Book Review: Under the Tulip Tree / Michelle Shocklee

This is a book that the Tusitala Teachers, our teacher book club, read. I think that I have mentioned before that I often go down rabbit holes when I read a story. I listen to the music and taste the food. This story took me down rabbit holes of learning. I spent some time reading slave narratives and then investigated the Contraband camps (which I had never heard of) - more about that shortly.

In this novel, Lorena, who turned 16 on the day that the stock market crashed, ended up with a job through the Federal Writers Project (FWP) interviewing slaves. One slave in particular caught her heart and she made many trips back to Frankie's house listening and recording her past.

I knew about Roosevelt's WPA (Works Progress Administration) through which unemployed people were employed to build parks, schools, roads... I had heard of the Federal Writers Project and the recording of slave narratives, but I had never really looked at them. This story acted as a catalyst to read some of those stories held at the Library of Congress. Check out the Slave Narratives here.

I also love when I learn about a part of history that is totally new to me. I had never heard about the Contraband Camps that were established during the civil war to house slaves who were escaping from servitude to confederate soldier or were swept up by Yankee Soldiers. The slaves were considered property, thus the name Contraband camps. This link from the Tennessee Encyclopedia shares some information about the camps where a part of Frankie's story is set. 

In borrowed this book from the Nashua Public Library through Hoopla.

 

Book Review: Last Pick by Jason Walz

Aliens have invaded the world in this graphic novel and left behind only the old, the young, and the disabled. Occasionally the aliens return to gather those who are no longer young. Sam and Wyatt were left behind - an now, as the aliens return, they need to rely on each other to start a revolution and bring hope to those left behind on Earth.

Consider - What exactly does it mean to be disabled? Don't we all have strengths AND things that challenge us? Why are some people labeled with a "disability" and others are not? Can a human characteristic be disabling in one situation while being enabling in another?

Can we mix together our strengths together to make our world a better place? To create different better solutions to our problems? To enrich our environment?

Check out this graphic novel from our library or from Nashua Public Library. Then try the sequels. You will be glad that you did.

 

Book Review: The Lightning Dreamer / Margarita Engle

Set in Cuba starting in 1827, this a story about Gertrudia Gomez de Avellaneda, a young poet who hid her abolitionist messages in her poetry.

Meet Tula (the childhood name of Gertrudia), her bother, her mother, and the woman who though free still took care of the family

Imagine what it would be like to watch slaves walk by your home.

Imagine being "sold" into an arranged marriage at 14 years of age.

Imagine not being allowed to go to school, to read, to write.

Imagine dreaming of a world where gender and race do not dictate who you may become.

Mix that all into a novel in verse and you have the magic of this book.

"I think of my feather pen
as something magical
that still belongs 
to a wing.

All I need
is paper, ink,
and the courage
to let wild words soar."

 

Book Review: Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America (edited by Ibi Zoboi)

First - let me say that today was an amazing day - April 10, 2021 and it was lovely, sunny, and warm. Lot of dog walks and some time to read - which is a good combination for an anthology. I need some time between each story to absorb its truth.

So about this specific book...

This is an amazing group of authors.
The stories are varied and all are good.
This is a fabulous way to try out the writing of different authors to see who you like.

The best way to share what this book is about it to share Ibi Zoboi's words, "What are the cultural threads that connect Black people all over the world to Africa? How have we tried to maintain certain traditions as part of our identity? And as teenagers, do we even care? These are the questions I had in mind when inviting sixteen other Black authors to write about teens examining, rebelling against, embracing or simply exsisting within their own idea of Blackness."

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. (And it is always nice to have a reading partner.)
 

Book Review: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

 

    Sometimes the reason you choose a book is because of the cover. This is one of those instances for me. When I came across this book, I first noticed the old-fashioned nature of the dress. Then the sickle in her hand and her "don't mess with me" glance over her shoulder. Being a lover of historical fiction, I thought this might be a story of the slave experience. Boy was I wrong - sort of.

    Dread Nation is set in an imaginary America in the years after the Civil War. But in this story, the North and South unite against a new threat - zombies. Okay - stop right there! Zombies? Not my thing. At all. I almost took a hard pass on this book but since I am trying to be open to new genres, I decided to give it a try.

    In this imaginary America, these "undead" rise up from cemeteries and attack the living. They are encroaching the previously safe cities of the East. Jane is a student at a combat school for Negro girls where she learns how to fight the undead and has proven herself to be extremely skilled in combat. Upon completion of her training she will be assigned as an attendant to a high society white woman to protect her from the zombies. However, when the sister of Jane's friend and other families go missing, Jane becomes involved in finding these people which leads her to a fight against not just zombies but some very powerful people. 

    While this is not the story of the actual slave experience, this perspective is very much present. Each chapter begins with excerpts of letters between Jane and her mother - the wife of a plantation master. Through these letters, Jane's background and early years are revealed to the reader. The hierarchy of society in this story falls in line with our country's true history and oppression of Blacks and Native Americans of the Civil War era. Jane is not a slave but she is trained to be a type of servant, against her true desire. Blacks and Native Americans are re-educated in the art of combat against zombies which demonstrates that their lives are considered expendable by the powers that be. 

    Like The Walking Dead? I highly recommend this book. Not a fan of zombies? This book is for you too and I encourage you to give it a chance. The story is full of action and tension, imaginative yet rooted in truth and has a kick-butt main character. This book is available in our library. The Nashua Public Library has this book and it's sequel in all forms - print, ebook and audiobook. 

Book Review: Above All Else / Dana Alison Levy

Tate and Rose have been best friends FOREVER. They have enjoyed climbing and challenging themselves to difficult climbs for nearly as long. And now they are on a trip of a lifetime, a trip to summit Mount Everest in Nepal.

But things don't go as planned, the characters learn about themselves, their worlds get broadened, and they kiss A LOT. 

Why am I blogging about this book? (You all know that romance isn't my gig!) This book made me think about priorities. Dana Alison Levy really jumped into the research about summiting Mount Everest and there is a lot of information here that I had never thought about. For example, many of the people in Nepal are poor. On the other hand, it costs more than $60,000 to summit Mount Everest. Such a contrast. Sherpas moving up and down the mountain and often owning little while catering to men and women who can pay that amount of money to suffer for days to see how they will fair when faced with such acute adversity and huge challenge. And that was just the beginning of the thinking.

If you love the outdoors. If you love to challenge yourself. If you love to read about kissing (skim it if you don't) read this book.

You will find it in print in our library.

 

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.