Becoming Muhammad Ali (a novel)

by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander

Scott County Library hardcover 308 pages

Published: 2020

Genre: YA historical fiction

Maud Hart Lovelace nominee 2022-23

 

Based on Cassius Clay's childhood and youth, the book alternates between Patterson's prose as best friend "Lucky" and Alexander's prose poetry as Ali. I was disappointed to go online after reading the book to find that this best friend was not one real person, but rather a fictional construct. Too bad, because that character served to show a better side of Ali than what I knew of him already.

 

 In the poem "Early Christmas" on page 120, I love how the surprise gift of a brand new Schwinn bicycle was set up. What a delightful gift for a youngster!

Then on page 152, the bad news happens. It reminded me rather forcefully of what I felt when Nick called me after his first night at the U of Minnesota. Ick when bad things are done to people . . . 

Page 168 - "I don't know what made him think that in a million years a black man could ever be president. In most places around where we lived, black people could hardly even vote!"

There were lots and lots of references to racism and social justice but they were not preachy or judgemental. They were just part of the consciousness of the character as he grew up seeing so much discrimination all around him.

Page 181 - 

"Boy, don't you dare blaspheme the Good Book. 

I'm just saying, I don't need church to tell me what I already know. 

What you know and what you think you know is two different things."

I love how Ali's mom stood firm on her faith and tried to get the young boxer to understand.

Page 232 - "Not many people could make Cassius Clay feel humble. But his mother did. Every day."

I'm not curious enough to do more research, but IF Ali did go with his mom to her job as a domestic and help her clean all day, that would be amazing. It is very effective in terms of the storytelling of this book.

This is another of those "liked, didn't love" books. It is a quick read and even a worthwhile read. I'm not sure how much is fact and how much is fiction.

The Bookshop of Secrets

By Mollie Rushmeyer

Carver County Library paperback 347 pages

Published: 2022

Genre: Christian realistic fiction

 

There were so many things to like about this book! Rushmeyer is a Minnesota novelist and has clearly spent time on the North Shore. We had a good book club discussion, even though I hadn't finished the book on time (again! What is up with me?). 

 

There is book nerdiness, a hidden treasure, a bit of romance, a lot of healing from past pain, . . . but I have so many post-it notes in it that I'm just going to jump in.

 

Page 25: "It's okay to trust again. Don't be afraid to let them in, to see you, all right? We're not meant to live in the shadows, unseen. Everybody needs to know and be known by others."

 

Dee is a wise woman. Her advice for Hope hits the mark.

 

Page 30: "Sometimes you just do things because it's the right thing to do. Helping you is my pleasure."

 

I love Mags. She was just the person to help Hope connect safely.

 

Page 107: "Attending church wasn't the definition of being a Christian. But the times in his life he least wanted to be around other believers were the times he most needed to be."

 

Ronan's faith (and wrestles with faith) were believable. He was a great character. And he was a fantastic mentor for Tate.

 

Page 126: ". . . Charlotte snatched his prosthetic leg and bounded across the beach with it. The dog's tail wagged like she thought herself the funniest animal in the world."

 

This scene made me laugh out loud. Charlotte is a German Shepherd and I could totally envision her playing keep away with Ronan's prosthesis.

 

Page 160: "He excused himself to retrieve their clothes from the dryer. As he pulled out her plaid shirt, letting the warmth soak through his arms then wrap around his chest, he couldn't help but feel her words and understanding had done the same on the inside."

 

I love the feeling of warm laundry fresh from the dryer! And the thought of that cozy feeling on the inside . . . nice!

 

Page 179: "She'd never thought helping others could start stitching up the gashes in her own heart."

 

It's amazing how helping others can transform your heart, attitude, and life!

 

Page 186: "A door, opening into a new life. Like she'd found the key to the Secret Garden. A whole beautiful world of friendships and a normal life lay inside the wall. She could glimpse it ahead."

 

I loved the literary allusions! There were plenty. The Dusty Jackets book shop offered a great setting.

 

Page 196: "Ronan didn't mind that Hope and Tate took their time at the ice cream stand next to Granny's Cafe' . . . "

 

Why did the author not just call it by name? Grandma's is a Duluth institution.

 

Page 264: "Who needs normal anyway? None of us are normal, so you fit right in."

 

Mags again. She was great. So was Kat.

 

Page 264: "Her name. One truth bomb at a time . . . "

 

Somehow I just liked the idea of a "truth bomb" and only one at a time . . . 

 

Page 328: "Don't judge based on one conversation or misunderstanding."

 

Dee's wise advice again.

 

Page 329: "As if her life was a jug of broken pottery and she had to find all of the fitting pieces to glue it back together, but half the pieces were missing. God was the potter. He was making something new. In her. Patiently molding her a new story, a new life filled to the brim with goodness and love. He hadn't abandoned her to her own devices . . . "

Yes! We need to trust God and let HIM do the hard work.

Page 346: I loved Ulysses' letter to Hope. I loved that he wrote it when he had some mental clarity.

This was a lovely book. I'm not sure why it took me so darn long to finish!

Also had pirates, sex trafficking, lighthouses, community pariahs, food and cooking, and a whole lot more.

Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood

by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Libby audiobook 9 hours

Read by Robert Ramirez

Published: 2006

Genre: YA historical realistic fiction

Set in 1968, this story was intriguing in some ways. Lots of foreshadowing at the start, some interesting character development, . . . but way way way too much swearing for me. Lots of F bombs and other harsh language. It was realistic but incredibly unpleasant to listen to. I got about a third of the way through the book (3+ hours) and decided it was okay to stop listening. 

I liked how smart and sensitive Sammy's dad was. I liked Sammy's different perspective on life (compared to his peers). I liked learning what the foreshadowing was leading to . . . even though I didn't like what it led to.

Audiobook thing - "Beefas" ??? Is that the kid's name?

James and the Giant Peach

by Roald Dahl

Libby audiobook 3 hours 

Read by Jeremy Irons

Published: 1961 (this version, 2004)

Genre: children's fantasy

When I was a kid, I loved this book. I think it was the idea of a giant peach with tunnels and hidey holes running through it . . . I liked the idea of attics, forts, and other hideouts.

When I was a mom with young kids and I read it to them, I was horrified! The two aunts were absolutely wicked in how they treated young James. I don't know if I even finished reading the book to my children. And the aunts get smashed to death by the peach! What kind of children's book . . . 

I got this audiobook because I spend a lot of time in my car. It's nice to have stories to listen to. Jeremy Irons has an amazing voice. 

This story is too ridiculous for me, though. James' mom and dad are eaten by a charging rhino in "35 seconds flat" . . . ? Um. Don't think that is a thing that a rhino escaping from the London Zoo could or would do.

Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker were as horrible as I remembered. Poor James! To become an orphan and then to be treated so abusively by his guardians . . . sad.

The seagulls (500 tethered to the peach - logistics?), crossing the Atlantic in one night, living in Central Park in the peach pit, . . . this story is just too bizarre. And the centipede is an obnoxious jerk.

Anthropomorphic stuff . . . poems and songs / limericks . . . the Cloudmen (I don't remember this from earlier reading.) Interesting. Weird.

Matilda

by Roald Dahl

Libby audiobook 4 hours

read by Kate Winslet

Published: 1988 (this version, 2013)

Genre: children's fantasy

I've read this before and have seen the movie, but it's been a long time. I enjoyed it more than I expected. 

I didn't remember Mrs. Phelps, the librarian. I loved that she was compassionate, encouraging, and discreet. She was an excellent character!

The voice work was fantastic, of course. Kate Winslet! It was weird, though, that Miss Honey seemed to have an Irish lilt. And Miss Trunchbull was so darn loud. I kept having to turn the volume down, then I couldn't hear the next part. The producer should have taken better care of volume control. It was frustrating.

When Miss Honey invites Matilda into her home for tea, I couldn't help think that there's NO WAY a teacher can do that nowadays. Later in this scene, I liked that Matilda become aware of Miss Honey's poverty. I think it's been too long since I last read this, because my brain kept "seeing" the movie and the actors. 

I find that I like the book version much, much better. (Though I adore the work that Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman do as Matilda's awful parents.)

Punch with Judy

by Avi

Libby audiobook 4 hours

Published: 1997 (this version 2013)

Read by: Johnny Heller

Genre: YA historical fiction

 

I felt as though I had read this book before, but couldn't find a summary on my blog. It's not the best example of the orphan boy joining a traveling sideshow. Set in 1870 on the East Coast of the United States, our protagonist is taken in by Mr. McSnead and his Merry Men. Mr. McSnead's daughter Judy is also in the show, dancing on a horse's back. He gives the new boy the name "Punch" as an allusion to the Punch and Judy puppet shows. (I hadn't realized that Punch and Judy has been around for hundreds of years!)

 

In part 3, Twig describes the different types of humor. I found it very interesting!

 

A bit later, Twig says, "Who the devil cares what your plans are, you misbegotten imitation of a wooden stick?!" to Horatio. That made me laugh. And stop the story to listen again and jot down the insult.

 

The cruelty that some of the adults showed toward Punch was just incredibly sad. As an orphan, he needed compassion and kindness, not cruelty.

Brave Like That

 by Lindsey Stoddard

Libby eBook 419 pages

Published: 2020

Genre: YA realistic fiction

Maud Hart Lovelace nominee 2022-23

There are things I liked about this book, but I had to push myself to read it. Perhaps it just wasn't the right book at the right time for me. Ironic that it didn't resonate strongly for me, but I highlighted a lot of passages!

Firefighters, football, music, a grandma with a stroke, adoption, stray pup, peer groups, middle school, kindness, . . . this book had a lot of themes and topics!

I like that Cyrus was adopted by Brooks Olson, firefighter, after being abandoned on the firehouse steps. 

Chapter 3: "No one knows that, except for the pictures, I can't even read two pages of that playbook and keep the words in my brain long enough to understand them all together. Because that's a secret, and I guess I'm actually kind of a star at keeping it that way. I made it all the way to the sixth grade without anyone finding out."

It's always so sad to me when people can't read / comprehend writing. And it's worse when they have developed workarounds so that people around them don't know and don't help them. 

Chapter 3: "I take off my helmet so I can get a real sip of water, and I pop in an orange slice too. It tastes so good, and if football were all huddles and halftime breaks, talking about the game and the plays, and eating fruit, I'd probably be MVP."

It was hard to see how much Cyrus didn't want to play football when there were so many pressures on him to participate.

Chapter 7: "Even though I've never straight-out lied to Dad and I'm starting to get that uneasy feeling in my stomach, I keep walking toward the door . . . " 

Trust the gut! Lying just drags you down and makes you feel worse!

Chapter 7 - when the "7" - kids walking dogs from the Humane Society in the woods breathe in deeply and chime, "Cheerios!" It made me laugh. I love the smell of the Malt-O-Meal plant when I'm in Northfield! Some of the setting details were delightful because I know and like Northfield. The author did a great job with this.

Chapter 8: "Both times I was pretty good at walking the other way and pretending I didn't know them or what was going on. It left that feeling in my stomach, though, to know that they were doing something bad and even though I wasn't a part of it, I kind of was."

Cyrus is describing a couple of times his childhood friends Marcus and Shane had done something wrong. Their negative behaviors definitely escalate over the course of the story and cause Cyrus to need to take a stand for what he believes in.

Throughout the story, Cyrus struggles with his true thoughts and feelings versus what he thinks his dad, teachers, and peers expect of him. His lies to his dad snowball until he's ready to burst.

Chapter 19: ". . .I'm wondering if maybe the older you get the less you care if others think you look funny or not."

For many of us, that's true. I love Cy's grandma and the connection the two of them share. Her stroke has impaired her, but they communicate simply. 

Overall, it's a really good story. I think Cyrus standing up for Eduardo (and getting to keep Parker) are my favorite parts. 

I did write down the titles of the books that Cy's English teacher read to the class, but now I can't find where I wrote them down . . . grr.

 ???

Calvin Can't Fly by Jennifer Berne

Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie diPaolo

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson 

I'd like to get these books and read them. (As of 2/6/23, I've read the first two. I may or may not track down the other two. I do find it interesting and often helpful to use picture books in working with teens. They're short and give ample opportunities to discuss concepts.)

The Great British Baking Show Love to Bake

 with recipes by Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith,  & the bakers

Hennepin County Library hardcover 288 pages

Published: 2020

Genre: cookbook

I confess I did not read this book in its entirety. There was a lot here - foreword, introduction, meet the bakers, etc. After the recipes, there was a picture directory of all the bakes. They were sorted by savory, gluten-free, etc. 

 

The recipes were fun to look through and I picked the Ricciarelli. The vanilla paste was a bit challenging, but Nick encouraged me to just use vanilla extract. They were a bit moist, but they turned out fine.

 

Changing from grams to ounces or cups was interesting. Celsius to Fahrenheit was easy. The cookies were pretty tasty, but I would add more lemon in the future.

 

The photographs were fantastic. My daughter-in-law Angela owns this book, so I can return this to the library.