Reviews and Comments

I'm halfway to my 2022 #FReadom goal of reading 20 books challenged/threatened in Texas libraries & schools. Book 10 was The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg, a journalistic exploration of girls in Afghanistan who are raised/presented as boys. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/213715/the-underground-girls-of-kabul-by-jenny-nordberg

When we frame identity formation as "nature vs nurture," we overlook many factors that are neither natural nor nurturing: power, inequality, violence. Nordberg's reporting shows that expression of gender can be expression of resistance, of self-determination, of freedom.

In my 2022 #FReadom quest to read books banned or threatened in Texas libraries and schools, my 9th book was Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. www.jesseandrews.com/me-and-earl-and-the-dying-girl

Besides being uproariously funny, Jesse Andrews dives into important truths: social anxiety and insecurity happen to every one of us, and so does grief. Everybody has to navigate them the best they can, there is no "right" way.

Carmen María Machado's In the Dream House was book #8 in my 2022 journey to explore works challenged or removed from Texas libraries or schools. carmenmariamachado.com/in-the-dream-house

I am afflicted with the librarian's obsession with footnotes, and was fascinated with the way Machado wove her citations of a particular source into almost another layer of narrative, like the voice of the Greek chorus.

"Race is the child of racism, not the father." - Ta-Nehisi Coates, from Between the World and Me, which was book #7 in my 2022 journey of reading books that have been challenged or removed from Texas libraries or schools.

The antilibrarians feign concern for reader "DISCOMFORT." But to me, the readers who find most discomfort in Coates or Kendi will be those whose starting-place was that of TAKING COMFORT in (their belief in) their own "whiteness."

The 6th book I've read from my 2022 #FReadom list (books banned or challenged in Texas libraries and schools) is @lxgino's Melissa (previously published as George). www.alexgino.com/books/melissa/

Melissa is a 4th-grade girl in a tough spot: her family, friends, & everyone she knows mistakenly think she's a boy named George. But she's about to discover some amazing things about them, too. Great story about how allies & support can come thru for us when we need them most.

Completed book #5 in my 2022 #FReadom list of books banned or challenged in Texas libraries and schools: Ibram X Kendi's thoroughly researched and educational Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America www.ibramxkendi.com/stamped

In this book, Kendi upends the myth that hateful people originate racist ideas which result in discrimination. It lays out a compelling historical case that discrimination (in service of power or self-interest) drives racist ideas, which then in turn drive hate.

I just finished Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez, an unflinching story of love in the midst of East Texas Jim Crow horror. It's book #4 toward my 2022 #FReadom goal to read 20 books banned, challenged or threatened in Texas libraries or schools. ashleyperez.com/books/

Some challenges to this book have asked, "What do we teach by exposing young people to such scenes?" The answer in a word: empathy. Perez' writing lays bare raw emotions that teenagers may need to process 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-hand, from racial hate, family abuse, gender violence.

Finished book 3/20 from my 2022 #FReadom reading list: The Magic Fish, the debut graphic novel by Trung Le Nguyen. A truly gorgeous work, visually, lyrically, and emotionally. I read it as an ebook but now want to find and experience its beauty in print. Hién's journey home to Nha Trang in @Trungles' graphic novel also reconnected me with stories from my own mother, who passed away 15 months ago, but who was a nurse in Nha Trang in 1966-67: www.rememberingmccvietnam.net/memories-of-the-nha-trang-hospital

Book 2/20 on my 2022 #FReadom list: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Rich exploration of the many things that teenagers (and adults) don't talk about, and why, and what happens when they finally emerge aloud. Highly recommend. Also, Aristotle and Dante introduced me to W S Merwin (1927-2019), whose poetry Benjamin Alire Sáenz wove subtly throughout. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52502/in-the-winter-of-my-thirty-eighth-year