Category: Library

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

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Woodson is a master storyteller – there is absolutely no legitimate argument contrary to that. Her latest novel, RED AT THE BONE, is an incredible story of life in multiple generations. With a deft hand, Woodson creates a tapestry of grandparent-parent-child relationships. These relationships are the focus of the novel but not where all the action resides and in that, Woodson has created something utterly unique. RED AT THE BONE is almost a novel of multiple character studies, reflecting 4 generations of African American life – with tragedy and triumph throughout. While the books ends with a sad tragic twist (one that hopefully won’t be revealed casually in blurbs and reviews), that twist provided the delicate laying-to-rest of this story that I needed. Recommended for YA audiences where frank discussions of sex, LGBTQ issues, and teen pregnancy will be appreciated.

@NetGalley #Reviewathon @JackieWoodson @RiverheadBooks #ModernClassics #NetGalley #TBR

by KATrowbridge

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

If you follow me on other social media (FB or the Twitts), I apologize for inundating you with this information but it is SO awesome I can’t stop sharing!

I JUST learned about this amazing Chrome Extension that tells you if the book you are looking at (on @goodreads or @amazon) is in your local library. Please, share WILDLY. You do not even need to log in, just choose a library system!🤓

https://www.libraryextension.com/

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This is so perfect!  I love reading and books and I have quite a few (much to the chagrin of any moving company I have ever done business with).  But I always try my local library first if I can (Peace and Love Phoenix Public Library!)  And many a time, reading a book at the library will solidify that I need to buy it for someone else or for the school library.

I hope you all will add this extension to your Chrome browser.  For my part, I donated to the developer because when something this good appears, it is worth it to me to show in $ how much I appreciate it.

#librarytwitter

by KATrowbridge

A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel

I read a lot of escapist books. I am definitely after that thousand lives they say readers get to live. More if at all possible. But there are characters who I am glad to not be. And Hannah Gold is one of them. I appreciate that she exists in a kind of abstract way but dang – is there anyway to keep her purely theoretical?

Hannah is the center of our story universe in A Danger to Herself and Others. She is our narrator and our point of view. So we learn, bit by bit, what has come before, what brought her to her small institutional cell, almost as she seems to learn it herself. Which means, that for the course of the book, we readers are living the life of a confused, disturbed, enigmatic teenage girl who is confined in an institution for some unknown but unjust reason. We are surrounded by odd personalities that flit in and out of the story, clearly marred by our character goggles.

The link between this novel and the books I usually pick up to read is the puzzle, the unknowing. I don’t often read thrillers or high drama or romance. I have a sense that I know how the story in these will resolve. I like speculative fiction, magical realism, YA, fantasy and sci-fi because the resolution is not just unknown but not guaranteed. Seriously. Who else had to stop reading after Ned Stark bit it? I had to pause because I was so shocked an author would do such a thing. And then I dived in, ravenous.

That is what ended up happening here. What brought me to this story was the complete uncertainty of what had already happened. Our narrator, who should be our omniscient leader in this, is anything but. Being brought into her world is unsettling and disquieting. This is not exactly the escapism I generally crave. But if YOU do, this is a worthwhile read. The story is well written with believable characters. Even a bit too believable for my taste. While I am usually avoid this genre because of my own bias of perceived predictable endings, I realized as I started to read that with such an unreliable and unfocused and un-remembering narrator, I had no idea where we would end up. But I went along for the dangerous ride because I just had to find out. #netgalley @AlyssaSheinmel #ADangertoHerselfandOthers

by KATrowbridge

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

We can all agree that it is rare for a reboot to rival the original. But in this world, where #MeToo and #WeNeedDiverseBooks live, I have found you a single novel that can be a gateway drug to fine literature, world literature, and women’s literature.

Unmarriageable is indeed “Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan.” But more importantly, it is the version of Pride and Prejudice modern students NEED to read. While a modern Westerner can intellectually understand the dilemma of Elizabeth Bennet in 19th century Regency Britain, the predicament of her and her sisters is somewhat removed emotionally for us. Women’s lives got better. Women became able to inherit and work and even marry for love. Having this tale play out in modern day Pakistan adds a level of reality and urgency to the story that is hard to experience from the original with our perfect historical hindsight.

Simply put, Unmarriageable has legs because so many of the original norms Austen wrote about are still at work in the world today. We read stories about honor killings, forced and arranged marriages, preference of boys to girls, shooting of girls going to school from all over the globe (not just South Asia). And in this novel, we see the seeds of how small micro-aggressions lay the ground work for macro-aggressions against the disenfranchised.

Because Unmarriageable is able to step just a bit beyond Austen’s exposure of the misogyny of the day, I hope and encourage educators to read it and consider adding it into your ELA curriculum. Unmarriageable not only presents the plight of women, especially “older” unmarried women, but also touches upon the struggles of gay men, interracial couples, unwed pregnant women, plus sized women, and class biases. And while the setting is Pakistan, many of these biases hit disturbingly close to the mark in Western society too. This book will also give educators an opportunity to teach about Partition, colonial occupation, India-Pakistan relations, Islam, the importance of education to women. And it may help some students realize how little they know about this important, populous and critical area of the world.

So…

Dear ELA Teachers Everywhere,

Please put down your copy of Pride and Prejudice. Just stick in that drawer next to you. Now open your computer and place an order for a class set of Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal (due out January 2019). Your Jane Austen discussions are about to get wild.

#Unmarriageable #NetGalley @Soniah Kamal

by KATrowbridge

Classic problem – kids won’t read classics

If you are interested in trying to get your kids/students to read the Classics, consider scaffolding the book with something that visually attracts the attention of a kid.  You can get MANY of the Classics in Graphic Novel form.  There has also been the same upswing in remaking books that we see in remaking movies and TV shows and songs.  And biographies of author’s have spawned another entry method for young readers.  Sir Author Conan Doyle is almost as popular a literary detective as Sherlock!  Or consider the recently released, Mary’s Monster.

Screenshot 2018-07-18 13.34.52It is actually a graphic, mostly factual account of how Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein.  It is a short but really visually pleasing read.  It has a creepy feel suitable for upper middle school and above.  Screenshot 2018-07-18 13.34.31And it MADE me want to read the book – something I have never had the desire to do before.  I mentioned this on Twitter and someone tweeted back info about this site Frakenbook (https://www.frankenbook.org/) where the book is available with a huge twist and a definite improvement for the media savvy student who could use the analysis and support of well regarded critics and students alike.Screenshot 2018-07-18 13.33.24

Teachers, this one is for you….  what a great group read option.  And PS – and Frakenbook is FREE to use – no login required.

So, how are you doing with your summer reading and planning?

by KATrowbridge