I’m a nerd. I love books. I especially love books about books, libraries, and words. I also gravitate towards feminist literature. Lucky for me, The Dictionary of Lost Words is a wonderful combination of both. Our protagonist Esme loves words as well, probably because she spends her childhood under the table in the scriptorium where her father works compiling words and definitions for the Oxford English Dictionary. While there, little treasures in the form of words accidentally fall from the table, and she reverently gathers them up and keeps them safe. However, as she gets older, Esme notices that other words are carelessly left and that these words tend to be more relevant to the world of women. So Esme takes it upon herself to collect as many words as she can so that she can build a dictionary that will acknowledge and preserve these words. I love Esme. She is curious and brave and so, so smart. I love the relationship he has with her father; for a man who works with words, he can find no word appropriate enough to express the love he has for Esme. I fell into this story immediately. William’s vividly transported me back in history, where I viewed a world from the shoulder of a fictional character whose story was inspired by true events. What a wonderful place to experience history!
So this month I’ve been trying to read more “Middle School” books so that I can confidently recommend new novels to teachers in our schools. So besides increasing my book total for my reading goal for the year 2021 I found some REALLY good middle school reads that have been published over the last few years. Here are just a few:
Hello, Universeby Kelly Entrada,
A group of kids with totally different personalities become close friends after the universe throws them together to search for a missing boy.
Virgil Salina: a sixth-grade boy. So shy his family calls him “Turtle”. He is small for his age and therefore gets bullied by his classmates. He becomes slightly traumatized by his Lola’s (grandma’s) Filipino folktales about stones gobbling up young boys. Virgil has a guinea pig named Gullivar that is his best friend.
Valencia Somerset: is an 11-year-old girl who is questioning the existence of God however she stills talks to St. Rene. Valencia is deaf and suffers from nightmares of abandonment. She is tough and doesn’t think she needs a “gazillion friends” in fact her best friend is a stray dog she finds in the woods near he house.
Kaori Tanaka is a twelve-year-old girl who fancies herself a psychic and offers her services to anyone who isn’t an adult. She is confident and creative and always makes herself available to help people by giving them “readings”
Chett Bullins is a bully. He particularly likes picking on Virgil. He feels uncomfortable around Valencia because he believes she can read lips and therefore knows all his secrets. Chett is particularly preoccupied with finding and capturing a snake just to prove how tough he is to both his classmates and his father.
Themes of friendship, courage, and resiliency.
Black Brother Black Brotherby Rhodes Jewell Parker
Donte and Trey are brothers. Donte hates school probably because he is one of the few black boys who attend and is therefore treated unjustly by the predominantly white student and faculty. To make matters worse, Donte’s brother Trey presents as white and doesn’t suffer racism. In trying to discover where he belongs in his world, Donte starts training under a former Olympic fencer Arden Jones and soon becomes a competitive fencer. Themes of bullying, racism, resilience, family, and friendship.
He Who Dreams by Florence Melanie
Our young protagonist John finds his identity in being one of the strongest soccer players at his school. One evening, as he is waiting for his little sister to finish her gymnastic class, he discovers an Indigenous dance class. Sensing a connection to the music, he forges a friendship with the dance teacher who encourages him to try Indigeninous dance himself. John tries to balance both the Irish and Cree sides of his culture but keeps his dancing a secret from his family as he navigates the mocking of his soccer teammates and the hostility of the boys in his dance class.
Themes of identity, family, culture, courage.
The Science of Unbreakable Things by Tae Keller
With the help of her friends, Natalie sets out to win a science competition so she can use the prize money to help her mother overcome depression by flying her to see a rare orchid known for surviving impossible odds. This story includes humorous illustrations and THE most engaging footnotes that help us love Natalie even more.
Themes of mental health, friendship, family.
Allergicby Megan Wagner Lloyd illustrated by Michelle Mee Nutter
Allergic is a graphic novel. It is a heartwarming story about Maggie who desperately wants a pet but is devastated because she is severely allergic to pet dander. Maggie takes it upon herself to outsmart her allergies and try to find a pet that she isn’t allergic to.
Themes of family, friendship, resiliency.
Front Deskby Kelly Yang
Mia Tang and her parents immigrate from China and take jobs managing a motel – a place where they not only work but live. Unfortunately, the owner of the motel is corrupt and takes advantage of the Tangs by not paying them a fair wage, and by taking the cost of any damages caused by hotel guests out of their paycheck. Although living in and managing the hotel has its hardships, Mia meets an assortment of hotel “residents” who are kind and helpful and end up being allies of the Tangs. Mia, being the precocious, brilliant 11-year-old she is ends up saving the ay for not only the hotel guests but for her own family.
Themes of inclusion, bullying, the immigrant experience, friendship, and resiliency.
This is a sad, frustrating, yet compassionate story. In this book, is the main villain (I was going to write "antagonist", but villain is more appropriate) is alcohol that seduces and creates monstrous behaviour sympathetic characters.
Although Agnes seems to be the main character, this is Shuggie's story. He is our anti-hero. For most of the story, Shuggie is a child trying to survive the hardships of poverty in Glasgow without an adult's guidance to help. It is Shuggie who has to take care of his alcoholic mother once his father abandons the family for another woman.
Agnes is both beautiful and ugly. She leaves her first husband, "The Catholic", the father of her first two children, to marry a taxi driver by the name of Hugh Bain and soon after gives birth to Shuggie.
I felt NO sympathy for Agnes for most of the book; I thought it was her vanity more than her addiction that led to her make the stupid, selfish decisions that jeopardized her life and the life of her children…until I came across this quote "She loved [Hugh], and he had needed to break her completely to leave her for good. Agnes Bain was too rare a thing to let someone else love. It would do to leave pieces of her for another man to collect and repair later." To me, the cruelty and selfishness of Hugh outweighed Agnes's weakness.
Like I mentioned earlier, though, this is Shuggie's story. His heartbreak over his mother, his father's treatment, and his confusion about his sexuality make him a genuinely sympathetic character.
I thought about Shuggie long after I finished reading.
“…that’s what influenza means, she said. Influenza delle stelle- the influence of the stars. Medieval Italians thought the illness proved that the havens were governing their fates, that people were quite literally star-crossed.” (pg 147).
The Pull of the Stars is a novel that takes place over 3 days in a “Maternity/Fever” ward at St. Lukes hospital in Dublin, Ireland. It’s 1918, and the Spanish flu has grabbed hold of the country, leaving death and sorrow. Our main character is Julia Power, the lone nurse on the ward tending to incredibly sick women who are about to give birth. Thankfully Julia is joined by Birdie Sweeney, a volunteer who, although incredibly naive about how the human body functions, is brave and tireless and a quick study who proves her usefulness. The story centres around three patients who will eventually give birth while suffering from the ravages of influenza. True to life, each delivery is be different, resulting in different outcomes for both mother and child. As if by some miracle, Julia and Birdie are eventually guided by Dr Kathleen Lynn, a member of the Irish Citizen Army wanted by the police. Dr Lynn is my favourite character. We only get glimmers of her back story, but I was mesmerized by her words and actions. She was brave, confident and ultimately, a woman who knows who she was and what she stood for and, interestedly enough based on a REAL Dr. Lynn who practiced medicine in Ireland. Be warned that the author does not hold back when describing complicated childbirth and other traumatic medical procedures. It is a gory story.
The Pull of the Stars is a bloody read with strong female characters…my favourite kind of book.
Over the last year, I have been attracted to gothic mysteries and crime novels. Sometimes I google the genres I’m interested in to see what pops up on the screen. So when I typed “mystery gothic crime novels”, Elizabeth Brundage’s novel came up. What I thought would be an easy, quick, pulp fiction read turned out to be one that was so incredibly well written. I immediately made Brundage my new favourite author. The novel starts off with the central crime, a gruesome murder of a young mother (not a spoiler; it happens in the first chapter). The story then proceeds to flashback to introduce and develop the characters directly and indirectly affected by her death. The little town of “Chosen” has 2 types of residents: those who have always lived there struggling to make a living from a depressive economy filled with bankruptcy and alcoholism, and those with money and education who have moved to Chosen to because of its proximity to the neighbouring university. Needless to say, this diversity leads to all sorts of interesting interactions between residents. As with most good stories, I loved some of the characters and hated others. Even though the story is centred around the actions of a psychopath, it is also a story about family, strength and redemption. This novel is definitely one of my favourite of the year so far.
I was really apprehensive about responding to poetry. I don’t read a lot of poetry, I’m not sure why. I guess it’s because I don’t feel “qualified” to talk about it. That being said, one of my 2021 reading goals is to read more poetry and therefore my first choice this year had been Ian Williams Word Problem Poems.
Williams juxtaposes serious topics such as racial discrimination and mental illness against elementary school math problems and language arts “rules”. This approach leads me, as an educator, to reflect upon what is integral to my teaching; that I should be spending more time discussing timely and impactful societal issues rather than solving for x or making sure students use proper subject-verb agreement.
Williams’s poems offer an intimate view into the mind of a black man. Free -verse, creative and experimental, and intimidating (honestly I don’t even know what words to use to describe my response) but tremendously thought-provoking.
Always one for experimentalism and creativity, I really enjoyed and appreciated deliberate choice in format and typography for each poem. The shapes, in and of themselves, lead to another level of interpretation of the meaning of the poem.
So, if you’re tentative about adding poetry to your reading list “Word Problems” will be an engaging addition.
Apparently, this novel was written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens. . As such, Michel Faber wonderfully inserts little allusions to various novels written by Dickens. (ie. Beak House, Magwhich) If you’re looking for a good read-aloud for junior high D (A Tale of Two Worlds) is absolutely delightful and you don’t have read any novels by Charles Dickens to enjoy this novel.
Our main character, Dhikilo, is originally from Somaliland. She does not know her birth parents and was adopted by an English couple. Dhikilo has friends, but she has never felt she belonged. It could have been because of the colour of her skin, It could have been because she was adopted, and it could have been because of the uniqueness of her name.
One day all the “ds” begin to disappear from the world. She noticed the missing Ds first from the newspaper her father is reading then next from her mother’s speech. On her way to school, she notices Ds missing from all the signs, from all the books, and from all conversation. During this confusing time of D’s disappearance, Dhikilo’s favourite teacher, Professor Dodderfield, dies and she feels compelled to go to the funeral…..but she discovers this teacher isn’t really dead! Instead, Professor Dodderfield sends her to a magical world Liminus (with his Dog Mrs Robinson who turns into a sphinx at a whim) to stop the disappearance of the Ds.
From here on in Dhikilo and Mrs. Robinson encounter a variety of interesting characters and creatures on their way to confront the Great Gamp who seems to be the one who is stealing all the Ds by using glittering dragonflies.
“one careless insect lost its grip and the shining piece fell to the ground…it was already dissolving into the snow but it stilled glowed. Dhikilo knelt down.. and touched the disintegrating D with her bare fingertips. Immediately, she had a vivid mental picture-like a film projected straight into her brain- of a camel. A camel with one hump. A dromedary. Then the D shriveled into nothing and the vision of the dromedary faded from her imagination” pg 104.
This is a wonderful novel the teach descriptive writing (the Magwitches with long dirty straggly hair the colour of the stuff you take out of the vacuum cleaner” 107-108)
It is also a novel that can be used to discuss the themes of prejudice, strength, family, courage and friendship.
So if you are looking for a fantasy novel to read D (a Tale of Two Worlds) is a short, easily accessible and highly entertaining novel to chose.
Truth be told I picked up this book because my mother’s side of the family comes from Saskatchewan, and years ago my mother taught in Weyburn. She had lots of teaching stories to share but I don’t ever remember her telling me about the mental hospital.
Leonard’s is our protagonist. Leonard’s only friend in the world is Bill an older man who lives on the fringes of society and makes lucky rabbit foot chains for those who would be so inclined to buy them. Lenard was only a boy when he witnesses Bill murder the town bully with a pair of garden shears. An experience that would traumatize anyone. But interestingly enough Lenorad’s response to the murder was similar to the murderer’s itself the; victim “had it coming to him.”
I’ve read several reviews of this novel and some reviewers have complained that the characters are flat and the plot is underdeveloped. This is not my view. Maybe because of my interest in the setting and its connection to my mother or maybe because I think the author’s intent was to portray a story of redemption. We didn’t have to know every fact about Leonards’s life or every fact of Bill’s life. We just need to know the bits and pieces that led to Leonard loving himself.
Bill is arrested and Leonard grows up and becomes a psychiatrist. This is where Weyburn comes in. Leonard is hired on at the Weyburn Mental Hospital and is surprised and relieved to see that Bill is not in prison but rather an inmate of the asylum.
We soon realize that Leonard has a dangerous fascination with Bill. He claims to want to understand what led Bill to murder, but we soon realize that Leonard’s friendship was more complicated and disturbing than we first were led to believe. As a psychiatrist is Leonard is drawn to Bill because he wanted to figure out his own fascination with the outcast or is it because he wants to pursue the relationship they had once formed all those years ago?
Humphries has stated that the novel is “about people trying to fix themselves”. I came away thinking it was also a novel about self-discovery and forgiveness. Pretty deep themes for such a short read.
It is also a novel that is informative it brings to life a time in Canadian Health care that is not often acknowledged. A time when children were placed in mental institutions because there were “too many mouths to feed” or if they seemed “slow”. It was also a time when psychiatrists took LSD along with their patients. In fact, the true history of the Weyburn mental hospital is pretty fascinating. According to Atlas Obscura, it was an institution where cutting edge treatments and psychiatric drug research happened. It was where the term “psychedelic” was first coined AND the CIA was interested in its LSD research as potential use in truth serums.
If you’re looking to increase your exposure to Canadian literature “Rabbit Foot Bill” is a great novel to add. I would also add this novel to a High School novel study or make part of an in class book collection.
Adaline lives in 17th century France with 17th-century societal expectations- she must marry. Now Addie doesn’t want to get married. She wants to travel and learn and meet new people. She definitely doesn’t want to keep a home and have babies. So she does the only thing she can do to get out and makes a deal with the devil. Being a master equivocator, the devil distorts the bargain, yes, she will be free to travel and learn and meet new people however she will be immortal, and tragically be immediately forgotten by anyone and everyone she meets, making it impossible to forge any relationship whatsoever. Addie truly becomes invisible and must maneuver through the centuries on her wit and with only her own company. Sure the devil pops in every year or so to bully her, and as anyone would, accepts his company because, of course, he is the only “friend” she has.
Until …
one day she enters a book store where she is remembered. Now what? What will the devil do with these new sets of circumstances? Or is the devil himself who has placed this “person who remembers” in her path just to taunt and torture her.
I really loved this book. It reminded me of other novels where our protagonist is immortal and weaves his/her way through the centuries. Pilgrim by Timothy Findley and Orlando by Virginia Wolfe come to mind. However I found this novel much easier to consume- in fact, I read it in just over a day.
Philosophy, history, romance, fantasy, all included within the pages of this book along with several loving tributes to art and literature make this novel one of my favourites of the year.
I was given a free copy of this novel by NetGalley and MacMillian-Tor books (thank you!) but I will most certainly be purchasing one for my bookshelf. It will be work a re-read in the future.
Delicates is the second in a graphic novel series by Breena Thummler. Where the first novel Sheets introduces us to Marjorie Glatt’s story and her story, Delicates continues her story but also introduces us to a new character Eliza Dunn.
At the beginning of Delicates, Marjorie is still coming to terms with her mother’s death with the support of her ghost friend Wendell. Marjorie has started eighth grade and is now struggling to be part of the “popular” group who seems to be behaving like a typical group of obnoxious “judgey” teenagers. The ghost Wendell sees these friends for who they truly are and often calls Marjorie on her association with these newfound friends. And if truth be told, Wendell is feeling a little bit neglected.
Where Marjorie was the main character in Sheets, in Delicates she shares the page with Eliza Dunn, a classmate who is bullied because of her social awkwardness, and her peculiar preoccupation with photography, particularly photographing ghosts.
Marjorie’s and Eliza’s lives soon become intertwined largely in part because of Wendell’s involvement. To Marjorie’s surprise, Eliza can also see Wendell.
Along with a hugely emotive story, the artwork (especially the colour choices) are really quite beautiful. The story itself is a timely one, friendship, and acceptance, and the strength it takes to recognize and proactively stop bullying.
I would add both Sheets and Delicates to any school or classroom library.
Thank you NetGalley and Oni press for the free copy.
Ok, I’ve read a lot lately about Matt Haig’s books. I’ve meant to increase my exposure to speculative fiction, and Haig’s books seem as good a place to start. If you look on Goodreads, almost all of his books have a 4+ star rating (not that Goodreads ratings matter. Ok, Goodreads reviews may gently nudge me towards a title or two). Haig’s premises to me, seem deeply philosophical, and I love books that make me think. So I finally picked up one of his titles, his newest The Midnight Library. And yes, it did make me think. Our anti-hero Nora has had a REALLY bad day. Her cat died, she lost her job, and no one is responding to her texts. So Nora decides to die. No, I did not just spoil the plot…the first sentence literally says so. Because of a choice she makes, Nora finds herself in the Midnight Library, a sort of purgatorial holding place where she is forced to consult a “book of regrets” and then choose from books that hold all the choices she could have made in life. Once she opens a “book of choice” she is transported to that life where she experiences what “could have been”. I don’t know about you, but I’ve often thought about “what could have been if I’d only…” Which undoubtedly is a wasteful use of time. This novel reminds me of this waste. I really appreciated the slow and steady character growth Nora exhibits. An example is her view of loneliness. On page 5 Nora states “all though she’d studied enough existential philosophy to believe loneliness was a fundamental part of being human in an essentially meaningless universe”, but by page 120 this view has changed to “amid pure nature solitude took on a different character. It became in itself a kind of connection. A connection between herself and the world. Between her and herself.” Loneliness vs solitude. HUGE paradigm shift. One, we all must make at least once in our life. I’m not going to tell you Nora’s perception of “loneliness” at the end of the book, but you can probably surmise what it will be. Even though this book is philosophical, it is extremely accessible. It was a perfect “deep” read during a time in our history where I find reading deeply difficult. It’s a good book! Read it!
I wanted to read. But I couldn’t I wanted to write. But I didn’t. I am at a time in life that is opaque, where there are no bold lines,
only shadow and shades.
So I have begun to redefine myself.
On the cusp of retirement, a time when I aspire to hone my passions and strengths (without being guided by a paycheck) I take solace in the fact that there is one thing I will always be-
a reader.
It has only been in my later years, where I have become confident enough to identify as a writer. To claim that I am one.
And as I begin to wind down in my career (after 30 years), I have full intentions to read more, and write more
and grow creatively and profoundly in voice
and in imagination.
I aspire to be the embodiment of a sentient library where those seeking stories can come and confer. Suggestions of titles would trip off my tongue like water over rock.
To read. To write reviews. To write short stories. To finish that novel.And then…
A global pandemic.
Oh, I thought, now that my life is limited in both act and engagement, I will have copious amounts of time to read and write and create.
But alas, I have yet to take advantage of the circumstances in which I find myself. Instead,
I check updates, And outbreak patterns, And my temperature.
My concentration is non-existent. Sadly I can scarcely focus long enough to live in another world if even for a minute.
And all of this has been heartbreakingly disconcerting.
So not only has my identity been challenged, but the one place where I used to be able to claim respite from reality has slammed the door without giving me a key.
I long to wander freely in fiction where I can think of nothing else but plot points and protagonists.
written by Elsa Hart I am a reading fiend. I can read book upon book upon book upon book. Summer holidays usually offers the opportunity where I make up for the lack of time I had during the work year. But this year was different. You would think that with a quarantine one would have more time to do what one loves. For me, this was not the case. I’ve been finding it really difficult to concentrate on reading for long periods of time. Short Stories? No problem. Poetry? Easy. But novels, no. And I’ve been crestfallen because of it. Luckily I was given an advanced copy of Elsa Hart’s The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne, and my reading drought has thus been ended. I started reading this novel one early evening after dinner, and I was pretty my all the way through before the sun rose the next day. I could not put it down! What magic did Elsa Hart conjure to break me of this stifled reading curse? First off, an intriguing setting London 1703 where most of the action is centred around the home of a “collector”l Barnaby Mayne who is in possession of THE most extensive collection of wonders. This collection includes everything from skeletons of exotic animals from across the world, to strange fish preserved in chemicals, to gemstones, and rare flower and much much more. Secondly, memorable characters. Our protagonist, Lady Cecily Kay, has come from Smyrna to access Baraby Maynes “plant room” in an attempt to identify the various plants she collected in her travels. There is also an assortment of other characters who live within Sir Barnaby’s walls, all of whom have a different interest in his collection. Unfortunately, upon her first night, the house Cecily’s host is murdered, but why? The man who confesses to the crime cannot possibly be capable of the atrocity? Or can he? This novel is a wonderful murder mystery that keeps the reader captive with each secret revealed. And thirdly, I loved, loved, loved, the plot. The portrayal of the female characters, both Cecily and the character Meacan are smart and independent and interesting. I also really appreciated the fact that they were older and therefore approached situations with the wisdom and foresight that comes with age and experience instead of “learning as they go”. I was also charmed by this novel because a couple of summers ago, I was fortunate enough to visit Dublin. While there, I explored the museum that housed an extensive collection of all sorts of wonders. This book reminded me of that visit and how entranced I was with all the wonders that I saw. The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne went on sale yesterday! Buy it! You’ll love it! Plus its a sure-fire remedy to the frustrating curse of a reading drought.
PS… here are some pictures from the Dublin museum. These are EXACTLY how I imagined Barnaby Mayne’s collection!!!!!
Ink And Spine 