There were a few last gasps of reading for the Mock Printz. (An activity which I had to miss due to the flu, alas.) Plus some non-assigned reading of the non-fiction sort.
Picture Books: A Different Pond
Middle Grade: No recommendation
Young Adult: Dear Martin & Saints & Misfits
Young Nonfiction: The 57 Bus
Nonfiction: The Simple Path to Wealth
A Different Pond
Phi/Bui
Read for Librarian Book Group
A father/son tale about fishing, which is also about being an immigrant and about the country left behind.
Before she was Harriet
Cline-Ransome/Ransome
Read for Librarian Book Group
Clear text and good illustrations trace Harriet Tubman’s life.
Mr. Benjamin’s Suitcase of Secrets
Chang
Read for Librarian Book Group
I didn’t love this picture book. I think details regarding circumstances were too few, and I expect picture books to have a certain type of ending, which this didn’t.
Where’s Halmoni
Julie Kim
Read for Librarian Book Group
Two children looking for their grandmother go on an adventure.
The Wild Book
Juan Villoro
Read for Librarian Book Group
Odd little story about a boy who goes to live in his Uncle’s book-stuffed mansion for a summer. The translation felt heavy; it weighed this magical realism story down.
Boys Don’t Knit (in Public)
T.S. Easton
Read for Family Book Group
Reading this a second time, I worried that it wasn’t the greatest choice for sixth/seventh grade book group. I remembered the parents’ double entendres, but they weren’t quite as amusing picturing at 12-year-old reading them. Plus, there was a 50 Shade of Grey send-up, I had completely forgotten about.
The group was fair-to-middlin’ about the story, but had fun talking about what did and didn’t work.
Dear Martin
Nic Stone
Read for Librarian Book Group
A good kid named Justyce, who goes to the right school and is doing the right thing gets handcuffed because the cop sees him as a black guy in a hoodie, trying to assault a white woman. This incident frames Justyce’s senior year of high school.
This is a short book, and tells a worthy story while examining the entrenched racism in school, society and friendships.
Saints & Misfits
S.K. Ali
Read for Librarian Book Group
A really great book depicting Janna Yusef’s life as a young Muslim girl. Janna is driven, friendly, and has a lot going on. Her brother has moved back home, she’s excelling in school, taking part in the activities of her mosque, hanging out with her friends. She also has a crush on a non-Muslim boy, and is dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault.
While the sexual assault casts a pall over the story, and there is a lot to be worked through on that front, this book isn’t a grim and gripping march; it’s full of humor, amusing conundrums, interesting characters and so many different kinds of friendship.
There was a lot to love about this book, though I did find that many characters were introduced superficially and mostly all at once. They would then disappear for many pages. This lead to me constantly asking “now who is this person?” as the story unfolded. There were also some first-novel-type problems, but I have greatest confidence that S.K. Ali will get all those things worked out for any subsequent novels, and I hope there are many.
Well, That was Awkward
Rachel Vail
Read for Family Book Group
That time in your life when suddenly the people you’ve gone to school with for some time are–what is this feeling? Attractive? And maybe someone likes you likes you? That is this book. With texting.
Aside from that whole early relationship stuff, there are friendship things and parental role things. Gracie, the main character has an older sister, but the older sister died before Gracie was born. Being the living sibling of a sister she’s never met has shaped her, and her parents. Their changing relationship takes up a goodly part of this book.
The Whydah
Martin W. Sandler
Read for Librarian Book Group
Unlike most nonfiction books, I looked forward to reading. Sandler’s writing was engaging and zipped right along. It was also fun to learn about a pirate’s life, and to understand why one would become a pirate.
I did feel that the negative actions of pirates were downplayed, and there was little examination from an environmental perspective of the process of hunting for sunken ships. I would have also liked a map that more clearly showed where the wreck of the Whydah is.
The 57 Bus
Daska Slater
Read for Librarian Book Group
Sasha is a an agender teen in Oakland who likes to wear skirts. Richard is another Oakland teenager. They were on the same city bus one afternoon, when Richard set Sasha’s skirt on fire. His actions changed both teenagers’ lives. Slater invites us to get to know the families of Sasha and Richard and see what lead up to that fateful day, as well as the consequences.
The Simple Path to Wealth
JL Collins
Mr. Collins (we are perhaps related, if you trace the tree far enough back?) writes in an easy and understandable style about how to build wealth. The number one thing from this book I wished someone had told me in 1997? Live on 50% of your salary. Even if I hadn’t been able to achieve that right away, I would have benefited from striving toward that goal.
The Subversive Copy editor
Carol Fisher Saller
Advice for copy editors and those aspiring to be, written by the woman who supplies answers to the Chicago Manual of Style’s Q&A portion of their website. Warm and funny, this book gives a sense of the work of the copy editor, and was quite enjoyable reading.
