I have one word: DAMN! I noticed this cover. It was very odd. But lately people are trying to go with more “artistic” covers and things that “have not been done before.” Of course, by doing that, they have already done it, therefore it is not new. I still gave it a more careful look. Noticed it was Jack Gantos (SCORE!) and then saw the title. A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library Well, that’s a bit of light reading isn’t it? I picked it […]
Franny’s Father is a Feminist
Franny’s father knows that girls can do anything that boys can do. And he supports her in all of her endeavors. The straight forward text and shows the bond between a modern father and his daughter. It has a very modern tone. Franny’s Father is a Feminist by Rhonda Leet and Megan Walker show how a male can be a feminist, too. Not overly “preachy” it will not be for everyone. Some people embrace the word Feminist, others not as much. This book truly is […]
Such a Tough Subject Matter, It Took Me Two Months to Write This Review
Most of the YA I read tends to fall into either the dystopian future or fantasy bucket, but with all the buzz and positive reviews, I decided to give this one a shot (it also happened to be February so what better time to read this?). Then I put off reviewing it for almost two months because I wasn’t sure how to properly do justice to the novel. Many of the themes explored in this novel will feel familiar because Angie Thomas has quite a […]
More Bad Ass Librarians Needed
Last review of the year, here we go. Not counting the epilogue, this book runs 227 pages. The first and last 50 pages contain some genuine bad-ass librarianism. The middle 100 pages are the political history of the region, which is relevant and good info to know, but seems to be a separate narrative (non-fictional, but still a different story). If you title a book The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, most of the book should be about that. This is the problem with the book. […]
Sore Thumbs
This year I started teaching a class of Seniors. It had long been a goal, and now I got to do it. I wanted to create as much of a collegiate simulacrum as I could. So I brewed up some lectures and led each week of instruction, discussion and reflection around a prominent theme in literature generally–with specific attention paid to African-American experiences (slightly awkward for a transparently white guy to do for a class full of black kids). And to guide my lecture creation […]