I got my daughter tickets to see Wicked: The Musical for Christmas while it was on tour here in Florida.
For those who don’t know, Wicked is based on the book of the same name by Gregory Maguire. I read it many years ago when it first came out and here’s what I remember:
The book tells how Elphaba became known as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Maguire explains how she gets around the whole bathing thing since water destroys her in the end.
Glinda’s (the Good Witch of the North) name is actually Galinda.
Dorothy is a very peripheral, non-entity of a character until she, of course, liquidates the witch.
It’s sad. And long. Good, though!
Yeah, so the play is nothing like that. I mean, yes, we still find out how Elphaba becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda is Galinda. But the play focuses more on the friendship between the two women and is way, way, way more upbeat and funny.
There is nothing (nothing!) I didn’t like about the play, so some of the things my daughter and I enjoyed:
Seeing the people turn into the iconic creatures: Tin Man, Scarecrow, etc.
Galinda. She is so shallow and funny. I want her to teach me to be popular. *tosses hair*
The song “Loathing”
Actually, getting context for all the songs was fantastic. We had listened to the soundtrack before but didn’t follow the plot through that. Much like, Dreamgirls, hearing the songs sung in context gives them more power and meaning.
“Defying Gravity” is an absolute showstopper.
The set was amazing.
Media manipulation is real. Poor Elphaba is just a victim of bad press.
Basically, the show is awesome. If you’re a fan of female friendship, fairy tale retellings, musicals, showmanship, strong female characters, fun wordplay, and exceeding cleverness definitely check out Wicked when it tours near you.
Wishes are powerful things. You can’t expect them to change the world without changing you too.
Chrysanthemum (Chrissy) Everstar is back in My Unfair Godmother, the sequel to My Fair Godmother (one of my favorite reads of 2009), by Janette Rallison. Just like in the first book, Chrissy is trying to prove herself as a fairy godmother. This time, her charge is Tansy Miller, a girl who is very, very angry about her parents’ divorce and continues to piss her father off. When her current boyfriend, Bo, vandalizes a building and lets her take the rap, things spiral downhill pretty quickly for Tansy. Enter Chrissy and the kinds of chaos only her granted wishes can create.
What I Liked
- I love Chrissy. I LOVE HER. I wouldn’t mind seeing a whole book about her and the wacky fairy adventures she gets into when she’s not popping into her mortals’ lives.
- I like that Tansy is so different from the main character of the first book. And! The story is very different, too. I mean, yes, fairy tale, etc, but I was really expecting it to follow the exact same formula–and while there are some similarities–they are really almost nothing alike.
- Tansy has to figure out the moral of her story to right Chrissy’s magic, and, while I like the one Tansy settled on, there were actually several used throughout the story that were nice.
- Nick, Tansy’s stepbrother, is so great.
What I Didn’t Like
- Tansy needs to forgive her father and learn to love/accept her new family, right? Except she spends little to no time with them and all of her time with the love interest. I love a good romance as much as the next person, but I would really like to read stories about girls who don’t figure things out through boys. It would really be nice is all. Not to mention, the glimpses of Tansy’s family we do get after the magic mayhem starts are really freaking fascinating. So, while the story is about Tansy, it really is about the boy moreso than her journey to her family. I don’t like that very much.
- I really didn’t like Tansy all that much. I was caught up in the story but not because of her. It was more the premise than anything. She’s realistic and all; I just didn’t connect with her.
- Not enough Nick or Chrissy, alas.
In conclusion: A fun read in line with the other Chrissy book. I just would’ve liked to see a little more focus on the family aspect.
I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum.
The Red Pyramid is Book One of The Kane Chronicles, Rick Riordan’s take on Egyptian mythology. Much like Percy Jackson, the two main characters, siblings Carter and Sadie Kane, discover that they have magical powers and are descendants of gods.
The audiobook is narrated by Kevin R. Free and Katherine Kellgreen.
What I Liked
- Awesome characters. AWESOME characters. You know the author is doing something right when you love a baboon that only speaks in grunts. Seriously.
- Speaking of awesome characters, I love Sadie and Carter SO MUCH. Just so much. I love their relationship and how they’re jealous of each other, but how they grow to love and trust each other. Not only that, but the way Riordan handles their personalities is A+.
- I also really appreciate the way race is handled in this novel. The kids are mixed (black dad/white mom). Carter looks like their dad, and Sadie looks just like her mom (i.e., she can pass). So part of the tension is that people doubt their authenticity as brother and sister or even that Sadie is a member of their family (mom is dead).
What I really appreciate, though, is that Carter deals with things black boys have to deal with–especially when it comes to appearance. His father is highly educated and talks to Carter a lot about the importance of how he presents himself through dress and speech. Carter also notes moments of being uncomfortable in stores and–not in these words–shopping while black. What I’m saying is Carter is an authentic black teen.
Sadie is, well, British. Her concerns are white British girl concerns. It’s fun having two such different characters.
- Riordan knows how to drop some knowledge/facts without being boring. I learned a lot about Egypt and Egyptian mythology but didn’t feel like I was being taught a history/mythology lesson.
- I loved Kevin Free as a narrator for Carter. Kathleen Kellgreen was mostly good as a narrator for Sadie. I mean, she’s sufficiently British, so that really helped to differentiate the voices, but…see next section for more.
What I Didn’t Like
- As I hinted at above, I liked Kellgreen as a narrator–mostly. However, sometimes Sadie sounded completely frantic for long stretches of the narrative. I mean, yes, the stakes were high and things were moving quickly, but I don’t want my narrator to actually sound like she’s dialed up to 10 the entire time.
I listened to this with my daughter, and she pretty much hated Sadie’s parts and couldn’t wait to get back to Carter’s sections in the book.
- This book is TOO LONG. I love that Riordan packs so much in, but the book seriously started to drag in the middle. Yes, a lot happened; yes, it was exciting. But it was exhausting. The good news is that the book picks up again near the end. However, I still felt the need to take a break from it and wanted to hurry up and get to the end.
In conclusion: I did like this book a lot, but the length and some of the narration kept me from loving it. That said, I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
Support Your Local LIbrary: 30/30; YA Reading Challenge: 27; Audiobook Challenge: 3/6; POC Challenge: 17
Things don’t always change with a bang. Sometimes they change so gradually that you can’t clearly pinpoint the last moment they were truly the same.
I was super excited to read One Lonely Degreeby C. K. Kelly Martin because I really enjoyed her first novel. Another slice of contemporary realism from Martin, this book follows Finn as she struggles with changes in her family while she battles depression brought on by a traumatic experience at at a party.
What I Liked
- The characters are top notch. They’re all well-developed with clear personalities and their own little conflicts within the text.
- Friendship of the female AND male variety. Also, a slight love triangle, which. If I were still working on my dissertation, I might use this book.
What I Didn’t Like
- Oh my word, this book is BORING. Like, super boring. It starts to pick up in the last four or so chapters and then it’s OVER. Just when it gets interesting. I was so disappointed. I mean, seriously. It is well-written, the characters are well-developed, but it lacks serious oomph. I would put it down and forget about it. And then when I finished it, I seriously thought, “…that’s IT?” The worst part is I kept reading, hoping for that special something that makes realistic fiction so great for me, that identification, seeing some glimmer of interestingness or thinking that’s different, and it was just boring.
In conclusion: Tragically boring. I mean, really.
Support Your Local Library: 12/30; YA Reading Challenge: 7/20
A real live boyfriend does not contribute to your angst.
Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart is the fourth and final book in the Ruby Oliver series. I was really looking forward to this book because I love me some Ruby Oliver.
What I Liked
- As I said above, Ruby Oliver. She’s funny and neurotic and kind and boy crazy. She’s also super smart and thoughtful and reflective.
- Meghan. I am claiming Meghan as one of my literary girlfriends. Also, I have realized that when it comes to literary girlfriends I have a type. They are frequently beautiful and kind of clueless, but in a good way. I don’t care. I love her. Her honesty and lack of pretense is refreshing. And I just…I love her, okay?
- Lockhart always explores female friendships really well in these books, and I really enjoyed the way the Nora situation is handled. I also, of course, love that Ruby values Meghan as a friend. Plus, the Hutch/Ruby friendship is explored in this book as well, which pleases me. I like learning more about the boys in Ruby’s life.
- There’s also some good stuff with Ruby and her parents. It’s obvious why Ruby is such a neurotic drama queen when we witness her mother in action. Plus, I thought the way Ruby’s parents understand each other even though Ruby doesn’t understand them is shown really well.
- Even though Ruby is boy crazy and obsessed, I do like that she has other interests, but it’s just that her interpersonal relationships are what consume her.
- My favorite scene is probably the bit with Ruby and Nora in the bathroom. I won’t spoil it, but I will just say that it’s something that needed to be said and hammered home, and it’s so organic and awesome. And AWESOME.
What I Didn’t Like
- Let’s just get it out of the way right now. I HATE THE NEW COVERS. Ugh. It is hard for me to tell whether or not I would pick up the books based off the covers now because it’s too late, but…I really just hate them. The girl is nothing like I picture Ruby, plus the first book makes a point of not describing Ruby too much because it doesn’t matter. But whatever. There’s nothing I can do about it except complain on the internet. In all caps.
- This book is TOO SHORT. It felt more like a novella or one of those 1/2 books Meg Cabot did for the Princess Diaries series. I wanted to spend more time with Ruby and her friends in Tate.
- I also wasn’t completely satisfied with the resolution, but that’s only because I needed more information about where everybody ends up. It’s the last book! I need a little more!
In conclusion: The book is in line with the other Roo books: funny, engaging, heartbreaking. I just wanted it to be longer since it’s the last book ever.
Support Your Local Library: 5/30; YA Challenge: 4/20
I wished I hadn’t opened up that newspaper. I wished I could go right on thinking we were having breakfast, painting signs, and learning our rights. I wished I didn’t know that I was marching my sisters into a boiling pot of trouble cooking in Oakland.
I can’t decide if I like One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia so much because it’s a really good middle grade novel about a girl who spends the summer trying to get to know the mother who abandoned her or because it’s a book about a girl who spends the summer at the Black Panther Party summer camp.
I mean, I really cannot decide. Because it is so hard for me to separate my love of the Black Panther Party from the rest of the novel, and the fact that this book is written, basically, about the experience of participating with the Panthers as a child just…I can’t even put it into words.
The setting and premise are awesome is what I’m trying to say.
It’s hard for me to talk about the book itself because I really want to just go off on a tangent about how into the Panthers I was in college. I think to understand how into them I was you need to know that when I went to Oakland two summers ago, I was really super bummed that I didn’t have enough time to take the Black Panther tour.
Really super bummed.
But this isn’t about me. This is about the book. One Crazy Summer, while about a girl’s experience at the summer camp, is more specifically about eleven-year-old Delphine, and the trip she takes to get to know her mother. I always have a problem talking about well-written books because there’s not much to say except: this book is good. The characters are well-drawn, the setting and tone are pitch-perfect, and the relationships are all clear as is the thread of conflict throughout those relationships.
One of the things Williams-Garcia does well is mention key historical moments about the Party without overexplaining. It’s more of an invitation to find out more. What is COINTELPRO? Who is Li’l Bobby Hutton? What happened the night he died? (I don’t think she mentions Eldridge Cleaver, but he was there. So: who is Eldridge Cleaver?) Why do they call the cops “pigs”? It also doesn’t come up that the FBI thought the Free Breakfast Program was the most dangerous aspect of the Panther’s activities, but it’s easy to see why Hoover wanted it shut down immediately. (Also, did you know that’s why schools serve breakfast now? You can thank the BPP for that.)
Probably the best thing about the book (aside from Delphine, and, of course, the BPP) is Delphine’s mother, Cecile, and the complicated relationship she has with her children. As an eleven-year-old, Delphine’s understanding of her mother is perfectly rendered. As an adult reader, I appreciated that the reason Cecile left is as simple and complex as the fact that she couldn’t name her youngest daughter. Something Delphine doesn’t quite understand–nor would a reader in her age group–but that I can imagine her thinking about over and over as she becomes an adult.
I also enjoy we get an East Coast perspective of the Party as well as, through Delphine’s narration, how older black people (like her grandmother) see the Party.
So what I’m saying is I really enjoyed the story on its own terms. And I love, love, love that cover.
Now that that’s out of the way…
ADDENDUM, WHEREIN I TALK ABOUT THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
Can I talk about my experience with the Black Panthers now? Basically, my gateway drug was Assata: An Autobiography. (And thinking about it, I really probably should have named my daughter Assata because THAT IS HOW MUCH I LOVE THE BOOK. And Assata. SHE IS SO BADASS AND I LOVE HER.) I read that in an intro African-American studies class and immediately wanted to know more. So I signed up for a seminar on the Black Panthers where we read pretty much all of their autobiographies and seminal works. We discussed their philosophies and their complicated relationships. We read books related to them. I forced my friends to watch Panther with me. It was pretty intense.
So, some books if you’re interested in learning more about the Black Panther Party in their own words:
Also did you know that Jesse Jackson got his whole Rainbow Coalition bit from Fred Hampton, leader of the Chicago Panthers?
MY MIND IS FULL OF ALL OF THIS KNOWLEDGE.
(Fred was, tragically, assassinated by the police–there are pictures of them carrying his body out and smiling–as he lay in bed next to his pregnant girlfriend who did not incur a single bullet wound. SERIOUSLY.)
And we all know that Huey from The Boondocks is named after Huey P. Newton. So.
*****draws hearts around the Black Panther Party*****
Quirky Brown Challenge: 1/3; Support Your Local Library: 4/30; POC Reading Challenge: 3/15
I more than completed Women Unbound and POC. In fact, I really should’ve bumped up to the next level on POC. Women Unbound was a lot of fun because I totally read books I had intended to read but probably would’ve put off a little longer. So that challenge gave me an excuse to get my butt in gear. As for POC, I don’t think it really changed my reading so much as made me aware of how many books about POC I actually read. I kind of low-balled it, so next time I’ll go for the higher limit.
As for the YA Challenge, considering I didn’t even read 75 books, I think it’s fair to say I didn’t complete the challenge. Shocking is that I didn’t even read 50 YA books. Huh. But that’s okay! Maybe I just am expanding my reading horizons? I don’t even know.
Anyway, next year is a new year with new challenges. Forthcoming post with my sign ups for the next year.
The topic of the current diversity roll call is paradigm shifts, more specifically:
Have you ever read a book and the character’s perspective opened you to ideas, beliefs or realities that you had never considered? Tell us a about a work or an author whose body of work changed how you looked at the world, others or yourself. Have you ever read a book and had a paradigm shift because of it?
It took me some time to come up with my answer to this question. I have read a lot of books. A LOT. My main love, though, is series fiction. The Baby-Sitters Club was my gateway drug into the world of series fiction, and then I moved on to Sweet Valley High before stumbling upon Katherine Applegate’s Ocean City and then Boyfriends/Girlfriends (now Making Out) series. And I liked Applegate a lot because she always featured a minority character, which was a welcome change from SVH and its focus on the blonde twins and their ultra-white friends.
I recently reread book one in the Girl Friends series, a ten-book series most people have never heard of. It was extremely popular with me, of course, but one person does not a successful series make, and author Nicole Grey’s contract wasn’t extended, so the series ends on a wicked cliffhanger. I had stumbled upon Girl Friends in 1993, voracious bookstore goer that I was. And at first, I thought it was my pick for the paradigm shift because of what I said at the end of my review there. Namely:
Empowerment through female friendships. I’d be lying if I said that this series hasn’t inspired my dissertation topic focusing on female friendship. If I didn’t love these books with all of my heart, I doubt very seriously that I would even think about or consider friendships between girls as much as I do.
But that’s not even it. Because Applegate had strong female friendships, and the BSC is founded by best friends. No, it’s more than that.
In his memoir Bad Boy, Walter Dean Myers talks about his experiences reading. And he says that he read a wealth of writers, mostly white and male. But it wasn’t until he read James Baldwin and Langston Hughes that his world changed because they talked about Harlem, and he so strongly identified with their writing about it because that’s where he lived. He saw himself and his family and friends in their writing. What he said, and I’ll never forget, is that reading Baldwin and Hughes gave him permission to write the stories he wanted to write about the people and places he knew.
And that’s what Girl Friends did for me. I always wanted to write a book series because that’s what I liked to read, but I didn’t live in a world like BSC and SVH. I lived in a world with lots of people of color. A world where there would only be one white main character, if there was one at all. (Janis, the only featured white character, is introduced last. LAST. Most of the series fiction I’ve read centers around a blond white female. And if not blond, then still white. The first character introduced in GF is Stephanie–who is Chinese-American.) It wasn’t until I read Grey’s series that I felt like anyone would read or write a series populated with girls of color or a series that talked about the things I saw going on with the people I knew. It was the first series I read where it felt like a world I lived in, and that blew my mind.
So, not only did it impress upon me the importance of female connection (note: none of these girls were ever in competition with each other over a boy), nor did it just open my eyes to true contemporary realism in series fiction, but it also showed me there was a place for me and the people and situations I knew in series fiction. And that gave me permission to dream, for real, about writing my own series one day.
I got my daughter tickets to see Wicked: The Musical for Christmas while it was on tour here in Florida.
