The Sound of Stars (free-writing prompt)

Among the books I’m reading, The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow, offers near-future dystopian adventure flavored with romance. An alien race, the Ilori, has invaded Earth and one-third of the world’s human population are dead. Those humans who remain live under the control of the Ilori, who have outlawed art, books, music: any type of creative expression.

“How are you feeling about this upcoming school year?”

I’m looking forward to a new semester in my graduate program. This semester, I am taking a course in “Culturally Competent Librarianship.” This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, due to my intersectional identities as someone who is both autistic and nonbinary.

Book haul : Friends of the Library, summer 2024

I’ve acquired several great books from “Friends of the Library” venues, including More Tales to Keep You Up at Night, by Dan Poblocki; The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Sam Maggs; The Otherwoods, by Justine Pucella Winans; Puzzleheart, by Jenn Reese; Loveless, by Alice Oseman; and The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a short-story anthology.
https://youtu.be/Is4LtXrXoa0

When My Heart Joins the Thousand

Among the books I am currently reading, When My Heart Joins the Thousand by A.J. Steiger is a particularly intense read. It’s a Young Adult novel told in the first person by main character Alvie Fitz.

“Think about a time when you felt hopeful about something in your life”

My ‘No Bully’ mugshot

When I attended school in Calistoga, CA, I didn’t fit in with any of my classmates. I didn’t have any friends and, in addition to simply feeling isolated, I was actively shunned and bullied by what felt like the entire student population.

The isolation I felt began on Day 1 of Kindergarten and persisted throughout my K-12 career at Calistoga Elementary School and Calistoga Junior/Senior High School.

The adults did very little about it; an individual teacher might build me up by saying that my reading ability put me at the top of the class but there were no anti-bullying programs the way that there are now (Safe School Ambassadors, Challenge Day, and the like).

“Who inspires you?” (Response to writing prompt)

Over the summer I’ve been helping out in a high-school English classroom. Each morning, the teacher assigns her students to work from a writing prompt and I decided to tackle those prompts myself. The writing prompt for July 18 was, “Who inspires you?”

Book-Talk : Ollie in Between, by Jess Callans

Being nonbinary, I found so many things to appreciate about Ollie in Between, which concerns a nonbinary 13-year-old navigating gender expectations. And as I read, I wondered if the protagonist might also be autistic. Ollie in Between will be published by Feiwel & Friends and April 2025.
https://youtu.be/0YUsvsDspAs

Books I’m reading during Summer 2024

I’m enjoying a productive summer so far. Among the books I’ve read, here are Love Letters for Joy, by Melissa See; Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork; and The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig.
https://youtu.be/gZ3zEYKlbLA

Thanks for Listening, by Molly Horan

This was a fun read. I appreciated Mia’s frustration with her friends for not heeding her advice, and enjoyed her solution, in the form of an anonymous social media account. Mia started out with good intentions, but it seemed as though, inevitably, her self-interests supplanted her altruism. I also read it with the cautionary idea that you aren’t necessarily as anonymous as you think you are online; Mia pretty much recognized every one of her friends who DM’d HereToHelp, in spite of the filters they used to mask their identities. I especially recommend this book for readers who enjoyed Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See and Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao.

Homebody by Theo Parish (free-writing prompt)

Over the summer I’ve been helping out in a high-school English classroom. Each morning, the teacher assigns her students to work from a writing prompt and I decided to tackle those prompts myself. We had a free-writing prompt for Friday, July 12, so I wrote about a graphic memoir that I had read recently, Homebody by Theo Parish.

The Blackbird Girls, by Anne Blankman (eBook preview)

Presenting … First-chapter Friday, the eBook edition. July’s selection featured The Blackbird Girls, by Anne Blankman: Read via the Libby app, obtained through Sacramento Public Library.