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May 10, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on I Guess So, For the Moment!

I Guess So, For the Moment!

I was thrilled when my friend Andrea picked Other Words for Home for book club; I already had it checked out, it being a Newbery, and remember how space is at a premium at the moment? I started out reading it the old-fashioned way, but when Britt told me how fabulous the narrator of the audiobook was, I ended up listening to it and then speed reading the text as a bonus.

It was SO GOOD.

Seriously. There are not enough books out there detailing the Middle Eastern-American experience, and this one was beautiful and poignant and thought-provoking and funny and–all the things. Jude’s point of view both taught me and enchanted me. Her positivity and understanding–even for her American cousin that ought to be kinder–make her a lovely role model, and her perspective on her headscarf gave me something new to think about. Readers will cheer for her as she becomes American, even as she remains Syrian and is always and forever herself. We should all read this book. (To that end, I’m not giving my two older girlies a choice in the matter, and I’m expecting both of them to enjoy the experience.)

Don’t miss this one, folks. It’s beautiful and fabulous and important.

May 8, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Evens Now?

Evens Now?

Clearly I’m struggling, but I’m here! It’s Saturday and busy, however, so I’m just going to quickly highlight Norm Feuti’s The King of Kazoo. My older girls gave it 3.5 stars (one of them said it was “so weird”), but my son wanted to give it 7, and he’s probably more the target audience. It’s a wacky graphic novel about a pompous king, his long-suffering magician daughter, and an (apparently) mute inventor; when they go to investigate a mysterious event on a nearby mountain, they encounter all sorts of unexpected things. It’s fun, it’s creative, and the characters develop in satisfying ways. Mid-elementary students (boys AND girls) will love it!

May 6, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on As Promised!

As Promised!

Look at me, doing a review this morning! I’ve got several books waiting (thank you audio!), but if I go with We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence I can pass it on to Britt today, and that works out nicely. The bonus is that I’m not going to bother giving you much by way of plot summary, since the title is pretty self-explanatory. The murder (of a female grad student) took place in 1969; the author (Becky Cooper) attended Harvard in the first decade or two of the 21st century.

Full disclosure here: true crime is not really my thing, although I find the stories interesting. I do, however, quite enjoy police procedural and courtroom dramas, so there’s that. Becky Cooper’s work, however, is not just a record of a crime that took decades to solve (if it is fully solved); it’s an exploration of gender in academia, a fascinating portrait of Harvard, and a rumination on the stories we tell ourselves and why. (It’s also a pondering on the “true” stories that we share, why we share them, and how they change in the sharing.) While reading We Keep the Dead Close, I found myself discussing it with my husband, rethinking my conception of gender in education today, and considering the tenure process with serious concern. Cooper’s generosity with background, context, and subtext brings her work beyond the realm of true crime, and while her choice to include an autobiographical angle might not be for everyone, it worked for me. As for her solution, well–logistically it makes sense, and philosophically I agree with her. (See me dancing around the spoiler there?) What more is there to say?

Ultimately, this is not true crime; this is nonfiction involving a past crime. If the concepts in my review sound interesting, you should definitely read the book; if not, it’s probably not your thing. I, however, found it completely absorbing.

May 5, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on I Knew It Couldn’t Last Forever

I Knew It Couldn’t Last Forever

The library limit went back to 50, folks. I mean, yes, books aren’t sitting in quarantine for three days, but do you know how long it took me to juggle our 6 library cards so that we could pick up all of the holds waiting for us?

It wasn’t pretty.

Anyway. I have book reviews waiting, but my hubby and I have been hanging out and actually watching shows more this week, and so I don’t feel so terrible about that. If I’m feeling it, I’ll try to fit a review in tomorrow; if not, well…there’s always Friday.

May 3, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on What I Attempted Today

What I Attempted Today

1. To work on the binders I need to prepare for the girls in our church youth group. One out of the three pages I tried to print was successful; I moved on.
2. To do something about the light fixture situation in the littles’ room. I enlisted my tall neighbor, but the light fixture has issues; I moved on.
3. To make this lovely Asparagus Leek Chowder. Two bunches of asparagus had gotten slimy and had to be tossed–SO, so sad–and the mushrooms were pretty sketchy, while the leeks hadn’t been pristine when I bought them. I persevered, though, and my aunt came to enjoy it with me. The ingredients could have been finer, but it was a lovely lunch.
4. To do my Costco shopping. We ended up rushed and had to go straight to the school to pick up the middles, and fitting my purchases into the fridge and freezers was terrifying, but I did get it done.
5. To enlist my children and clean up the living room. It wasn’t perfect, but it did look a whole lot better.
6. To exercise. I still have 10 minutes to do.
7. To do the dishes. I managed this partly by assigning my 11YO to bathe my 6YO, since the missionaries were coming at 7.
8. To feed people. I may have been a bit lazy for parts of it, but we all had 3 meals today.
9. To review a book. Yeah, didn’t have that in me.
10. To go to bed AND to sleep earlier than last night. I’ll let you know how that pans out!

May 1, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on May Day

May Day

It IS May Day, although dancing around a May pole (Maypole?) is not so much a thing in Utah. It’s also been a long day, and so I shall defer any interesting remarks to a later date. Goodnight all!

Apr 29, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Blogger Fail

Blogger Fail

Ouch–I missed two posts, and both times I was planning on posting something specific, and–yeah. Things got away from me for a bit, can you tell? I am, however, here now, and I’m thrilled to say that I finished reading Lucky for Good–the third book in Susan Patron’s Hard Pan trilogy–out loud to my second girlie this week. (It’s so satisfying to finish a series, isn’t it? Even one you’ll miss!*) I want to say that it’s more serious than the first two, and yet they both covered serious topics; I think, perhaps, it’s a different kind of serious. Lucky’s family and her understanding of it takes an unexpected direction, while Justine’s religion and how it affects Miles is a topic that few middle grade authors take on in such a way. The most concrete plot thread involves a Health Department regulation’s threat to Brigitte’s cafe, and the solution to that problem is the most carefree aspect of the book.

Ultimately, my girlie and I both so love Patron’s writing style; she’s amusing and thought-provoking, wryly funny and philosophical. If you haven’t joined Lucky on her journey yet, grab The Higher Power of Lucky–and enjoy!

*My girlie and I did sorely miss Matt Phelan’s illustrations in this one, though. Erin McGuire isn’t bad, but it just wasn’t the same.

Apr 23, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Conflicted

Conflicted

Sorry about Wednesday night, folks–I had a meeting that ran after 10 and then my hubby and I were talking and suddenly it was SO late. I suppose it’s just as well, though–reviewing Kiku Hughes’ Displacement is going to take more concentration than I usually have late at night. I was so excited to read it–it was an honor book for the Asian/Pacific American Literature award for youth fiction–but I ended up having more conflicting feelings about it than I expected.

On the one hand, the idea of having a modern teen transported back in time to Tanforan and Topaz is a good one, and there aren’t enough books about the Japanese-American experience during WWII. Hughes choice of “incarceration” camps was new to me, but I ended up liking it; after all, “internment” camps don’t sound like places surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by men with guns, where the rights of other American citizens didn’t apply. (I’m aware that few of the Issei were citizens, but a)the Nisei were and b)most of the Issei would have been if they had been legally permitted to become such.) The focus on teenagers and young single adults, including those who were actively protesting their incarceration, was new for me as well, but interesting.

My problem with Displacement is this. Hughes goes to a lot of trouble to establish the continued relevance of the experiences it portrays, referring to Trump’s immigration policies as well as attitudes towards the anti-war protesters in the 70s, and I don’t actually think she’s wrong. If the message of your book, however, involves painting an accurate picture of history to give present-day readers a stark portrait of what can happen–and that is the sense I got from Hughes, over and over–then you have to give an accurate picture of history. Having a queer heroine from the future is one thing; portraying two Japanese-American young men from the early 1940s dancing together is another. I don’t see that happening openly during WWII; it’s simply not culturally or historically realistic.
Between that and Kiku’s relationship with May, which also crossed the boundaries of realism for the early 40s, Displacement loses its claim to historical accuracy. The rest of it may be quite realistic, but when one aspect of life in the camps is deliberately romanticized (and I use that word purposefully), it stops being a portrayal of history.

I’ve been staring at my screen for a ridiculous amount of time, but that’s the best I can do for a review. I think Hughes tried to tell two stories–two different KINDS of stories–in the same book, and it didn’t work for me. You’ll have to decide for yourself if you think it will work for you.

Apr 19, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Wait–Didn’t I See This Movie?

Wait–Didn’t I See This Movie?

For the first five chapters of Stacy McAnulty’s Millionaires for the Month, I felt like I was reading a new book (which I was, in fact, doing); there was tension between the characters, I was wondering how the initial conflict was going to work out (or escalate), and the eventual plot direction wasn’t yet clear. By the eighth chapter, however, I realized that I was reading a 21st century middle grade buddy version of “Brewster’s Millions.” (Which I googled, by the way. The 1985 film with Richard Pryor, which I saw taped off of TV as a kid, is apparently only one of multiple adaptions of the original novel, which was written in 1902. Who knew?) If you’re not familiar, it involves someone having to spend a large sum of money in a set amount of time in order to win a much larger sum of money; there are rules about assets that can be acquired and ways in which the money can and cannot be spent, the someone isn’t allowed to tell anyone in his life the truth, and it’s a much different experience than the spender(s) initially believed it would be.

Yeah, that pretty much covers it.

On the one hand, I think the intended audience will enjoy the journey, and it might just teach them something about money and the value (or lack of value) thereof in the process. If you have middle graders in your life–especially boys–it’s a great choice. And if you don’t want to read a cranky-ish adult perspective on the book, feel free to stop here.

Still reading? Okay, since I’m wearing my cranky-ish pants, I have to say that it was enough of a remake that it dragged a bit for me; they’re spending the money, they can’t tell anyone, their families are upset, it’s hard and not as fun as they hoped it would be, they’re hurting the people in their lives–blah, blah, blah. (If the plot’s new for you, though, great. I would have enjoyed it much more had that been the case.) My other complaints, however, involve Felix’s sister’s reaction at the wedding (okay, also Benji’s dad’s), and the fact that McAnulty suggests that Benji may have a learning disability (not explicitly, but it’s definitely there) and then NEVER DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Why bring it up if you’re not going to go anywhere with it? If you don’t want to go anywhere with it, why have it there at all? Benji’s life situation doesn’t support the idea of it going undiagnosed and him struggling unseen for years–not convincingly–and so it just feels like a thread introduced and then left hanging. (As for the wedding reactions, really? REALLY?) And lastly? As a parent, so much no. Adults are one thing, but kids placed in such a position while sworn to secrecy is not okay.

Okay, I’ll try and wriggle out of the cranky-ish pants now. Like I said, it ought to be a good read for its intended audience, and if the story hadn’t been familiar to me, I would have enjoyed it more. (Some stories are far more fun to relive than others.) So far, however, The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl is still my favorite McAnulty novel.

Apr 17, 2021 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Things to Do

Things to Do

So–tonight is my three girls’ dance recital, which is pretty much during our regular dinnertime, and I’m posting early so that I won’t forget later; I’m also waiting for a friend of mine to get here to do hair (not my specialty), though, as well as another friend to drop off the daughter of hers that’s coming with us tonight, which means that my powers of concentration are rather divided at the moment. Hence–I’m reviewing a simple book, and it’s going to be a simple review. Needs must.

I finished reading Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion aloud to my kindergartener this past week, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s rather an art mystery, which is more up my alley than STEM solutions, and I got to google architectural styles when we were done (which was totally cool). Get into this series with your elementary-aged kiddos and you won’t regret it–and while we’re on the subject, my 14-year-old has been reading and enjoying them as well!

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