Have you ever read a book in which there is something distinctly addictive about the narrator's voice? Adib Khorram's The Breakup Lists was one such book for me. You know those socially unacceptable thoughts that cross our minds from time to time that fortunately most of us don't say out loud? Jackson puts his in writing only crossed out and followed by something more socially appropriate. His censored thoughts range from amusing to insightful.
Jackson is very good at self censorship. Maybe too good. He often doesn't speak up for himself when it would be perfectly appropriate. He doesn't assert himself when he needs a teacher's help and she keeps blowing him off. And then there's his sister, Jasmine. In his first sentence he tells readers that although he's the theater kid she's the drama queen. Her specialty is short lived badly ended romances. So when she falls for gorgeous Liam it's par for the course…
…Except that Jackson also has fallen for Liam's considerable charms. At first he is afraid to say something because he has no idea if Liam is gay. And then there's the little matter of Jasmine getting into a relationship with him. So Jackson resigns himself to moving on…
…Which is pretty hard because he's the stage manager of his school's theater group and dreamy Liam has started snagging the male leads.
If you enjoy a good rom com, dive right in.
…Oh, yeah, you're probably wondering when I'm going to tell you what the mysterious lists are. How about never. Only one way you're gonna find out.
On a purrrsonal note, I was one of those theater kids well into adulthood. In my teens I was convinced that I was going to be a professional stage actress. I was really into method acting. But I was never lead material. I had one very strong flaw. Although I was very good at memorizing lines I found blocking to be a total nightmare. I have a real weakness when it comes to spatial locations. Actually I epitomized the saying that there are no small roles, only small actors, and not because most people are taller than me when they get out of middle school. No matter how small my role was, I would make up a complex back story and persona that I could totally become. When I had a limited number of lines that were all in Hindi in Jungle Book I practiced punctuation and inflection. Opening night two audience members for whom Hindi was a first language were greatly impressed. I was also the encourager and energy force for my fellow cast members. And Jackson would have loved me because I was very much open to crew work.
A great big shout out goes out to theater kids past, present, and future.
Jules Hathaway
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Bad Like Us (YA)
It's the spring break of their senior year. Nine teens are gathered at a posh beach lodge for a couple of days of fun and surf. Sounds like a Hollister ad in real life, right?
Not exactly according to Gabriella Lepore, author of Bad Like Us. Not Everyone in the group gets along really well. For instance, there's a social media diva with a very poor sense of boundaries who annoyingly fits and posts everything. And one of the girls is there with her boyfriend and her ex. There are tensions simmering under the surface…
…that flare up when Piper gets an unsigned note that is believed to be from her ex indicating that he isn't over her yet. Javi, her current boyfriend, is hurt and confused. People are taking sides.
That might Eva ventures into a creepy nearby cave. She hears a scream. She thinks she hears running footsteps. She finds a smartphone with a cracked screen. The next morning Piper's body is found at the back of the cave. Police are interviewing everyone. Alliances are forming, breaking up, and reforming. Secrets are coming to light…
…the last thing they need is a big storm to sweep in killing the power and making it impossible to come or leave.
On a purrrsonal note, this is the 2,600th book I've reviewed on this blog. Guess I'd better set out some cat treats so Tobago can celebrate.
A great shout out goes out to the authors of those books, the librarians who hooked me up with them, and you, my fabulous readers.
Jules Hathaway
Not exactly according to Gabriella Lepore, author of Bad Like Us. Not Everyone in the group gets along really well. For instance, there's a social media diva with a very poor sense of boundaries who annoyingly fits and posts everything. And one of the girls is there with her boyfriend and her ex. There are tensions simmering under the surface…
…that flare up when Piper gets an unsigned note that is believed to be from her ex indicating that he isn't over her yet. Javi, her current boyfriend, is hurt and confused. People are taking sides.
That might Eva ventures into a creepy nearby cave. She hears a scream. She thinks she hears running footsteps. She finds a smartphone with a cracked screen. The next morning Piper's body is found at the back of the cave. Police are interviewing everyone. Alliances are forming, breaking up, and reforming. Secrets are coming to light…
…the last thing they need is a big storm to sweep in killing the power and making it impossible to come or leave.
On a purrrsonal note, this is the 2,600th book I've reviewed on this blog. Guess I'd better set out some cat treats so Tobago can celebrate.
A great shout out goes out to the authors of those books, the librarians who hooked me up with them, and you, my fabulous readers.
Jules Hathaway
Whiskey Tender
"In my mind, my parents were lying when they said that promising future was within my grasp. How could they deny that most kids in Farmington wouldn't get out? And what did "getting out" even mean? A honeymoon in Hawaii. A tract home in the suburbs. A plastic Christmas tree. I didn't want a white American life. I wanted a life that would make my ancestors proud."
Whiskey Tender, Deborah Jackson's Taffa's memoir is a rich and evocative narrative of searching for an identity while being being caught between two worlds. She sjupent her early years on a reservation. It wasn't a safe place in the 1970's. There was heart breaking poverty, alcoholism, and police brutality. But it was also a place steeped in tradition and strong family ties. Most indigenous families didn't move away. Those who did were considered traitors.
When Taffa's mother was pregnant with her older sister her father decided to take advantage of the Indian Relocation Act to go to trade school. Her mother didn't want to leave the reservation.
"Dad said he wanted to stay out of trouble, but it was hard. No one made a living wage on his side of the river, and he was surrounded by rowdy brothers and clan wars on the reservation. Didn't she want ti get ahead like everyone else?"
The town the family moved to was no bed of roses. The same interracial and intertribal tension was present with flare ups of violence. The children carried the family's hopes and dreams on their shoulders, pressured to be model minorities despite their school's micro aggressions. This was the setting in which Taffa struggled to discover her identity and the place where she would fit in.
On a purrrsonal note, there won't be a Clean Sweep this year. I am heart broken. So many good things will be consigned to the landfill. Black Bear Exchange will miss out on needed funds. And it was the only summer job I'd lined up with poor prospects for anything else due to my still subpar strength, stamina, and balance.
Jules Hathaway
Whiskey Tender, Deborah Jackson's Taffa's memoir is a rich and evocative narrative of searching for an identity while being being caught between two worlds. She sjupent her early years on a reservation. It wasn't a safe place in the 1970's. There was heart breaking poverty, alcoholism, and police brutality. But it was also a place steeped in tradition and strong family ties. Most indigenous families didn't move away. Those who did were considered traitors.
When Taffa's mother was pregnant with her older sister her father decided to take advantage of the Indian Relocation Act to go to trade school. Her mother didn't want to leave the reservation.
"Dad said he wanted to stay out of trouble, but it was hard. No one made a living wage on his side of the river, and he was surrounded by rowdy brothers and clan wars on the reservation. Didn't she want ti get ahead like everyone else?"
The town the family moved to was no bed of roses. The same interracial and intertribal tension was present with flare ups of violence. The children carried the family's hopes and dreams on their shoulders, pressured to be model minorities despite their school's micro aggressions. This was the setting in which Taffa struggled to discover her identity and the place where she would fit in.
On a purrrsonal note, there won't be a Clean Sweep this year. I am heart broken. So many good things will be consigned to the landfill. Black Bear Exchange will miss out on needed funds. And it was the only summer job I'd lined up with poor prospects for anything else due to my still subpar strength, stamina, and balance.
Jules Hathaway
Monday, May 13, 2024
Limitless Minds
When I found myself in the hospital after the stroke last fall I didn't waste time being depressed or angry. I accepted that I was in bad shape at the moment. Dr. Jo Boaler, author of Limitless Minds: Learn, Lead, and Live Without barriers, would have found at the moment to be the most important words in the above sentence. The concept that the book is based on and the fuel that drove my belief, engagement, and perseverance in recovery work are one and the same: neuroplasticity. If you haven't heard of it don't feel bad. It's a relatively new medical concept. It replaces the idea that our brains are set in stone if not genetically, definitely by adulthood with the idea that growth is possible at any stage in the life span. It is one of the most liberating concepts of our time.
The idea that abilities are set in stone is more dangerous that it initially appears because it is embraced by the majority of educators with harmful consequences. Children entering the school system are characterized as gifted or not. Not only are more resources lavished on the "gifted", but the children in both groups internalize the labels into their self concepts. Seeing themselves as not good at say math they opt out of more challenging courses in middle and high school, limiting their career options. And there's a high correlation between gifted and male, white, high socioeconomic status. This really pisses Boaler off. A professor of education and equity at Stanford University, she wrote Limitless Minds to call bullshit, to show how many of us and our children have been screwed by the very institutions mandated to nurture. She builds the book around six learning keys.
"LEARNING KEY #1 Every time we learn, our brains form, strengthen, or connect neural pathways. We need to replace the idea that learning ability is fixed, with the recognition that we are all on a growth journey." Can you imagine how much education would be transformed if practitioners really embraced that idea? If tracking was not an option they might have to develop different methods of presenting content to kids who learn best through different modalities.
The phrase growth journey really resonates with me. I was in my 60's when I learned about the UMaine Higher Education Student Services masters program and fell in love at first sight. A lot of people tried to talk me out of applying. Why did I want to be taking exams and doing papers with all those kids? Why would I risk rejection? I believed in myself. I'm so glad I didn't let myself get talked out of what gives my life purpose and meaning.
Boaler shows us how mistakes, struggle, and failure bring about the strongest learning. I bet you've experienced having something you really had to struggle to learn sticking with you. It goes against our society' worship of fast effortless learning that has people who have to put effort into learning needlessly shamed and discouraged.
And the chapter on LEARNING KEY #6 "Connecting with people and ideas enhances neural pathways and learning." Is Lit. Probably most have had desultory experiences with school group projects. In elementary school through undergrad college I was a favorite group member because of my willingness to do most of the work and not rat out the slackers. But when groups practice true collaboration (like we do in my grad school) it is incredibly inspiring and empowering.
I could talk about Limitless Minds and the concepts it brings to life a lot more. But I want you to stop reading my words and start reading Boaler's. If you are a teacher, a school administrator, a parent, or someone who wants to make changes in your own life get your hands on the book.
On a purrrsonal note, my faith in neuroplasticity drives my stroke recovery work. I was not only doing all the therapy work I was assigned I was thinking up other tasks. I surprised the speech therapist by incorporating breath control and fine motor skills with word production by singing stuff like The Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Wheels On The Bus. When I got home I added crafts to my fine motor work. I was dancing when I still needed a walker. I have set some goals for this break between semesters. I want to get better at running, relearn shooting hoops and playing frisbee, relearn to ride a non stationary bike, and master jacks and hopscotch. I'll need a lot more strength and stamina the I get my degree and start looking for a full time higher education job.
A great big shout out goes out to my readers and your limitless minds.
Jules Hathaway
The idea that abilities are set in stone is more dangerous that it initially appears because it is embraced by the majority of educators with harmful consequences. Children entering the school system are characterized as gifted or not. Not only are more resources lavished on the "gifted", but the children in both groups internalize the labels into their self concepts. Seeing themselves as not good at say math they opt out of more challenging courses in middle and high school, limiting their career options. And there's a high correlation between gifted and male, white, high socioeconomic status. This really pisses Boaler off. A professor of education and equity at Stanford University, she wrote Limitless Minds to call bullshit, to show how many of us and our children have been screwed by the very institutions mandated to nurture. She builds the book around six learning keys.
"LEARNING KEY #1 Every time we learn, our brains form, strengthen, or connect neural pathways. We need to replace the idea that learning ability is fixed, with the recognition that we are all on a growth journey." Can you imagine how much education would be transformed if practitioners really embraced that idea? If tracking was not an option they might have to develop different methods of presenting content to kids who learn best through different modalities.
The phrase growth journey really resonates with me. I was in my 60's when I learned about the UMaine Higher Education Student Services masters program and fell in love at first sight. A lot of people tried to talk me out of applying. Why did I want to be taking exams and doing papers with all those kids? Why would I risk rejection? I believed in myself. I'm so glad I didn't let myself get talked out of what gives my life purpose and meaning.
Boaler shows us how mistakes, struggle, and failure bring about the strongest learning. I bet you've experienced having something you really had to struggle to learn sticking with you. It goes against our society' worship of fast effortless learning that has people who have to put effort into learning needlessly shamed and discouraged.
And the chapter on LEARNING KEY #6 "Connecting with people and ideas enhances neural pathways and learning." Is Lit. Probably most have had desultory experiences with school group projects. In elementary school through undergrad college I was a favorite group member because of my willingness to do most of the work and not rat out the slackers. But when groups practice true collaboration (like we do in my grad school) it is incredibly inspiring and empowering.
I could talk about Limitless Minds and the concepts it brings to life a lot more. But I want you to stop reading my words and start reading Boaler's. If you are a teacher, a school administrator, a parent, or someone who wants to make changes in your own life get your hands on the book.
On a purrrsonal note, my faith in neuroplasticity drives my stroke recovery work. I was not only doing all the therapy work I was assigned I was thinking up other tasks. I surprised the speech therapist by incorporating breath control and fine motor skills with word production by singing stuff like The Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Wheels On The Bus. When I got home I added crafts to my fine motor work. I was dancing when I still needed a walker. I have set some goals for this break between semesters. I want to get better at running, relearn shooting hoops and playing frisbee, relearn to ride a non stationary bike, and master jacks and hopscotch. I'll need a lot more strength and stamina the I get my degree and start looking for a full time higher education job.
A great big shout out goes out to my readers and your limitless minds.
Jules Hathaway
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Where Sleeping Girls Lie
Finally! Ever since reading and reviewing Faridah Abike-Iyimide's most excellent debut novel, Ace of Spades, I've been eagerly awaiting her sophomore offering. Where Sleeping Girls Lie is a very worthy successor. It's a truly suspenseful narrative, set in a elite boarding school with equal amounts of tradition and creepiness that is populated by an ensemble cast of fascinating individuals. It also delves into subjects that are all too often swept under the rug by well meaning and not so well meaning adults.
Sade has seen a lot of tragedy in her childhood and teens. Her mother committed suicide when she was only ten. Her very controlling father kept the girls basically house bound and home schooled. Her twin drowned herself. With her father's death she's become an orphan well acquainted with regret, anxiety and depression.
Now Sade is starting her junior year, her first of not being home shooled, in a highly elite boarding school, Alfred Nobel Academy. Her arrival is disturbingly eventful. When her roommate is showing her their dorm they find a dead rat on the mat in front of their room. The next morning Sade wakes up to find out that Elizabeth has gone missing. Eventually the head of the school receives an email from Elizabeth's great-aunt saying that the girl is safely at her house and in need of a break from academics. Case closed.
Or is it? Elizabeth's aunt is dead.
Baz, Elizabeth's best friend, convinced that something bad has happened to Elizabeth and that the school is not making enough of an effort to find her, is taking matters into his own hands. Sade joins him in this mission. It starts off rather innocuously with a trip into town where they show people Elizabeth's picture and ask if they's seen her. But it's not long before they're learning some of ANA's dark secrets and putting themselves in peril.
Then at an off campus party a golden boy athlete is found murdered.
In an open letter the author the author tells readers: "Where Sleeping Girls Lie is about a lot of things. It's about the necessity of community and the importance and joy of platonic relationships. It's about the ghosts that haunt us and that we haunt back. It's about the many valid ways we respond to painful experiences.
More than anything, this book is about survival…"
I'm not entirely comfortable with the book's YA designation. It's not really middle school fare. But it's a really excellent read not only for high school students, but for the undergraduate crowd. I'd also include a trigger warning because it contains descriptions of suicide, homicide, and sexual violence.
On a purrrsonal note, my son, Adam, now has his masters in business administration. I was one proud mom at his graduation!
A great big shout out goes out to the UMaine class of '24 as they celebrate their achievement and embark on the next phase of their lives.
Jules Hathaway
Sade has seen a lot of tragedy in her childhood and teens. Her mother committed suicide when she was only ten. Her very controlling father kept the girls basically house bound and home schooled. Her twin drowned herself. With her father's death she's become an orphan well acquainted with regret, anxiety and depression.
Now Sade is starting her junior year, her first of not being home shooled, in a highly elite boarding school, Alfred Nobel Academy. Her arrival is disturbingly eventful. When her roommate is showing her their dorm they find a dead rat on the mat in front of their room. The next morning Sade wakes up to find out that Elizabeth has gone missing. Eventually the head of the school receives an email from Elizabeth's great-aunt saying that the girl is safely at her house and in need of a break from academics. Case closed.
Or is it? Elizabeth's aunt is dead.
Baz, Elizabeth's best friend, convinced that something bad has happened to Elizabeth and that the school is not making enough of an effort to find her, is taking matters into his own hands. Sade joins him in this mission. It starts off rather innocuously with a trip into town where they show people Elizabeth's picture and ask if they's seen her. But it's not long before they're learning some of ANA's dark secrets and putting themselves in peril.
Then at an off campus party a golden boy athlete is found murdered.
In an open letter the author the author tells readers: "Where Sleeping Girls Lie is about a lot of things. It's about the necessity of community and the importance and joy of platonic relationships. It's about the ghosts that haunt us and that we haunt back. It's about the many valid ways we respond to painful experiences.
More than anything, this book is about survival…"
I'm not entirely comfortable with the book's YA designation. It's not really middle school fare. But it's a really excellent read not only for high school students, but for the undergraduate crowd. I'd also include a trigger warning because it contains descriptions of suicide, homicide, and sexual violence.
On a purrrsonal note, my son, Adam, now has his masters in business administration. I was one proud mom at his graduation!
A great big shout out goes out to the UMaine class of '24 as they celebrate their achievement and embark on the next phase of their lives.
Jules Hathaway
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Reader Beware
One of my most precious memories from my children's childhood involves reading to my daughters, Amber and Katie, and their close friend, Destiny. We spent many afternoons and evenings in their room as I read aloud books of their choosing. The girls had a special appreciation for scary stories, especially when the weather added to the ambiance, for instance when the only illumination was flashlight because the blizzard howling around the trailer had knocked out the power. One of our favorite authors was R.L. Stine. True confession. Even though the girls are grown and flown I still read his writing.
If you're around my kids' age or younger Stine's narratives probably played a role in your wonder years. They were and remain hugely popular. Deservedly so. They are damn good roller coaster rides of stories. So the contributors to Briana Morgan and Roxie Voorhees' Reader Beware: A Fear Street Appreciation Anthology took on a daunting task: penning Stine worthy tales. And their creations perfectly capture the magic. Two qualities that they shared with the author who inspired them in particular come to mind.
Stine's narratives are so immersive! Whether reading or listening you're never safely distanced in your house. YOU ARE THERE! You're walking through the creepy neighborhood, encountering beings you shouldn't be seeing in the abandoned wreck of a house, running for your life through the woods you've been warned never to enter. The contributors to his tribute create a similar ambiance.
*In The Sleepover, through the perfectly chosen details, you're locked in the "shrouded in shadows" basement, the gloom punctuated by dark eerie shapes, the floor's chill seeping into your feet, waiting…. Upstairs you've seen the corpse of a friend. "A creak overhead sent Emily's heart racing. Now that Heather was gone, the killer would come for Emily then Jake. Trapped in the basement, they were sitting ducks,"
*We're all pretty much acquainted with the creepiness of basements. I as terrified of going into the basement of my childhood home at night even though it contained nothing more sinister than a washer and dryer. But a forbidden space in a former hospital turned boarding school is something few of us have a template for. The author of No Students Allowed On The Fifth Floor weaves something pretty much all of us have experienced, the fear of being caught somewhere we're not supposed to be, into her vividly described narrative. "The floor is stranger than I'd pictured, and my fingers itch to draw. Huge overhead beams crisscross the space like an old-timer bridge. The head clearance is low, and it feels like the weight of the floors above bear down on us." When I read the story I felt the weight pressing down on me.
*And when you read Road Hogs you're with the group of teens on a nightmarish road trip. "Two lumbering men in faded blue coveralls appear from behind the store, dragging baseball bats against the ground. Rubbery boar masks complete with tusked snouts and tufts of coarse hair sprouting from their scalps, obscure their faces. They move swiftly toward the Mustang, snorting and squealing."
Stine also pairs what would be horrific for anyone, say stumbling on a mangled corpse, with more mundane horrors, such as the helplessness of being a child or teen with your fate in the hands of more powerful beings, or even potentially benign experiences.
*The narrator of This Place Sucks arrives at the gruesome beach scene by a very ordinary route. "There was no way divorce did not suck. From the early days of bickering to the scratchy-suited courtroom appearances, and finally, to the big yellow truck waiting to carry everything you owned across the country to some piddling-ass town on the coast of nowhere stinking of old people and rotten fish."
*The murder that starts things rolling in Swimming Pool is committed by the narrator's little brother acting out of desperation when menaced by a powerful bully. "'Your uncle can't do shit.' He threw back his head and. "When I'm done with you, they won't even be able to identif—' THUNK."
*The setting for Wicker Baskets is an Easter egg hunt like the ones I took Amber and her siblings to—except that in this one the bunny has gone vengeful and homicidal. The opening paragraph is elegant in its simplicity, succinct yet laden with foreshadowing. "The egg. The cliff. The fall. The scream that stopped halfway down. The splash that never came."
Reader Beware contains thirteen Stine worthy gems. If you are a fan of the man or of narratives that have you checking your closet and under the bed before you turn out the lights you're in for a treat.
On a purrrsonal note, I'm so proud of my Amber for getting her fine narrative included in this really top notch thriller anthology. Since 2011 I've reviewed well over 2,500 books for this blog. Now I finally have a favorite. The two things I'm most looking forward to in 2025 are Amber's book, Little White Flowers, coming out and my stroke delayed graduation from my masters program.
A great big shout out goes out to the book's talented contributors, the editors who pulled the pieces together into a most excellent volume, and the masterful writer whose works inspired the anthology.
Jules Hathaway
If you're around my kids' age or younger Stine's narratives probably played a role in your wonder years. They were and remain hugely popular. Deservedly so. They are damn good roller coaster rides of stories. So the contributors to Briana Morgan and Roxie Voorhees' Reader Beware: A Fear Street Appreciation Anthology took on a daunting task: penning Stine worthy tales. And their creations perfectly capture the magic. Two qualities that they shared with the author who inspired them in particular come to mind.
Stine's narratives are so immersive! Whether reading or listening you're never safely distanced in your house. YOU ARE THERE! You're walking through the creepy neighborhood, encountering beings you shouldn't be seeing in the abandoned wreck of a house, running for your life through the woods you've been warned never to enter. The contributors to his tribute create a similar ambiance.
*In The Sleepover, through the perfectly chosen details, you're locked in the "shrouded in shadows" basement, the gloom punctuated by dark eerie shapes, the floor's chill seeping into your feet, waiting…. Upstairs you've seen the corpse of a friend. "A creak overhead sent Emily's heart racing. Now that Heather was gone, the killer would come for Emily then Jake. Trapped in the basement, they were sitting ducks,"
*We're all pretty much acquainted with the creepiness of basements. I as terrified of going into the basement of my childhood home at night even though it contained nothing more sinister than a washer and dryer. But a forbidden space in a former hospital turned boarding school is something few of us have a template for. The author of No Students Allowed On The Fifth Floor weaves something pretty much all of us have experienced, the fear of being caught somewhere we're not supposed to be, into her vividly described narrative. "The floor is stranger than I'd pictured, and my fingers itch to draw. Huge overhead beams crisscross the space like an old-timer bridge. The head clearance is low, and it feels like the weight of the floors above bear down on us." When I read the story I felt the weight pressing down on me.
*And when you read Road Hogs you're with the group of teens on a nightmarish road trip. "Two lumbering men in faded blue coveralls appear from behind the store, dragging baseball bats against the ground. Rubbery boar masks complete with tusked snouts and tufts of coarse hair sprouting from their scalps, obscure their faces. They move swiftly toward the Mustang, snorting and squealing."
Stine also pairs what would be horrific for anyone, say stumbling on a mangled corpse, with more mundane horrors, such as the helplessness of being a child or teen with your fate in the hands of more powerful beings, or even potentially benign experiences.
*The narrator of This Place Sucks arrives at the gruesome beach scene by a very ordinary route. "There was no way divorce did not suck. From the early days of bickering to the scratchy-suited courtroom appearances, and finally, to the big yellow truck waiting to carry everything you owned across the country to some piddling-ass town on the coast of nowhere stinking of old people and rotten fish."
*The murder that starts things rolling in Swimming Pool is committed by the narrator's little brother acting out of desperation when menaced by a powerful bully. "'Your uncle can't do shit.' He threw back his head and. "When I'm done with you, they won't even be able to identif—' THUNK."
*The setting for Wicker Baskets is an Easter egg hunt like the ones I took Amber and her siblings to—except that in this one the bunny has gone vengeful and homicidal. The opening paragraph is elegant in its simplicity, succinct yet laden with foreshadowing. "The egg. The cliff. The fall. The scream that stopped halfway down. The splash that never came."
Reader Beware contains thirteen Stine worthy gems. If you are a fan of the man or of narratives that have you checking your closet and under the bed before you turn out the lights you're in for a treat.
On a purrrsonal note, I'm so proud of my Amber for getting her fine narrative included in this really top notch thriller anthology. Since 2011 I've reviewed well over 2,500 books for this blog. Now I finally have a favorite. The two things I'm most looking forward to in 2025 are Amber's book, Little White Flowers, coming out and my stroke delayed graduation from my masters program.
A great big shout out goes out to the book's talented contributors, the editors who pulled the pieces together into a most excellent volume, and the masterful writer whose works inspired the anthology.
Jules Hathaway
Document shared with you: "Reader Beware"
|
Sunday, May 5, 2024
The First State of Being
If you were alive in the last half of 1999 and are now old enough to have memories of it, you'll recall that it was for many people a time of immense anxiety. Y2K was supposed to kick in as computers were unable to process the numerical transition to 2000. Everything that relied on computers would instantly stop working. Planes, for instance, would fall out of the skies. The result would be like a Biblical magnitude apocalypse, only wrought by faulty technology rather than an angry God.
That's the mindset that Michael, one of the protagonists of Erin Entrada Kelly's The First State of Being. He lives with his single mother who has to juggle three jobs to make rent and buy food. She'd formerly been able to manage on the income from one job until he was fired which was somehow his fault. When we meet him on his 12th birthday he's shoplifting canned peaches (which his mother loves) to add to the stash of purloined supplies under his bed for in case the predicted dystopia happens.
When Michael is talking to (Mr.) Mosley, a maintenance worker in the apartment complex Michael lives in and family friend, a very strange looking teen approaches them. Ridge is dressed quite oddly. And he wants to know what year is is. Michael's anxious mind jumps to worst case scenarios: "Sociopathic teenager burns down apartment complex. Sociopathic teenager attacks innocent twelve-year-old shoplifter. Sociopathic teenager kidnaps beautiful sixteen-year-old babysitter who smells like strawberries and loves mystery novels." (Who Michael has a huge crush on).
The truth is even stranger than Michael's wildest imaginings. Ridge has transported himself from 200 years in the future by technology that is still in the experimental phase. Now Michael and Gibby, the babysitter, must shelter Ridge, keep their families and strangers (when he insists on a trip to the mall) from seeing that there is something really odd about him, and, in scenes reminiscent of the movie ET, figure out how to get him back to his own time when his technologies seem to be bombing.
Kelly manages to insert some existential questions into an engaging narrative pitch perfect for her target audience. I'd also recommend it for two generation book clubs.
On a purrrsonal note, Back then I thought Y2K was so much bullshit. My sister and her fellow fundamentalists spoiled Armageddon fears for me. Believing the earth to be totally evil, they looked forward to the Rapture. On a regular basis they'd do these countdowns which annoyingly involved trying to convert any family sinners (yours truly) to repent while there was still time. Waking up the next day still here with the sinners didn't trigger any cognitive dissonance whatsoever. They'd gotten the date wrong.
A great big shout goes out to Erin Entrada Kelly, juvenile author who certainly deserves her Newbery Awards.
Jules Hathaway
That's the mindset that Michael, one of the protagonists of Erin Entrada Kelly's The First State of Being. He lives with his single mother who has to juggle three jobs to make rent and buy food. She'd formerly been able to manage on the income from one job until he was fired which was somehow his fault. When we meet him on his 12th birthday he's shoplifting canned peaches (which his mother loves) to add to the stash of purloined supplies under his bed for in case the predicted dystopia happens.
When Michael is talking to (Mr.) Mosley, a maintenance worker in the apartment complex Michael lives in and family friend, a very strange looking teen approaches them. Ridge is dressed quite oddly. And he wants to know what year is is. Michael's anxious mind jumps to worst case scenarios: "Sociopathic teenager burns down apartment complex. Sociopathic teenager attacks innocent twelve-year-old shoplifter. Sociopathic teenager kidnaps beautiful sixteen-year-old babysitter who smells like strawberries and loves mystery novels." (Who Michael has a huge crush on).
The truth is even stranger than Michael's wildest imaginings. Ridge has transported himself from 200 years in the future by technology that is still in the experimental phase. Now Michael and Gibby, the babysitter, must shelter Ridge, keep their families and strangers (when he insists on a trip to the mall) from seeing that there is something really odd about him, and, in scenes reminiscent of the movie ET, figure out how to get him back to his own time when his technologies seem to be bombing.
Kelly manages to insert some existential questions into an engaging narrative pitch perfect for her target audience. I'd also recommend it for two generation book clubs.
On a purrrsonal note, Back then I thought Y2K was so much bullshit. My sister and her fellow fundamentalists spoiled Armageddon fears for me. Believing the earth to be totally evil, they looked forward to the Rapture. On a regular basis they'd do these countdowns which annoyingly involved trying to convert any family sinners (yours truly) to repent while there was still time. Waking up the next day still here with the sinners didn't trigger any cognitive dissonance whatsoever. They'd gotten the date wrong.
A great big shout goes out to Erin Entrada Kelly, juvenile author who certainly deserves her Newbery Awards.
Jules Hathaway
Friday, May 3, 2024
The Kaepernick Effect
"Me and Kaepernick, we both wake up Black. We probably experience shit down the road a little differently from each other, but we're still Black. We still look Black. We are still of Black descent. He walks out of his house and he's Black, every single day. People try to discredit anybody who tries to buck the normalcy of our country, and the normalcy is white supremacy."
Those are the words of Bruce Maxwell, a baseball pro who, like Colin Kaepernick, was blackballed after taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. He's quoted in Dave Zirin's The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World. Recall that in 2016 after a run of high profile police shootings of unarmed Blacks Kaepernick chose a quiet dignified way to protest an ongoing evil. Remember The way out of proportion reactions people had to his assertion of not only outrage over acts of evil and so many people's acceptance and active defense of them but of his fully sentient humanity.
Zirin shows that Kaepernick served as an inspiration to not only the elite adult athletes we usually associate this activism with but for high school and college student athletes. Most of the book consists of his portraits of these people who had had to deal with Kaepernick's adult realizations during some of the most sensitive developmental periods of their lives. They come from all over the country, many from majority white communities and schools with an aversion to racism's inconvenient truths. Many were learning how to come out of an encounter with police alive at the same age as white peers were learning that Mr. Policeman is your friend. They were in middle or high school when unarmed Trayvon Martin was killed by a fully armed grown ass vigilante. Many had seen ugly incidents go down not only in the news but in their own neighborhoods. They faced threatened consequences that had the potential to derail their lives. They had to deal with IRL and cyber bullying. What they did took a lot of conviction and courage.
You don't have to be a sports fan to fully appreciate The Kaepernick Effect. If you are bothered by the racism so many people encounter in so many parts of their lives you'll get a lot out of it.
On a purrrsonal note, I've been thinking of the campus protests against Israel's war of aggression against Palestine. On a few campuses you see fully armed police breaking up student encampments. On most (including mine) nothing much. This probably has to do with the bandwidth finals, moving out of dorms, and, for some graduation are taking up. I bet a lot of admin are plenty happy about that. I've been assessing how far I'll go if it gets more serious at UMaine next semester. TBH I'm not really impressed with myself. I'd go to protests, speak out, and raise money. But the day Joan F-M (UMaine's President) is on the phone asking Orono Police to bust up a protest on the Mall I am so not there. After working so hard, especially after the stroke, to get a degree and a job working with undergrads I am not going anything to alienate the admin on the one campus I can get a job on within commuting distance.
A great big shout out goes to the students who are willing to risk more than I am.
Jules Hathaway
Those are the words of Bruce Maxwell, a baseball pro who, like Colin Kaepernick, was blackballed after taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. He's quoted in Dave Zirin's The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World. Recall that in 2016 after a run of high profile police shootings of unarmed Blacks Kaepernick chose a quiet dignified way to protest an ongoing evil. Remember The way out of proportion reactions people had to his assertion of not only outrage over acts of evil and so many people's acceptance and active defense of them but of his fully sentient humanity.
Zirin shows that Kaepernick served as an inspiration to not only the elite adult athletes we usually associate this activism with but for high school and college student athletes. Most of the book consists of his portraits of these people who had had to deal with Kaepernick's adult realizations during some of the most sensitive developmental periods of their lives. They come from all over the country, many from majority white communities and schools with an aversion to racism's inconvenient truths. Many were learning how to come out of an encounter with police alive at the same age as white peers were learning that Mr. Policeman is your friend. They were in middle or high school when unarmed Trayvon Martin was killed by a fully armed grown ass vigilante. Many had seen ugly incidents go down not only in the news but in their own neighborhoods. They faced threatened consequences that had the potential to derail their lives. They had to deal with IRL and cyber bullying. What they did took a lot of conviction and courage.
You don't have to be a sports fan to fully appreciate The Kaepernick Effect. If you are bothered by the racism so many people encounter in so many parts of their lives you'll get a lot out of it.
On a purrrsonal note, I've been thinking of the campus protests against Israel's war of aggression against Palestine. On a few campuses you see fully armed police breaking up student encampments. On most (including mine) nothing much. This probably has to do with the bandwidth finals, moving out of dorms, and, for some graduation are taking up. I bet a lot of admin are plenty happy about that. I've been assessing how far I'll go if it gets more serious at UMaine next semester. TBH I'm not really impressed with myself. I'd go to protests, speak out, and raise money. But the day Joan F-M (UMaine's President) is on the phone asking Orono Police to bust up a protest on the Mall I am so not there. After working so hard, especially after the stroke, to get a degree and a job working with undergrads I am not going anything to alienate the admin on the one campus I can get a job on within commuting distance.
A great big shout out goes to the students who are willing to risk more than I am.
Jules Hathaway
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Promposal
Anyone who loves YA rom-coms as much as I do won't want to miss out on Raechell Garrett's Promposal.
High school senior Autumn has pinned all her college hopes on Mercer College's school of business. She knows that other schools have business schools. But none of them seem to compare to her dream school. "No other school in the state has an entrepreneurial studies program, let alone a senior capstone course that churns out actual viable businesses. No other school has as many students working for themselves within two years of graduation."
So you can imagine how she feels when she's wait listed. Especially when her boyfriend chooses that exact same day to dump her.
That night when she takes another look at the Mercer email she sees something she didn't see before: a request for her to submit any additional information that she thinks will strengthen her candidacy. Her guidance counsellor hooks her up with a group, Young Black Entrepreneurs, where members help each other create small businesses.
At her first meeting Autumn is put on the spot. The group advisor asks for her great ideas. She had helped a friend create a promposal that had gone over excellently. So she suggests creating a proposal business. The advisor approves. He tells her to get to know the group and find the best people to help her out…
…except so close to the end of the school year almost everyone in the group is too busy to take on another commitment. The only one with the time and desire to help is the last person she wants anything to do with.
But you know what they say? Beggars can't be choosers.
So how's Autumn gonna create a last minute Mercer worthy business while dealing with a relationship that went badly sidewise freshman year?
Garrett's debut novel is pitch perfect. I sure hope she's hard at work on her second.
On a purrrsonal note, this reminds me of my son Adam who will be getting his Masters in Business Administration tomorrow. My baby boy has been an entrepreneur practically from the beginning. He was in primary school (k-2) when he started bagging the used tennis balls people left at the municipal court and selling them to dog owners.
A great shout goes out to Adam and the other's with the creativity and drive to invest in their ideas and passions. They may come up with solutions to some of the crises humanity faces today.
Jules Hathaway
High school senior Autumn has pinned all her college hopes on Mercer College's school of business. She knows that other schools have business schools. But none of them seem to compare to her dream school. "No other school in the state has an entrepreneurial studies program, let alone a senior capstone course that churns out actual viable businesses. No other school has as many students working for themselves within two years of graduation."
So you can imagine how she feels when she's wait listed. Especially when her boyfriend chooses that exact same day to dump her.
That night when she takes another look at the Mercer email she sees something she didn't see before: a request for her to submit any additional information that she thinks will strengthen her candidacy. Her guidance counsellor hooks her up with a group, Young Black Entrepreneurs, where members help each other create small businesses.
At her first meeting Autumn is put on the spot. The group advisor asks for her great ideas. She had helped a friend create a promposal that had gone over excellently. So she suggests creating a proposal business. The advisor approves. He tells her to get to know the group and find the best people to help her out…
…except so close to the end of the school year almost everyone in the group is too busy to take on another commitment. The only one with the time and desire to help is the last person she wants anything to do with.
But you know what they say? Beggars can't be choosers.
So how's Autumn gonna create a last minute Mercer worthy business while dealing with a relationship that went badly sidewise freshman year?
Garrett's debut novel is pitch perfect. I sure hope she's hard at work on her second.
On a purrrsonal note, this reminds me of my son Adam who will be getting his Masters in Business Administration tomorrow. My baby boy has been an entrepreneur practically from the beginning. He was in primary school (k-2) when he started bagging the used tennis balls people left at the municipal court and selling them to dog owners.
A great shout goes out to Adam and the other's with the creativity and drive to invest in their ideas and passions. They may come up with solutions to some of the crises humanity faces today.
Jules Hathaway
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)