Land of the Cranes (juvenile literature)

     Some of the most heart breaking,  enlightening, and urgent stories come to us through the pages of children's books. Aida Salazar's Land of the Cranes is a perfect example. In poignant free verse she humanizes and speaks for the people demonized by our president and his Build A Wall minions. 

     Betina and her parents had to flee to America to get away from the men who killed her uncle. They made a life for themselves--working hard, planting a garden. But after seven years their little family is broken upj. Betina's father is picked up by ICE and deported to the country where his life is in danger. Betina and her pregnant mother are sent to a detention facility.

     They're in a human created hell on earth. Dozens of people are crowded into a concrete floored room with only an hour a day outside. They must sleep on the rough concrete with only one blanket to protect themselves from the pervasive cold. Children are often ill and deprived of medical care, their hair infested with lice. The food is moldy. And you probably don't want to know their only source of drinking water. When her mother goes into labor poor Betina is left alone.

     Take a minute now to imagine yourself experiencing what Betina and her family did. I'm sure you'll agree that no sentient beings should be treated like that. We all need to know and raise awareness about the evil being done  in our name.

     He who has just become president has made this evil his top priority. It is possible to commit great evil while breaking no laws if wrong doers are shaping the laws.

     Betina's story, told in vivid and evocative free verse, belongs in every school and public library in this nation. 

On a purrrsonal note, there wasn't enough time in class for everyone to do our presentations. So I have to wait until next week. I can use this weekend to make mine more concise.

A great big shout out goes out to Salazar for penning this most engaging and enraging book to raise awareness. 

Jules Hathaway 

     

     

     

     

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Jersey Tomatoes Are The Best

     Henry (Henriette) and Eva, the narrators of Maria Padian's Jersey Tomatoes Are The Best, are long time besties about to be split up for a summer. They're teens with specialized talents that their lives have been structured around. Henry in tennis 🎾 ; Eva in ballet. Each has a parent who is constantly pushing her, obsessed with her fulfilling her potential. 

     Now they're about to experience  a long term separation for the first time, attending elite camps--camps with intense competition pressures most teens will never experience, camps where you can't let your guard down because potential friends are also potential rivals and backstabbers.

     Eva has a dangerous vulnerability. An earlier developing larger girl in a field where a tiny prepubescent build is idealized, she feels too fat. A voice in her head tells her to eat less and less. She hits a point where not only her future career, but her life is in jeopardy. 

     Henry is desperate to help her best friend. But what can she do from such a distance?

On a purrrsonal note, today in class I'm doing a presentation that is going to be a real challenge. I did a great outline and got it uploaded on time. But my speech hasn't totally recovered from the stroke. It isn't obvious (to anyone but me) in regular conversation. But my rehearsals for the presentation have been disastrous. Since I'm certified 🧠 injured I'm trying for accommodations. I'll let you know how that goes. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Wrecked (YA fiction)

     Maria Padian's Wrecked was an absolute gem I discovered when I was looking up her earlier books. It may be a little hard to locate since it's older, but well worth the effort, especially for college bound teens. It deals with an aspect of higher education those glossy brochures don't cover. 

     You see there's this party in a dorm. The music is loud, the space chaotic and crowded, the strong alcohol 🍸 flowing freely. After the event a visibly distraught Jenny is charging Jordan with rape. Jordan, fearing for his future, is denying the charge. As the case is investigated by the college, rumors run rampant through the student grapevine in person and on social media. 

     Padian made a genius move in choosing not the principals, but people they've confided in as narrators. This allows for more nuance, more complexity, and more uncertainty. That's one of the things I like best about the book. 

     The other is its total authenticity. Remember I'm getting a graduate degree in higher education. It's the realm in which I live, move, and have my being. I just completed an internship in the student conduct office. And condensed to two or three pages, Wrecked could be a case study for my capstone class. 

On a purrrsonal note, I continue to recover from the stroke. My strength and stamina are increasing. I now exercise bike 30 minutes a day. And I can do sit ups.

A great big shout out goes out to my capstone professor and classmates. This is going to be a most excellent grand finale to my graduate education. 

Jules Hathaway 

     

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Stolen Pride

     I almost didn't read Arlie Russell Hochschild's Stolen Pride. I really wanted to. The subject is very timely. And I'm a big fan of the author who covers topics that make people uncomfortable with depth and nuance. It's that it seemed too nuanced for me to do it justice.  As sole content provider for this blog I feel that I shouldn't read anything for just me. But the book looked to good to bypass. 

     Then when I read it I realized that it was too good to not share with you. Hochschild, like many of us, is really concerned about America's political divide. It's a topic she'd gone into in Strangers in Their Own Land which we looked at in 2017. This time she shifted her focus from the deep South to Appalachia. She wanted to understand the growing appeal of the white nationalism that is frighteningly growing around the world. She traveled to Pineville, Kentucky and the areas around it and interviewed a wide range of people who had been impacted in different ways to see why a perfect storm was brewing. 

     For one thing a lot of the coal mines that had sustained many families were shutting down. This economic precariousness was shredding communities. Those who could move in search of decent jobs were doing so. And the left behind unemployed were experiencing not only poverty, but a deep sense of shame based on acceptance of the myth that in America if you can't make it it's your own damn fault; no one else is to blame. 

     Reading this made me think of my beloved husband, Eugene, a construction worker. He has worked almost fifty years for the same family owned company and prospered through hard work. His reputation in our trailer park is family man and good provider. That's what he prides himself on. I can't imagine how losing this ability would devastate him.

     And then there's the matter of drugs introduced not by sketchy street pushers, but by trusted physicians--doctors who were wooed with a lot of freebies from the sales reps of Purdue Pharma and sold the lie that OxyContin was nonaddictive. Many lives and families were destroyed by routine visits to doctors and dentists. Rural Maine, too, was targeted by Sackler and his minions. 

     Is it any wonder that a charismatic speaker,  preaching that they're the good guys, they're the ones being oppressed, even replaced, would win hearts and minds?

     I want you to read this book with an open mind. Both sides of the political demonize the other. Accepting stereotypes makes life easier. But it's really dangerous. I feel like we can't any longer afford to write off the "flyover states" and their citizens if we want to have any kind of national stability. 

On a purrrsonal note,  my first week of the semester has been fantastic. We've had really great on campus dinners, one put on by the commuter lounge and the Wilson Center (non denominational religious center) and the other by the graduate school. I could attend because my friend, Catherine, gave me rides home.  Most of this weekend will be devoted to homework. 

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene, my one and only, and Catherine for her kindness and generosity in giving me rides.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Snow angel

I made her to celebrate 🥳 🎉 🎊. I got A- on the internship I had last semester. I am over the moon. 

You're Next (YA chiller)

     What do very evil people in high places, romance, a covert teen fight club, best friendship, and car crashes have in common? They're all key elements in Kylie Schachte's truly chilling You're Next. 

     When Flora, Schachte's protagonist, senses that a friend is in trouble she's told that it's nothing. But that night Ava calls, sounding desperate, and giving an address. Flora finds  her in a dark, dingy alley bleeding out from  gunshot wounds. With her last breath she utters a cryptic message: wess grays. 

     The police officer who arrives at the scene is less than surprised. It's not the first time she's found Flora with a murdered girl. Flora was only fourteen the same age as the victim.

     "I learned something then that most people don't know: no one is safe. We all think we are, but at any moment someone can erase you without a second thought. The world will go on, unchanged, like you were never there at all."

     Since then Flora has been a self-proclaimed amateur detective. Encouraged by the retired  detective grandfather with whom she and little sister, Olive, live, she spends most of her time when she'snot in school trying to track down bad guys. So when she figures out what Ava's clue means she goes to a series of dark tunnels under an abandoned hospital. 

     The bad guys learn what she's up to and let her know that if she doesn't back off she and her family and best friend will pay the ultimate price. They'll be next.

On a purrrsonal note, today was the first day of the UMaine spring semester. It was so great catching up with friends I haven't since December. 

A great big shout out goes out to my friends who are simply the best. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

With Twice The Love, Dessie Mei

"Decades ago, when I didn't feel like I belonged anywhere, ten-year-old me promised myself that I would one day write a book. A middle grade book about belonging everywhere."

    Few of us follow through on our promises to our preteen selves. Fortunately Justina Chen did. Her With Twice the Love, Dessie Mei is a thoroughly engaging narrative that touches on relevant social justice issues at an age appropriate level.

     Dessie is not a happy camper. She and her parents have moved in with her widowed grandmother, an Alzheimers victim. They're preparing her for an eventual move to an assisted living facility. Her twin brothers, high school seniors have been allowed to stay in their home to graduate 🎓 with their classmates. Changing schools in the middle of sixth grade, she's sure everyone already has their friend groups.

     On her first day in her new school Dessie meets a girl, Donna, who looks just like her. When they discover that they share a birthday and were adopted from the same orphanage they realize that they might be twins. DNA tests prove that they're right. The girls are delighted. 

     But it's not all smooth sailing. Dessie, who has been raised in a white family, realizes how little she knows about her culture. Donna's strict, traditional grandmother fears Dessie will be a bad influence on Donna while Dessie's mother fears that she will like the other family more.

    And the outside world offers up its own complications. Donna's grandmother becomes the victim of a vicious hate crime. Both girls' favorite group puts out a song with racist language. 

     A second marriage gave Chen two Chinese step daughters who were adopted into a white family. She's intimately familiar with the "delights and challenges" of culture blending. And she fears for their future in a country that increasingly others Asian Americans. Her concerns were the seed from which this fine book grew. "So I did what I always do when my heart grows furious: I wrote. What burst out of me is this love letter for my stepdaughters and all young people who are discovering their roots and their heritage, yes. But also their voices."

On a purrrsonal note, today I was ambushed by joy. It was so sunny 🌞 and warm I got to read 📚 outside for two hours. Not what you expect in Maine in January! 

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene who enjoyed his weekend 🧊 fishing 🎣 with his best friend and (more importantly) came home safe.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

One Of Our Kind (adult dystopia)

     Stepford Wives meets Black Lives Matter in Nicola Yoon's chilling One Of Our Kind.

    Liberty, California is billed as a utopia for upwardly mobile Black families, a haven free of the microaggressions and racist violence of the outside world. The mansions and their grounds are picture perfect. 

     "It's hard for Jasmyn to believe that everyone who lives here is Black. Harder to believe that, in just one month, she's going to be one of the Black people who lives here."

     Jasmyn, her husband, Kingston, and their young son, Kamau, certainly seem to be moving into a better place, especially after an incident with a white police officer. And the guys adjust easily. Her husband fits right in with the elites. Kamau loves and seems to be thriving in his new school. 

     But things are more complicated for Jasmyn. A public defender who sees so many young lives destroyed by the system, she can't just turn her back on the Blacks who can't afford to live in Liberty. She's hoping to meet new neighbors who share her passion for activism. But when she tries to start a local Black Lives Matter chapter she encounters almost total indifference. 

     And there's the ominous wellness center that's at the the heart of community life. What's up with the chants, the rituals, the equipment that seems more suited to a medical lab than a spa?

     What's being done to her neighbors? Is there something in the air or water? Can she get her family out before they're next?

     Yoon is an award winning YA author. One Of Our Kind is her most excellent adult fiction debut. 

On a purrrsonal note, tonight Tobago and I are on our own. Eugene is on an 🧊 fishing 🎣 weekend with his best friend. They can have it. The thought of sitting on a frozen lake leaves me cold.

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene who I can't wait to see tomorrow. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Out of Character (YA romance)

     Senior year isn't starting out well for Cass, protagonist of Jenna Miller's Out of Character. Her parents' marriage had been tempesteous. But the fighting didn't prepare her for her mother's sudden announcement that she was on her way to Maine to live with her boyfriend. This sudden abandonment is heart breaking. Her surgeon father has been preoccupied with work for most of her life; her mother has been there for her.

     Having her long term crush become her girlfriend is unexpectedly problematic. Tayor is gorgeous, romantic, ready to commit, and moving much too fast for Cass who isn't comfortable with more than kissing. She believes that Taylor deserves better but doesn't know how to make it happen. 

    Cass is a member of an online role play based on her favorite two-book series. She not only enjoys interacting as her character with the other characters, but confiding in the other four girls in an intimacy she can't achieve with offline peers. 

     Cass keeps her online world a secret. She's afraid that her now parenting father will cut her lifeline. It is having quite an adverse affect on her grades and distracting her from college applications. She's afraid that Taylor won't understand. And she may be falling for one of her fellow role players in a way she can't for her official girlfriend. 

     To keep her two lives separate or try to integrate them, knowing the risks inherent in either choice--this is the dilemma posed in this highly engaging coming of age narrative. 

On a purrrsonal note, Eugene was not my first boyfriend. I'd even been engaged a few times. But, like Cass, I'd never wanted to take these relationships to deeper levels. It took me awhile to figure out what made Eugene different. My father had been such a terrible parent I was subconsciously looking for someone who would be a wonderful father to our future children. Marrying him was the best decision I ever made.

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene with whom I'm still madly in love. Today is his birthday. I've baked his favorite cake for the quiet celebration he prefers.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Tobago with Squismallows

Isn't she just too adorable for words?

Amelia Westlake Was Never Here (YA romance)

     Rosemead, an elite girls private school, has a serious problem. Its swimming coach is a sexual predator who behaves very inappropriately with the students. The administration takes his side, silencing anyone who tries to report him. A ex Olympian, he's good for the school's image and income. In Erin Gough's Amelia Westlake Was Never Here two protagonists who could not possibly be more different join forces to try to take him down. 

     Will (short for Wilhelmina) has a troublemaker reputation. Actually she speaks her mind even if she knows she'll be punished for it. She is no fan of the school or her privileged peers. She longs to be in "A world in which people like [Coach] Hadley get what they deserve. A world where my classmates care about sticking up for each other more than they care about whose parents have the most expensive car." In other words she's a social justice warrior.

     Harriet is a model Rosemead student, highly engaged academically and in athletics. She sees her arrival at the school as the defining moment of her life. She obeys every rule and wears her uniform perfectly and proudly. TBH she's a bit of a suck up when it comes to the administration. 

  Needless to say, neither is a fan of the other.

   But an unexpected meeting leads to an unlikely collaboration. They create a fictitious student, Amelia Westlake, to take credit for their actions. 

     Amelia quickly becomes quite popular with the students. But her actions get her on the administration radar. If their identities are discovered Will and Harriet will be in a world of trouble. 

     Could they possibly succeed in their mission with the odds seriously against them? Could they go from enemies to more than just friends? 

     Amelia Westlake Was Never Here combines an engaging plot with candid discussion of a problem that exists in too many schools today. 

On a purrrsonal note, I was a high school first year student. In swimming class the teacher told me to stay in the pool when he dismissed the class. He touched me very aggressively under my bathing suit and then told me it was our little secret. The next day I told the principal who called me a vicious little liar and said she wouldn't let me destroy a good man's reputation. It makes me angry that girls today still have to deal with that evil. 

A great big shout out goes out to all who see something and say something. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Blackballed (adult nonfiction)

     It was a Saturday night. The University of Oklahoma chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon had rented a party bus. Everyone on the bus was white. The alcohol was flowing. People started singing a reprehensible piece that used the N word and alluded to lynching with the message that Blacks would never be admitted to the fraternity. 

     Not everyone on the bus was OK with this. One brother filmed it and sent the video to a Black student campus group that was looking for evidence of campus racism to present to the administration. 

     This is the incident with which Lawrence Ross opens Blackballed, his expose of the racism that is still sadly alive and well on historically white college and university campuses. The book is full of descriptions of incidents that shocked me, many of them the work of white fraternities and sororities. There were also descriptions of the microaggressions that Black students experience all too often. 

     I was deeply bothered by the responses of the administrations to the incidents. As Ross summarizes they were reactive rather than proactive, seemingly more concerned with image control than with the well being of the targeted students. 

     But some of the racism is institutional and systemic and carried out by none other than the administration. One example that takes place not only in the South, but all over the country is the refusal to take down statues and rename buildings honoring particularly virulent racists. 

     If you want America's historically white colleges and universities to become truly welcoming, affirming, and valuing spaces for Black students you owe it to yourself to read the book. 

On a purrrsonal note, I have finished a crafts kit Amber gave me. It's assembling miniature books that have pages you can read. Most have pre-written stories but I had to write the content for ten. It was fun but very challenging. I'm sure it was good for my post stroke fine motor skills. And it looks so adorable in my studio. I'll post a picture. 

A great big shout out goes out to Amber for all the support she has given me in my stroke recovery and the just right presents.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Girls With Sharp Sticks, Girls With Razor Hearts, Girls With Rebel Souls

     Remember earlier this winter break I was over the moon about Suzanne Young's In Nightfall? I could not put the book down. So I did what I always do with a new author crush--see if they've written other books. With Young I wicked lucked out. The sister is prolific. 

     I sent for a three volume series by inter library loan. And I started having misgivings the second I put my request in. It's been awhile since I've read a good dystopia. I have higher standards for dystopia than other genres. The author has to craft and maintain a world that is seamlessly believable. I've been let down before. I wasn't sure any author could pull this off for not one, but three books...

     ...Luckily I was wrong. The narrative arc was so suspenseful, so compelling, so believable the second I put one book down I picked up the next. 

     The first book in the series, Girls With Sharp Sticks, is like Stepford Wives meets elite private school with cutting edge AI thrown in. Narrator Mena and her friends are students at Innovations Academy, a very exclusive all girls school. 

     "We're top of the line, they like to say, the most well-rounded girls to ever graduate."

     But the school's definition of well-rounded differs greatly from yours or mine. Their academic grades are based on subjects like modern manners, social graces etiquette, and modesty and decorum rather than chemistry, algebra, and French. They must always be perfectly coiffed, made up and dressed. Beauty, they are told, is their greatest asset. They're constantly accompanied by a guardian who reports any non compliance on their part.

     The school's disciplinary methods are barbaric. 

     Mena and her friends decide to not only escape the school but take it down so it can't destroy more girls. In the second book, Girls With Razor Hearts, they're in the outside world. Mena and Sydney are students at Ridgeway Prep, a private school that may have hidden connections with Innovations Academy while Annalise, Brynn, and Marcella do research online. While they're trying to find what they need to know for their mission they also need to protect themselves from the very powerful people who will stop at nothing to destroy them...

     ...and the rich, entitled boys who can get away with everything. 

     In the final volume, Girls With Rebel Souls, the urgency and tempo have stepped up. It's becoming increasingly difficult to tell ally from enemy. And the bad guys have a terrifying new targeted weapon the girls are powerless against. 

     When I put that book down I felt like I'd just run a marathon. 

     The very best dystopias have enough in common with the readers' world that they carry a seed of possibility, the sense that at least some aspects of their narrative could come to fruition in the future. This is true in spades for this fine trilogy. Look no further than who is about to start a second term in the oval office. 

On a purrrsonal note I'm going to read and review more books by Young. But I'm going to wait on her six book series until the summer. 

A great big shout out goes out to Young who hopefully will keep dishing out the suspense for a long time. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Arlene Hathaway's chocolate chip 🍪 recipe

Dissolve 2 tsp baking soda in 1 1/2 cups applesauce 

Mix in 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves or ginger 1/2 cup shortening. 

Stir in 1 package chocolate chips. 

Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheets.

Bake 14 minutes at 375.

Don't say I never taught you anything useful. 

Arlene Hathaway's chocolate chip 🍪 recipe

Dissolve 2 tsp baking soda in 1 1/2 cups applesauce 

Mix in 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves or ginger 1/2 cup shortening. 

Stir in 1 package chocolate chips. 

Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheets.

Bake 14 minutes at 375.

Don't say I never taught you anything useful. 

The Rose Wood Hunt

     If intrigue and high stakes treasure hunts are your literary preference have I got a book for you! You won't be able to put down MacKenzie Reed's The Rose Wood Hunt.

     Rosetown, a coastal Massachusetts town, revolves around the Rosewood family. Although in recent years it hasn't all been smooth sailing, the townspeople rely on the family's high end fashion industry for jobs. Lily Rosewood, Reed's narrator, is granddaughter of the family matriarch. She looks forward to learning about the family business from her beloved grandmother and eventually taking over.

      But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. The day after a lavish party at her mansion Iris is found dead. And the family fortune is missing. 

     Before her death Iris had set up an intricate treasure hunt for Lily and three other teens featuring a map and a series of very cryptic clues. Just running against time to solve the mystery would be a challenge.

     But Lily's estranged cousin, Daisy, is a TikTok star with a half a million followers. When she puts the family's business out there uninvited treasure hunters begin descending on Rosetown, willing to do whatever it takes to acquire the fortune. 

     If intrigue and suspense, seasoned with romance and betrayal, are your recipe for a delicious read you'll find The Rose Wood Hunt to be in very good taste. 

On a purrrsonal note, well over half a year after the stroke I've finally started baking. I'd been cooking for quite awhile. But baking is more delicate--the measuring and all. The hardest thing for me to relearn so far has been cracking an egg without the insides falling on the floor. I started with banana bread, then went on to molasses cake. Today I upped my game to my mother-in-law's chocolate chip cookies. They came decent.

A great big shout out goes out to my mother-in-law, Arlene Hathaway. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my 

Cool for the Summer

     For Larissa, protagonist of Dahlia Adler's Cool for the Summer, popular football star, Chase has always been the (probably impossible) dream. She's spent hours fantasizing about attending homecoming and prom on his arm and never getting anywhere...

     ...until the beginning of her senior year when Chase is suddenly noticing her, inviting her into his world, and becoming more and more romantic. Soon they're a school power couple. It's exactly what Larissa has been yearning for years...

     So why isn't it making her happy?

     Could it be because Jasmine, the girl with whom she had a bittersweet summer romance, is unexpectedly attending her school?

     If Chase is really Larissa's one and only, why can't she seem to get over Jasmine?

On a purrrsonal note, this is the kind of book I wish had been available when I was a teen and the happy endings were always the cheerleader winning the ❤️ of the quarterback. Even though the 60s are characterized as sexually revolutionary, they really weren't because we were only presented with one option. 

A great big shout out goes out to the authors who are presenting today's teens with affirmations of a much wider range of ways to be and to love.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Mmm mmm good!!!

If you're ever in Penobscot County in Maine make Governors one of your destinations. You'll be glad 😊 😃 😀 😄 you did. 

The Contagion Next Time

     I think that during the pandemic most of us wanted it to be over already or at least morph into something more manageable, something we could get an annual vaccine against and then ignore.  Sandro Galea, author of The Contagion Next Time, warns us against this brand of magical thinking. Our nation and world were tragically unprepared for COVID-19. Unless we take drastic action we will be just as tragically unprepared for the next pandemic which could be even worse. 

     "As the twentieth century was characterized by the threat of mass conflict, the twenty-firstr is increasingly characterized by the threat of mass contagion, driven by our modern connectivity and the reservoirs of poor health we allow to exist. The shock of Covid-19 was amplified by our willful ignorance of this risk. The pandemic revealed just how vulnerable we have always been, and how vulnerable we will remain unless we learn its lessons."

     One of the lessons is our misallocation of money spent on health. The focus is on cure rather than prevention. One way we could invest in prevention is improving the conditions in which people live, widening access to clean air and water, safe housing, nourishing food. And there's this thing of climate change which exacerbates inequities. 

     Another is that we can no longer be complacent with a society where racial and social injustice create areas of serious deprivation. Health can't be dependent on to whom your were born. It has to be a public good. 

     And there are plenty of other well thought out lessons. 

     Basically Galea is calling for restructuring our country and 🌎 for the common good, potentially limiting the scope and tragedy of future contagions...

     ...and helping us all be less vulnerable to the more ordinary health challenges of being human. 

On a purrrsonal note, Eugene and I had our weekly breakfast at Governors. I had strawberry rhubarb pie with a generous scoop of French vanilla ice cream. Perfect blend of sweet and tart. 

A great big shout out goes out to the most excellent Governors staff.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

They're taking over the house. Oh, my!

Perfectly Parvin

     Parvin, protagonist of Olivia Abtahi's Perfectly Parvin, has concerns about high school. But she's confident she's starting off the year with a boyfriend and a date to the very important homecoming dance...

     ...Until he breaks up with her very publicly at orientation, telling her that she's too loud and too much.

     After a movie night with her two besties, Ruth and Fabian, Parvin comes to a very  unfortunate conclusion. The heroines of the flicks, the girls who catch the male gaze, are the opposite of too loud and too much. They've quiet and demure and wait for the guy to make the first move rather than take any kind of  initiative. That's the kind of girl she has to morph into... 

     ...and she doesn't have a lot of time. She's run into Wesley and his new girlfriend and told them she has a date to Homecoming. So to avoid a second humiliation she has to come up with a date worthy boy.

     But that's not all that's going on in Parvin's life. Her father is from Iran. His half sister is planning to visit her family. But she's detained and deported. It's 2017. Guess who's in the White House. Writing about the Muslim Ban in her author's note, Abtahi says, "But we will never forget the families that were torn apart, the students who couldn't attend the universities that accepted them, and the hate and vitriol the United States was sanctioned to spew."

     With a second T***p presidency on the horizon Perfectly Parvin is a very timely read. 

On a purrrsonal note, it wasn't too bad out this morning. To get fresh air and exercise I made a Hannaford/Goodwill run. At Hannaford I bought the ingredients to make Eugene's favorite kind of 🍪 from his mother's recipe and a bag of dark chocolate sea salt caramels that just happened to fall into my cart. At Goodwill I got what you'll see in the next picture. And all on gift cards. 

A great big shout out goes out to the friends who gave me the gift cards. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Can you believe this? I took this picture today in January after a white Christmas IN MAINE!!! To me this feels like a miracle!

Love Is A Revolution

     It can be very tempting, when meeting someone who you would like to be THE ONE, to try to come across as who they're looking for rather than who you actually are. But if this tactic works it can leave you vulnerable. What if they learn the truth? That's the plight of Nala, protagonist of Renee Watson's Love Is A Revolution.

     Nala lives with her aunt and uncle and "cousin-sister-friend" Imani. It's the first weekend of the girls' summer vacation before their senior year. Nala has agreed to do whatever Imani wants on her birthday. Too bad it's going to a talent show. 

     It's not what it is; it's who's putting it on.

     "Inspire Harlem is an organization for Harlem teens that does community service projects and hosts awareness events about various social issues. Imani has been trying to get me to join for the past year. But I don't know, they're a little too...well, let's just say I don't think I'm a good fit."

     When she sees the night's emcee Nala no longer regrets coming. Tye is fine. When Nala meets him she tries to present a persona he could fall in love with. The problem is it's all based on lies. As she finds herself making the untruths more and more elaborate Nala knows that she can't deceive him forever...

     ...What will happen when he discovers the truth?

     But romantic love isn't the only kind the book is centered on. Nala is also dealing with the complexities of her other relationships. And maybe to sustain an authentic romantic relationship she must first learn to love herself.

On a purrrsonal note, in the bad old days when I was a teen romantic relationships were supposed to be based on deceit. It was all about him. His interests were the only important ones. And if you were smarter than him you never let on. It would scare 😱 him away. I didn't play that game. And I found boys who shared my concerns about the war, the environment, feminism, and racism (as opposed to say being obsessed with football) and weren't scared off by my grades.

A great big shout out goes out to the many boys and men today who don't expect a relationship to be all about males.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Tell It True

     Students who have an interest in journalistic ethics (or aren't quite sure there is such a thing) will really enjoy the coming of age narrative that is Tim Lockette's Tell It True.

     Lisa, Lockette's protagonist, is judgemental and cynical about just about everything in her life. She's sure her often away dad is carrying on an affair with his assistant. Her mother has messed up values. 

     "Teachers are fake: biology teachers who've never done research, English teachers who've never published a word of their own writing."

     In fact her hometown and school are fake. And the epitome of the local of it is her school newspaper--"Stuff you already knew or didn't care about, published weeks after the events happened because the paper comes out only three times a year."

     So it's truly ironic when she takes on editorship as a favor to her best (and only) friend. She doesn't take this role all that seriously at first. She suggests renaming the paper the Beachside Strangler.

     But things change when she reads about high school journalists uncovering real scandals, having a real impact on their communities. So when she learns that a man convicted of a double murder a quarter century ago without adequate representation is about to be executed she takes that on as her way to make a difference. 

     It's a real life changing learning experience for Lisa. Her narrative can be quite thought provoking for teens coming of age in today's ethically challenged media world. 

On a purrrsonal note, today is the first day of 2025. I didn't stay up until midnight. Tobago believes it is her duty to get her people to bed on time. I took pity on her at 10:30 when she was beginning to look slightly panicked. My official resolutions are to graduate 🎓 grad school, get a UMaine job, and finish my book manuscript. My covert one is to add more flamboyance to my fashion aesthetic and find more drag ops.

A great big shout out goes out to my precious wing 🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️ 😺 🐱 😸 sweet Tobago. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone