The Silent Boy

 The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

2003

Weight: 5.6 oz

Method of Disposal: Recycling (unfortunately)

This is another book that is in such poor shape that I cannot donate it.  The truth is that it was already falling apart when I came into possession of it, and it has only grown worse with each move.  I did want to read it before letting it go though so it was the last book I read in my time off after surgery.

It was a very sad book.  Not the whole time you are reading it, though from the beginning you know the ending will be tragic.  You just do not know how yet.  The tragedy of this book is not some shocking, never heard it before, cannot imagine it happening sort of thing, but something that feels much more common and, maybe because of that, even heavier.  

The book is told from the point of view of a 9 year old girl and much of it is about her feelings and thoughts about a misunderstood boy, who would now likely be diagnosed with autism, but at the time was just seen as different, and even scary to many people in the town.  Though the people that actually knew him knew that he was very gentle.  You could tell by how he loved animals and they loved him.  I cannot say much more without spoiling the book.  Ultimately, I think the author was giving us a snapshot into what it was like for girls and women, for people with autism, for people in different class systems, and for people in general at the turn of the 20th century.  As always, when looking at history, there are moments of nostalgia and plenty of good things happening, but some things can seem unnecessarily bleak due to the customs and beliefs of the time.  It is still haunting in that those customs continue to shadow us today and are not completely gone.

Curious George Goes Camping

 Curious George Goes Camping by Margaret and H.A. Rey's
1999
Weight: 7 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

I was packing up some home supplies and deciding what to donate, what to trash, what to recycle, and what to keep.  I have not been able to bring myself to throw out my camping supplies, despite not having gone camping in the last 8 years.  I am determined that Harriet will try it at least once.  We have used some of the items when the power has gone out or when we have, for some odd reason or another, had an unusual sleeping arrangement.  Like, when our senior dog had an accident in bed.  Poor girl could not help it, but we had to seek refuge.  

H is bound and determined that camping is not for her, and I am afraid she is 100% right, but it is worth a shot!  Right?  

This is a children's book about a curious little monkey that wanders away from camp.  "There is a lesson about forest fires--'Fires can be nice, if you're careful,' said the ranger.  George agreed.  Especially for roasting marshmallows."

Creepy Chicago

 Creepy Chicago: A Ghosthunter's Tales of the City's Scariest Sites by Ursula Bielski
2003
Weight: 7 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

This book did not have much creative flair.  It was written in the form of one brief report after another.  A whirlwind tour of Chicago's paranormal.  I would have loved more, but I am not sure what more to expect from a young adult's collection of ghost stories.  Ursuala seems to dominate the market on writing about ghosts in Chicago, for better or worse.  I think I have another book by her that is directed at adults that I may look into.  

Yolanda's Genius

 Yolanda's Genius by Carol Fenner
1997
Weight: 6 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

This was a surprising book.  I did not expect anything in particular going in, but I have not read a young adult book quite like it before.  The lead character is a large girl whose body takes up space, provides security, and glides through crowds.  She admires her Aunt in many ways but often describes her big, beautiful body too.  She is always eating and enjoying food, even as her mom periodically tells her she needs to eat less.  We, as readers, do not see her fatness as a negative but as a source of strength.  

She also wraps a self-protective attitude around herself and her brother and can, sometimes, come across as a bully but, what is most obvious, is that her and her brother are real children, with positives and negatives and strengths and weaknesses.  Only Yolanda can see that her brother is a musical genius and not just a tiny boy with a learning disability.  Only her little brother seems to be able to see his sister as a Queen, warrior, and protector and not just as a tough girl, always looking for a fight.  She looks like trouble, but she has learned how to construct and control life.  They have both grown up in the shadow of the grief of losing their father.

There is a strong mother, a magical aunt, a scrawny young girl with the potential to be a true friend, a teacher with a stutter.  There is so much going on in this book because of how it is written.  It just sort of whisks you away, and you just have to give in and follow its current.  If you don't, you may not appreciate it, but I just let it take me away and enjoyed it.

Cherry

Cherry by Mary Karr
2000
Weight: 12 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

Coming of Age stories, like the previously written about coming out story, are hard because they are done by so many people in so many different ways.  It can feel like you have read them over and over again.  The time this is written is also important for context.  18 years ago. 

I was enjoying it but not overly blown away by it.  I totally appreciated the young narrator reveling in her sexual power, but I felt like I was watching her fall into low self-esteem, drugs, bad situations with little consequence and not a lot of insight into the reasons she was spiraling out.  We did get the impression that it was due to her parents not being overly concerned with her life, though they were there for her in very important and big ways when it counted.  Her dad is painted as having some anger issues, and her mom does at one point attempt to kill herself with both daughters begging her not to.

 It was not until the author, or maybe it was the letter at the front, someone anyway, pointed out that it was a sexual coming of age story written from a girl's perspective that I felt that old familiar rallying cry of pro-sex feminism rise up within me.  I had forgotten that we have for so long not been able to read young girl characters as sexual agents in their own story.  That we've had coming of ages stories for boys out the wazoo but not for girls.  So, I can respect it for that.  I don't know when life started ti improve enough that I forgot that, but I remember being a young girl now and hating Holden Caulfield and feeling like I could not relate to any coming of age story ever written.  Given, as a super lesbian teen, I probably would not have related so much to this one either, but I can appreciate it's importance.  I was busting with sexuality back then, but it was in a very different way, I think.

One complaint I did have was that I did not feel like there was a real ending, and I felt like the writing there was kind of rushed.  I wished for something more, but I am not sure what it was.  There was just this hippie, drug-induced, whatever whatever that ended in jail and then Mary's mom came to the rescue in a way that still made Mary feel angry and isolated.  I guess with it being a memoir, maybe that is just real life?  I don't know.

Small Sacrifices

Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule
1988
Weight: 8 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

I was working at Waldenbooks in early 2000 when a woman came in to the store proclaiming desperately that this book was her life and that I had to read it to understand her.  I had never met her before, but she pressed a copy of the book into my hands and then bought a copy for her attorney.  She was incredibly emotional and high-strung. 

I bought the book without paying much attention to it.  I was curious, but I was uncomfortable because I knew that Ann Rule was THE true crime author of the time.  I got home and saw the book was about a woman who tried to murder her children, successfully killing one.  I was a teenager.  I was not so sure I should have bought the book.  I hoped that the woman was just a little insane and mostly just a liar.  I put the book away and every time I picked it up I would just put it right back away.  I wondered who the woman thought she was.  The murderer, the child, the prosecution--couldn't be--she said she had an attorney.  Was she just attention-seeking?  I will never know. 

I finally read it this year.  We just moved into a new house, and we have less space even though we like this house better than the last.  We are purging a lot.  I am, of course, still trying to read and let go of all of these books.  There are still SO many.  I knew I wanted to let this one go because of my feelings about true crime and because of all the thoughts it brought up every time I came across it.

Aaaarrgghh! Spider!

Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks
2007
Weight: 7 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library in Tucker

This is a super cute children's book, and I do not like spiders at all.  This book is probably, in part, created to change the minds of people like me, and it may have worked a little.  This attention seeking spider is adorable.  The pictures are great and the story is fun.  It makes you think differently about spiders you see in the bath tub, spiders making webs, and spiders dropping down right in front of you.  Maybe they are just trying to dance for you!

Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: Our Children and Drugs by Bob Meehan and Stephen J. Meyer
1984
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal: Burn

ABC 15 News Bob Meehan

Nuff Said.

Good Riddance.

The Butter Battle Book

The Butter Battle Book by Dr Suess
1984
Weight: 12.4 oz
Method of Disposal: Gave to Lucas, Sarah's baby

This is one of my favorite Dr Suess books, though any close friend of mine knows that I am absolutely smitten with the Sneetches.  My dear friend Sarah and I use to work at a bookstore together and sometimes, when things were slow, we would read each other children's books.  She would make up her own words to Curious George, and it would crack me up.  She talked to me about all the political implications of Dr Suess, which encouraged my lifelong fascination with the man, the literature, and the cartoons.

We were talking about Lucas' book collection and how it was missing some of the essentials, and she mentioned The Butter Battle Book.  I would have had trouble letting this one go, but knowing it was going to Little Lucas was perfect.  I will never have kids of my own to pass these books and thoughts onto, but I now have a lot of kids in my life who can benefit.

By now, you have probably read The Butter Battle Book but, if you haven't or if it has been awhile, go check it out at the library or go to a bookstore.  The lesson of the book and the history is so obvious, and it is scary, but it is also wonderful.  It is a great way to teach kids about peace.