‘The Best at It’ by Maulik Pancholy

The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy is a moving story about a boy who is determined to be the “best at” something. The protagonist, Rahul, already excels at math, but he resists joining the school “Mathlete” competition because he’s convinced it will brand him as a nerd. Rahul also struggles with compulsive and anxious behavior, and homophobic bullying by a classmate. Nice parts to this book are that Rahul has supportive friends and accepting parents and grandfather who love him unconditionally. As his father puts its, “Rahul. Whether you place first or fifth or thirty-fifth or two thousand and fifth ... and no matter who you are. Your mom and I will always love you.”

Series-order labels for books

Series-order labels really help identify which book should be read next. They streamline shelving books in order, and help to flag series gaps- but often numbers that were printed by the publisher are in a tiny font or missing entirely from the spine of the book. Labeling some of our series books was one of my projects this week in SRCSA library. I worked my way through “Captain Underpants” and embarked on “Magic Treehouse.” I designed the labels with a high-contrast black text against a white background, in the same size-14 font that I use for books’ call numbers.

SOC 1: Diversity in children’s books, ideology and structural strain

For Sociology 1 at Santa Rosa Junior College, I am exploring a social movement, including its identifiable ideology and possible structural strains. For this assignment, I have chosen the topic, “Diversity in children’s books.”