It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

Each week readers share what they are reading for the week. I joined because there is no way I can review every book I read.

Very hectic week. See my Sunday Salon post.

Read:

The Most Loved In All The World: a story of freedom by Tonya C. Hegamin, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. This children's book tells a compelling story in a way small children can comprehend. It might raise some worry or concern but the tenderness is clear. Focusing on the love, a caregiver or teacher can help a child understand why a mother would send her child away to freedom. Ms. Cabrera's illustrations are impressive. The colors are vibrant and warm, and her images translate the urgency and passion of the undertaking. Ms. Hegamin's measures up, too. Writing isn't easy for any writer but for the children's writer, the challenge is even greater. The language has to be precise and accessible. The writer has to have a keen awareness of how children process language and information. Ms. Hegamin's has that skill. I am so glad I read this. I'll be sharing it often with as many readers as possible.

In the queque: see last week's post.

Another good week for donations. See my New Crayons post here and the one at Color Online. Looking forward to reading the Aya Sequels.


What did you read this week? What's next on your tbr? Find more posts at One Person's Journey. WAYR is hosted by Sheila.

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?

It's Monday: What Are You Reading Now?

Each week readers share what they are reading for the week. I joined because there is no way I can review every book I read. Up this week:

Finished:

M+O 4EVR by Tonya Cherie Hegmain. This fits my LGBT challenge but when is any book, when are we ever just one aspect of our identity? This book is about friendship, the awakening of romantic and sexual desire, love, loss and yes, identity. This is the kind of story I wish teens were swept up in because it is complex, tender and real. It's about family and how you can feel both grounded and uprooted at the same time. If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend you do.

Read One Well: The Story of Water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss. Lots of facts that culminate into a call of action. Written simply but the message is powerful. Read this for Social Justice: Water.

Next up:

Sweet Hereafter by Angela Johnson. This is the final book in the Heaven triology. I've read and loved both First Part Last and Heaven. If you don't know these books, do check them out.

In the mail:

Arc & Hue by Tara Betts. I've been reading Tara for a few years. In fact, in my former life, I published an e-zine and I was stoked when Tara submitted a piece at my request. I didn't know at the time that Tara was a mentor, educator and Cave Canem fellow. I did know I liked her work. Support a poet. Pick up her collection.

Saving Maddie by Varian Johnson. I enjoyed My Life As A Rhombus. I really appreciate that Mr. Johnson didn't play predictably into stereotypes, that his main character is a smart girl who made a mistake but she learned how to move on with her life. This time, we're getting the male's point of view and we're looking at preacher's kids. Very interested to see how this turns. See an interview with the author at In The Author's Tent and a review at Reading In Color.

Still reading:

Awakening Iran by Shrin Ebadi. I've stalled on this one. It is good but there are some really good YA and MG distracting me at the moment.

Last Night I Sang To The Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz. See review at La Bloga. Hope to finish this soon.

Find more posts here at One Person's Journey.

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.

Saturday Six Sentences

Saturday Six is an exercise where you try to describe your reading for the week in six sentences.

It's been a very good week for me. I finally finished The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Tate. I leisurely read this YA title over a couple of weeks and I thoroughly enjoyed this Newbery Honor book.

I'm currently reading 8th Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Ruday-Perkovich. Do read Ari's interview with the author at Reading In Color and this crazy cool video I saw first at Fledgling. I love Reggie

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.

Women Unbound: Stealing Budhha's Dinner

Stealing Budhha's Dinner:a memoir
Bich Minh Nyguen
Viking
2009

Stealing Buddha’s Dinner is a good and uneven story of a Vietnamese girl who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the early 80s. Bich’s family escapes Saigon in 1975 and are sponsored by a Christian Reformed Church family in what Bich describes as a sea of blonde and blue-eyed people. The memoir chronicles how the narrator struggles to define who she is: a Vietnamese girl who left her native home so young that she only identifies with her culture through her grandmother and her grandmother’s food and faith. Bich desperately wants to be American and for her assimilation is fed by her obsession with American junk food.

I’ve read a few memoirs that use food as a way of showing how we relate to family and how our identities are in part shaped by how food is integral to our culture; a promising vehicle and I was excited to read this. What is most problematic with the memoir however is how tightly Bich binds everything in either lists of food, episodes of eating food or thinking about food. Still in a society that is currently suffering in mass from obesity and our own neurosis with food disorders, Bich’s obsession works for me. While our relationships with food vary, for most of us, food is comfort.

I was expecting what I thought was a typical immigrant story but early on it became clear this would be different. Bich was eight-months-old when her family fled Vietnam. When they moved to Grand Rapids, Bich's family was part of a small, but growing minority surrounded by a largely homogeneous Dutch-descent, CRC community. Because they were sponsored, there was work and the extended family was intact. Every immigrant experience isn't punctuated by strife though assimilation is common factor. Bich’s story is about creating an identity not holding on to one. The memoir isn’t linear and the jumping around can be a bit confusing but overall, the obsession with food and the desire to be accepted unifies the work. Bich’s reluctance to relay her feelings without food to help her is at times tedious yet just when I had had enough of the food, she’d share something personal and intimate like the time she spends with her grandmother while she prays or watching television with her.

In one review, the reader felt the Laura Ingalls Wilder passage was disjointed and unnecessary. I couldn’t disagree more. This passage provides the kind of clarity that was missing for most of the book. Sans the food descriptions, in this section the author describes with incredible clarity the internal conflict of alienation yet an undeniable desire to fit in with people who reject her, will always see her as a foreigner and who frankly are prejudice and unkind; they aren’t perfect. They are not ideal. The Ingall section was an acknowledgment I had been waiting for. I had grown impatient with the child Bich who up to then failed to acknowledge how she willingly glossed over the pain of alienation and prejudice and instead fixated on the fantasy she believed was key to her happiness. And while she didn’t overtly discuss it, her descriptions of the Cleaver homes in the 80s was a juxtaposition I couldn’t stop thinking about. Here’s a child growing up with a progressive though enabler stepmother, idolizing pop icons like Madonna and what this child craves most is a dated model of a mother in a starched apron baking cookies.

Some readers have remarked they wanted to know more about her parents' strained relationship and the author’s relationships with her siblings and uncles, but for me, I get the not sharing too much about her family. This is Bich’s story. Her family didn’t sign up for having their lives opened for examination and speculation. Could Bich have done better to show how she related to them, maybe, but I appreciate her respecting their privacy.

There are moments here that are memorable and well written. Yes, the book is uneven, it’s not a smooth ride but neither is real life. This is non-fiction not a screenplay. It’s one woman attempting to wrangle into words a girl’s tumultuous coming of age and her struggle to reconcile a hunger she couldn’t satiate while growing up. Despite its shortcomings this feels real to me. It feels honest and that is satisfying.

How do you feel about memoirs? Have you read this? If so, what did you think? After reading my take on the work, are you interested or you'll pass?

As I mentioned I have read other memoirs where food was central to family and identity. You might enjoy The Skin Between Us by Kym Regusa or Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee

The Other Side of Paradise: Out of The Mouths of Babes

The Other Side of Paradise
Staceyann Chin
2009
Scribner

The Other Side of Paradise written by Staceyann Chin is startling in its clarity, fresh in its narration and the writing is as bold as the young poet, writer, lesbian activist is daily in her tweets or one of her performances. TOSoP is about a young girl who refused to be quiet. She came into the world unexpectedly with lungs much bigger than her premature body should have had.

What I love most about The Other Side of Paradise is the writer’s voice, specifically Staceyann the child’s voice. The voice is authentic. You can’t manufacture this. Some would say the child’s voice is audacious, and it is. In a culture where it is trendy to create in-your-face work, The Other Side of Paradise doesn’t have to scream at you to captivate you. Young Staceyann not knowing how dangerous it is to speak her mind honestly makes you cringe and want to hush the child before she says one more thing that earns her a scolding, a smack and rejection. It’s the cruel reality of being innocent and vulnerable that wallops you upside the head.

This memoir plays out like a daring Indi film. The footage looks like it’s unedited but the rendering is so flawless, you know it’s a carefully crafted work of a real writer. While we get Staceyann as-is there is nothing clumsy or awkward here. This work isn’t burdened with analysis nor is it a sanitized, hindsight-laden trope. Instead we come to know Chin through reliving her experiences and digesting choice reflections of what those experiences mean. Staceyann the child suffers abuse, neglect, abandoment and rejection but she doesn’t carry her victimization around like a child’s tattered blanket. She calls it what it is and does what she can rid herself of it so she can get on with becoming the woman she wants to be.

There are many poignant episodes in this memoir. In all of them, I was so vested that often I was having an internal dialogue with Staceyann: Oh, no, Staceyann, no, not this time. Don’t answer. Don’t tell the truth. Be quiet. Instead of pandering, Chin gives us relief when we need it with organic episodes that say even when life is ugly we find some joy. When the young girl discovers she can pleasure herself, I laughed and ached with her. When her aunt scolds her, when she tells Staceyann that her life is her own fault, and it is Staceyann’s responsibility to avoid being hurt by others, I relived the sting of being shamed and the isolation of knowing there is no one you can cry out to, to protect you, and I know many women who figuratively know the desperation of wrapping yourself tightly in a filthy, disgusting sheet. Ms. Chin’s memoir is a testament that while we may been violated, we do not have to remain victims. We can fight back and win.

I knew little about Ms. Chin’s work or her before reading The Other Side of Paradise. What I discovered was a child I did know. I am glad I took the time to listen, to listen to the child who grew, who dared to not be quiet and who later became the woman who was audacious enough to tell her story. Ms. Chin’s memoir is impressive, provocative, brilliant writing. It is an unflinching look at the other side of Paradise.

The Color of Earth: A Celebration of Another Love

The Color of Earth
Kim Dong Hwa
2009
First Second

My experience with graphic novels is limited. And it seems each one I read is distinctly different in style and writing. This coming-of-age story by far is my favorite. Written by celebrated Korean artist, Hwa is a feminist and a man. I start with this because as someone who is very vocal about women telling their stories, this is a man telling it. Like another reader, while there were a few times I questioned if the voice rings true, I am undecided if it is more of a cultural difference that is affecting how I hear this mother and daughter convey their feelings. Most times, the voice seems consistent with the style of writing and I believe the style reflects a culture where in many ways women are restricted in how they communicate and behave.

This artwork is stunning. I took my time with this work in part simply so I could linger over the images. Not only are the images breathtaking but the construction of the volume itself is pure craftsmanship. Heavy paper and rich colors and a glossed cover compliment this classic story about first love, crossing the threshold of childhood and finding love again.

The writing is poetic, simple in construction but rich with metaphor, and there is a tenderness that can only really be appreciated with a deliberate, unhurried reading. The is best way to experience this work is to approach it the same way you share a bedtime story with a child: a few pages each night over a course of several nights.

Gaining an intimate view of another culture is always a treat but here, not only did I learn a great deal about pastoral Korea of a generation or so removed but here is a mother/daughter relationship that is close and nurturing. The estranged relationship between mothers and daughters is well documented but rarely do we see a mother and daughter celebrated in this way. It is a welcome departure.

By the end of this first volume, I felt sated with a fine story and hungry for the next installment. At Chasing Ray, Colleen is spotlighting works written by writers from or about southeast Asia. I thought I would have finished a work that qualifies but I didn't. Join me in finding my next read at Colleen's.

Thulani: Male Monday Spotlight

Today is Male Monday at Reading In Color. I've chosen Every Time A Rainbow Dies by Rita Williams-Garcia.

One of my earliest reads by Ms. Williams was this love story. Now, I don’t normally care to read romances. I don’t like stories about guys rescuing girls. I don't enjoy stories that have tidy, Hollywood endings. I do, however, appreciate stories with depth and complexity and you always get that with Ms Williams.

I like stories that respect the intelligence and emotional maturity of the reader. I like stories where the romance is an opportunity to examine who we are as individuals and how we try to navigate our emotions in a relationship. Every Time A Rainbow Dies is a different kind of love story. This is another YA example of the richness to be discovered in this evolving genre.

This is a story about a 16-year-old boy who has not been able to grieve the death of his mother nor reconcile his estrangement with his father who is somewhere in Jamaica, and he doesn’t know how to cope with his resentment towards his caregiver, his older brother. Thulani doesn’t care much about school. His only friends are his rock pigeons that he takes care of on the rooftop of his building.

Then he hears a scream. From the rooftop, Thulani sees a young girl being raped in an alley. He runs to her aid. The rapists take off and Thulani tries to help the girl who is shamed and angry. And she is angry. Ysa is not the helpless, grateful victim.

Thulani is unsuccessful in getting the girl to report the rape. Instead, he takes her home. Helps her clean up and sees her home safely. He becomes attracted to her but she wants nothing to do with him. He catches sight of her one day on the street and begins to look for her. When he finally catches up with her, Ysa rejects him. Yes, he was kind and brave, but he also witnessed her violation. Hardly a way to meet a guy you’d want to date.

Thulani pursues her. Eventually, Ysa gives him a chance. Ysa lives with an aunt. She misses a country and parents she only vaguely knows in childhood memories. She wants to be a clothes designer. She is ambitious and talented. She’s also lonely and like so young women who have been violated, she refuses to get counseling. She wrestles with the aftermath mostly alone. Slowly, she finds some comfort in Thulani.

Their relationship is tentative, awkward. Still, they find comfort in one another and the whole time, the reader is invested in the relationship. You desperately want them to heal. One of the things I enjoy about Ms. Williams work is the pacing. It’s always pitch perfect. She doesn’t rush or languish over scenes or details that feel more like manipulation than a natural progression of a plot. There are no pat, feel-good lines here. No magic spell or love saves these lovers. And there is sex, (one brief scene) descriptive enough to illustrate a kind of intimacy and sensitivity young people can have. The encounter comes off authentic though by no means an endorsement of sexual activity. And yes, I believe there should be sex in YA because it is a part of some teens’ lives. I think we need mature, realistic images of what sex means to young people.

I love the layering here, the realistic ending. I love that Ms. Williams allows Thulani and Ysa to tell their story. We see damaged characters begin to heal and make informed decisions about how to move forward in their lives. Lastly, in Thulani we get a rare glance of a black male teen fully developed, capable of growth and who has the capacity to care for others. This is no small thing. We need more works with positive male teens of color.

Big is Beautiful: A Review of B as in Beauty

B as in Beauty
Alberto Ferreras
Grand Central Publishing
2009
This week I read B as in Beauty by Alberto Ferreras. Earlier this week I said I was going to try to lighten up. I saw this book reviewed a few places, and I loved the cover so I was happy to give this chick lit a go. Read it in one sitting. Okay, it's chick lit, a genre I don't normally read but I said I was going to lighten up, right? Okay.

This light read is funny and the strongest element of the book are the dates Beauty goes on with the exception of her serial date which turns romance. Pretty formulaic there even with the quirks. I really appreciate that Beauty comes to appreciate her body and stiffens her spine at work. And I'm all for greater diversity in all genres so a Latina mama lighting up the escort business was a nice change.

What I didn't like: Wasn't crazy about the profanity. It isn't gratuitous but it doesn't add anything either. Before reading this, I thought it was YA appropriate but the fetishes in the book puts this in the adult arena for me. There are no explicit sexual descriptions but the fetishes are clearly adult material. The racial stereotypes made me wince a little mostly because I felt they were pat and unnecessary. I didn't mind that they were politically incorrect (I'll take honesty over false courtesy) but I didn't find them funny, and I think they were suppose to be. Really bored with the whole conflict between Beauty and her boss. I've had my share of office politics and frustrations of not being valued for what I bring to the table, but the author fails to add anything fresh to this dilemma.

Still, overall, I'm glad I read it. I met a goal by finishing it and writing about it. It did have its moments and Beauty does learn to love herself. Major plus. She finds love being her big beautiful self. And for that alone, I'd recommend it.