Sarah Jamila Stevenson's Blog: Blog - Sarah Jamila Stevenson, page 31

Save the Date! Multicultural Children's Book Day is Jan 27

I'm proud to participate again this year as both a book reviewer and an author sponsor, even with a million billion other things going on! There is never a bad time, though, to promote multicultural children's books, and try to get them into the hands of readers everywhere. So come back and visit us next Friday, January 27th, for a review of a VERY fun YA paranormal-ish fantasy featuring an American Indian protagonist, and DEFINITELY go visit the Multicultural Children's Book Day website for more information and links to participating sites.

A couple more fun things for those who would like to help promote MCCBD if you aren't already doing so:
Mark your calendars for the #ReadYourWorld Twitter Party on 1/27 at 9:00p.m.ET. Check out this blog post with all of the details and book bundles. It promises to be a vibrant, fun and fast-paced hour of amazing conversations and tons of book giveaways!Teachers, homeschoolers, librarians, etc. can download this FREE Classroom Kindness Kit, including the fab poster below, to facilitate discussion and find more resources on multicultural books. 

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Monday Review: FALLING OVER SIDEWAYS by Jordan Sonnenblick

So yeah, my goal here is to not let my normal urge to be terrifyingly exhaustive or my inexplicable desire to adhere to established organizational habits keep me from posting a book review. Therefore this is a quicker one, but it doesn't mean I liked the book less or anything of that nature. It JUST MEANS that I'm busily working on a) a novel rewrite that is kicking my butt, and b) Cybils Round 2 judging (I'm reading several excellent graphic novels that I'll post about after the winners are announced).

Summary: I read one of Jordan Sonnenblick's novels quite some time ago (long enough ago that I'm not 100% sure which one it was, but I think it was Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie) and really remember loving the sense of humor--and also hating the font in which it was typeset. Anyway, I've been meaning to pick up another one ever since, and Falling Over Sideways showed up in my 3M Cloud Library app, so I took the opportunity to read it.

Fortunately, the font is less of an issue when you're e-reading, but aside from issues that only graphic design nerds care about, I enjoyed this story as well. Again, the author brings an unexpected and poignant sense of humor to really serious family health issues--in this case, 8th grader Claire's father suffers a sudden stroke, and she is the only one at home to witness it and call in the emergency. As if the huge changes at home weren't enough, school is also providing one aggravation after another, mainly in the form of the annoying, not-quite-but-pretty-much-almost-a-bully Ryder, who competes with her in everything, including jazz band.

Observations: The two things I really enjoyed about this book: 1. The portrayal of the parents and Claire's family in general--they are sympathetic, funny, and very real. 2. The portrayal of the kids who bug Claire at school rang true for me. These aren't necessarily out-and-out bullies, but those kids who are just really, REALLY annoying and get on your last nerve. There's a lot of exploration of WHY those types of kids behave the way they do; the reader's able to have sympathy for them, too, and learn to love them and to realize that middle school kids behave like jackasses for all kinds of reasons.

Conclusion: This was a quick read and an interesting portrayal of serious family trauma that is nevertheless not too heavy for younger middle grade readers.

I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find FALLING OVER SIDEWAYS by Jordan Sonnenblick at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Why I Write: Finding Joy in the New Year

The following was also cross-posted on my personal blog, Aquafortis.

We've been talking about writing goals in our WritingYA critique group this month, and I've been thinking a lot about that over the past few weeks. One of the ideas I keep coming back to is reconnecting with what brings me joy in writing.

It's a tough question, and one I find particularly difficult to consider during times when ongoing anxiety and depression issues rear their ugly Cerberus-like heads and distract me from seeing an answer. In part, I think I keep obsessing over this particular question BECAUSE it has been so hard to answer. The easy, pat response is, of course, that the writing itself, the act of crafting words and bringing stories to life is a joy in itself. That's what everyone wants to hear, right?

There's more to it. It isn't solely about the joy of putting words to page. That particular joy is something I've felt ever since I was a child, but here's an admission: it was not sufficient to tip me over the edge into wanting to make writing my life's work.

If you know me IRL or have been reading my blog and other social media for a while, you'll know that I was focused on a visual art career from about middle school onward. If anything has ever been a calling for me, that felt like it. I liked writing, but art owned my soul.

It turns out that maybe woo-woo soul searching questions—am I still an artist? Is writing my new calling? Can they both be my calling?—are sly distractions from the question of what brings me joy in writing. And once I've been distracted by those questions, I end up sliding down a rabbit hole of uncertainty, anxiety, and fear.

But, as I started really focusing on the idea of what brings me joy in writing, it was much more concrete and real-world than I expected. I looked back on what caused me to make that initial decision to try writing freelance articles on the side for my then-employer, which is what led me to take that first writing class through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. What was it that made me so happy, so elated, so motivated to write those arguably quite ridiculous pieces of writing?

Besides the fact that I got to visit weird websites and make jokes about them, got to humorously explicate pithy quotations, and got paid a teeny bonus for doing so, this was my first experience of the sense of connection that writing for a public audience can create. Not just a SENSE of connection: an actual connection, because people would email me with suggestions; they'd send me comments. I was basically blogging before there were blogging platforms, because this was 1999-ish. I was lucky to have an insta-audience (albeit a small one) because I took over someone else's columns on an already-established site, and it was an incredible feeling to get those responses to what I wrote—sometimes from the very websites I was writing about. (And I learned a lot about the fine line between jokes and gratuitous hurtfulness, because I was a very sarcastic twentysomething.)

This is interesting, because I have mixed feelings about the IDEA of connection—my social anxiety and introversion comes into play more and more the harder I think about it. I start thinking about all the blogging and writing I've done that does NOT make me feel like I've managed to connect. And the stakes feel higher, too, because I've accepted the decision to make writing a major part of my career, not just something I'm doing on the side.

So then I get lost in the thought-hole of "I'm doing this for my job, so I can't afford to think about FUN anymore." The very idea of joy seems irrelevant. This is the mire I get caught in, over and over.
Where that train of thought has gone off the rails, I believe, is that I've created a false dichotomy between work ENJOYMENT and work EFFECTIVENESS. The truth is that I'm NOT as effective a writer when I am not in touch with my reasons for doing it. When I'm distracted by extraneous worries that fool me into thinking they are the real problem.

And so that brings me back to what my intrinsic rewards are, and besides satisfaction in a piece I enjoyed writing and worked hard on, and laughing at my own jokes, I keep coming back to writing as an act of connection. Some corollary truths here: When I am more fully engaged in a piece, I think it is ultimately more effective in making me feel connected. I am engaged in this because I feel like I am talking to YOU, right now. The writing itself makes me feel connected, if I engage in it fully.

That feeling has little to do with any comments or responses the writing might generate later, but I wonder: is there a sense of disengagement in some of the posts I write that actually somehow discourages connection and leads to fewer comments? By disengagement, I don't mean a lack of honesty or an unwillingness to spill my guts (though I am definitely guilty of the latter; I'm not a person who is forward with my opinions)—rather, I wonder if I'm inadvertently creating a feeling of distance. In my magazine writing course, in graduate school, I was repeatedly pegged as sounding too academic, and I wonder if that plays into it.

So I have been thinking of ways to connect, to engage. Different ways to approach my writing on a more day-to-day level.

I'm still thinking. More on that later…

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

New Year's Action: Writers Resist!

I am terribly proud to be one small part of an amazing group of 30 local writers that is participating in Writers Resist: Modesto on Sunday, January 15, 2017. From the official press release:

"The flagship Writers Resist event, founded by poet Erin Bilieu and co-sponsored by PEN America, will feature famous literary figures braving January weather on the steps of the Public Library in New York City to read historic and contemporary writings on the ideals of democracy and free expression. Additional Writers Resist events, are being held in Boston, Los Angeles, Oakland, Austin, Portland, Omaha, Seattle, London, Zurich, Hong Kong, and many more cities.

Locally, the City of Modesto’s poet laureate, Stella Beratlis—along with writer Shanyn Vitti Avila and poet Elizabeth Sousa—is organizing Writers Resist: Modesto in response to concern during the recent Presidential campaign over public cynicism, disdain for truthfulness, and the unleashing of hatred and bigotry. Beratlis, a longtime member of the League of Women Voters of Stanislaus County, wanted to present an event which might galvanize Modesto audiences to become active in the civic life of the community, support nonprofits that address social justice issues, and network with like-minded people while having fun."

For more info, click to embiggen the flyer in the image at right, and to see if there's a Writers Resist event in your area, visit their main website.

With alarming racist events occurring even at our local community college campus, where my husband and I teach, I think it's incredibly important to stand up for a peaceful, thoughtful, diverse, and just society that operates on ideals of civility and values truth over small-mindedness. I come from a family that includes recent immigrants, Muslims, atheists, Latinos, South Asians, Caucasians; people of various faiths and ethnic origins who are brought together by love and care for one another--something that I hope is still possible on a nationwide level. I hope for a society where we recognize and value the diversity of our friends and neighbors, not one where I'm literally frightened that some of my family members might be targeted for reasons of faith, ethnicity, or national origin. Participating in Writers Resist is, for me, a critical part of standing up for my ideals in a way that promotes positivity and action.

And that's my two cents on it.

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Thursday Review: HIGHLY ILLOGICAL BEHAVIOR by John Corey Whaley

Synopsis : It might not be easy to picture a story that takes heavy stuff—mental illness, coming out—and weaves them into an often-hilarious, totally recognizable story of friendship and love. Highly Illogical Behavior (which takes place in, of all conceivable locations, UPLAND, which is very close to where I lived as a child) uses the alternating viewpoints of Solomon Reed—who is agoraphobic and hasn't left his house in three years, ever since one fateful day in eighth grade—and Lisa Praytor, who seems to be his polar opposite in just about every single way. Lisa is extroverted, ambitious, and she just happens to want to get into the second-best psychology program in the country.

Through happenstance, Sol's situation falls across Lisa's radar, and she gets a possibly brilliant, audacious, and definitely ethically questionable idea: she will make Sol her project. She'll fix his agoraphobia. And then she'll write about it in her application essay, thus demonstrating her prodigious psychological talents. Unsurprisingly, neither her best friend Janis nor her boyfriend Clark think this is such a good plan, but that doesn't stop Lisa.

Of course, as she gets to know Sol, and over time becomes his friend, things get a lot more complicated than she anticipated. This is, after all, someone's LIFE, someone's mental well-being. And because she, too, has grown to care very much about Sol, her straight-out USING him to pad her college application becomes even more painful to witness, more and more thorny and entangled and questionable. And yet it's undeniable: Sol is changing. Does the end justify the means? Is their friendship a true one? And can the reader finish this story without wanting to SLAP Lisa across the face just one time? (I would guess, no.)

Observations : This book does so much to show that panic and anxiety disorders, including agoraphobia, are not what defines a person or their character. It's a critical point that those of us who suffer from this type of mental issue will recognize: the need to truly understand and accept that you are not your illness. Getting that message across to those readers who may be just starting to realize they have a real issue? And setting them on the path to understanding and accepting themselves? It could be lifesaving.

The message comes across so clearly in part, I think, because of how recognizable these characters are—it's easy to see and KNOW the ambitious, obsessively college-bound, driven Lisa Praytor. Sol is just as familiar, especially to anyone who has ever experienced social anxiety on any level, but also as a human being with desires and hopes and interests of his own. The characters are all rounded and complex, and it's refreshing to see that Sol—the one with the mental issues—is the one with the MOST functional and loving family. His parents and his grandmother support him and love him unconditionally, and they aren't relegated to bit parts, either.

It drives home the point that mental illness is not a decision that you can simply will yourself out of; that sufferers should not face blame for their condition; and that there is a biological component, meaning that you can have a good life and a happy family but still suffer from a mental illness—Sol's home life and family circumstances are not at fault for his situation.

Conclusion : Though a few aspects of the story stretched credibility—mostly, it seemed, to keep with the book's sense of humor and overall madcap kind of tone—I ended up loving these annoying, sweet, and ultimately very real characters.

I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find HIGHLY ILLOGICAL BEHAVIOR by John Corey Whaley at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Winter Greetings

Here in the North Central region of California, the winter is scarcely wild (though it is a bit frosty and rainy) and we are all wearing sweaters and coats and boots and scarves as though freezing to death. (Pause for laughter from everyone east of the Rockies and north of...California.)

I therefore can't provide you with any snowy scenes of my house or other picturesque seasonal tableaux (note: my spell checker demanded the French spelling). However, I do have this adorable picture of a penguin that I took just over a year ago when we were in Australia. Granted, he (or she) is not in the snow or looking particularly wintry (this was at St. Kilda Pier, Melbourne in November) but there you go. It is a Little Penguin, aka a Fairy Penguin. How cute is that? IT IS SO CUTE. You're welcome. Merry Christmas.

Or Happy Hanukkah, or Joyous Festivus, or even if you celebrate no holidays, you still have to live with positive vibes and this penguin.

Also, don't forget-- on a more kidlit-oriented note, Cybils shortlists come out on January 1st, and Multicultural Children's Book Day is later in the month on January 27th!

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Thursday Review: RUINED by Amy Tintera

Very classy cover Synopsis : I'm pretty sure this one is also a Cybils Spec Fic nomination—but since I don't see it on Tanita's immediate review docket, I'm jumping on in! I decided to treat myself with this one because I enjoyed Amy Tintera's Reboot and the sequel, Rebel, which were really thought-provoking sci-fi action.

Ruined is the start of a new fantasy trilogy, and I'm already excited for the next two books. If you like your fantasy laced with plenty of intrigue, romance, and revenge—I'd say, if you enjoyed Marie Rutkoski's Winner's Curse trilogy—then you'll want to check this one out.

Emelina Flores—Em—is from the war-torn kingdom of Ruina, where she is the only person in the royal family without any Ruined magic. Her sister, heir to the kingdom, has been kidnapped by the neighboring country of Lera, and the rest of her family massacred. Determined to get her revenge and find her sister, she masquerades as the betrothed of Lera's Prince Casimir, with the goal of getting close enough to lead an attack from inside the kingdom—and to kill the entire royal family. Of course, as you might guess (but not in an easy, predictable way), Cas isn't exactly the war-obsessed, bloodthirsty prince she assumed he would be, and everything gets really complicated really fast.

Observations : I really thought the world-building was effective here. I've started to truly appreciate fantasy books that keep the world itself RELATIVELY confined and simple—a few kingdoms, one or two (or no) types of magic, leaving the focus on the characters, the immediate action, and the emotional arc and making for a more robust story at the end of it. The bells and whistles are icing on the cake without distracting from the story or being confusing. Here, the Ruined magic varies but is essentially an ability to manipulate the natural world (including living creatures) at an elemental level.

But, rather than being a sort of magical Chosen One, Em is the one without magic, who must rely on her wits and natural abilities to complete her quest. It's an interesting twist, and makes her easy to relate to even in the beginning when she is revenge-obsessed and in anguish. And the romance was very satisfying because it doesn't develop arbitrarily and suddenly (ye gods, I hate that) but happens over time, slowly, under difficult but not impossible odds. Our heroes Em and Cas have to work at it, and earn each other's trust even as they are forced to break it again and again. As a reader, I found this definitely added to the book's unputdownability.

Conclusion : SO good. And a plus is that the characters populating the book are sort-of-kind-of-vaguely Latinx, not in an obtrusive way but it's nice to see epic fantasy that taps into cultures other than Anglo-Saxon-Celtic (though I certainly loves me my Celtic mythology).

I purchased my copy of this book on Amazon. You can find RUINED by Amy Tintera at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Thursday Review: THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH by James Kennedy

Synopsis : This is another one I acquired and got signed at the KidLitCon in Wichita a couple of months ago—and I got to meet and hang with the author as a fun bonus! Interesting aside—James Kennedy is founder of the really awesome 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, which brings students, teachers, and librarians together to produce condensed, often hilarious film versions of Newbery Award winners. As it turns out, he was in the running for the Newbery himself for this very book, but lost out to that pesky Neil Gaiman and his Graveyard Book. *shakes fist* NEIL GAIMAN!!!

Neil may have won, but this book still has it all. Hilarity: check. Mayhem: check. A level of quirky-cool-things-per-page that is heretofore unseen: check. Jo LaRouche, our thirteen-year-old protagonist, lives with her aunt Lily LaRouche—who seems to be an aging Golden Age film star of sorts—in a wild, gaudy mansion in the California desert. Jo was dropped on the doorstep as an infant, bearing only a note saying she was a "DANGEROUS baby." This is intriguing, since for much of the book, we bear witness to Jo being possibly the least dangerous or threatening (and definitely the least weird) in a rather amusing lineup of characters that includes a vengeful Chinese millionaire, a freakish reality-show host known only as the Belgian Prankster, various cockroach butlers, and previously unheard of orders of mysterious knights.

Of course, these orders of knights include the Order of Odd-fish, for which the book is named…and as the plot unfolds, the reader finds out the nature of Jo and Lily's connection to the Odd-Fish, as well as the secret of Jo's birth and her ultimate destiny in the magical realm of Eldritch City….

Observations : I see this one appealing greatly to fans of Terry Pratchett, in its combination of silly-yet-serious. Also, like Tiffany Aching, Jo LaRouche is kind of the heir apparent to a hidden world of magical weirdness. And boy, is it weird! And fun. And hilarious. Ever read something and think, in reference to the author, "Good grief, is THAT what it's like inside your brain? Whoa, man." It takes quirky to epic heights. And as such, it might not be for everyone—the ever-growing whirlwind of bizarre might be too much for readers who prefer realistic fiction—but I thought the author maintained the balance with a believable, relatable main character who somehow manages to remain a regular girl in many ways, despite all the strangeness going on around her.

Conclusion : Very, very enjoyable. Also impossible to really describe, so you'll just have to go read it. I'd call it middle-grade-ish, but appropriate for older audiences, too.

I acquired my copy of this book at KidLitCon 2016. You can find THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH by James Kennedy at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Monday Review: REALITY BOY by A.S. King

Synopsis : I picked this one up (and got it signed; woot!) at the most recent Kidlitosphere Conference in Wichita—somehow I missed it when it came out a few years ago, but I'm so glad I went back for it, because it's up there with my favorite A.S. King novels.

Picture one of those awful, Nanny 9-1-1 reality TV shows that were so popular there for a while. Now, imagine being a teenager, and having been one of the luckless kids who was featured on such a show as a toddler, too young to have any say about it. Imagine you'd been acting out your anger at your manipulative older sister in all kinds of sad and horrible ways, but thanks to oblivious parents and heartless TV studio execs, you're the one who takes the blame. That's what happened to Gerald Faust. Now seventeen, he's biding his time until he graduates, working a job at the local sports arena and still working on his anger issues. You'd be angry, too, if all the kids at school knew you as "the Crapper" and your awful sister was still living in the basement, making your life hell.

Gerald feels very much alone at the beginning of this novel, but it is those who dare to reach out to him that begin to truly open him up to the world: his boss at the arena, who is everything his mom isn't; and Hannah, a girl with enough troubles of her own that she doesn't seem to care about Gerald's past. In tiny ways, and then in more pronounced ways, his walls start to come down, and his life starts to change. And, to his surprise…he finds hope out there beyond the walls.

Observations : This story was incredibly gripping, told as it was in alternating sections: Gerald's childhood on the TV show, and his experiences with the TV nanny, are juxtaposed with his present-day life and tribulations with schoolmates and family. Some of his problems are new, and some of them just never went away…and through it all, he struggles with his anger and powerlessness. Overcoming his anger, and realizing the power that he DOES have, is one of the core themes of this book. Feeling powerless, feeling like you're subject to the whims of your family and those around you—it's basically a childhood/adolescent truism, but Reality Boy takes it to heretofore unexplored heights.

I had so, SO much sympathy and righteous anger on behalf of Gerald—how could parents do something like that? How could they raise their children in such a dysfunctional way?—and yet these types of small tragedies happen every day, albeit not necessarily in such visible ways. Still, the presence of the media panopticon in this story is frighteningly relevant.

Conclusion : A.S. King does such an incredible job of telling Gerald's story here, making us feel for him AND feel his anger—and making us root for him to heal. Fans of her books won't want to miss this.

I purchased my copy of this book from Watermark Books in Wichita. You can find REALITY BOY by A.S. King at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wish I could take credit for the nice graphic, but in fact I found it on a great site called Open Clip Art. It's based on art from the Columbia Evening Missourian of 1922.

With much love and gratitude for the amazing people of the kidlit community--readers, writers, bloggers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, etc. etc.,  Finding Wonderland wishes you all a very happy Turkey Day!

This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged hands, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the weblog owner for further details.