Book Review: Jackpot by Nic Stone

My mother always told me to not judge someone, that we must walk a mile in their shoes to understand what they are going through. And this is a story about that and about how hard that can be.

Rico works in a convenience store - making money to help pay the bills at home - to put food on the table and a roof over her family's heads.

Zan is the school rich boy - the guy with the "perfect life" with a silver spoon in his mouth - nice clothes, huge house, great car. 

(Here you need to imagine the sound car tires make when you hit the brakes suddenly)

But the truth here is that we need to understand each others' stories before we can understand each other. 

Circumstances throw Zan and Rico together after Rico determines that she sold a winning lottery ticket to an old woman who visited the store. The ticket hasn't been cashed in and Rico thinks that the woman's dementia is standing in the way of riches. Rico offers to help trace the old woman. 

As they work to find the woman, Zan and Rico learn more about each other -- slowly. And their preconceived notions begin to fall away. 

Assumptions are a perilous trap and one that we all occasionally fall into. You are young, I am old. What assumptions do you have about me? What assumptions do I have about you? How can we take off those blinders, learn each others' stories, and make our world feel like a safer place to be?

 

Book Review: We Set the Dark on Fire / Tehlor Kay Mejia

Daniela's parents worked hard to give her all of the opportunities that they didn't have. They traversed the boarder between worlds, they bought papers, and they found a pathway to sneak Daniela into the premier school for women, a school that prepares women to be a wife in a country where the elite have two wives, the Primera (a partner in intellect) and a Segura (a lover and mother). Daniela is the first Primera in her class and is paired with Mateo, a husband planning to run for the presidency. Unfortunately, the Segura is a woman who has bullied her throughout school. 

And married life isn't what she had thought it would be. Mateo is a nasty man intent on keeping those who are privileged rich and those without privilege poor.  Children are starving, many people are without healthcare, and things are not all right in the world. Daniela's secret past results in bribery by a band of rebels who are threatening both herself and her family if she doesn't help them. The rebels want a better world - is it more important for Daniela to honor her family's sacrifices and stay safe, or push against the horrors perpetrated by this government?

This is a story that is set in an imaginary world with an imaginary mythology, but the issues are real and there are so many parallels with our lives in today's world. 
 

Book Review: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness / Michelle Alexander

Alexander shares how our black and brown men are being rounded up and placed in prisons for drug offenses that are not violent, often for long prison sentences. These criminal experiences and the resulting disruption in life, along with all that comes with having a criminal record - creates an underclass that not only hurts people of color but society in general.

The author believes that we need to listen to what Martin Luther King, Jr proposed - the end of a civil rights movement and the beginning of a human rights movement. 

Book Review: We'll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss

Imagine living on death row. Imagine knowing what you did to get there was wrong, but not feeling sorry that you did it.

What would it take to be that person? In We'll Fly Away you will meet two teens. Luke, a wrestler, lives in a home where he is essentially the parent of his younger twin brothers. Toby lives with his father and experiences frequent beatings. Both boys dream of moving on to a safe place. This is their story. 

Why read this book? Growing up, my mom often used the words, "You need to walk in his (or her) shoes." Why did she say that? She thought it was important to understand other people's contexts. To try to see the world from their perspective. This book offers a chance to "experience" the life of someone without much - without much money, without much guidance, without much parenting, without much nurturing. Reading stories such as this builds a foundation on which you can understand the people you meet. 

You can find this book on Hoopla in both ebook and audiobook formats.