Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess

Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess by Shari Green (ISBN: 978-1772780178)

Okay, time to recap.  Things this pink librarian loves:

- bright colors

- sweet baked goods

- Schneider Family Book Award winners

- books (especially that connect to our summer reading themes)

- the New England Patriots

This next book checks all but one of those boxes.  Can you guess which one it does not?  If you guessed football, you guessed correctly. (Tom Brady, I still love you forever.)  So back to Macy McMillan... she's a hearing impaired girl being raised by a single mother whose life is pretty great.  But all of that is about to change as her mother plans to remarry a guy with two kids of his own who lives on another side of town.  Macy's best friend will no longer be within biking distance, and her new family is not yet fluent in American Sign Language (ASL).  Macy can really only imagine a dim future.  To make matters worse, Macy's mother insists that she go next door and assist her elderly neighbor in packing up her home for an eventual move into an assisted living facility.  Macy has only ever known Ms. Iris to be cranky, and the older woman doesn't know a single sign (unless you count a pretty nasty face scowl as the universal language for 'get-off-my-lawn').

Yet upon entering Iris' house, Macy discovers rooms painted in beautiful rainbow shades, shelves full of carefully curated books, and the scent of cookies wafting from the kitchen.  Iris is a woman with lots of stories to tell, and as the two women learn to communicate through notes and gestures, Macy begins to understand that a long view of time and friendship is the only way to weather the temporary swells and storms of life.  This book provides a glimpse into the deaf experience, as well as a lovely perspective on aging and end-of-life issues.  Definitely deserving of the various accolades it has so far received, Macy McMillan is a quick and delightful read about a girl who is really like all of us: yearning to be heard and understood.

Want more? The following video shows multiple images and quotes that the author compiled to reveal important elements, themes, and moments of the story.  It's just a fun, visual way to explore the story a bit!

Homemade tees: Iris is an expert baker and cookies sort of become a traded language throughout the story.  Especially at her age, this shirt probably sums up Iris' philosophy regarding life and sweets:

Or, if you were wanting to show some specific love to Macy and other individuals with hearing impairments (or rainbow goddesses in general), try this shirt instead!

Home of the Brave

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate (ISBN: 978-0312535636)

Every year, our school chooses books for students to read for summer reading. We're looking for about six options for our students this summer, and we'll be reading books for the next several months in a hunt for the best ones. Our theme this year is diversity, and not just racial diversity. You see, diversity is really all of the various parts of us that make us unique - it could be race, but also religion, gender, sexual orientation, cultural upbringing, languages spoken, adventures experienced, educational attainment, socioeconomic status, physical disabilities, learning styles, and so much more. Therefore, we want books that will give our students windows into the lives of other kids and teens around the world, and which will also provide some of them with mirrors to see that they are not alone in their experiences.

And so, we now enter Home of the Brave. I was looking for books that have characters from other places, and this book fits the mold. Kek lived in Darfur, Sudan (Africa) with his mother, father, and brother. But after tragedy strikes, only Kek and his mother survive. They become separated and Kek travels to the US to live with an aunt and cousin in Minnesota. Equal parts haunting and sad, heartwarming and funny, the story narrates how Kek learns to find his way in a strange new land. Thinking that the "washing machine" will help his aunt with her pile of dishes, he puts all of the plates and cups in only to find that the agitator breaks them all. Another young friend has to tell him that a washing machine for clothes and a dishwasher are two different appliances. Kek eventually discovers, not too far from the urban metropolis where he lives, a small farm with a forlorn cow. From a family of herders, Kek has finally found the familiar: a sad cow who just needs a bit of attention and who becomes like family. Despite struggling with a language barrier, missing his parents, attempting to acclimate to a whole new culture, and living with extended family with their own share of issues, Kek finds his own sort of success in the Home of the Brave.

The cover of the copy I read was so terrible. I thought to myself, "What kid is going to want to pick up this book?" Monochrome and sort of strange illustration, I had a negative initial reaction. But after only a few pages, I was hooked in this story. It is honestly one of the best books I've read about the refugee experience, and such an accessible story as it deals with common issues like loss, the desire to fit in, and friendship in unexpected places. I was so excited to discover that the book has been re-released with a fresh cover and I'm keeping all my fingers crossed that this book makes it to our final cut of summer reading options!

Want more? If you want to hear the author talk about the book in her own words, check out the following video!

Homemade tees: there are not a lot of shirts you can find with "Home of the Brave" on them without there also being American flags, bald eagles, and assault rifles on them. (This seems like a whole other blog post waiting to happen...) So instead, I'm going the route of diversity. How can you celebrate what makes your experience unique? How can we also find common ground with those around us? This shirt is a fun place to start!

Solo

Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess (ISBN: 978-0-310-76183-9)

Well, one of my favorites has struck again!  Kwame Alexander is really on fire with his YA-free-verse-lyric-filled-multi-format novels (this is a phrase I just invented to describe his genre).  This story is told in free verse, but also includes lyrics and homages to famous songs, text chains, non-punctuated dialogue threads, and an adventure to Ghana.

Blade is the son of a famous rock-and-roll god: Rutherford Morrison*.  This means he pretty much can buy whatever he want and his family's name appears in tabloid magazines weekly.  But his dad is famous more now for debauchery and public embarrassment than notable music or humanitarian endeavors.  Blade is always left in fear that he'll wake up to a dead father or more public shame.  To make matters worse, his mother is already dead, and his sister cannot seem to understand why he doesn't want the life he's been given.

A quest for self-discovery leads him to the fact that his biological parents might not be the ones he grew up with, and he journeys half way around the world to discover his true self.  Picture the scene:
"When we get/ to the point/ where vehicles/can no longer/ pass,/ Elvis explains/ that we will walk/ a trail/ then hike/ a mountain,/ cross three canopies,/ above/ the rainforest/ and arrive/ at the village."

This novel is full of beautiful language, enlightening descriptions of a people far away, and the realization that life isn't about what you have, but who you share it with.  Blade journeys from love to hate to understanding.  His father journeys from life to addiction to death and acceptance.  I have a few complaints about the way this story evolved - especially a romance in the early chapters. Some readers may have a hard time resonating with a person whose life is so full of opulence and wealth (who can just fly to Africa for an indeterminate amount of time?). But overall, it conveys a strong message at the end: "Hope never drowns... Hope swims."

Here is a spiffy video of Kwame Alexander explaining how he arrived at such a music-filled book and what really gets his groove going:

OR you might enjoy one of the poems from Solo being performed by Randy Preston... it's pretty sweet.

Homemade tees:
Blade's father gives him a custom-built Eddie Van Halen Frankenstrat guitar which becomes his most prized possession.  Show your fandom of this book by wearing the t-shirt that pays homage to the instrument:

Because if we're being honest... wearing those striped overalls might be one step too far...






* Not a real person.  BUT Mike Rutherford, Rivers Rutherford, Van Morrison or Jim Morrison surely are real.  And they're musicians.  Just sayin'.