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Good Different

Juvenile fiction in verse 

"Pretending to be a Normal person is tiring.

As soon as Mom pulls into the driveway

and I get inside, I change

     take off my Normal-person mask

     put on my headphones 

     play my favorite pop songs on repeat."

     One of the most promising signs in Juvenile fiction these days is books with neurodivergent narrators written by neurodivergent authors.  Meg Eden Kuyatt's Good Different, written in verse is a beautiful example of this subgenre.

     Selah knows that she's different.  She has a list of rules on how to be a Normal person that help her blend in.  Her mother pressures her to do all she can to pass.  Her grandfather who lives next door is different also.  

"Pop's the only one who gets me,

says 'we're cut from the same cloth,'

like we're two matching button-down shirts

in the same closet'"

     Up through sixth grade she loved the predictability and rules of her school 🏫.   They made it so that she didn't have to stress over the many decisions already made for her.  She felt like, despite not being Normal she fit in.

     In seventh grade everything seems to change.  Selah and her best friend are in different classes, only getting together at lunch.  The interests of her peers have changed.  Now they are all into crushes.

"I'd rather talk about 

myths or dragons 

but keep that part of me

locked up

because I know the girls 

don't want to talk about myths or dragons."

     The new difficulty of blending in at school isn't the only challenge Selah faces.  Loud people who throw parties with bonfires at night have moved into the house next door.  Her mother says they aren't that loud.  They're loud enough to keep Selah from sleeping.

     One day Selah unexpectedly feels somebody's fingers in her hair.  She reflexively moves defensively and then realizes she's given the girl, Addie, who was playing with her hair a bloody nose.  Suddenly most of her classmates act like she's strange and dangerous.  Addie's mother is trying to get her kicked out of school.  Her principal tells her that if there's another incident she'll have to leave, a prospect she finds terrifying.

     But all is not lost.  Selah begins to learn about the spectrum and accommodations.  She begins to share poetry that helps some of her peers identify with her.

     Good Different is the poignant and powerful coming of age narrative of a girl discovering that although her brain is different it's also beautiful.  I highly recommend it to middle schoolers both on and off the spectrum.

On a purrrsonal note, well it's been a good week.  I've had my fun evenings and made progress on my writing and studio reorganization.  My writing corner, the niche created by my bureaus and the closet look amazing.  Now I have to tackle the bunk bed and the floor and decide which Christmas 🎄 ornaments I want to add to my wall decorations and which to store in my shed.  Then it's on to the rest of the house.  (Jules)

It's looking good.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to you, our readers.  Hope you're having a great weekend.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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6 Times We almost Kissed (And One Time We Did)

YA romance 

     Have you ever compared your impression of a novel with the inside cover blurb and wonder, did we read the same book?  Actually I experience that frequently.  I certainly did with Tess Sharpe's 6 Times We almost Kissed (And One Time We Did).  It isn't inaccurate.  The narrative, told in a present day setting punctuated by flashbacks, fits neatly into the unlikely romance genre.  It's just alarmingly decontextualized, stripped of the emotional depth of much of the story.

     Tate's mom's need for a liver transplant is only the latest of health issues.  Before the illness that was in the process of shuttering her liver down Anna had a battle against cancer.  So Tate, whose father had skipped out, has spent much of her life not knowing if she'd lose her one and only parent.

     Penny's mother, while physically present, is in many ways lost to her.  Lottie's husband died unexpectedly in a tragic rafting accident.  Penny, who was injured in the accident, was shunted to her grandmother's house after getting out of the hospital while Lottie moved in with the Anna and Tate.  Penny wonders if Lottie considers her responsible for her father's death, maybe even wishes she was the one who died.

     And the responsibilities the girls must take on go far beyond those listed in the blurb.  Medical (anti rejection drugs) and medical adjacent (housing near the hospital for weeks after the operation) expenses are sky high.  Neither single parent will be able to work for a long time.  Even with Tate and Anna moving in with Penny and Lottie (in itself a challenge) the girls have no idea how they'll cover even the most basic household expenses.

     6 Times We almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) is a wonderful narrative for teen (and adult) readers who want rich and complex plots and fabulous but flawed characters.

On a purrrsonal note, Thursday was an awesome day.  I saw my best friend, Lisa, for the first time she got back from a well deserved vacation.  I went to an opening reception for an art exhibition at the Orono Public Library community room.  I went to a pot luck supper at Wilson Center where I had my best meal 😋 of the week.  I'm super looking forward to next week's supper.  I get to provide the programming.  I have something really good planned for the crew.  (Jules)

It isn't as hot and muggy this week.  This is Maine being the way life should be.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the Wilson Center attendees.  And, of course, Lisa.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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The Talk

Graphic novel memoir 

     There are a lot of talks any parent has to have with their children.  Darrin Bell's The Talk is structured around the one white parents are spared: the one on survival strategies in a still too racist world.  A world where being stopped by the police can result in an on the spot death penalty and white people feel entitled to call the police for the most trivial reasons.  A world in which for too many people Black lives don't matter.

     When Bell (who is biracial) asked his white mother for a water gun she bought him a bright green one.  When he asked why she didn't get him a more realistic one she gave him an answer that he considered "the most paranoid nonsense I've ever heard."  When he took it outside to play it was confiscated by a cop.  Then a flashback conveys his mother's speech the essence of which is "The world is different for you and your brother.  White people won't see you or treat you the way they do little white boys."

     Bell is a father in 2020.  His very young son asks him "Who's George Floyd?"  He remembers how his father had avoided discussions about racial matters.

     "I see the man my boy will become.  I wanted to create a world for him where he'd never have to carry a four-hundred-year-old burden.  Maybe Dad sought to spare me from it.  My father didn't have that power, and neither do I.  My son's world is his to create.  All I can do is prepare him."

     In between the anchoring incidents readers discover Bell's life story replete with incidents of racism and his growing discovery of his power to fight back by sharing his insights through words and images.  It is that blend which he carries over into The Talk that makes it so much more powerful than a words only format ever could be.

On a purrrsonal note, Tuesday was a volunteering day.  I shelf read 📚 in the Orono Public Library's juvenile wing.  Then I walked down the hill and did mostly weeding in the community garden.  The weather was perfect: sunny and breezy.  There was a great jazz concert going on in the Library's outdoor amphitheater.  The blueberry bushes in the library's garden were thick with delicious fruit.  My friend Zoe brought in shortbread sandwich cookies with jam filling she made herself.  It was a perfect evening.  (Jules)

It was not as muggy.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Zoe because those cookies were amazing.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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