Seven Minutes in Candyland

If I were to to personify (Sweetify?) Brian Wasson's Seven Minutes in Candyland as an actual confection I'd choose those fancy Ferraro Roche foil wrapped goodies that swaddle a hazelnut in rich chocolate goodness. It works well on two levels. There's an elaborate rom com with highly relatable characters and more plot twists than a Shakespeare play. Nestled within it is a sobering high school reality largely forgotten by adults who look back on their teen years through a patina of nostalgia.
Kalvin has a painful secret. His parents, both licensed therapists, are the stars of a hugely successful marital advice podcast built around the slogan: Even in the roughest of seas, you can still right the 'ship! He knows that in reality their own over two decade long relationship is seriously floundering. He's desperate to fix things before they take actions they can't come back from. He's come up with a plan—one that's gonna cost a whole lot of money…
…which is where the candy comes in. With a stash hidden in a supply closet he's set himself up as competition to the student government candy gram monopoly. He's basically putting them out of business and making a very dangerous enemy. But he's still far away from his money goal with the deadline drawing closer.
Then the hugely popular Sterling, his long term crush, asks him for relationship advice. She likes what she hears and starts referring friends with problems to him. Pretty soon his schedule is packed with highly lucrative appointments and a decided conflict of interest. Sterling is one of his steady clients. Her problems center around her very negligent boyfriend who Kalvin secretly years to replace.
My advice: treat yourself to a stash of your favorite candy before diving into this sweet and salty narrative.
On a purrrsonal note, the rain has finally let up for a few days. Tonight is the campus drag show, my first time performing for a huge audience since the stroke. Excitement and terror are battling for the upper hand. Monday I'll be first in my online class to deliver a presentation worth a big part of the final grade. Again with the excitement/terror thing. Could this be why I'm suddenly having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep?
A great big shout out goes out to my fellow performers, the talented crew, and our enthusiastic audience. Hopefully we'll all experience the magic that is drag!
Jules Hathaway aka Gotta Believe We're Magic

How The Boogeyman Became A Poet

How The Boogeyman Became A Poet, Tony Keith's powerful memoir in verse, goes where far too few YA books venture, following him from high school into college. I've always wondered why more YA authors don't set novels in higher ed turf. It's the logical conclusion to that writing rule of thumb: kids want to read about older kids. If tweens want to read about tweens and middle schoolers want to read about high schoolers, why wouldn't high schoolers want to read about college students? They're facing the biggest transition in their lives, one full of unknowns, especially for the many who don't have a family college going tradition.
It's a highly engaging narrative with a fabulous but flawed, in other words, authentic protagonist. Nearing the end of high school Tony hasn't applied to any colleges. His sister had passed up the chance to be the first in the family to attend and gone straight from high school to the work world. Now it's on him. But some pretty formidable obstacles stand in his way. His SAT scores are shall we say on the low side. And then there's the money thing. His parents are separated. His father doesn't pay child support. His mother struggles to make ends meet. He has no idea how she can come up with application fees, let alone tuition.
And then there's his secret. Although he has a girlfriend, for him the relationship is more performative than real. He may actually be attracted to guys. He has no idea how to find out if he is. And there are pretty strong reasons not to confide in even his besties. He's not willing to risk losing their friendships. His church has made it perfectly clear where they stand, equating gayness with spending eternity in a fiery inferno.
Not to mention this boogeyman who's been following him around since he was six.
Fortunately Tony has some pretty formidable strengths. His coming of age narrative is well worth reading.
On a purrrsonal note, it's the second grey, dreary, rainy day in a row here in Penobscot County. At least it's supposed to clear up for the drag show tomorrow and be downright pleasant Sunday for those Easter egg hunts if not the sunrise services.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers, with best wishes for a joyous Easter to those of you who celebrate it.
Jules Hathaway

Why We Read

If I'd just seen the main title of Shannon Reed's Why We Read I would not have requested it by inter library loan. It sounded generic, maybe a tad pedantic. The subtitle, however, On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out, totally captivated me. I sensed a kindred spirit. I could imagine a much younger Reed curled up in a sleeping bag reading a Nancy Drew mystery by flashlight at summer camp and was thrilled to discover partway through that she was a fan of the girl sleuth. If reading has been a significant part of your life from when you learned how to decode those mysterious letters you're one of us. But if you're not so hooked on books she has perhaps even more to offer you.
Make no mistake about it. Reed is a woman on a mission. She wants us all to enjoy reading. She has major beef with the folks who turn what should be a pleasure into anything but: educators who choke the life out of required reads with dull, predictable assignments and the book snobs who think only the most elite volumes are worth reading. She wants to counteract their messages that all too many of us have internalized. What you read is good. Why you read it is valid whether it's to feel less alone, to shake up your perspectives, for comfort, to be motivated, to conquer fears… Nothing to be ashamed of folks.
Why We Read is a very intimate volume. Reed candidly shares her experiences from childhood through adulthood: the good, the bad, and the semi ugly. She writes from the perspectives of published author, high school teacher, college professor, and, first and foremost, reader. And she has a wicked sense of humor. My favorite chapters are her lists such as Calmed-Down Classics of American Literature for the Anxiety Ridden and Signs You May Be an Adult Character in a YA Novel.
So who should read this book? I think just about everyone. If you're already a reader you'll see so much of yourself in it. If you aren't how about giving her a chance to win you over? You've got nothing to lose and so much to gain.
On a purrrsonal note when I was accepted to grad school I thought I would have to cut down drastically on my reading and possibly give up my blog. But when I actually started school I couldn't. I read to provide content for my blog, to learn, now and then to feel less lonely, for comfort, to shake up my perspectives, to calm down enough to sleep, and for the pure joy of getting lost in a good book.
A great big shout out goes out to my fellow readers, a tribe I'm very proud to be a member of.

Like A Charm

Fantasy is a genre I rarely review, rarely read through to the end, rarely select for that matter. Some is set in outer space. Some is too darn dark and dystopian.
Elle McNicoll's Like A Charm is an exceedingly rare book in this genre. It actually captivated me. As it starts out 5-year-old Ramya is serving refreshments at her parents' Christmas party. She's delighted when her beloved grandfather arrives.
Suddenly Ramya senses that one of the guests is a malevolent being. She refuses to do what the woman orders her to do. Her parents try to force her to apologize to Portia. Her grandfather defends her. It's the last time she sees him alive.
In the second chapter Ramya is seven years older. Her family has moved from London to Edinburgh. Her mother is overcritical, her father distant.
School is torture. Ramya is neurodivergent. She has a disability that affects her coordination, manifesting itself in her penmanship. Her special education exercises are exceedingly boring and ineffective. Her attempts to advocate for herself are considered to be trouble making.
Then Ramya's grandfather dies. He has left her something in his will—a mysterious book with no writing on the pages except the cryptic message: beware the sirens. Ramya can discern magic and the non human creatures such as kelpies who must hide from the neurotypicals who fear them and would destroy them. And Ramya is the only one who can save them all from the merciless sirens.
Like A Charm is a highly enchanting and suspenseful tale that provides literary representation for neurodivergent children. It's a great acquisition for school and public libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, finally I was able to take precious Tobago for her long overdue (another thing we can blame on the pandemic) check up. Emily provided transportation. Tobago's primary care vet (I've never heard this term I but believe it would be for animals what primary care physician is for humans) pronounced her to be the picture of feline health. Much to my relief weight was no longer a concern. Indoor cats, lacking the exercise involved in chasing prey while dodging predators, do have a tendency toward overweight. (But enjoy better health and greater longevity). In her first years with us Tobago had packed on the ounces to the point where I was told to watch her weight. I was terrified of her getting diabetes. But instead of further gain she plateaued and has weighed the same nearly two years. It's quite possible that she came to us underweight. Anyway I am overjoyed that she my beautiful girl is enjoying perfect health.
A great big shout out goes out to:
*Dr. Julie Keene, the cat whisperer, who has tended to Hathaway cats for decades. She's the rare vet skilled in communicating with not only her patients, but the humans who bring them in for her compassionate care;
*Emily who helps me so often and never makes me feel in her debt;
and, of course *precious, beautiful, loving Tobago Anna Hathaway.

Nice Girls

Are you a real chiller lover? A hard core fan of suspense? If so, have I got a book recommendation for you! Catherine Dang's debut novel, Nice Girls, is a roller coaster ride of a read that will leave you wondering if its two word title is an oxymoron.
As the story begins Mary, Dang's narrator, is living the nightmare that used to be her dream. In her senior year, less that two semesters away from an Ivy League diploma, the key to a prestigious career and a bright future, she's been expelled from Cornell for losing control of her temper and assaulting a freshman. As she waits for her father to pick her up word of the incident spreads lightning fast. Blood thirsty texts pile up on her phone. Her former friends have ghosted her.
Home is no safe haven. It's in a town where she was an outcast, a lonely, overweight girl shunned by her peers. Since she lost her mother to cancer early in life her father has been a distant, aloof, far from nurturing presence in her life. Now she's back in the place she vowed to escape, a place she fears she's stuck in forever, a gossipy town that will happily shred her if even one person discovers her secret.
But the town has some dark secrets of its own. The day after Mary returns a childhood frenemy of hers is reported missing. Olivia is a popular girl, a social media rising star, from a prominent family. News of her disappearance rapidly spreads, drawing not only only local but national media. Reward money is offered. Search parties look everywhere.
About a week later a badly mangled human arm is discovered on a beach. Dragging the lake turns up more severed body parts. People think they've discovered at least part of Olivia…
…only they're wrong. They belong to DeMaria, a teen who had disappeared just months earlier, a girl whose absence was deemed much less newsworthy. (Maybe because she was a poor Black single mother rather than a white, well connected social media darling?)
Mary is thinking serial killer. Then, searching social media for clues, she finds a post by DeMaria's mother on Facebook: "Liberty Lake police is full of shit!! My daughter did not run away, she was kidnapped and I'm tired of the news pulling this BS on my child. Police did not take action when I reported her missing this summer. Said she was a runaway, told me to wait…"
When the police refuse to consider that the two disappearances could be related Mary decides to take the matter into her own inexperienced, inept hands. If anything she's stirring up a hornets' nest, making some real enemies…
…perhaps someone with the power to reveal her own secrets or the actual serial killer.
If darkness has fallen when you get to the last chapters I'd advise you to wait til daylight to finish the book. But I suspect you'll be unable to put it down just like I was.
On a purrrsonal note I'm finally, for the first time since the stroke, able to post on a fairly regular basis. Now I'g going to work on rebuilding my numbers. I'm not talking viral or anything close to it. My goals are far more modest. I just want to get books that are diverse and inclusive into the hands of as many readers as possible. I think that's crucial at a time when so many people are trying to limit what we have access to and silence the authors they don't agree with. I'm planning an online and offline campaign. You can be part of it. If you like what you read on my blog please keep reading it, recommend it to your friends, and mention it online. You'll earn my undying gratitude.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers for whom I've kept this blog going well over a decade now.
Jules Hathaway

Ageism Unmasked

My first glimpse of ageism happened during a gap year I took after college. My set, the best friends I hung out with, had been in the class below mine. Wanting to remain engaged with them for the last year before we went our separate ways I became a live in companion to a lovely older woman. Her daughter wasted no opportunity to portray her as incompetent. One day when she forgot to shut off the tea kettle her daughter said, "We're lucky she didn't burn down the house" with an exasperated eyeroll. The next weekend I deliberately left the kettle on. The daughter shut it off and said, "Don't worry. I forget things all the time."
SAY WHAT!!!
After my first epiphany I began to see this prejudice everywhere in Hallmark microagressions, demeaning language, the threats of what would happen if women didn't spend outrageous sums of money to pass for young, managers pushing older workers out of jobs…
But when I tried to share what I was learning most people either didn't understand or didn't want to understand. They could see the most superficial things like the over the hill birthday cards. But recognition of ageism as a whole, even into this current decade, is where recognition of sexism was BEFORE Betty Friedan started writing about a problem that had no name.
So imagine how thrilled I was when I started reading Tracey Gendron's Ageisn Unmasked. It's a good thing that Eugene was at work because I has dropping more amens that a fundamentalist at a revival. Tobago was giving me side eye. But I couldn't help myself. FINALLY I saw in print all the things I intuited, only in a much better organized, research based form by someone with a Ph.D. to establish her scholarship credentials.
Gendron not only tells it like it is about one of the last socially acceptable prejudices, although that in itself is MAJOR. She show the harm it does to the physical and emotional health, even longevity, of people who internalize it. She reveals its ugly intersectionality with sexism, racism, classism, homo and transphobia, and especially ableism. And she gives us advice on exorcising it in ourselves and our communities.
But she doesn't settle for the usual last chapter of hopeful tweaks. The woman is calling for no less than revolution: a total revamping of how we view the aging process. Currently we see it as all doom and gloom, a first gradual then accelerating process of unmitigated decline and decay. She sees it as "a slow and steady process of change that ultimately leads to us becoming our unique, individual selves." It's a process of growth as well as decline, gains as well of losses. She describes a whole new life stage she calls elderhood that can be one with purpose, meaning, engagement, and even joy.
So who should read this book? Just anyone who is aging which is basically synonymous with living. It's a must acquire for public libraries.
On a very purrrsonal note, since my stroke last semester I'm on the "wrong" side of age and ability. But fortunately approaching my most recent major life transition, my children becoming independent adults, I didn't just take a job and start nagging my kids to make me a grandmother. I held out for a life that contained engagement, meaning, and purpose apart from my children's reproductive abilities. Volunteering helped me define working with college age students as my best fit. That's why I'm in a masters program in higher education. Because of the stroke it will take an extra year and it currently requires some accommodations. But I'm managing and going for a job in student services. In the future if a paid job becomes too difficult I can still mentor undergrads as a volunteer and pursue other interests like this lovely blog. I'm rocking elderhood.
A great shout out goes out to Tracey Gendron for this landmark achievement in truth telling.

Remember Us

Remember Us is a work of fiction based on historic reality. When Jacqueline Woodson was growing up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn her neighborhood was the scene of so many house fires it was called the Matchbox. She brings this experience of precariousness alive for younger readers.
For Sage the summer she's twelve it seems that there are always blaring sirens and racing fire engines. There's always the stench of fire in the air where she lives. She knows families who were burned out. She and her mother keep emergency bags packed in case they have to flee their home if it goes up in smoke. She and her friends envy kids who don't have to fear flames or sleep with shoes and robes at the foot of their beds.
But she's not on board with her mother's efforts to move to a safer place. "Yeah, I wanted to be safe. But I wanted to be safe here." She knows here as home, the place she belongs, the site of joy—basketball and block parties—as well as tragedy.
While her mother tries to convince her of all they'd be gaining by moving, Sage is too fully aware of all they'd be leaving behind.
On a purrrsonal note, UMaine and surrounding towns are once again in the midst of a blizzard. Hopefully we won't lose power. Eugene is out plowing, earning more money toward paying bills. Tobago and I are wisely staying in. I have my homework, blogging, writing, and spring cleaning. She has her comfy bed for catnapping.
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and the other blizzard battlers.
Jules Hathaway