en-US Fri, 23 Aug 2024 15:25:44 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus8322010074 Fri, 23 Aug 2024 15:25:44 -0700 /review/show/2545952770 Ellen finished reading The Trail to Tincup: Love Stories at Life’s End by Joyce Lynnette Hocker
]]> ReadStatus8322009539 Fri, 23 Aug 2024 15:25:34 -0700 /review/show/2537878221 Ellen finished reading Circe by Madeline Miller
]]> ReadStatus8322009122 Fri, 23 Aug 2024 15:25:25 -0700 /review/show/2253473891 Ellen finished reading Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
]]> Review6735878954 Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:32:15 -0700 /review/show/6735878954 Ellen gave 5 stars to While You're Sleeping (Hardcover) by Mick Jackson
When we talk about Monday as being a "new work week," we exclude the one-third of the workforce who work Saturdays and/or Sundays. My sons worked weekends for many years. We became acutely aware of how much the M - F crowd takes for granted -- that first responders, hospital workers, restaurant and retail workers, transportation workers (airport/airline workers, bus drivers, gas stations, AAA, etc.), and other critical workers will be all on the job, day and night, when they're not. This book illuminates those workers for children Tucking a child into his snug, cozy bed is the opening for his parent to weave a story about all the people who will be working through the night while others sleep. Janitorial workers, bus and taxi drivers, street cleaners, delivery trucks, mail sorters, bakers, 24-hour cafes, firefighters, hospital workers—and new parents, and wildlife that comes alive at night. The story book ends charmingly with the night workers climbing into their own snug, cozy beds just as the child is waking up to greet his day.
]]> Review6735870788 Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:28:47 -0700 /review/show/6735870788 Ellen gave 5 stars to Up All Night (Paperback) by Martha Gies
When we talk about Monday as being a "new work week," we exclude the one-third of the workforce who work Saturdays and/or Sundays, serving those who work Monday-Friday. My sons worked Saturdays and Sundays for many years. We became acutely aware of how much the M - F crowd takes for granted -- that first responders, hospital workers, restaurant and retail workers, transportation workers (airport/airline workers, bus drivers, gas stations, AAA, etc.), and other critical workers will be all on the job when they're not. The same goes for graveyard workers--often overlooked and unappreciated. UP ALL NIGHT is “a fascinating collection of voices from the graveyard shift, showing us who’s out keeping the city going while the rest of us sleep.� Author Gies, an affirmed night owl and accomplished writer, tells the personal stories of an eye-opening array of night workers: industrial baker, flower wholesaler, shelter worker, zookeeper, nude dancer, tech support worker, radio deejay, newspaper distributor, pool hall worker, first responders, and more. How do people end up in these jobs? The human factor in this book is overwhelming, in a good way. It helped me see my city much more fully, more vibrantly, and that view has stayed with me for almost twenty years.
]]> Review6735862655 Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:25:20 -0700 /review/show/6735862655 Ellen gave 5 stars to To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights (Hardcover) by Angela Dalton
I watched as much Star Trek as anyone through my childhood and college years, but this book gobsmacked me. I had no idea what a powerhouse Nichols was before Star Trek, and even more so afterwards. I learned more in this four-minute read than any other four minutes all month. And it's a great two-fer for Black History Month and Women's History Month.

"In our century, we've learned to not fear words." ~Lt Uhura (Season 3)
]]> Review6735853772 Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:21:31 -0700 /review/show/6735853772 Ellen gave 5 stars to Something, Someday (Hardcover) by Amanda Gorman
This was my personal Children’s Book of the Year for 2023. Amanda Gorman, the brilliant young poet who gave us the unforgettable The Hill We Climb in 2021, has worked her magic in a powerful call to action for children to follow their instincts to be the agents of social change.

When a child confronts urban blight, homelessness, the aged and disabled, the answer he gets from adults is to look the other way:

“You are told this cannot be fixed, but you know you can help.
You’re told this won’t work, but how will you know if you never try.�

One line at a time, Gorman walks the child through the difficult emotions or fear, confusion, and anger—and then on to hope, determination, building community . . .
�. . . until you are no longer beginning. You are winning.�

This deeply affecting book is a contemporary child’s embodiment of the Margaret Mead quote I have lived by all my life: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.�

My thirty-something son read it and declared, as he often does about children’s books, “This is great. Adults should read it.�

]]> Review6735410679 Tue, 06 Aug 2024 12:31:20 -0700 /review/show/6735410679 Ellen gave 5 stars to Each Kindness (Hardcover) by Jacqueline Woodson
You may know Jacqueline Woodson for her many books for children and adults, including the Newbery Medal winner Brown Girl Dreaming, and other award winners too numerous to name here. In the profound and poetic Each Kindness, a child learns the devastating price of passing up opportunities for kindness. Its message, that the regret of having wronged someone is not easily undone, transcends all ages. The story may leave you and your child aching for the main character, but also knowing that it’s a necessary ache, and one we can avoid by choosing kindness. ]]> Review6735402696 Tue, 06 Aug 2024 12:28:23 -0700 /review/show/6735402696 Ellen gave 5 stars to A River for Gemma (Kindle Edition) by Debra Whiting Alexander
A River for Gemma brings us an unconventionally bright and daring heroine to challenge our ingrained perspectives on disability and capability, and her equally unusual and somewhat mysterious grandmother to challenge our stereotypes of female aging. The juxtapositions in the book and the tensions they create are exquisite. We’re constantly asked to question the difference between “hard� and “easy� and “normal.� The characters don’t behave in typical or expected ways that seem preposterous at first but end up being quite believable. The universality of things that connect all of us as humans comes through vibrantly—the urge for parenthood and the resistance against being denied it, the right of everyone to experience love and sexuality, and the rejection of the idea that a certain level of intellect is necessary to experience love, enjoy our sexuality, and be competent parents.

A much-needed story for our times, compassionate and well-told.

]]> Review6735398403 Tue, 06 Aug 2024 12:26:51 -0700 /review/show/6735398403 Ellen gave 4 stars to A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream (Hardcover) by Kristy Dempsey
Lovely in every way. A young girl in 1950s Harlem, where "factories spilling out pillars of smoke and streetlights spreading bright halos make it hard to find a star and even harder to make a wish," nonetheless dreams of becoming a ballet dancer, and finds her inspiration in Janet Collins, our first Black prima ballerina. Lyrical but believable, with illustrations you want to linger over.

Thank you to author Kristy Dempsey and artist Floyd Cooper for such a beautiful collaboration.

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