Two Truths And A Lie

Two Truths And A Lie

Juvenile nonfiction
"Picture this scene: you're a farmer living in rural China, and
you're out digging up medicinal herbs and roots. Most of the roots
you find are skinny and stringy and wispy. But today's discovery is
nothing like that. The plant that's buried deep in the moist ground
in front of you is heavy. You unearth your prize, which is bigger
than both your hands put together, and to your delight you see that
this root is...person-shaped?!"
Ammi-Joan Paquette's Two Truths And A Lie combines a game with
content that makes Ripley's Believe It Or Not seem so twentieth
century. Chapters cover topics ranging from plants through animals to
humans. Each contains two bona fides and one scam.
Telling them apart is not as easy as you'd think. A flower that
smells like day old road kill, a walking moss, or a mind-controlling
parasitic fungus? A prehistoric Bambiraptor, an 82 foot long
megacondor, or a gelatinous curtain of death? Which of these things
do not belong?
Introduce this to the science loving kids in your life. Maybe
test yourself...
...if you dare. Bwa ha ha!
On a personal note, here is a personal two truths and a lie. In the
near future I will be:
A) reading a poem I wrote at an international student poetry event
B) auditioning for the UMaine drag show
C) taking a week off from reading to catch up on must see tv.
Yep, you're right. C. In my mind must see tv is an oxymoron.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers. I hope you have a
great Valentines Day. Don't go over board spending wise. And share
the love. I get the kiddy packs and distribute widely. Email cards
for people I won't see in person. No eye rolls, please. Every year
there are people who tell me it's the only one they'll get.
jules hathaway


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Two More Amazing Sheroes

Two More Amazing Sheroes

Juvenile herstory
You can never have enough biographies of trailblazing women for
our younger readers. So when I found two new ones while shelf reading
in the juvenile wing of the Orono Public Library I was over the moon.
And speaking of the moon, did you know Apollo 11 almost was
almost done in by an unexpected computer glitch? You can get the
whole suspenseful story in Dean Robbins' Margaret And The Moon: How
Margaret Hamilton Saved The First Lunar Landing.
Margaret was one of those kids who had questions about
everything. She was especially intrigued by math and outer space.
When she discovered computers she set out to discover all those
machines could be used to accomplish...
...including helping to put men on the moon.
This volume could really help steer STEM capable girls in a good
direction.
I donate blood five times a year. I wouldn't be able to do this
if Clara Barton hadn't founded the Red Cross. Needless to say, I'm a
big fan of hers. I was delighted to see that premier picture book
author and illustrator Patricia Polacco had celebrated her life with
Clara and Davie.
As a child Clara struggled with a lisp. Kids and even family
members made fun of her. Fortunately her big brother, Davie was on
her side. He homeschooled her so she wouldn't be peer bullied.
Early on Clara discovered that she had the power of healing big
time. Neighbors began to ask her to cure sick farm animals. Her
older sister's illness inspired her to study medical books.
One day Clara's beloved brother, Davie, had a really bad fall,
breaking both his legs. She believed he would be able to walk again,
but that made one of them. What could she do...
Well you gotta read the book and see.
BTW did you know that the man who discovered blood types died
for lack of a transfusion. He was black. And the hospital was whites
only. Talk about life's bitter ironies.
On a personal note, I had a lovely weekend. The best part was
church. Choir was well attended and we had a good anthem. The bell
choir played. Pastor Lorna preached a powerful and inspiring sermon.
People cheered when I announced my grad school good news. Brittney who
works at UMaine at CASE showed me a picture of the critter we'll get
to stuff during Pride Week. It is something special. The rest of the
time I was filled with joy and appreciation to be in the dear home
where we raised our children with my husband and cat. Everywhere I
look there are precious memories and pretty things like shells and
snow globes and Beanie Babies.
A great big shout out goes out to my church family.
jules hathaway




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5 To 1

5 To 1

YA dystopia
"Appa didn't try to stop the guards when they came for me yesterday.
He didn't kick up a fuss like some of the parents do, crying and
begging for more time. He didn't offer a bribe--one the guards would
have slipped into their pockets before they proceeded to drag me to
the cart like nothing had happened."
Holly Bodger's 5 To1 offers one of the most unique dystopian
premises I've ever encountered. In Koyangar, a walled country, boys
and men have been declared superfluous, good for only one thing,
impregnating women with girl children. Women past their child bearing
years fill all the professions.
There are five boys for every girl. Teenage boys engage in
brutal competitions. Only three outcomes are permitted. The lucky
winners get wives and futures. If they are able to father girls, they
live in relative luxury. Unchosen boys with sisters and money get
jobs. Poor boys who aren't chosen live relatively short lives in the
military defending Koyangar's walls.
It is Sudasa's turn to choose her husband from the five boys who
will spend days competing for her hand in marriage. She is not a
happy camper. She's convinced the whole process is a scam, the tests
rigged. Her cousin is the most advantaged in her field of
contestants. Her very powerful and influential grandmother seems to
be setting things up to achieve her own agenda.
Kiran is a long shot competitor from a poor family. Although
winning would give him la dolce vida and allow him to help his father,
this is not what they want. His goal is to escape and locate his
mother who left when he was very young.
Their narratives are told in alternating chapters. She speaks
in free verse, he uses prose. After the first few chapters, if you're
anything like me, you'll have a very hard time putting this finely
written book down.
On a personal note, today's snow came down soft and fluffy. This
winter in Penobscot County, Maine we've seen every form winter
precipitation can take. Between that and extreme cold, Joey cat is
nearly a month late on his checkup. He has a cardboard carrier and I
have to walk to the vets and back. Otherwise I'm on cloud 9 from my
grad school acceptance. Higher Education Hello (2 day event for
accepted grad students) is in a couple of weeks. It's still hard to
believe this is really happening.
A great big shout out goes out to all the people who are overjoyed for
me and eager to help me succeed.
jules hathaway


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Exit, Pursued By A Bear

Exit, Pursued By A Bear

YA fiction
"'I need you to say it, Polly,' I whisper. It will be real as
soon as she does, but there's no one better at pulling off Band-Aids
than Polly Olivier.
'They found you in the lake,' she says, her shining eyes inches
from mine. 'Amy did, I mean, when you weren't at the cabin when she
got back. She was frantic. You were still in your dress, but your
underwear was gone, and you were up to your waist in water, lying on
the rocks."
Hermione, narrator of E. K. Johnston's Exit, Pursued By A Bear,
is a high school senior who lives for cheerleading. She's co captain
of her squad, and her teammates are her besties.
Hermione's last cheer camp right before school starts will be
her best one. It's living up to her expectations until the night of a
dance where she's handed a drugged drink and wakes up in a hospital:
raped, unable to remember what happened, and possibly pregnant.
Rumors about her fly around the Internet. Not everyone believes it
was nonconsensual. Her parents and friends aren't sure how to treat
her. Pregnancy confirmation requires a difficult decision.
Like Hermione, I lost my virginity to rape when I was much
younger. People who minimize this trauma, as the father of a rapist
who described his son's reprehensible act as "twenty minutes of
action" change public perceptions in a very harmful way. Rape has
been shown to cause more PTSD than military services. It took me
decades to get over the damage. Some people never do.
Sadly we live in a society where too many girls and women are
sexually assaulted. Sensitively and perceptively written, Exit,
Pursued By A Bear is a book that should be widely read.
On a personal note, as of yesterday I have been accepted into the
University of Maine's Higher Education master's program. In my entire
life the only other events that have left me as full of joy and terror
at the same time have involved childbirth.
A great big shout out goes out to the folks who believe in my
potential, who encouraged me not to give up, and who will be with me
every step of the way in the challenging path that has just opened up.
I'm still having a hard time realing that this is actually happening.
jules hathaway



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The Factory Girls

The Factory Girls

YA/adult nonfiction
"The tiny fire that afternoon grew into a raging inferno, an
uncontrollable fire that injured or killed hundreds of people. Those
who survived were haunted for the rest of their lives by the images
they saw, the sounds they heard, and the searing heat they felt. The
Triangle Factory fire of 1911 is unarguably one of the greatest
workplace tragedies in American history, and one that should never be
forgotten."
Christine Seifert first learned of that tragic fire as a
freshperson in college. A couple of paragraphs in a history textbook
so transfixed her that she forgot to eat her sandwich. "...Who were
these girls and how did they end up in that New York City factory on
March 25, 1911? What must life have been like for a factory girl in
the early 1900s in America? And how do we make sure the factory
girls' story is never forgotten?..."
This curiosity must have been very strong because it took a lot
of serious research for her to write The Factory Girls.
The books interweaves several strands seamlessly. There is the
story of the fire itself, centered around the experiences of five of
the workers: Annie, Bessie, Rose, Fannie, and Kate. In the beginning
you get to know them as individuals with families, hopes, and fears.
You don't learn their fates until the very end.
There are also chapters on what it was like to come to America,
to work in factories, and to risk all to go on strike. Families fled
pogroms (systematic brutality), forced military service, poverty, and
natural disasters, only to end up in tenements with every family
member needing to work for mere survival. Conditions even children
labored under were horrific. But striking risked hunger and
homelessness.
The third strand is one that is sadly all too true today. Mass
produced clothing had become popular and stylish. Being in style had
become important to people's self image, a trend facilitated by
suddenly ubiquitous advertising. Low wages and lack of costly safety
programs allowed manufacturers to churn out the cheap fashions the
crowds coveted.
Many of today's fashion must haves are made in third world
nations by people working for pitiful pay under unsafe conditions. In
fact a century after the Triangle fire 111 people died in a Bangladesh
fire under highly similar circumstances...
...which is why we all need to read the book and let it remove
our clothing complacency.
PS It's the next morning and I just read a news story about people who
bought Zara clothes finding notes in garments from the people who made
them saying they aren't being paid.
On a personal note, Black History Month is really bringing people
together to commemorate and celebrate. Yesterday we watched and
discussed a video on black girls growing up with white images of
beauty while we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch catered to Moe's Barbeque.
A great big shout out goes out to the people who are doing all the
work to bring this month together, people who attend and participate,
and the folks at Moe's who know how to do barbeque right.
jules hathaway



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Trashing The Planet

Trashing The Planet

Juvenile nonfiction
"Americans have a love affair with trash. The United States has
about 5 percent of the world's population but generates 30 percent of
the world's garbage. According to a 2008 study by Columbia University
in New York, the average American throws away about 7.1 pounds (3.2
kg) of waste each day, every day. That adds up to about 102 tons (93
metric tons) of trash over a person's lifetime. Edward Humes, author
of the book Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, says, "Each
of our bodies may occupy only one cemetery plot when we're done with
this world, but a single person's 102-ton trash legacy will require
the equivalent [space] of 1,100 graves. Much of the refuse will
outlast any grave marker, pharoah's pyramid, or modern skyscraper."
YIKES! That sure isn't the legacy I want to leave behind. Yes,
I'm trash talking today. I've just read Stuart A. Kallen's Trashing
The Planet: Examining Our Global Garbage Glut. I think you might
want to.
This deceptively slim volume serves up a lot of important (and
often disconcerting) chapters;
*In chapter 3 we learn exactly how toxic our trash is. Not only the
byproducts of mining, agriculture, and manufacturing, but the cleaning
products and other consumer goods we use every day, contain some
pretty nasty stuff. And how about those nuclear power plants?
*Chapter 4 reminds us that in a world where millions of people are
starving we are wasting about 1/3 of the food we produce.
"Wasted food is connected to the misuse of precious natural
resources. In the United States, agriculture accounts for the use of
10 percent of energy, 50 percent of land, and 80 percent of
freshwater. To grow food farmers use hundreds of millions of pounds
of polluting fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. But 40 percent
of the food won't ever be eaten..."
Chapter 6 deals with the massive amounts of plastic in our
oceans and its effect on marine life. In chapter 7 we learn how even
outer space is becoming a dump.
What I like best about Trashing The Planet is that it takes
readers into the lives of the poorest of the poor. We learn about
Chinese families who live in shanties around dumps and dig through the
garbage to eke out a precarious living and e-waste salvagers in third
world countries who breathe and handle toxic substances without even
the most basic protections.
Perceptive readers will be able to glean ways they can make a
difference. For this reason I believe Trashing The Planet would be a
most excellent family read together.
On a personal note, I'm just back from church. Pastor Lorna preached
a powerful sermon. We (choir) had a fun introit and anthem. I got to
announce UMaine activities. Then after the service we had the annual
church meeting. We were enticed to come down to the basement by the
soup aromas. I had a bowl of fish chowder, 2 bowls of fiesta soup,
and a nice big piece of cherry pie. Oh my! I asked for the fiesta
soup recipe and plan to make it for Eugene. Today I have a ham in the
oven. That should give him leftovers for nights I have activities up
to UMaine.
A great big shout out goes out to my church family.
jules hathaway




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Remember

Remember

Juvenile nonfiction
"This book is about you. Even though the main event in the
story happened many years ago, what happened before it and after it is
now part of all our lives. Because remembering is the mind's step
toward understanding, this book is designed to take you on a journey
through a time in American life when there was as much hate as there
was love; as much anger as there was hope; as many heroes as cowards.
A time when people were overwhelmed with emotion and children
discovered new kinds of friendships and a new kind of fear..."
In Remember: The Journey to School Integration, Toni Morrison
took an unusual method of bringing this quest alive for young
readers. Period photographs convey most of the message. Morrison has
tried to imagine the thoughts and feelings of the subjects.
Background text is thankfully minimal.
Some of the pictures are scary. Elizabeth Eckford is stopped by
armed soldiers and screamed at by a crowd. A bunch of white guys
attack a car carrying black passengers. The creepiest, in my mind,
shows a mother and her two very young children sitting in their car.
A sign taped to it says, "SOUTHERN WHITES ARE THE NEGROES'
BEST FRIEND BUT NO INTEGRATION" The little boy is wearing a miniature
KKK outfit complete with pointed hood.
You see the abysmal conditions blacks learned under in seperate
and very unequal schools. In one picture you see benches of students
crowded around a wood burning stove. There are no desks and not all
kids have books. And you see the children, lovingly dressed and
groomed, doing their best.
Integration wasn't always smooth. In one picture you see only
black kids because the white kids have been kept home. But being
open and curious, they began accepting each other and even making
friends. And that's the message of hope the book delivers.
On a personal note, Black History Month kicked off beautifully at
UMaine. Snow moved the event indoors after the flag raising. The
speeches were stirring, inspiring, and well attended. The month is
going to be packed with events. I think it will be the best Black
History Month ever. I know I plan to do plenty of learning.
A great big shout out goes out to the organizers, the speakers, and
UMaine's own Black Student Union.
A reminder to people like me who unfairly benefit from it:
Hey hey!
Ho ho!
White privilege
Has GOT to go!
jules hathaway



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