Recommded Summer Vacation Reads

A few months back, someone sent me a copy of Saving Maddie by Varian Johnson (See Ari's review). I carried the book with me on my bus commute with the intent to read it over a couple of rides and lunches at work. Well when I got to work, I shared the book with a co-worker whose son is a reluctant reader. She's always looking for something for him. Without thinking, I offered the book. Later when I asked her if he liked it she told me her son started reading it but she could tell he was reading it because she wanted him to so she gave it to her niece (she wasn't happy about the girl's normal reading choices). She said her niece immediately got into the book so much so she apparently told her cousin about the story then he wanted it back. When the niece finished the book, my friend asked if her son could finish reading it. This go round he, too, became engrossed with the book staying up late to read, something my friend says never happens. When he was done with the book, his younger sister wanted to read it so he gave it to her without telling his mom he had finished. In the end my gifted, soft cover book endured a real good wearing from three teens. My co-worker felt so bad about the condition of the book, she got me a hard cover. So to Varian, I apologize for not reviewing your latest but I hope you and other readers will appreciate how well received the book was among these teens, two of whom are preacher kids.

Before summer I read Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes. I wrote about it though not a full review. Loved it. Before I went on leave I shared this book with the same co-worker mentioned above. I'm pretty sure I know what she's going to say.

Next is One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia. I love this author's work and this book is no exception. Do check out the video clip at Zetta Eliott's blog. I was twenty pages shy of finishing when I made the same mistake of sharing a book too soon. I told a friend of my daughter's how much I enjoyed it. Actually, she had come to see my daughter and while waiting she noticed the book on the hallway bookcase ( my daughter's friends often eye my books and then shyly they will sometimes ask to borrow one). I watched her her read the book titles and I knew she was going to ask. I started to say let me finish but I couldn't risk her not coming back (she's actually a regular reader and likely would ask) but I seize all opportunities to give kids books.

Last book is Elizabeti's Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen. I received this book from the publisher. It's a lovely book about a little girl who wants to emulate her mother. Her mom recently had a new baby and Elizabeti wants one to care for, too. The story takes place in Tanzania. The little girl doesn't own a doll so she searches for something to be her baby. She settles for an oval not to heavy or large rock. She takes good care of her baby. She makes the sweetest comments such as she's relieved her baby doesn't make the same mess in her cloth like her new baby brother does. Really enjoyed this. Look for it.

Girl Power List: Celebrating Women's History Month

For me, it's about girl power 365 a year and during March my fanaticism- eh, my passion is deemed appropriate. I wanted to put this up earlier but life with a female teen is uh, well, let's say, requires spending less time here.

With the exception of the adult sisters in the first title, the others have girl leads. Some show how girls from different cultures find a way to affect their own destinies within the culture they live in and the beliefs they hold while other main characters are openly rebels. Many of these books I have talked about previously and likely will be talking about again. Each title is followed by a brief annotation with the main genre identified. I've link to reviews when I readily knew who and where.

In The Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Three sisters rebel against a corrupt and oppressive regime. The fictional account of the real Mirable sisters is told in alternating voices of the sisters. The sisters were brave, flawed and committed to what they believed in. I recommend this book every chance I get. It made that kind of impression on me. Historical fiction.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. A young woman leads a small group out of a dystopian community to build a new one based on a new religion she reluctantly accepts as her destiny. Lauren is fifteen. To lead any group is a daunting task for any leader. Imagine being fifteen, the world is pretty close to hell on Earth and then you get visions that you are to start a new way of life in the middle of chaos. Butler is brilliant in how she challenges the reader with her critiques of our society. Science Fiction

Down To The Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole. A young woman grapples with her sexual orientation and identity.Laura is funny, honest and authentic. Her denial and missteps are frustrating but they also make her believable. Soli is kickass. And the food references- I was always hungry, wishing I was at their table. YA. GLBT. My review.

M+O 4EVR by Tonya Hegamin. Opal and Miriam have been friends forever. Marianne spins out of control while Opal attaches her dreams and hopes on a future life with Marianne. Interwoven is the story of Hannah, a runaway slave who chooses to risk her life for freedom, unexpectedly falls in love and ultimately loses her life on her own terms. YA. GLBT


A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott. Genna is fifteen. Life at home is rough. She's not happy with her looks or place in any group. Then she meet Judah and things are looking up. Life isn't suddenly perfect and that's why she makes a wish. She couldn't have thought a wish could transport to 1863 Brooklyn. Historical/sci-fi. YA. Read Neesha's review at Cynical, Ornery and Sublime.

Does My Head Look Big In this? by Randa Abdel-Fattah. Amal is Muslim. Home is Australia. When she decides to wear the hijab she has to contend with a variety of reactions. Amal is a teen and like most teen girls, she's concerned about her looks, how she is perceived and boys. Now balance all that and religion. YA. Multicultural. Read Allison's review at Read Into This.

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman. 15-year-old Vidya has plans: college and a career. Her progressive father supports her. Her family is very different from her father's conservative, tradition family in Madras. When tragedy strikes, Vidya's family has to move to Madras. It's 1941, the war is on everyone's mind and Vidya is determined to still realize her dreams even in a house where girls aren't allowed upstairs. YA. Multicultural. Read Natasha's review at Maw's books.

Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qamar. Nazia is pulled from school to help her mother find work when her father doesn't return to work after an accident. Cleaning houses compromises Nazia's marriage prospects. The setting is modern Pakistan. Ultimately, Nazia chooses a life for herself on her own terms. Highly recommend reading this and Wanting Mor. Both are modern stories with young girls who do not romanticize the West or its culture. Read review at Regular Rumination.


Mare's War by Tanita Smith. Octavia and Tali take a road trip with their colorful grandmother, Mare. Just before turning 18, Mare joined the Women's Army Corps during World War II. Told in alternating points of view from Mare, Talia and Octavia. YA. Read Ari's review at Color Online.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith. Ida Mae has to make tough decisions like choosing to pass for white in order serve in Women Airforce Service Pilots. See Akilah's review at the Englishist.

Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan. A young woman in the wake of the conflict in Afghanistan has to grow quickly when her mother dies unexpectedly and her irresponsible father moves her to Khabul so he can find his opportunity to improve his lifestyle. He marries a widow and Jameela's life becomes even bleeker. Jameela, a conservative, religious girl learns to be less judgmental while remaining true to the religion and beliefs she shared with her mother. YA. Multicultural. Read Edi's review at Crazy Quilts.

What's on your girl power list?

Sweet, Hereafter: A Reader's Response

sweet, hereafter
Angela Johnson
Simon & Schuster
2010

Having read the other titles in the trilogy, I think sweet, hereafter is a deft closing. This final installment is about Sweet, a young girl we meet through Marley in Heaven. Sweet is odd; she wears knee high rain boots, isn’t obsessed with ipods or Facebook, drives a truck dubbed Alice and likes feeding ground hogs apple peels. She doesn’t fit in with her perfect, beautiful family. In this closing book, it’s a few years later and Sweet, a senior, is still odd but popular. When her relationship with her family reaches her breaking point, she moves in with Curtis, another quiet but friendly young man enlisted in the Reserves home after one tour in Iraq. Their connection is both tender and tenuous.

The story unfolds slowly. The commentary is sparse and even the most dramatic scenes are subdued. This is however a poignant read. Johnson renders a short, but memorable story about how we find meaning and make connections in the lives we lead. There’s no happy ending but there is resolution. There is some peace. To paraphrase one of the characters, there is enough. We don’t get a lot of time with the characters, we don’t get lengthy histories or long passages of dialogue but we do get enough. We get a mother connecting with a daughter in a way I think the daughter understands. We get a young girl and young man loving for a time. We see friends doing what they can. We get enough.

In a culture where communication is a juxtaposition of multi-tasking and texting, I think this kind of brevity matches teens' modern sensibility without compromising the art. This is life distilled in a meaningful way.

The length of the book works. This book is small but powerful. Yes, it is a good for a reluctant reader and a broader audience as well. My experience is that most teens want everything from food to entertainment to get to the point and get there fast. No, we don’t get 400 pages of pining or violence. It’s not an epic tale of adventure. It is what I think the author intended: an intimate close to a series that has looked at relationships the way they really happen.

For me the read is seamless; elegant in sparse prose lines that feel like poetry. The depth of the work is understated but potent.

Have you read any Johnson? How do you feel about slim volume YA titles? What elements do you need in a work to keep you interested: dialogue, action, fantasy, humor?

GLBT Reading: Jacqueline Woodson

GLBT Reading: Guest Post: Jacqueline Woodson

I'm a guest blogger at the GLBT Challenge and yes, talking about my girlcrush, Ms. Woodson. Please come by.

When Ms. Woodson explores race and sexual orientation, it’s always in the context of personal relationships. Her language and the dialogue between characters aren’t political but intimate and this matters. It is much easier to examine social mores and societal norms in the context of our personal lives.

Celebrating Black Women

Lanker is perhaps best known for his book and exhibition of portraits entitled, "I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America." The debut exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. set attendance records for the 111 year old museum in the nation's capital. Currently, his book "I Dream A World" is in its 14th printing.

These last two weeks, I’ve been reading a favorite book of women photo essays, Brian Lanker’s, I Dream A World. My copy is well worn. I have used it for quizzes at Color Online, for profiles for Black History Month and Women’s History Month. I bought my first copy when it published. I love the essays; the photographs and the list of women profiled include names that many readers likely cannot name. I think we should be celebrating these women during Black History Month and beyond. Herein are some of the women who have inspired and influenced the way I think and live:

*Septima Poinsette Clark
Norma Merrick Sklarek
Niara Sudarkasa
Gloria Dean Randle Scott
Harriet Elizabeth Byrd
Sherian Grace Cadoria
Alexa Canady
Jewel Jackson McCabe
Jackie Torrence
Anna Arnold Hedgeman

Does this list contain names you don’t know? Don’t you want to know who they are?

It’s been more than twenty years still every time I revisit this text I am inspired. I wish Mr. Lanker or anyone else would produce a current work like this. Given the lack of positive images of black women in the media this is the kind of work I want to pass out by the truck loads to young girls and young women everywhere. They need to be educated about the legacy of accomplished, beautiful and proud black women. All women should read this book.

Each woman in this volume shares a powerful message. You don’t experience the kind of strength and quiet elegance these women possess enough. Mr. Lanker’s photographers are fitting tributes to extraordinary women.

I encourage you to look for this book. If you’re not happy with it, you can send your copy to me.

* Cover photo

Children of The Waters: Love, Family and Reconciliation

We’re currently having a discussion about Children of the Waters by Carleen Brice at Color Online. It’s a story about a young, educated black woman who despite having Lupus has a pretty good life. Then her half-sister shows up and Billie discovers not only that she was adopted, but also that she’s half white. Now Billie is a sister who prides herself on been culturally and spiritually grounded. She is a sister who relishes her blackness. She is an African dance teaching, ancestor altar praising and holistic-living sister. Then she finds out she’s not who she thought she was.

Billie has a great family. She has proud, accomplished parents and a loving older brother. She’s involved with a good man and she’s just found out she’s pregnant. Her health is a real concern with her pregnancy and her great man doesn’t respond to the pregnancy like she had hoped. Then this chunky, too friendly, white woman shows up. And the drama begins.

Let me tell you what works for me in the contemporary fiction. The socioeconomic element works. I don’t think we talk enough about class and socioeconomics in this country. We try to have the race discussion but we rarely include how socioeconomics weighs in the mix. Brice inserts it without screaming LESSON. It would have been easy and predictably boring to have made Billie a poor black girl discovering she was rejected by her white wealthy family. Instead the main character is smart, educated, comes from a solid economic background and her family is happy and functional.

The dynamics between men and women in relationships works here. Brice gives us love that works. Nick’s parents’ relationship is ugly and Trish is divorced from a cheating husband but even her relationship with her son’s father had been good at one time. But these relationships don’t dominate the story. Billie’s parents and her brother’s marriages are solid and while Billie and Nick hit a rough patch, they work through it.

The conflict between Trish and Billie feels real. Their reunion is rocky. There is race and the rejection they have to confront and they do, and like in real life it’s not easy. The delivery works. The tone in Children of the Waters has the same comfortable and natural feel of Brice’s successful Orange Mint and Honey (watch Lifetime premier of the tv adapted movie 2/21)

What doesn’t work? I can’t say. I suggest you read the book, join the discussion and honestly tell us what worked and what concerned you. Let’s have a good sistergirl talk about what family, love and reconciliation looks like.

A Book and a Prayer: The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The Negro Speaks of Rivers, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
Langston Hughes
Disney - Jump at the Sun Books
2009

I picked up this book for a couple of reasons, first because its the Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Honor Book and the poem is by Langston Hughes. I confess I didn't know who E. B. Lewis is but after reading this book, I made it my business to learn more about the illustrator.

While I knew the poem and enjoyed it, I can tell you reading it in concert with Lewis' illustration is an entirely new experience. In fact, I'm going to say the experience was to borrow Lewis' description, spiritual. Lewis writes that he knew the poem from his boyhood but when he got the assignment he experienced the text in a whole new way. He said he recited the poem over and over until it became like a prayer and you feel that as you turn each page. There is a reverence, a peace, a kind of beauty that washes over you.

I shared my borrowed copy with several co-workers and they all loved it. One mom said she was going to purchase it this weekend. I wish had been exposed to more illustrated books as a child. As an adult I'm discovering the power and beauty in illustrated books that I didn't know existed. It's hard to describe what it means to me to experience art in this way. I do know that I want to read more illustrated books, and I hope that some parent with young children reads my reaction to this book and is motivated to seek out more books more often for their children. The Negro Speaks of Rivers is a prayer everyone should experience at least once.

I'm including this read in my POC Challenge count.