Catching Up on Middle Grade Books

I've been reading alot of adult non-fiction lately, so I was pretty behind on my middle-grade reads. Here are a few that I finished recently:

Dana Simpson's cartoons about Phoebe and her imaginary? unicorn are reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes. Phoebe confides in her friend, plays with her and sometimes comes to realizations containing adult wisdom, but it's not really clear if the unicorn is real, or if the people who interact with the unicorn are playing along.

I love reading historical fiction, and Dumas's book is a breath of fresh air in this genre. When most people think about historical fiction, they envision classic titles with outdated cover art, like:

But It Ain't So Awful, Falafel is set in the 1970's, so there are many familiar pop culture references like The Brady Bunch, the Beach Boys, and beanbag chairs.  Zomorod and her family are from Iran, but they are living in California when the revolution begins, and the American hostage situation crisis unfolds on televisions around the world. Her family gets a taste of the prejudice and intolerance that exists when people choose to be ignorant and close-minded, but ultimately Zomorod sees that people, no matter their country, religion or skin color, are willing to help others.

Since I enjoyed that historical fiction book so much, I went in search of another one. This book, with its young black heroine who exhibits bravery and strength throughout the story, is a good read for fans of Christopher Paul Curtis's book The Mighty Miss Malone.

The story begins with Stella and her younger brother Jojo witnessing a Ku Klux Klan meeting from afar. Knowing that the Klan has become active again in their town, they try to go about their lives as normally, and carefully, as possible. Stella attends school and enjoys it, even if she is not the best writer. She helps out at home, and enjoys community get togethers whenever possible. She observes people with interest and compassion, noting that although some people will only help people whose skin color matches their own, that other people treat everyone equally.  This book makes a good introduction to learning about the Klan's resurgence in the early 20th century; it sets the tone and contains basic information, but nothing graphic.

Pearls and Pencil Skirts

In honor of School Library Month, my co-worker and I decided to dress up as stereotypical librarians today. Enlightened people know that bespectacled, shushing old ladies wearing pearls are a thing of the past, and yet this image remains as the first one people think of when it comes to librarians.

Our school library is not often quiet, and most of the kids are very comfortable in it (sometimes, maybe a little too comfortable, but that's another discussion). But once in a while we have transfer students come in who are in awe that they are allowed to talk in the library. 

Just to draw attention to this disparity, we donned pencil skirts, sensible shoes, pearls and glasses, and shushed all the students.

They were actually very confused; I think that's the first time they've ever been shushed by a librarian.

They were overdue for a good shushing.

Get it?

Overdue?

Libraries?

.  . .yeah.  .  .

Movie Resolution

I often use my breaks to watch old movies that I haven't seen before, and continue to expand my knowledge on the Golden Age of Hollywood. These are the ones I've watched so far this week:

The Hucksters (1947)

Not much new here: Clark Gable playing a radio advertising agent who lives by his own morals, not the morals of society. He has a gorgeous gal (Ava Gardner) who's head over heels in love with him, and he likes her alot too. He doesn't expect to fall in love with a woman who has two small children, but her old-fashioned beliefs and dedication to her family have a mystique he's never encountered before, so he makes up his mind to secure a position that brings in alot of dough, so that he can marry her and properly support his new family. These types of roles always seem like they must have been easy money for Gable, but he's always believable in them.

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

Definitely worth watching, but only if you watch the version that's been restored. This film was cut down and heavily censored when it was in theaters, not surprising when you see the gritty parts of the story. A young girl, Thymian, becomes upset when her family's housekeeper leaves unexpectedly. It turns out that Thymian's father impregnated her, and after she drowns herself, her body is brought back to the house. Then Thymian gets taken advantage of, and she also ends up pregnant. She is forced to give up her baby, and is sent to a girls' reformatory. When she finally escapes, she has no money or job skills, and is not welcome at home anymore, so she becomes a prostitute. Despite all her trials and tribulations, she comes out on top, with grace and empathy for others. It's easy to fall in love with Louise Brooks when you watch her.

Man's Castle (1933)

Spencer Tracy will always play second fiddle to Clark Gable in my opinion, but this pre-code film stars him alongside Loretta Young, one of Gable's most infamous love interests. (Gable and Young co-starred in Call of the Wild, and there were numerous reports of their chemistry and flirting on set, despite the fact that Gable was married. Young gave birth to baby girl in 1935, and it was rumored for years that Gable was the father, although Young did not confirm this fact until 1999.) Man's Castle is a typical pre-code film, and a pregnancy out of wedlock is a turning point in the story, something which would not have gotten past the censors in later years. The movie is only a little over an hour, which is all we need to understand that Bill is an arrogant, sexist guy who doesn't ever want to settle down. Trina falls in love with him, even though he calls her a skinny bag of bones, and constantly  remarks that he's gonna "knock her teeth out" or leave her high and dry when she least expects it. Although Spencer Tracy was known to play some tough guy characters, this role is very flat compared to his more famous ones.

The Clock (1945)

It's a little strange to watch Judy Garland in a movie where she doesn't sing at all. It's categorized as a drama, but it's really more of a light romance. Garland was in her prime, and I'm not real familiar with Robert Walker, but his performance is enjoyable to watch. Alice trips over Joe's feet in Penn Station, and the heel of her shoe breaks. He helps her find a shoe repair shop, and they end up spending the rest of the day together, quickly falling in love. The whirlwind romances of soldiers is a common theme during this era of movies, which isn't surprising considering the impact of World War II. They decide to marry, and the ceremony is hurried and "ugly" as Alice describes it. Despite her disappointment that her wedding isn't what she'd always hoped, she realizes that love/marriage is more important than a ceremony, and she bravely kisses her new husband goodbye as he catches his train. The movie contains an overt message to the many young brides of this era, attempting to comfort them that even though they had quick and simple weddings, without white dresses and cake and bands, that their marriages are no less important than any others. The movie is cute, and I'm always a sucker for WWII romance. 

I couldn't help but think of my grandparents, who were married in a similar fashion at the beginning of the war. My grandmother was just 19 years old, wearing a nice dress, and my grandfather was 25, and getting ready to leave. Maybe there is something to simplicity; my grandparents were married for 56 years.

No less than the trees and the stars

Well, it's Spring Break week.  .  .and there's snow on the ground. I was hoping to spend this week cleaning up the yard, and using the warmer temp's to work on some furniture pieces outside. Obviously, the snow is not conducive to either activity. At least we got to spend a little time outside this weekend. I found this wooden canvas that I made last year from wood scraps. It was painted orange, but I never did anything further with it. So, I decided to let my son paint it to keep him occupied for a while.

He loves to paint, and I always let him pick out his own colors from my paint stash, and then he can do whatever he wants with them. The finished product turned out beautiful, with kind of a watercolor tie-dye effect.

Yesterday I put the words on it, and when the weather finally warms up, we'll put it in our yard.

I love using scrap wood for painting projects because it's putting those pieces to use instead of just throwing them away, and I get the wood scraps for free, (acrylic paint from Walmart ranges in price from 50 cents to $1.99, so the cost of these projects is minimal) and because they are all unique by design.

I like to paint outside because it's easy to clean up any messes, and it just feels nice to be creative when you're looking at the sky and sitting on the grass.

Pink Bunnies

Last month I posted about the work I was doing on my dining room. I was tired of having a mis-matched room, with junk all over the table. It wasn't functional or welcoming. So I devoted myself to making it over, and I wanted an excuse to use all my vintage embroidered linens and display all my dishes with pink rose designs.

I've been working on it some more, so here's a little update:

I had this antique bench in another room, but it never got much use or consideration. I outfitted it with a beautiful, antique quilt ($10 at a yard sale, years  ago) and some flowery-patterned pillows. It's in the corner of the room, right next to the window.

I brought this white metal plant stand inside, and put some vintage linens on it. I am using it to display some classic literature that fits in with the room. Anne of Green Gables, Frances Hodgson Burnett stories, and Alice in Wonderland all fit in.

The other day I was at Hobby Lobby and the Easter stuff was 90% off. I found more than a few things that could be displayed throughout the year including the porcelain rabbit statue. In fact, the room is acquiring kind of a rabbit theme, too:

vintage child dishes with bunnies, and my own silver baby bowl

rabbit patterned wallpaper that I framed

these little guys were from last year's Easter clearance sale

vintage pink musical toy rabbit

I didn't realize how many rabbit-themed things were in the dining room, and now it just seems like they're multiplying. It kinda reminds me of Uncle Jesse's bedroom on Full House:

Remember all those pink bunnies on the walls?

The rabbit theme is kind of funny, because just yesterday, we went outside to find an extra bunny in our yard. Our two, Ramona and Victor, were still safely tucked inside their hutch, but there was a gray and white one, pottering around.

It's like we're running a Bunny Bed n Breakfast!

This week is my Spring break, so I will be watching old movies, arting, baking and all sorts of good stuff. 

Stay tuned.

Cosplay Day

As part of our programming for School Library Month, we held a cosplay contest at school today.

We had to put some parameters in place to appease our admin's and ensure that it would not turn into a Halloween-esque free-for-all, especially since it was on the last day before Spring Break, and the students were already pretty riled up. The rule was that if students wanted to participate in the cosplay, the characters they dressed up as had to be derived from BOOKS.

As much as I appreciate the wonderful spectrum of cosplay that ranges from Star Trek to Disney Princesses, we wanted to emphasize libraries and literacy. Maybe if it catches on, in the future we could try to have a cosplay event with more room for interpretation.

We wanted to show the students that cosplay does not have to be expensive or impractical; essentially, it's a way for us to express our love for characters and stories that have impacted us and contributed to our identities. We chose to dress up as characters from the book series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. My co-worker and I both enjoyed that series, and the movies (well, at least the first movie) alot, and we both felt like we could relate to certain characters. She chose to represent Lena Kaligaris, and I wanted to be Tibby Rollins.

Tibby's the rebel of the group. She tends to be cynical and sarcastic, but underneath her angsty exterior, she is very sensitive.

In the first movie, she has blue streaks in her hair, so I purchased some 'spray on' color to match.

And of course, my co-worker and I both made sure our jeans reflected the spirit of the Sisterhood:

She used an old pair she already had, and I bought my pair at Salvation Army for $2.50.

Cosplay doesn't have to be expensive and it doesn't have to be flashy (though it can be, if you want it to be!).

We only had a handful of students participate, but the boy who won the contest dressed as a character from the Attack on Titan book series. He made his own props from duct tape, water bottles, and foam core. We also had a girl dress up as a character she created, and writes short stories about. And of course, there were more than a few Harry Potter fans, too.

I think low-key cosplay contests like this are a great way to introduce the concept to kids, and there are so many possibilities for how to tailor this type of fandom for different ages and audiences.

Movies Worth Watching

I finally got caught up on some of my movie viewing! I watched the trailer for the upcoming movie Christopher Robin and I realized I had never gotten around to watching Goodbye Christopher Robin. 

While the upcoming movie is a Disney production, the film was released this past fall is a British production. It's a biographical treatment of AA Milne's relationship with his son, and the toys and games that inspired him to write Winnie-the-Pooh and the books that followed. I always love 'the story behind the story' and understanding what England was like in the 1920's, struggling to recover from the shock and ruin of World War I, only enhances the cultural value of Milne's greatest works.

I didn't intentionally watch two movies starring Margot Robbie, but both were well worth  my time. I, Tonya is a stylized portrayal of the Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding, who was banned from the spot after she was connected with the attack on fellow figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

I watched this movie with my husband. He was hoping for an approach more like a documentary, but I liked the way the movie mixes facts with opinions and hearsay because that is the way was story was told in 1994. We didn't have court documents, we watched news programs and read tabloids, and made our own judgments about her and her family. Although the movie has some funny parts, I can't help but think of the whole story as a tragedy. Tonya Harding came from nothing and made it all the way to Olympics; a story worthy of Horatio Alger. If things had gone differently, she would have been a hero.  .  .as they are, she'll always be seen as a villain.

I love movies that don't really revolve around plot, instead offering us a glimpse into the character's life. Napoleon Dynamite is kind of like that, and even though Juno does have a central conflict, it also functions that way. 

This movie was advertised as a comedy-drama, but what really drew me in is it's 'coming of age' theme. I am a huge sucker for coming of age stories; in fact I did my final paper for one of my Children's Literature grad school courses on the movie Now and Then.

The story centers on Christine, aka Ladybird, a girl who attends Catholic high school. That alone would endear a story to my heart, but since it takes place in 2002, and I graduated highschool in 2000, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

I hope to do some more movie watching during my spring break.

Sorry, I'm Awkward. . .Sorry

I thought this was going to be a funny book, but it's much more academic than I expected.

In Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, Melissa Dahl examines a whole spectrum of human emotions and communication to pinpoint why we sometimes cringe out of pure awkwardness. When most people think of awkwardness now, they reference episodes of The Office, but she takes an in-depth look at circumstances and situations that make our current infatuation with awkwardness (TV shows, memes, funny t-shirts, etc.) understandable.

I know what the difference is between being embarrassed and feeling ashamed; embarrassment is a temporary, superficial state whereas shame is longer-lasting (sometimes permanent) and is felt on a much deeper level. For example, one time when I was in grad school, working at the mall to earn my rent money, I was in the food court picking up my lunch for the day. The heel on my shoe broke off, and I went down like a sack of bricks. Right in the middle of the food court. At the busiest time of day. Wearing a skirt. I got up, limped back to the store I worked at, ate my lunch alone and bought a new pair of shoes. It was very embarrassing, but it really only lasted for a few minutes, and I was able to laugh at myself almost immediately.  . .because I'm sure it looked pretty funny. 

Shame is an entirely different monster, and a much bigger and darker one. Shame is what I feel when I think back on certain moments when I know I've hurt someone with thoughtless words and selfish actions. I can't laugh it off, and I relive it every time I revisit those moments. 

Likewise, awkwardness isn't just making a joke that none of your friends get. It's not a bad hair day, or not knowing anyone at a party. Those scenarios are sometimes involved, but they are not the exact cause. Awkwardness at its core is the visceral reminder that we are all playing roles in our lives. It's what we feel when it becomes apparent to us that person we think we are/want to be is NOT the person we are projecting to others. When we become aware of the gap that exists between the two, we feel uneasy and disconnected from ourselves.

For example, my friend told me that she recently went on a hike with students and other staff members at the school she works at. She just started working there this year, so she is still trying to get know everyone. She wore a baseball hat on the hike to keep the sun out of her eyes, and she thought she must have looked good in it, because she felt good in it. But when she got home afterwards and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she saw that the hat does not fit her head very well, and it was kind of sitting on top of her head.  .  .she had gone all day, thinking she was projecting herself as confident and carefree, with a sporty appearance, and then she realized that she had probably looked ridiculous the entire time. That's Awkward.

My friend is gorgeous, with lovely blonde hair and a great smile; she doesn't have an "awkward" exterior. It's just in that moment, she became aware of the person that people were seeing in contrast to the way she felt she was being seen.

Dahl writes alot about the impact of social media of our perceptions of ourselves, and our obsession with how we look. Video telephones have long been thought to be the future, but they have never caught on to the degree that we thought they would. It makes sense: wouldn't wire communications be easier if we could see who we're talking to, and not just hear them? Of course. But we don't seem to want it that much, preferring texting and emailing and regular voice calls to video chats. Why?

Because we don't like looking at ourselves for that long, and we don't like thinking about how the other person is seeing us. Most people feel uneasy hearing their own voices, and many people don't like seeing how they look on video. We are used to seeing ourselves in mirrors, but the mirror image is a 'flipped' one, and seeing an image that is not inverted shows us how others see us, not how we see ourselves.

I was interviewed for a documentary a couple years ago, and when the producer emailed me the rushes, I was absolutely horrified. I cringed every time I saw the email sitting in my inbox. I had tried so hard that morning to apply my make-up perfectly, and curl my hair, and I picked out an outfit that wasn't too trendy or too dark (because I didn't want to look washed out).  .  .and my efforts were wasted. I despaired, and showed it to a co-worker, and she said "You just look like you." Really? That's how I look and sound all the time, to everyone in the world?!  Uuuuugggggghhhh.  .  .

Dahl discusses awkwardness ins specific settings, like on social media or at the workplace. The book is very funny at times, mostly because Dahl presents us with situations and inner monologues that many of us can relate to, despite not wanting to admit it, but I would consider this more of a sociology study than a comedic work.

                                                    This picture pretty much sums me up.

A Handbook for Something Hard

I'm a big believer in bibliotherapy. It doesn't mend broken bones, or cure mental illness, but sometimes reading the right book at the right time offers us comfort and understanding in a way that other people aren't able to. Not Funny Ha-Ha is an illustrated story which gives the reader a glimpse into the turbulent decision to end pregnancy.

I didn't want to say it's a graphic novel because I do not want anyone to interpret the word 'graphic' wrongly. This book is not about the medical/surgical procedure. This book is not about anyone's political agenda or religious beliefs. This book is not about justifying any woman's decision. 

This book is about the unimaginably painful and turbulent decision-making process about making the decision. This book is about finding a support system. This book is about allowing one's self to grieve, mourn, question, and maybe regret, the decision.

 

I also don't want anyone reading to think that the title makes a comedy of the decision. The story really isn't funny, and I believe the title is derived from one illustration in which a character is in a clinic waiting room, biding her time watching TV, and the movie Shrek is playing.  It's not really funny, but the movie is funny, and it's kind of ironic to have a funny movie playing in a waiting room filled with women who are nervous, solemn, frightened, and sad. Yet because she needs a distraction from her reality, she laughs at the movie.

I think this book treats the topic very sensitively, and would be a good inclusion in a high school library. 

If a reader IS seeking some reading material on this topic that is more politically charged, then I'd recommend this one:

Comics for Choice also offers narratives from different women's experiences with abortion, but the comic strips here seemed less about grief and healing, and more about promoting awareness and getting support for political agendas. It's very informative, and it is obviously relevant to Hayes' book, but the books have different tones.