Octopus Moon (juvenile fiction in verse)

"Used to be

I loved learning about

new places

new ideas

new ways of living in the world 

I never imagined. 

Now

a sadness I cannot explain 

drifts around the edges of my room

like a dark ghost. 

Now

my heart hammers in my chest 

like I'm running as fast as I can."

     One of the best diversity and inclusion strands in children's and YA fiction is the inclusion of protagonists with mental illnesses. In a society that vaccilates between denial and disgust concerning neurodivergent kids and teens Bobbie Pyron's Octopus Moon is a breath of fresh air.

     Pearl, Pyron's protagonist, loves spending time at the Gulfarium where her mother works. Her favorite of the sea creatures housed there is Noah, a loggerhead turtle, a creature who glides majestically through the water and can pull his head into his shell when life gets scary...

    ...but, starting fifth grade, she feels more like an octopus 🐙. With touch receptors all over their body they feel everything. There's so much to get used to: lockers with hard to remember combinations, changing classrooms, having different teachers for different subjects...

     ...not having her best friends in any of her classes...

     ...Her best friends, Rosie and Mia, seem to be making the transition effortlessly, thrilled by the opportunities to join clubs and try out for teams. But everything has become exponentially harder for Pearl, even keeping up with homework. She's finding it harder to sleep, finding reasons to bow out when her friends invite her to do something, hearing a very critical voice in her head.

"Like Pearl, I've struggled with depression and anxiety since I was a child. Back in the sixties, no one talked about mental illness, especially not in children. My family and teachers labeled me as overly sensitive, moody, shy.

     I tried to pretend I was like everyone else--happy, confident, carefree. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I cannot begin to tell you how alone I felt, like I was always on the outside looking in."

     No wonder Octopus Moon has such a ring of authenticity!

     Pyron's choice of free verse to convey her narrative is genius. It enables Pearl to come fully alive. And its multi sensory descriptions are highly evocative and engaging. In my favorite Pearl describes her grandfather teaching her how to float.

"Arms stretched wide

lying flat on my back looking up

at the blue, blue sky.

Warm seawater touches 

Every inch that is me. 

Granddaddy's hands,

rough from gripping wrenches, twisting screwdrivers, 

mending engines, replacing brakes,

hold me up, hold me steady."

On a purrrsonal note it's a grey, 🌧 Monday. Eugene, who has the day off, is industriously deep cleaning the living room. I'm trying to catch up with everything I neglected while we prepared for and conducted Clean Sweep. I have a long to do list I won't get to half of. Can you relate? I am SO GLAD the weather was purrrfect--sunny and breezy--yesterday. Amber and Brian hosted a family cookout. Brian, who always remembers my dietary restrictions, grilled the most delicious veggie kebabs. It was just so wonderful being together. Of course I took lots pictures. When my kids and Jacob took a power walk I kept up effortlessly. And Katie and Adam gave me Goodwill gift cards for Mother's Day. They know it's my favorite place to shop.

A great big shout out goes out to my family for being so fabulous and getting along so well. 

Jules Hathaway 

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Pride

A freshly painted crossing in downtown Orono. 

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Once Upon a Book Club

This is the picture I couldn't find the other day. Doesn't it look enticing?

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Orono Public Library

This is what the expanded library will look like.

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Orono Public Library

I was going to post clean sweep pictures today. But I have some older pictures I didn't want to forget to share. This is the blueprint for the expansion of my beloved library. Ground breaking could start as early as this year. Not so long ago the library was in Orono High. The stand alone library opened September 2009. I've volunteered there since it opened its doors. A number of years later the land behind it, next to the community garden, was cleared and turned into a terraced amphitheater for outdoor concerts and a magnificent garden space. Now patrons have the expansion to look forward to. 

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A Box Full of Darkness (adult chiller)

     Katie and I are avid fans of Simone St. James's chillers. After a visit to the Sundown Motel we've avidly devoured her writings, eagerly wanting more. I think her latest, A Box Full of Darkness, is one of her best ever. 

     I love her stories for the same reasons I love my daughter, Amber's and some, but not all, of Stephen King's. The horror comes from an excellent blend of the occult and the evils and messiness of the human heart and relationships. The authors can create plausible fantasy/reality worlds and maintain them for hundreds of pages. That's harder than most people imagine. The characters are believable, no matter how strange some seem. And the narratives are super engaging. You really care whether the protagonists get out alive.

     The narrators in this case are three siblings, the product of a very dysfunctional family who grew up in a very creepy house in a town that could have been lifted from Stephen King's imagination. Both parents are dead. Violet, the oldest, works for a company that cleans out the last residences of the deceased with no family members to do so. 

     "It was an efficient process. When I had no connection to the person who died, I could do the job without shedding a tear or feeling a pang of grief."

     She's spent time in psych hospitals for an unwanted ability to see dead people. 

     Vail, the middle child, a former Olympic diver, spends his time trying to prove the existence of UFOs and alien abductions. Dodie, the youngest, is a model in New York City. 

     Their lives are about to come together after decades of going their separate ways. Ben, their beloved little brother is calling them home to the vacant house they grew up in. 

     There's only one problem. Ben vanished without a trace when he was six and the kids were playing hide and seek. Nobody could find him, not even the police. He's presumed dead--a very cold case. 

     The siblings think they'll learn what actually happened that long ago day that was the beginning of the end for their family. But this knowledge may come with quite a high cost. They've been told that of the three who enter the house only two will leave. 

On a purrrsonal note. Yesterday and today were the two sales days of Clean Sweep. The place was swarming with happy bargain hunters who bought up a lot of the merch. I was in charge of Jules' Closet, the area devoted to clothes. I'm given that sweet assignment every year because of my bubbly, outgoing personality. It's more like being a party hostess than actually working. The highlights for me were being able to reunite a woman who was moving the next day with her pocketbook, being interviewed by two reporters--print and TV and being told that I'm an excellent subject, and our boss, Lisa Morin, getting food that I can eat. Yesterday she treated the crew to Harvest Moon lunch 😋 😍 ☺️ and today when she got bagels 🥯 she remembered my favorite--sweet cinnamon. We have today and tomorrow off. Then we start clean up. 

A great big shout out goes out to the 2026 Clean Sweep crew and our enthusiastic customers. 

Jules Hathaway 

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Gift 4

This autumn I'll really enjoy this apple scented candle when I'm doing my evening reading. Aren't those gifts fabulous? You may want to check out once upon a book club. 

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