ounces of liquid and holding it in while a technician pokes your abdomen. Weirdly the prospect (and that of seeing a medical care provider which tends to bring out my anxiety) don't bother me because I have an awesome doctor who treats me like I'm an Intelligent human being. We have some great conversations. I actually look forward to them. The only other time I've looked forward to medical appointments was during my three pregnancies when I'd get to hear the fetal heartbeat 💓 💗💖💕. (Jules)
Well as long as the human vet knows what she's doing. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Dr. Laura Leddy, urologist extraordinaire.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Wednesday, August 9, 2023
The Greatest Thing
YA graphic novel
"I didn't know who I was...
...where I was going.
I didn't know much of anything back then really.
I just knew...
...that this year I was all alone."
In high school some kids are surrounded by friends and acquaintances. Others are happier with a small number of close friends. When they lose those friends...
...Starting her sophomore year, Winifred, protagonist of Sarah Winifred Searles' The Greatest Thing, is in that plight. Her two best (and only) friends have transferred to a private school. The picture of her entering her school into a sea of socializing peers is worth at least a thousand words.
Winifred has an independent study with her photography teacher. In addition to doing a mentored independent study project she assists with a class. In that role she gets to know April and Oscar, two nonconformist peers who quickly become her friends. She begins to hang out with them. They even begin to create zines.
They have something in common. One sleepover during a game of truth or dare each reveals their deepest, darkest secret. They're all the same: I hate myself. Oscar struggles with classes, sure that he's stupid compared to his peers. April has to cope with the expectations of parents who are simultaneously micromanaging and negligent (especially when drunk). Winifred is extremely weight conscious, convinced that she doesn't deserve to enjoy food or have good friends.
In her author's note Searle tells readers that Winifred is her younger self. The story, although fictional, is based on some of her own remembered experiences. She ends the note with a message to readers:
"This book is my gift to the young me, to Win, and to anyone like her. I hope that if you feel alone, this story can be there for you but also that you find glimmers of hope in your own life. You deserve happiness. It just might take some time and effort to get there sometimes. And you're never as alone as you think you are."
On a purrrsonal note, I have this rainy 🌧 day to work at home. Then I have two days with important dates. Tomorrow I have to try to manage my urologist appointment without a panic attack. I have about 95% odds that she'll say that my ultrasound showed that I'm totally recovered from my kidney stone. But anxiety is not rational. Thursday I have to volunteer 🙋♀️ in community garden; bus back home to change, check for ticks, and shower; and go to Wilson Center to run my program and enjoy an awesome meal in most congenial company. Oh, yeah, I just passed my 2500 books 📚 reviewed mark. (Jules)
This book 📖 has pictures of a gorgeous and smart cat. So it's a must read. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our readers who hopefully are continuing to enjoy this blog.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
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Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Invisible Son
YA Chiller
"Like Breanna Taylor. In her home, a no-knock warrant serving as a good enough reason for the police to kill her while she was in bed. As if someone breaking into your home, not announcing who they were, wouldn't terrify anyone. Her death hits harder knowing we're supposed to be sheltering in place. It's a sobering reminder we're not all safe in our homes.
We're not safe anywhere."
I think 2020 is not a year most of us don't have fond memories of. The arrival of a once in a century pandemic that quickly shut down the nation. Whether we were students trying to adjust to online education--those of us privileged enough to have access to reliable wifi that is, essential workers on the front line day after day, laid off workers striving to cover the most basic costs, or mothers trying to teach their kids while working from home we're not going to wage nostalgic for it. And for people of color the deaths of unarmed Blacks at the hands of police officers was a constant reminder of their greater vulnerability. Although we all may have been riding out the same storm, we were in vastly different boats. Kim Johnson helps us to see the beginning of that year from the perspective of someone with a lot less privilege and really care aboutbhim through her Invisible Son.
Andre had only spent a few minutes at a New Years Eve party. But he was arrested. There had been a series of robberies of guests at teen parties. A backpack 🎒 of evidence had turned up in his locker. His best friends had let him take the fall for a crime he had no part of.
Now he's back two months later on a program that involves school, community service, frequent contact with a probation officer, and a monitoring ankle bracelet. And a racist probation officer who thinks he got off too easy is watching him, ready to pounce if he slips up. His family tells him to basically follow the rules so he won't get sent back. But he's determined to learn what happened that night 🌙. It won't be easy. His very best friend has disappeared. Not even Eric's family has a clue where he is.
Andre is supposed to return to school for the spring quarter. But news of the pandemic has been filtering in. The school he returns to is online. And the coronavirus has more in store. His grandfather dies in a hospital cut off from his family in his last minutes of life. His mother chooses to stay closer to the hospital out of fear of reinfecting her family. His father's shut down book store inches closer to being shut down.
And through the new normal shitsttorm the names of unarmed Blacks killed by the police filter through.
I don't have the reviewing skills to do justice to this powerful narrative. The combination of Johnson's evocative writing and its ability to trigger my memories made me see Andre, made me care about what happens to him, made me even more angry about the unacknowledged systemic and personal racism in America.
Invisible Son is a truly worthy follow up to This Is My America. I can't wait to see what Johnson comes up with next.
On a purrrsonal note, I had a scare yesterday. My laptop started making a noise sounding like a generator or someone breathing on a ventilator. My first thought was that it was going down. I need it for my last year of graduate school. My budget barely allows for tuition, fees, and textbooks--not replacing it. But I didn't let myself go into a panic attack. I went to see the techies at UMaine who did a check up and diagnosed nothing to raise concerns. Then I was glad I had this unexpected trip because I saw my friend Sam (who was wearing a strikingly gorgeous dress) who told me Wilson Center might have another drag show. I said I'll do anything I can to help. I've picked out a song I really want to try out before the big UMaine drag show in April. (Jules)
The laptop is annoying AF. I should be her only laptop. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to techies and Sam.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
Monday, August 7, 2023
Both Can Be True
Juvenile fiction
We live in a society of either ors, binaries, and mutually exclusive categories. You're either, for example, male or female. It makes life easier, more predictable,and less messy. But it also robs life of much beauty and complexity. Luckily we don't have to restrict our perceptions to either or when both and is a much better option. That's the powerful message (that far too many adults haven't yet received) that Jules Machias serves up for juvenile readers in Both Can Be True.
"I made two resolutions when I started at this school two weeks ago: I'd avoid the whole conundrum of feeling weird about bathrooms 🚻 by never peeing at school, and I'd always let people assume I'm an Ashley. People think it's cute for a girl to be a tomboy. But an Asher in a dress is a freak. So it's safer to let people guess Ash is short for Ashley."
Ash swings back and forth between girl mode and boy mode. They hate the in between spaces when neither gender seems to fit. Their father says that enby and gender fluid aren't real. It's time for Ash to decide which gender they're most comfortable and perform it consistently so other people won't be confused. He's afraid that there will be another incident like the one that necessitated changing schools.
"But I can't imagine what Mom or Mitchell would say if I tried to rescue a dog like Tina's doing. They already think I'm the world's biggest softie, and they constantly tell me in big and small ways to stop being too sensitive."
Daniel has lost a lot lately. His father moved out. His former best friend won't have anything to do with him. When his beloved dog 🐕 ❤️ Frankie died his mother declared their home a dog free zone.
Daniel has ended up with a serious moral quandary. A vet tech has rescued a dog with medical issues from being euthanized. But when she has to leave to handle a family emergency he's left holding the dog. At first he houses Chewbarka in a tent, knowing it can't be a long term solution. The weather is about to turn cold. He's falling apart from lack of sleep. And if the wrong people learn his secret a sweet little dog he's come to love ❤️ will be euthanized.
When Ash learns about his predicament she pitches in to help. But finding a safe home 🏡 for Chewbarka without the vetinarian finding out is not their only challenge. They start to have very strong but confusing feelings for each other, feelings complicated by neither exactly fitting in the binary.
Both Can Be True is an insightful and engaging read for kids trying to figure out their identities. Also for dog lovers. Even though I'm totally a cat person there were a few chapters I was scared for Chewbarka's fate.
The book reminds me of a poem I wrote last fall semester.
Gender Fluidity
Some mornings
When I wake up
I feel my sheness.
Some mornings
When I wake up
I feel my heness...
...Sometimes both;
Sometimes neither
Which is perfectly 🥰 okay...
...Because every morning
When I wake up
I feel my meness...
...It isn't something
That can be captured
In a name or pronoun,
A box on a form...
...It's the fire and passion
In my heart ❤️ 💙 💜 💖 💗
The vision in my mind,
The music 🎶 that sets
My body to dancing 💃
The stories and poems
Only I can write,
And the freedom and joy,
The song of my soul.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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