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Part time writer, full time bad-ass
by booksoverlookedblog

Disability Pride – Mini July Book Recs

July is disability pride month! While I don’t have the time to do a full book recommendation list, here are a couple picture books to check out this month.

Nonfiction

We Want to Go to School! The Fight for Disability Rights by Maryann Cocca-Leffler and Janine Leffler.

In the United States, there was a time when children with disabilities weren’t allowed to go to public school. In 1971, seven families decided to change things. Parents and kids fought for a change, all the way up to the Supreme Court. In the landmark case Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia, millions of kids with disabilities were finally given the right to a free, public education. Mills v. Board of Education also helped pave the way for other disability rights legislation, like the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Fiction

What Happened to You? by James Catchpole. Illustrated by Karen George.

Joe’s having a great time pretending to be a pirate, dodging sharks and crocodiles, when a kid notices: “you only have one leg! What happened to you?” Joe doesn’t want to tell them, even as they hit him with a barrage of wild guesses. When one girl asks Joe instead, “Did I just step on a crocodile?” the questions are forgotten and the game begins! An author’s note discussing talking about disabilities to your child and the importance of empathy.

by booksoverlookedblog

And Now for Something Completely Different…

July is Flash Fiction Month! I haven’t been able to get much writing done this summer, and flash fiction is a great way to get back into it. Flash fiction are stories of 1,000 words or fewer. They’re fun and challenging, and a great way to stretch your writing muscles.

Last year I participated on DeviantArt, but this year the Mighty Hydra has migrated Flash Fiction Month to WordPress. Check it out here: https://flashficmonth.wordpress.com/

I’ll be migrating my work with the Hydra as well. I don’t post original fiction…well, anywhere, anymore. But for the month of July only, every day there will be a different piece of flash fiction here from yours truly.

And I do mean the month of July only. After FFM is over, I’ll be removing most, if not all, of the short stories, or putting it behind a paywall. This isn’t so I can make money (lol, writers making money), but to protect the work from plagiarism and possible AI training.

I have no idea what I’m going to write for FFM, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Viva!

by booksoverlookedblog

A Birthday Letter

This is not my usual blog fare, but last night I remembered an event in my life that happened 21 years ago today. Today – my 34th birthday.

When I was twelve, I began experiencing intrusive thoughts of self-harm. I didn’t want to die or hurt myself, and I didn’t understand where these thoughts were coming from. I knew more about Catholicism than I did psychology, and I was afraid that I was possessed by the devil. I finally got so scared, I confessed all this to my mom the night of my 13th birthday. I wasn’t sure how to break the news to her, so I told her that I wasn’t sure if I would make it to 14.

Soon I was meeting with a child psychologist, and the thoughts went away. I got help, and I got better.

I’d nearly forgotten about that, but I wanted to let the thirteen-year-old version of me know:

You’re going to see 14. And 24. And 34. And you’re going to be so damn happy. Happier than you ever thought you would be. You will see and do things you never thought you’d be able to. So ask for help, and keep holding on. You’ll get there, I promise.

Love,
Kaye

p.s. You’re not possessed, you have untreated anxiety.

by booksoverlookedblog

Reason for Ban:

I like to joke that “I write gooder than I talk.” I’m very passionate about a lot of things, and when I’m talking about them, it can lead to some wild ranting. Anyone who’s been around me after a beer or two can confirm. Writing forces me to slow down, take a step back, and organize my thoughts.

This month, I wanted to write something about the alarming frequency of challenging and banning books. June is Pride, and some of the most frequently challenged or banned books in the past several years have been challenged for LGBTQIA+ content. It’s infuriating.

It’s so infuriating that every time I try to organize my thoughts around it, I see red and it all devolves into a rant that’s better suited to a soapbox than a blog post.

But I don’t think I can put it more succinctly than one of the kids at my teen advisory board did last night:

Me: A lot of books are being challenged or banned for having queer or DEI content.
Teen: What’s DEI?
Me: Diversity, equity, and inclusion. In book challenges, it’s usually related to race.
Teen: That’s stupid.

This is obviously something I care a lot about. I’m aiming to write something more in-depth for October, since Banned Books Week is October 1-7. Until then, I wanted to share a poem I wrote in April 2020 on this topic.

Reason for Ban:
by Kaye Norton

Banned for profanity
Our kids don’t use language like that.
They’ve never heard those words on TV.
We don’t use them at home.
Of course they don’t say them when we’re not around.

Banned for alcohol use
Our kids have never seen us with a glass of wine
or stolen sips from our beers.
They’ve never drank from red plastic cups at parties
or even wondered about the taste.

Banned for sexual content
Our kids don’t know what lust is.
Certainly, they’ve never felt it.
Never spun bottles,
laid in the backseat of a car,
or felt the breathless rush of young love.

Banned for bullying
Our kids have never thrown a punch,
or spread vicious rumors,
or spent a day crying in the bathroom,
and faked being sick to stay home
because someone threatened to kill them.

Banned for religious viewpoint
Because we have faith in God
But not our kids.

by booksoverlookedblog

BIDP: Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owns was released in 2018 to great acclaim. Consequently, I’ve heard praise for the novel for a few years now, but never read it. I added it to my ever-growing “To Be Read” list at the recommendation of just…so many people, but there were always different books that intrigued me. Crawdads was one of many books that I’d get around to reading “someday.”

And then: book club. Yes, the same small book club that forced me to read An Ember in the Ashes got back together. And, as you might have guessed, the first book we picked was Where the Crawdads Sing.

I am the type of person who dismisses popular things out of hand. When a lot of people praise something to high heaven, I tend to roll my eyes and stay away. Especially when it sounds like something that Facebook moms with “Live, Laugh, Love” wall art would be enamored by. However, I am trying to be less judgmental and open to new things, so I picked up Crawdads without complaint.

There was one through line I heard through all the praise the book received: that it was beautifully written. However, no one casually talking about the book ever seems to mention the characters or the plot. This worried me a bit. If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you’ll know that what really draws me into a story, more than anything, is the characters. Would this be a beautiful book, but devoid of emotion and characters I would actually care about? There was only one way to find out.

I have to agree with the same thing that everyone says: the prose is beautiful. It’s lush with description and metaphor, and is easily the novel’s strongest point. I wasn’t surprised when a movie based on the book was announced, but I had my doubts about how well it would work. Removing the narration is like removing the heart of the original work. Though I haven’t seen the movie myself, I think the many mixed and critical reviews show the importance of the actual writing in the book. The story suffers without it.

Looking beyond the beautiful prose, the plot can feel thin at times. For example, the book starts with the (probable) murder of Chase Andrews, a character that the protagonist, Kya, has been involved with. The investigation and Kya’s subsequent arrest feels more like a framing device for the story. Near the end of the novel, Kya is arrested and goes to trial after being arrested for Chase’s murder. Until that point, the murder mystery doesn’t feel fully integrating into Kya’s story.

The book uses an omniscient narrator, which I generally don’t like. Omniscient narrators make me feel like I’m looking at a character through a window, and not like I can connect with them or get in their heads. It felt like there was a lot of telling and not enough showing when it came to characters’ emotions.

She’d given love a chance; now she wanted simply to fill the empty spaces. Ease the loneliness while walling off her heart.

Over time, I grew to like it. Even though the narrator knows everything, it doesn’t give the whole story away. While the book opens with the mystery of Chase Andrews’s suspected murder, the reader doesn’t get an actual, final answer to the who-dun-it (if anyone dun it at all) until the final pages.

Considering the premise of the book – an abandoned girl living alone in a marsh for years – I expected this to be a survival narrative. A coming-of-age story in the style Island of the Blue Dolphins or Hatchet, perhaps. Especially after the book points out that it’s easy to find your dinner in a marsh, provided you didn’t mind digging up shellfish or fishing.

Kya observes and studies the marsh and great detail, and she relies on it for her survival, though not in the way I expected. For much of the novel she sells mussels, and uses the money she earns to buy groceries and supplies. She receives secondhand clothes from two characters, Jumpin’ and Mabel, who become parental figures to her. It is a survival story in that it’s about a girl living alone and in poverty, and raising herself to adulthood. While she does ultimately live off the land, it’s not in the direct way that I’d anticipated.

Towards the middle of the book, I realized, with growing horror, that this was a romance novel. Romance isn’t one of my favorite genres, but I usually like it as a B-plot. But this was no B-plot. The bulk of the book focuses on Kya’s romantic relationships with two boys from town, Tate and Chase.

I was a disappointed. I wanted Hatchet, but what I got was a banal love triangle. Kya falls in love with Tate, but he leaves her to go to college, and doesn’t come back into her life for years. Lonely and heartbroken, Kya lets herself fall for Chase.

A lot of the plot was predictable from here on out. Anyone who’s ever watched a romantic comedy could figure out what would happen next.

We know who Chase is from the start of the book. He’s a star quarterback in high school, which in fiction about a weird girl is usually synonymous with “asshole.” He comes from a prominent family in town who look down on people like Kya as “marsh trash.” He’s known to cheat on his partners, and even Kya understands that becoming romantically involved with him could be disastrous.

On the other hand, Tate is a nice, smart boy who loves and respects the marsh. He teaches Kya to read and helps open her to the wider world. Which of these two do you think she’s going to end up with? It’s not hard to figure out.

I really wasn’t that into the romance aspect of the novel until I saw it in a different light. Instead of a generic love story, Kya’s relationships with Tate and Chase could be read as an extended metaphor for humans’ relationships with the marsh. Chase sees the marsh as a thing to be used, either for hunting, fishing, or draining the water for land development. It’s much the same way as he treats Kya. She’s a curiosity, an exotic adventure, someone to bed for the bragging rights of having slept with the feral marsh girl. He uses Kya and discards her when she no longer suits his needs.

Like most people, Chase knew the marsh as a thing to be used, to boat and fish, or drain for farming, so Kya’s knowledge of its critters, currents, and cattails intrigued him. But he scoffed at her soft touch, cruising at slow speeds, drifting silently past deer, whispering at birds’ nests.

Tate loves the marsh for what it is. Where some people only see it as a swampy wasteland, Tate understands its intrinsic beauty. He dedicates his life to studying and protecting the marsh. Similarly, he doesn’t reject Kya out of hand as “marsh trash” as the other townspeople do. He appreciates Kya for who she is, and doesn’t try to tame or change her. He gives her the tools she needs to expand her world, and by doing so, helps protect her and the marsh.

Overall, I liked Where the Crawdads Sing well enough. I’m glad I kept an open mind about it, but it’s not a book I’d re-read. The plot as a bit thin and I didn’t always like the narrative style. Even so, the prose is excellent and the book can be read on a couple different levels. If you’re looking for a well-written, even relaxing book, this is for you. The audiobook also has a wonderful reader, Cassandra Campbell.

But I think I’ll stick with Hatchet and Grandma Gatewood’s Walk for now, thanks.

by booksoverlookedblog

Read with Pride: June Book Recommendations

Before we get into June’s book recommendations, I just want to let everyone know that there won’t be a book list for July, and possibly not one for August. As a children’s librarian, summer is my busiest time of the year. Much as I wanted to create a book recommendation list for every month this year, I’m a little overwhelmed right now and it’s just not in the cards. 

June is my favorite month for many reasons: my birthday, the start of summer, and many good memories I have of school ending. June is also  Pride Month! First established in 1999, Pride Month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots that are often used to mark the beginning of the gay rights movement in the United States. LGBTQIA+ rights have come a long way since then, but it is still an uphill battle, particularly for the trans and nonbinary community. 

I live in Florida, which has passed extreme anti-LGBTQIA+ laws, including the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law (which recently was extended to eighth grade); HB 1521, which regulates bathroom use; and SB 245, which bans gender-affirming care for trans minors and allows the state to remove children from their families if they receive gender-affirming care.  The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQIA+ group in the U.S., has even issued a travel advisory for  individuals traveling to Florida.

I am obviously disgusted and enraged by the bigotry and cruelty present in these new laws, and my heart breaks for the trans and nonbinary community. I often feel frustrated and small, and that there should have been something more I could have done to stop this from happening. 

One way I can fight back is through my job. I’m a public librarian, which means that (for now) I don’t have the same restrictions on talking about gender and orientation as school staff do. At the time of this writing, public libraries also don’t have the same restrictions on what books people can have access to. I take my job very seriously. I feel that I have a responsibility to help fill the gaps that kids and teens no longer have easy access to. 

I do a lot of the ordering for YA books at my library, and I’m really pleased to see that there is a lot more LGBTQIA+ representation than there has been in the past. Certainly much more than when I was a teen, and more positive representation as well! Queer and non-binary characters are no longer relegated to being one-off jokes, side-kicks, or dying gruesomely, but are fully realized characters whose orientation or gender identity does not define them. 

There are still many areas where LGBTQIA+ fiction is lacking. For example, I’ve come across way more books about trans boys than trans girls, and very few books have asexual characters as the lead. Also, the majority of LGBTQIA+ fiction I come across is contemporary romance. I think all of these things will improve with time, but it’s the last one I want to talk about right now. There’s nothing wrong with contemporary romance, of course, though it’s not my favorite thing to read. There still isn’t a large amount LGBTQIA+ representation in genre fiction (though it’s improving!), which is disappointing. Queer and nonbinary individuals should still be able to see themselves in their favorite genres – historical, fantasy, sci-fi…and yes, even contemporary romance, if you insist. 

For the fiction half of this list, I’m focusing on genre fiction. Because you know what’s better than two boys finding true love? Two boys finding true love IN SPACE!

Nonfiction

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson

This Book is Gay has the honor of being one of the most challenged books in the U.S. for two years running, for “LGBTQIA+ content” and “providing sex education.” Dawson’s book seeks to educate both queer and straight teens on same-sex relationships, including the physical aspects of those relationships. But sex is far from the only thing this book covers. It’s got everything from coming out, dating apps, discussions of queer culture, and the downsides of being LGBTQIA+. The breezy, upbeat writing is frequently witty and always informative, and black and white cartoons add humor into even the hardest topics the book covers, like harassment and discrimination. But I honestly can’t describe this book any better than the summary itself: “There’s a long-running joke that, after coming out as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex person, you should receive a membership card and instruction manual. This is that instruction manual. You’re welcome.” 

The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality by Julie Sondra Decker

While there is much better queer representation in the media today, asexuality is an orientation that often gets left out. It’s also frequently misunderstood, or treated as a joke. Because of this, it can be difficult for someone on the asexual spectrum to understand their orientation or have it be taken seriously.  It can be a huge relief to find the right word to describe yourself, and know that you’re not the only one who feels this way. The Invisible Orientation discusses asexuality and other ace-spectrum orientations, while emphasizing fluidity and that asexuality can change over time. It also addresses myths about asexuality, that being asexual is healthy and not the result of a physical or mental illness, and includes a chapter for friends and family of asexual people. I’ve known for awhile now that I’m on the ace spectrum, and while the label doesn’t matter to me much anymore, seeing myself in this book made me feel validated in a way I’d never been. 

Say it with me: we’re here, we’re queer, we don’t wanna touch your rear!

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

You’ve probably heard of Gender Queer before: maybe because it’s a Stonewall Honor Book, or maybe because it’s been the most frequently challenged book in the U.S. for the past two years. Gender Queer is a graphic novel that chronicles Maia Kobabe’s (e/eir/em) journey from childhood to adulthood, as e discovers eirself as nonbinary and asexual. The book starts in Maia’s childhood, and covers eir confusion about eir orientation, gender identity, and dating. Even after Maia discovers that e is gender queer, eir journey continues with coming out to friends and family, changing pronouns, and coming into eir own as a nonbinary person. This is a great choice for older teens and adults who are nonbinary, or seek to understand what it means to be nonbinary. 

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

Richard and Sasha’s paths probably would have never crossed if not for the 57 bus, which runs between Sasha’s middle class home Oakland’s foothills, and Richard’s crime-riddled community in the flatlands. Agender teen Sasha fell asleep on the bus, and woke to find their skirt in flames. The fire was set by Richard, and left Sasha with severe burns. Sasha’s recovery would require a lengthy hospital stay, multiple surgeries, and months of follow-up treatments. Richard was arrested and charged with two felonies and two hate crimes, potentially facing life in prison. The 57 Bus tells both Sasha’s and Richard’s stories: Sasha’s love of language and all things Russian, discovering their gender identity, and life after a devastating attack; Richard as a troubled kid trying to turn his life around, despite many obstacles. The book examines prejudice, discrimination, and even danger faced by  individuals, as well as the injustices of the juvenile justice system. 

Queerstory: An Infographic History of the Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights, published by Tiller Press, with forward by Linda Riley.

Queer history in the United States didn’t begin with Stonewall, and it didn’t end with the legalization of same-sex marriage. You can find a number of books about LGBTQIA+ history – especially if you’re looking for information about Stonewall or the AIDS Crisis – but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. If you’re just looking for a quick overview of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement, a jumping-off point for more in-depth learning, or a very colorful way to learn queer history, then Queerstory will not disappoint. Loaded with illustrations, timelines, brief biographies, and facts, Queerstory presents LGBTQIA+ history in a visually appealing and digestible way. While not as in-depth as other books on queer history, the colorful presentation and infographic format add a splash of fun into what is often a weighty topic.

Fiction

Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Lea wasn’t just Rumi’s sister. Lea was Rumi’s best friend, the other half of her soul. Writing songs with her was one of the greatest joys of Rumi’s life. Lea understood Rumi in a way that no one else did, like how Rumi felt left behind when her friends started dating and she just doesn’t understand why romance has to be such a big deal for everyone but her. When Lea is killed in an accident, Rumi is lost, unsure of what to do with her life without her sister in it. Her distant mother, consumed by grief, sends Rumi from their home in Washington to live with her aunt in Hawaii. Rumi navigates her grief, survivor’s guilt, and deep rage over her sister’s death and mother’s abandonment, while trying to understand her asexuality and complete the last song she and Lea would ever write together. At first, she wants nothing to do with Hawaii or her new neighbors – Kai, the cheerful boy next door, and the curmudgeonly Mr. Watanabe. But maybe, with their help, she can find her way back to the music that she once loved so much. 

Dreadnought by April Daniels

Danny Tozer has known for a long time that she’s a girl, even if she has a boy’s body. She’s afraid to come out as trans, but her secret’s out when the world’s greatest superhero, Dreadnought, falls out of the sky. Dying, Dreadnought transfers his superpowers to Danny, giving her super strength, flight, and the body she always wanted. Transitioning suddenly and gaining superpowers makes life a little complicated: Danny’s vitriolic and verbally abusive father is looking for a way to “cure” her; the Legion Pacifica of superheroes are in disagreement if Danny should be the new Dreadnought; even Danny’s best friend has abandoned her. “Caping” with fellow superhero Calamity helps Danny escape from her civilian troubles. The girls start small, but Danny is determined to track down Utopia, the super villain who killed Dreadnought. Danny doesn’t feel that she deserves the gift that he gave her, and this is how she can repay him. Yet as her journey as a trans girl and a superhero go on, she comes to understand that she deserves Dreadnought’s mantle – and more – as much as he did. 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Melinda Lo

It’s 1954, and seventeen-year-old Lily struggles to find a place where she belongs. While other girls her age are worrying about boys, Lily instead dreams of working at the Jet Propulsion Lab, like her aunt. She and her classmate Kath connect over an ad for a male impersonator at the lesbian bar, The Telegraph Club, and both girls’ lives are forever changed.  Lily gradually realizes she is a lesbian and falls in love with Kath, but following her heart is a huge risk. McCarthyism is in full-swing, and Chinese-Americans like Lily and her family could face deportation if they are accused of being Communist sympathizers. Being a lesbian only adds to the danger.  Lily learns how to switch between ostensibly straight, Chinatown Lily and Telegraph Club Lily. But when the two halves of her life collide, she will have a difficult choice to make that will change everything. 

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

Ambrose Cusk wakes to find himself in space, but he has no memory of a launch. Apparently, he was injured in an accident at launch and has been in a coma for weeks. Even so, Ambrose remembers his mission clearly: he is being sent to Saturn’s moon, Titan, to rescue his sister. He’s also surprised to find that he is not alone on the ship. Spacefarer Kodiak Celius is from Demokratia, the country locked in a cold war with Ambrose’s home country, Federacion. At first Kodiak keeps his distance, but Ambrose gradually draws him out of his chosen seclusion. As their journey progresses, both boys discover that there’s something sinister happening on board. Why can’t they get in touch with mission control? Is the ship’s AI telling them the truth about Ambrose’s sister? These two sworn enemies must work together to discover the deadly secrets being kept hidden from them, at the same time coming to understand each other in the stark isolation of outer space. 

On a personal note, I recommend that you don’t read this on your lunch break at work. Once your break is over you’ll have to go back to work and try to be normal and not act like you’ve just been emotionally destroyed at the hands of a paperback. 

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

In the beginning, Sol and Tierra made the gods: the “powerful but vain” Golds, the “kind but focused” Jades, and the “passionate but selfish” Obsidians. But Sol and Tierra loved humans the most, and the jealous Obsidians turned them into mindless slaves. Sol sacrificed their body to protect humans, leaving the Sun Stones behind. Every ten years, the Sunbearer Trials are held, in which the children of the gods, or semidioses, compete to be chosen as the Sunbearer who will rekindle the Sun Stones. The loser of the trials has the dubious honor of being sacrificed to fuel them for another decade. Teo, the trans son of the goddess of birds, has no interest in the Trials. As a Jade surrounded by more talented Gold peers, he’s certain he’ll never be picked. But he and his best friend, Niya, must both compete against each other in the Trials, alongside Aurelio, Teo’s old friend turned enemy. Then there’s Xio, the thirteen-year-old trans son of the god of bad luck. No matter the outcome, Teo and Niya are determined to protect Xio from being sacrificed. The Hunger Games meets Mexican mythology in a lush, queer positive fantasy.

by booksoverlookedblog

#1000BlackGirlBooks: Hallway Diaries

Now that I’ve finished my exploration into the NYT best seller’s list, I’ll be going back to some of my regular content. I still have posts drafted for #1000BlackGirlBooks and Books I Didn’t Pick, and I have a few other book reviews planned as well.

But for now, let’s pick up where we left off with Hallway Diaries.

Hallway Diaries is composed of three novellas, each of which stars a Black girl in high school. Friendships, romance, and drama are inevitable in these slice-of-life stories. It was published in 2007 by Kimani TRU, and imprint of Harlequin Enterprises. The front page welcomes us:

Dear reader,

What you’re holding is very special. Something fresh, new, and true to your unique experience as a young African-American! We are proud to introduce a new fiction imprint–Kimani TRU. You’ll find Kimani TRU speaks to the triumphs, problems and concerns of today’s black teens with candor, wit, and realism. The stories are told from your perspective and in your voice.

But before we get into each of them, I want to talk about the physical book itself. I know, I know, we’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do.

I want to start with the back of the book, which has summaries for each of the three stories.

How To Be Down by Felicia Pride When Nina Parker decides to straighten her Afro, lose her valley-girl accent and get a total makeover for her new school in the hood, the cutest guy notices—yes! But so does the meanest girl, Vivica, queen bee of her crew, who wants Jeffrey for herself.

Double Act by Debbie Rigaud

In the hood, Mia Chambers is ‘the smart girl,’ but at her prestigious new prep school she hardly stands out. So Mia does what it takes— only to be accused of selling out by her old friends!

The Summer She Learned To Dance by Karen Valentin

At first, Giselle Johnson hates spending the summer with her cousin from the Dominican Republic. But she soon starts loving the island and even learns to dance to her own rhythm. That is, until her cousin attracts Giselle’s high school crush…

These descriptions make these novellas sound like “mean girl” stories, but that’s a big misrepresentation of what they actually are. Take the summary for How to be Down. It sounds like two girls fighting for the affection of a boy. That is part of the story – but not the whole thing. It’s really a story about Nina trying to fit in at a new school, and Vivica’s insecurities about her own racial identity. I can only assume that these descriptions were written to attract readers to buy the book, even if it’s misleading.

Now I want to talk about the cover.

I don’t think that these models are meant to represent any of the characters in the books, but I noticed something: everyone has relatively light skin on the cover, even the Black models. And I think that’s a bit weird, considering the publisher is trying to give Black teens stories that feel authentic and relevant to their lives.

To be honest, this is something I probably wouldn’t have noticed until a couple years ago. Today, I can see that it smacks of colorism.

Colorism is, essentially, a preference for people with lighter-colored skin, even among BIPOC. The term has been made more mainstream in the past couple years, especially following the release of the film In the Heights. The movie was criticized for featuring mainly light-skin Latinx actors, and not being representative of the Afro-Latinx community.

Colorism wasn’t something that was even on my radar for a long time, but once you start noticing it, you can’t stop. You can see it everywhere, from advertisements to entertainment, and, of course, book covers. This is not to say that Hallway Diaries is a bad book. But the cover, like the summaries, is misrepresentative of the book itself. I think both the back and front covers were deliberately misleading to sell more copies. It makes sense from a marketing standpoint, but it does annoy me. For anyone actually looking for mean girl love triangle stories, the reality of this book could be a huge disappointment.

But we’re not here to judge books solely on their covers (and/or marketing strategies), so let’s get into the novellas themselves. I’ll start off with a few more accurate summaries:

How To Be Down by Felicia Pride: Nina has just moved from her mostly-White hometown to Baltimore. She has a frenemy in Vivica, who calls Nina a White girl in a Black girl’s body. Vivica is insecure in her own racial identity, as she is half-Black, and half-Latinx. Tensions between Nina and Vivica explode during a school slam poetry competition.

Double Act by Debbie Rigaud: Mia leaves her old school and beloved Double-Dutch team to transfer to a new, mostly White high school. She struggles to fit in, but when she feels like she finally has a place, her old friends accuse her of forgetting where she comes from.

The Summer She Learned How to Dance by Karen Valentin: Giselle wants to connect with her late mother’s side of the family but isn’t sure how. She finally gets her chance when her cousin, Juanita, comes from the Dominican Republic to visit for the summer. However, Giselle finds Juanita embarrassing and wants nothing to do with her.

As I read these novellas, a common theme emerged: duality. I mentioned this a bit in my post about The Hate U Give, in which the protagonist often feels like she’s living in two different worlds.

In each of these stories, the girls find themselves being pulled in two different directions when life deals them an unexpected hand. All three have happy endings: Nina and Vivica learn to love themselves as they are; Mia manages to play piano in the school play and jump in the final Double-Dutch competition; Giselle embraces her cousin and learns more about herself and her family.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with happy endings like this. These were just light, fun stories and the message works for any teenagers reading them, particularly girls. To thine own self be true, make new friends but keep the old, be open-minded and you’ll be rewarded.

However, race can’t be ignored in these novellas. Boiling them down to a few pithy morals cheapens the meaning of the stories. The girls in these stories go through things most teenagers do: they need to figure out who they are in changing circumstances. This is hard enough, but they also must incorporate their racial identity into this journey of self-discovery.

Which brings me to my next point: the importance of representation.

When I was an teenager asking myself, “who am I?” I never had to worry if I was acting “White enough” or felt like I had to represent my race. Growing up, almost everyone I knew was White, and I never was made to feel like I didn’t belong among my classmates or relatives because of my race. Why would I, when almost all of us were the same race?

While I’ve known for a long time that representation in media was important, I rarely felt the impact when a show or a movie lacked diversity. Sure, I’d get annoyed at the way women were often treated in movies and TV shows, but I didn’t really understand on an emotional level the importance of representation for other minority groups.

Then I started playing a game called 2064: Read Only Memories. It’s a point-and-click cyberpunk adventure game, where you play as a journalist who teams up with the world’s first A.I., Turing. I was pretty excited when I started playing and saw that you could pick your character’s pronouns. Not just she/her, he/him, they/them, but also pronouns like zi/zie, hir, ve/ver, and many others that I had never heard of before. Early on in the game you’re introduced to your sister’s ex, who is another woman. One of my favorite characters in the game was TOMCAT, who goes by they/them. They majority of the characters, from main characters to minor ones, were queer, non-binary, or both. I have no problem with that — I thought it was really cool that there was a game that featured so many characters who ran the gamut of genders and sexualities.

But as I played through the game, I found myself getting weirdly annoyed. I caught myself thinking, “Isn’t there just one cishet character?!”

With a shock, I realized that this must be what queer and non-binary people feel like all the time.

I’ve had other moments like that since, but that was the first, and it was eye-opening. Like with colorism, once you start noticing the importance of representation in media, you can’t un-notice it. I remember working with a group of middle school girls talking about The Force Awakens, excited to finally see a woman as a Jedi. A friend of mine who’s a first generation immigrant who never saw herself represented in media until she heard “Breathe” from In the Heights. Another friend who’s bisexual and was excited to see that Disney’s Loki is, too.

I’m really glad that there is more representation for BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ individuals. I also think that there’s still a great deal of work to do in that regard, especially when it comes to representing people with disabilities, along with religious diversity. However, I’m so excited to see books, TV shows, and movies with a diverse cast of characters. We’ve come a long way – and we’ve got a long way to go still.

Now, I’ve got to be honest about one thing: I didn’t really like Hallway Diaries. Someone my age wasn’t the target audience, but even as a teen, I wouldn’t have had much interest in it. Teen drama just isn’t my thing, even when I was a teenager. However, I hope that this book, and others from Kimani TRU found the right person for them. I hope there are teenage girls out there who read this book, and other books like it, and finally felt seen.

by booksoverlookedblog

Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month – May Book Recs

May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Asia and the Pacific Island are both huge areas, encompassing thousands of languages and cultures. Asia is the most populated continent, with around 50 countries (the number changes, depending on who you ask). I’ve also included a couple books from Hawaiian and Maori culture, as well as a memoir of a Syrian refugee family. This is where the “depends on who you ask” kicks in, since I consider the Middle East to be geographically in Asia, though not everyone does. I can’t cover all the aspects of Asian and Pacific Islander literature, but some key writers and illustrators to check out are Linda Sue Park, Grace Lin, Lauren Yep, Naomi Shihab Nye, Minh Le, Dan Santat, Uma Krishnaswami, Bao Phi, Erin Entrada Kelly, Justina Chen, Witi Ihimera, Kiana Davenport, and Kelly Yang.

Non-fiction 

Welcome to the New World by Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan

This graphic novel tells the true story of a Syrian refugee family coming to the United States. Ibrahim Aldabaan, his wife, Adeebah, and their three children fled from war-torn Syria to Jordan. There, they make the hard decision to start a new life in the United States, even if it means leaving siblings and Ibrahim’s mother behind. The family arrives in the U.S. on November 8, 2016 – the day of Donald Trump’s election. His Muslim ban means that the family may never reunite again. Ibrahim and Adeebah have only four months to become self-sufficient, an already difficult task made even harder by a lack of English and Islamophobia. Meanwhile, their children must contend with learning new social customs, bullies, and not fitting in at their school. 

The Fishermen and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast by Kirk Wallace Johnson

Fishermen in 1970s in Galveston Bay were struggling. Droughts, oil spills, and petrochemical plants legally dumping chemical waste into the water were damaging the fishing industry, but White fishermen pinned the blame on Vietnamese refugees who’d broken into the shrimping industry. Racial tensions in the small town of Seadrift reached a breaking point when a Vietnamese fisherman killed a White man in self-defense. In retaliation, the White fishermen burned Vietnamese boats and homes, eventually calling on the Ku Klux Klan to drive the Vietnamese out of the bay. Colonel Nam, the de facto leader of the Vietnamese community in the bay, urged the Vietnamese community to stand their ground and place their faith in the Constitution, ensuring their freedoms. Amongst all the tension, one woman could see the harm that petrochemical plants were doing to the waters and people she loved, and became an renowned environmental activist, going to great lengths to ensure her demands were heard. This is a non-fiction book that reads like a novel, thoroughly researched and suspenseful that it’s hard to put down.

Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune by Pamela S. Turner

In twelfth-century Japan, Yoshitsune’s father went to war with the Taira, a rival samurai family. His father was defeated and killed, his mother was captured, and his only surviving brother was exiled from Kyoto. Only a baby at the time, Yoshitsune was fortunate to survive, spending his early years in a Buddhist temple. He ran away from the temple to train as a samurai, determined to reclaim his family’s honor and glory. Yoshitsune’s story may have ended centuries ago, but his feats of heroism have rendered him immortal. This is a bloody and action packed biography, as deliciously readable as any novel. Who says history has to be boring?

Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson. Illustrated by Daniel Sousa.

Kapaemahu is a picture book that depicts the Hawaiian mo’olelo – or traditional story – of the ancient healers who came to Waikiki. The four healers were mahu, people who were neither male nor female, but a mixture of both in mind, spirit, and heart. The mahu taught the Hawaiian people healing arts, and the Hawaiians created a monument of four massive stones to honor them. Over time, changes to Hawaii’s cultural and physical landscape, the sacred stones were lost. Though they have been recovered now, their true story still needs to be told. This is a bilingual book, written in both the Hawaiian dialect ‘Olelo Ni’ihau, and English. The illustrations are done in a gorgeous palette that evokes sunset, and hope for the future.

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo

In 1982, the American auto industry was in decline, and anti-Asian sentiment was on the rise. Many American auto workers blamed falling car sales and mass layoffs on imported Japanese cars. In Detroit, the heart of the American auto industry, Chinese-American Vincent Chin was brutally murdered almost a week before his wedding. There was no doubt about who his killers were: Chrysler plant supervisor Ronald Ebens, and his adult stepson Michael Nitz. They plea bargained their charge from second degree murder to manslaughter, and were given a $3,000 fine and three years probation. Incensed at the lenient sentencing, the Asian-American community rallied to seek justice for Vincent Chin and his family. The U.S. had never seen Asian-American activism on this scale before. Hate crimes had not yet been codified into U.S. law, and eventually Ebens and Nitz would be tried again for violating Vincent Chin’s civil rights. United States vs. Ebens would be the first federal civil rights case regarding a crime committed against an Asian American. Exhaustively researched, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry gives an objective view of the events and people involved in this tragedy. It’s both hard to read and impossible to put down. An afterword (written in 2021) discusses the link between COVID-19 and anti-Asian sentiment, a sobering reminder of why Vincent Chin must never be forgotten. 

Fiction

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

Malaysian Melati has a djinn who shows her visions of her mother’s gruesome death on repeat. She has developed complex counting and tapping rituals to appease the djinn and keep her mother safe. She doesn’t know that her djinn is actually obsessive compulsive disorder, which was poorly understood in 1969, when the story takes place. Her life is plagued by anxiety, which has only grown worse following the death of her father the previous year. After a general election, violence breaks out between the Malays and Chinese of Kuala Lumpur. Melati is narrowly saved from certain death by a Chinese woman, Auntie Bee. While violence rages outside, Melati takes shelter with Auntie Bee, Uncle Chong, and their sons, Frankie and Vincent. Melati cannot bear to be separated from her mother, and she enlists Vincent’s help to find her. It will take all of her courage to go out into a city under fire and reunite with the person she’s always tried to protect.

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera

Apirana is chief of his Maori tribe, one of a  long, unbroken chain of male leaders. When his first great-grandchild is a girl, he wants nothing to do with her. Young Kahu wants nothing more than his love and tries to learn all she can about Maori culture, despite his firm rejection of her. The book is narrated by her uncle Rawiri, who deepens his understanding of his Maori identity as he travels in Oceania. When dangerous omens wash ashore, Apirana asks: will the Maori culture live, or die? The answer lies in the girl he’s rejected. Beautifully written, this short novel deftly interweaves traditional Maori religion and the Maori language.

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

When Bengali-Irish teen Nishat tries to come out to her parents as a lesbian, their silence speaks volumes. Her parents think that being a lesbian is a choice, and they ask her to make a different one. But Nishat knows who she is, and her growing crush on her Brazilian-Irish classmate Flavia can’t be ignored. When the school announces a business competition, Nishat starts a henna business, excited to connect with her Bangladeshi culture. In a move that smacks of cultural appropriation, Flavia and her cousin Chyna (who happens to be Nishat’s biggest enemy) start a rival henna business. Angry as she is, Nishat can’t ignore her feelings for Flavia. But with her ultra-supportive sister Priti at her side, Nishat is determined to win this battle. 

Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba. Illustrated by Miho Satake. Translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa 

Fifth-grader Kazu is almost certain he saw a ghost walk out of his house, a girl wearing a white kimono with red baubles in her hair. The next day, he’s shocked to see the ghost in his class, looking alive and well. According to his classmates, Kazu and Akari have been neighbors for years, though Kazu has no memory of her. Stranger still, he learns that his home may have once been the site of the ancient Kimyō Temple. Legends have it that the Kimyō Temple could bring the dead back to life. As he uncovers more about his neighborhood’s history and the temple, he discovers that Akari’s new life is in danger. Featuring a story-within-a-story, Temple Alley Summer is a charming novel about friendship and not-so-scary ghosts.

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Mia’s family left China and came to the United States looking for a better life. What they found was xenophobia and a daily struggle to get by. They think they’ve hit the jackpot when Mia’s parents are hired to work at the Calivista Motel, but the motel’s unscrupulous owner exploits the family. Mia faces troubles at school with bullying and being one of two Asian kids in her class – the other being the Calivista’s owner’s son. She loves to write, but her mom encourages her to focus on math, believing that Mia will never be able to write in English as well as the American kids. While her parents clean the rooms, Mia makes herself the manager of the Calivista Motel, working at the front desk. She befriends the “weeklies” who live at the motel like herself, and helps hide and support other Chinese immigrants alongside her family. Mia dreams of owning a motel, and helping her family claim a piece of the American pie. Mia is a wonderful character, and the novel has an immensely satisfying ending. 

by booksoverlookedblog

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Best Sellers & Diversity

This is the final post in my 52 Books project, and it covers an enormous topic: diversity in youth literature.

This is a hugely important topic to me. I didn’t grow up in an area with a lot of diversity of race, religion, or otherwise. Like many small town kids, my window to the wider world came from media: books, TV, and movies. Growing up, my impressions of people who were different from me came from what I saw and read.

But good representation is even more important if you’re part of a group that isn’t depicted frequently in media, or depicted stereotypically. This is especially true for children and teens. Think back to your childhood heroes for a minute. Who did you admire, and why? As I’ve mentioned before, one of my heroes was astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to command the Space Shuttle. I followed her career with great interest, dreaming of the day I would be the first person on Mars. While I’m not an astronaut, she inspired a lifelong interest in space, aviation, and most importantly to my current career, STEAM education.

All people, but kids especially, need to see themselves in the books they read or shows they watch. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.

Things are changing in the publishing industry. Since 1985, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center has kept track of youth literature by and about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. While we certainly have more BIPOC voices than before, publishing remains White and male dominated. It’s also important to see how many debut writers of color are published each year. Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds may top the charts (and with good reason), but one or two voices can’t speak for an entire group of people.

Another reason this is so important for me is because I’m a public librarian in Florida. Florida is one of the most diverse states in the U.S.A., and I live in one of the most diverse counties within that state. Florida is also banning books and removing them from schools left, right, and center. Legislation like the “Don’t Say Gay” law, bans on teaching critical race theory, and even blocking AP African American Studies in schools have forced teachers and school media specialists to go through their libraries and remove books, or risk losing their jobs. I won’t get into all of this right now – that’s another post entirely. But I will say that anti-LGBTQAI+ and removing discussions of race in the classroom is both infuriating, and a disservice to our kids. Kids have the right to information and books, and to learn about the wider world, and politicians are robbing them of that freedom in a reactionary attempt to appeal to their base.

None of these laws target public libraries yet. I feel that I have a responsibility to the kids and families that I work with to keep our collections diverse and inclusive, so every kid can see themselves as heroes and leaders.

While reading my 52 books, I took note of what racial diversity was present. There are a few ways that I could do this, but I decided to keep track of the main character(s) in each book. They’re who the reader will be spending the most time with, after all. It’s not perfect data, either, but I love a good pie chart. My stats also don’t go into how these characters are depicted. Some books are represented more than once, in the case of multiple lead characters. For example, Ground Zero stars Brandon, who is cued as Latinx, and Reshmina, who is Afghani. For that book, I marked it as both Latinx and Middle-Eastern. Other books that have ensemble casts are marked as “multiracial.” To clarify: I use the term “multiracial” as it refers to race, while “multiethnic” refers to cultural identity. I’ve also included the categories of “animal” and “objects,” since a few books star critters or machines (Dog Man is categorized as “Animal,” btw). Finally, when characters’ races aren’t mentioned, White is the assumed default. Wait, don’t click away! Let me explain:

This is an issue when it comes to reading and writing fiction: if a character’s skin color is not described, most readers picture that character as White. Cover art may support this as well. It’s also really unfair, so for you novelists out there: please describe ALL your characters’ skin tones, not just some of them! The Tumblr Blog Writing With Color is an awesome resource for writing all kinds of skin tones.

Now, let’s get to the data! And if you’re uncomfortable, good. I am too.

I am far from an expert on diversity, equity, and inclusion. I also need to acknowledge that being White, cishet, and middle class, I’m speaking from a point of privilege.

To that end, I’ve started talking to people who aren’t me and have different identities and experiences one simple and important question: “Why does representation in literature matter?” I have already received some very well-thought out and in-depth answers, and I’m looking forward to reading more and sharing responses in a later post.

Until then, there are a plethora of resources online that can help you find multicultural literature, and why #WeNeedDiverseBooks.

by booksoverlookedblog

National Poetry Month: April Book Recs.

Poetry is an art form close to my heart. I discovered poets like Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, and Bruce Lansky in early elementary school, and devoured children’s poetry collections. By the time I was ten, I was writing poetry of my own, my first real foray into creative writing. Poetry allowed me to express so many things that I was too shy to say, and in any way that I wanted to say it. While I don’t write poetry as much as I used to, I still love this artistic form. 

April is National Poetry Month, so the non-fiction books are all about writing. The fiction section – in honor of National Poetry Month – are novels in verse (or mostly in verse). 

Now, the usual disclaimer. I am a youth librarian, which means I’m most familiar with books written for young people. This means you’ll see a lot of YA and juvenile books on these lists. If you’re an adult looking for something good to read, don’t feel bad or embarrassed about reading youth books. Juvenile and YA books deal with themes and ideas that are applicable to all ages, even if the text isn’t as challenging as books written for adults. And there’s no age limit on good stories. 

I also want to remind everyone that not every book will appeal to everyone. You may hate a book that I love, and that’s okay. Not liking a book doesn’t mean that the book is bad, it just means that you don’t like it. I’ll try to appeal to a wide range of interests, but I don’t expect for you to love or even be interested in everything on this list. There’s a reader for every book, and every book has a reader. I’d love to help readers and books find each other! 

Nonfiction

Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway

There are a plethora of books that offer writing advice, but the simply titled Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway is my favorite. Each chapter takes you through a different aspect of fiction writing, be it description, plotting, dialogue, characterization, or setting. Every chapter ends with a few short stories that exemplify that chapter’s subject, along with writing exercises to challenge and inspire you. Burroway’s writing style is engaging and she understands well the angst of writing and the fear of the blank page. This is far and away the most useful book on creative writing I’ve ever used. If you’ve ever wanted to take a creative writing class, but can’t seem to fit it into your schedule or your budget, this book is the next best thing.

Putting the Fact in Fantasy edited by Dan Koboldt
Putting the Science in Fiction edited by Dan Koboldt

Most fantasy and sci-fi writers haven’t actually led a cavalry charge against the wicked king or traveled through a wormhole to a new dimension. We might not even know how to ride a horse, or have an understanding of physics beyond Newton’s laws of motion. This is where the research begins. Putting the Fact in Fantasy and Putting the Science in Fiction are collections of essays written by experts to help you bring more accuracy and realism to fantastical worlds. Fact in Fantasy includes essays about history, language, culture, and other survival and adventuring tips (My favorite is “Historically accurate ways to die”). Among other topics, Science in Fiction discusses technology, medicine, robots, space, and the far future. While you’re not going to be an expert, each essay provides a starting point for research, usually with a list of resources that you can use for further research. All writers make mistakes. The goal isn’t to be perfect. It’s to be a little less wrong.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott shares the painful secret to writing that every writer should know: that there is no secret to writing. There’s no magic spell or secret formula for churning out best seller after best seller. The only thing you can do is to sit down, day after day, and write authentically. With humor and personal anecdotes, Lamott tackles characterization, plot, dialogue, and “shitty first drafts.” She also explains how she deals with her own self-doubt, writer’s block, professional jealousy, and learning discipline – things most writers deal with. While this book is intended for novices, there are many gems even seasoned writers can take away from each fantastic and funny chapter. I often turn to my favorite chapter, “Shitty First Drafts” when I’m frustrated with my work. It always gives me a boost and gets my butt back in the chair, working on that writing habit. 

The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms by Mark Strand

The Making of a Poem is more than an anthology. Each chapter is dedicated to a different poetic form, from ballads and sonnets to haiku and free verse. The chapters begin with an overview of the form, followed by a brief history, such as the sonnet’s Italian roots and its evolution to Shakespeare’s work.  Poems in each chapter feature both “classic” poems, as well as works from contemporary, 20th century poets. Finally, chapters close on an analysis of one of the poems in the chapter, alongside a brief biography of its author. The information and analyses are interesting without being overwhelming, making this great introduction to poetic techniques. 

How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Storytelling from The Moth by Meg Bowles, Catherine Burns, Jenifer Hixson, Sarah Autin Jenness, and Kate Tellers

From astronauts to grandmothers, comedians and that guy sitting next you, everyone has a story. Perhaps no one understands this better than the directors of The Moth, a non-profit ground dedicated to the art of storytelling. You may be familiar with The Moth Radio Hour, in which participants tell true, personal stories of their lives. Some famous Moth storytellers include Neil Gaiman and Elizabeth Gilbert, but people from all walks of life are invited to share their stories on the Moth stage. How to Tell a Story is a guide to help you find stories from your own life, and learn to tell them with aplomb. Those of us who aren’t as keen on public storytelling will still find How to Tell a Story loaded with helpful advice for speaking with confidence, alongside strategies for toasts, eulogies, business presentations and even job interviews. The book is also interspersed with stories from The Moth storytelling programs, including stories from comedian Mike Birbiglia and actor and writer Hasan Minhaj. 

Fiction: 

Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

Jane Arroway’s life was normal: homework, chores, friends, the occasional trip to the beach. But during an otherwise normal day at the beach, Jane is attacked by a shark. Jane survives the attack, but her right arm is amputated just above the elbow. Her story is broadcast on nation-wide news, and Jane knows that she’s going to be “shark girl” forever. Jane doesn’t want to be famous, and she certainly doesn’t want to be told that she’s “so strong” or “inspirational.” What she wants are all the things she’s lost: her artistic talent, cooking for her family, and not being stared at when she goes to the grocery store. Jane grieves for the things she’s lost and all the ways her life has changed. Gradually, Jane adapts to her new life, and starts planning a future that she thought she’d lost. Come for the shark attack, stay for the character growth. 

The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

Alternative Title: Catching, Teller, Crow

Beth Teller is dead, but she’s not going anywhere. Instead, she’s sticking close to her dad, an Australian detective. He’s the only one who can see or hear Beth, or so she thinks. His grief has made him withdraw from the rest of his family, and Beth’s determined to stay at his side. When he’s sent to a remote town to investigate a mysterious fire, Beth tags along, wanting to help her dad solve the case. Their only witness is a girl who goes by Catching…who can see and talk to Beth. Enigmatic Catching speaks in cryptic verse, talking about “Snatchers” and stolen colors. Beth and her father must decode Catching’s story as they investigate, and reveal hidden truths about this quaint Australian town. The novel, starring Aboriginal girls and written by two Aboriginal authors, reflects on grief, friendship, and the effects of colonialism in Australia.

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca

It’s 1983, and Reha wants the same things that all middle-schoolers want: to wear fashionable clothes to birthday parties instead of the dresses her mother makes her, to go to the school dance, to watch MTV and wear lip gloss. What she wants, most of all, is to fit in. But as the only Indian-American in her school, fitting in seems about as out of her grasp as the stars she’s named for. She often feels like she has two lives, and is frustrated by her immigrant parents trying to replace her American values and habits with their Indian ones. When Reha’s mother becomes seriously ill, both of her lives come together to support Reha and her family. The poetry shines with metaphors, and the layered, evolving relationship Reha has with her parents feels authentic and relatable. 

D-39: A Robodog’s Journey by Irene Latham

This isn’t your typical “a girl and her dog” story. The girl lives in a war-torn dystopia, and the dog is a robot. Twelve-year-old Klynt lives with her father on their farm in the midst of a civil war. With schools closed due to the war, Klynt has only her father and six-year-old neighbor Jopa for company. Then D-39 arrives on the farm. D-39 is a robot dog, or “robo” for short, and the only kind of dog left in the Worselands. It’s thought that all real dogs were eradicated after the onset of BrkX plague, carried by dogs, but Klynt knows better. Her mother left years ago to start the K-9 Corridor that helps bring real dogs to safety. Though no one has heard from her mother in years, Klynt believes that she’s still running the K-9 Corridor in the Wilds. Klynt has D-39 for company, bringing her companionship and joy during a time of fear. After the war reaches her home and bombardment destroys the farm, Klynt and Jopa are separated from their families. Klynt, Jopa, and D-39 set out on a treacherous journey to the Wilds to find their families, and a new home. I debated about including this book for this month’s list, as it’s written in prose poetry rather than traditional verse. But it’s a compelling and atmospheric adventure story, with a bit of whimsy, that will keep you turning pages. 

The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep by Allan Wolf

The Donner Party was perhaps the most infamous group of pioneers to travel to California. Snowbound and trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the surviving members of the group resorted to cannibalism to keep themselves alive. While it’s certainly a fascinating – and horrifying – part of their story, it was not the only trouble they faced. The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep gives voice to these misguided pioneers, whose decisions led to disaster. The book is narrated by Hunger, which stalked the Donner’s wagons long before they reached the Sierras. Members of the Donner Party also tell their own stories in evocative verse: Young Patty Reed; George Donner’s wife, Tamzene; the Miwok Guides who tried to lead the Donners through the mountains; even the oxen, pulling their heavy loads. The book is historical fiction, with an incredible amount of research behind each word. The real-life people the book is based on are portrayed with respect and sympathy, and invite us to re-think our judgements of the Donner Party. Author’s notes in the back give select biographies of some of the real-life characters, notes about the decisions and creative liberties he took in writing the book, much more information on the real Donner Party, and resources for those hungry to learn more. Pun intended.