Same Page, by Elly Swartz

This book raises a lot of valuable points about the importance of offering diverse books that can serve a diverse readership.

One example is when Bess’s friend June dismissed the removal of books from the vending machine. June proposed a list of replacement books, and Bess pointed out the books June was proposing weren’t the same kinds of books as the books that were removed from the vending machine.

June asked Bess, “Why do you even care so much? I mean, most of the books that were pulled aren’t even about kids like us.”

Neuroqueer Heresies: Critiquing ‘tame autistics’

As an autistic and queer student and librarian, I’m interested in creating an Autistic Book Club. So I was intrigued by a statement in a related area, that of course curriculum, by Nick Walker, author of Neuroqueer Heresies. Walker stated that “At least 80% of the assigned readings should be by autistic authors” (pp. 405-406).

Walker went on to add, however, that works by “tame autistics” can’t count toward this percentage and should be approached with the “explicit intent” of critiquing these authors’ “internalized oppression” (p. 406).

Book haul : Friends of the Library sale, Fall 2024

There’s still time to visit Friends of the Santa Rosa Libraries’ Fall 2024 book sale: 2 to 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7 at the Veterans Building in Santa Rosa. I uncovered a lot of treasures at the latest sale, plus I know that proceeds benefit local branches of Sonoma County Library.
https://youtu.be/XIezNLkLlQ4

Book-Talk : Homebody, by Theo Parish

This is a graphic memoir of how the author, Theo Parish, came to understand and to comfortably inhabit their nonbinary identity. I really enjoyed this memoir, and I felt grateful for the representation and the visibility it provided me.
https://youtu.be/1OfOFrVTpgA

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.

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.

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

I adored this graphic memoir about a nonbinary person coming into their identity. Like the author, Theo Parish, I had to navigate arbitrary rules of gender, all while feeling like these expectations were inauthentic to me. 

Books like this offer much-needed representation for nonbinary individuals. At whatever age, we need to be able to find ourselves reflected in stories.

And as an autistic reader, I appreciate a note from the author's biography, that Parish is neurodivergent. While not specifically addressed in this memoir, our shared neurodivergence was one more reason for this book to strongly resonate with me.

Book-Talk : Somewhere Beyond the Sea, by TJ Klune

I obtained a four-chapter preview from NetGalley, for Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune. Four chapters in, and there is already so much to love about this sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea. There are such intense stakes so very skillfully conveyed, and such relevant parallels to our current society. I look forward to the book’s expected publication in September 2024.
https://youtu.be/XgAaLN5UGt8

Book-Talk : Paige Not Found, by Jen Wilde

During Autism Acceptance Month, April 2024, I am reading Paige Not Found by Jen Wilde. It features a protagonist who is autistic and nonbinary, who learns that a chip was planted in her brain without her consent. As a reader and librarian who is autistic and nonbinary, I feel visible through reading a book that features a main character who is so like me.
https://youtu.be/n0fWnuBqZu4

Book-Talk : Look on the Bright Side, by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann

Brit, Sasha, Christine, and Abby, those student activists from Go with the Flow, are facing new challenges in Look on the Bright Side. This time around, the girls’ romantic relationships take center stage as Sasha spends all her time with her new boyfriend, Brit is confronted with two very different suitors, and Christine and Abby are contending with their feelings for each other.
https://youtu.be/amcdIaNOUeI

Book-Talk : The Tea Dragon Festival, by Kay O’Neill

Kay O’Neill’s “Tea Dragon” graphic novels form one of my favorite series in cozy fantasy. The Tea Dragon Festival is second in the series, but earliest in the story timeline. It combines a sweet story with beautiful artwork.
https://youtu.be/l6BQH6vVnmE

Book-Talk : Go with the Flow

This graphic novel concerns four friends in high school and their experience around having their periods, an experience they share in common with 1.8 billion people around the world each month. It is the book that authors Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann wish they had growing up.

Book-Talk : Alebrijes by Donna Barba Higuera

In this companion book to The Last Cuentista, Earth has been a barren wasteland for 400 years. Thirteen-year-old pickpocket Leandro takes the fall when his sister Gabi steals a piece of fruit and, in punishment, Leandro’s consciousness is placed inside a small drone, an alebrije, and he is banished from the city of Pocatel. But beyond the walls of Pocatel lie other alebrijes, like Leandro, who seek for a better world. Out there too, lie mutant monsters, wasteland pirates, a hidden oasis, and the truth.

Goodreads to combat review-bombing

Goodreads, a “a prominent platform for book discovery,” is taking steps to combat review-bombing: a practice where people who haven’t even read a book, leave negative reviews for the book in an effort to drop its rating. This development is significant for efforts to promote greater diversity in publishing, because often “diverse” authors are the ones being targeted by review-bombing campaigns.

https://bookriot.com/goodreads-releases-statement-on-review-bombing/

Book-Talk : The Lost Library

In my latest video review: The Lost Library, by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass, was a quick read with an engaging mystery. It concerns the sudden appearance of a “little free library” on the Martinville town green. The “little free library” is filled with books that were returned to the public library on the day it burnt down 20 years ago. I admit that, inasmuch that I was caught up reading this story, I was very frustrated with the town of Martinville: In 20 years, why hadn’t anyone rebuilt the town’s public library?
https://youtu.be/p0QWNDlGhNg

Book-Talk : The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

In my latest Book-Talk: I found The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, by Andrew Joseph White, to be an intense Young Adult book of suspenseful and gothic horror. As an autistic reader, one of the things that fascinated me about this novel was the way that an autistic character is portrayed in a society in which no such diagnosis exists.
https://youtu.be/q_1jM9deMB0

Book-Talk : Green, by Alex Gino

Green, by Alex Gino, returns readers to the world of Jung Middle School and its Rainbow Spectrum Club, which is inhabited by those titular characters from two of Gino’s previous works, Melissa and Rick. In this latest novel, titular character Green helps advocate for gender-free casting in the school’s production of The Wizard of Oz, experiences physical changes to their maturing body, and navigates romantic feelings toward another student, Ronnie. The book will be published by Scholastic in October 2023.
https://youtu.be/MHNMp8Kke64