Thursday, December 22, 2016

FINISHED:
Ogburn, Jacqueline K. (2017). The Unicorn in the Barn. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[Reviewing for ACL - it doesn't actually come out until July.  Review soon...]

STARTED:  
Whitehead, Colson. (2016). The Underground Railroad. New York: Doubleday/Penguin Random House.

[.]

*

Saturday, December 17, 2016

FINISHED:
Gottesfeld, Jeff. (2016). The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank's Window. New York: Knopf. 

[.]

STARTED:
Ogburn, Jacqueline K. (2017). The Unicorn in the Barn. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]

*

Friday, December 16, 2016

FINISHED: 
Mittlefehldt, Rafi. (2016). It Looks Like This. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[I read for ACL, to weigh in on whether or not it should be included on our annual "Best Books of the Year" list.  And, my vote will be "No".  I was REALLY getting in to it - despite the very choppy sentence structure throughout - and then the last half of  the book turned out to be a major disappointment for me.

(SPOILER-ISH)
For one thing, I was expecting/REALLY hoping that the death-by-car-crash was going to turn out to be the rotten classmate who kept leering at Mike.  Sure, let Mike believe for a day or two that it was Sean - give us some despair - but then have him discover that it was, instead, the bully who had been fighting his own internalized homophobia, and let Mike end up with Sean, even if it won't be easy because of their conservative families.  This, because...

I believe that we just don't need gay tragedies right now.  This felt to me like the kind of book that would've been written in the 70s or 80s when the gay pride movement had an enormous uphill battle ahead of it.  Then, a tragic end to a gay love story would've at least been a reflection of the times - a bit of a cynical parable on the state of the country and the treatment/popular thought about homosexuality at that time.  BUT, we've come a LONG way since then, and, even now, have to push even harder to get over the last hurdle (stupid, white, conservative men...).  What we need are gay romances with happy endings - a la Tim Federle's THE GREAT AMERICAN WHATEVER or Becky Albertalli's fantastic SIMON vs. the HOME SAPIENS AGENDA.  Gay conversion therapy and suicide??  That kind of cynicism right now is just damaging.  Gay kids need to finally be able to revel in the fact that they, too, deserve true love.]

STARTED:
Gottesfeld, Jeff. (2016). The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank's Window. New York: Knopf.

[.]

*

Monday, December 12, 2016

FINISHED:
Medina, Juana. (2016). Juana & Lucas. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

STARTED:
Mittlefehldt, Rafi. (2016). It Looks Like This. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[Reading for ACL to see if I deem it to be "distinguished".  When, while trying to entice someone to read it, they said it had to do with a boy in the Midwest who was dealing with coming out to his not-so-understanding family, I jumped up and said, "Sounds familiar.  I'll take it!"]

*

Saturday, December 10, 2016

FINISHED: 
Sweet, Melissa. (2016). Some Writer!:  the Story of E.B. White. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]

STARTED:
Medina, Juana. (2016). Juana & Lucas. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

*

Thursday, December 8, 2016

FINISHED:
Reynolds, Jason. (2016). Ghost. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Sweet, Melissa. (2016). Some Writer!:  the Story of E.B. White. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[.]

*

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

FINISHED:
McMann, Lisa. (2016). Going Wild. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Reynolds, Jason. (2016). Ghost. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

*

Friday, December 2, 2016

FINISHED:
Holm, Jennifer L. (2016). Full of Beans. New York: Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
McMann, Lisa. (2016). Going Wild. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*