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.

Got Blood?

Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin

New York : Wednesday Books, 2020.

326 p. ; 22 cm. 

This novel calls up the Elizabethan & Jacobean revenge tragedy.  I had to chuckle in that while looking for references on revenge tragedies I found this in an article by Justin Cash in The Drama Teacher:   

Revenge tragedies typically consisted of one or more of the following:

• ghosts and the supernatural
• murder
• insanity/mad scenes
• a character seeking revenge against a strong(er) opponent for a real or imagined wrongdoing
• personifications of revenge / the supernatural
• a clear villain (although interestingly the character of Hamlet was a hero seeking revenge)
• onstage violence, often sensational
• blood-filled conclusions
• disguise
• corpses
• often isolated revenger(s)

Yep, Foul is Fair has most of that in spades! The novel is about Jade, a wealthy it-girl who is drugged and gang raped by wealthy/arrogant prep-boys after she and her "coven" of friends crash a party.  The assault is not graphically portrayed, but the victim recalls the words and brutality of the four assailants and their accomplices and promises murderous revenge. Let's just say she keeps her promise! 

This book got a starred review from Booklist which notes: "...this isn't a how-to-murder-your-classmates manual; it's a ferocious, frenzied reaction to a world that has, for too long, treated women as collateral damage in stories that have been deemed more important than theirs....The plot is not rooted in any sort of reality; it is a fever dream, a vicious fantasy, an allegory with bloody teeth." That gets it about right.  In my mind it gets to what is the strength and weakness of the novel.  

I liked a lot about the novel; it is a good escapist read, but Jade and her friends who assist with the bloody revenge plot are extremely unlikable souls themselves. There are no heroes in this tale, just a group of depraved characters who get to exact revenge on a set of even more depraved villains.  I also found some of the supernatural overtures a bit distracting (weird flocks of birds, sudden storms, visions of winged flying characters, unhinged stream of conscience, etc.). But some will love that overwrought drama, and if they do fair enough (of should I say foul enough!). 

If I mention the book to a student, I would definitely let them know it deals with some serious triggering issues - sexual assault, violence, and murder. But if they are looking for a bloody read, I'd suggest it. Oh, and it also strongly echoes Shakespeare's Macbeth, something that students who are reading the play might really enjoy.

  

More Tangled Than a Chromosome

She Has Her Mother's Laugh: the Powers. Perversions and Potential of Heredity  by Carl Zimmer

[New York, N.Y.] : Dutton, [2019]

xiv, 656 p. ; 24 cm. 

This was a long read and - to be honest - a bit above my pay-grade so to speak.  I love science and this is written for lay readers, but the subject matter is pretty darn complicated.  However, it is readable, super interesting and worth the effort.

Though I was pretty good in math and science as a student, the intricacies of probability and statistics always gave me headaches. So, it's no wonder that some of the complexities of inheritance are a bit foggy to me.  That being said, there is a lot that anyone can get from this fine science book.

I think the most interesting take-away from this book is its deep dive into what "heredity" actually means and how the concept is far more messy than many of us think of it.  Zimmer wants us to see that inheritance (even genetic inheritance) is far more complicated than the sum of what we each get from our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. He notes that there is in essence a "heredity" that occurs within each of us as our cells divide and divide and divide - both in their determined specifications and also with accumulated mutations of those cells. He also points out how unusual occurrences such as an individual who is the combination of two fused zygotes can really challenge our ideas of genetic certainty (e.g. a mother whose children do not test as being her children!) He also explores how environment can affect heredity. 

The book also takes a good long look at what we inherit culturally and what an impact it has.  Finally the book really goes into the cutting edge (literally) technologies that genetic engineers are using/developing.  The hardest for me to get are CRISPR (gene cutting DNA code discovered in bacteria and other archea) and gene drives (which spread traits through a species far more than natural reproduction/inheritance).

I read this book because it is one a student requested for the library when they were one of our yearly scholars.  It is a good read, but one that would likely challenge all but the most scientific minded readers.

      

Dancing Free

Every Body Looking by Candace Iloh

New York : Dutton Books, [2020] 

403 p. ; 22 cm.

This is a book that gets better and better as you read it.  I wasn't really hooked at the beginning, but by the end I was turning the pages, and really rooting for college freshman, Ada, who is in her first year of college at the esteemed HBCU, Howard University.  Ada is a first generation Nigerian-American and has a devoted (but intensely religious) father who is divorced from her toxic mom. 

I really loved Ada's journey of embracing her real passion - to be a dancer - in the face of expectations from family to be a studious accounting major.  She also has to figure out her sexuality and what will make her life meaningful.

The book has received outstanding praise. It is a Michael Printz 2021 honor book and a 2020 National Book Award finalist! Like Elizabeth Acevedo's Poet X, it is written in verse, but it is organized in sections that have a staggered timeline - moving back and forth from high school, to college, to grade school. I liked Poet X better, but someone who likes dance, or a first year college experience, etc. might like this book as much or more. 

I would love to see how students respond to this book.  I will definitely recommend it to any student looking for a coming of age novel, a novel in verse, a book with a strong female lead, or just a read with a lot of heart.

Pip Still Pops

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 

Austin : Holt, Rinehart and Winston [2000]

554 p. : 22 cm.

Sometimes, in reading, you just want to return to an old favorite or old classic.  Though not really a "favorite,"  I remembered enjoying Great Expectations decades ago when I first read it, and so took it home with me for reading over the winter holidays.

Though hailed as a masterpiece by contemporary critics, Great Expectations is probably not as celebrated as it once was.  Dickens, extremely popular in his own lifetime and publishing his work to eager fans through serial installments does at times feel a bit more like popular fiction instead of literary fiction.  That being said, I have to say that this novel has aged pretty well.   

The novel revolves around the fortunes of Pip, an orphaned boy being lovelessly raised by his sister and his sudden inheritance of a fortune from a secret benefactor. I really enjoyed Dickens' mastery of keeping the reader interested throughout.  He's an exceptional plotter and his characters are a delight to discover. Yes, there's a bit of moralizing in Dickens, and occasionally ridiculous coincidences used to further the action, but one can't help but enjoying the ride.  There are lots of enjoyable twists and surprises and at it's core, a deeply humane and progressive sympathy for humans with all their good qualities and disturbing flaws.

I would definitely recommend Great Expectations to a student wanting to read some of the classic novels of the English literature canon.   

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.