helping readers see that "the other" is a human

I am putting together a gift basket of the best graphic novels for young adults. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui kept being suggested as a book I should add... so I read it. It is a remarkable and timely story of what it means to be a refugee in search for a better future.

Great quotes from the book:

“To understand how my father became the way he was, I had to learn what happened to him as a little boy. It took a long time to learn the right questions to ask.” 

“This - not any particular piece of Vietnamese culture - is my inheritance: the inexplicable need ad extraordinary ability to run when the shit hits the fan. My refugee reflex.” 

“Má leaves me but I'm not alone, and a terrifying thought creeps into my head. Family is now something I have created and not just something I was born into.”

“Every casualty in war is someone's grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, child, lover.” 

Get this book for the young adults you know. It is filled with empathy.

This graphic memoir is doing the work of helping readers see that "the other" is a human. It's more than a story of one family's journey from Vietnam and the obstacles they overcame. It's so much more. It's relevant today -  a time where immigration and seeking asylum is on the forefront of so many people's minds. We see firsthand why someone might make the tough decision to leave behind everything to start a new life and the incredible sacrifices they must make to provide a better life for their families. 

The Antidote to Hopelessness

“This is about me making sure that, when it's said and done, I have been of service to a generation of young people who now know that they can have a relationship with literature and literacy, because it is for them.”

- Jason Reynolds

"The antidote to hopelessness is young people."
- Jason Reynolds

Hey, Kiddo

I just read author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka's new young adult graphic memoir Hey, Kiddo. It's a National Book Award finalist and definitely has Newbery Award possibilities.

Hey, Kiddo is the brutally honest story of the author being raised by his grandparents, his mother's addiction to heroin, and reconnecting with his father. His grandparents, Joseph and Shirley, are wonderful. The dedication in his first book, Good Night Monkey Boy (2001) reads: For Grandma and Grandpa, the best parents a kid could ask for.



You may recognize Jarrett from his Lunch Lady series fame or the Platypus Police Squad series. 

Maybe you saw his TEDx talk...





Be sure not to miss Jarrett J. Krosoczka on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Follow Jarrett on Facebook at StudioJJK to see amazing stories and images from the book like these:

Be sure to read the Author's Note and A Note On The Art at the end of the book.

Get this book for every reader who loves a story of challenge and triumph... who likes an amazing coming of age story... who may see themselves and their family in this book. This is a book for young and old alike.

life's library

John Green and Rosianna Halse Rojas are starting a book club! Every six weeks for one year a group of people will read a book together. 100% of the profits from the book club will go to Partners in Health. 

Life's Library, a new kind of book club.
If you are interested sign up HERE.

The first book is Jacqueline Woodson's, If You Come Softly.

The book is inspired by a poem by Audre Lorde that begins:

If you come softly
as the wind within the trees
you may hear what I hear
see what sorrow sees.

from the book:

“I think only once in your life do you find someone that you say, "Hey, this is the person I want to spend the rest of my time on this earth with." And if you miss it, or walk away from it, or even maybe, blink - it's gone.” 
― Jacqueline Woodson, If You Come Softly

“This is how the time moves - an hour here, a day somewhere, and then it's night and then it's morning. A clock ticking on a shelf. A small child running to school, a father coming home. 

Time moves over us and past us, and the feeling of lips pressed against lips fades into memory. A picture yellows at its edges. A phone rings in an empty room.” 
― Jacqueline Woodson, If You Come Softly

Love is the resistance

I read Resistance by Jennifer A Nielsen this week. After reading A Night Divided, I couldn't wait for Jennifer Nielsen's next book. Resistance does not disappoint.

This book is about the Jewish resistance fighters during World War II. Chaya is a courier. She's a jewish teen posing as Polish. There are horrors, injustices, and grief as can be expected in historical fiction based on the Holocaust.

I loved the cover (reminiscent of Tiananmen Square tank man). A teenage girl, knowing success is unlikely, but ready to take on evil.

Some of my favorite parts:

Her eyes widened as she looked back at me. "What if they truly are winning, Chaya? What happens then?" 

I'd asked myself that same question countless times. If they won, the extermination that began with us would extend to anyone they viewed as a threat to their twisted ideals. If there was any chance of them winning, then the resistance mattered more than ever. 

"The Nazis murder us many times over. They take our ability to worship properly - a spiritual death. They separate our families - another death there. They kill our dignity, our will to live, and finally they take our lives. The question isn't whether my family is gone. It's only a matter of how many deaths they've suffered so far." 

Historians might say that the Jews lost every uprising we attempted in this war, that every resistance movement failed. 

I disagree. 

We proved that there was value in faith. There was value in loyalty. And that a righteous resistance was victory in itself, no matter the outcome. 

We got our three lines of history.

Be sure to read the AFTERWORD from the author. There is more information about AKIVA, ZOB, and the Couriers. Most were just teenagers and young adults.

From the Afterword:

May we never forget. May we live with honor at all times, regardless of our circumstances. And may we choose love, a weapon that will defeat hate every single time. 

Love is the resistance.

Look up more information online...

The Cyganeria Cafe attack

Lodz Ghetto

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 

no human being is illegal

 I just read the new graphic novel, Illegal, by Eoin Colfer. This middle grade, graphic novel is about one boy's journey across Africa with the hope to reach Europe.The novel puts a human face to the European migrant crisis.

From Publishers Weekly:

The book's title is arguably provocative, however. "Illegal is quite a controversial word in this context," Colfer says. "Often migrants are referred to as illegal, but the children cannot understand how they can be illegal for simply existing on planet Earth." Colfer adds that he and Donkin took the title from a quote by author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, which begins, "You who are so-called illegal aliens must know that no human being is ‘illegal.' That is a contradiction in terms."

This is a gripping story about twelve-year-old Ebo's epic journey from Africa to Italy. The graphic novel is grueling. The illustrations are beautiful and terrifying. You will feel what it's like to be thirsty in the desert, freezing at sea, and continually afraid.

The quote from Elie Wiesel in the introduction:

"You, who are so-called Illegal Aliens, must know that no human being is Illegal. This is a contradiction in terms. Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but Illegal? How can a human being be Illegal?"

In the epilogue, readers are reminded that in 2015 alone, more than one million migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea to enter Europe. The United Nations has described the situation as a "colossal humanitarian catastrophe".

This book would be perfectly paired with Refugee by Alan Gratz and/or Home Of The Brave by Katherine Applegate.

always sweeter

A book was delivered to my doorstep this weekend. I must have preordered it months ago on someone's recommendation. It is Adrian Simcox Does Not Have A Horse by Marcy Campbell.

It is a beautiful story that will start a wonderful conversation about empathy. Readers will see that understanding is always sweeter than judgement. 

This book is an imaginative and creative way to teach kids (and adults) about compassion and kindness. 

"I also thought, he had the most beautiful horse of anyone, anywhere."

This book would be a great way to start the school year.