Children's Books
Plus a late review. Guess which one.
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, Barack Obama
Ok but it was a picture book written by the President. I had to read it.
It's pretty good, too. It's a very sweet letter to his daughters, about how wonderful they are and how much he believes in and loves them, told through the stories of thirteen (mostly) Americans. And it's a diverse group, too, from Sitting Bull to Georgia O'Keefe to Maya Lin to Albert Einstein (our mostly; I'm not sure if he ever considered himself American). The attributes he praises range from cleverness to patriotism to creativity and back again. Plus, the art is gorgeous. It's a great and sweet book for kids.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 5--fascists will froth at the mouth. It's written by the first black American President and all about diverse people for two little black girls to be awesome, so... yeah.
Princess Princess Ever After, Katie O'Neill
AHHHHH THIS IS THE CUTEST BOOK.
Princess Princess Ever After is an adorable little graphic novel aimed at children in which Sadie, a sweet and compassionate princess entrapped in a tower, is rescued by Amira, a princess who is more into adventuring and rescuing people than being kind to them. Together, Amira and Sadie have adventures, pick up a prince who doesn't really want to be princing, convince an ogre to stop destroying a town, and defeat the sorceress who put Sadie in a tower.
Oh, and they get married.
NO REALLY THEY GET MARRIED.
This is the most adorable and everyone should read it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: Amira is black, Sadie's kindness and traditionally feminine qualities are played up as good, they're in love, and everything is butterflies and rainbows, so of course 5--fascists will froth at the mouth.
The Boy Who Was Raised By Librarians, Carla Morris and Brad Sneed
Cute, sweet, short picture about, well, about a boy raised (more or less) by librarians. Our hero Melvin goes to the library every day with homework assignments and interesting questions and new parts in plays. The librarians Marge, Betty, and Leola are always there to help him through. We get to watch Melvin grow up, and then at the very end, we get to see what becomes of him. The art is cute, the story cuter. It's a sweet love story to the library, and so I love it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 3--fascists have problems. All three of the librarians are female, and one is black, but it's still about a white boy.
19 Varieties of Gazelle, Naomi Shihab Nye
19 Varieties of Gazelle is a collection of poetry about the Middle East, and that's about the extent of the commonalities in the poems. Some are about violence and peace and the ability to eliminate one and gain the other, and some are about fig trees, and some are about emigration and the need to find home again, and some are just about beauty and what you see when you look at people. A few of them were a bit opaque for me, but generally the poems are lovely and worth reading. The book's pretty short and quick, too, for bite-sized poetry moments or for reading in one go.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 5--fascists will froth at the mouth.. It humanizes the Middle East! And it doesn't talk about oil! And it condemns Western imperialism.
Gossip Girl, Cecily von Ziegesar
You've probably heard of this one. Gossip Girl is the first book in a long-running series that inspired an equally long-running TV show. And it's pretty much exactly what you'd think it would be, with a side of disturbingly casual sexual assault.
Our main characters are Blair and Serena, who used to be best friends before Serena went off to boarding school. In the intervening time, Blair has realized that she's always been playing second fiddle to Serena, and is understandably more interested in shining on her own now. But now Serena's back, and she wants to go back to how things were. Blair isn't interested. Other characters include Blair's boyfriend Nate (who's in love with Serena), Dan Humphrey (who's also in love with Serena), Dan's sister Jenny (who is largely characterized by naiveté and bra size, ew), and Chuck the Rapey One. And, of course, the eponymous Gossip Girl.
Now, this book didn't seem realistic to me at all, but then, according to the book itself, it isn't really supposed to be; these are the richest of the rich kids, the children of the 1% of the 1%, and they're rich and bored and doing shitloads of drugs to get through it. Even Jenny and Dan, the Poor Kids of the book, are basically the 1% as-is. It's sort of a soap opera version of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, with additional drugs. And no one gets pregnant. Yet, I guess.
The most enjoyable parts of the book for me were Gossip Girl's interpolations, when she comments on the proceedings with a good bit of irony. She's not really taking the kids seriously, and neither does the author, I think, but heaven knows they take themselves seriously, and the contrast is kind of interesting. The writing is also kind of fun. It would be a pretty enjoyable but forgettable book if Chuck the Rapey One wasn't present. However, Chuck the Rapey One is present, and his sexual assaults (at least two!!) are treated as "lol that's just Chuck" rather than the serious crimes that they are.
So, yeah, it's entertaining enough, but UGH Chuck the Rapey One. Just, you know, get rid of him and you have a decently enjoyable book, but with him? No way. No recommending no how.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 2--fascists have slight problems. I mean, it's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, plus Chuck the Rapey One, but it is primarily about women (the book revolves around Blair and Serena's relationship) and it criticizes the lifestyle, even if only implicitly.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/424274.html. Please comment over there if possible.
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, Barack Obama
Ok but it was a picture book written by the President. I had to read it.
It's pretty good, too. It's a very sweet letter to his daughters, about how wonderful they are and how much he believes in and loves them, told through the stories of thirteen (mostly) Americans. And it's a diverse group, too, from Sitting Bull to Georgia O'Keefe to Maya Lin to Albert Einstein (our mostly; I'm not sure if he ever considered himself American). The attributes he praises range from cleverness to patriotism to creativity and back again. Plus, the art is gorgeous. It's a great and sweet book for kids.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 5--fascists will froth at the mouth. It's written by the first black American President and all about diverse people for two little black girls to be awesome, so... yeah.
Princess Princess Ever After, Katie O'Neill
AHHHHH THIS IS THE CUTEST BOOK.
Princess Princess Ever After is an adorable little graphic novel aimed at children in which Sadie, a sweet and compassionate princess entrapped in a tower, is rescued by Amira, a princess who is more into adventuring and rescuing people than being kind to them. Together, Amira and Sadie have adventures, pick up a prince who doesn't really want to be princing, convince an ogre to stop destroying a town, and defeat the sorceress who put Sadie in a tower.
Oh, and they get married.
NO REALLY THEY GET MARRIED.
This is the most adorable and everyone should read it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: Amira is black, Sadie's kindness and traditionally feminine qualities are played up as good, they're in love, and everything is butterflies and rainbows, so of course 5--fascists will froth at the mouth.
The Boy Who Was Raised By Librarians, Carla Morris and Brad Sneed
Cute, sweet, short picture about, well, about a boy raised (more or less) by librarians. Our hero Melvin goes to the library every day with homework assignments and interesting questions and new parts in plays. The librarians Marge, Betty, and Leola are always there to help him through. We get to watch Melvin grow up, and then at the very end, we get to see what becomes of him. The art is cute, the story cuter. It's a sweet love story to the library, and so I love it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 3--fascists have problems. All three of the librarians are female, and one is black, but it's still about a white boy.
19 Varieties of Gazelle, Naomi Shihab Nye
19 Varieties of Gazelle is a collection of poetry about the Middle East, and that's about the extent of the commonalities in the poems. Some are about violence and peace and the ability to eliminate one and gain the other, and some are about fig trees, and some are about emigration and the need to find home again, and some are just about beauty and what you see when you look at people. A few of them were a bit opaque for me, but generally the poems are lovely and worth reading. The book's pretty short and quick, too, for bite-sized poetry moments or for reading in one go.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 5--fascists will froth at the mouth.. It humanizes the Middle East! And it doesn't talk about oil! And it condemns Western imperialism.
Gossip Girl, Cecily von Ziegesar
You've probably heard of this one. Gossip Girl is the first book in a long-running series that inspired an equally long-running TV show. And it's pretty much exactly what you'd think it would be, with a side of disturbingly casual sexual assault.
Our main characters are Blair and Serena, who used to be best friends before Serena went off to boarding school. In the intervening time, Blair has realized that she's always been playing second fiddle to Serena, and is understandably more interested in shining on her own now. But now Serena's back, and she wants to go back to how things were. Blair isn't interested. Other characters include Blair's boyfriend Nate (who's in love with Serena), Dan Humphrey (who's also in love with Serena), Dan's sister Jenny (who is largely characterized by naiveté and bra size, ew), and Chuck the Rapey One. And, of course, the eponymous Gossip Girl.
Now, this book didn't seem realistic to me at all, but then, according to the book itself, it isn't really supposed to be; these are the richest of the rich kids, the children of the 1% of the 1%, and they're rich and bored and doing shitloads of drugs to get through it. Even Jenny and Dan, the Poor Kids of the book, are basically the 1% as-is. It's sort of a soap opera version of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, with additional drugs. And no one gets pregnant. Yet, I guess.
The most enjoyable parts of the book for me were Gossip Girl's interpolations, when she comments on the proceedings with a good bit of irony. She's not really taking the kids seriously, and neither does the author, I think, but heaven knows they take themselves seriously, and the contrast is kind of interesting. The writing is also kind of fun. It would be a pretty enjoyable but forgettable book if Chuck the Rapey One wasn't present. However, Chuck the Rapey One is present, and his sexual assaults (at least two!!) are treated as "lol that's just Chuck" rather than the serious crimes that they are.
So, yeah, it's entertaining enough, but UGH Chuck the Rapey One. Just, you know, get rid of him and you have a decently enjoyable book, but with him? No way. No recommending no how.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 2--fascists have slight problems. I mean, it's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, plus Chuck the Rapey One, but it is primarily about women (the book revolves around Blair and Serena's relationship) and it criticizes the lifestyle, even if only implicitly.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/424274.html. Please comment over there if possible.