Who Are You?

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

New York, NY : Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2022.

387 p. ; 21 cm.

This will probably be my last posting here. Why? Because in just over a week, I'll be retired from my high school library job! I wanted to end this review blog with a recent book, and one I liked--Game Changer is that book.

The best thing about this book is its appealing set up. Ash, a young white guy who plays high school football makes a hit and - the shock of the hit - propels him into a slightly different universe. Further hits in later games send him into other alternate universes, each one more radically different than the original universe he started out in. In these alternate universes Ash is a somewhat different person with memories that match that new universe (while he retains memories of previous ones too). 

As Ash figures out who he is in these new circumstances (worlds where segregation never ended, where he is gay, where he is rich, etc.) he has to confront how much of him is essentially "him" and how much who he thinks he is, is the result of circumstance. Also given the disturbing nature of these worlds (the racist segregation world persists throughout) Ash also wants to get back to the original universe he came from. He sort of does and let's just say getting there is an adventure.

Shusterman manages to keep the plot believable, especially in how he wraps it up. He also has an ambitious scope for his novel - taking on racism, sexism, poverty, relationship abuse, etc. I think it stretches the novel a little thin at times, but given the wackiness of the plot, the humor and the likeability of the main character - I think it's overall an effective effort. And with a Netflix deal in the works, this one is likely to be in high demand. I would recommend it.

It's Confusing Down There

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

New York, N.Y. : A Library of America Special Publication, [2021] 

 xii, 228 p. ; 22 cm.

When you see that there is a "new" Richard Wright novel out in the world, well of course you have to read it - which is exactly what I did! Apparently this compact novella appeared as a short story, but in its full form was rejected by Wright's publisher. It seems the opening set up of the hero, a Black man named Fred Daniels, being arrested and tortured by police into confessing to a double-murder he's innocent of was just too much.  The scene is still excruciating, but not so shocking in this age of learning about police abuses of power. 

Though this portrayal of racist police violence and terror is horrifying, it serves as the launching off of the main action of the book: Fred Daniels escapes the police and goes to live for a number of days in the sewers beneath the city.  Here he wanders through the maze of the city's underground digging and tunneling into several places where he wrestles with guilt, greed, corruption and disillusion. He is able to peer into a Black church service, view a savings vault, and jewelry storage area. In his isolation and darkness he also begins to become a bit unhinged.

I liked a lot about this book, but I have to say that the movements and the descriptions of the underworld actions of the protagonist are pretty confusing. How he chisels through bricks and squirms into basements is hard to follow. The passage of time is not clear, and extreme changes in the main character make it seem like he is underground for months, when in fact it is only three days. I wish the writing had been a little more exact; I think it would have really added to the power of the book.

These issues aside, the book is also wonderful for including a long essay - "Memories of My Grandmother" - that is an exquisite revelation of Wright's thoughts about his writing, discussing origins, influences, the blues and jazz among other things. It's well worth the read.

I'm glad I read this novella and I will definitely recommend it to any student interested in Richard Wright. 

Misrule of Law

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei [also Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott ; art by Harmony Becker]

Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, [2019]

204 p. : chiefly ill. ; 23 cm.

This graphic novel is a super addition to books on the internment/incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.  As most people know, Pres. Roosevelt (FDR) ordered the seizure and imprisonment of Japanese Americans shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which officially launched the US into the Second World War.  This act was clearly racist, unconstitutional and immoral - though it took about 40 years for the US government to admit it was wrong and pay restitution to survivors.  It took even longer for the Supreme Court to condemn (in 2018) its complicity in this crime (re the Korematsu ruling of 1944).  All this is covered in the book, but the heart of the book is in Takei retelling the story from the viewpoint of a child experiencing his family's ordeal of being arrested, transported and imprisoned in two different internment camps.

The child's viewpoint is in fact Takei's. He was about 5 years old when his family was ordered out of their Los Angeles home and deported by train to Arkansas.  He captures the innocence of a young child taking in much of the experience as a grand adventure though being confused at the crying and hushed whispers of the adults. The book is also strengthened by the life of George Takei who was one of the original stars of Star Trek and who is currently a significant online personality with millions of followers on Facebook and Twitter.   

I learned a lot in this book.  It was especially painful to see how parents tried to figure out what was best to keep their families safe - as when loyalty oaths were offered to the detainees and some out of conscience refused to sign them.  He also gives kudos to both the young Japaneses American men who chose to enlist and fight in the war and to those who refused and were imprisoned at Leavenworth. 

I thought the book was really tight up until the very end. It felt a little jumpy and didactic in the last 20 pages or so as Takei keeps trying to hold up the successes of the US system of government when it finally confronts this injustice.  That being said, it is a powerful and moving book and I would highly recommend it.

     

Particle Detector

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

New York : Anchor Books, a division of Random House LLC, 2014.

588 p. ; 21 cm.     

The thing I loved about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah is the author's ability to subtly recreate in her fiction those nuanced threads of race, identity, class, politics (and longing) that make up the patchwork of cultures in a country.  It makes me think of the way that scientists sometimes identify invisible particles by studying their tracks.  

When her main character, Ifemelu, is in New Haven with her Black Yale professor partner the reader can feel the bubble of intellectual snobbery and conformity that one often encounters around academics. Adiche does this while also describing the overarching issues of racism that define the US.  When her main character is back in Nigeria, Adiche's immerses us in a world of crass materialism, pretension, and the endless/meaningless pursuit of wealth. 

There is so much one could say about this novel.  It touches on issues of race, wealth, internationalism, immigration, romance, family, corruption, and appearance v. reality.  Adiche does all this while also telling a great tale of young love, exile, disillusion, return, and love pursued. It's a long read, but a great tale.  This is a book that I could see recommending to students who know of Adiche through her short book, We Should All Be Feminists. I also would recommend it to students interested in fiction about contemporary African life since much of the novel occurs in Lagos, Nigeria. 

A Friendly Challenge

The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph

Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2020.

xviii, 254 p. ; 22 cm. 

This is a great addition to anti-racist books that have been and are being published in recent years.  It's a book by a Black man (one of those super successful, productive and energetic under 30 types that makes people like me feel like a slow, old turtle. Check out his bio here.) It's a welcome addition because - even though it hits hard at white privilege and white supremacy - it is not a "how to" book or a book meant to drop a heavy guilt trip on white people. Instead, Joseph, invites white readers (like me) in on glimpses into his life and how racism has shaped it, and like a good host at a party introduces you to various anti-racist artists and activists though his interview/conversations with them.  He also knows how to drop in funny asides and nudges to go and learn more about Black history and Black culture.  

He does all this in a mere 254 pages and it's no small accomplishment.  The book even concludes with rich end matter: an "encyclopedia of racism" section, a people and things to know section, a playlist section, endnotes and an index! 

I think it would be a great book for high school readers. It would be a good discussion starter on topics such as systemic racism, Black Lives Matter, microaggressions, affirmative action, etc.  His use of anecdotal stories from his own life makes a lot of the learning feel personal and genuine.  Finally his book is a heartfelt call to white readers to become accomplices in dismantling white racism and white supremacy. 

The only thing I found wanting in this book was a recognition of class oppression and how white folks might want to consider that dismantling white supremacy could go a long way toward more economic justice for everyone.  But beyond that, I think Joseph's book is a must for high school libraries. Can you tell I enjoyed this book? Yes I did.

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.

 

 

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.
   

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.

The Whole Nine Yards

Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett
Chicago, Ill. : Haymarket Books, 2018.
xxxviii, 220 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

Seattle Seahawks defensive star (until 2018), Michael Bennett, has a lot to say about injustices in the United States in this remarkable book from Haymarket Books.

It is a great read, revealing Bennett's passion for social justice - especially around issues of racism and police violence.  But Bennett is not a single issue crusader; he is also a feminist, food justice activist and workers' rights advocate. 

Though called Things that Make White People Uncomfortable, the first half of the book could as easily have been called Things to Make Football Fans Uncomfortable as he exposes the heartless, predatory "business" of college football and the tough exploitation to be found in the actual business of professional football.

Whatever you end up thinking of the positions that Bennett takes on issues, you have to admire him as a man of integrity and heart.  I would definitely recommend his book.

Bloody Chicago

A Few Drops of Red: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 by Claire Hartfield

Boston : Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2018]

198 p. : ill., map ; 27 cm. 

Books like this make me glad (and proud) to be a young adult librarian.  This is great book of history in that it is accessible, compelling, and succinct without simplifying the complicated forces of labor, war, immigration, race and economics that led to murderous attacks on African Americans in Chicago in 1919.      

Hartfield's book takes the reader into the cauldron of race relations and economic warfare that was Chicago at the turn of the century.   The city was the slaughterhouse/meat packing center of the world, a major destination for European immigrants, and was rife with robber baron exploitation (for this book, especially Gustavus Swift).  The owners of the meat industry sought to crush any worker attempts at unionization and used any differences they could to divide workers - skilled vs. unskilled, Polish v. Irish, and of course - white vs. black.  When they needed strikebreakers, they brought in African American workers under guard - a move that further inflamed racial hatreds and tensions especially in the breaking of a strike in 1904.  

With the onset of WWI and labor shortages, the draw for southern African Americans led to mass migrations of African Americans to Chicago.  The jobs were there, but housing was strictly limited to the boundaries of "The Black Belt" and conditions became overcrowded and poorly maintained.  Then when WWI ended, returning white workers were given the industrial jobs and the blacks were fired.
It was a powder keg waiting to explode and the spark came on a hot, hot day in July 1919, at the lakefront when an African American teen was killed by a white man and nothing was done about it. The violence lasted days and only ended with the intervention of national guard troops.
This is definitely a book to recommend for history buffs, and especially local Illinois history buffs.

Metal, Wishes, Romance, and Lots of Blood

Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine
New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2015
321 p. ; 21 cm.

I'd give this book a solid B+.  I found it interesting and very readable but not quite as good as I had hoped.  There is a lot to like about Fine's book.  It's setting in a harsh factory-industrial compound rife with brutal working conditions and ethnic tensions are very relevant to current issues around worker exploitation and racial tensions.  The conservative and sexist mores of the world Sarah Fine creates in Metal and Wishes highlights the dangers that girls and women face in the world.

However, like the Kirkus Review writer, I found that the telling of the story was a bit uneven.  The romance between the protagonist Wen and the minority worker Melik is rooted mainly in physical attraction - both characters are clearly striking looking people.  Also the as one review pointed out, the world outside the factory setting is left mostly undeveloped.  Finally some of the gruesome action (people getting shredded by little mechanical security devices) seemed a bit gratuitous.

But given those shortcomings, Fine's dystopian novel is still a pretty engaging read and one that I think some students would enjoy.  With its romance and exoticism and its plot of rebellion and violence it is likely to appeal to both young women and men.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
New York : New Press, 2010.
xi, 290 p. ; 24 cm.

This is a book I've been wanting to read since it first came out in 2010.  It received a lot of praise, and time has proven that the praise was not misplaced.

In the last couple of years - especially following the killings of Treyvon Martin and Michael Brown and the subsequent emergence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement - the national debate on the injustices of law enforcement and the criminal justice system toward black people in the US has taken on a vibrant and expansive life.  Reading The New Jim Crow during the summer of 2016, I couldn't help but wonder how amazed Michelle Alexander must feel about events that have occurred in the ten years since she published the book.

Her book is a thorough, well researched, and toughly argued case against the US criminal justice system - especially the mass incarceration of African Americans since the ramping up of the War on Drugs.

What makes her book especially powerful - in addition to its research data and passion for justice - is that it shows how the new mass incarceration of black people is simply a continuation of the historic pattern of racism in the US adapting to new social changes and traditions in order to reestablish the oppression of African Americans: first slavery, then after the Civil War and reconstruction comes Jim Crow, and after the Civil Rights movement and legal gains, comes the War on Drugs and the lopsided application of it against people of color.

It's a powerful book and still very timely.  I'd recommend it to any student wanting to research or understand mass incarceration and institutional race

Predators and Prey

Knockout Games by G. Neri
Minneapolis, MN : Carolrhoda Lab, [2014]
293 p. ; 20 cm.

In spite of the generally positive reviews for this book, I've got to give this novel a mixed review. I appreciate what G. Neri is trying to do - get inside the minds and hearts of kids involved in "knockout games" - the brutal crime of attacking a random stranger with the idea of knocking them out with one vicious blow. He tries this through the main character, Erica, who has landed in a rough area St. Louis after her parents split up.  She has a talent for video editing and ends up involved with  the group of high school/middle school kids who are victimizing strangers in her neighborhood with their random assaults.  She especially gets in deep emotionally with Kalvin, the charismatic leader and "Knockout King" of the group.

The novel is set in St. Louis and closely parallels the real knockout game story that transpired there. Neri does a pretty good job of showing how peer pressure, boredom, and machismo create a lure for the "game" but I just never found myself drawn in to the main character's motivations.  Frankly, she's kind of a repulsive character, getting off on editing videos of the attacks and even assaulting one of the victims herself.

Neri seems to want to just tell the story, and not preach a lot, which is fine.  But I think what he really fails to convey is the absolute terror and life altering experience that being a victim of the knockout game would be.  He tries to in the one case that goes horrifically wrong, resulting in a murder - but that is it.

I will say that the pace of the novel picks up as it goes on, especially as all of Erica's really bad decisions and actions begin to have consequences for her and those around her.

I won't be recommending it to students, but I will be curious to see and hear what students think of it if they do read it.

Fine Read - Yes! Teen Read - Not So Sure

House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle
El Paso, Tex. : Cinco Puntos Press, 2014.
326 p. ; 24 cm. 

I truly enjoyed reading House of Purple Cedar.  Tingle's novel is filled with mystery, surrealism, danger, great characters and rarely told history.  But, I found myself wondering why it is being targeted toward young adults instead of an adult audience.  Publisher's Weekly noted that "much of the dialogue and exposition feels more appropriate for young adult literature" and I would take issue with that assessment.  I believe the book is a fine literary novel that adults would enjoy and appreciate.  

The story centers around events that happened in a young girl's life in the late 1890s in Choctaw territory in the state of Oklahoma.  The novel is an exploration of violence, accountability, redemption, community and family relations, racism, and spirituality. 

Along the way, there are murders, wildlife attacks, a panther that may or may not be a ghost, and humorous and touching romances.  The novel is written in a literary style that at times called to mind, Bless Me Ultima. I will definitely be recommending it to adults that I know and occasionally to the teen reader who wants something serious and challenging.

  

Slow Start, Awesome Finish

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
New York, NY : Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013.
359 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. 

When friend and scholar (and author of the invaluable American Indians in Children's Literature [AICL] blog, Debbie Reese, told me at the end of the summer that I should read this YA novel by Eric Gansworth, I made a note to myself to do that.  Well, a lot has happened since the end of the summer and I have finally gotten around to reading If I Ever Get Out of Here, and I'm glad I did.  It's a great little treasure of a book about friendship, being poor, fitting in / not fitting in, bullying, racism, family ties, and the wonderful (and not so wonderful) moments of coming of age in junior high.

I have to confess that beginning the novel, I was a bit suspicious that this was going to be simply a rehash of Sherman Alexie's wonderful The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.  There are some striking echoes of that book in the beginning - a dorky (smart, scrawny, funny, likable) Indian kid who is in a school program of nearly all white kids and has to deal with the prejudices at school and the resentments and hassles from friends and family on the reservation. Fortunately the similarities are only that and Gansworth's novel stands on its own charms and strengths. 

I also have to say that the novel started out a bit slow for me, but shortly after the midpoint of the book, I was hooked and had a hard time putting it down. The coming together of several plot lines and dramatic events really makes the last third of the novel a wonderful read.

I can't say enough good things to convey the quality of this book.  The heart of the novel is the friendship between two middle school boys - Lewis, a Tuscarora Indian, and George, son of an Air Force Dad whose family lives on a base and is always threatened with having to up and move.  The boys first bond over their love of music - especially the Beatles and Paul McCartney (and so the picture at the top of this post), but soon learn how hard it is to really be truthful and steady in friendship.  I love that Gansworth manages to weave together several (many!) important strands with passion, grace, humor, intelligence and - dare I say - love.  Seriously, we have a book of two boys in junior high becoming friends in the deepest sense, of the frictions between minority and majority culture, of the love of making and listening to popular music, of military life, of the complicated good and bad bonds of family life, of bullies and their accomplices, or life in the 70s...wow! Additionally the book includes a playlist of all the songs touched on in the book - and you can access this playlist on the author's website.

Sometimes I read a YA book and it has such promise and then falters with what feels like gimmicks meant to make it more appealing to a teen audience.  I really didn't experience that in this fine novel.  I will definitely recommend this to any student who has enjoyed Diary of a Part-time Indian (it's in our school's curriculum) and will be sure it gets on the radar of teachers looking for another author who can lay down a good story, shine a light on what it's like to grow up Indian in the US, and keep it real.