What I’ve Been Reading
I was less pulled into A Heart in a Body in the World than I wanted to be, partly because it was just difficult to read about a young woman (very nearly literally) flagellating herself with guilt and long-distance running for…something undefined. I was impressed by the delicate rendering of a young woman, under intense pressure (internal and external) to be nice, tolerating toxic masculinity, trying to preform the impossible dance of being endlessly kind to an intense young man who can’t hear her no, who doesn’t notice her boundaries, who doesn’t care about her needs. Yes, this is a book that has true and important things to say about the dreadful, debilitating power of “nice” and what it does to girls who grow up learning that they must take care of everyone but themselves.
In the end, though, the book felt as if it was about these ideas rather than about Annabelle. (And the rhetorical device of leaving readers dangling–what did The Taker do? Who’s Seth Montgomery? What’s actually waiting for Annabelle in Washington, D.C.?) can be effective but it can also be overused. This time it was overused.
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It’s just not fair for Angie Thomas to be this talented. That’s all I’m saying.
What I’ve Been Reading
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Definitely as good as it is rumored to be! Quick-paced but still managing to pay loving attention to the details of everyday life in a Pakistani village–the sugarcane fields, the ironing of the salwar kameez, the hot homemade rotis, trips to the market, the close connections of the village families. There’s more than enough suspense to pull a reader through, and I particularly admired how the characters are multifaceted without being overly complicated–the thug of a landlord is human enough to mourn over a lost love, the mistress of the house is kind yet spoiled, helpful as long as her own convenience isn’t marred. Amal’s father, who lets her be taken as as servant to pay off his debts, isn’t a villain–he’s desperate, helpless, and trying to take care of a family of five daughters, sacrificing one to keep the others safe. Don’t miss this one!
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Mary’s Monster–poetry and appropriately haunting black and white art combine to create a biography of Mary Shelley that’s unforgettable. At first the text reads a little stiffly, not quite as moving as the evocative artwork–but as the book progresses the poems grow in strength.
Love, death, exile, longing, despair, creativity, beauty, horror–all gathered together in Lita Judge’s sensitive and powerful work.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews