iggie's house. judy blume. (284)

after seeing judy blume last tuesday for her book, in the unlikely event, i decided to reread all of our books.  and since june 17, is blumes day (though i might be the only one keeping it going), i decided to check out whatever was at the library that i didn't recall reading as a kid or needed to reread because i forgot what it was about.  i decided to read them in chronological order based on publishing date.

the first then was iggie's house.  i remember owning a copy of the book as a kid but i never finished it.  i remember the cover had a white girl with a family if black kids sitting on a porch.  on this cover, in front of a home, is the sign stating "go back where you belong! we don't want your kind around here"!this cover, let me know from the beginning that it would be about racism specifically based on housing policies.  

iggie's house was told from the perspective of winnie.  her best friend, iggie just moved to tokyo, and though she was sad about this, she was excited to meet the new family that moved in.  to everyone's surprise, the new family is negro or as winnie points out they call themselves black.  i did appreciate how blume took the time to explain via winnie that people should be defined as seen fit.  when making up her petition, she noted how her teacher used "negro", mrs. landon "colored", but the garbers, called themselves black.  due to their skin tone, one neighbor, mrs. landon, tried to get them to move out.  winnie knows this is not right and as the novel unfolds winne learns that the world is not always black and white when it comes to race.

winnie was a great character in they she doesn't discriminate, and tried to make friends with the gerber regardless of their skin color.  for kids growing up in the seventies, this is an important lesson considering that the decade before blacks and whites were still segregated.  however, it was disheartening to see her parents not stand up out right for the garbers.  her father was a little more forward thinking then her mom, but no one out right said racism was wrong.  the same went for her teacher, though it is true, we shouldn't like a specific race because we pity them it just as bad as  discrimination, but i wish he would have given a less PC answer.  but i guess it just goes to show that that is how it was then, people knew racism was wrong but no one really did anything to truly stop it. so, i shouldn't be that harsh on blume for not writing a more progressive adult character.  she was probably being true to her experience.  these people grew up in segregated america, so it would be hard to teach them new tricks.

furthermore, winnie demonstrated that any social change does come via the new generation.  and had we need to

make sure to teach her children to be accepting and tolerant of everyone.

the sellout. paul beatty. (269)

i came across paul beatty's the sellout on flavorpill's list of must read books for march.  the description stated:  

One of the best books of the year so far, and one of the funniest in decades (in a laughing-to-keep-from-crying kind of way — the sharpest, most lasting humor), The Sellout is a major work from the wildly talented Beatty, the author of two books of poetry and three previous novels, including the cult classic The White Boy Shuffle. The biting satire on race in America that we need in these times, it follows a gentleman farmer nicknamed “Bonbon” with the last name of Me as he, well, reinstates slavery (with the help of the last living Little Rascal) and brings back segregation. The result gets him in front of the Supreme Court, in a case called “Me vs. The United States of America.” This is a difficult and dazzling book that, if we’re lucky, we’ll be talking about for a long time to come. 

i could just make this post that blurb and say read the book.  but i will also share my thoughts on it.  however, i really think you should read the book first, and then come back to this post.

the book also had a blurb on it's backcover from sarah silverman that was spot on as well, "the sellout is brilliant.  amazing. like demented angels wrote it."

yes, this novel is something demented angels wrote.  this book speaks honestly and truthfully about race, but in the most absurd way.  as shared in the flavorpill post, the protagonist, bonbon, brings back slavery and segregation.  bonbon was a farmer that sold pot and delicious fruit (i have to admit his watermelon sounded good!) south los angeles, in the tiny town of dickens that had been erased from the maps.   in an attempt to bring dickens back, he also brought slavery and segregation but instead of regress, dickens progressed.

when we are first introduced to bonbon he was in dc for his supreme court trial. he didn't share with us his crimes but the fact that arresting him for getting high at the lincoln memorial was pointless.  bonbon appeared to not give any fucks about what is going on, but as we will see later on, it was because he didn't really do anything wrong.  bonbon's actions were misconstrued and he is a hero instead of criminal.

bonbon had an odd childhood.  his father, though gifted with the art of n*gger whispering (calming down suicidal n*ggers), was cray.  he made bonbon the subject of numerous replications of social science experiments but with a racial twist.  for example, to test out the bystander effect", he decked out bonbon with expensive chains and electronics and then mugged him.  however, instead of people helping bonbon, they helped his father beat him.  bonbon's unorthodox upbringing made him a little off as a person but that ended up helping him change the dickens.  ultimately, bonbon's father was shot by police while trying to help a suicidal person.  this resulted in bonbon becoming the new n*gger whisperer and motivated him to reclaim dickens.

bonbon did not purposely reinstate slavery, it actually just showed up one day on his doorstep, well his front yard, in the form of hominy jenkins.  hominy was a member of the "little rascal", his role was akin to buckwheat but more racist from the description.  he was a celebrity around dickens but when the town went so did his fame, because people couldn't find him.  due to this, hominy attempted suicide but bonbon saved him and as a thank you, hominy became his slave.

however, hominy was only a slave in name.  he didn't really do any work and demanded that he be whipped on wednesday.  not wanting to whip

an old man, bonbon took him to a dominatrix!

through hominy, different race issues are examined.  for one is the tradition minstrelsy, as we all now know and recognize it is racist.  however, it is demonstrated through hominy that he was very serious and proud of his acting. and i felt that actors who played racist roles in history should not be scorn for the roles they played but celebrated for working in such a racist industry like entertainment.  i also related this to current shows like fresh off the boat and blackish, which have both received backlash for being racist.  however, i enjoy both shows and yes they do portray stereotypes but isn't television about generalizations and stereotypes?  plus the actors are asian and black and they don't have an issue with the roles they are portraying so i am not sure how this backlash happen.  also, i think to certain point these characters are relatable regardless of ethnicity.  and for the record i am not saying minstrelsy is okay but i do not think it exist in the modern world or post racial america.

another thing that hominy was the direct cause of was the segregated bus.  for his birthday, hominy wanted to give up his seat to a white person the the bus.  ironically, no white people were on the bus, so bonbon hired an actress.  in addition to that a plaque was put up that read:  

priority seating for seniors, disabled, and whites 

instead of causing an uproar, the sign actually resulted in the bus being one of the safest ones. people became

more respectful because they were reminded of how much progress needs to be made.  i can actually see this working in real life.  i never really considered myself a feminist however after reading literature on how oppressed women really are, i have become

more of a feminist.  and this is the issue with race right now in a post racial

america.  by ignoring race and racism because supposedly things are better now, america will continue to have inqualities among the races.  you can't solve a problem if most of society does not think it exists.

the segregating of the schools stemmed from the bus.  bonbon put up signs for a fake academy that catered toward white students.  this fake academy became motivation for the students of dickens to start working more since they were excluded from the academy.  students were achieving and due to this white students wanted to attend school with the blacks and latinos.  in the end, this need to desegregate the schools resulted in bonbon going on trial in front of the supreme court.

at his trial, bonbon's attorney recoded the question "what is blackness, your honor?" he explained that based on bonbon's father's theory there were different stages of blackness:

neophyte negro:  "here the black lesson exists in a state of preconsciousness. . . the neophyte is scared of his own black was." examples given:  michael jordan, colin powell, and condoleezza rice.

stage II is "capital b black":  "a heightened awareness of race." examples given:  jesse jackson, sojourner truth, and kim kardashian. (lol.  i am serious!)

stage III is "race transcendentalism", "a collective consciousness that fights oppression and seeks serenity".  examples given: rosa parks, harriet Tubman, sitting bull, cesar chavez, and ichiro suzuki

bonbon believed there needsd to be a stage IV called "unmitigated blackness" which would be "simply not giving a fuck".  examples given: clarence cooper, charlie parker, richard pryor, maya deren, sun ra, mizoguchi, frida kahlo, black-and-white godard, celine, gong li, david hammons, björk, and wu-tang clan.  (yes, i loved that my girls frida and björk got an a shout out!!)

as bonbon explained, "unmitigated blackness is coming to the realization that as fucked up and meaningless it all is, sometimes it's the nihilism that makes life worth willing."  that was deep to me.  i have often explained how faith in nothing can be actually cause one to embrace it all.  beatty summed it up perfectly.  i can't say more.  this is the lesson of this amazing work.

i would end it here on this high note, but have to do some gushing.

i have to add that in addition to having great commentary on race, it also raised interesting points about los angeles as a city, ie the trend of neighborhoods labeling themselves and how the city is segregated based on race and class.  he made the excellent point of how "you can  find korean taco trucks only in white neighborhoods." something that slapped me in the face with how true that is. god i am such white hipster trash though i am mixed race! i have to also ass that i did love that one of my favorite la landmarks, tito's tacos!!!, got a shout out.

first of all, i loved beatty's pop references.  bebe's kids, turtle from entourage, coral from the real world all got hilarious mentions.  also it's my theory that adam y____ from the trial is adam yauch from the beastie boys but i can be reading into his free tibet shirt too much.

also there was a character, foy chesire who read like he would be the love child of oprah and al sharpton.  he was rewrote classics and other beloved books for young black readers.  i felt bonbon's regret for not saving them because they were quite clever, as a book lover i loved the puns:

the perjorative-free adventures and intellectual spiritual journeys of african-american jom and his protege,

white brother huckleberry fun as they go in search of the lost black family unit 

the great blacksby

uncle tom's condo

the point guard in the rye

the dopeman cometh

me talk white one day

as you can see this book is hilarious but deep, and a definite must read!!!

  

brown girl dreaming. jacqueline woodson. (260)

i checked out jacqueline woodson's brown girl dreaming after i read that it won the national book award for young people's literature.  i remember seeing articles about someone making an offensive joke at the awards ceremony but regardless was still excited for

it's win and couldn't wait to read it.

this book was truly amazing.  it is a collection of poems which made me weary, because i am not good with poetry. however, it was free verse and read more like prose then poetry.  as a whole, the poems are a memoir, sharing woodson's life growing up in both the north and south during the civil rights era.  the poems also share woodson's childhood dream of becomig a writer.

i initially considered getting this book as a gift for my friend tiffany but figured i should read a book first before i gift it.  i really wish i had just given it to her.  the beginning of the book reminded me of her parents.  her father grew up in the south and her mother in california and just like jacqueline's parents, their experiences with discrimation and racism in america differed.  papa gibson is always telling us stories about how it was in the south and mama gibson shares how she never experienced any of that.  woodson's father's family in the north lived in a very different america then her mother's family in the south. it was inspiring to see how woodson's family from the north had a long string of professionals in their family which fueled a desire for success for the younger generations.  yet at the same time it was frustrating to see her mother's family still suffering from discrimination due to jim crow laws. 

brown girl dreaming is more then just a memoir because through her poems woodson tells a part of america's history that normally goes untold or unstudied.  her poems covered the meetings held by marchers, the training necessary for lunch counter sit-ins, the rise of the black panther movement, choosing to wear one's hair natural, there was even a poem about angela davis.  woodson gave voice to the black experience in america. 

her poems also shared woodson's personal history, her time as a baby in ohio, then in the south when her parents divorce and finally in new york.  due to this i connected to the poems personally. since woodson was raised by her grandparents in the south, i related to the poems about them.  some of her poems reminded me of my grandma bea and grandpa jimmy.  "the blanket" woodson shared how when her mom first left for new york, they were not sad because:

. . . the weight 

of our grandparents' love like a blanket

with us beneath it

safe and warm.

though my mother was a single mom, i never felt at a disadvantage because my grandparents' love was greater than i would have had from my father.

"two gods, two worlds" reminded me of my grandpa jimmy.  he was a muslim and i was raised mormon.  as i have shared before, i didn't understand why we would be separated in heaven simply because of our faiths shouldn't our love for each other be more important?  in this poem, woodson who is jehovah wondered what will happen to her grandfather based in lessons she learned about armageddon.  the poem ended with

but i want the world where my daddy is

and don't know why

anybody's God would make me

have to choose.

"bubble-gum cigarettes"

this is exactly how i felt when i realized that my grandfather and i could never be sealed together as the lds church believes is the way for families to stay together in heaven.  i couldn't believe god could be so heartless in dividing up families when we have no choice in who we are sent to and then develop love for each other only to be split up in heaven based on faith.

and since jill was technically my grandpa's favorite all of the poems woodson shared about her grandpa reminded me of my sister and my grandpa.  

the other poems i enjoyed were:

"south carolina at war" in which her grandfather explained to woodson and her siblings why the protesting was going on in the south.  it closes with 

Because you're colored, my grandfather says.

And just as good and bright and beautiful and free as anybody.

and nobody colored in the South is stopping,

my grandfather says,

until everybody knows what's true.

"ghosts" which shared how "whites only" signs were painted over in greenvills except for the bathrooms when a lot of paint wasn't used so the words were "like a ghost standing in front still keeping you out."

"lessons" about how woodson's mom never learned to cook because instead of learning, she wanted to play outside like the boys.  mama realized it wasn't fair that the boys played while the girls were inside, a step forward for feminism though a step back for mom (because know she doesn't know how to cook.)

"stevie and me" in which at the library, woodson discovered stevie which featured characters that looked like her.  she shared:

I'd never believed 

that someone who looked like me

could be in the pages of the book

that someone who looked like me

had a story.

"learning from langston" in which woodson demonstrated how she mimicked hughes' poems to learn how to write.

"music" which shared how woodson's mom didn't let them listen to songs that had the word funk, so they listened to white radio stations.

how too listen #8 

do you remember . . .?

someone's always asking

and someone else, always does.

"the revolution" which likens the revolution to a merry-go-round.

"every wish, one dream" in which woodson wishes on everything to be a writer. (which we all know comes true!)

reading this book was a wonderful experience and i learned so much from it, i can only imagine what young adults will gain.  i highly recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as i much as i did.

bad feminist. roxane gay. (234)

i, first came across roxane gay's collection of essays, bad feminist, via flavorpill.  i didn't give it much thought but after she was all over my instagram feed (i follow a lot of bookish accounts), i decided i needed to check it out.  and i am glad i did!  this is a must read for every woman  . . . and man too.

i consider myself a feminist, i believe that women are not the weaker sex and should be treated the same as men.  women should not be restricted by the boundaries that society had deemed appropriate and acceptable for them.  i took a women studies course at ucla and did very well in it (i should have minored in women studies.) i have made it a point to read more women authors this year.  it's not a title, most people associated me with, but feminist is one that i would proud about if labeled it.  (and this is prior to bey making it cool to be a feminist.)

however, i do realize that like gay, i am a bad feminist.  and like gay, i embrace that title.  as gay shared,

i embrace the label of bad feminist because i am human.  i'm messy.  i'm not trying to be an example.  i am not trying to be perfect.  i am not trying to say i have all the answers.  i am not trying to say i'm right.  i am just trying--trying to support what i believe in, trying to do some good in the world, trying to make some noise with my writing while being myself:  a woman who loves pink and likes to get freaky and sometimes dances her ass off to music, she "knows" is terrible for women and who sometimes plays dumb with repairmen because it's easier to let them feel macho than it is to stand on the moral high ground.

this felt spot on.  i do believe in equality between sexes but love it when men open doors for me and if on a date, i do expect them to pay for dinner.  if i am carrying something heavy and with a male, i expected him to carry it for me.  it doesn't make me less of a feminist, just human.

the term bad feminist allows for these inconsistencies not only with us as humans but also feminism as a movement.   feminism, like all movements, covers a variety of concerns and issues, gay's point is that in order to be a feminist you don't need to be true to everything, but simply believe in the progression of women's rights.  she does point out that feminism is flawed with its lack of concern for women of color and homosexuals.  however, though it is flawed, gay is hopefully that her voice along with others will help create room for everyone within feminism.

before i go, i must add that as i read the intro, i felt bad about my judging of beyonce.  my dislike of beyonce came with an anthem that i should have loved, "run the world (girls)."  i felt like she was stealing other artists' thunder, the cool funky part of this song was actually major lazer and then she performed that billboard awards she totally copied another artist.  all this left a bad taste in my mouth.  then, the whole feminist thing seemed more like a marketing ploy than anything else.  i mean it was great that she sampled chimamanda nogzi adichie, because the world needed to hear that ted talk and read her novels.  i read americanah because of "flawless". however, i felt like adichie's words were being bastardized by the context beyonce put them in.  how does "my man made me feel so god damn fine, i'm flawless!" align with the discussion women not fighting for or finding worth in the attention from men.  and as my cousin kristel pointed out, doesn't "bow down bitches" go against adichie's words that women should not be in competition with one a other.  for these reasons, my dislike began to grow.  also the music video for "pretty hurts" was so self-righteous, yes i am sure beyonce struggled with her body and it not finding into the model mold, but lets get serious, she now has designers creating for her, so can she not preach about the world putting pressure on women to be pretty in her couture.  the fashion industry she shows off via her dazzling outfits is the beast that feeds these high standards of beauty.  however, gay made me realize that i was being a bad feminist for critiquing bey like this.  it is ignorant of me to expect her to be perfect, so bey, i am sorry.  also, i should be grateful that she has made it so that girls and women today are not afraid to be labelled a feminist.

just like i don't always agree with beyonce, it was the same with gay.  for the most part, i agreed with points she made however, i did reach some points where i lost interest in what she had to say.  but regardless of how i felt, i was engaged, i loved her writing style and her witty little quips made me feel like we could be friends.

the essays are divided into the following sections:  [me], [gender & sexuality], [race & entertainment], [politics, gender & race].

[me] as expected discussed gay, her work and her hobby, competitive scrabble.  yes, competitive scrabble, that essay was a hoot and gay is good!

the first essay in this section discussed her work as a professor and what she encountered as an advisor for a black students association.  she also explained how a co-workers remark about affirmative action drove her to work hard, ultimately gaining her ph.d but still worried she isn't good enough.  

the second essay, "peculiar beliefs" made the interesting point of everyone neglecting to recognize their privilege and only wanting to focus on their oppression.  though i am a person of color, a female and came from a single parent home and lived in a rural area, i was aware that i was privileged growing up.  this knowledge came via kids pointing out the material goods (aka nike shoes and guess jeans) that i had in elementary school.  we weren't rich but i was privileged for the area.  i also had a family that was very involved and cared about my education.  now i am not saying that i life the high life, but just demonstrating the fact that i never saw myself as disadvantaged.  as gay called out her readers at the end, "if you are reading this essay, you have some kind of privilege . . . if you cannot recognize your privilege, you have a lot of work to do; get started."

[gender & sexuality] cover just that.  the first essay, "how to be friends with a another woman" is a definite must read!  i wanted to copy it and share it with all of my friends, primarily to thank them for being just great friends!  just great sound advice.  i even instagramed my favorite:

the second essay "girls, girls, girls", as i was anticipating, discussed hbo's "girls" and i understand all of gay's critiques, but still think "girls" is the best,  gay's brings up the color issue which i have discussed before, but just add some food for thought because gay also discussed how women need a television show that shows women with their act together.  to which i say but that is not the point of "girls".  dunham created the show to demonstrate what life is like for twentysomethings now and i think she is spot on.  i am a thirtysomething but see my past messy self in the girls of "girls".  secondly, it's unfortunate because the lack of diversity on show is not due to dunham's racism but probably from the lack of diversity in her action life.  and i don't hate her for it, it's just a reality of life.  i have always had very diverse group of friends, but not everyone is like that.  people tend to stick to their own race, it's unfortunate but it happens.  also growing up, i never new any jewish people so a depiction of my life would exclude jewish people but it shouldn't make that work anti-semitic, it is simply a reflection of the reality that i knew.  gay recognized that it is unfair to expect "girls" to be everything to everyone and that we have put an unjust demand for it to be inclusive.  and that the real issue is that programming as a whole needs to change.  i have to add that gay mentioned "girlfriends" in his article, and how it showed women of color being responsible and having jobs.  i really need to start watching it, i hope netflix or hulu pick it up to show.

in "i was once miss america", gay plays tribute to the girls of "sweet valley high". i read part of that series but was not into like gay was into it.  and though reading the novel as a haitian girl, she was able to identify with the twins of sweet valley.  as she explained, "some experiences are universal.  a girl is a girl whether she lives in omaha or sweet valley."

in "garnish, glorious spectacles", i recognized how bad my television guilty pleasures, bravo's housewives and all of the celebreality vh1 shows, truly were, not due to it being bad television, but the horrible, female stereotypes it upheld.  gay loved these shows too, so i don't feel as bad.  but it is horrible how we watch these shows to feel better about herself and be thankful that we aren't such train wrecks.  and in the end, gay points out that perhaps we watch it because its actual a reflection of ourselves.  

in "the careless language of sexual violence", i was appalled to learn about how the new york times framed the gang-raping of an 11 year old girl as the victim's fault and sympathized with the rapist.  i'm not always up to date on current events, so this was not on my radar when it happened.  however, i did google and read the article and other posts about it.  i still can not believe that the nyt allowed for this story to be ran.  i will add that i am thankful to life in an each in which i can google a story and also see all of the critiques of it as well in a search.

another thing that i did not agree with gay, her love of the hunger games trilogy.  though her love for these works, kind of makes me want to actual finish all three books.  i read the hunger games on the advice of friends before the movies and all the hoopla around it.  i, for one, did not enjoy it.  there was a lot of living going on for something that was suppose to be a fight to the death.  i mean i get it, its a young adult novel, but i was still disappointed that it turned into some kind of weird love story.  so i saw the first movie, and actually enjoyed it more.  then just stopped caring about the hunger games.  however, now i feel like i should read it, because katniss is a good role model for girls, as gay pointed out.  so i feel like i should read them in the name of girls that rock!

i am so thankful that gay wrote "dear young ladies who love chris brown so much that they would let him beat them".  i, for one, do not understand how chris brown is still famous and how women still love him.  this article addresses my confusion.

"blurred lines, indeed" made me feel so bad.  i absolutely loved "blurred lines" when it came out.  it was my jam, i once had a dj play it for me twice in one night.  i loved the beat and it was catchy and the lyrics were funny.  however, i did not realize just how misogynistic it was, okay, maybe i did, but i still loved to dance to it.  i like the music but i i hate the message.  i know i can solve this problem by not listening to it, at the same time its just music.  though gay points out that this "lighten up" mentality does not alleviate these problems.  i guess i can just hope for a future in which misogynistic undertones in pop culture will go away because it has gone away in our culture.

gay discussed the 50 shades of gray trilogy, and all i can say, is how did women read that crap?  i mean i am glad that women were reading, but seriously there was nothing sexy about a controlling man.  controlling in the bedroom, if you are into bdsm life style yes.  but controlling as in buying the company you work for and wanting to know where you are all the time, is just frightening and women should not tolerate it just because the sex is good.  i have never read it, and now i never will.   i will add, this essay discussed how prince charming is just an illusion and that women need to understand that they can not change men and if a man is not treating you as he should be, you need to get out of that relationship.

on last note about this section, in it gay discussed in pieces, how she was a victim of sexual violence as a young girl.  at the risk of sounding insensitive or using the wrong words, just wanted to share that i appreciate her allowing the reader into such a private matter.  her writing on it felt therapeutic though i can't speak for her.  i will add that she did create an environment in which her readers that are victims of sexual violence can feel comfort in knowing that they are not alone. 

[race & entertainment], this collection of essays, is where i disagreed with gay the most.  primarily, because i see movies as entertainment and though it is insensitive of me, just felt like sometimes you have to take movies just as an escape then rather analyze everything.  and i know that movies influence how we frame the world and also reflect how we frame the world, but i felt she was being too critical in this section,

[politics, gender & race].  her article "when twitter does what journalism can't" gay demonstrated the power of twitter.  again i am bad with the current events, but so i learned about senator wendy davis' filibuster the next day.  however, gay learned of it via twitter thanks to one activist that live tweeted the filibuster.  gay also explained that the larger networks did not cover it, but there was a livefeed via youtube, where she was able to watch it.  it is shocking how much of our news gets shared via twitter and facebook.  i have mentioned before in post that i always get my celebrity death news via twitter.  oh and just wanted to add kudos to senator davis for being an amazing woman!!!

"the inalienable rights of women" is another must read for women.  it was one that got my blood boiling because of the little control, we women have over our bodies.  and i think what is even more frustrating that there is so much discussion about birth control, yet men can just walk down to the corner store and pick up condoms whenever they want.  where is the regulation of that?!?!?  it was so upsetting to read about some states requiring women to get ultrasounds before receiving an abortion.  virginia went so far as to require transvaginal ultrasounds.  i have discussed it before, i have never been in a position in which i needed to decide whether or not i wanted an abortion.  however, i can not imagine being in that position and not only having to struggle with my making the right decision for myself but then having the government add in their ignorant two cents.  at the end of the day, it is my body and i need to make the decision that is best for me.  women need to be allowed to chose for themselves without the government interfering.  furthermore, i do agree with gay that if the government does continue to limit women's right in regards to abortions, women will go underground to take care of the situation as they have throughout history.

these are just some highlights from the essays.  gay covered a variety of issues and gave me a lot of food for thought.  this was an excellent read not only for giving voice to issues that are often ignored but for simply encouraging the reader to question the world we live in.  this novel doesn't have all the answers or solve the problems we face as society, instead it adds dialogue to ongoing discussions of gender, race, sexuality, politics, in hopes that the world will improve.     

the lottery and other stories. shirley jackson. (216)

after reading we always lived in the castle, i decided to check out shirley jackson's other works.  i am too chicken shit to read the house on haunting hill, so instead decided to check out her short story, "the lottery".  wikipedia claimed it as "one of the most famous short stories in American literature", so i decided to give it a read.  it did take me a while to build up the courage to read it.  though we always lived in the castle was more creepy and demented then outright scary, i was still weary of reading "the lottery". i wasn't sure what to expect.

if you have never read "the lottery", stop right here and go read it.  it won't take you long.  also stop here if you plan on reading it because a there are spoilers.

***spoilers****

turns out, i was worried for nothing.  "the lottery" though demented did not scare me like i had anticipated.  in fact, it was a little lackluster, though i blame the hunger games for my lack of shock, i knew someone was going to die.  "the lottery" is the story of a lottery; every year, in order to reap a good harvest of corn, the village, as all villages do, gather for the lottery.  there was talk among the villagers that some villages had stopped it, but their talk disapproved of the breaking of tradition.  the whole village gathered and all the heads of the family, picked a piece of paper from a black box (sounds like the katniss and her story, right?).  the family with the black dot must then picked again.  then the family member with the black dot is  . . . stoned to death.  shocking and demented, but not that surprising since in the hunger games someone is elected to die to benefit the collective.  i wonder if collins was inspired by "the lottery", i mean as i read, i felt like i was reading the hunger games.  but jackson, the better writer, had the guts to kill the person, sending home the message of how dangerous outdated traditions can be.  i feel like every analysis that i read about jackson's "the lottery" and her a handful of other short stories, mentioned her call against conformity, and that is clearly seen in this story.  a great story, and i think i would have found it absolutely brilliant, if my mind had not been tainted by the hunger games first.

i ended up reading the rest of the stories in this collection (it is the year of the short story).  i was expecting them to be dark and scary like ghost stories, but they really weren't.  i mean they were dark, jackson is american gothic (though i am not truly sure of what is meant by the term because i never finished flannery o'connor's collection of short stories).  they were enjoyable reads and many contained very important morals.

one of the darker ones i enjoyed was "the daemon lover", which i discovered takes its name from scottish ballad about a man james harris (the name harris also appears in alot of stories, i am not sure why, i almost felt like jackson's stories came from the same universe, think pixar universe, and so harris' mentioned were all the same person!) who lures a lover away from her family and husband.  in the short story, a woman, was waiting for her lover, jamie or james harris.  they are to be married that day but he never shows up.  she then went on a wild goose chase after him.  at first, you feel bad for her because she can not find him, but then you start to question if she is sane.  she ended up outside of an apartment where she hears voices.  it is then shared that she returns to the apartment every day trying to find him.  so yes in fact, she was crazy.

another i loved was "charles". i knew the ending before i read it, simply from having to deal with kids all the time.  the story is told from the perspective of a mother, whose son has just started kindergarten.  the son came home every day with outrageous stories of a little boy, charles.  charles was constantly in trouble.  in the end, the mother learned from the teacher that there is no charles!!  i really wish that this short story could be included in parent handbooks for every school year! so many times parents do not realize that their kids are the troublemakers.

"the seven types of ambiguity" broke my heart, since i am a book lover.  the setting of a story is a bookstore.  there was a very well-educated and well-read young man that wanted to purchase a beautiful copy of "the seven types of ambiguity."  on this visit, a man, who was less educated but rich came into the store to purchase books to start reading since he never had a chance to before.  the young man recommended books to him.  the young man left the store, and at the register, the rich man inquires about the book he was looking at.  i hoped he was purchasing it for the young man but he purchased it for himself!  i was so upset at the owner for allowing him to buy it, it was obvious the young man loved the book and the rich man was buying it for vanity purposes.  it broke my heart.  demonstrating how some seek knowledge for personal betterment and others for vanity sake's.  another story that shared this same lesson was "afternoon in linen", in which a grandmother attempted to brag about how well rounded and educated her granddaughter, was embarrassed when her granddaughter confessed to copying a poem out of a book.

the other two stories that i enjoyed touched upon racial prejudice.  the first, "after you, my dear alphonse",  was the story of a little boy johnny that brought home his friend boyd for lunch.  boyd was black and johnny's mother though trying to be kind, was extremely ignorant and racist.  she inquired about boyd's family but all of her questions are based on black stereotypes.  she asked if his father worked, he did.  she assumed he was a factory worker, but he was a foreman.  she questioned his mother not working, but then her son johnny pointed out that she didn't either!  her questions continued in this vein, she assumed he had many brothers and sister and that his family was poor.  she went so far as to try to send used clothes home with him.  boyd politely explained that he did not need them, johnny's mother then became upset for her refusing his charity.  thankfully, the boys saw her actions as being a bit "screwy".  there are two lesson in this story, one that we should believe stereotypes and secondly, our charity should be for the benefit of the individual, it should not be a means for the giver to the feel superior for helping others.

the other story "flower garden", was the story of a woman, mrs. winnings and the neighbor that moved into a house she loved.  mrs. winnings came from a well-to-do family that i would describe as uppity but a better term would be traditional.  at first, she was desperate to be the new neighbors' friend.  but after an incident in which winning's and the neighbor's son harassed a half-black child, their friendship diminishes.  the neighbor apologized for the her son's behavior and asked the boy to help her in his garden.  the boy's father did not allow him but he began to work in the garden.  since he was black, the neighbors began to shun the new neighbor when at first they were so kind to her.  the most disappointing was mrs. winnings, who completely abandoned the new neighbor due to tradition and the community's discrimination against blacks.  the story ended sadly with the new neighbor wanting to move.  though i guess to really understand how racism can destroy lives, lives must be destroyed.  again in this story, we see the destructive nature of conformity, especially in relation to upholding traditions of racism and discrimination.

these are the stories that i enjoyed the most.  not all of them are winners, for example, i was bored with "elizabeth"(though i know how it is to wake up one day and wonder how you ended up where you are in life, see: mid-life crisis), "the renegade", and "pillar of salt" (though i think this was to demonstrate how destructive new york can be.)

a good collection, i would pick it up for the stories that i mentioned and pass over the rest.

boy, snow, bird. helen oyeyemi. (214)

i had seen helen oyeyemi's boy, snow, bird on amazon and the cover caught my eye.  later, i saw it as an ebook when i downloaded the app the library used.  however, i finally considered reading it when my friend juliana got a copy at bookcon.  then while browsing the beale library while waiting for my aunt and uncle i was surprised to find it with their new releases, i figured it would be out on request. i decided to amazon it's description, and came across this:

As seen on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, where it was described as “gloriously unsettling… evoking Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Angela Carter, Edgar Allan Poe, Gabriel García Márquez, Chris Abani and even Emily Dickinson,” and already one of the year’s most widely acclaimed novels

garcia marquez!!!! haruki murakami!!! toni morrison!!! i had to check it out!!!

though i will say it did have some elements of the authors mentioned the writing did not fill me with whimsy like garcia marquez and murkami.  nor did i connect emotionally like i did with morrison's characters.  however, this was still an enjoyable read, my expectations had been raised due to the review.

*****spoilers beyond this points stop if you plan on reading this!!!!******

boy, snow, bird is set in the 40's, the first part is the story of boy novak who at the age of eighteen ran away from her (yes, she is female) abusive father.  her father worked as a rat catcher and was demented randomly hitting her and once leaving her to be attacked by rats in the basement.

boy ended up in a small town, flax hill.  at first boy was complete out of place in flax hill but soon made it her home.  she ended up marrying a widower, arturo whitman.  initially, they did not like each other but eventually he fell in love with her.  boy, however, married based on a strong connection she felt with his daughter, snow.  snow was a beautiful little girl and boy was entranced by her until boy became pregnant.

if you go on goodreads, a lot of reviewers bitched about boy, snow, bird, not being a worthy play on snow white.  i can see the strings that connect the fairy tale to the novel and those that want more, go watch abc's once upon a time.  

after the new baby is born, bird,  boy became a wicked stepmother.  with the birth of bird, arturo's family secret was revealed.  they were black, they had been passing as white in town though some individuals knew the truth.  bird did not have fair skin like her sister, snow.  as a result, the family treated her differently, they did not revere bird like snow.  also their reverence for snow came to light, it was not simply her beauty but the fact that she looked white.   boy began to resent snow for her whiteness and eventually sent her away to live wuth her aunt clara.  clara, arturo's sister, like bird, had a darker complexion and to avoid her revealing the family secret, she was sent away.  boy unable to deal with bird's complexion called clara so that she could send . . . snow away!  i was surprised by this, i thought boy was going to send away bird (which isn't any better).  boy sent away snow becaming an evil stepmother, she started to loathe snow based on the way everyone catered to her, just like snow white's evil stepmother!  

what broke my heart was that even though snow was revered this did not change how she treated bird.  snow was the only one that loved bird unconditionally.  it was so sweet to see snow being loving and affection toward her sister.  boy and arturo's mother, olivia, did not truly love bird and kept her at a distance.  snow was sent away because boy was jealous of the treatment she received and knew that her daughter would never be an equal.  this placed olivia as the enemy but really it was boy because she did not see bird as worthy of anyone's love.  snow was a constant reminder of bird's "otherness" and so boy had her sent away.

the middle part of the book was told from bird's perspective, who is now in middle school. from her we learn just how self-loathing olivia whitman was, not only racist towards blacks but also distant from her granddaughter.  bird was aware of her grandma's dislike for her, but thankful she was not completely damaged by it.

in this middle section, bird discovered that snow wrote to boy and later bird but boy never passed them on.  bird decided to start writing to her sister and they exchange a handful of letters between each other.  in their letters, we see the magical realism of garica marquez and murakami.  bird shared how she spoke to spiders and calmed them down once they heard humans knew the stories of ansai.  they also shared fairy tales back and forth about la belle capuchine.  bird sharing the story that her grandmother, olivia, fired for telling her.  it was the story of a slave that looked like her owner.  the slave was given privileges due to her likeness and this made her turn against the slaves.  one day a man came to free the slaves and locked the family up, when he came to release the slave, he mistaken the owner as the slave.  the slave asked another slave to help identify her but he turned his back on her.  while snow's la belle capuchine is beautiful but dangerous.  she has a garden that is deadly.

the girls also discovered that both are not always in mirrors.  boy also had issues with mirrors, always captivated by herself in them.  mirrors are utilized to symbolize identity.  snow can not see herself because her completely self is never seen by others, everyone thinks she is white but she is not.  bird can not see herself completely for the same reason, people take her only for her exterior and not her interior.  the reason for boy's mirror obsession is not revealed until the end.

in the second section, snow finally returned home and the tension and stress of this was discussed.  a surprise visitor also appeared in this portion.  frank, boy's father, came and took bird not realizing she was his granddaughter. he then told bird how boy almost did not live, for after birth she was sick.  he also told her that boy was evil.

the last section has a crazy surprise ending.  mia, boy's friend, discovered that frank is actually boy's mom!  it is discovered that frances was a lesbian and raped by a man.  she became pregnant and lived in a shelter but was eventually kicked out.  then one day as explained by mia, she looked in the mirror and there was frank.  she then became frank.

i was not anticipating this at all, i was expecting boy's mother to turn out to be black, not that her father was transgender.  i admired oyeyemi for this plot twist drawing parallels between racial prejudice and sexual orientation prejudice.  though it was disheartening to see people on goodreads bash the ending though i think it's their own fear of  transgenders.  a surprise twist was not unexpected, as mentioned i was anticipating her mother being black so it's not like a twist could ruin it.  the negativity has to be the fact that her mother was transgender.  most people thought it was ridiculous and unbelievable but i think it is plausible, transgender people have existed thoughout all of history, but it's just that now with the lgbt community being more visible that everyone is coming out of the closet.  i mean time magazine recently did a cover about transgender with the cover title "the transgender tipping point". i thought it was an interesting twist and did not lessen the story.

in the end, boy decided to rescue her mother.  boy enlisted snow, bird, and mia to help her save her mother.  the story ended with their leaving flax hill for nyc.  though these is no resolution i believe that they save frank.  having a family that sees you for who you truly are and accepts and loves you, fixes everything. 

fresh off the boat. eddie huang. (196)

i remember seeing fresh off the boat at barnes and noble when it first came out, but didn't considered reading it.  with that cover it seemed like something i should look into but i didn't give it much thought after that initial sighting.  

i then saw a trailer for the new abc series based on it.  here, watch it on youtube.

after seeing his mom's hair struggles,  i decided to check it out.

if you thought that trailer was hilarious, you have no idea what you are in with this book.  fresh off the boat is beyond amazing and definitely in my top 3 books i have read this year.  if i hadn't read americanah this year fresh off the boat would probably be number 1.  eddie huang is also my new celebrity chef obsession.  i could kick myself for not picking this book up when i first saw it.  if i had, i would have gone to baohaus on my last nyc trip, boo to me!

i feel like a loser and am not as hip as i think i am because i hadn't heard of eddie huang or baohaus prior to my reading of this book.  i have no idea how he was not on my radar.  he also has a shown on vice, fresh off the boat, (which the book and now abc series evolved from) which are his random, food-related adventures around cities.  eddie is like a younger, chinese, hip hop version of bourdain.  my facebook friend, che, told my friend danny about the vice show.  i looked it up and of course watched the episode with roy choi.  it was hilarious yet deep, i will definitely play catch up on that series.

back to the memoir.  to start fresh off the boat made me hungry.  the memoir opened with a story about soup dumplings and eddie's ability at a young age to recognize that the ones he and his family had were bad because of the cheap soy sauce the restaurants used.  and of course, all i could think about was how i wanted soup dumplings (but some legit ones, i need to have my friend joann take me!!)  the memoir covered chinese/tawianese  food; what is mother makes and from a trip to taipei he took when he was in high school.  he discussed staples like minced pork, tomato and eggs, and beef noodle, all of which made me hungry!!!!  to the point where i googled minced pork to see where i could get some (sadly i was in delano and the closest was bakersfield, i had to settle for the chinese food place we have in town, thankfully i didn't have to go with panda express.)  but yeah minced pork is on my to-eat list, if anyone has a place to recommend, let me know. 

the book has some great food-related stories.  i especially enjoyed the story, eddie shared of returning to a dan-dan mian cart with his father.  his father was part of a gang in taiwan.  he learned from the owner that though his father was a hoodlum, he was very moral (this was exemplified when eddie was punished for stealing).  eddie discovered that his father looked out for this cart owner and the owner did the same for him, and one day saved his father's life.  

another story, i enjoyed was the story of eddie on the food network's ultimate recipe showdown.  i need to look for it online.  he sadly didn't win because reality tv is a joke, but he was the best, everyone off set agreed so.  i loved how he came up with his recipe while stoned. actually the meat he cooked reminded me of something my grandpa used to make called red meat. and i love the irony of guy fieri encouraging eddie to not give up cooking.

it was great to read about how baohaus got started up.  again i could have kicked myself for not being in the know.  i mean i should have been more serious about moving to nyc back in 09, i could have found one of his craiglist listing.  oh well.  but definitely happy he found success and i can't wait to try baohaus on my next trip.

the book wasn't all food.  with a title like fresh off the boat, culture and race were discussed.  i enjoyed learning about his family history, especially his parents backstory.  his mother being the loudmouth and always speaking her mind and his dad's gang background.  though it was cruel, i have to admit that i thought his parents' put-downs of eddie and his brothers were hilarious.  it's wrong to laugh and their comments were borderline verbal abuse but they were funny and honest.  i mean i admired his parents for keeping it real but the physical abuse did go to far.  i understand why people spank their kids but his dad did border abuse, and like eddie i am glad that the police went to their home to at least lessen the beatings they got.  though eddie was bad and deserved some of them (i know its horrible to say a kid deserved an ass-whooping but sometimes they do.)

what shocked me the most about this memoir was eddie's compete honesty about all the trouble he got into growing up.  he put everything out there.  i mean i was a nerdy kid and so i was shocked to read about all he did.  he reminded me of my friend larry, i always said if we knew each other in high school we wouldn't have been friends, i was too much of a goodie two shoes.  but like eddie, my friend larry, got his shit together and became a better adult as should happen in life.  your younger years are for fucking around.

i was also shocked by how intelligent eddie is.  the guy went to law school!  his intelligence is demonstrated best when he discussed the racism he encountered in life.  from the kids in elementary school making fun of his lunches, up until his boss at the newspaper making a comment about his face.  i especially enjoyed learning about his teachers and professors gave him the tools he needed to be able to question the society and  recognize the racism that he was encountering.   his theories on race and stereotypes were well-written, articulate and revealed many truths.  it was refreshing because it was not something i was expecting.

fresh off the boat, not only schooled me on race but pop culture as well.  eddie is very much into hip-hop, and his memoir is filled with lyrics and thankfully footnotes for the unhip like me.  he is also into

sports, so i enjoyed those analogies as well.  it was also an eye opener for me in terms of sneakerheads and street culture.  i had to google to see what shoes he was talking about but they were very cool.  i also enjoyed the lesson on polo, i looked up the sweatshirt that he referenced.  it was a great lesson that subculture for me.  oh and it was definitely cool that he made those obama shirts!  i wish i knew about them cos i would have copped one.

as you can see this book covered a variety of topics:  food, race, culture, hip hop, sports, etc.  i mean it was highly entertaining and informative.  eddie huang is an amazing person, he is more than just a chef or fun tv personality.  he has a depth that i would not have expected.  i admire him immensely and can't wait until i get to eat baohaus!  and if you are going to read a book this year, make it this one.  you will laugh, you might cry, you'll have an ah-ha moment about racism in america and learn some hip hop lyrics as well.  oh and you will definitely get hungry!  lol

when you reach me. rebecca stead. (190)

*sorry this picture is blurry.  i didn't realize how blurry it was until i return it.  but it makes it feel alittle otherwordly which is perfect for this novel, so it works.

i picked up when you reach me because it is a newbery medal winner.  i also enjoyed the cover art.  i had no idea what the book was about, but that made for a better read.  (so if you haven't read it, stop here, seriously everything will spoil this book for you!)

when you reach me is the story of a girl, miranda, and the letters about her life she had to write due to secret notes she has received.  the letters are from a stranger and are suppose to help save her friend.  a series of random things happen to her prior to the notes appearing. first, her best friend sal stopped talking to her.  this happened after an even stranger event, a boy just randomly walked up to sal, as he and miranda were walking home, and punched him in the stomach.  a crazy homeless man appeared on her street corner, talking to himself, and doing high kicks. the kids are kept in at lunchtime at school, because a naked man is seen running around down the street.  all of these things seemed really odd, but they all come together in the end.  (i have to admit i missed the foreshadowing of the naked man, i just assumed it was random little anecdote.)

in the end it is discovered that all of these weird events and the notes have to do with time travel!

before i go on, i have to share that what i loved most about this book was the inclusion of madeline l'engle 's a wrinkle in time.  a wrinkle in time is miranda's favorite book in the story.  she carried it around and is constantly rereading it.  it is due to this book that marcus and miranda first discuss time travel.  marcus pointed out that there was an error in the book.  if meg and charles wallace had returned 5 minutes before everything had occured wouldn't they have seen themselves land in the garden before they left?  this is true.  marcus was right.  and future marcus was right because he time-traveled back to safe sal!

i won't go into detail about what occurred but in short, future marcus saved sal.  and stead did an excellent job of tying everything together. as i mentioned before, i had no idea the naked man in the street was due to the time travelling.  i loved how everything came full circle, though i was sadden by future marcus' fate but he was an old man and ready for it.

when you reach me had additional storylines.  miranda's mom was picked to go on $20,000 pyramid and part of the novel was her preparation for the show.  since miranda and sal are no longer friends, she became friends with colin and annamarie.  the three of them get jobs at a sandwich shop.  and of course, like any adolescent story, there is always some kind of drama between friends, which occurs between miranda, annamaire and annamarie's ex-best friend, julia.  these additional stories not only added to the story but also distracted from the time travel plot as well.  well played, stead.

the thing that i found interesting, was the issue of race and class and the prejudices that a reader reads with.  i am not sure if this was stead's intent or if i am just super racist.  i mean the latter is true, so that is probably the case.  i was confronted with my racism when jimmy called julia swiss miss, in reference to the hot chocolate, though miranda meant it about her trips to switzerland.  up until then i had not realized that julia was black.  i had assumed since she was rich that she was white.  here is where class became an issue as well.  (class was addressed directly with miranda comparing her home and life to that of annamarie's who is wealthier).  i know how horrible of me, but i mean the girl talked about going to switzerland, isn't that where white people go on a vacay (okay, i am racist, sorry). i then realized i was being extremely racist as i read.  i believe miranda or her mom was described as white, though now i am second guessing everything.  since she was white, i assumed that sal was white.  i also assumed that the boys that caused trouble on the corner was black as was the crazy man on the corner.  also i assumed marcus was black too since he punched sal.  however, race was not mentioned for anyone else except julia, oh and richard (miranda's mom's boyfriend being german).  well explicitly anyway, i just read on a website that it was implied that jimmy was asian but that went over my head. i am embarrassed that i could be so horrible with stereotypes but i am.  again well played, stead for having the read confront the prejudices they have about race so directly though it was presented subtlety.  

overall, when you reach me was a great book and very worthy of it's newbery medal.  if you haven't read it you should.  it has also inspired me to reread a wrinkle in time, which is perfect because the graphic novel version has been sitting on my bookshelf since january.    

the cricket in times square. george selden.

the cricket in times square has been on my to-read list ever since i saw it a stack of books when subbing.  a cricket in new york, i was intrigued!  i found it at goodwill but it sat on my bookshelf until my most recent trip to new york.

as you can see in my photo, the cricket in times square inspired me to take photos of books at the setting of the story.  as you can see, i took a photo of the cricket in times square in times square.  you can see the other pics on my fb or on instagram @booksandlandmarks.

the plan was to have the cricket in times square as my #literarythrowback on the thursday of my trip and to also read it while in nyc.  unfortunately the later did not happen, but i decided to buckle down and read it my first weekend back from nyc.

what a delightful little book.  it is the story of a cricket, chester, that accidentally traveled to new york city by way of picnic basket.  mario, whose family owned a newspaper stand in the subway, found chester due to his chirping and decided to keep him as a pet, despite his mother's disapproval.  chester's new home is the newspaper stand the family runs.  living in the station, chester was befriended by a mouse, tucker, and a cat, harry.  chester was surprised to discover that they were friends since cats from the country normally eat mice. 

mario read that crickets are good luck, though at first, chester does not appear to be.  first while napping, chester dreamt that he was eating a leaf only to discover that he was eating money.  he ate two dollars, mario's mother was outraged and wanted to get rid of chester.  however, tucker helped chester out by giving him the money he had saved up.  tucker was wealthy because he picked up coins that people dropped in the station.  everything was going well, until chester, harry, and tucker had a party in the newspaper stand.  chester played music with his legs (it's the legs that crickets play right?  not their wings) and tucker danced around which unfortunately caused him to start the fire.  luckily, a train conductor put it out the fire before the stand burned down though some newspapers and magazines were destroyed.     

mama, upset by the fire, wanted mario to get rid of chester.  however, chester played a beautiful opera, which coincidentally was mama's favorite.  mama then forgave chester.  chester than began to practice and learn new songs from the radio.  one day, mario's family decided to show their friend/customer, mr. smedley, a musical teacher, chester's talent.  mr. smedley then wrote to the new york times about the talented cricket. and as they say in the biz, a star was born.  chester soon had a huge following, the subway station was packed during his performances.  his popularity also helped the family sell newspapers and magazines. everything was great at first but then like any celebrity, chester got over it quickly. chester then decided to run away back to connecticut, tired of his life of fame.  harry and tucker help him over to penn station to get home.  chester did not say farewell to mario but took his bell which let mario know he had left.  it was sad but mario also know that chester was tired of the fame.

this work was adorable and a very cute read.  though i must add it was a tad racist (not that it bothered me.) since crickets are revered in chinese culture, mario went to chinatown to find a cage for chester.  there he met sai fong, the owner of a store.  sai fong's dialogue, though accurate, was written in a chinese dialect, aka without r's being pronounced.  i mean i found it quite comical and fairly true, but i can imagine others being offend about it.  i didn't google anything but i can imagine.  though i will say that sai fong absolutely adored mario and chester, and i loved how he held a mini feast for the two of them, so it wasn't that offense.  though maybe their love of crickets was too stereotypical.  other than that, a delightful read. and if i had read it before my new york trip, i would have retraced chester, tucker, and harry's ride to penn station from times square.  lol

the watsons go to birmingham-1963. christopher paul curtis.

yesterday in a last minute scramble to read something for black history month (my original plan was to read black boy because my best friend tiffany had given me a copy but that didn't work out), i borrowed the watsons go to birmingham-1963 from the classroom i subbed in (thank you again gina!).  the book received both the newbery honor and the coretta scott king honor.  based on these honors, i knew i had picked a great read in honor of black history month.

the watsons go to birmingham-1963 is the story about a black family, nicknamed the weird watsons.  our narrator was the middle child kenny (of kenneth), a cock-eyed boy that loves to read.  he had two siblings, a younger sister joey (joetta) who was very loving and protective of her brothers, and an older brother by (byron) by that was a juvenile delinquent.  

the first half of the book is the story of kenny's life.  we get to know his family.  his mother was originally from the south, a worrywart when it comes to winter and strict (to stop by from playing with matches, she burned his finger to show him the harm it does first hand!). his father was a jokester, a fun dad but strict when he needed to be.  kenny would have been bullied all of the time because he was a gifted reader and his eye but his wasn't because as mentioned before by was a juvenile delinquent and head thug of the school so people left kenny alone.

by was constantly in trouble, he considered himself a "cool daddy".  he ditched school, cussed, played with matches, etc.  in a hilarious episode, he relaxed his hair, he wanted mexican hair!   the parents' jokes about this were great, his mother introduced him as their long lost son from mexico when showing his dad what he had done!  and then his father shaved his head afterwards introduced him as their long lost son from siam, yu watson!!! lol.  but jokes aside, his mother did give him a great lecture about him being happy with the hair god gave him verse trying to be something he wasn't with chemicals.

all of by's trouble resulted in the family heading to birmingham because by was to stay with their grandma sands (their mother s mother) for the summer to shape up.  as the family prepped for the trip, i discovered something i never knew existed . . . record players in cars! kenny's dad had a record player put in their car for their trip, at first i assumed it was just a radio but i googled.  and yes! people had actual record players in their cars!  they were small and played 45s but still crazy.  i assumed a record player would be inconvenient in the car but people had them!

the family was at risk in birmingham, kenny's father explained to him the racism and violence that was occurring in the south but reassured him that they would be safe.

once in birmingham, by began to soften. he was respectful towards his grandmother and more open with the family.  kenny does not have the same type of experience in birmingham.  he had an near death experience having almost drowned due to a whirlpool.  based on a story by tried to spook him with kenny imagined that wool pooh, winnie the pooh's evil twin brother, was the one that grabbed him and tried to kill him.  by saved kenny but they do not share with the family what had occurred.

then one sunday, the church that joey attended with family friends was bombed.  the whole family ran to the church in search of her.  kenny entered the church and saw what he imagined to be joey's shoe and assumed his sister was dead.  he saw wool pooh again but this time he took his sister.  

kenny returned home and his sister, joey finds him.  he at first thought joey was a ghost, wool pooh bringing her around for her final good-byes but it really was her! she survived.  it turned out that joey stepped out to the church porch for a minute and thought she saw kenny waving to her and so she followed what she thought was him.  regardless of what really occurred, joey was safe!

the family returned home, even by, but not all was well.  due to what he witnessed in the church kenny fell into a depression.  he disappeared behind the couch hoping that magic would save him (by called it a magical hospital for their pets).  his family tried their best to help but in the end it was by that helped kenny.  by helped kenny realize that there is no understanding racism and that life is unfair but instead of becoming depressed by it you have to move on.  it was wonderful advice that by gave to him that could be apply to anyone. it was also great to see by growing up and being a great young man.

this is an excellent story for children and young adults to read.  by connecting with kenny through his trials at school and interactions with friends and family, they are able to view the racism of the 1960's filtered through his eyes.  it becomes a more personal experience than facts they can read in a textbook.  

furthermore, curtis did a great job of making real life connections in the epilogue.  he reminds the readers that victims of racial violence in the 1960's had family members that cared for them and they suffered reprecutions due to their deaths.  futhermore, in the closing paragraph he goes onto explain the importance of questioning unfairness in society and trying to make a change for the better, this desire for a better world is what makes someone a heroes.  i think that is important message for anyone, regardless of age.  we are all capable of making the world a better place.

the waitrons go to birmingham-1963 is a great book for young minds and perfect for black history month but should be regardless if its february or not.

all in all, a wonderful book not only for black history month but for any month!