#tbt: The Good, the Bad and the Barbie: a Doll's History and Her Impact on Us (Unauthorized) by Tanya Lee Stone

Image: Author's Website

The Good, the Bad and the Barbie: a Doll's History and Her Impact on Us (Unauthorized) by Tanya Lee Stone. 130 p. Viking? Penguin Young Readers, 2010. 9780670011872. (Own.)

Happy Thursday! How are you keeping cool in this heat? Boo and I have to take our long walks pretty early to avoid the heat. It's pretty bad. 

In honor of the release of the movie, Barbie, #tbt features The Good, the Bad and the Barbie: a Doll's History and Her Impact on Us (Unauthorized) by Tanya Lee Stone. Published in 2010, this book is part biography of Ruth Handler, creator of the doll and of Barbie, the doll itself, but it also examines the impact that the doll and its popularity had on culture. There are lots of photos and personal anecdotes from girls and women reflecting on their love or hatred of Barbie. Back matter includes a note from the author, source notes and a bibliography.

The book was named an SLJ (School Library Journal) Best Book and won the Golden Kite Award. I enjoyed knowing this backstory a bit before watching the film, however, I realized I forgot a lot and decided to reread it. Very balanced and informative! Happy reading!

#tbt: Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka

Image: Penguin Random House

Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka. 112 p. Viking Books for Young Readers/ Penguin Young Readers, 2008. 9780670011384. (Own)

Happy Thursday TMS! We're in for some weather tomorrow! Yikes! Yesterday was the winter solstice and now we will have just a few more minutes of light each day as we march toward the summer solstice.

#tbt features Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growning up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka. This short book is part memoir and part scrapbook and answers the perennial question authors get from kids during school visits, "Where do you get your ideas from?" Mr. Scieszka (rhymes with fresca) grew up in a family of six boys. As the second son, he often had babysitting responsibilities but there was also plenty of time to laze around reading comic books and spending summers exploring his grandparents woods. The Scieszka boys also got into a fair amount of mischief and these stories are laugh-out-loud funny.

Mr. Scieszka is the author of many hilarious books including, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Stories, and the Time Warp Trio series. Knucklehead was published in 2008.

Fact Friday: And We Rise: the Civil Rights Movement in Poems by Erica Martin

Image: Penguin Random House

And We Rise: the Civil Rights Movement in Poems by Erica Martin. 154 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers, February, 2022. 9780593352526. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Friday! So my break is winding down and I didn't read as much as I wanted, but got a lot of decluttering work done around my house. I also had the windows and carpets cleaned and the tile floor was waxed by a guy I have been using for more than 30 years. I also had some tree work done. My husband is probably rolling over in his ashes because he was adamantly opposed to any tree removal. In fact, he bought a special tow cable and used his Jeep to yank a fallen fir back upright, then attached the cable to a nearby maple tree to keep it standing. Needless to say, it didn't thrive. I feel like I'm living in a new house. 

Fact Friday features And We Rise: the Civil Rights Movement in Poems by Erica Martin. In her debut collection of poetry, Ms. Martin combines her love of writing and U.S. History to walk young readers through the Civil Rights Movement from the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, which ruled "separate but equal" unconstitutional. Not much changed in the Jim Crow south despite the ruling. And then, the marching started.

The poems use a variety of forms and effective use of white space and are accompanied by black and white historical photos from the era. A timeline follows an author's note and each poem is sourced. There are suggestions for further reading and bonus content.

There are many powerful moments in this spare collection. It's unusual, yet effective.  

Teen Tuesday: Always by Morris Gleitzman

Image: Penguin Australia

Always by Morris Gleitzman. 302 p. Felix and Zelda #7. Viking/ Penguin Australia, November, 2021. 9780143793243. (Review of purchased, finished paperback copy.)

Teen Tuesday features Always by Morris Gleitzman. Felix Salinger's story comes to an end in this seventh book of a very powerful series. Readers may be a bit confused at first, because this is a dual-narrative. All the others have been narrated by Felix. Wassim begins the book with his search for Felix Salinger. He lives in an unnamed eastern European country with his Uncle Otto since the deaths of his parents, but their existence is threatened by a neo-Nazi gang called the Weasels. Wassim, who is mixed race is often their target. Wassim's grandfather knew Felix from their work in the Resistance

Felix has retired from his surgical practice and after bidding his granddaughter, Zelda good bye at the airport, wonders how he will fill his days and avoid loneliness. When Wassim shows up on his doorstep with a note written by Wassim's grandfather over seventy years earlier, Felix knows he needs to offer Wassim "good protection." But how can an elderly man protect a young child in the face of unbridled hate?

Always is best read by those who have read the entire series. As in the earlier books, each chapter starts with the title word, in this case, "always." Knowing that this was my last visit with Felix, I had decided to read the book slowly. I soon realized that I had to frequently put it down due to the peril Felix and Wassim were in. The world doesn't seem to have changed much since the 1930s and 40s. It takes a lot of courage to stand up to hate- courage and hope for a better world.

This was a beautiful and perfect ending.

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Bad Best Friend by Rachel Vail

Image: Penguin Random House

Bad Best Friend by Rachel Vail. 308p. Viking/ Penguin Random House, March, 2020. 9780451479457. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Middle Grade Monday features Bad Best Friend by Rachel Vail. Ava and Niki have been bffs since third grade when Ava moved to Maine from Los Angeles. Niki sort of dumped Holly for Ava back in third grade and now, it seems Ava is dumping Niki to belong to the popular group headed by Britney. The reader follows Niki, through her first-person narration as she navigates life without Ava and deals with life at home, where her fourth grade brother is having issues of his own. 

Ms. Vail's strengths as an author shine here. She has created a community of interesting characters with relatable problems. She mixed in humor and affection, resulting in a fun, fast read. If you love stories about family, school and/ or friendship, you will love Bad Best Friend! So endearing!

Fact Friday: Lifting as We Climb: Black women's battle for the ballot box by Evette Dionne

Image: Penguin Random House

Lifting as We Climb: Black women's battle for the ballot box by Evette Dionne. 176 p. Viking/ Penguin Random House, April 21, 2020. 9780451481542. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Fact Friday features Lifting as We Climb: Black women's battle for the ballot box by Evette Dionne. June 4, 2019 and August 20, 2020 mark the one hundredth anniversary of ratification of women's right to vote and the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution respectively. While this is certainly something to celebrate, the women's suffrage movement was not always unified and accepting of all women. Quite a bit of racism and classism existed. 

Women of color wanted the right to vote; but they also wanted their husbands, fathers and brothers, who technically, already had the right to vote, to be able to vote without fear of violence or unfair poll taxes and literacy tests. They also wanted the Federal government to classify lynching a federal crime. The author connects the dots between the work of abolitionists and suffragists from the early 1800s all the way to the Civil Rights Movement and the Voting Rights Act of 1964, an act which is slowly being dismantled at this time. 

Well researched, yet accessible and riveting, Lifting as We Climb is historical narrative non-fiction at its finest and sure to inspire a new generation of social justice activists. The text is peppered with black and white photographs of Black suffragists, both well- and lesser-known, and photos of primary source documents, such as news clippings. Text boxes contain mini-biographies of many of these women. Back matter was marked TK in the arc. I am really looking forward to rereading the finished version not only for the missing photos, but also to dip into the sources and suggestions for further reading. 

I recently read The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. (Review scheduled for Tuesday, April 14) The scenes depicting the treatment of Black women and the mc, who was Chinese attempting to join the local women's suffrage meeting in the south were so resonant and painful that I seethed. I was then reminded of my women's studies classes from so, so long ago, where I learned about some of this. So, I was familiar with many of the women mentioned in Lifting as We Climb, but learned about quite a few more. I am seething again and want to write letters and punch things. 

Lifting as We Climb belongs in every high school and public library. I will most likely purchase it for my middle school library for that rare and lovely student who reads voraciously. Adults should read it as well. And they should get out and vote! Teen readers who are interested in history, Civil Rights and social justice should not miss this book.

Friday Memes: All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

Image: Penguin Random House

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor. 484 p. Viking/ Penguin Random House, January, 2020. 9780399257308. 

Publisher synopsis: The saga of the Logan family–made famous in the Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry–concludes in a long-awaited and deeply fulfilling story.

In her tenth book, Mildred Taylor completes her sweeping saga about the Logan family of Mississippi, which is also the story of the civil rights movement in America of the 20th century. Cassie Logan, first met in Song of the Trees and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, is a young woman now, searching for her place in the world, a journey that takes her from Toledo to California, to law school in Boston, and, ultimately, in the 60s, home to Mississippi
to participate in voter registration. She is witness to the now-historic events of the century: the Great Migration north, the rise of the civil rights movement, preceded and precipitated by the racist society of America, and the often violent confrontations that brought about change. Rich, compelling storytelling is Ms. Taylor’s hallmark, and she fulfills expectations as she brings to a close the stirring family story that has absorbed her for over forty years. It is a story she was born to tell.

First Line: Man and I were waiting for the bus.

Page 56: I met Stacey's eyes in the dark and knew there were no further words to say. He was right, and that's all there was to that. He was right about everything. We drove the rest of the way home in silence. Like the night, the streets were beginning to quiet, and in silence I thought about the city of Toledo without its signs, but segregated anyway. I thought about Toledo with all its opportunities, but segregated anyway. At least down home in Mississippi and throughout the South, folks were direct and honest about what was expected. Everybody knew exactly were a body stood. There was no pretense to equality. The signs were everywhere. White Only, Colored Not Allowed.

#tbt: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales by Jon Scieszka

Image: Penguin Random House

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka. Illustrated by Lane Smith. 64 p. Viking/ Penguin Random House, October, 1992. 9780670844876.

#tbt features The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. This hilarious collection of fractured fairy tales was published in 1992 and won Smith a Caldecott Honor.  It was a story-time favorite when I was a K-8 librarian hoping to make learning the parts of a book fun. 

I hope that today brings joy to everyone gathering with friends and family.  

Fact Friday: Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights by Ann Bausum

Image: Viking/ Penguin

Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights by Ann Bausum. 120 p. Viking/ Penguin Group, May, 2016. 9780670016792. (Own.)

Fact Friday features Stonewall: Breaking out in the fight for gay rights by Ann Bausum. Prior to the 1970s, it was illegal to identify as anything other than heterosexual. Police would routinely raid gay-friendly bars, often coercing and accepting bribes from people hoping to avoid arrest. On June 28, 1969, a raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City's West Village turned into a full-on protest when the patrons refused to yield to arrest and barricaded themselves in the bar. They were soon joined by thousands of supporters that outnumbered police. The protest eventually became a riot and galvanized the movement to fight for gay rights. Bausum's thorough research is belied by the conversational tone that makes understanding this important moment in history easy. The text is sprinkled with black and white photos from the era.  

Arc Review: Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker

Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker. 316 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, May 21, 2019. 9780451479402. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Book Birthday next week (5/21) to Zenobia July, Lisa Bunker's highly anticipated sophomore novel. Prepare to have your heart touched.

The death of Zenobia's father, while sad, was actually liberating for her. The years between the death of her mother and then her father were stressful and repressive. She was homeschooled, isolated and felt like a constant failure to her dad. After his death, she was sent clear across the country to Maine to live with her Aunt Lucy and her wife, Phil. They give Zen the choice to live her life honestly. So she has a new name and a new life. It is thrilling and terrifying.

As she makes friends, and an enemy or two, a cybercrime is committed at school involving hate speech aimed at a Muslim student. Zenobia has some serious hacking skills and is itching to help her teacher solve this crime. She also jumps to a few wrong conclusions. 

She is a relatable character in that her anxiety over starting a new school and fitting in and finding friends is fairly common. So too, her push-me/ pull-you feelings about her aunts and her new living situation. They are all getting used to each other. Issues around gender identity are woven nicely into the story without becoming instructive or overwhelming. 

Zen has landed in a good place and is surrounded by supportive adults even though they themselves are new to parenting. The story is peopled with a diverse cast of interesting characters from the delightful Uncle Sprinkles, a drag queen friend of the aunts who takes Zen shopping and helps her with make-up tips to Arli, a fearless gender-fluid person eager to make Zen welcome.

All-in-all, Zenobia July is a perfect middle grade novel. I have quite a few students intensely interested in books with transgender characters and am deliriously happy to have a new title to add to the collection.

Friday Memes: Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker. 314 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, May 21, 2019. 9780451479402. 

Publisher synopsis: The critically acclaimed author of Felix Yz crafts a bold, heartfelt story about a trans girl solving a cyber mystery and coming into her own.

Zenobia July is starting a new life. She used to live in Arizona with her father; now she's in Maine with her aunts. She used to spend most of her time behind a computer screen, improving her impressive coding and hacking skills; now she's coming out of her shell and discovering a community of friends at Monarch Middle School. People used to tell her she was a boy; now she's able to live openly as the girl she always knew she was.

When someone anonymously posts hateful memes on her school's website, Zenobia knows she's the one with the abilities to solve the mystery, all while wrestling with the challenges of a new school, a new family, and coming to grips with presenting her true gender for the first time. Timely and touching, Zenobia July is, at its heart, a story about finding home.

First Line: She had that new kid look. Anyone paying attention could have seen it. In the flinchiness of her shoulders. In the way her eyes skittered from fact to face as the other students streamed past.

Page 56: 
     "I hate all my clothes! You don't know anything about shopping!"
     "That's true. You're right about that."
    Zen scowled. Aunt Phil never said what Zen thought she was going to say. It flummoxed her utterly. She flailed her hands and said, "Oh, leave me alone. I'm going to my room."
     "Door's open. " Zen turned away. "But, one other thing." Zen turned back unwillingly. "We're in for a treat. Were going to have company for dinner."

I really enjoyed the author's debut, Felix Yz. I started this last night and almost stayed up all night to swallow it whole. 

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: SHOUT by Laurie Halse Anderson

SHOUT: a poetry memoir by Laurie Halse Anderson. 290 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, March 19, 2019. 9780670012107. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)

It's always a big deal when Laurie Halse Anderson has a new book out. This memoir will be published in March, around the twentieth anniversary of her Printz Honor winning, National Book Award Finalist, Speak. I read Speak when I was new to school librarianship and before I was blogging. I distinctly recall my telling anyone who would listen that it should be required reading for all rising eighth graders and their parents and teachers. It was raw. It was true. It was groundbreaking. It was needed.

Unfortunately, it is still needed as little has changed in the twenty years. Speak was somewhat unintentionally autobiographical, something Anderson was willing to keep quiet about. Until. Until she started speaking to thousands of teens all over the United States. She'd avoid answering the question about whether it had ever happened to her. Until she didn't. She respects her audience too much. 

So she shared, and, eventually SHOUT was born. Boy, do we need SHOUT! It is raw. It is true. It is groundbreaking. It most definitely is needed. I have heard Anderson speak on a variety of subjects over the years. She is a passionate truth teller and caller outer, whether it's about racism, PTSD, mental health issues or sexual assault. Her words are beautifully angry and inspiring. 

Read Speak. Read Shout. Get angry and do a little SHOUTING yourself.

Friday Memes: Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice. Wow, it has been awhile since I posted a Friday Meme! It has been so busy since school started. This book demands attention!

I can't believe it has been twenty years since Speak was birthed. I can believe the impact the book has had on countless readers. It was such a privilege to hear Anderson talk earlier this month and to receive an arc of SHOUT. 

SHOUT by Laurie Halse Anderson. 290 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, March 12, 2019. 9780670012107. 

Publisher synopsis: Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society's failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. Shout speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice— and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

First Line: Kinda tough with blank verse. Here's the first stanza of the first poem: PRELUDE: mic test

this book smells like me
woodsmoke
salt
honey and strawberries
sunscreen, libraries
failures and sweat
green nights in the mountains
cold dawns by the sea

Page 56: IT, part 3-playing chicken with the devil

Lots of boys at my school played chicken,
countless varieties of the game.

Arc Review: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya. 239 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, May 16, 2017. 9781101997239.

Thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora lives and works with his large extended family. They own and run a Cuban American restaurant, La Cocina de la Isla, walking distance from the apartment complex where they all live. Arturo's grandmother, and founder of the restaurant, is the glue that holds the family together. She founded the restaurant with her now deceased husband and has recently passed the reins of running the restaurant to Arturo's mother. Arturo's family gathers at the restaurant each Sunday for dinner where they engage in spirited conversation and bicker good-naturedly. The clan is hosting a new addition for the summer. Carmen and her father have moved into the complex. Arturo views her as family and is confused by the sudden rush of feelings for her. Arturo has two best friends, who will be off to separate camps for the summer soon while Arturo begins work at the restaurant as a junior dishwasher. 

Arturo is an endearing narrator and clearly adores his family, especially his Abuela. He's also charmingly awkward with Carmen. When Wilfredo Pipo invades the restaurant to introduce himself one day, everyone takes an instant dislike to him and his oily ways, even Abuela, who likes everyone.

Turns out, they have good reason to suspect Pipo, he plans on gentrifying the neighbor and La Cocina de la Isla is not on the blueprints. He's pushing them out. What's more, the rest of the neighborhood seems charmed by the idea. Arturo's aunt wants to do something and Arturo's mother has a more wait and see attitude. Arturo's scared and he and Carmen team up to get to the bottom of things. 

There's a lot to like about this debut. It's a gentle story of family, connection and growing up. Reading it was like being enfolded into Abuela's warm hug. It was like meeting a family for the first time but feeling like I've know them forever. Arturo's voice is earnest and awkward and at times, hilarious but always genuine. 

Arc Review: Felix Yz by Lisa Bunker

Felix Yz by Lisa Bunker. 286 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, June 6, 2017. 9781524775254. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)

This book is Felix Yz's (pronounced "iz") blog. He's counting down the days to Zero Day when he will undergo "the Procedure" where he will be separated from Zyx (rhymes with six). Zyx is an alien from the fourth dimension who was accidentally fused with Felix when he was three-year-old in a science experiment gone horribly wrong. His scientist father was killed in the accident and Felix was in a coma for quite a while. He lives with his mother, sister and Grandy, a grandparent who is gender fluid. Grandy spends three days a week identifying as female and goes by the name Vera. Then she spends three days a week identifying as male and answers to the name Vern. On the seventh day, "vo stays in veir room and doesn't eat and doesn't talk and doesn't wear any clothes and meditates all day." (p. 19)

Felix is understandably, very worried about the Procedure. If he does not have it, he and Zyx will die. If he does, there's a good chance one or both of them will die. He types in his blog, which is secret, to sort out his feelings about all this. He likes Zyx (mostly) despite the fact that their fusion results in Felix's inability to communicate normally as well as some fine and gross motor difficulties. All of which make him a target for bullying at school.

Felix is an endearing character and his voice is at once wholly unique and so like a twelve-year-old. He pours his heart out, then dances around painful topics only to circle back again. Interspersed in his musings and reveries are Zyx's comments. Zyx learned English, more or less, thanks to Grandy's running commentary as she sat vigil beside Felix while he was in a coma. 

There is so much grief here. Felix and his family are close and loving and as fragile as they are strong. Were I to enumerate all the "issues" this wondrous tale covers, you'd be rolling your eyes. Yet, somehow, it works. There's a first crush, mom's boyfriend, Grandy, a sister's loss, chess, webcomics, a comic con, and more, packed into the 29 days before Felix's separation from Zyx. 

And then there's Zyx - a being trapped in an alien dimension struggling to understand his human and humanity. He? She? Felix settles on the pronoun "vo" becaue Zyx cannot be fully described. He is incapable of understanding sarcasm and loves Felix unconditionally. 

There will be tears folks. Many, many tears. Not ugly crying but a steady stream of tears to blink away while trying to read towards the end. It's achingly beautiful. Thoughtful readers will come away changed by Felix, Zyx and all the possibilities. Please don't miss this unique and utterly compelling debut.