I'll most definitely wear this to Elizabeth's Christmas party. So beautiful!
Sent from my Galaxy
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Midterm Pertinent Juvenile Nonfiction
This upcoming election is probably the most contentious, ugly, obscenely high financed, truth lite, dangerously high stakes one in the 75 years I've been alive. I wouldn't be surprised if you too feel trepidation. What will we wake up to the morning after? Recently in the juvenile wing of the Orono Public Library's juvenile wing I found three nonfiction books that were a breath of fresh air.
Although Emily Easton and Ziyue Chen's Enough! 20 Protesters Who Changed America was published in 2018, it is even more relevant and needed today.
The concept is deceptively simple. It combines portraits of individuals who protested through history with sentences describing what they did. (Longer bios are in the back.) Readers learn that Rachel (Carson) wrote a book; Muhammad (Ali) refused to fight; Jazz (Jennings) wore a dress; Colin (Kaepernick) took a knee...
Inspired by the courageous response to the Parkland shootings, Easton wrote Enough! as a reminder of America's history of protest. "I especially wanted to show the many ways protesters have stood, marched, or knelt for change in simple enough language for young readers to understand and feel inspired...My hope is that their actions will inspire young people to find their own way to make America better."
We can't put it all on younger people though, given today's urgency. When peaceful acts of protest are increasingly criminalized, when unarmed protesters are facing military grade weapons, when the President is working to selectively disenfranchise large numbers of citizens, when books are banned and curricula whitewashed, when the President bypasses Congress to start an illegal war...
...It's gonna take all of us working together!
We tend to think of the discovery of the principles of climate change as 20th and 21st century. I was surprised when I learned that the first principle had been discovered in the 1950s when I read Rebecca Donnelly's Change Is in the Air: The Hidden Discoveries of Eunice Newton Foote, the First Climate Scientist.
Eunice was born in 1819, a time when expectations for girls and women were tragically limited. Her education at the just founded Troy Female Seminary gave her an excellent knowledge of science and math. Sadly no university would allow her to continue her formal education.
As a wife and mother Eunice didn't shrink into a traditional limited role. She kept up with scientific discoveries by reading magazines and newspapers...
...which inspired her to carry out experiments of her own.
Girls fascinated by science's unsolved mysteries will love Change Is in the Air. It will inspire some to make important future discoveries.
I think that we can all agree that these days fake news is a very real problem. There is so much misinformation out there. How do we know what to believe and act on.
If it's a challenge for adults it most definitely is for kids and preteens. Gregor Craigie's Sticking To The Facts: 10 Ways to Fight Misinformation gives them strategies this important distinction. Each is thoroughlhy explained with real life examples. Terms that younger readers might not be familiar with are defined.
Bithi Sutradhar's colorful illustrations really help bring the content to life. Sticking To The Facts is a most excellent investment for school, public, and home libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, I had a most excellent day yesterday. I visited my friend Eunice in her office. We had fun catching up. I explained some of the intricacies of American elections. (She's from Ghana). She gave me a lovely birthday 🎂 present 🎁: a necklace and earrings in a light up box.
Eunice asked me if I wanted to see Elizabeth Allan, the head of UMaine's higher education program. That was a most wonderful unexpected opportunity. I got a chance to talk to her about the things I'm doing fine on like volunteering, social life, writing, and keeping up this blog and things I need to do better on like finding an agent for my manuscript and job hunting-‐both of which terrify me. Elizabeth is always so supportive and encouraging. She sponsored me for $250 in the Orono Public Library readathon. I'm really looking forward to her Christmas party.
Then I had a wonderful hangout with my Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund crew. Aurelia shared her chicken and fries with me.
A great big shout out goes out to Eunice, Elizabeth, and the Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund crew.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my Galaxy
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
My Monsters Ain't Like Yours (Horror anthology)
The other birthday book Amber gave me, R. J. Joseph's My Monsters Ain't Like Yours, is an anthology of Black feminist intersectional horror stories, most definitely for an adult audience.
I've been thinking about monsters lately as we approach the midterm election. The people who design campaign ads, rather than appealing to our minds with actual relevant information, are taking advantage of our fears, both the universal ones and the more diverse ones. I think almost all of us consider serial killers and vampires to be monsters. But while I consider a president starting an illegal war and trashing environmental protections a monster one of my neighbors considers undocumented aliens to be the monsters. It bothers me that for the most part we're being manipulated by portrayals of candidates as monsters with doctored photos that resemble trailers for horror flicks rather than respected by being given relevant information on key issues. How many trees were cut down to make those damn flyers that keep flooding our mailboxes?
Anyway I find the monsters in Joseph's anthology less threatening only because we won't be electing them to the United States Senate. The stories are awesome chillers the perfect length for autumnal campfire sharing. What impresses me the most is her ability to create twenty-five totally diverse narrators, settings, and plot lines and make each spring to vivid life in a minimum of pages.
Georgia, protagonist of Those Who Teach Pay Knowledge Foward, is the teacher in a one room schoolhouse somewhere in the Midwest. A lot of obstacles stand in the way of youngsters attending: poverty, chores or jobs, parents not seeing the value of education... She is striving to prepare her students to thrive in a world not always decent to people of color.
She's especially concerned about Calvin, an especially promising student who aspires to become a doctor. He lives with his grandparents. He's started missing a lot of days. She's afraid that he'll miss too many and not be able to catch up.
When she goes to visit his guardians what she discovers isn't covered in any Child's Protective Sseervices handbook.
Naomi, protagonist of Where The Horizon Kisses The Sky is afraid that her husband no longer loves her. When she confides in a mysterious stranger she learns the importance of being careful what you wish...
...or at least how you phrase your wish.
In The Heart's Desire Layla seems to be the perfect trad wife, spending all her time tending to the home and kids and entertaining her husband's clients and partners. Some would envy her opulent life style. But it comes with a high price--the loss of everything she desires.
"By the time she saw the post for film festival presentations in Europe, she would've taken any avenue that would get her out of the house for a couple of weeks, away from her ugly husband and terrible kids. Just the thought of a ten-hour flight to Germany was a respite from her picture-perfect trappings that only amounted to pretty bondage."
When her presentation is accepted he tries to prevent her from leaving. When he follows her to Germany to drop the kids off with her he learns why revenge is a dish best served cold.
Those are only a few of the very original spine tingling blood chilling horror narratives. Hey, we're creeping up on Halloween. My Monsters Ain't Like Yours would be a perfect way to usher in the spooky season. It's a terrific read for real horror affecianados.
On a purrrsonal note, Monday night I had a real treat. I have a hard time keeping up long distance friendships through email. Which is problematic in a place where people are always graduating and leaving. When I became friends with Catherine early in her two year masters program there was something so special and real about our friendship I WAS NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON IT. I cemented my vow with a tattoo of a cat picture she'd used to publicize an event: a cat drinking boba. Nothing says permanent commitment like body art. We've been communicating through phone calls and texts. Lots of pictures. Monday I called and we had so much to talk about! When Eugene came back from working overtime I was startled to see that it was almost 8:00. We'd been talking nearly two hours. Sure didn't feel like it. It's working. I don't have to relinquish this very precious friendship.
A great big shout out goes out to Catherine. Thank you for being my friend.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my Galaxy
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Hollow (YA chiller)
This year Amber gave me books for my birthday. No surprise there. From the day I introduced her to literature through the adventures of Ruthie Rabbit at the seashore reading has been an integral part of our relationship. I like to think it's part of the inspiration for her career as an author. Anyway one is a guide to querying agents for my own manuscript. Getting published is so much harder than writing.
The other two are fiction. Amber knows just what I like. She has this knack of picking something I never would pick up on my own but once I start reading I totally love. I experienced this recently when she gave me the Asylum trilogy as my prize in the family readathon. And I experienced it again with Taylor Grothe's Hollow.
Cassie, Grothe's narrator, grew up with three close friends--Jac, Blake, and Mel--in small town Deep Glen. Then four years ago she and her parents had moved to New York City. It hadn't worked out well. Cassie had always struggled to understand the social cues that seemed to come so easily to her peers. Bullies had detected her week spot and attacked, causing her to fall apart in her school cafeteria and be diagnosed with generalized anxiety, trichotillomania, and autism. After her parents divorced Cassie and her mother returned to Deep Glen. When we meet Cassie she's standing in front of Donahue's Donuts.
"This had been her hangout with her best friends, and her mom had urged her just to go back to how everything had been four years ago. In her heart of hearts, Cassie wasn't so sure that was even possible. But she could at least hold it together, right?
She wouldn't let a single crack show in her mask."
Cassie's old crew isn't exactly welcoming. When she didn't keep up enough virtually they felt that she had abandoned them, even Jac with whom there had been the potential for being more than friends.
A week long camping trip to work out the issues starts off disastrously. The first night there's too much alcohol, arguments...
...Cassie wakes up the next morning alone, seemingly abandoned in a place with rugged terrain where a bunch of people have gone missing recently, panicking and overwhelmed. The icing on the cake--she gets caught in a terrible storm and injures her ankle...
...and suddenly there's someone guiding her to safety in a small cluster of homes. Kaleb makes her tea, and helps her warm up. His mother sets her ankle. The small community welcomes her with food and shelter. As she gets to know them she feels like she is accepted for herself for the first time. Unlike when she is with "normies" she doesn't feel like she has to wear a mask.
Of course there are some weird things about the community. Crows are always around in huge numbers, their feathers attached to people's clothes. Creepy ass wooden dolls look down from the eaves. And the people speak a strange secret language. But they don't seem that important...
...until Cassie picks up some more ominous red flags like their reluctance to help her find her friends...
...Are they altruistic helpers or dangerous cult members? Are they the reason people go missing? Will she be able to find her friends and get home?
Amber and I highly recommend Hollow. One key reason is that the narrative is woven together so seamlessly. When you create a world/community/realm there are so many elements that have to mesh. One slip up can shatter the reader's belief and engagement. Hollow is the epitome of seamless. The reader stays caught up in the created space right through to the end.
We also appreciate Grothe's narrator being autistic and having anxiety. There are not nearly enough neurodivergent protagonists in current literature. In Hollow we see the cluelessness and cruelty neurotypicals can show and how many autistic people struggle to be seen and valued for their authentic selves.
But we do have one warning. Do not pick Hollow up until you have the time to engage with it. It's so well crafted--so easy to get caught up--in you will not want to put it down. Even with a term paper due tomorrow or a hungry cat whining to be fed.
On a purrrsonal note, Sunday there was another fine event, this time a literary one. It was held in Bangor Beer Co. First Amber and some other local authors did readings. They presented a real diversity of poetry and prose. Amber, of course, did super fantastic. Then there was a costume contest. There were seven of us. I cosplayed as Rizzo from Grease. Each of us explained our costume. Then there was voting by applause 👏. I had a decisive win. My prize was a shirt that says literate, quite fitting I'd say. I got the chance to do some reading near my flowers. So it was a great day in a great weekend.
A great big shout out goes out to all who participated in the event, especially my super talented older daughter.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my Galaxy
Monday, October 12, 2026
First Friday Bagels
I cosplayed as Rizzo from Grease? Remember the Pink Ladies? I was reminding people that the Drag Show is only six months away.
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