Book Reviews: I Know What I am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi / Sicilio AND Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

Artemisia Gentileschi was an artist who lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s. 
And these two novels about her life offer some two very possibilities for her mental reality.

If you are going to read both, try the Sicilio book first. This is a graphic novel which is FULL of contextual detail. It shares the contextual and historical background for Artemisia and her art. This isn't an easy book to read in any any. There are a lot of characters in this book to keep track of, a lot of context that sets the stage for what she went through - it is DENSE with historical information. But beyond that - this book is full of betrayal, abuse, rape, dishonesty... AND persistence, feminism, overcoming. I loved this book because it provided the context to better understand the world Artemisia lived in. I loved this book because many of the messages are universal to humankind - bigger than a time and place in the world. 

Once you have finished the  Sicilio book, try the McCullough. After having build the context of Artemisia's life, this different mind-set perspective (offered in a novel in verse) will offer another possibility for Artemisia's viewpoint of her own life, and how she overcame the hurdles she encountered.

In any case, this is a book about art but also about feminism and about #MeToo. Note that there are a lot of triggers in this book: rape, lecherous men, and living with a shaky foundation. 

Enjoy these books, look up the art - check out Artemisia's art as well as that of her contemporaries. Enjoy and learn.

Book Review: Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

 

Mary, an 11-year-old deaf girl, lives on Martha's Vineyard in the early 1800s. Many of the people in this community are deaf and most of the residents sign using Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL). Being deaf in her community of Chilmark is not a disability but rather a difference - like having green eyes, or red hair. One day a scientist, Andrew Noble, comes to the island to study the origin of the deafness among the residents. Strangers are not usually trusted by this community but he has been sponsored by the pastor. Andrew soon starts alienating the island residents by his entitlement and lack of respect. He has been encouraged by other scientists to bring back to live specimen to be studied and he abducts Mary and takes her to Boston. 

This story is written for middle grade students, but don't be surprised if you find yourself being pulled into this story. Mary is young but has such a maturity and is really questioning a lot of what she sees in the people around her, especially in their relationships and prejudices of Native people. 

If you want to learn more about the Deaf in Martha's Vineyard or MVSL and its impact on American sign language, check out this article Reviving Sign Language on Martha's Vineyard from the Martha Vineyard times. 

Also, you can hear Ann Clare LeZotte share a little bit about this book.

I borrowed this book at the Nashua Public Library through Hoopla, but it is also available through Libby and they have a print copy. (I listened to the audio version - I am NOT good at listening to stories, but it certainly made my chores go by faster.)

I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. 

Book Review: Stolen Girl by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

First let me mention that I dislike this cover - it just doesn't seem to represent the book. So ignore it.

When I read Elie Wiesel's book - Night - I was taken back by a Holocaust story that I hadn't heard before. I had read about the Nazi concentration camps and the extermination of Jews, Romani, homosexuals and others. All of that hurts my soul. In Night, I read about the death marches. And was again shocked at the depths that people can stoop to.

Stolen Girl is another book that surprised me. Just when you think that you have heard all of the horrible things that people have done...  but I don't want to say more - no spoilers.

Just let me say - the protagonist in this story, Nadia, has fragments, dreams, and flashbacks about her life during  World War II. This is the story that pieces those together in a way that shares another atrocity coming out of Nazi Germany. 

Read this book. We need to understand history so we don't repeat it.