Between These Pages

This time of year libraries, books stores, newspapers, EVERYONE is putting out lists.

Best of 2017! Holiday Gift Ideas! So many lists of books. It is wonderful and also, sometimes, overwhelming.

But this year, I have a request to make. This is a book blog. This is not a politics blog. But the two are inextricably intertwined. Since the inauguration, hate crimes in this country have risen. The government has taken actions that have a disproportionately negative effect on people of color, on people of certain religions. So this year, I’m asking you, at the very smallest, most local level, to take a stand for diversity, inclusion and tolerance.

When you pick up that Best of 2017 list, that librarian penned “Holiday Gift Ideas for your Kid” list, can you please see if it is blindingly, painfully white, or if it is full all the same people that make up our country?

My local library, which I adore, put out a list that had almost no authors of color, almost no characters of color. And as uncomfortable as it made me, I said something. I spoke to the librarian and explained why I was passionate about these lists providing children with a better range of choices. I don’t know if she’ll consider my words when making future lists. I don’t know if I was as persuasive as I’d hoped, but I do know that I tried. I didn’t let it pass unremarked upon.

For many of us, this has been a year of picking up the phone, calling Senators, calling Representatives. It can be harder to challenge someone you see and interact with daily. But it also can be more personal. You have a greater chance of being heard. So if you possibly can, check your list. If it’s great, thank everyone and anyone who had a hand in it. If it’s not, take a stand.

If you need some resources, I think Grace Lin’s Ted Talk on Windows is very powerful.
Angie Manfredi’s list is excellent.
The Falmouth Public Library’s list is also full of wonderful picks.
Consulting Debbie Reese’s American Indians in Children’s Literature list is also always a great idea.

If you have seen any great, diverse, inclusive year end lists, please link them in the comments!

Around America to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, a Kitten, and 10,000 Miles by Mara Rockcliff, Illustrated by Hadley Hooper

In 1916, Nell Richardson and Alice Burke took to the streets championing voting rights for women. Not ones to be kept at home, they traveled the country in a little yellow Saxon motor car. Their trip clearly spread the word in a publicity friendly way!

Rockliff focuses heavily on the positive in this book: circus parades, awards for driving cross country, daffodils clearing recalcitrant horses from their path and fancy dress parties. Nearly every negative encounter is nature-made; a blizzard, sticky mud puddles, or largely harmless, i.e. a hotel that doesn’t allow kittens. While it’s a sweet introduction the hard work put in by suffragists to secure the vote for women, it’s also a pure fairy tale. Even the Author’s Note at the end fails to mention violence done to suffragettes, beyond “arrest” and another major shortcoming is that the book fails to acknowledge, either in the text or in the author’s note, how the women’s voting rights movement excluded women of color.

If you are reading this with your children or in a school setting, it would be good to have a conversation about the true adversaries suffragettes faced and that any social or political movement working for change will not be all kittens in yellow bows and garden parties. You may also want to discuss ways to ensure marginalized people are included in any rights movement (and maybe be prepared to discuss how they’ve been at the forefront of many themselves).

Hooper’s illustrations make the book irresistible however. Beautifully rich with yellows, the color of the women’s votes movement, the illustrations will charm readers of all ages.

Age Recommendation: Little readers are happy to hear a story of adventuring with a cat. My four year old liked it immensely. School age readers will be ready to discuss the importance of voting rights for everyone. Older readers could be challenged to research and report back on the true hardships and sacrifices made by the women involved in the fight for voting rights. Middle grades students and older should be able and encouraged to draw parallels between the suffragist movement and some of today’s political movements (like BLM) and today’s voting restriction issues (gerrymandering, poll tax, voter ID laws, no votes for felons, etc).

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – Two men holding guns are shown on a page where it mentions the women “dodged bullets by the Rio Grande”.  A cow skull is shown on a page about the desert.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

When Penny Met POTUS
by Rachel Ruiz, Illustrated by Melissa Manwill

Penny’s mother works for POTUS in a big white house. Since Penny has never met this mysterious POTUS, her imagination runs wild, envisioning an exuberant blue furry monster, complete with horns. The monster flies atop Air Force One, fends off fearsome aliens in outer space with the help of his trusty secret service agents and guzzles coffee straight from the pot. When Penny finally meets POTUS, she is surprised to find POTUS is…human!

The payoff laugh comes because we are expecting the line to be “But you’re a-” woman. Penny is of course, far more interested in POTUS’s non-monstery qualities than her gender. Written and published ahead of the 2016 election, this book projects a hope and certainty that a woman can be president. After Hillary Clinton’s loss the joke falls more than a little flat, in fact, the ending stings a bit.

Age Recommendation: It is helpful if the children reading (or listening to) the book are a bit more savvy than Penny. If they know who works in the White House, that POTUS stands for President of the United States, these details mean they are in on the joke from the start. But for kids who don’t know the acronym, have any background knowledge about the White House, the humor may fall a bit flat. I mean, who wouldn’t be disappointed like Penny to find out there’s no furry monster on the job.

That said, my 17 month old adores it. So Melissa Manwill’s fuzzy blue monster illustrations will charm even those who have no idea what is going on in the text.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

For many of us, our level of political engagement increased exponentially following the inauguration of the 45th president. We went from reading Facebook, watching the news and chatting with friends to organizing, making daily calls to our elected officials and showing the heck up for primaries.

This month I read a few (just a few, I’m easing back into things here) books with a bit of politics between their pages. Stop back to see what’s up!

It has been over a year since this blog went on hiatus due to the impending arrival of my second child. So needless to say, it has been a busy year, despite the quiet here. But it has a been a really important year of reflection. Having time away from the blog and the continued pressure to read and review has allowed me to see what changes I want to make as I plan my return.

In today’s political climate, more than ever, I want to make sure that the books I feature will show a wide variety of characters and highlight authors from many different backgrounds. I want to make sure that I am not contributing to the promotion of works with harmful or negative representation and that if they appear here (because of their popularity) that the issues with the content are made clear.

In the past,  like many other bloggers of privilege, I have made mistakes. I have given books positive reviews when members of one of the marginalized groups depicted have asked loud and clear for people to acknowledge the problems. (e.g.: Eleanor & Park, Lies We Tell Ourselves, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime). I have unintentionally used ableist language. I have sometimes written up content in a manner that that could lead readers to believe that I consider content with characters that are not allocishet to be concerning. It is not! (Unless of course, it’s bad rep!)

It will take me awhile to go back through all my old posts to fix past errors, but as I move forward I will do my best to avoid making the same mistakes.

Thanks for bearing with me! I hope we can share lots more books together!

Usually May is reserved for miscellany.  Any books that I didn’t quite finish in time for their monthly post, things that didn’t quite match up with their intended theme and of course, things I’d been dying to read and review even though they didn’t fit any of my plans, they all found a home here.

But this month I am promising nothing.  I am expecting a baby in June, but this past week (way too far before his due date) he sent me to the hospital for a little excitement.  Meaning, I need to take it easy.  I am very much not skilled in this category.  Taking it easy when  I have things to do makes my skin crawl. I wish very much that I could use this enforced quiet to read, read, read, but my mind races and writes up to do lists that I have to other people execute for me and I cannot force it to focus on a page.

So, hopefully, I’ll get a few things done, and read a bit and spend zero additional time in the hospital before the baby is actually supposed to come.  But I’m in no position to deliver any type of promises.  Begging forgiveness and hoping that you’ll all fill me in on the wonderful things you are reading so that I can at least live vicariously!