Nothing About Everything

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

New York : Kokila, [2019]

323 p. : maps ; 22 cm. 

I know I ordered this book for the strong reviews it received, but what finally made me grab it off the shelf to look at one more time is the captivating cover.  So, yes, covers matter! But there is so much more to this book.  I think it is one of the best YA books I have read in a long time.

So what makes me hold this book such high regard? I think what I love is that it manages to do so many things at once and never condescends.  What is Patron Saints of Nothing about?  So many things: letting a friendship drop, family secrets, political violence, drug trafficking, the immigrant connecting with the home country, American naivete, the complexities of the truth, and growing up. Let me offer an example.

In the middle of the novel, the main character, high school senior Jay confronts his reactionary, violent uncle about the situation in the Philippines. The confrontation between them rings so true.  The uncle who knows so much more about the Philippines than Jay, cuts him down to size as nothing but a spoiled, arrogant American coming back to the country he left as a baby.  Jay knows the moral truth he is committed to, but is no match against the harsh and cynical adult and loses that argument.  I've never read such a well conveyed interchange that captures this dynamic. 

There is so much more.  The novel is a coming of age novel, it's a murder mystery, it's a family conflict drama, it's a bit of a romance - and yet it manages to weave all these strands together without feeling forced.  

I will recommend this book to our students and hope I can find someone who likes it as much as I did.

  

Monstrous Beauty

Mary's Monster by Lita Judge

New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2018.

312 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

I finally got around to reading Frankenstein back in 2011, and - after reading this fine book - I want to read it again! The reason is indicated in this book's full title Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley created Frankenstein. 

Judge's book is an superb retelling of the courage, grit and brilliance of the young Mary Shelly with a focus on the years that lead to her creation of the classic novel, Frankenstein, published in 1818.  The author tells the well-researched story in easy free verse that moves the story along at a breathless clip.  We see Mary Shelly live the shock of her widowed father's remarriage to a very unlikable stepmother, her surprisingly lovely exile from family to an extended family in Scotland, and then her return and scandalous elopement with the already married Percy Bysshe Shelley - a passionate but troubled Romantic Poet.

It is during a Swiss exile with Percy and Byron that she begins writing her masterpiece. The success of this biography is that it is able to create a very clear narrative out of the tumultuous time that Mary Shelly wrote the novel. During the period covered she leaves home, returns, leaves, has two daughters who die and one son who survives, marries, is widowed, and sees her controversial novel become famous.

Additionally, the book is illustrated with evocative (haunting) illustrations of which the cover featured here is one.

I would definitely recommend this book to students.  It humanizes famous authors and makes their painful and passionate lives very real and very compelling.    

Remission

 

A Short History of the Weimar Republic by Colin Storer

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, c2013.

vii, 239 p. : ill., map ; 23 cm.   

I really love history and when I was putting this new book on the shelf the other day, I realized that I really don't know much about the Weimar Republic, that dynamic and short-lived German republic sandwiched between the ruin of one world war brought about by its preceding imperial government and the ruin of the Nazi, fascist dictatorship that marked the death of the Weimar Republic.

It was a striking thirteen years that Weimar survived, and the author is as interested in pointing out its successes and achievements as he is in documenting its eventual failure and collapse.  This was where I learned quite a lot of new information. 

I had always assumed - as many have done - that it was the crushing reparations forced on Germany after WWI that doomed the Weimar Republic to economic chaos and eventual disaster.  It's not that this was not a crucial factor in its demise, but I hadn't realized the successes that the Weimar government (under Chancellor Stresemann) had in negotiating down the burdens of its reparations. However, the fragility fo Weimar's economy and its dependence on the chaotic international economic system made it especially susceptible to the onset of the great depression in 1929.  

Storer also wants to point out that politically, Weimar managed to survive as a democratic state longer than other Central European states. He also notes the many artistic, scientific and cultural achievements of Weimar.  

There is a lot to mull over (and grieve) when reading about Weimar. Like many books of history leading up to the rise of the Nazis, one knows how it ends, but the pain is seeing that it didn't have to go the way it did and could have turned out much differently and much better, of course.

I'll definitely keep this book in mind if a student has an interest in the period.  It's an accessible and short introduction to this critical time in twentieth century Europe.

A Wonder of Wonderland

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

New York : Imprint, 2018.     

370 p. ; 22 cm.

I wish I liked contemporary fantasy/action better because I think then I would have really loved this novel.  It has some of that familiar territory of dual worlds with only certain people (or characters) having the ability to travel between them.  Alice, the main character of A Blade So Black, is one of these people.  She can visit Wonderland where nightmares come from, and there she can battle them and help keep the human world safe.  

Alice is also a young Black woman, a high-schooler who's father has recently died and whose mother worries dreadfully about her well-being in this real world (Atlanta, GA to be specific) that is so dangerous for young Black women. 

Turns out Alice is also a very talented warrior against nightmares and so is part of an elite group of humans known as Dreamwalkers who do battle against the dangers of Wonderland that threaten to overtake the regular world the rest of us live in.

Oh, and the other fun catch to this novel is that it cleverly echoes the Alice in Wonderland story. As you can see there is A LOT going for this book.  Some reviews have noted some hiccups in the pacing (I would agree) and a bit of vagueness in the "world-building" of Wonderland (also agree), but the reviews also note the great character building and dynamic fight scenes that McKinney has created.  Yes, I would agree.  To students who like Neil Gaiman or Cassandra Clare or who just want something exciting and otherworldly I would definitely recommend this book. The fact that the hero is an African American teen young woman who has to deal with parent-rules, school, crushes, and teen life is an added benefit.

Finally, the book does wrap-up (SORT OF) at the end, but then closes with an epilogue teaser that means there will be more novels taking up the adventures of Alice the Dreamwalker.

Who's Messed Up?

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.

372 p. ; 22 cm.      

I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this book when I first started it.  It has that YA "thing" of a main character who is so witty and facile with banter and snark that he makes Holden Caulfield look like Greg Brady after a nap. But the book got some favorable reviews and even won a prize from YALSA - the prestigious Morris Award (2020) for debut YA novel. 

Funny thing about this book, though, is that it has a way of growing on you.  The whole set-up of a Haitian-Canadian teen moving to Austin, TX for his junior year of high school has a lot of potential.  As Canada (the nickname Austonians gift Norris with) adjusts to the hellish heat and big strangeness of Texas, USA he starts to pick up some friends, a job, and even a smart, artsy girlfriend.  The relationships really make this novel work.  And some striking twists and turns in friendship and romance help Norris to see that maybe his condescension says something about his own jerkishness, not just everyone else's.  I also like how issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and racism are woven naturally into the story and handles with a light, but substantive touch. 

I couldn't help but like this book, it's clever, funny, and a bit overdone at times, but ultimately it has a lot of heart.  I'd definitely recommend it to a student.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia 

New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harpercollins Publishers, [2019]

363 p. ; 22 cm.      

To say that Mejia's debut YA novel has gotten good reviews would be an understatement. Booklist gave it a starred review, it snagged an excellent write up on NPR, and other less notable reviews also highly recommended it. 

I think the praise is well deserved for the premise and set-up of the book; the patriarchal world it creates has it's own origin religion story which underlies it's elite family set-up where husbands have two wives: a Primera who is hard-core business, brains, and no-nonsense, and a Segunda who must be gorgeous, entertaining, and ready to bear children.  The elite - a minority in this fictional world - rely on the exploitation of everyone else, an exploitation enforced by police, violence and legal privilege.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Which is exactly what makes it a powerful novel.  I also liked the main characters and the first part of the book's world building.  

My only issues with the book are with the plotting of the resistance and with the rushed descriptions of the rebellion.  I just never believed the main character's acts of joining the rebellion. And the major conflicts of violence seemed a bit rushed and confused to me.  

That being said, it's still an enjoyable read and one that should appeal to a lot of different readers.  It's also got an unexpected lesbian romance simmering away at the center which - though rushed to me - is sweet and unexpected.  

Finally the book is written by a Latinx woman and is touches on issues of xenophobia, border violence, resistance, dangers of patriarchy and economic exploitation - so it is very relevant to the times we are experiencing now in the US. Would I recommend it. You bet.

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.

1st ed.

447 p. ; 22 cm. 

A mother and her two teen daughters relocate to the wrong island to move past the grief of the father's recent death. It's the wrong island because it has a history of being a place where every ten years or so a girl goes missing - and one more has just disappeared before they arrive.  And the pace of these crimes is picking up fast.

This is not a novel about any ordinary human serial killer.  The villain is a supernatural monster whose feasting on its victims is pretty gruesome stuff!  I won't give a ton of spoilers, except to note that the newly arrived family is soon right at the center of the action,  along with two other teen females who live on the island.  Though most on the island have no clue about the monster, it does have allies and enemies among humans - both on the island and back on the mainland.  

A lot of the "fun" of this novel is learning bit by bit what's happening and who's involved - and with the way the plot picks up its pace so that by the end you are turning pages to see just what's going to happen.  Along the way there are deaths, betrayals, love, romance and danger (of course).

For me, I didn't care so much for the supernatural elements of the novel - the natural world is tied up in the paranormal events in which horses, moths, the sea and even the rocks all get involved.  But there is a strong gothic-horror atmospherism to this tale, along with interesting characters, and a strong underlying feminism that keeps it all moving. So if you are into thrilling horror with a strong infusion of action and paranormal energies and monsters then this novel will keep you satisfied right to its last page.      

Heavy Lifting

Stamped from the Beginning: the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

New York : Nation Books, 2017.  

xi, 582 p. ; 24 cm. 

 

Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning is a long read [more than 500 pages], a painful read, a hard read, and yet a necessary and worthwhile read. As a Kirkus review noted, one can dispute that this is the "definitive" history of racist ideas, but the book is an indispensable tool for coming to terms with the anti-Black racism in the US - and is a powerful tool in offering ways to wrestle with it.  

Kendi, positioning himself as an anti-racist, posits that the project of racism in the US advances not only through the efforts of segregationists (who consider Black people as inherently inferior to whites), but also with the help of assimiliationists who consider black people/culture as being pathological (due to racism) and yet capable of eventually achieving the "standards" of  the best of white culture and civilization. For Kendi, anti-racism is the force that can dismantle the damages of segreationism and assimilationism.  It is a powerful idea.

Kendi traces the history of racism and anti-racism in the US through five historic persons - Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Angel Davis.  I found the section on Angela Davis to be the most satisfying in that I think it best illuminates the way that capitalism and racism are inextricably bound up.  Davis is also a great role model for the importance of intersectionality. 

This book took me almost a month to get through, so it might be a struggle for most YA readers.  But I'll definitely get the YA version written with Jason Reynolds for this library and look forward to reading through it.

 

 

What Brown's Gonna Do With You

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

New York : Riverhead Books, 2014.

458 p. ; 21 cm.

When a book wins the National Book Award (2013), that definitely puts in on one's radar - and so I brought home The Good Lord Bird with me during the spring and summer pandemic lock-down.  

This novel is a rollicking, funny, provocative and hard to put down read.  It follows the adventures of Henry, an enslaved 12 year old freed in Kansas by the passionate and violent abolitionist, John Brown.  Mistaking Henry to be Henrietta, a girl, Brown "adopts" him into his band and nicknames her "Little Onion." The novel is told by Henry who - with his maturing over about three years, his change from enslaved to free, and his passing as a girl - allows McBride to explore many angles of John Brown's movement and eventual assault on Harper's Ferry.  McBride is able to present shifting and complex takes on fanaticism, recklessness, posturing, violence, racism, slavery, sexism, opportunism, danger, and sacrifice by giving his smart-alecky, wry and cynical main character center stage.

The cover of the book has a quote from the New York Times referencing Mark Twain, and I definitely felt the sensibilities of Twain's character Huck Finn in McBride's Henry.  

The novel is not without provocation.  Henry - suffering the harsh, spartan life of being with a paramilitary band on the frontier - at times wishes he were back being enslaved.  Fredrick Douglass comes in for some harsh treatment as a "diva" of the antislavery circuit and as an intemperate sexual harasser.  But all in all, the novel is a brilliant run through a historical episode in US history that still reverberates to this day.  I would definitely recommend it to a reader who wants a good literary read that will grab them and not let go.

Two Days by the Sea

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 

Boston : Mariner Books, [2005], c1955.

xii, 209 p. ; 21 cm.     

I decided to read To the Lighthouse during the stay at home time this spring since I haven't read Virginia Woolf in a long time and it seemed like a short read and a chance to catch up on a "classic." 

This is not a novel you read for the narrative.  Most of the book happens on two single days separated by an interval of ten years. Within those ten years Europe is ripped apart by WWI and one of the central characters of part one dies.  However the novel is more interested in the impressions of various characters and the complex inner life of the characters. Instead of narrative being the engine of the novel, the movement of the novel is driven by impressionist and poetic writing.

There is much to admire in Woolf's writing, but I have to say it took me longer to read than I expected.  It's a book one savors for its stylistic accomplishments.  I think reading it during the pandemic, made it harder to truly enjoy the rich artistry of the writing.  With all that said, it's not really a book I would recommend to a student, unless they are really interested in literature as an art form.  In that case, I would recommend it as a significant milestone in English fiction, one that charted new territory for the genre.

Cruel School

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

New York : Doubleday, [2019]  

213 p. ; 22 cm.

 

After reading Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, I knew I wanted to read his latest novel - The Nickel Boys.  Underground Railroad was brutal at times, but the fantastic nature of the novel helped me as a reader keep it's terror at bay - there is no such consolation in Nickel Boys, especially when you realize that the novel is firmly grounded in the real-life horrors that occurred in the Dozier School for Boys in the Florida panhandle. 

Whitehead's novel is set in the mid-60s and involves a stand-up African American high school student - Elwood- who is headed for college near Tallahassee.  But being a young black man in Jim Crow Florida lands Elwood in a reform school for boys that is run with sadistic cruelty, racism and corruption.  There, the idealistic Elwood faces the barbarism of the school and becomes friends with the more savvy Turner who is willing to help them both survive (boys in the school are sometimes killed by the staff both in real-life and in the novel). The novel is a taught and terrifying story of survival in the cruelest of environments. The reader never knows what will happen to the characters right up until the shocking ending. 

As I mentioned in my post about The Underground Railroad, Whitehead is a superb writer and - if you can endure the cruelty of the events - the novel is well worth reading.

An Unnerving Ride

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
New York : Anchor Books,  2018.
1st Anchor Bks. ed.
313 p. ; 21 cm.

This was supposed to be Spring Break week, and instead it has turned into the start of an extended period of school closings and home isolation for weeks (no one knows how many) as the Covid-19 pandemic picks up the pace of its global onslaught here in the US.

I am so glad that one of the novels I brought home with me for the break was Whitehead's The Underground Railroad.  The novel was published to huge acclaim - winning the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and I heard it described as a fantastical tale of historical fiction where the figurative Underground Railroad is turned into an actual subterranean working railroad.  I was a bit skeptical - but - wow! - if you haven't read this novel, it is a must read.

Whitehead has also won one of those MacArthur "genius" grants and all I can say is "Yes!" and admire the foundation for recognizing him way back in 2002 when he had only written two novels. He writing is a thing of wonder.   He manages to do so many things right in such a complicated and yet accessible way.  He can create history that never was in order to make the history that was come alive in eerie and unsettling ways.  He made me mull over the (literally) tortured history of this country and the nature of human cruelty and courage in ways that go right to the heart.

Yes, Whitehead's Underground Railroad has real tunnels, tracks and locomotives - but you never for a moment doubt it.  And his narratives of enslaved life and the escape narrative will have your heart racing as you turn the pages rooting for the heroes of the novel.

It is such a thrill to read a writer's work when they are in their prime and to know that you are reading someone whose works will be read and admired long after you are gone. It is a thrill and an honor.

Can you tell I loved this novel?  Recommend it. Read it.  Sit with it and let it work its magic on you.  You won't be disappointed.

 

Before the Road

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
New York : Warner Books, 2017, [2000]
345 p. ; 21 cm.

I was pretty excited to learn that the creative duo who brought Octavia Butler's Kindred out as a best-selling graphic novel  has published another graphic novel adaptation of a work by Octavia Butler: Parable of the Sower.  But before reading the graphic novel, I wanted to read Butler's original novel.

I'm so pleased that Butler's work is experiencing a renaissance of late. Her work is powerfully imaginative and touches on so many relevant themes: racism, injustice, violence, social upheaval, displacement, and compassion.  Additionally, her stories are exciting and her writing engaging. Parable of the Sower is no exception. Set in California in the future (2025) there is a lot that is familiar - technological achievements, drug addiction, police corruption, gated communities, poverty, climate disruption, corporate greed, crime and violence - but the negatives are ramped-up to the extreme. Civic institutions - police, fire, and civic institutions - have become worthless, corrupt, and sometimes dangerous, while violent individuals and bands of criminals wreak havoc on small communities that seek to protect themselves with walls and guns.  Out of this maelstrom a small band of refugees looks to create a new society, led by the protagonist of the novel, a young 18 year old woman. She is a mystical figure who wants to start a new religion, Earthseed.

Parable of the Sower reminded me a bit of Cormac McCarthy's The Road which was written long after Butler's novel, but shares some of the same disturbing views of the savagery of human nature. 

I'll be interested to see how the the graphic novel version of this is.  Our library has it and it has been getting excellent reviews.   

If I find a student who is interested in afro-futurism or dystopian fiction, this is a book I'll definitely recommend.

Stranded

Damselfly by Chandra Prasad
New York : Scholastic Press, 2018.
259 p. ; 22 cm.

Damselfly isn't a bad book, in fact it makes for a good escapist read, but it's not a very good novel either.  This contemporary shipwreck (airplane crash actually) remake of Lord of the Flies just feels thin to me.  The set-up is a group of about a dozen teens from an elite school plane-wrecked on a remote island in the South Pacific, where a new social order emerges as the weeks pass - an order based on manipulation, violence and emerging racial tensions (Asian Indian Americans vs. white kids).  There's also danger from a mysterious presence on the island that threaten them (we assume it's a person since it writes messages in English). If you are wondering, yes, the reader does eventually find out the identity of this threat.

It think - like many shipwreck / stranded tales - the best features are the struggles to carve out a survival against the cruel indifference of nature.  The strongest parts were when simple things like getting sick or injured are shown to be the dire situation they are when stripped of the bene that civilization offers.

In contrast, I just didn't find the battle for domination to be all that believable or interesting.  It is a short novel, and too much just gets hurried and rushed in order to squeeze in the various little (and big) character conflicts.

The novel ends with the reader wondering what will happen next. In some novels that seems like a cop-out, but for this story I thought it was a fairly satisfying end.

Redeemed

Neanderthal  Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton
Los Angeles : Hyperion, 2018.
410 p. ; 21 cm.

This book came highly recommended to me, so I was looking forward to reading it.  I have to say that my initial reaction was pretty negative.  Ever since Catcher in the Rye, there have been YA authors who have attempted to recreate the sensational and simmering genius of Holden Caulfield in their characters - especially male characters.  I felt that Cliff, Norton's hero/anti-hero of this novel, was just too witty and cynical and sarcastic and world weary, etc.  It just felt overwrought, and with a bit of too much "bro" energy (the kid LOVES Tarantino movies, need I say more?).  But I decided to hang on with the book and it kind of won me over.

First, the plotting is well paced and the characters (though a bit over done) are interesting and fun to watch as the book evolves.  The plotting is also creative (a near death experience with a visit from God changes one character completely, a Sermon Showdown is a major event, and surprise revelations are revealed) and make for a fun read.  Finally, the book - in spite of some serious "dude" energy, has a lot of heart and delves into some serious questions about life and meaning. 

So yes, there is a heavy bit of Neanderthal energy running through this comic drama, but it really does have some surprises and does try to open a door to the universe.  It might just appeal to readers who are put off by more staid fare. 

It's a book I'll definitely mention to students looking for something different and meaningful. It does have a bit of crude language and some light sexual situations which is a consideration of course. 

Schooled

Dear Martin by Nic Stone
New York : Crown, 2017
210 p. ; 22 cm.

Nic Stone has written a really interesting book that picks up on many of the racial issues that are roiling US society today - such as white privilege, racist police violence, profiling, criminal justice, equity, and income inequality. And she manages to do it with a really likable, but complex teen named Justyce who is on scholarship at a prestigious boarding school where the students are predominately white.   

Though being a stand-out student, Justyce - doing nothing wrong - finds himself being roughly arrested (and threatened) by police.  This experience leads him down a path of questioning and introspection (chronicled in his journal/letters to MLK - the dear Martin of the title). 

There is a lot of wrestling with how to fit in, how to advocate for yourself and pride in racial identity, and a nice (and racially complex) love story thrown in for good measure.  The plot takes a dramatic turn and I don't want to spoil that for you, but it is the heart of the novel's conflict. 

This book - like The Hate U Give - is a good book to recommend for students interested in thinking about issues around Black Lives Matter and would be a good discussion starter.  Stone's strength is developing complex characters and she's not bad a spinning out a good plot, too.

I would recommend this novel.
   

Fallout

Chernobyl's Wild Kingdom: Life in the Dead Zone by Rebecca L. Johnson
Minneapolis : Twenty-First Century Books, [2015]
64 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps ; 27 cm.

As most people know, there was a devastating nuclear plant disaster in April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in what was then the Soviet Union (but is now in Ukraine).  There have been some stories over the years about the city Pripyat, which was rapidly evacuated a few days after the disaster and remains abandoned.  But this book looks at the South Carolina sized exclusion zone (which includes the former city of Pripyat), with a focus on the abundance of wildlife in this area where very few humans live.

Remarkably, in spite of some very high levels of radiation in the zone, wildlife is thriving, and what makes this book really engaging is that the author examines two contrary conclusions reached by scientists studying the zone.  One scientist and his colleagues study small mammals like mice and voles and have concluded that the long term exposure to low (but dangerous) levels of radiation have made these animals healthier and more resistant.  Another team of scientists who study barn swallows arrive at the opposite conclusion, noting very high levels of mutations and tumors in their avian subjects.

The book invites readers to consider both possibilities and provides lots of great information and illustrations about the initial disaster and its decades long after effects.  It gets one thinking about unexpected effects of humanity (and the absence of humanity) on the environment.  It had me thinking about the Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge (where the US made nuclear weapons) and the Korean DMZ.  And this book does all this in just sixty-four short pages.  Not bad.

Pushing the Limit

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
New York : Ember, 2019.
513 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

A number of years ago a book club we had at the high school read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. I recall that I really liked Sanderson's writing - even though I'm not a huge fan of high fantasy.  So I was interested when  student recommended Skyward to me.  The student had it on his reading list for student readers working on the Lincoln Award for this year.     

I enjoyed reading this science fiction adventure tale, but didn't love it.  The strengths of Skyward are many, though.  Sanderson is great at plotting, character development, and descriptive action.  The story is also good for having a believable, strong central female character.

The basic plot of the story revolves around Spensa who goes by the name "Spin." She lives on a planet where humans crash-landed a few generations before and where they are under threat from the mysterious space-craft flying Krell.  Humans on this planet depend on skilled fighter pilots to protect them from the alien Krell who frequently launch attacks from space using their sophisticated and deadly spaceships.  The humans have capable space/jet fighters but seem to be losing a war of attrition.  Spin - whose father was a superb pilot until a pivotal battle where was lost and accused of cowardice - wants to be a fighter pilot and redeem her family name.  She enters the prestigious fighter training academy and the story unfolds from there.

There are some surprising plot developments, and the battle sequences are thrilling.  The parts that didn't grab me are the banter between the pilots in training and their crusty trainer, and the revelation that Spin comes from a group of humans that seem to have supernatural powers on which the survival of Defiant may depend.

In spite of my not being wowed by the book, I would still recommend it to science fiction fans.

Still Our America

Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman, with David Isay
New York : Washington Square Press : Pocket Books, c1997.
203 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

This book is one that is being used as a major text in classes at our high school - part of an "Injustice Project" unit. I wanted to read it since I wondered if it might be dated - having been produced from 1993 - 1996 and published in 1997.

In spite of the book being 20+ years old, it was a compelling read.  I really loved that the adult organizing the book, David Isay, wanted it to be the genuine work of young people who lived in the Ida B. Wells housing projects in Chicago.  The book came out of an award winning WBEZ radio program Ghetto Life 101 which featured recordings and interviews made by the two young authors who were 13 and 14 years old when the project began.

I will be curious how students respond to the book.  A lot has changed since the mid 90s: the high rise projects of the book have been torn down, the crack/cocaine violence has been replaced by other inner city violence, the Internet was a baby, and cell phones did not exist.  A lot is still relevant though - extreme poverty and unemployment falling heavily on Black people, gun crime, wealth inequality, etc.  Also the book just pulls you into the world of the the two authors - they are smart, unpretentious, honest, and aware.  Also the book features great photos by John Brooks, another young man living in the Chicago projects at the time.

I am going to keep my eyes out for something similar to this book, but one that is more contemporary - something like Bus 57.  However, if asked for an interesting read about inner city life in the late 20th century, I'll definitely recommend Our America.

Public Transportation

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017
305 p. ; 22 cm.

A friend read this book and told me I should read it.  I'm glad she did.  It's a timely and interesting non-fiction YA book.

The basic "story" of the book involves two teens from different worlds in Oakland, California whose lives intersect on a city bus when one - a genderqueer student who looks like a boy but wears skirts - is set on fire by another student - a lively, friendly African American young man from another school.  The act was a rash "prank" intended more to harass and perhaps humiliate the targeted student, but it ended up seriously injuring the victim, and was treated as a felonious, adult hate crime.

The book delves into the different world of these two young people and manages to convey the terrible nature of the crime and its effects, while also richly fleshing out the perpetrator.

There is a lot to mull over in this book.  The roles that race, gender identity, family, poverty, policing and criminal justice play in our society.

I really like that the book jumps right in with the crime, and then proceeds to introduce us to the main protagonists in this drama.  It also helps us see the ways that criminal justice serves and does not serve both victims and perpetrators.

This would be a great book to use in a class room to open up discussions of racial justice, criminal justice, gender identity, privilege and income inequality.

In addition to being a relevant read, it's also compelling and well written. I would recommend it.