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.

A Day No Pigs Would Die

 A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

2005 edition (copyright 1972)

Weight: 3.2 oz

Method of Disposal: Recycling (because it is in such poor shape)

(spoiler alert)

I brought this book with me to Mexico because it was in such rough shape that I figured I could just recycle it after having read it on the plane.  The cover was missing and pages were torn.  I'd had this mangled copy awhile, and it is possible I was scared to read it, loving animals as I do.  It had a great title though, and it did call to me.

I will tell you that I read half of it on the way to Mexico and was not overly impressed but understood it was a young adult book from a certain time.  It had all the lessons on being a man, responsibility, hard work, modesty that I am accustomed to in the young reader classics.  I couldn't give a damn about being anyone learning to be a man, but the characters were admirable in their grit and determination.  

I read the other half on the way home and did not handle it well--the main character's pig and friend was slaughtered due to being infertile and the family being poor.  I completely fell apart and then his dad died, and there was no coming back.  I was just flying over the ocean, bawling, and embarrassing Harriet who could not get away from me, despite her headphones being on loud and her leaning out into the aisle.  The tears were coming down my face and collecting on the ridge of my mask, my nose was running, which is bad for several reasons.  One, it is uncomfortable, inside a mask. Two, no one wants to be blowing their nose on an airplane now that we live in COVID world full-time all the time.  

I was also relieved to have an outlet for my stupid emotions and a distraction from real life.  We had just flown a dog named Scrappy home to his mama who had been deported over two years ago and had been in an ICE detention center in Ocilla, GA before that.  The things that people do to other people are appalling and discouraging, and I know that is an understatement.  Yet, some people are so strong and determined.  They still see the good and the value, and they are grateful for it, instead of just angry.  Somehow.  Scrappy's mom is one amazing lady, and we could  were so glad to be reunited.  You could see it right away.  We flew in, spent one night, and flew out.  It was a lot packed into one small trip and a long time coming.  My mother had fostered that dog all these years, waiting for this moment she would not end up being able to be a part of.  There was the unpredictability of ICE and Homeland Security and then the truly unexpected Covid-19 pandemic.  One thing I know for sure, there are people out there that are far stronger than I have ever dreamed of being and Scrappy's mom is one of those people.  The United States is missing a good one, and it was a decision our country made and poorly executed.

Wringer

 Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
2018
Weight: 6 oz
Method of Disposal: Mailing to Mom

I loved this book.  I read it in a day and then just laid there thinking, "wow."  Jerry Spinelli really has an incredible talent, and his children's literature is top notch.  This book dealt with layers of concerns that have an impact on children without you, as the reader, feeling like you were dealing with anything.  I was fully immersed in the world of a young boy named Palmer and learning about gender role expectations, peer pressure, animal welfare, fitting in, growing up, bullying.  What I was learning was valuable and non-partisan.  This book added to my knowledge and understanding.  It did not feel like the author sought to answer the questions that came up so much as he just lived in them and let us live in them.  Both the children and the parents were the real deal.  I felt the problems of a child just as they felt them.  They were huge and important, just like they would have been to me when I was10 years old.  Sometimes, I struggle to relate to children as an adult, despite having been one, like everyone else.  It can be hard to remember what it was like to think when what seems small now felt so big.  When you truly believed your friends turning on you would be the end of the world, that they might actually kill you.  Holding Spinelli's hand, I did not struggle at all. I was full of feeling and it moved me from page to page.  I could not put this book down.  I was full of passion and hope and anxiety and curiosity.  It was a beautiful feeling.  It was an incredible experience.  It is why I read, for moments like last night.

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.

The Last Holiday Concert

 The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
2006
Weight: 4 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

Andrew Clements is a prolific children's book author who just passed away last year at the age of 70.  I, of course, have several of his books from when I worked in the Children's Department.  He was a popular one.  

Parents ask for recommendations a lot, and I always wanted to know what I was recommending.  I knew what people were buying, but I wanted to know more than that.  I feel like a lot of books try to shape the minds of children, and a lot of parents do not have time to read their children's books.  This can be good for kids raised in closed-minded, rigid households.  I, sometimes, imagined I was handing their child some kind of salvation.  A little wink wink nudge nudge that they were okay.  That they would be okay.  Even if they were gay.  Even if they loved to masturbate.  Even if they questioned God's existence.  Even if they did something terrible and regretted it.  I had books like that, which encouraged me in very subtle ways.  Not always in ways the author intended, I am sure.  Christopher Pike had a bisexual character.  The sex education book my mother gave me, embarrassing me, and which I would never read, but that I snuck peeks at, told me that homosexuality and masturbation were normal even as the sex education I was learning about in school said neither were.  Books can be so important.

This book did not have those kind of lessons or questions, but it did have something to say about being a leader, being a part of a team, recognizing that you do not always know what other people are going through or who they are.  It was not my favorite Clements book, but I thought it was alright.  I definitely was not worried it would hurt anyone.

Tiger Eyes

Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

1982

Weight: 4 oz

Method Disposal: Giving Away

It is no secret that, in general, Americans do not have a healthy connection with death and dying.  I sure do not and have been looking for tools and resources on my own in an attempt to get more comfortable with the most uncomfortable of subjects.  I always think I am preparing myself, but there is no preparation and it is jarring and disorienting in the largest, most earth shaking ways when death touched you, even on the periphery.  I am scared to face the death of my loved ones, but I am also determined to be better at being supportive of those I love who are grieving.  Unfortunately, it is not something that you can learn from reading a handbook, and it is not something you can protect yourself from.

I did not pick up this book to learn about death.  I picked up this book to revisit the work of Judy Blume as an adult, and I had also never read Tiger Eyes.  I recognized the style right away, even though I did not know the story.  Tiger Eyes is about a teenager who loses her father to violence and her struggle to overcome depression, anxiety, and grief afterwards.  She must do this within a family of other people who are also grieving.  She wants and needs her mother, but her mother is lost in despair too.  She is not always her best self and neither are her mom, her aunt, her uncle, but they are also not their worst selves.  They are just hurting people.  

I think young adult books like this, centered heavily on character development, are so helpful and important to our emotional growth.  Young adults do not always feel comfortable asking questions and, if they are like I was, they would not even always know what to ask.  You are learning so much so fast, and what you are learning is not just your school curriculum.  If a young adult will read and wants to read, they can learn without fear of judgement, without having to know what is right and wrong to ask, and you are just led through it without even realizing you are learning.  Learning by experience even if you, personally, are not the one doing the experiencing.  Do not get me wrong, you do not read Tiger Eyes and then become a person who knows what it is like to grieve, but you do develop empathy and concern.  There is a template, if you ever need to see one again or if you needed one to begin with, that shows you that there is still life after the death of a loved one.  Books like this one do not make everything better, but their value is subtle and that value collects in your brain, with all the other information you have gained from life, from other books, from other people.  Thank you, Judy Blume, for tackling the hard stuff, even though it is not easy to face the darkness.

The Letter Q

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves Edited by Sarah Moon
2012
Weight: 1.3 lbs
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

My most exciting discovery from this book was that Bruce Coville self-identified as bisexual and then queer in his essay.  I remember reading his books growing up.  I remember thinking that there was something very wrong with me and being so ashamed.  I remember realizing that I was attracted to women and thinking I might be the only girl to feel that way.  I was so jealous of my brother every step of the way.  Being a boy.  Staying out late.  Dating girls.  All along, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, and transgender people were around me, leading the way, making a path, helping me survive, showing me another way, even when hidden behind the words on the pages of books about alien teachers and dragon hatchers in the books I stole from my brother's shelf.

This book is predominantly gay with a capital G.  A few dashes of lesbian.  And maybe a pinch of gender fluidity.  It, ultimately, aims to reassure kids that life will get better for them and that they are not alone.  What would I say to Little Laura?

Dear Laura,

I am proud of you and impressed with you for coming out when you did.  I know it is not always easy, and it will not always be easy.  But you learned to fake confidence when you were not feeling confident, and I think that likely saves you.  You will have your nose shattered, your car keyed, they will put pictures of dead gay people in your locker, say horrible things about you that you still cannot imagine ever saying about another human being, and ultimately they will make your car inoperable.  They will also call you ridiculous names that will make you laugh because they just show you how little they know about sex, pleasure, love, and happiness.  "Leg Licker" will stand out as a particularly ridiculous insult in a stream of insults..  Do not let these things break you.  You will want to let them break you.  You will meet plenty of girls and women that are interested in you.  You will inspire people even when you think no one is paying attention.

People are not at all wrong when they tell you that you will love college.  I know you struggle to believe that because you feel so alone and fit in nowhere, but it is true.  In college, all the things the middle schoolers and high schoolers hated about you will make people respect you and reach out to you.  Some people will want your advice.  You will actually, and I know this is hard to believe, be grateful for all that you went through, at least in some ways, because, while a lot of people are discovering who they are in college and going totally wild, you will feel safe in the security and knowledge that you already know who you are.

The person I most want to speak to is you in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.  Your mom's friend will tell you that those will be the best years of your life some day and that you will miss them.  You struggle to believe that is true.  Your mom will tell you that she wishes she could tell you that people grow up and are more mature, but it is not true.  The difference, is that you grow up and are more mature.  More able to find your own people and set your own boundaries.  Your mom's friend is 100% wrong (making you 100% right--you are stuck in the worst time of your life), but your mom was right. 

Don't get me wrong, you still have a lot of terrible things to face.  I will warn you now never to drink in that dive bar by the school, or at least to get the fuck out when some random guy you do not know gives you the creeps.  Up until then, there is not much you regret but, if you do not get out of there, you will regret so much for so many years.  Everything else will make you who you are and make you stronger. 

You will never again feel that soul crushing loneliness.  You will never again think that you are so uniquely malformed and maladjusted that you do not deserve to live.  You need to live and you need to meet the woman you will give all of yourself to.  She will not be the woman of your dreams.  It turns out your dreams were extremely limiting and were holding you back.  She is far more amazing than anyone you could have ever thought up, and you spend plenty of wasted time trying to find that imaginary person until the beautiful year you spend finding her.  The good news is that all that trying is what prepares you to be the person she needs when you find her.

Anyway, I do not know what to tell you and what not to tell you that will pull you through those hard years.  I think the most important things are as follows:

1.  One day you will not only be okay with being a lesbian, you will be GRATEFUL for it.  You will not want to change it even if you could!  This part of yourself has sparked in you so much more.  You are caring, empathetic, active, passionate, loving, fighting, worthy, open, interested, intrigued, turned on, compassionate, ever-evolving.

2.  Do not start smoking.  Your mom is so right.  Once you start it IS next to impossible to stop.  And right now, you think you do not have much to live for, but one day you will have so much to live for that, instead of dancing with death, you will start to fear it.  Having been a smoker will not make this any easier.

3.  Get the fuck out of that bar when it starts to feel wrong.  You will be in your senior year of college.

4.  You will one day realize you were and are incredibly lucky.  Your parents are amazing (your dad is not what you think he is), you have friends that love you, and your partner is, as previously stated, incredible.  You have a not so small menagerie of dogs that follow you around and get jealous if you give your attention to anyone else.

5.  Stop with the suicidal whatever whatever.  You will one day realize that you are not just the oppressed but the oppressor.  You've had too much privilege to take it all and throw it away without unpacking it, examining it, and dedicating your life to making change.  You do not get to give up.  There is too much to fight for.

6. Masturbation is normal and wonderful.  I know it does not take you long to realize this, but just in case you need some help.

7.  Dana Scully really is that cool.  You will always think so. 

8.  If you can set your life up to where you and your family can hide away for the year 2020 and have enough food, supplies, money, etc.  Please God, do it.

I need you to be strong for me.  Hold tight.  There is so much more in you and in the world than you know.

Take care of you.

Laura

Dear Martin

Dear Martin by Nic Stone
2018
Weight: 6. 4 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in Lending Library

Harriet bought me Dear Martin as a surprise, and I am glad she did.  It is a young adult book about racism, being a teenager, being a black teenager among white teenagers, and police shootings.  It is important that we have books like these for young adults.  Young people are seeing young black men being killed by police in the news.  Black teenagers are in between being kids and adults, but they are so often seen as adults by authority figures and not just adults, but also as a threat just by being in a random place (their home/the sidewalk/the train station/the car/etc) at the wrong time (a time where someone with power is feeling scared or angry). 

Today, I watched "When They See Us."  I think I have written about the Central Park Five here before.  It is a story that never gets less heartbreaking and, honestly, just gets worse the more you know.  The people who made this series did a great job.  For any white people who cannot see black teenagers as children, you should watch this and do not look away.  I do not even have children but, if you do, can we please all just open our hearts to what it would feel like to be the parents of these boys?  For everyone else, the siblings, friends, girlfriends.  Whiteness has been constructed.  There is no going back.  We can only go forward. We do not want to keep ruining lives and embracing an embarrassing and incredibly cruel history or acting like it did not happen.  That helps no one.  We have got to do the hard work.

Giselle's Bucket List

Giselle's Bucket List by Lauren Fern Watt
2017
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal: Lending library at a shelter

This ended up being my beach read in Sanibel because I had absolutely no time for reading, and this is something you can fall in and out of easily.  It reads quickly and is full of pictures of an incredible and sweet mastiff, Gizelle.  The author is a young, confused woman who is trying to figure out her place and meaning in the world--I can still relate to that, and I am just under ten years older than her!

 I am only slightly kidding.  I remember being 25 years old and being desperate for meaning and answers.  It was very frightening and it all felt so urgent.  I only made it through because of my dogs (and ultimately meeting my wife).  It is a scary age to own a pet because a lot of 25 year olds cannot afford the medical bills or know what it takes to truly commit to a dog for life, but I believe it is a time when many people would benefit from having a pet.  Lauren clearly did.

I, of course, cried when Lauren had to say goodbye to Gizelle and could absolutely empathize with her.  My heart broke.  6 years is definitely not long enough.  I am glad Gizelle had Lauren and her family and friends though.

I don't know that this book had a real trajectory.  The author tried to use the bucket list as the glue that bound it all together, but the bucket list did not really seem to be the big, powerful thing.  It seemed like she tried to fit the list into the book instead of the list driving the book.  I think, like in life, she was confused about what to do with herself, her feelings, and her grief and so she wrote a book.  I think she did a good job for where she is at in life, though it did not speak to me as much as it might have when I was younger.  I can still remember and relate. 

I also appreciated her sharing the difficulties she faces loving an addict/her mom.  That was heavy and sad and something else the author was trying to make sense of.  Her honesty in and of itself was helpful, and you could see the love shine through the sadness and frustration in her acknowledgements at the end of the book.  This book is not going to teach most people anything, including the author, but it is a sweet love letter to the dog Lauren adored so deeply and a good peek into what it feels like to be twenty something and not know what you are doing with your life, relationships, and career.

Protecting Marie

Protecting Marie by Kevin Henkes
2007
Weight: 6 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library at animal shelter

I do love good young adult books, and anyone who knows me knows that I adore dogs.  This one was okay.  It is about a young girl whose dad gives her a puppy and later he cannot handle the dog, and he gives the puppy away.  Later, he brings her home a well-trained adult dog who she promptly falls in love with but constantly worries about losing. The father is an artist with a complicated and moody personality, and the mother seems like a very caring and patient woman.  The young girl is growing up and confused by the world around her.  She is a sweet kid who is eager to please and to understand.  I appreciated that the book felt honest and that it did not shy away from difficult occurrences that happen in life just because I kid might read it and realize the world is hard and not always fair.  That very important people in our lives can be selfish and disappoint us a lot, but we can still love them.  I do not have to forgive him though.  Her dad is a jerk!  ;)  The most valuable lesson of all, of course, is that adopting older dogs is the way to go.  They are awesome!

Belle Prater's Boy

Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White
1998
Weight: 11.2 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

SPOILER ALERT

This was a surprisingly good young adult novel that was centered on two kids turning into teenagers, Gypsy and Woodrow.  They are both reeling with the loss of a parent.  Gypsy lost her father to suicide and Woodrow's mom disappeared.   Both characters are so earnest and so lovable.  You just want to make everything right for them.  They have such loving personalities despite their struggles and when Woodrow weaves an elaborate tale of magic and two worlds throughout the book you find yourself desperately believing that his mom will come back for him and that she is just stuck somewhere.  It is not until the very end of the book that you too have to feel a disappointment similar to Woodrow's when he admits that his mom left him behind and that she is not coming back.  I wanted to be enraged, but then Gypsy reminds you that, "Aunt Belle had left Woodrow on purpose just like my daddy left me.  Not because they didn't love us.  They did.  But their pain was bigger than their love" (195).  

The Girl in the Well is Me and The Year of the Flood

The Girl In the Well is Me by Karen Rivers
2016
Weight: 8 oz
Method of Disposal: Return it to the city I found it in

I have not written here in a long time.  In fact, I have not written at all.  I am always doing something for PAWS or trying to enjoy every second I get with Harriet.  Sometimes, I am able to see friends in between.  We have started having brunch with one of our dear friends every Sunday morning.  It was after eating in Decatur a couple weeks ago that I stumbled across this advanced reader copy.  I read it all in a night, as is easy to do with young adult novels, but I was not incredibly impressed.  It was hard to keep going instead of breaking it up into smaller reading samples, but I could not help but think it would feel more accurate if I read it all at once.  Like the girl in the well, I would hang in limbo, get tired of it.  That was part of the experience.  I did appreciate how the author slowly unraveled truths about the narrator's family.  I just wish I had felt more for the narrator and believed in her more.  I wish the characters had come to life more.

AND, while I am around so many lending libraries, I will go ahead and pass on The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood.

2010

Weight: 13 oz

If you read my other post about this series, you will know I was not a fan of it either.  I usually love Margaret Atwood, but it was all just taken too far.  I guess I will not be doing anyone any favors at the lending library if you base it off this post, but I think other people of different ages will be able to enjoy either book.  Who am I to decide for others what they will like?

Children's Literature

The Adventures of Captain Underpants (1997)
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz (1976)
Celebrate: A Book of Jewish Holidays by Judith Gross (1992)
Cookie Monster's Book of Cookie Shapes Sesame Street (1979)
Disney's The Lion King by Gina Ingoglia (1994)
The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater (1999)
Horrible Harry and the Holidaze  by Suzy Kline (2003)
How to Eat a Poem: A Smorgasbord of Tasty and Delicious Poems for Young Readers  Edited by The American Poetry and Literacy Project and The Academy of American Poets (2006)
I, Houdini: The Autobiography of a Self-Educated Hamster (1978)
Junior Science Book of Penguins by Patricia Lauber (1963)
Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears by Emily Cravett (2007)
Mr Popper's Penguins (another copy) by Richard and Florence Atwater (1988)
My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki (1993)
The Night Crossing  by Karen Ackerman (1994)
Penguin Pete and Pat by Marcus Pfister (1989)
Smurf Cake by Peyo (1981)
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck  by Beatrix Potter (1987)
Walt Disney's Alphabet A-Z (1983)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (2007)
The Young Folks' Shelf of Books: Sport and Adventure (Book 9, 1938)
Weight: 6 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

I am packing boxes and hauling old furniture out to the curb to be taken home by new people.  I am walking in my front door and feeling overwhelmed by how messy everything looks and how many more boxes I need to get.  I am daunted by the idea of moving everything 30-40 minutes across town and also learning how to do my new job (new title, same place).  To calm myself in between all of these things, I am re-reading all of my young adult and children's literature before putting it in one of the donation boxes.

Today, I learned about various winter holidays, the night crossings some Jewish families took to escape the nazis, and the different breeds of penguins.  I also read about 260 lb pet chickens, the too trusting Jemima Puddle-duck who laid her eggs in a foxes house, and several love poems to literature.  It makes getting rid of books a slow process when you reread them all, but it is so much fun to revisit the stories of my childhood, then my teenhood, then my bookstore days, and then, hell, even a book I read last year and then forgot.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!  Dr. Suess
Year: Unknown
Weight: 1 1b
Method of Disposal: Left at Joe's Coffee Shop in EAV

 

I am a huge fan of Dr. Suess.  I hate to get rid of any of his books, but I have most of them memorized so, at this point in my life, I suppose I should let them go.  This one is amusing because I bought it for a girl I dated in high school.  We were together for maybe a month--if that.  We actually broke up before I could give her the book.  Despite our super brief relationship, we packed in the drama.  Her parents found out and, in fury, called my mother to inform her at 2am one morning.  My mom was pissed!  At them.  She already knew about my sexuality, of course.  Things spiraled out of control from there.  We had a lot of obstacles in our path, and we did not actually care a lot about each other.  I remember telling her that I was not over my ex, Heather, and was unsure is I would be a good girlfriend.  She said she understood and then two days later said to me on the phone, "What would you say if I asked you to marry me?"  I said, "I would say no."
P.S. She was NOT an adult.  She was a child.  As was I. 

Bottled Up

Bottled Up  by Jaye Murray
2004
Weight: 4 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in Decatur, GA

I just read this the other day because I was not feeling well and was laying around.  I wanted something easy and quick to read so I picked a teen lit book.  I thought it was pretty good.  I appreciated many components of it.  It was important to see how many positive influences Pip had to have and how a little luck also went a long way to setting him on the right track.  I appreciated that the adults were portrayed as people who didn't always know what the right thing to say or do was.  It could be an important read for many teenagers, whether they are going through something difficult or not.

It has rave reviews on Amazon and a lot of people praise the authentic teenage voice.  I am not going that far.  Particularly in the beginning, I had trouble believing in Tye-dye loving, drug using Pip.  I felt like the description of marijuana use was WAY over the top.  The portrait painted of the alcoholic father was good, but the portrait of the mother was really lacking.  It was an alright book.  I am afraid I will loss it soon to my declining memory.

Amazing Young Adult Fiction

Holes  Louis Sachar 2000
Maniac Magee  Jerry Spinelli 1990
Weight: 12 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving at Joe's in EAV

Maniac Magee was one of my favorite books growing up, and I do not think it was only because it was also one of my brother's favorites at the time, though that is why I read it to begin with.  It is about a homeless teenager who becomes a legend.  He is amazing and also mysterious.  He has no home, but he has many talents and one of them is finding the good in people and making friends in spite of societal pressures.  This book deals with what family is and how it is not always just the people you are born to, race relations, and what "home" entails.  It has been a very long time since I have read this book so I cannot tell you how well done it is, but I do remember being quite moved as a child.  Maniac Magee was someone you wish you knew, someone you would like to be like, and he is an outlier.

Holes was written almost a decade later and was turned into a movie.  It is about a boy who is forced to dig holes, among other demeaning things, in an all boys detention center.  This is another book that is written about an outcast who is also a hero and someone to look up to, despite his troubled past. 

Have I mentioned that I love Young Adult fiction?  I am happy to think of these books being on summer reading lists and hopeful that they will encourage kids to enjoy reading.

Geography Club

Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
2004
Weight: 6.4 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving at Joe's in EAV

I love young adult fiction, as you may know by now if you have read some of my other posts.  There is something that gets me even more wound up within the genre than your average story.  I get SO EXCITED to see new LGBTQI young adult fiction!  When I worked at the bookstore, I use to LOVE going through and scanning the young adult section to see what should be sent back to the publisher and what should stay.  I would be in a bad mood all week if someone got to it before me.  I liked being in control because I would, shamelessly, leave the gay/lesbian titles on the shelves longer than they were suppose to be and I could see all the new ones that came out.  I was allowed to "check out" the newer titles and would buy the cheap paperbacks.

Today has been a particularly emotional and important day to me and to many of my friends.  It has also been difficult because we know that, while the Supreme Court is finally dealing with same-sex marriage, we will not hear any decisions for some time, and we have no idea what will be decided.  The wait, hearing the anti-gay folks speak out so publically, watching our support groups grow more tight knit---it leaves one with a lot of emotions.  Here's to finding strength in each other!


 

A Little Princess

A Little Princess  by Frances Hodgson Burnett

1989

Weight: 1 lb

Method of Disposal:   Leaving in Downtown Decatur

My rebellion against my assigned gender began when I was very young.  The limitations and the rules about what I could and could not do as a girl where excessively frustrating to me.  I called bullshit, and I was usually right to do so, but there were some times where I might have overcompensated.  I was right in kindergarten to tear off my shirt despite my teachers’ protests and annoyance.  We were changing our shirts, and the line for the girl’s restroom was ridiculous.  The boys were just changing in the classroom and so would I, damn it.  My temper tantrum over wanting to be a boy scout and not a brownie was semi-reasonable, but I probably would have had more fun if I had just rolled with it.  Or if someone had explained to me that Brownies do more than bake desserts.  That was information I needed.  I might have been too busy bitching to hear that explanation from my mom.

It was no different when my parents handed my A Little Princess.  I was aggravated.  I hated princesses.  I hated the girl’s bonnet and fur trimmed coat on the cover.  I hated the doll the girl held in some of the pictures.  Did my parents know me at all?  Turns out, as per usual, they knew (know) me better than I knew (know) myself.  I fell in love with the book.  It was magical.  And the girl was not a feeble-minded, weak, girl-child.  She had some tomboy in her, like myself.

This is the exact copy I was given all those years ago.  It still has an old bookmark, a $3.00 bill I made for my imaginary town, Snow Town, where I lived as a penguin with my wife who was also a penguin.  My name was Tux and hers was Peppy.  Magical.  It will be hard to let this one go.

My Heartbeat

My Heartbeart  by Garret Freymann-Weyr

2002

Weight: 11.2 oz

Method of Disposal: Donating or Giving away

It is probably fairly obvious by now why this book made it to my shelves.  It is 1) a young adult book and 2) a book that deals with queer issues—or at least an affluent, gay, male teenager.  I was impressed that the book made it into the bookstores and that it won several awards, but I felt neither here nor there about it.

A teenage girl loves hanging out with her brother, Link, and his bestfriend, James.  Then, someone at school asserts that her brother is gay and things start to spiral past her understanding.  I do like that this book does not follow typical themes.  The mother is open and knowledgeable.  It is the sibling relationship that falters.  There are not over-exaggerated theatrics or unnecessary acts of violence.  Sexuality is not completely binary and stagnant.  I don’t know.  Let me know if you want to check it out, and it is yours free.  I would love it if you told me what you thought.