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#SundaySixStack

Kindred
History

Kindred

March
March
March
History

March

  • Persepolis is a graphic memoir of a young girl growing up in 1970s Iran during the Islamic Revolution. “In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.” (Amazon) // At the beginning of the book, the author gives a brief history of Iran and ends with this: “Since [1979], this old and great civilization has been discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism. As an Iranian who has lived more than half of my life in Iran, I know that this image is far from the truth. This is why writing Persepolis was so important to me. I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists. I also don’t want those Iranians who lost their lives in prison defending freedom, who died in the war against Iraq, who suffered under various repressive regimes, or who were forced to leave their families and flee their homeland to be forgotten. One can forgive but one should never forget.” // This book is intense, and I don’t recommend it for young kiddos. There’s some language and some pretty graphic descriptions of the horrors of war and torture. I’m so glad she shared her childhood with us, helping history come alive—a period of history most of us know very little about. // There’s a sequel (Persepolis 2) that I haven’t read. Have you read Persepolis? What did you think?
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  • Jerry Craft has a gift. This book is so well-written and so beautifully-drawn. I’m excited to put it in our Bamboo Libraries here in Cambodia. Graphic novels are great for ESL kids—and ALL kids. // “Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about this life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan turns out to be one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Middle school’s hard enough without all the unspoken rules and expectations that come with being the new kid! Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?” (back cover) // There are soooo many great topics addressed in the book, and one of my favorite parts are the sketches Jordan makes in his sketchbook, and we get to see them in full-page two-page spreads. One is titled “The Dude Pyramid: A Guide to Cafeteria Hierarchy.” He depicts each group of kids at school (freshmen, sophomores, dorky clubs, senior athletes, the upper-class Black table) as a different animal (ants, owls, lions, worms, mice). // Another one is called “Judging Kids by the Covers of Their Books!” where he depicts the difference between Mainstream Book Covers (cool, colorful illustrations full of magic and hope!) and African American Book Covers (a depressing photograph full of realism and hopelessness). The mainstream heroes fight dragons, and their dads are kings. The African American book heroes live in the hood in a broken home and no dad. (sad, but so true) // HIGHLY recommend this book. Brilliant, funny, with gorgeous drawings. Best combo. #jerrycraft
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  • The concept of these books is kind of brilliant. Two sides of the same story, a book for each side. It starts in 1894 in rural China. “In two volumes, Boxers & Saints tells two parallel stories. The first is of Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose village is abused and plundered by Westerners claiming the role of missionaries. Little Bao, inspired by visions of the Chinese gods, joins a violent uprising against the Western interlopers. Against all odds, their grass-roots rebellion is successful. But in the second volume, Yang lays out the opposite side of the conflict. A girl whose village has no place for her is taken in by Christian missionaries and finds, for the first time, a home with them. As the Boxer Rebellion gains momentum, Vibiana must decide whether to abandon her Christian friends or to commit herself fully to Christianity.” (Amazon) // If nothing else, these stories prove how complex colonialism is. Has good been done in this world in the name of religion? Absolutely. What about harm? OH, GOSH, YES. As a foreigner living in Cambodia, I’m acutely aware of things like white saviorism, a colonizing mentality, the missionary conversion mindset, etc. My long-held views have gotten their butts kicked, and it’s taking me awhile to wrap my mind around it all. Have I been a part of something good here? Absolutely. Have I also done harm? I believe I have, and I want to make it right. // Anyhoo. These books are interesting, and I’d love to hear Gene Luen Yang’s real-time take on the Boxer Rebellion. The Boxers book is twice as long as the Saints book, if that says anything (which I think it does). // Have you read these books? What did you think? #geneluenyang
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  • I reviewed Book 1 of the March trilogy back in October (see my stories for link), and this one is even better. // “After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, John Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence—but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before. Faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment, arson, and even murder, the movement’s young activists place their lives on the line while internal conflicts threaten to tear them apart. But their courage will attract the notice of powerful allies, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy… and once Lewis is elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, this 23-year-old will be thrust into the national spotlight, becoming one of the ‘Big Six’ leaders of the civil rights movement and a central figure in the landmark 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” (inside book flap) // In the back of the book is the original draft of John Lewis’ speech to the March on Washington. The speech was censored because leaders in the Catholic church were offended by this paragraph on patience’s behalf (huge eye roll): “To those who have said, ‘Be patient and wait,’ we must say that ‘patience’ is a dirty and nasty word. We cannot be patient, and we do not want to be free gradually. We want our freedom, and we want it NOW. We cannot depend on any political party, for both the Democrats and the Republicans have betrayed the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence.” (187) // I really really REALLY HIGHLY recommend this whole series. See my stories for some photos of the powerful artwork & words. #repjohnlewis
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  • Starting today, I’m posting a week’s worth of graphic novels, and I’ll end with a #SundaySixStack of them all. // I loved Octavia Butler’s novel, Kindred, and this graphic novel adaptation of it is absolutely stunning. It’s the best graphic novel I’ve ever seen/read. In her introduction to the book, acclaimed author Nnedi Okorafor writes: “Finally. A graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s mold-smashing science fiction book Kindred. Can you believe it? And created by visual mad scientists John Jennings and Damian Duffy to boot? Fantastic. To see Butler’s work presented in this way is deliciously harrowing. The very medium of the graphic novel already electrifies words and images. Tell one of Octavia’s most immersive, relatable tale through this medium, and you have fire. This is an exciting moment in storytelling. Octavia Butler, Level 2.” (iv) // If you haven’t read Kindred, here’s a synopsis: “Butler’s most celebrated, critically acclaimed work tells the story of Dana, a young black woman who is suddenly and inexplicably transported from her home in 1970s California to the pre–Civil War South. As she time-travels between worlds, one in which she is a free woman and one where she is part of her own complicated familial history on a southern plantation, she becomes frighteningly entangled in the lives of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder and one of Dana’s own ancestors, and the many people who are enslaved by him. Held up as an essential work in feminist, science-fiction, and fantasy genres, and a cornerstone of the Afrofuturism movement, there are over 500,000 copies of Kindred in print.” (Amazon) // Aaand the graphic novel adaptation of The Parable of the Sower releases in January! I can’t wait!
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  • Happy Sunday! Today’s #SundaySixStack is made up of books with either #bird or #feather in the title. Fun, right?? From top to bottom: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (#mayaangelou); Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun (#velmawallis); Feathers (@jacqueline_woodson); Blackbird Fly (@erinentrada); Bird in a Box (@andrea.davis.pinckney); Seven Fallen Feathers (@tanyatalaga_author). Can you think of any other books by BIPOC with “bird” or “feather” in the title? #BirdsOfAFeather
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  • This is a really sweet book, and I’m excited to put it in our Bamboo Libraries here in Cambodia. // “Mia’s abuela has left her sunny house with parrots and palm trees to live with Mia and her parents in the city. But when Mia tries to share her favorite bedtime story with Abuela, she discovers that Abuela can’t read the English words. Mia helps Abuela with her English while they cook, and Mia learns some Spanish, too. But it’s still hard for Abuela to learn enough words to tell Mia her stories. Then Mia sees a parrot in the pet-shop window and has the perfecto idea for how to help them all communicate a little better.” (back cover) // It is hard for many of us to imagine what it would be like not to be able to communicate with our grandparents, but it’s a reality for so many immigrant children. // “My español is not good enough to tell her the things an abuela should know. Like how I am the very best at art and how I can run as fast as the boys.” // “And her English is too poquito to tell me all the stories I want to know about Abuelo and the rivers that ran outside their door. With our mouths as empty as bread baskets, we walk back home and watch TV.” // This is a beautiful story and a great way for kids to learn some Spanish words as well. // The backdrop in this photo is a branch that was pruned from a mango tree in front of our apartment here in Cambodia. #megmedina #angeladominguez
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  • Erin Entrada Kelly’s writing is magical, plain and simple. M-A-G-I-C-A-L. Finding the right combination of words to explain exactly how and why I think so is impossible. It takes me about 10 seconds of starting one of her books before my heart is completely won over by her characters. Like, my chest physically aches over the pain they’re feeling in the not-real book. Sigh. // Twelve-year-old Soledad narrates, and the book starts like this: “Sometimes I stare into the dark corner of my bedroom and see the ghost of my sister Amelia. She’s ten years old—the age she would be now, if she hadn’t died—but she doesn’t talk like a ten-year-old. She has the eyes of a grandmother and the voice of a saint. She’s raven haired. Her skin is like cream. The perfect color skin, people always said. ‘You sure have made a mess of things,’ she says, and then she disappears.” (1) (SEE WHAT I MEAN?) // Soledad and her little sister Ming live with their awful stepmother, Vea, in a rundown apartment in Louisiana. Their mom is dead, and their dad went back to the Philippines three years earlier, and they haven’t heard a word from him. // “My mother liked to make up stories and fairy tales. Vea likes to tell us that we’re too fat, or too skinny, or too disobedient. Vea smokes cigarettes until the countertops in the kitchen turned yellow. My mother put flowers behind her ear.” (10) // “The people in the Tower aren’t too bad, but there are plenty of other apartment buildings around and some of them are a little dicey. They all have stupid names, too. Paradise Manor, Pecan Grove, Crescent Estates. You’d think we were living in a fairy tale, not a place where you have to worry about your car speakers getting stolen.” (128) // I highly recommend this book—and all of Erin Entrada Kelly’s books—but hold on to your heartstrings, because she will get you. In the very best way. (I took this photo on a recent trip to the Philippines.)
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  • This is my 500th post! WOW! YAY!! WOOHOOOOO!!! // I’m (obviously) a big proponent of us white folks reading less books as mirrors, more books as windows, in hopes of decentering whiteness. Less white thoughts and white experiences, more voices and perspectives of BIPOC. But, of course, even when we read books as windows, there will be mirror moments—sometimes many, many of them. In fact, that’s one of my favorite things. Reading and appreciating someone’s point of view that’s so different from my own, and finding things that resonate with my own experience. ANYWAY. This book was SO MUCH THAT for me. // Tracy K. Smith was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019 (if you don’t know what this means, see my stories!). I have to admit that I’ve never actually read a book of her poetry, BUT I WILL. I’ve found myself reading poets’ memoirs/books of prose first, as a way of hopefully better understanding their poetry when I read it. She’s three years older than me, and so so much of her growing-up years felt similar to mine. AND THEN. Her adult years of questioning the beliefs she was taught as a kid? SAME. // I underlined half the book and will share some of my favorite quotes. One now, the rest in the comments/stories. // “I really want to get to a place where we can stop asking all the same old familiar questions about the Bible, questions we’ve been taught to answer in the same way every time. I want to figure out if there are other ways of seeing what it means to be a Christian.” (245) // “HIGHLY recommend this book and can’t wait to read her poetry! #tracyksmith
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  • Today’s review is brought to you by @ninataviano, my 13yo daughter and fellow white girl learning. She’s a bookstagrammer too if you want to follow her! Here’s Nina: // Sunny is the third book of the awesome Track Series by Jason Reynolds, who, as you know, is one of the best authors ever. I’m almost tempted to say that Sunny has been my favorite so far, but that means that Patina (2nd) wasn’t my favorite, and that Ghost (1st) wasn’t my favorite, and neither of those are true either. So, basically, this series is amazing. Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu (4th book that I CANNOT wait to read, when I can get my hands on it) are part of a track team (hence the name). Each book is from one of their POV’s, showing their life off the track, and on it. (Back Cover) “Sunny Lancaster is a winner. Wih-winner. As the best runner in the 1600 meter, Sunny can beat anyone by, well, a mile. But for Sunny, winning is boring. Buh-boring. Truth is, Sunny doesn’t like running. Never has. What Sunny really loves… is dancing. The boom-bap-bap of his teacher Aurelia’s dance routines beats the chick chick chick of his track meets any day. Sunny loves his team, though, so he can’t quit, but he also can’t be on the track team and not run. And he definitely can’t be on a track team and dance. But it turns out track isn’t just chick chick chick. It’s also whoosh whoosh ahh…. When Sunny learns to let go of everything he’s been holding inside, will he make the best moves ever, or will it be his biggest misstep?” The story is told through Sunny’s diary entries, which always range from hilarious, to emotional, to the struggles of having loud noise in his mind, 24/7. Jason Reynolds obviously never disappoints, and Sunny was such a beautiful novel, with little sprinkles of that pure magic poetry that you can only find in one of his books. // Thank you, @ninataviano! #jasonreynolds
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  • I was so surprised a few months ago to hear that Ta-Nehesi Coates had a novel coming out—and so excited! It was really really good. // “Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.” (Amazon) // “But knowing now the awesome power of memory, how it can open a blue door from one world to another, how it can move us from mountains to meadows, from green woods to fields caked in snow, knowing now that memory can fold the land like cloth, and knowing, too, how I had pushed my memory of her into the “down there” of my mind, how I forgot, but did not forget, I know now that this story, this Conduction, had to begin there on that fantastic bridge between the land of the living and the land of the lost.” (3) // “I yanked at the reins but it was too late. We barreled right through and what happened next shook forever my sense of a cosmic order. But I was there and saw it happen, and have since seen a great many things that expose the ends of our knowledge and how much more lies beyond it.” (5) // “I would hear others speak, but I did not so much hear them as see them, their words taking form before me as pictures, chains of colors, lines, textures, and shapes that I could store inside of me. And it was my gift to, at a moment’s beckoning, retrieve the images and translate them back into the exact words with which they had been conjured.” (10) // Pretty incredible, right? Have you read The Water Dancer? What did you think?
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  • Happy 19th birthday to my oldest daughter, @oblivia.joy! I thought about having her write a book post for me today, but I don’t know that she finished a single book in 2019 (she started several!). I have three daughters—two are voracious readers like their mom, and one (Liv) is a voracious not-reader like her dad. It’s all good. She does lots of other really awesome stuff with her time. // Today’s post is brought to you by another diehard reader relative of mine—my 9-year-old niece, Mia. Take it away, Mia! // The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue is about how they ruin their Mom’s baking business, try to fix it, and how they make it worse by just trying to help. Once again, Karina Yan Glaser has given the world an amazing, mind-blowing, hilarious story. She did amazing, and I read through the book in just a few hours. It was so good, and I couldn’t stop reading it. The book is addicting. Just like in the first two, a problem arose, and they rose to the cause. They really amazed me, even though after the first two, I shouldn’t have been surprised. They were capable of endless mischief, and endless hilarity. I hope you enjoy the unfortunate happenings, just like I did. You should read it yourself, and let it reveal it’s wonders to you, just like it did to me. // Thank you, Mia! That’s all the Vanderbeekers books (for now), so stay tuned for Mia’s thoughts on some other books soon!
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  • Happy 2nd Birthday to White Girl Learning! Two years ago today, I posted my first photo on this account. What an amazing two years it’s been! What do I want for my White Girl Learning birthday, you ask? See end of post! // For today’s #SundaySixStack, I’m posting the very first six books I posted back in December 2017. I wrote such cute, short posts back then, lol. // Titles from top to bottom: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (#MayaAngelou); Malcolm X (#MalcolmX); Radical Hope (@carolina_derobertis); Just Mercy (#BryanStevenson); Brown Girl Dreaming (@jacqueline_woodson); and The Warmth of Other Suns (#IsabelWilkerson). // For my 2nd birthday, I would LOVE it if we could knock out our Bamboo Libraries Amazon Wish List. This is most likely the last batch of books we’ll get before we move back to the States next summer. My friend, Sunoak, is coming to Cambodia in January and has offered to bring the books. They’re all books by BIPOC, and I’ll photograph & review them on White Girl Learning before I put them in our libraries. Win win win! Anyone who donates $20 or more in books to the Bamboo Libraries will get a Merry Christmas 2019 tin ornament AND a Bamboo Library tin ornament as a thank-you and a keepsake. See my stories for photos and more details! // THANK YOU for making this such a fun space to learn and grow on this antiracism journey!
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  • I read and reviewed this book earlier this year, but it’s one of the most important books you can read if you’re serious about making an effort to learn about Indigenous people and culture. And it’s the perfect way to close out Native American Heritage Month—with a plan to keep learning about Indigenous peoples and their history and cultures and present-day issues/concerns. // When I get back to the States I’m buying a physical copy and rereading/underlining/annotating it all over again. The resource list at the end of the book with 365 books by Indigenous authors is worth the price of the book alone. I recommend you buy this book and choose one a month from his list until next November. I’m not exaggerating when I say I believe it will change your life. // “This is a book about stories and some of the ways they matter. It’s about the many kinds of stories Indigenous peoples tell, and the stories others tell about us. It’s about how these diverse stories can strengthen, wound, or utterly erase our humanity and connections, and how our stories are expressed or repressed, shared or isolated, recognized or dismissed.” // I shared my original review in my stories so you can read more about the book. AND THEN BUY IT. Seriously, it’s a must-have for anyone who’s serious about a looooong-overdue centering of Indigenous narratives in our colonized nation. And it’s just really, really good. #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
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  • I’ve posted each of these five books over the course of the past year, but I wanted to put them all together and give one last YOU SHOULD READ THESE (AND, IF YOU HAVE KIDS, THEY SHOULD READ THEM TOO) push. If you, like me, grew up watching Little House on the Prairie and/or reading the books, then you were immersed in a one-sided narrative of Laura’s family and their struggle to survive in a harsh new land. But there’s another side of the story. There were thousands of Native American “Lauras” living in the same time and same place, who were there first. And they had a very different perspective from that of the westward-journeying white settlers. History is almost always told by the more powerful, the colonizer, the settler, the victor, the white person. Reading stories from a different point of view is SO SO SO important. I didn’t do much of it when I was young, and I want my daughters to have a different experience. I can’t recommend this series highly enough, and I hope there are lots more books written in a similar vein in the months and years to come. And our dollars speak volumes to publishers. We want to see books by and about Black, Indigenous, People of Color please! #LouiseErdrich #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
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  • My favorite part of this story is the strong female lead, Jutthunvaa’, nicknamed Bird Girl. More on her in minute. // “Rooted in the legends of Alaska’s Athabaskan Indians, this novel of two rebels teaches that the search for individualism often comes at a high price but can be the foundation for finding true wisdom. When Bird Girl, an independent young hunter, is ordered to marry and conform to her tribe’s traditional role for women, she decides instead to leave the tribe. The other rebel, a young man named Daagoo, is a restless dreamer who leaves Alaska to journey south in search of the legendary Land of the Sun. Following their hearts, Bird Girl and Daagoo wander far from their culture’s deeply held traditions and eventually must find a way to come home again.” (back cover) // Bird Girl’s mother tries to make her more feminine, but she’d rather hang out with her father and brothers. “In these times boys were trained to hunt and scout for animals, while girls were taught to cook, raise children, tan skins, sew, and gather edible plants and medicinal herbs. But Zhoh was proud of his daughter’s interest in the things that he and his sons did, so he encouraged her to learn how to run and hunt.” (17) // She was such a good student, learning to perfectly imitate birdcalls (hence, her nickname), and eventually her mother gave in. “Bird Girl became a skilled hunter, able to run long distances and swim the swiftest rivers. She raced and wrestled with the boys in the camp, often beating them at their games. Her family watched her grow strong and skillful, feeling pride and admiration for the girl. Yet other members of the band began to frown.” (18) // It soon becomes clear that the other men resent Bird Girl and her skills—and her indifference toward marriage. “She was aggressive, always asking questions and looking directly at the men—unlike other women, who listened quietly and obeyed the men without challenging their authority.” (34) // I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the author’s note at the end as well. #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
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