Clay Water Brick

Clay Water Brick

Adult nonfiction
"Patrick didn't have much. As a boy, he lost most of his family
when a militant rebel group attacked his village in northern Uganda.
He and his younger brother fled the only home that they had ever known
and fled south. Patrick was unsure where they would end up, but after
weeks of traveling they settled in a village near the Uganda-Kenya
border, where they came across some distant cousins. They wanted to
be as close as they could to family--any family at all.
Patrick and his brother had no home, no money, not even shoes on
their feet. They were young, orphaned, uneducated, homeless, and
hungry."
Growing up, Jessica Jackley, author of Clay Water Brick,
believed that Jesus wanted her to help the poor. She began raising
money and sending it to charities. After awhile she became daunted by
the size of the task and disconnected from the people she wanted to
help by layers of bureaucracy.
As a college graduate, Jackley wanted to become a high ranking
officer in a non profit. She had no clue how to get there. Then she
attendee a lecture by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and
a microfinance pioneer who would win the Nobel Peace Prize. He
changed the course of her life.
"This turned my understanding of poverty on its head. The
people Yunus spoke of were not just sad faces on a brochure,
synonymous with the issue of poverty itself...The environments into
which these individuals had been born were the problem, environments
that denied them access to the proper tools to thrive. These were not
weak, helpless people. These were people who were capable, tenacious,
and resourceful...These were entrepreneurs."
Clay Water Brick weaves two fascinating narrative threads
together seamlessly. One is the quite intimate (warts and all) story
of Jackley and her organization. The other is the colorful lives of
third world entrepreneurs including:
*Patrick who, with no other resources than the ground beneath his
feet, became a brick maker,
*Katherine, who switched from selling vegetables to selling fish when
she discovered a big demand in her village,
and *Zica, a hairdresser who, when she discovered that the products
available didn't do much for people with tightly curled or frizzy
hair, set out to concoct better ones in her kitchen.
Whether or not you have any desire to become a microfinancier or
entropreneur, I believe you'll enjoy and be inspired by Clay Water
Brick. Jackley concludes the book with these powerful words:
"...Dream--and then choose to believe in your own potential and help
create the future you're dreaming of."
That's why I'm in graduate school.
On a personal note, school, work, home, sleep, and commuting make up
my days. We're less than two weeks from Thanksgiving break which I
hope to use to get well ahead on my rest of the semester work. I also
plan to bake a huge batch of snowball cookies for my work family. We
saw snow yesterday.
Saturday at work I was assigned to do deli. The problem: at brunch
almost nobody wants sandwiches. I hate standing still while everyone
else works. So how could I get the person who assigned me to change
and think it was his idea? I started asking "Is it 2:00 (when deli
shuts down) yet?" when he walked by. It only took 45 minutes. Can I
help it that my work ethic is hyperactive?
A great big shout out goes out to the LGBTQ community for putting on
Gay Thanksgiving, my beloved husband for not having a heart attack,
and my work family for being totally awesome.
jules hathaway


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And Still I Rise

And Still I Rise

Adult nonfiction
A lot of people see black history in neat little files with tabs
like slavery days and the civil rights era. That's why Henry Louis
Gates Jr. and Kevin M. Burke's And Still I Stand should be in every
public library and many homes in this nation.
The written companion to a PBS series, And Still I rise delivers
fifty years of black history falling between the waning years of the
civil rights movement and the second term of Obama's presidency:
1965-2015. It's a year by year who's who and what's what of important
events and personalities in politics, scholarship, music, sports,
literature, and the arts. Plenty of amazing photographs should bring
back memories. This in itself should be more than enough
justification for buying and enjoying the book.
"Put another way, it is a book that illuminates the world that
the Civil Rights Movement birthed and enabled, and that its legacy
sustained--from affirmative action to the integration of our nation's
universities, from the ascent of numerous black mayors in numerous
cities to the development of black capitalism and the phenominal rise
of the black middle class, from the domination of popular culture by
black artists and performers to the rise of black access to and
leadership in any number of fields once closed to the many millions of
descendents of slaves."
But if you read it more deeply than a casual skim it also raises
disturbing questions:
*Why do the police still harass and shoot so many unarmed blacks?
*Why are blacks so overrepeesented in our nation's schools?
*Why are America's schools regressing back to separate and anything
but equal?
*Why, while some blacks make amazing progress, are others stuck in
depressed neighborhoods that are devoid of meaningful jobs and hope
and too often the dumping grounds for toxic substances?
*Why are some whites so determined to undermine any progress that
blacks make?
They all build up to the most central question: what can we be
doing now that someone writing a similar book fifty years from now
won't have to balance amazing strides forward with so many setbacks?
On a personal note, Halloween was bittersweet. It was mostly great.
I had a wonderful costume: Tinkerbelle Gone Bad complete with black
wings with skulls and crossbones. I even had a song:
The name is Tink.
I know what you think
That I'm a sweet and innocent fairy.
Oh, what the Hell?
I ditched the Belle
So let's get down and get scary.
Homework? Too much work.
Classes? I passes.
The campus police?
I'm who they want to bust
For my franchise in fairy dust."
I had fun rocking my costume. I even got to wear it to work. I had
people take pictures of me with the decorations at the union. And i
got lots of goodies at the campus trick or treat. The sad part was
Eugene had made up lovely bags of candy and, for the first time in 28
years, no kids came trick or treating. I had me an adventure last
night. I worked brunch at Wells and then studied at Fogler Library.
When I left to catch the bus the wind was roaring like an oncoming
freight train. It knocked me down a short flight of stairs and I weigh
114. When I got to Veazie there were no street or houselights. I
thought I'd stumble home in pitch black. But an eerie yellow light
lit the woods path and trailer park. It was like right before the
alien space ship appears. At home I did homework by lantern light.
Today I learned nearly 80,000 homes lost power.
A great big shout out goes out to my Wells colleagues who worked in
costume, all who made Halloween at the Union a real treat, my
wonderful husband who is off at camp for vaca, and the dearest little
cat in the world,
Joey aka Senor Fuzzygato.
jules hathaway


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Six Months Later

Six Months Later

YA/adult fiction
"As in November 10? No. I read it once and then again. A
bunch of other calls are all from November too. I glance up,
panicked, finding a calendar on the wall and a flyer for a winter
dance that should be eight months away.
The evidence hits me like icy darts, needling me toward the
impossible truth. I've been asleep for six months. A coma or
something. Somehow I've missed six months of my life."
Chloe, protagonist of Natalie D. Richards' Six Months Later,
wakes up at night in a school room with no memory of where she's been
or what she's done. Somehow she has to pick up the strands of her
life, even basic stuff like her senior year class schedule. And she
has to do this without anyone discovering the gaps in her memory. She
doesn't want to be the object of pity and subject of gossip she was
when she had to cope with panic attacks earlier in her high school
career.
Time loss, however, is not the only aspect of her life that has
Chloe confused. In the lost six months she's seemingly become the
polar opposite of her former self. An indifferent student has become
a scholastic superstar. The boy she had a total crush on is now the
devoted boyfriend she wants to keep at arm's length. She's attracted
irresistably to a classmate she'd formerly written off as a juvenile
delinquent. While she's become super popular at school, her long term
best friend won't speak to her.
Could all this change be connected to an SAT study group she
participated in over the summer? Could it be a cover up for something
truly sinister?
Fans of Lisa Scottoline and Jodi Picoult and all others who
enjoy a suspenseful mystery will find Six Months Later to be simply
irresistable.
On a personal note, I got a whole new perspective on Homecoming
yesterday. Dining services had been getting ready--getting people
psyched for treats like hot wings (good and spicy hot) and
individually icing hundreds of football cookies. I worked brunch.
People were lined up and stampeded in when we opened the doors. And
they kept coming. I heard in one hour 200 people entered. After I
finished serving I went to cleaning tables. People were still
arriving. I had to manuver like our football players to get to the
tables. That day in Wells was one wild ride.
A great big shout out goes out to my team mates who were going above
and beyond to make the event a success, Anna and Simon who were
keeping the troops rallied, and Michael who was acing team leader. I
couldn't possibly be more proud to be part of the family.
jules hathaway


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The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give

YA/adult fiction
"Khalil doesn't move. He doesn't utter a word. He doesn't even
look at me. His body stiffens, and he's gone. I hope he sees God.
Someone else screams.
I blink through my tears. Officer One Fifteen [badge number]
yells at me, pointing the same gun he killed my friend with."
Can you imagine seeing a friend who has broken no laws shot in
cold blood by a police officer? This is a plight too many black
Americans have been put in. It's also the episode that starts off
Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give, a fine debut novel that humanizes and
hopefully stirs compassion for people most of us only catch glimpses
of in news stories.
Khalil was Starr's best friend when they were little kids. Now
he's dead. People are angry that another black boy has been slain by
someone mandated to serve and protect. There is little to no trust
that a grand jury will indict the officer involved. In Starr's
neighborhood anger explodes into protests and rioting.
When Starr was ten she saw another good friend killed in a drive
by. Her parents had enrolled her in a mostly white private school.
To fit in both her worlds she has to switch between two personas.
"...Williamson Starr doesn't use slang--if a rapper would say
it, she doesn't say it, even if her white friends do. Slang makes
them cool. Slamg makes her 'hood.' Williamson Starr holds her tongue
when people piss her off so nobody will think she's the 'angry black
girl.' Williamson Starr is approachable. No stank-eyes, side-eyes,
none of that. Williamson Starr is nonconfrontational. Basically
Williamson Starr doesn't give anyone a reason to call her ghetto."
A number of Starr's rich, white classmates see Khalil as a
thug: a drug dealer and gang banger. One thinks the cop did
civilized society a favor by pulling the trigger.
How will the neighborhood in which Starr's family lives and her
father has a store react if the grand jury refuses to indict the cop?
Read the book and see.
I was happy to learn that Thomas has a second novel coming out.
I'll be sure to read and review it.
On a personal note, my life continues to revolve around school
and work. I did enjoy some of the Coming Out Week events. I attended
the Rainbow Resource Room open house and tea party, shared my story of
coming out as gender fluid at the first ever Coming Out Monologues,
tie dyed tee shirts for myself and my top supervisors, and stuffed a
darling moose and dressed them (my moose is gender fluid like me) in a
UMaine shirt. I got my flu shot. I discovered a little free library
that had three books I was very eager to read. I could trade three
others for them.
Great big shout outs go out to all who made Coming Out Week sensational.
jules hathaway


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On a personal note, last night when I posted my review I forgot to add one. That's grad school for you. It continues to be quite the challenge, mostly because of how far behind I am on computer skills. My first class when I learned how extensively embedded they are in the curriculum I felt like I'd run into a brick wall. You know how it is with walls you can't climb. You have to give up or find a sharp instrument and start chipping away. I'm persistant in chipping and finding people to help. I'm beginning to see daylight. I did go to two parties Saturday. The first was my daughter Amber's Alice In Halloweenland party. As always it was ghoulishly perfect. (If you need some ideas on making your Halloween party memorable, check out her crafts blog: http://amberscraftaweek.blogspot.com)

On a personal note, last night when I posted my review I forgot to add
one. That's grad school for you. It continues to be quite the
challenge, mostly because of how far behind I am on computer skills.
My first class when I learned how extensively embedded they are in the
curriculum I felt like I'd run into a brick wall. You know how it is
with walls you can't climb. You have to give up or find a sharp
instrument and start chipping away. I'm persistant in chipping and
finding people to help. I'm beginning to see daylight. I did go to
two parties Saturday. The first was my daughter Amber's Alice In
Halloweenland party. As always it was ghoulishly perfect. (If you
need some ideas on making your Halloween party memorable, check out
her crafts blog: http://amberscraftaweek.blogspot.com)
It was wonderful seeing all my kids. After that I went to the
community garden volunteers supper. I once again got the longest
standing and most social gardener award. It was an evening of fine
food and fellowship.
Great big shout outs go out my family, my community garden family, and
all who are helping me tear down the wall.
jules hathaway




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Bunk 9's Guide To Growing Up

Bunk 9's Guide To Growing Up

Juvenile/YA nonfiction
"But take it from us: while there are a whole lot of changes
that happen on the road to womanhood, they're all leading somewhere
completely wonderful. (And once you get the hang of it, tampons
aren't scary at all.) So that's where the BOOK comes in. We're here
to walk you through the process, head to toe, all of these changes
called puberty. And while we're at it, we'll throw in some tips and
advice on how to take care of yourself now that you're growing older,
so that you'll not only survive puberty; you'll completely, totally,
100 percent own it."
If there was a book I wish had been around when I was a late
blooming pre teen or, even more, when I had daughters, it's Bunk 9's
Guide To Growing Up. It is, by far, the most comprehensive book about
puberty I've ever read. I've read many more than the average blogger
or human being.
[As told to] author Adah Nuchi gets the need for peer connection
for girls in and approaching the first great gendered life change.
She got almost all her info in a camp setting. She created the
fictional Camp Silver Moon to pass this knowledge on.
Bunk 9, a group of 16-year-old counselors in training, recreates
the summer when they were twelve and at all different stages in the
process. Readers will get to know them as individuals, quirks and all
from Briana "social butterfly*night owl*raccoonaphobe" to Lea
"chocolate connoisseur*foreign correspondent*ropes course avoider".
Chapters correspond to weeks at camp. The first four cover the
stages of puberty; the last three revolve around comprehensive topics:
boys, health, and feelings. Much of the text is told in a collective
narrative.
"The summer we were twelve may have been our fourth one at Camp
Silver Moon, but it was clear from the moment the camp bus pulled into
the parking lot that this summer WOULD BE DIFFERENT..."
But there are plenty of individual comments in colorful asides.
Meg Hunt's illustrations give the book the comfortable coziness
of popular series books for this age group. Think Dork Diaries. In
addition to pictures of the girls and a rather menacing looking
raccoon, there are stickers and other cool things.
If you are a parent or significant person in the life of a girl
entering or about to start puberty, run, don't walk, to your local
bookstore to pick up Bunk 9's Guide To Growing Up. Read it before
passing it on. Make sure your public library has a copy.
What I want to know is when someone will put out a similar book
on that other big gendered life change called menopause. Much of
what's around now looks like you'd need a PhD in endocrinology to get
it.
You know I'm right.
On a personal note,


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Poverty And Hunger

Poverty And Hunger

Juvenile nonfiction
When I was a child trying to leave the supper table without
touching the Lima beans, Mom or Dad would remind me of the starving
children in Africa to guilt me into cleaning my plate. I bet many of
you had similar experiences. It was a go to tactic for decades. I
think you'll agree that while it succeeded short term (the Lima beans
or liver disappeared) it didn't exactly lead to empathy.
Children are capable of empathy and wanting to help at really
early ages. An attitude of gratitude for what they have, compassion
for those in need, and a burning desire to help are some of the best
gifts we can cultivate in our kids in a world where too many of their
peers, not only in third world countries, but in the United States
live and sometimes die in dire poverty.
But how?
Books can be quite valuable in this endeavor. Poverty And
Hunger by Louise Spilsbury and Hanane Kai is a good introduction to
these topics. The text is to the point, but not intimidating.
Children are given ways to help those in need and a list of books and
websites to learn more.
The pictures beautifully compliment the text. On the first two
page spread where poverty is defined, for example, you see an adult
and child napping on a sofa surrounded by the comforts of home while
through a window you catch a glimpse of an adult and child sleeping
rough (homeless). Plants wither in parched soil. A little girl
drinks water that is far from clean.
And then there's the cat. On nearly every page there's an
orange cat with striped tail and paws. Getting younger kids to find
the cat from page to page is a good way to help them to learn to focus
on illustrations.
I have only one beef with the book. It leads children to think
that it's only kids in other countries living in poverty. There are
growing numbers right here in the United States, the world's richest
nation.
On a personal note, UMaine is on October Break. A lot of us are doing
our jobs and beaucoup studying. I sure am! Last week dining services
had a very special dinner: a celebration of all things Maine cuisine--
everything from crab cakes through baked beans and brown bread to
needhams.
A great big shout out goes out to my fellow studying and recreating
students and the awesome chefs who make every meal a celebration.
Jules Hathaway


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