Our kids’ spring break is coming up, and our family will be taking off for a week, starting on March 20th. I don’t really expect much time lounging around reading (it’s a road trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, AZ; with various overnight stops both ways). Even though spring break doesn’t start until 12 more days (yes, I’m counting!), I’m already thinking of what to bring with me to read. I’d like to bring four books with me. I’ve decided I’ll limit my choices to books already in my TBR pile — no new purchases. Also, to help them be travel-friendly, they will all be trade paperbacks, rather than hardcovers. And, of course, not too thick.
Help me decide which four books I should bring!
Here is what I’m considering, with a brief description of each:
“Government Girl”, by Stacy Parker Aab. A memoir of a young and female intern during the Clinton White House years. This book was a win from a give-away hosted by Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit.
“Emotional Geology”, a novel by Linda Gillard. A book written by a British author and published by a British company, this book is about Rose, who is trying to escape her life by staying in a home by the sea. But, will her new life be for the better? I also won this from a give-away, hosted by Jill at Rhapsody in Books.
“A Reliable Wife”, a novel by Robert Goolrick has been generating buzz around the book blogosphere. You probably know it’s about a man who marries a mail-order bride, and then things are not what they really seem of either one of them. Purchased (I think through qpb.com).
“Salt and Saffron”, a novel by Kamila Shamsie. Described on the back cover as “A beautiful novel detailing the life and loves of a Pakistani girl living in the United States….Aliya is prey to the legends of her family that stretch back to the days of Timur Lane. Aristocratic and eccentric, the clan has plenty of stories to tell, and secrets to hide”. It also seems to have quite a few descriptions of food. Caught my eye at the local used bookstore; purchased.
“The Lady and the Panda” by Vicki Constantine Croke. This is a biography of Ruth Harkness, who was a 1930s socialite and dress designer when she went on an expedition to China and returned home with a baby panda (whether it ended up in a zoo or as a pet, I don’t know). This seemed interesting when I picked it up at the used bookstore a while ago.
“Riding With the Queen” , a novel by Jennie Shortridge. An aspiring musician who never made it big, Tallie Beck finds it necessary to return home and deal with unresolved relationships with her mother and sister. This has been in my TBR for a long time, so I don’t remember the source, but definitely purchased.
“I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away”, memoir by Bill Bryson. The title is self-descriptory. I’ve read Bill Bryson before, so I know this one will probably make me laugh at times. Purchased for 25 cents from our local library sale shelf.
”Rabbit Redux” by John Updike. The second novel in the Rabbit Angstrom series. I read “Rabbit, Run” last fall, and I would like to continue reading the series. Purchased.
OK, I think I’ll stop here. Any thoughts on what books I should take with me on spring break?
Not too long ago, at the library, I happened across “The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are” by Danny Gregory. I liked this book so much that I almost immediately ordered this title and two other of his books: “Everyday Matters: A Memoir”, and “An Illustrated Life: drawing inspiration from the private sketchbooks of artists, illustrators and designers“. These books are just three of several books by Danny Gregory. The first two I mention are classified as “self-help/inspiration” – but if that is what they are, they are not the typical self-help books that most people imagine self-help books to be.
These books appealed to me; but not just because I have an artistic streak. Most books about creativity and “being artistic” don’t hold my interest very long. A good instance is “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. I’ve tried more than once to get into that book and the exercises she suggests; and just never could. Danny Gregory seems to speak to me directly. Maybe it’s a matter of his being in the right place at the right time for me. Maybe it’s because he presents his thoughts and suggestions in a visual, graphic way. Or, all of the above!
Let’s look at each book individually; not in the order that I read them, but rather, when they were published.
“Everyday Matters: A Memoir” is the shortest one of the three. Published in 2003, this is a graphic memoir.
I don’t usually quote back-cover blurbs, but I will for “Everyday Matters” :
“Danny Gregory and his wife, Patti, were in love. Their baby, Jack was ten months old; life was pretty swell. And then Patti fell under a subway train and was paralyzed from the waist down.
In a world where nothing seemed to have much meaning, Danny decided to teach himself to draw, and what he learned stunned him. Suddenly things had color again, and value. The result is Everyday Matters, his journal of discovery, recovery, and daily life in New York City. It is a funny, insightful, and surprising as life itself”.
Here is an inside spread:
In this graphic memoir, Danny Gregory does not just cover his own life, but also has encouraging words for those who think they can not draw or are not artistic.
With “The Creative License”, Gregory expands further on letting ourselves be more creative.
While his focus is mostly on drawing rather than other artistic endeavors, this is still an inspiring book for anyone who might be artistically inclined. He occassionally uses driving a car, or car-guy speak, as metaphors for being creative. For example:
“What if we treated driving like we treat the arts? We’d assume that people were either born to drive or not. We’d wait and see if, as children, they started driving on their own, if they had talent and a calling. If they did, we would be careful not to interfere with their talent and possibly suppress it. We would make sure to encourage only those who seemed they’d be able to drive professionally. We’d pay some of them millions of dollars to drive and lavish them with fame; others we would refuse to support, encouraging them to do something more useful for society. Everyone else would assume that they would never be able to drive and would just stand on the sidewalks and watch the traffic. At least the ozone layer would be in better shape”.
Here is a photograph of the page I just quoted:
I found so many quotable phrases in this book. All I can say is that you should read this book for yourself!
Finally, “An Illustrated Life: drawing inspiration from the private sketchbooks of artists, illustrators and designers” is a chance to peek into several sketchbooks and visual journals of 50 different artists. Probably the best known of these would be R. Crumb.
I loved looking at each artist’s various sketchbook pages and reading each one’s thoughts on what drawing or visual journaling means to them. Many mentioned what kind of supplies they prefer; and it was interesting that there were differing opinions. Some don’t mind the cheap, ubiquitous black sketchbooks; others are very particular and hand-bind their own sketchbooks with papers they prefer. One small complaint I have with this book was that several sketchbook pages would be squeezed into each spread; which sometimes made it difficult to read any journaling text. Here is a photograph of part of a spread from this book (the artist is Melanie Ford Wilson):
At a total of 266 pages and with such a variety of artists (both male and female), there is much to look at and ponder with this book. I really appreciated the differing styles presented here. Additionally, each featured artist has websites included in this book; and I know I will be going back to look at several of their websites.
You don’t need to feel like you are an artist to read and enjoy these books. Even if you simply appreciate art (and especially if you enjoy graphic novels and similar formats) and don’t actively participate in art-making, I bet you would like these books. Don’t be surprised, though, if it inspires you to give drawing a try!
Although my art work is with fabrics, I have no formal drawing background. I do draw out preliminary ideas for my designs, but I don’t draw for the sake of drawing. I’ve wanted to do more drawing, and these books really inspired me. So much so that I went out and bought a small sketchbook and pens from an art supply store. Last night, I asked my older son to model for me for a simple drawing. I have a long way to go with my drawing skills (for example, although he does have facial hair, my depiction of it here makes him look scruffier than he really is), but I’ll go ahead and share it here with you all:
Do you think you would be interested in reading any of these three books by Danny Gregory? Do you feel like you are creative? If so, in what way?
Disclosure: As mentioned, I purchased all three of these books (through amazon.com).
Before I start discussing “Mornings in Jenin” by Susan Abulhawa, I would like to point you towards an excellent review by Aarti at BookLust. The resulting comment thread on her review is interesting, too. In fact, my thoughts regarding this book are similiar to hers, so I apologize if some points I make here will seem somewhat redundant.
Many years ago, when I was in high school in the 1980s, I had a few international pen-pals courtesy of some kind of pen-pal program. They came from various countries, such as Jamaica and Zimbabwe, but the only one that continued corresponding past a few exchanged letters was a Palestinian boy whose family was then living in Jordan. He mentioned a few tragedies in his letters, but for the most part our correspondence was the typical teenager stuff: what we did with our friends, music we liked, and so on. This went on for a few years until “real life” hit — college and so on; and we lost touch. Fast forward several years later, when a couple years ago he found me again through facebook. He’s doing well — his parents still live in Jordan but he and his family now live in the UAE. He and his parents are just a few of the millions of Palestinians that have left since the state of Israel was formed. However, there are still many Palestinians left behind, many still living in refugee camps in either the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
So, anyway, with that as a background, and especially when I attended a talk a few years ago by Naomi Shihab Nye (my story about her autographing a book for me is here) where part of her talk was about the fate of Palestinians, their story has been somewhat on my radar — but it is so rarely covered in the Western press and media.
“Mornings in Jenin” is a novel by Susan Abulhawa that clearly attempts to show the Palestinian side of the story since trouble began in 1948 when Britain abandoned their mandate of Palestine and allowed the Jewish State of Israel to be formed. Originally published as “Scar of David” by a small press, it was recently picked up by Bloomsbury and republished as “Mornings in Jenin”. Abulhawa is also the founder of Playgrounds for Palestine.
“Mornings in Jenin” is basically the story of Amal Abulheja, who was born in a refugee camp because her family was driven away from their village when the state of Israel was formed. As the villagers were fleeing, one of her brothers was kidnapped by an Israeli soldier and raised as a Jew. This is only one of many, many tragedies throughout the book. As Amal grows up, she sees her father disappear at the hands of the Israelites, and her mother escape to a world of her own in her mind. More bad things happen to friends and family. Amal manages to get a scholarship to a college in Pennsylvania, but her roots in Palestine are too deep and she goes back more than once — only to face even more tragedies. Amal’s saga continues to the present day.
It should be obvious that this book is an emotional one. As a whole, the Israelis are seen as bad — bad politicians, and many bad soldiers. However, there are individual Israelis that are sympathetic characters. One of them is the best friend of Amal’s father; they were friends since childhood.
One confusing aspect of this book (Aarti noted this also) was that sometimes the point-of-view in this novel would change abruptly and it would take me a moment to realize who was now narrating. It would also sometimes change from first-person to third-person narrative without warning. This novel works best with its descriptions of life and the mindset of the characters, and also the conversations between the characters are compelling.
Here is an example of how the Palestinian mindset is described:
“Toughness found fertile soil in the hearts of Palestinians, and the grains of resistance embedded themselves in their skin. Endurance evolved as a hallmark of refugee society. But the price they paid was the subduing of tender vulnerability. They learned to celebrate martyrdom. Only martyrdom offered freedom. Only in death were they at last invulnerable to Israel. Martyrdom became the ultimate defiance of Israeli occupation. “Never let them know they hurt you” was their creed.”
Later, when Amal’s niece is born:
“I placed my niece at her sleeping mother’s breast and watched my brother, turgid with affection, look back and forth from his wife and to his newborn daughter. In that refugee camp, which Israel would label a “breeding ground of terrorists” and a “festering den of terror,” I bore witness to a love that dwarfed immensity itself.”
Yes, this book is one-sided towards the Palestinians. Remember that the author is Palestinian herself. I agree with Aarti at BookLust that it would be interesting to read a novel from the Jewish point of view. And, like Aarti, I also feel compelled to state that being concerned about the plight of Palestinians should not indicate anti-Semitism. I know many, many good-hearted Jewish people. I think all human beings, regardless of religion, need to come together — but unfortunately governments often stand in the way.
If you have any thoughts – or recommendations on further reading regarding either side in novel form, that is– I would love to hear them. I have read several non-fiction regarding these issues. “The Middle East” by Fellure and Thornton, available at BandN.com , is a good place to start because it is easy to follow.
Disclosure: “Mornings in Jenin” was sent to me for review (through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program).
FreeVerse is hosted every Wednesday by Cara at Ooh…Books!
The poem I’m going to feature today is “Ars Poetica” by Archibald MacLeish. When my artist trading card (ATC) group had “poetry” as a theme for our December 2009 meeting, I chose this poem as the basis of the design for my card. I had a lot of fun making these cards! I printed the poem out on paper, then folded them and put them in a pocket inside the trading cards.
Can you see the elements I’ve chosen from this poem in my trading card’s design?
First, the pictures, then the poem.
The front of the ATC (sorry the pics are dark!):
The inside of the ATC:
The poem:
Ars Poetica
By Archibald MacLeish, 1926
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown—
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind—
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.
A poem should be equal to:
Not true.
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—
Disclosure: A while back, I won a copy of “Cleopatra’s Daughter” by Michelle Moran — from a give-a-way hosted by Chris at Book-a-Rama. My copy was personally autographed by the author, which was nice!
I have previously read and enjoyed “Nefertiti”, also by Michelle Moran (my thoughts here). Also, having read the history of ”Cleopatra and Antony” by Diana Preston (review here), it shouldn’t be a surprise that I liked “Cleopatra’s Daughter”.
As I understand it, “Cleopatra’s Daughter” is geared towards Young Adults (YA) as well as adult readers. It can be difficult sometimes to successfully pull this off, but I think Michelle Moran did a good job doing so.
When Egypt is over taken by Octavian and his Roman army, both Cleopatra and Antony commit suicide, leaving their twin son and daughter to survive in the long term. The ten-year-old twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios, are captured and brought to Rome. Known as Selene and Alexander, this book is a re-telling of their life stories in a historical fiction manner.
Told through the point of view of Selene, this novel covers the next six years of Selene’s and Alexander’s lives; and includes many historical characters. The twins stay with Octavia, Octavian’s sister, and becomes friends with characters such as Julia and Marcellus. It’s complicated to explain who is who here. Fortunately, the book has a list of characters to refer to when I occasionally got confused at the beginning.
Some issues are dealt with sensitively here — such as slavery in ancient Rome; homosexuality is also touched upon. There is a scene in the book where one of Selene’s friends must give up her new-born daughter simply because it was a girl — underscoring the second-class status women had then (and still have in some parts of the world).
In real life, Selene eventually married Juba of Numidia, so Juba is a main character in this novel as well; as an important aide to Octavian. I enjoyed reading how their friendship developed throughout this story.
I tried to find portraits of both Selene and Juba, but the only images I found of Selene were on coins. Here is a bust of Juba II of Numidia (later, King of Mauretania):
In this novel, Selene has an interest in architecture and studies under Vitruvius, an engineer and architect. I appreciate reading depictions that make me feel like I’m actually there, such as this one of the Sea Palace:
“It was magnificent. Heavy wooden shelves from ceiling to floor were crammed with scrolls. Seabirds had been carved into the wood of the ceiling and beautiful urns filled the niches. Vitruvius explained how the shelves had been built, then took us through the triclinium and the guest chambers, pointing out small features like fluted columns and barrel-vaulted spaces painted in sea green and gold. Every room we entered was richly furnished. ”
“Cleopatra’s Daughter” is very good historical fiction, with realistically depicted characters and a storyline that moves along well and seamlessly. I enjoyed it, and now just need to read “The Heretic Queen” , the second of Michelle Moran’s novels.
Have you read anything of Michelle Moran’s, or any good historical ficiton lately? How about anything regarding ancient Rome or Egypt?
And, finally, for fun, here is the book trailer for “Cleopatra’s Daughter”. The you tube URL is here in case you cannot see the embedded video.
My dog Winston looks like a bearskin rug, in this picture, doesn’t he? The way he looks in this picture is sort of how I feel today – waiting for warm weather to come. We’re lucky that it is sunny here in Colorado most of the time, which helps make winter more bearable, but I want to wear shorts! I want to start hanging out at the pool!
Meanwhile, while I wait for warm weather to pull me outside more often, today I’ve found some sites I thought I’d share.
“ Make your main character do something……When you hear someone complain that “nothing happens” in a work of fiction, it’s often because the central character doesn’t drive the action.
The components of a novel that readers care about most are, in order: story, characters, theme, atmosphere/setting.”
Read the article (it’s not too long), come back and let me know what you think!
Many of us have heard about Alice Munro’s “Too Much Happiness”, but may not yet have had a chance to read the book. You can read – for free – her short story “Fiction” , in installments through DailyLit. Today I received the second installment. I have mentioned DailyLit on my blog a few times before, and am currently subscribed to daily e-mails of Emily Dickinson’s poetry.
Finally, one more thought for today. I’m seriously considering finally jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. I’ve heard both pros and cons, but do those of you who are ‘twitterers” feel that the pros far outweigh the cons?
Have a good day, and hope that you are seeing signs of spring where you are. I think, right now, for most of us, the only sign of spring is noticing that February is almost over already!
Whether you are a regular reader of my blog, or have been visiting because of your interest in Josh Berk and his novel, “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin”, welcome back!
And today…..Josh Berk interviews me. Not only do you get to learn a little more about me, you get more of an idea of what “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin” is all about!
Josh: You mentioned (in your review) that a lot of your deaf friends had a sense of humor like Will. I found a lot of mentions of the “deaf sense of humor” in my research and I tried very hard to include that in the book. Hearing people might not know much about the rich humor in the deaf world. Can you tell me more about your funny deaf friends? Any good jokes come to mind?
Valerie: Josh, you may have found that deaf humor is often very earthy. It made me smile when Will and Devon would banter with each other in this way. When humor is done in sign language, it is often with visual puns (and therefore, not surprisingly, difficult to translate to written language). Many of my deaf friends will come up with very funny visual comments.
For example, one time a group of us were discussing the sign for the word “beautiful”. This is done by sort of brushing your face in a circular manner. Well, one of my (male) deaf friends said, “No. The sign for beautiful should be this. (pantomimes a large-breasted woman)”
Josh: When my library added computers for the first time (over ten years ago – before everyone had internet in their house), I noticed a lot of deaf library patrons among the early adopters of the new technology. Then in a few years everyone was online. It struck me as interesting, how this rise of this new technology (chatting, email, texting, etc.) suddenly made communicating non-verbally a norm! This influenced my desire to have Will be computer-savvy and I’m wondering what your thoughts are about this. Do you think that the rise of computer communication has made it easier to be a young deaf person today? Brought the deaf world and the hearing world closer together? Or not so much?
Valerie: Deaf people absolutely love technology and often will be the first to rush out to get the latest technology. It definitely makes many things easier for us, including young deaf people. I heart my iPhone, for example! Obviously, I don’t use the phone part of it, but the rest of the features are fantastic. It is so convenient for my husband and kids to text me from their (ordinary) cell phones. Computers and internet technology have really opened up other methods of communication for us. Fro example, there are many deaf vloggers (video bloggers) out there, as you know, Josh. It seemed very natural for me that Will is computer savvy; with the novel taking place in today’s day and age, I would have been surprised if he had not been.
When I was in high school (before the era of cell phones and home computers), my hearing friends had to call the house and talk with someone else, usually my sister, because back then relay services were practically non-existent. I hated it when a boy would end up chatting with my sister, and her not telling me what they were talking about. I know that today the boy and I would probably be texting each other instead, or instant-messaging. We tend to only use relay services now when we need to order a pizza or talk with businesses. Deaf people used to use TTYs to talk with each other, now we use videophones; but we use all the technological means that are available to us to communicate.
As for technology bringing both the deaf and hearing worlds together; maybe more so now, but not completely, yet. There is still some work that needs to be done — for example, all movies in all movie theaters should be captioned all the time. Technologically, it can be done, but many non-technological obstacles are still present.
Josh: Were there books with deaf heroes you enjoyed growing up? Are there recent ones you can recommend?
Valerie: If there were any novels with deaf characters in them, I did not know about them when I was growing up. There are definitely more of these books today, but not very many. Most books about deaf people tend to be non-fiction, and usually written from the point of view of a person who had deaf parents, or are observations on deaf culture. I think one non-fiction book that both adults and young adults would enjoy reading would be “Hands of My Father” by Myron Uhlberg, which was released a little more than a year ago.
T.C. Boyle wrote a good novel, “Talk Talk” a couple years ago, with a deaf protagonist, but it is not an Young Adult novel.
Josh: I hope my book speaks to young deaf readers, in part because being deaf is only part of Will’s story. He fights with his parents, worries about being cool, bickers with his friends, crushes on girls, and so on. This might be a silly question, but do you think it’s valid to say that deaf kids want more or less the same things any other kid wants?
Valerie: I would say deaf kids are just like hearing kids, except that they can’t hear. I think your novel definitely shows Will in this light. As you say, he experiences many of the same things that hearing kids do, too.
Josh: I admit that I felt a bit daunted writing about a world I’m not part of. I was sometimes fearful that deaf readers would be annoyed that a hearing person would even try to write a story like this. Was it presumptuous of me? Or cool that I tried?
Valerie: I think it’s great, and cool, that you did this book! The fact that you did research and included the information here and there throughout the book — while making it a fun read — should be much appreciated.
I hope you have enjoyed the past few days here with Josh Berk! Now, go out and get a copy of “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin” to read!
By now, I hope you have read the review I put up yesterday of Josh Berk’s book, “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin” . When Josh and I were talking about doing an interview for this blog, he and his publicist came up with the great idea of the two of us interviewing each other, rather than just having me asking him the questions!
So, here we go! I’m sure this interview format will interest you even more in Josh’s new book, “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin”.
Let’s start with me asking Josh all the questions!
Valerie: This is your first published novel. While writing this book, did you know you would have a deaf character from the very beginning; or was this something that you came up with later?
Josh: The idea of the plot and the deaf narrator pretty much came together as a package deal for me. I dreamt up a brief scene where a kid was watching some other students on a school bus, reading their lips, trying to find clues to a mystery. And from that one small scene, the story and character of Hamburger Halpin unfolded together. I can’t imagine telling this story without Will in it! Will immediately became like a real person to me when I started writing and it was just my job as an author to get out of the way and let him roll.
Valerie: How did you do that? How does an author let a character speak to him/her?
Josh: This is hard for me to answer, and nearly impossible to answer without sounding like a crazy person. All I can say is that sometimes I’ll be slogging away at a writing project, trying to think of what happens next, what the character might say, and so on. And sometimes the character sets off a spark that makes it easy. They seem like a real person. It’s not quite like I just sit down without thinking and the words flow, but it is sort of like there is a voice of someone else in my head with a story to tell. Will was definitely a character like that. I’m not sure when it happened, or how, but Will just seemed to be like a friend in my mind and it was easy to imagine what he might say or do in different situations. I told you it sounds a bit crazy!
Valerie: Will Halpin is a high schooler. Were there any deaf students at the high school you attended?
Josh: There were not deaf students at my high school, but I did go to elementary school with some deaf students. Will is very loosely based on a deaf boy who was at my elementary school. I remember him very vividly. He was a cool kid and definitely the best kickball player in the school.
Valerie: You seem to have a good grasp of what the “deaf world” is like. How did you obtain this knowledge?
Josh: I greatly enjoyed researching the deaf world. I read books, watched documentaries, and spent a bunch of time on some websites where deaf people hang out. I also had a few deaf readers look at the book in various early stages. They were able to point out errors, suggest refinements, and just chat with me about their lives. It was one of the most fun parts of writing the book! I still don’t feel like an expert, but I’m continuing to learn.
Valerie: Which character in this book do you feel you have most in common with?
Josh: There is definitely a lot of me in Will. A surface description of the two of us might not look very similar, but our cores are the same. There are a lot of reasons why a person can grow up feeling like an outsider and a lot of us outsider-types become sarcastic and use humor to deal with life being occasionally rotten. Several people who read the book and know me have told me that they hear my voice in their head as they read Will’s words. I didn’t think it was quite me when I was writing as Will, but I supposed a lot of me ended up in there!
Also I feel like pointing out that I’m not really very much like Devon Smiley, despite the fact that I do have a fondness for proper grammar.
Valerie: Have you started your next book; and if so, what is it about? Do you plan to continue to write for a YA audience?
Josh: My next book, slated for publication in summer 2011, is another YA mystery with a lot of humor in it. It’s not a sequel and the narrator isn’t very much like Will in any way. It’s a whole different cast of characters, but I think that readers who liked Hamburger Halpin will find a lot to enjoy! Put it on your 2011 calendar. What? They don’t make those yet? Well, just remember.
Valerie: Well, my iPhone has a calendar that goes several years beyond (so the Mayan prediction of 2012 must not be true, right?). I’ll put it there, and I’m looking forward to summer 2011!
Valerie: Anything else you’d like us to know?
Josh: I just want to say thanks for having me!
Valerie: And, thank you Josh, for being willing to do this. I look forward to tomorrow, when you turn the tables and interview me!
Remember, come back tomorrow for the next part of our interviewing each other. I think that not only will you get to know me a little bit more thanks to Josh; but that some parts will provide more insight into his book “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin”; and how a deaf person like myself would relate to this story. See you tomorrow!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin”, by Josh Berk. This book, recently released earlier this month, is a YA (Young Adult) book. When I learned that “The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin” features a deaf teenager as the main character, I knew I wanted to read it!
Will Halpin, the first-person narrator of this book, decides to leave the deaf school he has always attended to escape deaf politics (more on that later). This novel begins with his first day of school at the local high school, where he is mainstreamed as the only deaf student. Quickly finding himself as an outsider (not only is he deaf, he is also overweight), Will’s only friend at school is pony-tailed Devon Smiley who has a penchant for nerdily accurate grammar. Will and Devon communicate with each other via finger-spelling (this is mostly all Devon knows, while Will himself is fluent in sign language), writing notes, and much instant-messaging between each other. In fact, the novel’s title comes from Will’s screen name, HamburgerHalpin.
Don’t assume that this is a “problem novel”. Although Will and his friend Devon both often have to face derision by most of their classmates and some of their teachers, there is no long, deep throes of self-pity. Will never hesistates to call it as he sees it, and much of this novel reflects his biting humor.
When a classmate is murdered, Will and Devon decide to figure out who did it, and give each other code names based on Hardy Boys characters. They also bring in Will’s ex-girlfriend-but-still-a-friend, Ebony, to help. This “Odd Squad” work together, facing lots of close calls, to finally solve the mystery.
There was a lot I liked about this book. The humor was one thing. Will talks about his experiences being deaf, but without either angry diatribes or overly technical talk; both of which might lose the interest of an YA reader. The characters (mostly high school students) are ones we all know, or knew, in high school: the jocks, the representatives of the popular crowd, the kids on the sidelines.
Of course, being deaf myself, I paid extra close attention to all the references regarding deafness and deaf culture. In my opinion, author Josh Berk has really done his homework, and passes the test. Will Halpin straddles both the “deaf world” and “hearing world”, as I do; so in that way I can identify with him. I was not the only deaf student when I attended high school — there was an average of 40 deaf students at the time I attended a regular-sized “hearing” high school. Still, we never really had hearing friends that wanted to hang out with us, and so we hung out together in our spare time.
Will Halpin refers to deaf politics at the deaf school he previously attended (incidentally, Will lives in Eastern Pennsylvania; the setting for this story). Will did not want to take part of the “us versus them” thinking at the deaf school, but was transferring to a mainstreamed school really a better alternative?
I must say again that I really enjoyed the humor in this book. While I’m not as funny as Will, I have some deaf friends who share the same type of humor as he does; and reading this book sort of brought me back into high school memories. To give you an idea of Will’s tone of voice– and examples of how Will explains deaf culture and deafness — I will pull some quotes from the book.
While Will is sitting in the cafeteria, trying to understand anything, or anyone, around him:
“It can be really overwhelming for a lip-reader to be in such a hive-like atmosphere. See, I can’t turn off my ability to read lips, so it is like “hearing” a thousand conversations at once…..
……It’s like watching TV while someone else works the remote. No, better yet: imagine yourself sitting in a room with with a hundred TVs turned up loud while you whirl around on a Sit & Spin at a dizzying speed, trying to follow the plot. The only way not to totally lose my head is to intently focus on one person and — here’s the trick — not get caught. Most folks aren’t too keen on having a big deaf fatty eyeballing them. I’d love to be wrong about this, but it is unlikely”.
About his ex-girlfriend Ebony and deaf politics:
“Ebony is a lot like me. At first glance you might not think so, since she’s black and really cute, and I’m, well, not. But we both grew up with “problems with our ears” but could hear somewhat for most of our early lives. (That’s how come I can read lips and write so well.) But Ebony is sort of a political deaf person who agrees with a lot of “prelingually” deaf people. These people usually have sign language as a first language and sometimes don’t learn English at all. (And, yes, sign language is a totally different language from English with its own grammar and everything. Technically, I’m bilingual, which is cool.) …”
Will says that he does have a lot in common with deaf people with opinions like Ebony’s, but he adds “but with me that’s not part of some grand political stance”.
Mainstreaming for deaf students have increasingly become more common in the recent past. Many deaf schools have faced dwindling attendance (some have even had to close) – in addition to mainstreaming, another reason is a continuous decline of childhood deafness. Therefore, I would think that most of today’s hearing-impaired adolescents will be able to identify to some degree with Will. However, I hope that most adolescents will read this book; deaf or not. I strongly recommend that school and city libraries add this book to their collections.
I think my only complaint with this book is that I wish Ebony’s character figured more into the story. She doesn’t really appear until the last third of the book. Overall, I feel this is an excellent read.
I’ve had a few e-mail conversations with Josh Berk, and he has willingly agreed to do a Q & A with me….check back tomorrow for the post where we interview each other!
Disclosure: ”The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin” was sent to me for review. By the way, thanks to my friend Jody Sparks for telling me about Josh Berk and his (at that time, not yet published) book. You’ve got to see his Self-Depreciating Sunday post at Jody’s blog.
She Reads and Reads often finds look-alike covers and presents them on her blog. Look through her blog and you’ll see what I mean.
I just encountered my own find (it’s possible this has already been mentioned; if so I don’t know about it).
At the library the other day, I checked out this book, “The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control” by Ted Striphas.
When I picked this up, I thought, hmm, haven’t I heard about this book before (possibly from at least one book blogger) ? Nope, wrong book. The one I had in mind is actually this one:
This book is: “Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life” by Michael Greenberg.
While the arrangement of pages on on each cover aren’t exactly the same, they’re very similar, along with having a dark background and similar fonts.
“The Late Age of Print”, the copy I actually have, is about the changes in book publishing and book culture over the last several years. I started reading the introduction the other night, but was in bed and sleepy, so have not gotten very far.
Have you noticed any similar covers yourself? If so, I bet She Reads and Reads would like to know about it, too!
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