I’m #currentlyreading Fallout, the third book in the Crank series by Ellen Hopkins. This book is from the perspectives of three of Kristina Snow’s five children, Hunter, Autumn, and Summer. They all have different fathers and live with different guardians.
I’m also reading A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Pippa (Pip) Fitza-Amobi is working on her senior capstone project. Her topic of choice? To research the roles of print, televised, and social media in police investigations using the case of Andie Bell as a case study.
Five years ago, Andie Bell went missing and then was presumed to be dead when her body was not located. Her boyfriend, Sal Singh, is believed to be the murderer but this could not be confirmed because he was found dead in the woods, presumably from suicide. The police and practically the whole town believe he murdered Andie. Pip does not.
Have You Ever
had so much to say
that your mouth closed up tight, struggling to harness the nuclear force coalescing within your words?
Have you ever
had so many thoughts
churning inside that you didn't
dare let them escape,
in case they blew you wide open?
Have you ever
been so angry that you
couldn't look in the mirror
for fear of finding the face of evil
glaring back at you?
I stared at Brendan,
trying to find some words—
any words—to express
the terror of those minutes,
the horror of his violation,
the humiliation at his benediction.
But my mouth closed up tight
around the nuclear force
building inside,
thought after thought churning,
the evil in my core threatening
to eviscerate me.
“You don’t even care about her!” he shouted. “All that matters is you and your precious fucking fantasy that you and Alaska had this goddamned secret love affair and she was going to leave Jake for you and you'd live happily ever after. But she kissed a lot of guys, Pudge. And if she were here, we both know that she would still be Jake's girlfriend and that there'd be nothing but drama between the two of you—not love, not sex, just you pining after her and her like, ‘You're cute, Pudge, but I love Jake.' If she loved you so much, why did she leave you that night? And if you loved her so much, why'd you help her go? I was drunk. What's your excuse?"
The Colonel let go of my sweater, and I reached down and picked up the cigarettes. Not screaming, not through clenched teeth, not with the veins pulsing in my forehead, but calmly. Calmly. I looked down at the Colonel and said, "Fuck you."
To celebrate libraries and librarians and the good work they do, an interview with Leigh Hurwtz, collections manager at the Brooklyn Public Library about the Books Unbanned program that provides access to banned books to young people anywhere in the US. My local library, Seattle Public Library, joined in earlier this year and now Boston Public Library has also just started offering the program.
The Seattle Public Library's blog has an update on the library's Books Unbanned program with information about the number of young people who have signed up and their quotes about the program.
An Indiana public library is moving 1300 young adult titles to the adult section--making them unavailable to the readers the books were written for, many of whom need those books to survive their lives.
The library is spending over $300,000 just to deny teens the right to read books written for and about them.
374 Books Flagged to Potentially Be Banned by Iowa School District: A new law in Iowa, SF 496, prohibits teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation to students from kindergarten to sixth grade. And now, a list obtained by The Des Moines Register shows what it could mean for schools. https://bookriot.com/books-flagged-by-iowa-school-district/
Thinking about the first time I read this book and how it helped me give shape to my feelings at the time...
“That's the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them & normal for us. What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”
―Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give