Huck: The Remarkable True Story of How One Lost Puppy Traught a Family-and a Whole Town-About Hope and Happy Endings by Janet Elder

As I’ve said multiple times. I’m a sucker for dog memoirs even if they’re a bit sad because, with all the variations, it harbors the same theme. Dogs teach us more about ourselves and the goodness of humans than we realize.

In this case, when Elder was diagnosed with cancer, she gave into her son’s desperate wish to have a dog of his own-Huck. Only for Huck to escape shortly afterwards, revealing a heartwarming tale of a community of strangers coming together to return a beloved dog.
What can be sweeter than that.

Sound of Light (Marvel School of X novel) by Amanda Bridgeman

As you’ve already know from my book blog. I’m a DC girl and the only Marvel I really know any backstory/characters are the X-Men. So I had to pick up this book after watching Wolverine and the X-Men since it had Emma Frost, Polaris, Cyclops and my underrated fav, Dazzler.

Now, I only knew 80s Dazzler where she was supposed to cash in on the disco trend and has flashy powers (literally). Here, she has quite an upgrade with her powers are implied to be on level with nuclear reactors if she really let loose. As is, her power is being a light transducer which uses it in a variety of creative ways from distraction to performing to precisely aimed lasers.

It was also special enough for Mystique to kidnap her for months to drain her essence to use for a mutant-DNA steroid drug. Oh and Mystique posed as her during the months she was trapped and no one was the wiser so Dazzler (real name, Allison) has real trust issues.

Present day, she’s being immersed in a normal life, touring with her new band but S.H.I.E.L.D. is dragging her into their mess. With the new MGH drug on the streets, they want to know who’s selling and they believe she can be a liason between the mutant community and them.

She doesn’t want to help after quitting them but they bring up the fact that Cyclops and Magneto have been kidnapped. . . and her father. Three men that she owes her life to.

The problem with being a liason is that she’s not trusted by either community. The agents don’t trust her because she’s a mutant, the mutants don’t trust her since she left the X-men to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and Allison doesn’t trust anyone in general.

But she’s forced to ask for help from Emma Frost who has her own agenda-and makes a ragtag team with Sage, Polaris and Rachel Grey for an intersteller adventure.

When you get into the novel, it is slightly disconcerting combination that it expects readers to know certain big comic events (M-Day, MGH, Rachel Grey is Jean/Scott’s daughter from a different dimension etc.)yet provides enough explanation that you can follow along even without the google search. In that way, it will likely attract comic readers and newbies without losing them on the way.

But Bridgeman’s characterization is what will get people to stay even with these obscure characters (at least I think they’re obscure, maybe they’re more mainstream than I know. Again, not a Marvel person).

While X-Men is most known for its themes of prejudice and segregation, this one is all about agency, and exploitation. Allison is still recovering from her ordeal and it informs most of her motivation as she doesn’t want her blood being exploited as a drug that will further divide the mutant/human community. She feels exploited by S.H.I.E.L.D. in this liason position and does little acts of defiance to assert her agency without their rules and protocals.

Yet other characters are facing the same as the book dedicates some pages to Frost’s POV where we see the X-Men and government agencies facing off against each other, both dancing around the fact that they need the other’s help but unwilling to admit it or how it will limit their ability to work independently. It’s a complicated line.

It’s also complicated as almost each girl, Allison, Rachel and Polaris are dealing with father’s issues. Allison getting the most limelight as her father isn’t aware of her mutant powers having not spoken to Allison since she chose to follow a music career instead of his lawyer footsteps.

You would think that would bond them, but it only serves to make Allison more usupicious of their motivations and whether they’re not behind their parents’ disappearances. Bridgeman doesn’t hold back in showing how crippling Allison’s paranoia is with this mission triggering her previous trauma and current fears about her father learning her secret.

Yet you can sympathesize even when Allison leads them to several big missteps. She’s been betrayed and abandoned almost since she was 7 when her mom walked out. It’s been one after the other and you can understand that Allison is trying to protect herself but can’t quite reconcile the constant alertness is harming her more.

She’s so guarded that no one can really know her, thus compounding more possible betrayal as she has no alliegance but to herself and no one trusts her in return.

But there is hope at the end of the tunnel as bridgeman dives into the potential for healing and the potentital of Allison learning to trust again even though she’s not there yet. The mission also gives Allison a bit of confidence boost as Sage so sagely says (I had to) about ALlison’s leadership. Leadership needs more than technical but the compassion and artistry Allison brings is what makes her effective.

So yeah, I found the characters the best part even as I have gone on and on about Allison, the others had chances to shine. Though it was a bit weird to see Emma Frost on the side of good. Plus the action is top notch in how Bridgeman described Frost’s telepathic powers in a tangible way and gave a plausible explanation for why these mutants aren’t too over-powered so the stakes in battle are more urgent.

Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti

Caletti’s coming of age novel about sexuality, beauty and possession puts Sydney and her mother in danger and an one moment changes everything. Now, she’s dealing with the messy, complicated aftermath of a crime that has been building even before she was born.

The crime is loosely based on real life case between actress, Lana Turner and her husband, Johnny Stompanato so the book fittingly reads like a Hollywood crime thriller as each chapter opens with a piece of evidence or quote by supporting witnesses.

But Caletti keeps things focused on Sydney and her voletile three months. She’s sixteen and this unexpected summer trip with her mom’s new boyfriend, an moody artist is supposed to be fun with beaches, sun and summer flings. But she gets into a deep dive of the very flawed, dirty world of beauty.

She’s been near beauty all her life with her mom being the sexiest bombshell in Hollywood, now in denial of her upcoming birthday. But as Sydney comes into her own and attracts her own attention, some wanted, some obviously unwanted, she begins to more fully see and become enraged by the double standards of being female.

The constant sexualizationa and objetification is enraging especially when it comes from older men that expect her to be plesed at being catcalled by men their age (and their beer bellies). Yet she feels powerful too as she knows she can make guy melt at her feet.

But the power is limiting as she knows her mom’s use of her sexuality comes with an expiration date and attracts skeevy men like said boyfriend. Sydney shoouldn’t be a virgin but if she wants to excerise her right to choose, she’s hounded by her mom’s boyfriend as a slut (yep he’s a creeepy mf, there’s no other way to describe his jealousy). The use of film and art as extensions of the possessiveness that comes with those who collect beauty also comes into play and makes a visciral, think piece.

Women of Mythology: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Amaterasu and Athena, Your Guide to the Amazing and Diverse Women from World Mythology Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy

Unlike other mythological books, this compendium by podcasters, Jenny and Genn (Ancient History Fangirl) offers a wider variety and a deeper dive into mythological women around the world.

Split into three sections of goddesses, heroines, and monsteresses, each bio explains the woman’s position/role/origins and a popular myth that highlights how people back then and today interpret her significance.

And because they’re both historians, and we have a lot more information about biases, they take the time to discuss different interpretations that have come about due to georgraphy, colonization or patriarchy.

Some of the bios are straightforward in its retelling (primarily the greek ones which only numbered at 3. They were serious about showcasing other mythologies like Sumarian/Maori/Aztec/South African etc.), others had humorous aside notes.

But I could tell that it was written by two authors because it felt repetitive at parts with a piece of information being explained in the next sentence in a different way.

Also the illustrations by Sarah Richard are just gorgeous as you can see by the cover, I just wished there was an illustration for each. I guess it would put the book over the page limit as it’s already over 200, but I feel like it would have been worth it.

Native Americans in History by Jimmy Beason

This easily-digestable history book for little kid highlights 12 important native americans in history from familiar faces like Jim Thorpe and Wilma Mankiller alongside more modern figures like Hollywood actor/activist, Russell Means, first female Native archeologist, Bertha Parker Cody and theological philospher/writer, Vine Deloria Jr.

Not much else to say but it’s worthwhile for those who want to add to their classrooms as each figure has short leading questions and resources of where to learn more about each person.

Voices of the People by Joseph Bruchac

This book is perfect for high school students who want to learn more about Native Americans or for Natives who want to be inspired by their heritages.

This book is nonfiction, but not through prose but through poetry. These thirty four poems lyrically detail the history of each person, their struggles and triumphs and their importance to the community. And each are accompanied by art from a contemporary Native artist whose piece relates to the poem or incorporates motifs that relat to the poem bio’s concepts/concerns.

Some of the figures are well known like Jim Thorpe, Pocohontas, Sitting Bull. Others may recognize from heritage stories or from Native American hisory classes like Sarah Winnemucca, Chester Nez, The Peacemaker, Po’pay, Maliche, Elizabeth Wanamaker Patreovich.

Bruchac chose these figures, not only for their inpsiring deeds but for how they rboke stereotypes. The number of women was to remind people of their matriarchial roots and how women were central in the foundation and upkeep of native communities. The diversity of tribes was to push the boundaries that limit how people view Natives as only feather headresses, tomhawks and horses (aka the Plains Indians when there are many more around the Americas). The chronological order from AD to the 90s is to recognize that NAtive American history is not locked in the past. They live today and will continue to make an impact in the future.

Some new people I learned were Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks and first Native saint

Samson Occum, a native turned missionary who traveled to England to raise funds for the first school for Indian youth only to be cheated by his patron, Wheelock who used the funds to create Dartmouth College

Ely Parker Donehogawa who became a engineer after he was prevented from being a lawyer and was the secretary/friend of General Grant during Civil War

Standing Bar was the first native american granted rights under civil law to bury his son off the reservation in their original homeland

Quanah Parker who founded the first native American Church

Elizabeth Burton “Lyda” Conley, first native lawyer to protect wyndot burial grounds

Gladys Tantaquidgeon who was a healer nd worker in the Bureau of Indian Affairs to keep Native arts, crafts, and language preservation/revival and her archive of documents helped to grand the Mohegan tribe federal recognition in 1994.

Sunshine by Jarrett Krosoczka

If you’ve read Krosoczka’s heartwrenching, honest memoir about his unique albeit dysnfunctional family, you might remember that he volunteered at a camp which helped him gain perspective about his own life.

Even if you didn’t, you will still be able to understand and appreciate this memoir of his week at Camp Sunshine where he worked with kids living with cancer, and having the time of their lives.

You might think it’s morose, and Krosoczka doesn’t shy away from the grief but Camp Sunshine’s goal is to let these kids get the summer camp experience of childhood they may not feel at home. For a few days, their only goal to let these kids and their families feel normal without the fear of uncertain futures hanging over them. They get to feel like the normal kids instead of pity and it’s really heartwarming.

Maybe it’s because they live so close with the unimaginable specter of death that appreciate life more. It certainly makes the reader and Jarret put their life in perspective and appreciate the importance of simply being alive as well as the impact of having someone in your life even for a little while. Loss may be painful but it is important to have been able to meet and have made an impact.

Black Flame by Will Wight

The librarian said that if I didn’t get hooked by the third volume, there was no chance for me.

And she was right. I got hooked after the past two slow and confusing volumes.

Don’t get me wrong, I was still a bit confused but things certainly get more dangerous.
For instance, after being upgraded to Iron Lindon is stripped back to the beginning after his mentor tells him that he’s been learning incorrectly. which is unfortunate as he and Yerin are facing against the Arelius family which rules the Blackflame empire and his old nemesis, the disgraced Jai heir, Long.

Meanwhile, Yerin gets antsy over not finishing her training as quickly even though she has different masters and underlords vying for her. As for Eithen who I suspect is being set up as her love interest, he shows a different more uncertain side but that may all be an act.

 There’s a lot more martial arts but the lore felt more understandable this time around and I’m intrigued by the development of everyone’s personal relationships. It’s a shame that the library doesn’t care the rest of the series.

The Time of the Fireflies by Kimberly Griffiths Little

In this haunting novel, Larissa has been haunted by a scarring accident that has left an outcast at school and full of hate for the popular girls who caused her accident. But it’s nothing compared to the anger her mother feels for the town who not only stood by and protected those popular girls but also turned away when her sister died years earlier. Not event he news that a new baby is coming lessens the pain.

it only takes a sscary turn for Larissa when a mysterious voice at the other end of the telephone tells her that she must go back to the site of the accident and follow the fireflies. Or else, her sister and mother will die.

There, Larissa ends up going in time to 1912 to learn of the curse and the possession that has followed her family through the decades and only she has the clues to fix it before it’s too late.

Filled with evocative imagery of the South and the beauty of nature, Little delivers some powerful lessons about grudgeholding and hate compared to the healing powers of forgiveness and the importance of family in the end.

How to Speak Dolphin by Ginny Rorby

Lily absolutely adores her half-brother, Adam. But it’s not easy sharing a space with her autistic half-brother who needs a lot of attention. Attention that falls to her rather than her parents. But when Adam begins to bond with a rescued dolphin at the local aqaurium The dolphin, Nori has cancer but the children see that it would be better to let it live in the wild with its family even in its final days like a wild animal is supposed to.

Well, Lily does. But she worries how Adam will feel without the dolphin’s emotional support. And if she can ever convincce her stepfather to actually help out with Adam or admit that Adam needs specializedd help?

It’s ultimately a heartwarming story sprinkled with dolphin facts throughout, with a very sweet bond between siblings. Lily even gets to have some support of her own outside of Adam when she befriends Zoe (who’s blind and it kinda feels like tokenism but I suppose the author felt she could only tackle the autistic subject with nuance). Things aren’t easy with the stepdad but you can see the potential for things to get better in the future for all of them.

Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen

This is a bit similar to the above book with a much more magical feel. I mean you can tell by the title. During the Persids meteor shower, Arianne and her siblings spot a shooting star that crash lands in the field of their horse farm Nothing comes of it until a year later when a horse gives birth to, not a foal but a centaur.

It’s a lucky break for him as they can help his horse half, but the human communication is more difficult. If they are found out, it will only add to the oddity of the family where Arianne’s younger brother is teased and bullied for birth defects as a “Thaliomide Baby” (Look it up, it was a real thing in the 60s).

Much like the above book, the younger brother finds companionship with the mythical being, understanding the feeling of being an outcast. And Arianne who is at once, embarrassed and protective of her family begins to see how truly wrong it is for others to judge her brother by an accident of birth. Actually the centaur shifts the whole community’s perspective in a way that feels trite but I think kids will enjoy the hopeful note.

Hocus Pocus and the All New Sequel by A.W. Jantha

I’m aware it’s not Halloween yet but the library had it so I read it, and it was a real treat (and trick!).

The first half othe novel basically retells the movie with all your favorite scenes while adding a few like adding some depth to Max’s interest in Allison beyond her yabbos and a creepy prologue further detailing the Sanderson’s sisters’ kidnapping of Emily.

But all that is just a ste up for a really fun sequel with timely references to the original while also adding to its story through the next generation.

Yes, the sequel follows Max and Allison’s daughter, Poppy who has complicated feelings about Halloween. Her parents and aunt have been traumatized by their experience with the Sanderson sisters so they haven’t celbrated it in years. Not even since moving back to Salem to live in her grandparent’s house when she was little.

Now, she thinks they’re paranoia about the holiday is nuts but she’s still protective of them and would hate for anyone at school to know that her family is so superstitious and belives in this Halloween nonsense.

So why the heck have they decided to do a Halloween party for the first time?

In a classic case of teenage rebellion and crush induced idicocy, Poppy goes with her best friend, and her crush to the Sanderson house.

And they accidentally call back their spirits from an ouiji board who subsequently send Max, Allison and Dani to hell in their place. Their grand plan to do the same with all of Salem so the world will be taken over by witches and demons.

The sequel was really fun in exploring how the original tale affects how the grownups view the legend and shows that history has more than one side to the story. I thought Poppy was relatable in how she felt so uncertain in summoning the courage and creativity her family had to fight the Sandersons. It also heps that the story really ups the stakes throughout. Plus I could perfectly hear Bette Mindler as Winifred.

I think it’s bet to go into this without expectations because then it really surprised me. It felt a lot more memorable than the sequel that did release last year. I just wish there had been a bit more to Poppy’s friend, Travis than puns and snapchat jokes. Also it seemed at the beginning of the story there was a potential plotline (and a whole musical number) for Mary thatw as just dropped after her one chapter.

“Nice” Jewish Girls by Julie Merberg

This fast paced nonfiction introduces several important members of the tribe. The ones that get things done. The ones that foster community. Yep, I’m taking about those “nice” Jewish girls qho are so much more than that. With a fierce sense of justice, a bit of humor and a lot of chutzpah, these women broke past the double barriers of anti-semitism and sexism to change the world.

Split into sections like the leaders, the activists, the artists, entertainers, Merberg introduces familiar faces (Barbara Streisand, Anne Frank, Abbi Glazer) with ones who are equally well-known but I had no idea they were Jewish like Betty Freidan, Tiffany Hadish and Estee Lauder. Which to be fair, the last one was actively embarassed of her Jewish family and roots so she wasn’t shouting it from the rooftops but the drive and the smarts are definately a Jewish trait she can’t hide.

Within the sections, the figures are arranged in chronological order so readers can get a sense of the evolving progress of women’s rights and the changing tolerance towards Jewish people as well as a record of what historical event haunted them. In the 1800s, it was the pogroms, in the 1900s, the Holocaust.

It also has helpful subsections that explain specific cultural concepts like Zionism, female education in the 1800s, bar vs bat mitzvahs, Ethipoian Jews etc. All in all, a great addition to your nonfiction library for classroom or home.

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino

Lilah is thrilled that she’s going to Camp Graywolf for the summer. She hasn’t been there in a couple of years but now she’s going to be a junior counselor, she’s going to be surrounded by people like her.

You see, Camp Graywolf is a camp for the deaf and blind, and it’s where Lilah first meet her deaf mentors and felt understood in this safe haven of accessibility and acceptance. Where she didn’t have to constantly navigate an ableist hearing world that she had to conform to, but one that helped her.

Now, she’ll be able to do that for somene else while working on her ASL skills. That’s her major goal because even though Lilah doesn’t feel like she fit in with the regular world with her hearing loss, she also feels like she can’t quite claim the deaf lable as she can speak and doesn’t know ASL, and just doesn’t fit the image of what people believe a deaf person to be capable of.

That’s what the book is all about. The dversity of the deaf community which has divisions and debates within itself about how to retain their culture in a world that seeks to “fix” them. It’s a concernt hat Lilah continually bumps up against this summer as Camp Graywolf needs funds but the well-intention fundraiser and luncheon-hosting makes her feel like a spectacle and a charity case.

Luckily, there’s also a summer romance to keep Lilah occupied. Admittedly, I was semi-invested. I found them cute, but I wasn’t feeling the feels if you know what I mean. Nonetheless, the communication issues that pop up between Issac who is fluent in ASL and Lilah highlights the major themes of miscommunication between the deaf and abled world and the injustice/frustrations that occur because of it.

The book does its best to cover so many imporant issues and distinctions in the community like the choice to have cochlear implants vs hearing aids, the rampant stereotyping that only elderly people have hearing aids, what qualifies you as deaf and the feeling of being in-between that people think you’re faking or not trying hard enough to “fit” in when all these teens want is to be accepted, not exhausted by “fitting” in a world stacked against them.

Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli

As readers of this blog may have guessed, I enjoy musicals and theater so this book was such a delightful way to end the summer.

Kate Garfield has always been a no name ensemble but this year she actually gets a real live speaking/singing part as Lady Larken in Once Upon a Mattress. But that’s not what has her in a tizzy. Her and her best friend, Andy’s communal crush has moved to town and is the musical too!
Wait, what’s a communal crush again? It’s when Andy and Kate have a crush on the same guy and just squeal and dissect the glances and all the fluttery feelings of having a crush.

But having a communal crush is way less fun when there’s an actual chance for either of them and despite their best to lay ground rules, real feelings and real heartbreak soon come into play.

As usual, Albertalli shines in depicting the overhwelming all-consuming feelings that come when experiencing what feels like true love. Or very deep like. And I couldn’t help, I fell as hard for Matt as Kate did even though blondes aren’t my type. He was just sweetly perfect. same with Kate’s other love interest but no spoilers even though it’s easy to guess.

The same applied to her just as intense friendship with Andy who in-the-pages admits that maybe their friendship is sometime unhealthily co-dependent and fortunately, it addresses as they work through their communal crush turned romance. You can feel their grief, their joy, and their shared love for each other.

The world of the theater and theater kids were wonderfully realistic and I just enjoyed the whole thing for it’s rom-com vibe and happily ever after where Kate gets her turn on center stage of her story.

Other books I read this month:

(Main Street by Ann M. Martin, Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, Sound of Light by Amanda, Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter, A Tale of Magic trilogy, Red Riding Hood’s Guide to Ruling and Mother Goose Diaries by Chris Colfer, Pure of Heart by Delilah S. Lawson, Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer, Splintered Magic by L.L McKinney, Uglies quartet by Scott Westerfeld, Legacy of Yangchen by F.C. Yee, Baby Book for Willy Bob by Libby, The Shenanigans of Slim Pickens, Tiger: The Monarch Butterfly Who Couldn’t Fly, Mister Seagull meets Lady Lobster, Whales are Amazing. . . Just Like You by Tony Viehmann, Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby, Native Americans in History by Jimmy Beason, Sunshine by Jarrett Krosoczka, Mother West Wind’s How and Where Stories by Thornton Burgess, Hocus Pocus & the All New Sequel by A.W. Jantha, Voices of the People by Joseph Bruchac, Wish You Were Here, Liza by Robin Wasserman, See you Soon, Samantha by Laura Bergen, Miss You, Mina by Denene Millner, W.i.t.c.h vol 29 by Elisabette Gnone, “Nice” Jewish Girls by Julie Berberg, Give me a sign by Anna Sortino, Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli)