CBR 16 Bingo – Celestial: The book is based around a continuous metaphor of Octavia Butler being from the stars or generally connected to them.
A couple of years ago, I got the opportunity to go to the Walter Dean Myers awards, and this was one of the runners-up. I probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise, especially since I haven’t read any of Octavia Butler’s works, but I got it and it seemed like a good fit for Bingo this year, so I finally got around to reading it.
This book tells the story of Octavia Butler’s life through a combination of poetry, prose talking about history, and quotes from Butler herself. The combination of these styles causes the narrative of Octavia Butler’s life to be woven beautifully. I really appreciated this aspect in particular because it made the book much more multi-dimensional and I think it would make it much more interesting for younger readers than a straight biography.
I enjoyed this book but, I think due to its audience being young readers, some of the poems were sometimes one-dimensional and a lot of things were repeated unnecessarily. The point of having the prose was to explain the context behind the poems, but I found some of these prose to be unnecessary and repeating information or context that I found obvious from the poems.
However, overall, it was an interesting book that was well written, and I would have probably appreciated it more if I were its intended audience. For younger readers, I think it would be an interesting and engaging read about Octavia Butler’s life, even if they didn’t know who she is.