Last book of 2017

You’d think I would end the year with a happy book. I didn’t, but The Marrow Thieves,  by Cherie Dimaline was really good.

Publisher’s Summary: Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden – but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

That description doesn’t really indicate the power of the writing. Main characters’ back stories are told in “coming to” chapters. Storytelling is woven in. And Dimaline creates a Canadian wilderness impacted by global warming that seems terrifyingly probable.

The book is full of loss and sacrifice, but the beautifully lyrical language of the book makes it worth reading.

Sting!

Last night I had the strangest dream. As often is the case with dreams, many details are fuzzy, but I remember the big ideas. I was stung by a bee on my lip on a family trip with my parents ( I seemed to be teenaged). My lip swelled, I needed medication, but I was about to get on a bus to go somewhere without my family.

Where do these things come from?

Regardless of the origin or details, when I woke up I thought about books in which insect stings play a significant role.

First, there is A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith. A short classic, it tells the story of a friendship that is interrupted when one of the boys dies from a bee sting.

An allergy to stinging insects runs through the four books of Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle series. The first book opens with a prediction of  Gansey’s death. We learn later of his allergy to wasps, which weaves itself through the four books

In Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything the main character, Madeline, is allergic to nearly everything and must live inside a carefully sealed environment.

Serious allergies are no joking matter. We had a boy with a severe peanut allergy last year and we needed to take precautions at every celebration. There are nut free tables in school cafeterias. I recall visiting a school several ago that had songs posted all over the halls, reminding staff and students that the school was citrus free due to a severe allergy.

This leads me to one of my favorite movies of  1976.

We certainly took it seriously as we swooned over John Travolta, but, looking at it 40 years later, it seems awfully melodramatic.

Bad Dreams Get Better

Today is my last day of summer school. It has not been bad and I have learned a lot. Most importantly, I will never become an administrator and the people in the office deal with crazier stuff than I ever imagined. But that’s not the bad dream of the title.

Two nights ago I dreamt I was the MC for Queen. That was an awesome dream. You should have seen my rock & roll kicks around the microphone!

No, the bad dreams of today’s post are the real ones kids experience. But, fear not! Help is at hand.

The Sleepwalkers  by Viviane Schwarz, introduces us to a band of brave souls who face their own fears and rescue kids from the grips of nightmares. All a kid has to do is write a letter & slip it under their pillow. From the safe house, the team will monitor the dream and take action to help put the kid in control. It is a cool concept.

I must admit that I am not a really good judge of graphic novels. kids like things that don’t thrill me. With Sleepwalkers, I like the concept of the book much more than the finished product. but I think kids will like it a lot more than I did.