Book Review: Ordinary Hazards / Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes begins her memoir like this:

"Cards on the table:
I have a PhD in avoidance,
which kept me running from
the past for years.
I was particularly fond of 
parroting Scarlett O'Hara:
"I'll think about it tomorrow."
But now my need
for light and truth is greater than
my fear of murky memories.
Time to grab my flashlight
and step into the tunnel."

In this memoir in verse, Nikki Grimes tells the story of her growing up with a mother who was an alcoholic and had mental illness. Nikki's mom would stop taking her medications and start drinking then Nikki would find her mother talking to people who were not there. Eventually the mental illness played a part in Grimes entrance into the foster care system. The constant crisis that defined Grimes childhood robbed her of her childhood.

Nikki also had a sprinkling of adults in her life that cared deeply for her. Her father, a musician who was unable to raise her, also fed her books, took her places, introduced her to artists and encouraged her. There was a period of time with one foster family that offered her an oasis of calm and belonging. A teacher nurtured her reading and writing.

Through all of this Nikki Grimes had a love of words and read and wrote constantly.

This memoir in verse was a joy to read, despite the abuse and hardship. This is a story of survival.

My favorite quote:

"Library Card

A magic pass
I used to climb into
other people's skin
any old time
I needed."

You will find this book on SORA through both Nashua South and through Nashua Public Library. I am looking forward to borrowing this from Hoopla through NPL to hear Grimes read her own story.

Book Review: All The Things We Never Knew / Liara Tamani

 

A friend just asked me for a beach read - and this is a story that will fit that request. Today I grabbed All the Things We Never Knew , went onto the back deck, and enjoyed the sun, the gentle breeze (and tried to ignore the pollen - achoo!)

Anyone who knows me - knows that I am not a fan of love stories - at least love stories that aren't deeper than luv. But this story is more. Here you will certainly find love: love for a boyfriend/girlfriend, for a friend, for family. You will visit that love in all of its complications, lies, misconceptions. And you will see truth and the impact of that truth. 

What else does this book offer? Basketball. Lots of basketball - girls teams, boy teams and pickup ball. 

And you will find art. Collage to be specific: Now I want to make a collage. I guess I will put it on my ToDo list for the summer. Check out MyModernMet for some inspiration.

And here you go - I love the beginning of this book:

"Nobody ever warned me about love. Nobody ever warned me that when the greatest thing in the world hist you too hard, too fast, the blast can crush the organs in your belly, send heat flying up the right side of your face, and make your heart forget how to beat normally."

You can find this book on the shelves of the Nashua South Library.

Book Review: Almost American Girl / Robin Ha

Sometimes we fall into reading a book by happenstance. This book is incredibly well rated and on many lists of good books to read. Consequently, I purchased two copies for the library - one in print and a second in SORA. However, when I went to put the print copy in the catalog - I didn't know where it should go so I read it. (Also, Paling's class is doing a memoir assignment which this book is perfect for so I had to hurry up.)

Robin Ha's graphic memoir is a fun read and really connects with both the teen and the immigrant experience. Ha shares her teen years when her mother moved her from Korea to the United States (her mom told her they were going for a visit and they ended up staying.) I loved how the author shared the feeling of not understanding a new language - the speech bubbles were full of squiggly lines for the words that Ha had not understood. Some speech bubbles are all squiggly lines, others have some words in them that she understood but there would be a word that was mystifying to her and she illustrated that word with the squiggly lines. But language was not the only difficulty in the immigrant experience - everything was new - food, clothing, pop culture and of course all of the new people and experiences. I think that we each feel this "newness" of a situation or a place (like going to high school for the first time or enrolling in college) but maybe not as acutely as an immigrant who is immersed in both language and cultures that is very different from what they are accustomed to.

The other part that felt very true to me was that, as a teen, Robin Ha, had very little control of her life. Her mother was making decisions for her that were not necessarily the decisions that she would make for herself. Ha did a really great job of sharing how this impacted her, and at the same time, how she still needed her mom's support both for her physical needs but also for mental support.

Finally, I love all of the Korean culture that this book shares. 

This book is a little gem and a really fast read. 
 

Book Review: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You / Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

"To know the past is to know the present. To know the present is to know yourself." (Ibram X Kendi in the introduction of this book)

Why do we need to know about history? 

Why are social studies classes important?

Why do we pay attention to the social sciences?

I am sure that there are many answers to these questions, but for me I want to know about history so I can do my part in preventing history from repeating itself - at least in the ways that people in power have made choices that harm others. Also history gives us perspective on how we have arrived in today's world. And our social sciences lend a pathway into peoples' minds and realities.

Right now we are hearing a lot about racism and antiracism. Again here are some words from Ibram X Kendi, "A racist idea is any idea that suggests something is wrong or right, superior or inferior, better or worse about a racial group. An antiracist idea is any idea that suggests that racial groups are equals." 

In today's world we hear about the school to prison pipeline, we hear about black people being killed or maimed in disproportionate numbers to the percentage of people of color living in our society. We hear about people of color worried about driving-while-black or walking-while-black and parents of black children teaching their youth how to respond to police officers when they are approached. As a white person, this was never a part of the conversation in my home when I was growing up.

What can we do to make our world a better place for everyone to live? How can we make sure that we all feel safe? How can we learn about how we got to where we are today? How can I walk in the world with an antiracist presence?

Stamped is a great place to start. Here Reynolds and Kendi break things down so we understand the history that led to our present. This book is perspective changing, and Reynolds writing style is personable and enjoyable to read (no dry text book here!)

Try it and let us know what you think.

 

Book Review: White Rose by Kip Wilson

 Super Heroes come in all shapes, sizes and eras. In this historical fiction, novel in verse, you will meet Sophie Scholl and her family and friends. These new adults banded together to resist the Nazis in Germany during World War II  - this is the story of White Rose - this is their story.

Sophie and some of her family and friends created  White Rose, a group that resisted the Nazis in Germany during WWII. They used their words to fight, spreading anti-Nazi sentiments and truths through leaflets. Nazi Germany only allowed one story to be told - their propaganda - White Rose worked to make sure there that there was a counter argument to this propaganda.

Why do I recommend this book?

First -  It begs the question - What would you do? What would you be willing to sacrifice if you saw the world around you turning into a place that you don't agree with - where people are getting killed, where people are judged by their religion and their heritage rather than their humanity. 

Second - It offers an in between perspective - where two opposite things are true and there isn't a satisfactory resolution. Sophie's boy friend is fighting in the German Army and she fears that he will be harmed. AND Sophie doesn't want the Nazis to win because of their atrocities. - This provides such conflict. 

The story of Sophie and the White Rose does not end well. BUT Germany did lose the war. However, it can be said that we all lost in something precious in WWII.

For more information on Sophie and White Rose check out this website: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sophie-scholl-and-white-rose

This book is owned by our Nashua South library as well as NPL.

Book Review: Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away / Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve

 

Have you ever read a book and loved the story but hated how it was written? This was that book for me.

Ona Judge was a remarkable woman - she was one of the dower slaves of Martha Washington. A dower slave is inherited and is retained by the family of someone who died, in this case, Martha Washington's first husband died without a will and Ona became the property of Martha Washington and her family. This is the story of her slavery, but woven into this story is the changing beliefs concerning slavery in revolutionary America. It seems that Martha Washington felt no qualms about owning slaves, but George Washington was stuck between some discomfort concerning the practice and a need for free labor to keep Mount Vernon running. 

When Ona learned that she was going to be gifted to Eliza Custis, a woman with a nasty temper, Ona decided that she must escape. She fled, likely with the help of people in Philadelphia, and landed in Portsmouth, NH where she lived (in poverty) until her death. 

What did I love about this book - the story. There was so much to learn here. What did I dislike about the story - There was so much conjecture and suppositions between these pages (Ona might have..., George Washington must have... - Meh) that I felt uncomfortable. 

Read more about Ona Judge here at the Mount Vernon website: https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/ona-judge

While you are on the Mount Vernon page - "visit" this historical site. You can check out the different parts of Washington's estate and see how both the Washingtons and their slaves lived. 

I borrowed this book from the Nashua Public Library.

Book Review: Grown / Tiffany D. Jackson

Trigger warnings all over the place - This book is about abuse - specifically the abuse of a 17 year old girl by a 28 year old man. This is an important book to read but makes my skin crawl.

Enchanted Jones is a lot of things. She is a swimmer for her private high school, she takes care of her younger siblings because her parents are over busy. She is a member of Will and Willow (an organization for black kids that centers around leadership, service, and civic duty). But mostly, she just wants to break into the world of singing. And then she connects with Korey Fields, a pop star who takes a special interest in her. But the interest becomes romantic and controlling - can you spell Child Trafficking? 

This book illustrates:
Men who are allowed to behave badly and excused for their behavior
Women who are not believed when they speak out about abuse
Especially black men and women

Also:
Child abuse
Human Trafficking
The sneakiness that child abusers use to groom their victims
What an appropriate relationship looks like - and what it doesn't look like

Want some more information on Human Trafficking? Visit the New Hampshire Task Force on Human Trafficking