My eclectic reviews of just about anything
The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Well, I love Kate Beaton, to begin with, so this is sort of like shooting fish in a barrel. I love that this is a strong independent princess, Pinecone.
It is a short quick book. Unless you are a completest, you probably don’t need to read this, but if you have a young child in your life (as it is a picture book), you couldn’t go wrong with this book.
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is so cool.
This graphic novel reminds me of the best of the middle-school graphic novels, such as Smile, which are very much about making friends, and keeping friends, and growing up and apart.
Astrid, the main character, goes with her best friend, Nicole, to see a Roller Derby show, and falls in love with it. Astrid hopes that her friend will share her desire to take a Roller Derby summer camp, but Nicole wants to do Ballet Summer Camp.
And so, Astrid gets to learn how hard it is to really skate, make new friends, and be a derby-girl.
Very realistic dialogue, normal reactions to life, and I loved it. This is one of those stories I thought I would just glance at, when I really should be working, and ended up reading it instead of doing my work.
This book is for people who have had to try to learn something hard, for people who have had to make new friends, for people who do something that might not fit into what other people think they should do.
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Great book. Based on a talk given to a TED gathering. Very to the point. Like the Elements of Style was for rules of writing this book should be standard reading to explain the concept of feminism. A concept that shouldn’t be hard to grasp.
Short quick read.
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a sweet middle-school book, for people who love chickens, and for those who are chicken curious.
This is the tale of a youngster who inherits her great uncles chickens, only she doesn’t know her great uncle has chickens. And each chicken has a super power, so not only does she have to learn to take care of chickens in general, she has to learn to take care of these special, unusual chickens.
It has light humor, information for those who have never had a chicken (so you can learn about that), as well as well written characters.
And that is about all I am going to say, otehr than I have 13 chickens, so I might be a little prejudiced towards chicken based stories.
Hostage by Guy Delisle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What is it they say about good actors? That they would read the telephone book and you would still be inthralled. That is how Guy Delisle is. He could draw someone reading the phone book, and you would be intrhalled.
Hostage is the story, told from the kidnapped person’s point of view, of what it was like, locked away for four months, locked away in a room, by himself, only getting food and toilet, and nothing else. How do you entertain yourself? As Christophe says in the story, at least if he was in jail, he would k now when he is getting out, but he has no way of knowing. He does not speak Russian. He has no idea what they are saying in the next room, or what they are saying to him. (Although at one point they offer him vodka, and he says he does know that word.)
And though it is excruciating, day after day, it is a book I could not put down. Even though I knew that somehow he escapes his captivity, it is grueling to find all that he went through to get there.
Guy has done an excellent job of telling his story.
Go, now, and buy this book. Go, then, and buy all the other books that Guy has written. They are amazing stories of his life traveling both with his wife’s with Doctors Without Borders, as well as his trips working in animation, including a time in North Korea.
Your Black Friend by Ben Passmore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
OK, not the easiest book for a white person to read, but a good one, just the same.
Your Black Friend is a short comic, not more than eleven pages, but filled with the thoughts of racism and having white people want to be taught about being black.
Although I am not black, I run into this with some people who want to know about lesbianism and Wiccan. As though I was an exhibit at the museam, and that I know how every lesbian is, and what all wiccans do.
This is that book, but for white people from a black person. Well written, short, and pointed. We are sometimes so clueless. We do not have a friend so we can educate them about ourselves. We do not have to prove that we are who we are, and there is racism.
Go out and buy this. Go out and read this, and see if you get a little bit more about what “Your black friend” goes through every day.
When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a quiet picture book, that sneaks up on you. There are two levels here, one of a young child asking her grandmother, her kókom, why she does things the way she does. Why does she dress in bright colors, why does she wear a long braid, why does she speak in Cree?
And very simply, her kókom explains about the residential schools where these things were all forbidden.
The residential schools were a horrid part of history, and it is important for children, and adults, to realize that real people were hurt by this policy, and its legacy. It is so good that publishers are coming out with stories to tell about this, and being written by Indigenous people as well, as who better to tell their own story.
Highly recommend this book as a beautiful picture book for libraries, schools, and home libraries. This author has also been doing graphic novels of First Nation history, which are amazing as well.
Brovo to High Water Press for this, and other books they have been brining out about the First Nation experience.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear. Get On the Mat. Love Your Body. by Jessamyn Stanley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I wrote this review, there was only one other review in Goodreads, and the reviewer didn’t like how this book wasn’t more about Yoga, and the poses, and what kind of yoga book is this anyway. And, at first, when I started to read this book, I wondered the same thing. Why is there so much text? Why am I having to read about so much before I read about the yoga itself.
But, in actually reading this book, I realized that this is more than just a yoga book. You can probably get lots of those at any bookstore. This is a book about a fat, black, lesbian yoga instructor, and I don’t think there are a lot of those kinds of books out there. Certainly not the fat part.
So, this book is part memoir, part encouraging, and part instruction of how to practice yoga even if you are not a skinny-minnie, and look like all the other soccer moms out there.
This is more the book for the average person, who isn’t thin and blonde and fit. This is for the rest of us out there that are aging, and lumpy in not quite the right places, according to Western society.
So, if you want to read a yoga book, read about how Jessamyn got to where she is, and how you can too, this is a great book for it. If you want to get a basic book of yoga poses, that show differently shaped people, this too is the book for you. And if you want to experience the fun writing of Jessamyn, and she lays everything bare, this too is the book for you.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What is an “American Indian”? Seems like an easy enough question. And I am sure we all have an idea in our mind.
And we are probably all wrong.
This book. This book should be read by everyone. It should be read by Canadians. It should be read by Americans. The rest of the world can read it too, if they want. The point is, this book breaks down and explains to the “settlers”, to the children of colonialists, to the non-indigenous what Indigenous peoples are. And as Chelsea says:
The Canadian government basically takes the position that “you’re an Indian if we say you’re an Indian”
You would think that you might not need a whole book about First Nation people. How could Chelsea have that much to say, but she does, and there is that much. Because we aren’t educated in Indigenous history. If we are taught about Indians at all, at least in American schools, it is as a part of history, as though they were all removed from modern times. As one Native American told me, it makes him feel invisible, as though he is not standing there.
Chelsea has a wry sense of humor and although she is educating, she is also entertaining. Her main sections are Terminology of Relationship (about who are Indians), Culture and Identity (what it says on the tin), Myth Busting (all the things you thought you knew about Indians, such as that they got free housing, that they are more susceptible to being drunk and that they don’t have to pay taxes, to name a few), State Violence (where she discusses Residency School, and forced fostering out of Native children to non Native families), and Land, Learning, Law and Treaties.
And if you are this point, rolling your eyes, and saying, oh, that sounds boring, it isn’t.
The author likes to pull out interesting facts such as:
…from 1941 to 1978, Inuit were forced to weare”Eskimo” identification discs similar to dog tags. This was for ease of colonial administration, as the bureaucrats had difficulty pronousing Inuit names, and the Inuit, at this time, did not have surnames. For a while, Inuit were officially defined as “one to whom an identification disc has been issued.
She also has some comments on how Indians are defined by their blood.
The idea that Indian blood has some sort of magic quality that imbues one with legitimate Indigenous culture is as ridiculous a notion as I can think of, and so is the idea that “outside” blood can dilute or destroy Indigenous culture.
This is such an important book. I do hope that others read it, and perhaps get some idea of what the Indigenous peoples have gone through. There has been and still is so much prejudice against them, and such unfairness. It is important that they speak out, are published, and well read. We could all stand to have a little education.
Thanks to Netgalley, and Highwater Press for making this book available for an honest review.
Sadia by Colleen Nelson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
No one wants to be a refugee. No one wants to leave their homeland to live somewhere far away, away from friends, away, from family, away from things that aren’t familiar.
And Sadia isn’t technically a refugee. Her family emigrated to Canada when her father decided Syria had gotten too dangerous, so while she had seen some bad things, they left before it got really bad. Sadia is interested in basketball, and her friends and family. She does not want to be reminded about coming to Canada, and having to fit in. It is hard enough to fit in with her hijab, without having to help a new refugee from Syria, who just came to Canada, and speaks little to no English.
I liked how this story is told from Sadia’s point of view. Although she is the “other” for most readers of this book, those who are not emegrants, and are not muslim, because she has lived her long enough to know the customs, she brings the reader into her world, so we can see what is going on with her, from racial rules that say she can’t play basketball with a hijab, to her mother being sworn at the bus stop.
Good story for all kids. Good for muslim kids who need to see themselves in books, so they know they have a place in Western society. Good for everyone else to see the same.
And the underlying them, of helping others, that runs very strongly through this book, but does not hit you over the had with a two-by-four. These kids are very human, and make mistakes, but when they see a problem, they try to solve it.
Great book. Good additon to any library, or school, or home.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.