Ginny Off The Map (juvenile fiction)

As a member of a military family Ginny, protagonist of Caroline Hickey's Ginny Off The Map, is used to frequent moves. Whenever her father is reassigned they have to start over in a new town or city. As she finishes fifth grade her family is all packed—ready for another relocation. Moves are easier for her big sister, Allie, who has an easier time making new friends. But as long as Ginny has her dad she can cope.
Only she won't have him to help her settle into the new neighborhood. He's been assigned last minute to a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Ginny is a STEM magnet school student with a passion for geography. She's a big fan of Marie Tharp, the scientist who first mapped the Atlantic Ocean floor and proved the theory of continental drift. She constantly aggravates Allie with the seemingly inexhaustible supply of geography facts that she finds fascinating. Before he leaves her father enrolls her in a geography camp near her new home so she'll have at least one thing to look forward to.
On what's supposed to be the first day of geography camp Ginny learns that it's been been cancelled. Her mother enrolls her in a jewelry making class in which she has no interest. Meanwhile the kids in their new neighborhood are gravitating to Allie and ignoring her. She feels left out and lonely.
And she's very anxious about her dad being in a war zone.
How does a kid adjust to too many challenges without her most trusted friend there to help her navigate them? Ginny Off The Map is perfect for the many kids who are in that situation.
On a personal note my American Community College is over. There's still a week of classes but Jim wisely reserved the last day as a make up for in case too many classes got cancelled by snow days. It was a really awesome class. It was truly collaborative so we could learn from each other and even tell Jim a thing or two. And we had insightful guest speakers almost every week.
A great big shout out goes out to my classmates, Jim, and the guest speakers.
Jules Hathaway

The Reformatory

Tananarive Due's The Reformatory is the kind of masterpiece Stephan King could write if he was a Black woman. It skillfully blends two genres of horrors: the horrors of the supernatural, the haints, and the spaces they inhabit and the horror created by racist whites in post WWII Florida. The stuff the Chamber of Commerce types positioning the Sunshine State as a vacation and retirement paradise never got to mentioning. It also shows the humanity and dignity of those despised and degraded in every way possible.
Robert is a twelve-year-old who has effectively lost both of his parents, although only his mother to death. His father is a union organizer who aggravated the rich and powerful whites in his town. And they knew how to enlist the lesser whites: claim that he raped a white woman. He barely managed to escape alive and can't return to his children because of the people who would turn out for a lynching party if he as much as set foot in the ironically named Gracetown. All he has left for immediate family is his older sister, Gloria.
One day Robert and Gloria are accosted by Lyle McCormack, the teenage son of the wealthiest and most powerful farmer in town. When Lyle asks why they don't come to the swimming hole any more Robert senses a decidedly sinister undertone to this seemingly casual question, an intuition confirmed when Lyle starts showing a far from innocent interest in Gloria.
"He didn't want Lyle McCormack's hand and eyes on his sister a breath longer. He squeezed himself between Lyle and Gloria.
'Leave her be' Robert said."
When the fully grown Lyle tries to push him out of the way Robert, a scrawny preteen kicks him in the knee.
What under most circumstances would be written off as boys being boys results in a deputy arriving at Robert and Gloria's shack with handcuffs. In a farce of a trial without lawyers or a jury Robert is sentenced to six months in Gracetown School for Boys, a place where boys, some much younger than Robert, are starved, overworked, abused in every way possible, and hunted down and killed if they try to escape.
Gloria and Miz Lottie, the woman their father asked to look after them, start franticly searching for a way for a way to win Robert's freedom. They know as horrific as six months is, his sentence will likely be extended, the authorities using the boy as bait to lure his father back to where they can Lynch him. After pursuing all legal avenues in vain they realize they'll have to break him out.
Meanwhile Robert is experiencing all the horror the reformatory has to offer. His first night there he is beaten so severely he has to go to the infirmary. But his talent for seeing ghosts catches the attention of the very evil warden. The place houses more of the undead—the haints—than the living. They're the boys whose lives were brutally ended. Warden Haddock decides Robert will be his key weapon in ridding the place of these very uneasy spirits.
Due maintains the suspense for over 500 pages. True horror lovers will be hooked right from the beginning.
Fortunately this is not her first rodeo. She has a bunch of previous books. Lucky for you they're now all on my reading list.
On a personal note, I had a really good check up. Even my blood pressure is right where it should be. The only red flag is that my weight is down to 98.
A great big shout out goes out to the friends who will help me figure out how to stop losing weight while cutting down on sodium, fats, sugar, and caffeine.
Jules Hathaway

Caught In A Bad Fauxmance (YA)

At the beginning of Elle Gonzalez Rose's Caught In A Bad Fauxmance Devin is headed with his siblings, his dad, his dad's girlfriend, and her son to spend winter break at the family's lakeside cabin. It's the first time they're going there in four years, the first time since his mother died.
Devin's family and the clan next door, the seo-Cookes, have years of bad blood between them. The Seo-Cookes had gotten wealthy off of a won on a bet robot Devin's father had invented. The animosity had been rekindled every year at the Lake Andreas Winter Games, a local competition that raises money for the community. The Seo-Cookes won so consistently the Baez clan (Devin's family) is sure it's through cheating.
This year the Seo-Cookes want to renew the competition. They have an offer the Baezes, who are financially struggling, can't refuse. If the Baezes win they'll pay off the rest of their mortgage. But if the Seo-Cookes win the Baezes will have to sell them their beloved cottage which they'll raze.
This is all out war. But while Maya, Devin's vengeance-minded twin, is whipping the family into shape to win, an unexpected plot twist is developing. Julian Seo-Cooke wants Devin to pretend to be his boyfriend so he can escape from a stalkerish ex.
While Julian made his proposal Maya was eavesdropping. She's sure this fauxmance will give Devin the chance to spy on the Seo-Cookes and learn their secrets and weaknesses…
…unless the romance turns real. And what are the chances of that happening?
On a purrrsonal note, Last weekend was mostly about writing a big paper for my American Community College class. But I also went to Governors for breakfast and on a road trip with Eugene. I found three cat shirts at the Belfast Goodwill. I am SO looking forward to yard sale season.
Jules Hathaway

The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen (YA)

Although it's summer and most teens are on vacation Hoodie, protagonist of Isaac Blum's The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, is in school learning about Jewish law. When he looks out a window he sees a girl dancing. Although he isn't supposed to look at gentile girls, he ends up being attracted to Anna-Marie. He starts a conversation with her. It's not long before they're friends, maybe with potential for more.
What can go wrong?
Hoodie is a member of a tight knit Orthodox Jewish community. His people are very observant. He and his family and a large part of their congregation have just moved into the largely non Jewish town of Tregaron. They've just opened a new synagogue and a new school. Hoodie's father is trying to understand why it's taking so long for him to get a permit to build an apartment complex to serve as affordable housing for less affluent congregation members who have been left behind.
Anna-Marie's mother is the reason. Many people in the town are very unhappy about the influx of Orthodox Jews. They claim that the new residents are going to ruin their way of life. They're putting up lawn signs that say "PROTECT TREGARON'S CHARACTER. SAY 'NO' TO DEVELOPMENT." And Anna-Marie's mother, the mayor, is leading the campaign.
An act of antisemitic violence deepens the split. The members of Hoodie's community including his family see Hoodie as a traitor and ostracize him.
With antisemitism on the rise The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is a very timely read for the YA set.
On a purrrsonal note, my advisor won a Faculty Mentor Impact award. I nominated it her for it and must have written convincingly. She is very pleased with it and I am so glad I had a perfect opportunity to show my gratitude for all she's done for me. The awards luncheon was really special.
A great big shout out goes out to Leah, the best advisor EVAH!!!
Jules Hathaway

The Year We Fell Apart (YA)

Unlike most of the books I review I didn't track down Emily Martin's The Year We Fell Apart by interlibrary loan or spot it on Orono Public Library's new books section. It was what I call a truly fortuitous find. A student group was selling books to raise money for a good cause. It's a slightly older book (2016). So it might not be in stores around you. But I bet you could find a copy on eBay or inter library loan. Believe me it's well worth the effort.
Harper, Cory, and Declan are next door neighbors and long time best friends. They built a tree house when they were eleven that was their hangout. But as sometimes happens with trios, Harper and Declan have become more than friends. They're exploring all the dimensions of their new relationship…
…when Declan's father sends him away to boarding school at the beginning of their junior year. The winter of his sophomore year his mother died in a car accident, killed by a drunk driver. His father claims that it's because he has to travel a lot for work. He doesn't want him home alone for up to a week at a time. But there's a lot more to it than that.
Harper learns that a long distance relationship is a lot harder than she anticipated. Feeling that Declan is slipping away into a world she's never seen, after making a mistake she thinks he won't understand, she preemptively breaks up with him.
Then he returns for the summer. She needs his understanding and support. Her own mother is battling an aggressive form of cancer. But she's also desperate for him not to know about the incident that got her kicked off the swim team and earned her a reputation as a slut.
This deeply engaging coming of age novel sensitively explores the question of whether two confused and hurting people can find the way back to what they once had.
On a purrrsonal note, the second day of the blood drive also went well. The Red Cross collected 136 units. The donors had an awesome time in canteen and were able to take home shirts specially designed for UMaine. And the minions and I made sure nobody fainted.
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who helped make our last blood drive of the school year a great success.

To Die For (adult nonfiction)

We're now aware of some of the downsides to the popular cheap fast fashion: the environmental pollution, the brutal exploitation of garment workers, and its devastating effects on global South nations.
But did you know that what you wear can be incredibly hazardous to your health?
Don't feel bad if this is news to you. Aden Wicker. Author of To Die For, "had no idea that clothing could make people sick."
Flight attendants were Wicker's coal mine canaries. In 2019 she learned of a lawsuit Delta employees were filing against the company that made their uniforms. As the airline began issuing new uniforms in the 2010s many of their employees began reporting mysterious symptoms—enough that the workers drew connections between the new uniforms and the illnesses (which, of course, the corporation denied).
If you're thinking this has nothing to do with you—you probably aren't a flight attendant—Wicker shows that you couldn't be more wrong. She combines vigorous research with personal anecdotes to show that toxic garments can lead to infertility, genetic damage, auto-immune diseases, and other serious health problems. She hopes that we will all join in the fight for toxin free clothing.
In the meantime she gives us ten protective strategies we can use when clothes shopping including my stand by, buying second hand, and seven legislative changes we should push for.
Who should read this ground breaking book? Just anyone who wears clothes.
On a purrrsonal note I dreaded reading that final chapter, sure that it would be an admonition to only buy only certified environmentally safe clothes which I could never afford and I find boring AF. Fortunately Wicker gives a thumbs up to the gently used garments you find in thrift shops and yard sales. The previous owners probably laundered a lot of the chemicals out. We're almost into my favorite shopping time—yard sale season. From late spring through autumn Eugene and I hit the road just about every weekend on the road stopping at every yard and garage sale we see. And in May I'm working Clean Sweep, the giant yard sale made up of all the stuff students left in the dorms. If I can relearn how to include pictures in this blog I'll share my best finds.
A great big shout out to the people who will be offering reasonably priced treasures on their lawns and in their garages!!!
Jules Hathaway

Black Folk

Increasingly when we think of the working class we envision angry white supremacists chomping at the bit to run out and vote for Donald Trump. We tend to forget workers of color. Blair LM Kelley seeks to rectify this omission with her Black Folk: The Roots of The Black Working Class.
Kelley brings an unusual perspective to her work. She is not only a distinguished professor and writer, but a proud descendent of working class Blacks. She intersperses broader scholarship with intimate portraits of individual washerwomen, Pullman porters, and postal workers.
These workers faced a daunting battle to earn a living. Although they were technically free following the Civil War, whites made sure their actual lives stayed as much the same as before the war as possible. Black sharecroppers toiled for whites on the same lands they had worked as slaves. Laws were crafted that allowed the arrest and imprisonment of "vagrant" (not working for whites) Blacks and their forced, unpaid labor on white owned farms and businesses. They were barred from almost all jobs with decent pay and working conditions. "Uppity" Blacks who didn't "know their place" faced extreme racial violence.
But the Blacks persisted against incredible odds and made generation to generation progress. Eventually some had jobs that enabled them to own homes and educate their children.
This book is a for sure eye opener. I had no idea how radical washerwomen were. By working in their own homes as businesswomen instead of in the houses and intrusive supervision of individual white families they were more able to set prices and working hours, tend to their own households and children, work collectively, engage in social activism, and protect themselves from rape.
This insightful and thought provoking book is a valuable for public and college and university libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, we're in the middle of the last UMaine blood drive of the academic year. Of course I've been running the canteen. So far, so good: good numbers, happy donors, no fainters. This time we have special shirts designed for UMaine. I'm wearing one as I post this.
A great big shout out goes out to the donors, my fellow volunteers, and the awesome Red Cross nurses.