The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a coming of age story written in poetic verse. Xiomara Batista attends Catholic high school and forced by her mom to attend catechism classes. Her mom has a very strict idea of what her daughter should be. Boys are definitely off limits. Thus, she pours all her teenage angst into her prized notebook. Also lots of feelings about her classmate named Aman. It’s only when she joins the poetry club does she begin to find her voice. Unfortunately, she […]
Sonnet 43 and a bunch of cows
How do you know you have book burnout? (Yes, it is possible.) You look at two great potential books and ask yourself, “Didn’t I read this before?” And realize, no you did not, but you have read books like them. Fortunately feel good books are out there, but they seem to be saturating the market right now. Maybe they have always been there, and I have been out of the loop, but just seems there are a lot of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” out there. […]
Two different stories that tie into each other
Fur, Feather, Fin All of Us Are Kin and Mapping Sam are two science books that are not dull science. While Fur is more traditional science, it is written so it reads as a story. And Sam is a story that has information in it. Mapping Sam was my favorite out of the two. Joyce Hesselberth creates a story of a cat that puts their family to bed then goes out into the night on their nightly adventures. They explore all sorts of areas, climb […]
When the Ghosts Come Ashore and every place else
I know I read When the Ghosts Come Ashore. I am just not sure what I read. I mean I know what I read. Jaqcqui Germain is obvious: she explores the issues of race, gender, and violence. She talks about St. Louis and sees it live, laugh, love and bleed. She hits you in the gut and smacks you, too. But same time this is a love story. Germain is not for a one sit reading. You need to read each poem. Chew on it. […]