La Linea

La Linea

by Ann Jaramillo

 

Miguel knows that by crossing the border line from Mexico into California is his only hope for a better life as well as for him and his younger sister, Elena, to reunite with their parents. For the past six years, Miguel, his sister, and grandmother have survived off of the money sent from his parents living in the States. On his 15th birthday, along with the usual finances, his father sends instructions for Miguel to head north. The plans are quickly foiled by Elena who follows her brother on the dangerous journey and when the bus suddenly diverts south, their money stolen, the only option is to illegally aboard the infamous mata gente freight train, also known as the “people killer”. If they survive the mata gente, the siblings will still face another two-day deadly journey across the U.S. border.

 

 

La Linea constantly places the reader at the edge of their seat in this high anxiety, real life adventure. The strong plot development accounts events that people and families face daily as they attempt to seek a better life in the United States. The story is informative and full of Mexican American culture, weaving Spanish words and terms within the text, creating a stronger atmosphere as scenes play out. The book serves as great introduction to the Spanish language and Mexican culture, as well as a great conversation about immigration and why many families must immigrate to survive and live a decent life.

Check Out La Linea from SFPL!

 

Cover Image: https://us.macmillan.com/lalinea/annjaramillo/9780312373542/

Image: https://books.google.com/books/about/La_Linea.htmlid=YhbroJ8ZmUsC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=fals

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

 The 57 Bus:

A True Story of Two Teenagers

and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

By Dashka Slater 

Two High School students, from two drastically different realities, share the same bus on their way to and from school. One, a white teen, attends a private school in Berkeley, while the other, a black male, goes to Oakland High. Sasha is Agender, appears male but doesn’t identify as a male or female. Sasha is very smart with supportive parents and peers, has a bold sense of style, often in Steampunk fashion and skirts. 

Sasha Fleischman

Richard lives in East Oakland where the community struggles with high crime and poverty. He has lost many friends and family to gun violence. His mother works extremely long hours to support her family. School is difficult for Richard, it is easy for him to fall through the cracks at O High, but he works closely with a school counselor to try to pass his classes and get to graduate. People know him as a fun-loving prankster with a big heart, who has been dealt a good deal of difficulties in his young life. 

Richard Thomas, left, with his brother, Derriyon

One day as the two teens’ lives passed by each other on the 57 Bus, Sasha was asleep near where Richard and his friends were sat. The friends noticed that Sasha was wearing a skirt and found it to be weird and disagreeable. Richard is dared to flick his lighter at the skirt and quickly, what was suppose to be a small, laughable flame, became a person’s legs completely engulfed in fire.  After the senseless crime, Richard now faces the court for hate crimes and possible life in prison.  Sasha returns home after months of surgeries and recovery. The community hangs rainbow flags throughout the streets, the school body all wears skirts in support of Sasha. 

The 57 Bus is an important read for teens and educators. It creates great opportunity for conversation and deep thought about divided communities, both racial and financial, gender identity, and the justice system. One single thoughtless crime can alter lives forever. Richard’s careless “prank” destroys his chances of graduating High School and having a brighter future than family before him. Sasha’s attack thrusts the teen into the spotlight which builds a stronger, more supportive and aware community, that work toward creating a safer, more inclusive world for all genders. Both of these teens’ story deserve attention.

 

Check Out The 57 Bus from SFPL!

 

Slater, Dashka. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives. NY,NY. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). October, 2017. Print. ISBN: 978-0374303235. Hardback. $11.55

 

Images: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/magazine/the-fire-on-the-57-bus-in-oakland.html

Book Cover Image: https://us.macmillan.com/the57bus/dashkaslater/9780374303235/

GRRRLS on the Side

GRRRLS on the Side 

By Carrie Pack

 

16 year old Tabatha, our main character, is heavy set and bullied by her peers and those who once were her friends. She does have a friend, Mike, who she attends a punk show with, there she picks up a zine that invites her to go to a Riot GRRRL meet up. At the meet up she is introduced to bold, strong, older females who challenge her to understand her white privilege as well as her own sexuality. Tabatha has found her tribe and as the group bonds, they find themselves learning, growing, and loving, through many circumstances.

 

GRRRLS on the Side is a historical glimpse into a feminist movement, full of 90’s pop culture nostalgia. The 90’s weren’t as politically correct as we are nowadays, still today we have a lot of growing to do and steps to becoming more understanding and tolerant of other races and other’s sexuality. Don’t be surprised by some of the characters’ ignorance, as punk and revolutionary as the book presents itself. Some of the passages can serve as great way to have a conversation about why a character’s actions are problematic and how they can be made right.

There are awesome, truly enjoyable, parts in the book design, as each chapter ends with a page from our main character’s Riot GRRRL zine, complete with poems, articles, band names, and tour dates. The text with images and collage create a palpable feel for the punk scene and 90’s time period. The printed zines can surely be relate-able to today’s teens on social media and online blogs as well as the need for young adults to find their own tribe, their own community that helps them grow and understand the world in which they live.

 

 

Check Out GRRRLS on the Side 

 

…and more Riot GRRRL materials available at SFPL!

 

The Punk Singer : a documentary film about Kathleen Hanna

Music by Bikini Kill

Reject all American

The C.D. version of the first two records

 

 

Pack, Carrie. GRRRLS on the Side. NY, NY. Duet, an imprint of Interlude Press. June 2017. Print. ISBN:978-1945053214 Paperback. $15.97

Images: http://carriepack.com/

 

Husky

Husky

by Justin Sayre

 

Davis is an incredibly sensitive 12 year old boy, he has a great passion for opera music, loves helping his Mother in her bakery, and is dealing with some self-esteem issues this particular summer. He isn’t comfortable living in his “husky” body. It’s the summer before 8th grade and a number of small occurrences are causing major changes in Davis’ life. His Mom starts dating someone new after a very long time of not dating anyone at all after the death of Davis’ Dad. His closest friends are female and finding themselves, maturing and starting to “like” like boys and getting make-overs.  Davis isn’t invited to his best friend’s “just for girls” party, and he goes through  a lot of emotions and hurt, searching for the words to describe how he is feeling about all of this change.

This is not a coming out book, not in the sense of sexuality, however, Davis may not be fully aware, but he is gay. His sexual orientation is just a part of the larger concept of finding himself through this transnational time before 8th grade.

Characters and scenes are well written and flow seamlessly. Sayre has crafted a book that represents perfectly some of the trials children and young people face as they mature and find who they are in the world and to their selves. The book is not very plot driven, but will no doubt pull at the heartstrings as you relate to those feelings of being unsure of yourself in the world.

Husky is the author Justin Sayre’s first novel. Sayre is a writer for major television comedies and the stage. He is a performer and comedian, described by the Village Voice as “Oscar Wilde meets Whoopi Goldberg.” He was named as one the Funniest People in Brooklyn by Brooklyn Magazine and called one of LA’s 16 Most Talented LGBT Comics by Frontiers Magazine.

Recognition for Husky: Deemed “a superb addition to the middle grade literary cannon” by VOYA Magazine and called “[a] moving journey of self-discovery . . .” by Publishers Weekly.

Check Out Husky from the SFPL!

Sayre, Justin. Husky. NY, NY. Grosset & Dunlap, September, 2016. Print. ISBN:978-0448484143. Paperback. $9.99

Author Image :http://www.manhattandigest.com/2016/12/16/nterview-justin-sayre-holidays-politics-ashtrays/

Book Cover Image: https://www.amazon.com/Husky-Sayre-Justin-2015-09-22-Audio/dp/B012YWGO8S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1497719672&sr=8-3&keywords=husky+sayre

Book Talk: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

By Sherman Alexie

 

Art By Ellen Forney

 

Junior, equally heartbreaking and hilarious, a young Spokane Native American teen, tells his story of life on and off the reservation when he begins to go to a better, all white, school for his Freshman year of High School. The kids at his new school call him by his first name, Arnold, because no one would actually go by the name “Junior” outside of the rez. As much of an outcast as he is at his new school, he is used to being bullied. Growing up, Junior has always been goofy looking and strange, getting beat up is part of the daily life for Junior. When he decides to go to a better school, one where textbooks aren’t 30 years old, friends and family see him as a traitor, calling him an “apple”, red on the outside and white on the inside, he loses his best friend since birth, Rowdy, who once was his protector and now is his worst enemy, now he is an outcast both at home and in school.

Image Source: http://poseidonlettertrident.blogspot.com/

Junior is also an incredible comic artist with a wonderful sense of humor. Throughout the story readers are entertained by illustrations that further explain his thoughts and emotions. He questions if he is racist for being so attractive to a white girl named Penelope.He uses drawing as a tool to deal many the many deaths of family and friends that happen all too frequently on the reservation. He also illustrates his failures and success against his old school’s basketball team, going head to head with his ex-best friend.

Image Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/books/review/Barcott3-t.html

People of all ages will learn about Native American life on reservations, the broken system they are forced to be in, yet still take pride in their culture even after the many years of white people attempting to “kill the Indian” within them.Junior’s humor, hope, and courage, even though being dealt a terrible and hopeless hand, will inspire all to be the greatest they can, strive for more, and never give up. Everyone should check this book out and share it with others.

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Print. ISBN: 9780316013697. Paperback. $8.99.

Cover Image:

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Absolutely_True_Diary_of_a_Part_Time.html?id=TixlWN3iXFIC&source=kp_cover&hl=en

Awards:

2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature

2008 American Indian Youth Literature Awards. American Indian Library Association Best Young Adult Book

2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Fiction and Poetry

2009 Odyssey Award as the year’s “best audiobook for children or young adults”

2010 California Young Reader Medal

 

Check Out The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian from the SFPL!

Book Talk: Hate List

Hate List

by Jennifer Brown

During Val’s junior year of high school, even though she has a great boyfriend, Nick, and a great quirky group of friends, she feels like they are outcasts because she and her friends have been getting bullied by some cruel students. Those who bullied Val or Nick or her close friends made it on to Val’s “Hate List”. She never thought the list would bring those students real harm, and certainly not their tragic death. Like Val, Nick was odd, always in deep thought and deeply poetic. Val believed they were in this life together until Nick brought a gun to school and murdered and hurt many students.

Now it is senior year, Val, now completely alone, knows that everyone is watching and wondering about her and how much she was involved in the school shooting, afterall it was her list, and did she know about the gun? Val’s life is in shambles, she lost her friends, the person she thought she loved, and now her family is falling apart. Val must learn how to heal as she reflects upon how it got to the point of the shooting and where she’ll go from here.

 

Brown, J. Hate List. St. Louis, MO: Turtleback Books, 2010. Print. ISBN: 978-0606151238 . Library Bound. $22.10

 

Book Image Source: https://books.google.com/books/about/Hate_List.html?id=rNH4X2-V0fkC&source=kp_cover

Awards: School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2011), Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award (2010), The White Ravens (2010), Voya Perfect Ten (2009), Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2014), Louisiana Teen Readers Choice Award, Missouri Gateway Readers Award (2012), Oklahoma Sequoyah Award for High School (2012)

Check Out Hate List from the SFPL!

Book Talk: Marble Season

Marble Season

By Gilbert Hernandez

In the graphic novel Marble Season, Gilbert Hernandez illustrates life growing up in 1960s suburban California. Readers of all ages will relate to the creative play time the young characters in the story engage in. Huey, the middle brother of three boys, loves super heroes and throughout the story creates Captain America screenplays, acting them out with neighborhood friends and family. Huey also has an affinity for comic books, taking after his older brother ,who he so admires, as well as collecting gory illustrated gum ball cards and marbles.

The brothers and other neighborhood kids encounter a good deal of bullying, sometimes over race, sometimes between friends, but often to prove something. It is apparent as the children grow up they value the approval of others and attempt to understand their own morals. Readers of all ages can relate to this coming of age story, being young, the importance of one’s belongings, as well as your image and what kind of person you would like to be.

The story has many  pop-culture references, so the author supplies readers, those less familiar with the 60s, an index in the back of the book to answer any questions. The illustrations throughout the novel are simple and yet express so much. A sweet graphic novel that will take you to that innocent place of imagination, play, and acceptance.

Hernandez, Gilbert. Marble Season. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Drawn and Quarterly; First Edition edition (April 16, 2013). ISBN: 978-1770460867. Hardcover $17.83

Check Out Marble Season from the SFPL!

Book Cover Image: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13538042-marble-season?from_search=true&search_version=service

Additional Images:  http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/04/15/gilbert_hernandez_marble_season_excerpt_captain_america_s_shield_comic.html