Frizzy

 

My Thoughts:

Not since Brenna Thummler's graphic novel Sheets has a middle grade GN given me all the feels until this book. Marlene struggles to break out of the "good hair" = beauty routine that finds her at the salon with her mother every week for straighetning and taming of her curls and frizz. The not so subtle colorism from Marlene's own family, as well as the bullying from her classmates does not dampen her desire to be proud of her natural hair. Tia Ruby has beautiful natural hair and Marlene remembers that when her father was alive, he loved her mother keeping her hair naturally curly and not straightened so she has to tiptoe around grief, racism and colorism just to feel self love without hurting her mother.

Perhaps that is really what this is about. Frizzy is about love. It is about healing. It is about strength. That in itself is beautiful.

From the Publisher:

A middle grade graphic novel about Marlene, a young girl who stops straightening her hair and embraces her natural curls.

Marlene loves three things: books, her cool Tía Ruby and hanging out with her best friend Camila. But according to her mother, Paola, the only thing she needs to focus on is school and "growing up." That means straightening her hair every weekend so she could have "presentable", "good hair".

But Marlene hates being in the salon and doesn't understand why her curls are not considered pretty by those around her. With a few hiccups, a dash of embarrassment, and the much-needed help of Camila and Tia Ruby―she slowly starts a journey to learn to appreciate and proudly wear her curly hair.

Author: Claribel A. Ortega

Illustrator: Rose Bousamra

Publisher:  First Second

Publication date: October 18, 2022

Poet X (audiobook)

 

My Thoughts:

This novel in verse audiobook is read by the poet herself. I have been honest about not enjoying audiobooks, but audiobooks read by the poet, or audiobooks with poetic language paired with a powerful narrator are the exception. In fact, this audiobook is BETTER than reading the novel with my own voice in my head. Centripetal novels in verse that can follow or precede this one: House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros; Home is Not a Country, Safia Elhillo; The Girl in the Moon Circle Sia Figiel; When We Make It Elisabet Velasquez.

The character, having to face her growing sexuality and objectification rises before our eyes as priestess, warrior goddess, destructive poetess. The relationship with her brother/twin is so honest and lovely. He is the whisper, she is the hurricane. 

The language is beautiful and haunting. I found myself pushing the narrative back 15 seconds so I can hear an image again. Definitely a sign of fabulous writing spoken into existence. Because I have the audiobook and not the words, I don't know where the line breaks are, but this image haunts me:

Sometimes it seems like writing is the only way I keep from hurting - Xiomara Batista

From the Publisher:

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.

With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Author, Narrator: Elizabeth Acevedo

Publisher: Quill Books

Audiobook release: March 6, 2018

This Is My America (audiobook)

 

Author: Kim Johnson

Narrator: Bahni Turpin

Audible release date: July 28, 2020

My Thoughts:

I got this book in the mail, but I want to give it to one of my English teacher alum so I didn't want to read the hard copy so I got access to this audiobook. This book is a realistic fiction look at one teenʻs social justice advocacy for her family. Tracy, 17,  does workshops for the Innocence X organization in order to try and get her father off of death row. When this book opens, she is running out of time to save her father. If this were the only issue, it would make a novel. 

But this is only one problem. Jamal, her older brother is on the run after he is accused of killing Angela. As a family, they are victims of racist terrorism including a cross burning in their front yard. Any of these issues could make a novel. The fact that everything is in this novel, including an interracial love triangle makes this a hefty 9 hour commitment to justice, equity and hope. 

This could be part of a literature circle option alongside The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Dear Martin by Nic Stone, I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal and Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

From the Publisher:

Every week, 17-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time - her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a "thug" on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town's racist history that still haunt the present? 

Fans of Nic Stone, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Jason Reynolds won't want to miss this provocative and gripping debut.

Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

 

My Thoughts:

This journalistic non fiction book, heavily researched and humanized for YA researchers is a piece of American history that has taken 100 years to come to light. Not only is it sad that a community thousands of miles away in another state (Hawai'i) is hearing this American history story for the first time, but based on the silencing of even higher education departments in  Oklahoma, following the 1921 event, this story might have quietly slipped out of the consciousness of Oklahoma residents. 

There is hope that in 2020, some work has been done to unearth mass graves in Tulsa to try and bring closure for families of victims, however it has taken 100 years to even start uncovering truth and trauma. It is now time to acknowledge the massacre in the Greenwood district as well as in the city of Tulsa, but before that happens, the many "why" questions need to be asked in order to combat historic erasure. That work needs to happen before any kind of healing can happen. Colbert's work is one weapon in combatting erasure and forcing legislative advocacy that is necessary to change policy and promote healing, not just for black Americans, but also the original Natives displaced from their homelands and forced into Oklahoma.  If we are beginning to ask questions and do some radical self assessment as a  country, then we need to tell the whole truth, including, like Colbert, going back before the incident in order to continue to ask questions on why the community, and this country made it possible for such an atrocity to happen as well as to bring to the forefront the continued trauma happening now. 

For teachers - this is the kind of resource that we need to have in our classrooms to show the power of research as storytelling. As a model text, this book is a discussion starter, perfect for philosophical questioning and discussion. Add it to your repertoire. 

From the author's note:

Black American history is beautiful and horrific, full of progress and setbacks that have defined the story of the United States since its founding. But no matter how it looks, everyone deserves to know the truth about the past and how it informs the present. - Brandy Colbert

From the Publisher:

A searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre.

In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District—a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America's Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives.

In a few short hours, they'd razed thirty-five square blocks to the ground, leaving hundreds dead. The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass? What exactly happened? And why are the events unknown to so many of us today?

These are the questions that award-winning author Brandy Colbert seeks to answer in this unflinching nonfiction account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In examining the tension that was brought to a boil by many factors—white resentment of Black economic and political advancement, the resurgence of white supremacist groups, the tone and perspective of the media, and more—a portrait is drawn of an event singular in its devastation, but not in its kind. It is part of a legacy of white violence that can be traced from our country's earliest days through Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement in the mid–twentieth century, and the fight for justice and accountability Black Americans still face today.

The Tulsa Race Massacre has long failed to fit into the story Americans like to tell themselves about the history of their country. This book, ambitious and intimate in turn, explores the ways in which the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the story of America—and by showing us who we are, points to a way forward.

Walking in Two Worlds

 

My Thoughts:

This YA fantasy takes place after the current pandemic on an Anishinaabe reservation as well as in the "Floraverse." The two worlds that Bagonegiizhigok, "Bugz" and Feng walk are both in real life as well as in the virtual world. Like Ready Player One, life in the virtual or "Floraverse," is an ideal creation of the players where they can change skins, change identities, find clan and get followers even if in real life, they do not have friends.

For Bugz, she has found a way to give life to her culture and gain energy from sacred places both in the real world as well as in her created world. As the internationally top ranked warrior in the Floraverse, she is able to bring the creatures of her cultural stories to life like the Thunderbirds and Mishi-pizhiw, the underwater panther. Although the natural enemy of the Thunderbird, although these creatures try to fight with each other, Bugz is able to use them as her warriors against the Clan:LESS, an all male "misogynistic neo-alt-right mob" of warriors led by Alpha who want to find her power source and take her down. The fact that Feng, who is moved from China to live with his aunt on the same reservation is a member of Clan:LESS is the source of friction that is his own "two worlds" that he has to navigate.

As a middle grades YA fantasy, it is a fast read and I appreciate the resources at the back of the book for Indigenous youth to find mental health services. I wanted to see more of Bugz' older brother Waawaate and have his story more developed as well as the relationship between Bugz and her parents, but perhaps another story.

 If students like this book, and want books for older YA, give them books by other Indigenous YA authors like Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, Firekeeperʻs Daughter by Angeline Boulley and Huting by Stars Cherie Dimaline. If they are looking for younger or more middle grades, try Ancestor Approved by Cynthia Leitich Smith or Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac. For a nonfiction book, I like Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask: Young Reader's Edition by Anton Treuer.  For adult fiction, definitely There, There by Tommy Orange. I am still processing that read. 

From the Publisher:

An Indigenous teen girl is caught between two worlds, both real and virtual, in the YA fantasy debut from bestselling Indigenous author Wab Kinew. Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and the Otherworld series.

Bugz is caught between two worlds. In the real world, she's a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe.
     Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma.
     But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: a novel

 

My Thoughts:

This sweeping story about family, history, love, disappointment, dreams deferred and hopes rekindled is as much a story of African American families as The Joy Luck Club was a story of Chinese American families. In other words, this is an American story. Jeffers' is a brilliant storyteller that is able to weave an intimate portrait of this family that becomes an allegory about race in America.

I savored this novel. I took much too long to spend time with this family. I got too invested in Ailey Pearl Garfield, but her shocks and her discoveries became my discoveries. This was a sliding glass door and an open table setting into the generations of ancestors she brought into her house.  Please, please, please bring this to the screen. 

I don't read many adult fiction, but this is the one this year. This is the short list must read fiction for 2021. 

From the Publishers:

“This sweeping, brilliant and beautiful narrative is at once a love song to Black girlhood, family, history, joy, pain…and so much more. In Jeffers' deft hands, the story of race and love in America becomes the great American novel.” —Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone and Another Brooklyn

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize • An Indie Next Pick • A People 5 Best Books of the Summer • A Good Morning America 15 Summer Book Club Picks • An Essence Best Book of the Summer • A Time 11 Best Books of the Month • A Washington Post 10 Books of the Month • A CNN Best Book of the Month • A Ms. Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Book Page Writer to Watch • A USA Today Hottest Summer Book • A Chicago Tribune Summer Must-Read • An Observer Best Summer Book • A Millions Most Anticipated Book • A Ms. Book of the Month • A BiblioLifestyle Most Anticipated Literary Book of the Summer • A Deep South Best Book of the Summer • Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award

The 2020 National Book Award–nominated poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic—an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer—that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era.

The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,” a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’s words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans—the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers—Ailey carries Du Bois’s Problem on her shoulders.

Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother’s family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women—her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries—that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.

To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors—Indigenous, Black, and white—in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story—and the song—of America itself. 

Pigskins to Paintbrushes (Nonfiction Picture Book)

 

Publication date: August 17, 2021

Author and illustrator: Don Tate

This biography about the late athlete and artist Ernie Barnes is a fabulous window into an American success story. Ernest Barnes, Jr. was badly bullied in school for being different. He was not athletic in a time when athleticism in black boys was a way out of the ghetto. Instead, he loved to observe beauty and draw, but he also lived in a place where blacks were not allowed in museums. His mother, a domestic, worked for a lawyer who let young Ernie look through his art books in his library. In high school, a coach saw his sketchbook and encouraged him to get into bodybuilding which led to Barnes playing football in high school, college and the AFL. His art, which he was able to do after his early retirement, has a dynamic flow of bodies that comes from his observations and sketching while playing sports. 

This is a new person for me and although he died in 2009, I got to meet him and his art for the first time through this children's book and spent hours reading articles about him and his pieces like "Sugar Shack" below.