Me with Lauren.  She taught one of the classes I sat in on.  I took very few pictures.  It was because I was so engaged in living and loving the experiences that I rarely stepped outside of them to document them.

Me during staff orientation.  

Here I am holding a live sea urchin.  The tank where we could touch sea creatures was one of everyone's favorite places.

Surviving American History

YA fiction 

"The halls are

empty.  Everyone's in

class.  Mom's 

waiting for me

outside in the U-Haul truck."

     Gabi, protagonist of Max Howard's Surviving American History, is not a happy camper.  She's at her high school for the last time.  She's about to leave her father and all her friends because her mother is insisting on moving to Maine to live with her boyfriend.

     As Gabi and her mom drive away they hear her best friend's voice on the radio.

"This is WQRW,

Godey High Radio.

We are live.

We are alive.

But we're hearing gunshots."

     On her phone, searching for news, Gabi learns that there was an active shooter and that at least fifteen people are dead.  Desperate to learn more, she begs her mom to turn around.  But Mommy Dearest refuses.  She has to be at her job on Monday.

     [Reviewer's note: um Mom.  Priorities.  Any decent job will be flexible if you're late arriving because your only child's school was the scene of a mass shooting.  

     When I talk to the characters you know this is an authentic and engaging book.]

     It turns out everyone in the American history class Gabi would have been in if she hadn't been moving is dead including the teacher, her best friend's mother.

     In Maine she has to start a new school.  Her best friend, who survived and reported live from the school through the shooting, won't return her texts. Her mother is pressuring her to move on already...

     ...But how do you move on when everyone in your American history class was slaughtered and you wonder if you should have been with them at the end?

     Told in poignant and powerful free verse, Surviving American History is a must read for kids who wonder as they kiss their parents goodbye before heading off to school if this will be the last time.  It's a timely reminder for those of us who are adults that we must be fighting for laws that will make them safer in a place where they deserve to feel secure.

On a purrrsonal note, we also did a lot of traveling with the kids:  other college campuses, marine research facilities, the State House, a play and a movie, a state park where we spent the day swimming...It was so much fun for everyone.  And the students really did us all proud.  They were courteous, engaged, and curious wherever we went.  At one place where they were told that they could take off their masks they replied that Upward Bound students mask inside.  Not one removed a mask.  They put many adults to shame with their maturity and graciousness. (Jules)

When is this heat wave going to end?  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to our fabulous Upward Bound students.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone

Fade Away

YA fiction 

     "With one perfect flick of his wrist, the rock's through the rim, and the state title is ours.  Then it's all cheering and chest bumps, and half the guys are crying, and the whole crowd's got their phones out, trying to catch this moment so they can put it in their pocket and pull it out anytime, like they're witnessing their own little moment of world history."

     Jake, protagonist of E. B. Vickers' Fade Away, is the man of the hour.  He's the one who made the championship winning shot.  He'll be the one who will cut down the net and hold the trophy aloft.  He's the one the post game party will be honoring...

     Only he never makes it to the party.  By the next day he's officially missing, leaving family, friends, and his community perplexed.  Why would he disappear after pulling off his greatest accomplishment, one he'd been working toward for six years?

     Daphne is his ex girlfriend who still cares about Jake.  Kolt is his longtime best friend.  Luke is his science and sports statistics obsessed little brother.  The narrative is told in their alternating voices.  As their discoveries and speculations become more frightening and sinister, they must accept the possibility of a very dark side to their golden boy.

     In her author's note Vickers reminds readers that in 2019 more than 700,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses.  She saw this tragedy devastating her own community.  One night she realized that the very qualities that she'd thought would protect her son from drugs--"his drive, his desire to be the best he could possibly be"--would actually endanger him.  She gives readers with similar traits an important message:

     "You are enough.

     Your worth doesn't come from the court, or your paycheck, or your number of likes or followers or whatever society seems to be telling you is important.  It comes from the beating, bleeding heart inside you.  Head, hands, heart.  That's it."

On a purrrsonal note, another key part of the summer program was community service.  I helped to run it.  We had a good range of projects.  I think the favorite of both staff and students was the four days we spent outside IGA collecting donations of merchandise and money for community organizations: animal shelters and food pantries.  We collected $469 and lots of carts full of food and supplies.  People were very enthusiastic and encouraging.  We all were so happy when we delivered to the shelters and got to see the dogs and cats waiting to be adopted. (Jules)

Let me remind you that there are precious cats and dogs just waiting for a new home.  Just ready to shower you with love and loyalty.  My family is so happy every day that they adopted me.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to all the generous and supportive IGA customers who helped make the drive such a success.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone