‘The Eleventh Trade’ by Alyssa Hollingsworth

When Sami and his baba (grandfather) escaped to America from Afghanistan, the only possession from home that they managed to bring with them was Baba’s rebab, a traditional Afghan instrument.

Baba, who was a renowned musician back in Afghanistan, makes his living playing the rebab in the subway to earn tips from rush-hour Bostonians — but one day, someone steals the rebab, snatches it right out of Sami’s arms.

Sami feels responsible for costing Baba his only livelihood, as well as losing the only thing they had that reminded them of home.

Sami tracks the rebab to a pawnshop and makes a bargain with the owner: give him 28 days to come up with $700 in order to redeem the instrument. But the only thing Sami has of value is a Manchester United keychain. Would it be possible for Sami to trade-up items in order to reach his goal?

‘Del Toro Moon’ by Darby Karchut

Four centuries ago, Santiago Del Toro, his brother-knights and their warhorses arrived in the New World with a special mandate from the monarch of Spain: to contain an ancient evil inside enchanted coffers and keep that evil from escaping.

Del Toro and his brother-knights were accompanied by their Andalusian warhorses and magic-enhanced maces - effective weapons against the monsters.

The coffers were hidden throughout the New World — each guarded by a knight and then, in-turn, by that knight’s descendents.

For 500 years, generations of Del Toros have continued this quest — safeguarding a coffer hidden in the El Laberinto Wilderness Area near Huerfano, Colorado.

‘Shelfie’ for National Booklovers’ Day

In honor of National Booklovers’ Day on Aug. 9, 2018, Sonoma County Library​ asked people to post “shelfies,” that is, pictures of their bookshelves. Here’s a section from my family’s home library (which I organize according to the Dewey Decimal System). What else is Dewey good for? I also use the classification with my blog-post subject tags.

CalPoets relocates to Santa Rosa

Here’s a potentially exciting development in the realm of poetry in Sonoma County classrooms: California Poets in the Schools, a statewide literary nonprofit, has relocated to Santa Rosa.​ ​(Source: Press Democrat, Aug. 2, 2018.)

I am most familiar with this organization through the Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest. CalPoets co-sponsors Poetry Out Loud, with the California Arts Council.

(As former newspaper arts editor and volunteer-producer of an Arts Council newsletter, I used to follow and report on Poetry Out Loud in Lake County, California.)

High-school students memorize and recite a famous poem, beginning at the school-wide level. Doing so helps them to “master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life,” according to the Poetry Out Loud website.

Local winners advance to regional/state competition and then to the national finals.

Within Sonoma County, according to the Press Democrat, “CalPoets reaches nearly 30 schools and 4,000 K-12 students, and within the state it reaches about 28,000 youth.

“With the move to Santa Rosa, CalPoets plans to extend its reach, with more poets in schools, more poetry booths at art festivals, and poetry in parks and parking lots.”

Children need to ‘see themselves’ in stories

Three children’s book authors recently shared their perspectives on not being able to see people like themselves as a story’s main character. The piece’s author, Colleen R. Lee, shares an incident with a customer that underscored, for her, “how important diversity in literature is for children.” (Via Knowledge Quest, American Association of School Librarians)