Picture Books

I recently realised that I want this blog to focus on picture books; children's picture books as well as any books I come across that have striking visual illustrations. Picture books have always brought me so much joy, maybe it's because these were the first books that I was ever introduced to but I feel  like I've neglected them in my efforts to devour as much literary and YA fiction as I possibly could.  They are the ultimate treat, a real escape from a troubled world as well as beautiful art works in their own right.
I've spent almost my entire maternity leave enjoying bonding with my son over lovely picture books, some from, the library, some gifts , some I picked up on travels and some random surprises from the charity shop. It is hard to keep track of these books, so blogging will help.  The books I focus on probably won't be the most recent
I've enjoyed reading them so much, especially as I don't get as much time to read full length books these days AND the school I work in has primary school grades, I really need to improve my knowledge and blog as I learn about these new treasures.
I am scouting twitter for picture book blogs to give me some inspiration!

#Review of 'Motherland'

'Motherland' by Jo McMillan is a pretty unusual novel (more of a memoir), as it is based around the author's experience of growing up with a staunchly communist mother, who began a 'relationship' of sorts with Communist Germany (German Democratic Republic or GDR) when the Berlin Wall was in place and it was pretty unwise to do so.

GDR memoir style novels are, understandably, a thing, it's been almost thirty years since the Berlin Wall fell and East Germans people are starting to process this period in history and confront the past; there is Stasi Land by Anna Funder, which looks at how Stasi oppression destroyed lives, Sonnenallee, a nostalgic but emotional comedy about growing up literally in the shadow of the Berlin Wall and the internationally successful film, Goodbye Lenin, a tragicomedy, which looks at the innocence of German Socialism twinned with the ruinous effect it had on ordinary lives, aswell as the fairly recent TV series 'Deutschland 83' which looks at the cold war aspect of things. There is even a phenomenon in the former East called 'Ostalgie' ,whereby people nostalgize the good part of their GDR

I was incredibly excited to read this as I spent some time living in Leipzig and Erfurt, two former GDR cities and as friends, teachers and colleagues shared their personal history of the GDR, I became intrigued. What was this place like? The clues were in the kitsch furniture that still cluttered flats and cafes, the abandoned factories and the practically abandoned towns. The prefabricated tower blocks. The sensible, thrifty attitude of older people I met. The people I encountered who spoke fluent Russian and had former links with Vietnam and Cuba. Even the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, grew up in this world. I have only met a handful of people (IRL) who traveled into East Germany from Berlin, so I was hoping Jo might throw a bit of an interesting light on all of this.

Sadly, this book didn't really work for me and I have very mixed feelings about it. 

I think it was a mistake not to write it as either a historical YA, focusing on Jess's experiences, or as a memoir, reflecting on her experiences with an adult's knowledge. Instead it falls somewhere in between and this isn't really satisfactory. 

Jess, our main character, is the most boring teenager to ever appear on paper. She happily spends all her free time selling a Communist newspaper or attending meetings with adults in the Communist party. Apart from a brief half-arsed attempt to defect to East Germany, Jess doesn't seem to know what rebellion means. Quite ironic really, given how often she reads Marxist theory.  She has no peers apart from the elusive Martina, who is surprisingly not interested in her friendship. There was a missed opportunity to create a more interesting protagonist here.

Eleanor, Jess's mother, is even more frustrating. I really wanted to shake her out of her romantic Socialist  world. She is a charming character but dangerously out of step with reality. She ignores anything that doesn't fit in with her passion for Communism; she ignores the Prague spring, Soviet proxy war in Afghanistan and has no scruples about cosying up to the GDR authorities so that she can experience 'Socialism in action' and live out this romantic fairytale.  I hope Jeremy Corbyn didn't spend the late 70's/early 80's in this bubble!

Eleanor is a real warning that we should never get too blinkered in our political views. She doesn't allow Jess to have her own identity (not that Jess craves one for most of the novel, I think she is doing busy being the adult in the relationship) and this is so sad. It's like how not to parent. 

Eleanor starts an ill-advised relationship with one of her GDR colleagues, Peter and obsesses about him throughout the year. What is annoying is that she seems to have no qualms about contacting him frequently from the UK, which basically endangers his safety and brings him under suspicion (or she is the most naive person ever!)

There are some well-painted characters in this. My favourite character was Martina. She is under no allusions as to the restrictive life she faces living in the GDR. The best scenes were with her too, we are introduced to a non-chalant Martina on top of the Belrin Fernsehturm, there is an honest ferris wheel ride with Jess after a propaganda-filled visit to the Berlin Soviet Memorial and the scene in the lake where she tries to subtly confront Jess about how she hates living in the GDR is really affecting. I thought more could have been made of the relationship between the girls. Chapters from Martina's point of view would have been brilliant! Another great character was Saskia, she is a party member involved in the GDR summer course. She always wears white and is a bit of a villainess and there are subtle hints about her mysterious World War 2 past. Nothing more about her though!

I have been harsh here because this book had so much potential, the material itself is brilliant and is a good but not complete insight into GDR life but it just did not work for me, having said this some of the writing is really good and I genuinely read compulsively to find out how the story was resolved in the end.  I would have enjoyed it more if the imbalance in the relationship between mother and daughter was addressed and if the characters had developed somewhat.  All in all, it is still an interesting read for those interested in modern German history.

My Book Biography Part 1

Being a book lover and a librarian, people are always asking me what my favourite books are. It is really impossible to distill them down to my absolute faves but these are some of the books that have really stuck with me throughout the years and have made a lasting impression on me. Of course there are so many other fantastic authors and really classic works that I've read and it's an ever changing thing  but these were the books where it really felt that the author was speaking directly to me and reader alchemy occurred,  I felt changed as a result.I need to reread them all! 

Childhood
Run With the Wind by Tom McCaughren

I read this series in 1994 but it actually appeared in the mid-eighties. I think my Dad may have picked them up for me in a charity shop  and I remember being sick one day and just reading the entire thing in bed. My reading of them coincided with the popularity of The Animals of Farthing Wood animation. I loved thinking that animals had an interior life and could experience things just like humans do. I rarely saw foxes growing up and they seemed like magical symbols of a nocturnal world. Every time I see an urban fox in London now, I think of survival and can't quite get the characters of this story out of my mind.

Going Solo by Roald Dahl 

I devoured all of Roald Dahl's books as soon as I discovered him but I remembered loving Boy and wanting it to go on forever. Going Solo was a delicious glimpse of an exciting, adult world outside of my life in Ireland. There aren't many books for children that feature adult adventures in a child friendly package. This book also gave 8 years old me serious wanderlust! I haven't properly been to Africa yet but I hope it happens some day. The dandruff wig scene has been imprinted on my brain for the last 23 years. I read The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje last year and that reminded me of Going Solo. It has the magic of children discovering an adult world and it really is from another time and era that has disappeared.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

My parents got this for me as a gift and I thought it was the first book in the series rather than a prequel until relatively recently (!). I love Narnia but I've always preferred this book to the rest of the series. I've always wanted to have a shared attic space like Digory and Polly do. 

Anne Frank's Diary

Like so many people this book changed my life. I can't say anything that hasn't already been said about how affecting this book is and why Anne had to go through this horrific ordeal but it inspired me to keep a diary, gave me a lifelong interest in World  War Two history which eventually led me to study German and live there and learn more about the horror of the Holocaust. 

Early Teenage Years

The White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

This book has the right measure of everything and is perfect, beautiful escapism. I need to hunt down my copy next time I'm at my parents place.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I came to this via the movie starring Winona Ryder as Jo and Christian Bale as Teddy and they completely brought the characters to life for me. When I eventually read the book I found it easier to imagine it and I loved it all the more, particularly finding scenes that I could imagine better myself. Its a comfort book that I always return to. It saddended me a little recently to hear that Louisa M. Alcott was a bit annoyed by the infamy of the book. It's on my bucket list to visit the Massachusetts house that she wrote it in.

#YA Review of 'The Hate You Give'

I just finished The Hate You Give (aka THUG) by Angie Thomas. It was a recommended by a friend who had read lots about it on the interwebs, thank you Cethan! You know they say that reading takes you out of your own experience and gives you the empathy to see life through someone else's eyes? This was exactly how I felt when reading this book, it brought me a lot closer to issues of American racial injustice than the media has. I can't believe that Angie Thomas is a first time author, she has such a fresh voice and the novel is really accomplished. I felt like I was in this world.

Starr, the main character, is leading a double life*.  She's a black girl from the ghetto, Garden Heights,  but her parents have sent her and her siblings to a private high school in a wealthy neighbourhood. She finds it hard to juggle both of her worlds and has friendship groups in both. Her parents have complex feelings about this too, they want their kids to do well but they don't want to abandon their neighbourhood, friends and family to the gangs and poverty that are rife in the ghetto.
(*The double school life reminds me of the native American protagonist in YA classic The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It works really well as it added another dimension to the story and makes Starr's character even more relatable. I have the feeling that THUG is going to become an American classic too and that can only be a good thing.)
This comes to a head when she reconnects with Khalil, a close friend from her childhood, at a party in Garden Heights. Starr witnesses Khalil's murder after they are pulled over by a police officer on their journey home. Suddenly Starr is confronted by the injustice of a brutal system that allows innocent people to be killed because of their skin colour.  She starts to find it hard to relate to her friends at school and her devastation affects her budding relationship with her boyfriend Chris.
This is a brilliant story, with a great heroine and interesting characters but it is also a really important story as sadly, we know that what happened to Khalil and the fallout from this is based on shocking, real life cases. This confrontation of serious social issues gives the book a gravitas that reminds me of really important books like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and Anne Frank's Diary.
I am grateful to Angie Thomas for this glimpse into Starr's world, it is a clever mix of the personal and the political.
What parents/guardians/librarians should know: 

• Starr is a strong female character and a great role model for teenagers. I wish I'd had her strength as a teenager

• Great introduction to modern race issues, particularly in the US

• However non US readers might potentially need a bit more context re:black history?

• There are bullying issues which are resolved really well

• This is a book for older teenagers. It depends on the child reading it but I would say that teenagers who are 14 and above ,dependent on their maturity level, will get more out of this novel.

• Starr and her boyfriend's relationship is about to become sexual, this aspect of the story is really sensitively handled

• A difficult part of this story maturity wise is King, his violent gang, drug selling and his abusive relationship with Iesha, it raises issues which teenagers might not be ready for, but it is a minor part of the story

• Starr's parents are really well written, they are strict, have overcome so many difficulties and are hilarious. I think they might be my favourite parents in YA at the moment:)

Book Blogging

I have decided to dabble with some book blogging! I've experimented with blogging before but it has mainly been related to library work and my school library photos on my Tumblr page. This blog is more about my thoughts as a reader.

2016 and 2017 have seen huge changes for me in my professional, personal and reading life. First off, I took up the position of school librarian in a school which includes a primary school. While I am totally comfortable with recommending reads for secondary school students, this is a totally new area for me and I really need to learn more about children's lit. I've also gotten married and become a mother to a little boy. Suddenly I have the awesome job of introducing the experience of reading to a whole new person! Picture books are also something that I have limited knowledge of so it is a wonderful world to share.

I have always been a slow reader but motherhood has definitely dented my ability to read for hours uninterrupted in cafes. I'm okay with that but having less time to read has made me a different reader. It has shown me just how much I appreciate the experience of reading, how reading can be a life line and has reminded me not to waste time reading something that I am not enjoying.

This September marks seven (!) entire years that I've worked as a school librarian. I have read so many great books, had so many book conversations with students and friends, , visited so many great libraries that they are now getting forgotten. So as time goes on, I feel that I am learning more and more about literature of all kinds and I want to have a space online where I have all my reading information together in an online library of sorts. Deep breath and here we go!