The Poet X

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's no secret that verse novels are some of my favorites. And listening to verse novels? Even better. Poetry should be heard. Read it if/when there is no audio option, but always always listen if you can. Especially if the poetry in question is read by its author, which the audiobook version of The Poet X is.

Elizabeth Acevedo created a character and a world that I was wholly invested in during the entire 3.5 hours it took to listen. (Seriously, listen to this on your next plane ride, or over the course of a few days during your commute, or instead of watching a movie, or on a Saturday morning while you clean...the options for listening are abundant!)

Xiomara Batista processes her emotions via poetry, especially since her parents won't listen to her, and her twin brother has been feeling distant lately. She writes about growing up in Harlem, and when she first realized she wasn't a girl anymore. She writes about her mother's religion and beliefs - ones that Xiomara can't reconcile with the world she sees around her, the world she has to live in. She writes about Aman, the cute boy she's crushing on. She writes a lot about Aman - there's no way she'll talk about him to anyone in her family. She writes what she wishes she could say, then follows it up with what she actually says.

Luckily Xiomara has poetry club, where she can share some of her poems and feel truly heard. Ms. Galiano, her teacher, listens and hears Xiomara before giving her advice. Xiomara also has a great friend in Caridad. Women supporting their friends and mentoring younger women is a highlight of this story: every teen needs a Ms. Galiano and a Caridad, in some form. Aman, too, is a wonderful supporting character. While we don't hear too much from Twin (Xiomara's twin brother, Xavier), when he is around, he's thoughtful and caring. I want another book from his perspective, to hear more about his storyline.

Enough from me - I'll leave you with a video of Acevedo performing and discussing her work:



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Banned Books Week 2018

This week is ALA's annual Banned Books Week - a week to celebrate stories, and to support the freedom of everyone to read whatever they want. Each year, books are challenged for their content or as a result of backlash towards an author. Not all of them are officially banned (read: removed from shelves and/or pulled from publishing), and some books garner challenges long after their publication.

Here is ALA's list of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2017 (I bolded titles that I've read) and a video from the Office of Intellectual Freedom describing each of them:

1. Thirteen Reasons Why written by Jay Asher
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie
3. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
4. The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini
5. George written by Alex Gino
6. Sex is a Funny Word written by Cory Silverberg and illustrated by Fiona Smyth
7. To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee
8. The Hate U Give written by Angie Thomas
9. And Tango Makes Three written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole
10. I Am Jazz written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas

It's important to note that many challenged books are written for children or young adults - grown adults all too often claim to know what kids want/need/like to read. Other frequently challenged books include those written about and/or by people of color and people within the LGBTQ+ community, which is also important to note. This year's theme is "Banning Books Silences Stories," and I think that's applicable to these stories in particular - ones that are silenced both within the publishing world and outside of it. Taking this theme a step further, sometimes it's not enough to not ban or challenge a book, but we must also elevate and amplify stories from otherwise marginalized communities.

Tokyo: Ghibli Museum, DisneySea, & Disneyland

Our final week in Japan was a mixture of Tokyo Disney and exploring more of Tokyo's many neighborhoods. On our way back into the city from Kyoto, we stopped at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Photos weren't allowed inside, so these are all from outside, but this is a definite must for fans of animation, film-making, and illustration!

 

 

After a wonderfully kooky lunch at the museum, we headed towards Tokyo Disney - a resort area featuring two parks: DisneySea and Disneyland. We are so grateful that we got to stay on the Disney property, thanks to a wonderful wedding gift and a "friends & family" discount at our Hilton hotel.

The view from our hotel room (that's the Tokyo skyline in the distance, and Daikanransha, which was the world's tallest Ferris Wheel at the time of its construction (1999)).

We stopped in our room just long enough to see that our luggage, which we had sent over a week earlier when we first flew in to Tokyo, had arrived. [Seriously, the luggage delivery system in Japan is awesome.] Then we headed out to the first park: DisneySea. DisneySea is unique to Japan, and instead of having differently themed lands (ie, Adventureland, Tomorrowland) has ports of harbor (Port Discovery, American Waterfront, Mediterranean Harbor) - it is set up like an island, and each area is themed by different water-based characters and locations. It's super cool! I'll let the pics do the talking:

Is anyone surprised that Mermaid Lagoon was my favorite?

Hidden Mickey!

A romantic gondola ride to end our night!

We spend our second (full) day at DisneySea as well. It was just as magical as being there at night! I should also mention that we had zero issues with crowds. Because it was the week after Thanksgiving, there weren't many American tourists, and since it was cooler out and a weekday, there weren't huge Japanese crowds either. Tokyo Disney is a "locals" park since it is easy to get to with public transportation - meaning Japanese visitors quite often go for a day trip, or on the weekend, or they get the evening pass and come after 6 pm. We really lucked out and rarely had to wait in lines for rides!

The Christmas theming was Jesus's favorite. 

Mermaid Lagoon/Triton's Kingdom remained my favorite!

 

10 months later, I still think about these custard-filled dumplings.

 

By the end of the night, we were literally the only people in line for the Indiana Jones ride!

We spend our final day at Tokyo Disney at Disneyland, which is comparable to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World or Disneyland California - it has all the familiar characters, and many of the same rides. Jesus had never been to any Disney park, so the most entertaining part for me was to see his enthusiasm and childlike wonder.

  

The queue for Pooh's Honey Hunt was amazing!

Of course I found the giraffe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And they lived happily ever after... :)

Into the Water

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a lot of fun to listen to as an audiobook - it's read by a cast of characters, so it feels kind of like an old radio mystery. I very much enjoyed all the excerpts from the fictional book at the heart of this little town with lots of secrets, including what exactly the Drowning Pool is and represents. I also liked going into the minds of various residents - a stark contrast from the style of The Girl on the Train, where we focused on only a few characters. The red herrings weren't too obvious, I thought I had motives and guilty suspects figured out several times, and I was hooked the whole way through.


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Nonfiction for Fun

If I've learned anything during my time in grad school and while working with the newest in children's literature, it's that nonfiction (especially for youth) doesn't get the respect it deserves. Or it does, but not as "pleasure reading" - it's used in classrooms, or for research, or it's read out of some sort of obligation (all of which are perfectly fine reasons to read!), but rarely just because a person wants to hunker down with some facts. I'm here to tell you, nonfiction books can be just as thrilling as any fictional novel - you've just got to find the right one for you! These are a few I've enjoyed recently:

Family/Cultural Drama

Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune by Pamela S. Turner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Samurai Rising is the truly epic tale of Minamoto Yoshitsune, a Japanese man who became a samurai despite all the odds against him. It reads like a novelization of a movie or television show - the opening scene would not be out of place on an HBO drama. Turner has a way of making ancient history seem so fresh and relevant, and there were several times that I noticed how she explained very complex and nuanced Japanese rituals or familial structures with ease and fluidity. As an adult reader, I appreciated that things were never watered down or left out, but instead given extra detail. It was apparent that Turner trusts her audience, whether teen readers or older, to go along with her for a wild ride.

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, so I knew what was going to happen in this intimate look at Russia's last royal family, but I still could not put it down and felt the suspense the entire way through! I was truly engrossed in this book, which felt like a telenovela, and I loved the contrast in chapters focusing on the Romanovs versus the common citizens of Russia. There was a lot of information presented in each chapter, but I never felt overwhelmed, which shows the strength of Fleming's writing and organization skills. Again, Fleming trusts her audience and does the story justice with honesty and wit. Additional resources include photos, maps, journal entries, and other historical documents.

Poetic Nonfiction

Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This illustrated verse novel details the relationship and resulting civil rights case of Mildred and Richard Loving, a black woman and a white man who fell in love as teenagers in Virginia in the 1950s. It would take years of trials, separation, jail time, and protests to legalize interracial marriage, and Loving vs. Virginia shows the emotion of this time for the Lovings. Each poem alternates in perspective between Richard and Mildred, allowing both of them to tell their own stories. The poems range from light and quick to longer, more in depth meditations on what it means to love and be loved. Photos, a timeline, and additional resources round out this informational narrative.

Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mary Shelley's life and the creation of her most well-known work, Frankenstein, are detailed in this free verse biography for young adults. Haunting black and white watercolor illustrations complete this nonfiction verse novel, and both the poetry and the images work together to bring Shelley and her writing to life. Mary's Monster joins several other biographic works about Mary Shelley this year (as it's the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein), but the artistry sets this one apart. It's simply a beautiful book!

Audiobook

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The audio, the content, the subject, the backstory - so much contributes to the strength of this book. I'm not sure how I would've reacted to it pre-arrest, but listening to it post-arrest was very satisfying. Obviously DNA is what got the GSK eventually, but to hear all the connections and guesses McNamara and others made without it was stunning.

I'm in awe of people with such a passion, and McNamara's fastidious determination and grit came through on every page (or in every recorded minute, as it were).


Extras: view all my reviews, more audiobooks, and more poetry.

Wicker King

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wasn't sure what to expect from this strange little book (from a (Chicago) local author!), but I'm glad I read it. Best friends August and Jack navigate both the real world and the world of Jack's hallucinatory visions while also coming to terms with what their relationship is and isn't. The writing is richly detailed, yet never too flowery, and I loved getting lost in the in-between world. I found the literal composition of the book to work in its favor as well, with the darkened pages and the way words were placed on the pages to show Jack's inner turmoil. All-in-all, it made for a total reading experience - I wanted complete silence and solitude while I read to fully enjoy the ambiance the book created.


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