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When Rodriguez started school, he knew no English. The teachers placed him in the back of the room and told him to play with blocks. Unable to communicate even when he needed to use the bathroom, other students disdained him. At eleven, Rodriguez joined a club, Thee Impersonations. From Thee Impersonations, he moved on to bigger gangs. He was thrown out of high school, and thrown out of his home. His mother let him move into her garage. Called Chin after his misshapen one, Luis did drugs participated in gang/ class warfare, became street. After returning to high school, Luis became an activist, fighting for Chicano studies and an end to gang rivalry.
This story takes place in the 60s and 70s, and tells a sad story of warfare where the police are only one more gang and violence is the normal way way of life. The preface says that his son is(probably was by now, this was published 1994) involved in gangs, and that these writings are something he needs to publish to comment on this. This is an individual story, a cry, and also an explanation of what today's youth are inheriting.
Solemn reading.
On Paul's first day at Don Carey High School, he finds that almost none of the other kids have bothered to bring in their schedules. Morning announcements by a prinicipal who never leaves his office and whose name no one knows, inform the student body of each student activity canceled due to lack of interest. Sheldon, from Paul's homeroom, informs Paul that nobody cares at Don't Care High-you adjust and pretty soon you don't care either. But spurred by meeting Paul, Sheldon comes up with a plan to energize the students of Don't Care High. They nominate at random a student from Don't Care High for student presidetn, and then they give him acclaim for all manner of things he had no part in. When the teachers depose that student, the student body acquires a cause.
LOL reading.
Tomboys Tales of Dyke Derring-Do
edited by Lynne Yamaguchi and Karen Barber
Chaia Heller explains in verse how hard it is to be a boy, and then more verse: throwing a brick through her parents' window, only the brick's just a piece of paper that says I'm lesbian. Jeanne Cordova was a big brother to her little brother Billy, until the taunts grew. Kris' sister had the very best weapon at her disposal girl. Alison Bechdel shows how she learned to pray when she needed to get out of dancing. Janet Capone and her tomboy friends take their lot back from the boys by building a bike course. Lucy Jane Bledsoe loses her first love at the age of twelve when that friend learns the word lesbian. Marta learns how to hit a baseball better than any boy when she listens to a stone. Interspersed with the poems, stories, comics, and photos are excerpts from autobiographies of tomboys. The contributors are tomboys and lesbians, labels which some wear and some shed.
Happy reading
Send in the Stunt Mom The Second Collection of Committed
by Michael Fry
These comics comment on the difficulty of raising children, with comments on the bizarre parts of children's lives, by following one family's struggles. The dog gets his own box from which he comments on each comic. For examples, you should read the book. But here is the text of one comic (I get to reproduce this because the copyright says, except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews): Liz, wife, mother, tour guide- And on my left, we have the sink. Legend has it it can hold dirty dishes... I, myself, have never seen it used for this purpose.
LOL reading.
Out of the Ordinary Essays on Growing Up with Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Parents Noelle Howey and Ellen Samuels, editors
Essays by Sophia Gould, Tristan Taormino, Julie Diana Rawley, Noelle Howey, Peter Snow, Stefan Lynch, Kelly Conway, Jennifer DiMarco, Morgan Green, Ellen Samuels, Jeffrey Wright, Christopher Helay, Ian Wheeler-Nicholson, Maria De La O, Meema Spades, Laurie Cicotello, Rivka Solomon, Meagan Rosser, Laura Zee, Kris Giesing, Becky Parker, and Alysia Abbott
It would be impossible for me to come up with a description of these essays that would cover all of them. Some are written from a distance, some about the recent past. Some are written warmly, and some remember abusive parents. Some of the authors write in light of their own sexual leanings, and some write without comparing themselves to their parents. Some write of their problems with their parents, and some write about their peers' problems with their parents. Some don't write about problems. Wait a minute, I can make a generalization: the writing style is universally professional, due to the editors' influence.
Happy reading.
Who becomes anorexic? Why do they become anorexic? What does anorexia offer to its victims? How can anorexia be cured? These are the questions that Levenkron attempts to answer. Who becomes anorexic? Mostly, girls between the ages of 11 and 22 who come from dysfunctional families, who do not trust their parents. What does anorexia offer to its victims? The possibility of working on their problems. The problems get turned into "I'm fat" and can then be solved. How can anorexia be cured? The therapist(or maybe someone else) forms the bond of a parent with the patient. Or so says Steven Levenkron.
The condescending tone of this book is grating. Levenkron takes a very paternal tone to his patients and it spills out into his book. This discourse on anorexia takes the form of theories followed by case histories(which often stop just where my interest has been captured) which are meant to prove Levenkron's point, but which often do not. This book can still give you an idea of what the reality is facing anorexics and whoever cares about them.
Informative reading.
The Pregnant Man And Other Cases from a Hynotherapist's Couch
by Deirdre Barrett
Dr.Barrett is a hypnotherapist, and most of her cases are routine. Here she has chosen seven cases which were not routine, which "unfolded like plays". The title story is that of a man who was hypnotized by another hypnotist to give up smoking. The hypnotist had asked the man to picture himself as he would like to be, and the patient had pictured himself as a pregnant woman. He had gone home, and every day, he had continued to picture himself pregnant, in effect hypnotizing himself. His body then began to resemble that of a pregnant woman.
The book mixes the anecdotal stories with backround about the psychology of disorders that the patient may be suffering, history, and Dr.Barrett's own life. The seven stories span twenty years, and so some of the medicine is out of date. For example, Multiple Personality Disorder, MPD, is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder, DID.
Happy reading.
Freaks, Geeks, and Asperger Syndrome A User Guide to Adolescence
by Luke Jackson
When he wrote this book, Luke Jackson was a thirteen year old Australian with Asperger Syndrome. He writes that he wrote this book because he was looking for an instruction manual for adolescence and couldn't find one, but in that respect I would say that this book is a failure. This is not a guide to adolescence; it is Luke's account of his own adolescence and childhood, with lots of information about how autistic traits affect his family. This book is illustrated with drawings by his sisters Sarah, Rachel, and Anna, one picture by his brother Joseph, and photographs. The tone is mostly that of a thirteen year-old conversationalist, with plenty of humor and Australian slang. Throughout the book, Luke tries to use as many common sayings as possible, and lists them in the back with their meanings. I could have used a listing for the meanings of Australian slang. As an autobiography or an explanation of life with Asperger Syndrome, this account is honest and light; not dull.
Pleasant reading
The Oasis Guide to Asperger Syndrome Advise, Support, and Inspiration by Particia Romanowski bash and Barbara L. Kirby
OASIS stands for Online Asperger Syndrom Information and Support. It is owned by the authors and is for parents of children with AS. This is a how-to book for raising children with Asperger Syndrome. Some of the things that the authors feel parnets should know about include; how to get a good IEP or 504 plan, how to get a good diagnosis, comorbid disorders, and what the drugs out there do to kids. It includes information garnered from surveys on the OASIS site, which polls parents of kids with AS, as well as adults (meaning those over 18) with AS. Some things it should include but doesn't are: how AS affects siblings, how parents' own autistic traits affects their parenting, and AS pride. It includes an index.
Informative reading.
Rose is a rebellious daughter, joining the underground to spite her mother, not believing the underground's claim that humans(solians) are valued as sex slaves throughout the galaxy. She is startled and angry when she is captured by slave traders. Ash is an eleventh generation creche born, a herme, knowing hir death will come once her current master, Rikev Alpha, gets attached to hir. S'jen, an escaped Qin slave, attacks the outpost both are at, and Ash takes the opportunity to lose his master and mingle with the other slaves. Ash and Rose and a number of other slaves are left together, and Rose suggests that they escape. In telling her how impossible escape would be, the others figure out that in fact they do have a shot at escape. They then get to work putting their paln into action.
Why humans are so desirable as sex slaves is unclear, since any other species could be raped equally well. Ash is easily my favorite character, easily the most likable character. Being a herme, s/he is referred to in the terms s/he, hir, it, and hirself. My brother was a pokemaniac, and so the name Ash reminds me of the pokemaster Ash. Hir feelings are basic and clear in the way of the pokemaster. The entire system of this book has only one villain, Rikev Alpha. Most of the characters can be seen as victims of a humongous beaurocracy. Despite being the first in a series, this book does have a satisfactory ending.
Question: Slavery is a focal issue of this book, but it is unclear why those termed slaves are less free than those on the lower rungs of the beaurocracy. What is slavery?
Happy reading.
When I ran a search on Charles Sheffield, as I always do on authors whose books are reviewed on this site, I was surprised to see that the first result was a eulogy. Dark as Day was copyrighted in 2002, and its ending definitely implies that a sequel was in making. Unfortunately, I will probably never get to read it. Dark as Day's focal characters are an interesting bunch. All are puzzle people, enabling the reader to decipher the puzzle through able eyes, except in the case of one significant charcter. No time is wasted in this book on backound; perhaps that is done in the first book in this world, Cold as Ice, but whatever the case, this book is better off without the backround material. The alternate setting is thought provoking, and realistic(the characters aren't quite as realistic, but they're more amusing as is).
Question: One of the minor-yet-flavorful characters in this book is a fax, or a facsimile of a real person, who can react realistically, complete with moods. Do you believe that such a fax is possible, and would such a being be sentient?
Happy reading.
When Eric is eight, his Uncle Jack tells him that his mother is coming. She comes, but she doesn't pay any attention to Eric. Instead, she moves away with his sister. How and why this came to be is the story of this book. It stays in the third person except for the narratives of Eric's dead grandmother, but it shifts time and perspective from chapter to chapter. The time frame is between the 1930s to 1990, and the family involved is Japanese American.
Happy reading.
Songs of the Gorilla Nation My Journey Through Autism
by Dawn Prince-Hughes
When the author's frequent outbursts got so bad that her partner, Tara, said she would leave if the author did not get diagnosed, the author called a autism specialist and asked for a diagnoses of Asperger's Syndrome. She got one, although not immediately. This is her story through autism, a story that is different from most because everybody's autism is different. In particular, the author discusses sexuality, her partner, and gorillas. Gorillas are the focus of about half of the book. Prince-Hughes feels that gorillas(and indeed all apes) are people, and she describes them as such. Her work with gorillas is very important to her, and through out this book, she tries to convince you of her ideas. Because this is about her life, the details I wanted about gorillas (after my interest got piqued) were not included. Right after the table of contents and before the title page is How Can I Keep From Singing, a traditional Quaker hymn.
Happy reading.
At age 14, Daphne was a member of the Disciples, had been raped numerous times, had gender issues, was drinking and on drugs, and suffered abuse at home. Her parents had her admitted to the psychiatric hospital at Michael Reese, in Chicago. Daphne stayed in various mental hospitals, receiving sham treatments from idiotic doctors. Daphne tried hardest to conceal her gender issues, and at first she was successful. She was treated for behavioral disorder, and then for drug abuse. But in the end, she was stuck with doctors trying to fix her gender disorder. She was forced to wear makeup, learn to walk like a woman, and pretend to have romantic interest in boys. This is her story of growing up in mental institutions. Daphne is a sympathetic protagonist; the reader will be able to relate to her.
Happy reading.
After a successful tour of duty, Ahvren Vivitar returns to T'Chin, cursed with a compulsion to tell the truth, no matter how painful. He finds his foster sister, betrothed against her will, making a futile escape attempt on the day of his return. Two months later, a week from his sister's wedding day, Ahvren discusses with his father his reluctance to return to war. He makes a wager with his father: if he can find the root of the rumors circulating about a planned attempt on the emperor's life, Ahvren will be allowed to remain on T'chin for a year, planning his own life. To find information about whoever might plot against the emperor, Ahvren begins to meet with a bibliogoth. The bibliogoth challenges and advises Ahvren as he searches for his life and honor. Although Ahvren quickly comes to trust the bibliogoth, the scholar's advice proves futile again and again, until the assassin's identity becomes painfully clear.
The bibliogoth(he is never referred to by name, because his name is a scent) leads Ahvren on a philosophical journey. He challenges Ahvren to understand the pacifism of the T'Chin. The setting of this book depends on the truth of the bibliogoth's philosophy, but human history makes the T'Chin philosophy unlikely to work with humans. The philosophy is one I and most humans would find pleasing, despite its impracticality. You probably will not figure out the scholar's philosophy before it is revealed at the end of the book, but you may figure out the assassin's identity.
Question: Honor is of great import to the Vivitars. What is honor?
Happy reading.
Waiting in the office for his papers to be admitted to class, Josh meets another new boy in his class, Mark. Mark is weird. He doesn't make eye contact, he's too loud, and the teacher lets him takes photographs during class all the time. Mark and Josh are seated with Skye, a new kid who started at the beginning of the year. At recess on the first day, Corey, the class president, invites Corey to play with him. Corey's disdain for Skye and Mark is immidiately apparent. Although Cory bullies his friends, Josh wants to be on Corey's good side. Mark and Skye warn Josh that Corey is trouble.
The reader can see immidiately that Corey is not a good person to be friends with, and that Josh is supposed to learn to value friendship over popularity. Josh can't see that. In the end, Josh is not forced into any moral decisions; the situation escalates and his choices become much more clear cut. This is a cop out. Real situations usually do not oblige us so nicely. Mark's ability to act quickly is atypical for Asperger Syndrome, which the teacher says Mark has. This book is not Josh's story; the story only uses Josh as a vehicle for the more compelling story.
Happy reading.
Shadow Syndromes by John J. Ratey and Catherine Johnson
After the birth of her son Jimmy, Catherine felt bad. Her interest in life decreased, but because she was functioning passably well, she and her husband did not figure out what her problem was for a long time: she was suffering from mild depression. While undergoing psychoanalysis to become a psychoanalyst, John found that he could not free associate. He could not focus long enough to drift, and he could not become a psychoanalyst. He came to the realization that he was suffering from a mild form of ADD. John and Catherine decided to write a book(this one) on mild forms of serious disorders which sabotage seemingly normal people's life. All of the disorders presented here are presented from a neurophysical perspective, that is, that examine the brain-based biology of the disorder. The discuss shadow form (clinically termed formes frustes) of depression, manic-depression, ADD/ADHD, intermittent rage disorder, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addiction, and anxiety.
Despite their stated goal of allowing readers to see if they themselves may have shadow forms of one disorder or another, the cases presented in this book are all having trouble with their lives; none of them are coping particularly well. The authors seem to have picked the most severe of the mild. Frequently the chapters claiming to be about folks with mild forms of a disease turn into a lecture on the disease itself, with long explanations of the severe cases. This can be interesting, but it is confusing and clouds the ability to figure out what a mild case might look like.
The discussion of mild forms of these disorders is somewhat superfluous in that many of the disorders already have milder recognized forms with different names. For example, instead of talking about mild autism, it might be a good idea to talk about mild Asperger's Syndrome, or nonverbal learning disorders, or sensory integration disorder. The analysis of autism is frustrating in that it dealt entirely with the problems of balance and social skills, which the authors could link with faulty cerrebellums, and does not mention other problems of autism.
In every chapter, the authors speculate on the advantages of minor forms of disabilities, and even state that the world would be far more drab without them. They attempt to reassure us by saying that even if we all took drugs (they strongly advocate Prozac) we would still retain our differences. However, their stated hopes for cures for these disablities shows the frailty of their belief in their claims. Johnson's son Jimmy is autistic, which may have negatively influenced her thoughts on the topic- for my anti-cure beliefs, check out the Beautiful Spectrum section on the sidebar on Biblio File's index. In some ways, this book reads as an ad for Prozac; they claim that it helps with rage, depression, ADD... almost everything. Along with Prozac, the authors recommend physical activity to boost psychological well being.
Interesting reading.
Vixen the Slayer, a TV charcter, has inspired cultlike worship in her followers. She's not all that surprised when three little men show up in her dressing room and ask her to come and smae them from the monster plaguing their world. But when she refuses, she's surprised to see one of the little men break down and cry. The men do not press her to join them, and try to leave via magic. Accidentally they bring her along to their transdimentional world. Vixen, who is really Glory McArdle, is presented to the people, only 400 of whom are left, as their hero, but one of the little men takes her to the oracle to return to her world anyhow. At the oracle, Glory is(and you had to know this was coming) told that she has to save their world, unless she wants the extinction of all humanity. So... Glory goes out to do battle. She doesn't exanctley win, but she doesn't lose either.
At the end of the book is a summary of all of the Vixen episodes. It doesn't fit into the plot very well, and should definitely be placed at the beginning of the book, except for the last one.
Happy reading.
Biblio Files
Month 10
Books Reviewed:34(I added two reviews to the Itsy Bitsy Spider Section)
Total Books Reviewed:200
Days Blogged/Days In Period:18/30
New Members:none
Total Number of Members:3 active, 3 inactive
Number of Hits This Data Period:225
Toal Number of Hits:1501
Features Added:The Beautiful Spectrum section on the sidebar of the index
Comments: I'm considering activating blogger's commenting system, transfering all the haloscan comments, and then deleting the haloscan comments. Any objections?
Blogger's bar on the top of the page is blocking the title. Any ideas on how to fix that?
I've Already Forgotten Your Name, Philip Hall by Bette Greene
When Beth Lambert returns to Pocahontas after spending some time in neighboring Walnut Ridge with her grandmother, the question pressing her most urgently is weather or not Philip Hall still likes her. When she talks to him, it becomes obvious that he does, but he suspects her of having found someone else in Walnut Ridge. Unable to convince Philip that she still likes him, Beth makes up an imaginary boyfriend, Tyrone the Cyclone. Philip Hall issues an arm wrestling challange to Tyrone, and the entire town of Pocahontas gets thrown into the ensuing chaos.
Happy reading.
As soon as Murphy is introduced to the other girls in the Home, she lets them know that Murphy's not her real name. Murphy has *four* boxes to unpack, making her stories of anthropologist parents and awesome adventures seem almost believable. Maddie thinks that Murphy is exiting. She wants to be friends with Murphy, but Murphy makes it a little hard when she befriends Logan, the most unapolagetic nerd ever. When Logan and Murphy decide to build a house, Murphy draws Maddie and her friend Ricky Ray into the project. Realizing that they need to learn more to build a house, they go to the library, where Donita tells them that they don't have the land or the know-how to build a house, and should build a fort instead. And so they do.
The story is narrated by Maddie, who focuses mostly on Murphy. There's a lot of foreshadowing telling us that Murphy isn't who she claims to be, but the reader gets to judge Murphy before finding out who she is. The style is frank but never rude. The ending is totally out of the blue, with not much relevance to the story; perfect for a sequel.
Happy reading.
Hermux Tantamoq is the proprietor of a watch shop, so he's not terribly surprised when someone comes in with a watch to be repaired. But he is surprised when the owner of the badly damaged watch tells him that she needs her watch back ASAP, and that she is very fond of it. That night, Hermux sees his customer, Linka Perflinger, in the day's edition of the Weekly squeak. She is an aviatrix, and he looks forward to seeing her the following day. But the next day, Ms. Perflinger does not show up. When a nasty rat(Hermux is a mouse) comes in the next day to demand Ms. Perflinger's watch, Hermux decides to investigate. Something dastardly is afoot.
The rating given to this book by Hermux's pet ladybug is: Not Too Scary. But I was scared. This book is not too scary for anyone who enjoys being scared. Booklist compares this to Stuart Little and the Redwall series. Redwall is probably a good comparison, except that whether Redwall's characters are bad or good almost entirely on their species; here characters are not so obviously good and bad, until all is revealed at the end of the book.
Tense reading.
When Sarah Jane Crossman and her father watch an unexpected train stop in their town, they find that the train is carrying Apaches to a reservation. Sarah Jane sees one of the Apache boys jump off the train and run away. Remembering her father's tale of spies on the plantation, she doesn't report the runaway Apache. When the boy, whose name is Sky, turns up in the Crossman's barn, they get permission to keep the boy with them until he returns to health.
This story has its basis in the family history of McKissack, and the dedication reads: Remembering Abraham Crossley, the Sky in our family.This book is a triumphant story of how the hateful white authorites were defeated.
Happy reading.
A Slant of Sun One Child's Courage
by Beth Kephart
Jeremy was diagnosed with PDD/NOS, and the therapists and doctors had low expectations for him. But Jeremy beat their odds. His echolalia went away fairly quickly, and he adapted to a small regular classroom. Jeremy's jouney and his mother's thoughts on it are recorded here. There is a suprisingly humorous slant on all of the stories, almost anecdotal in tone. A lot of opinions on parenting, people, life, are expressed, but all of them are expressed as opinions and not facts, allowing the reader to think about them without moving away from the plot.
Happy reading.
Life's a Funny Proposition, Horatio by Barbara Garland Polikoff
Horatio Tuckerman doesn't like his name. His father, a professor, had been very fond of Shakespeare, and had named his son Horatio. But Horatio can't be mad at his father, because his father is dead. His father had stopped smoking with the help of a hypnotist, but it was too late; his father had died of lung cancer anyhow. His grandfather O.P.(for Old Professor) lives with Horatio and his mother and their dogs. We never meet O.P.'s dog in this book, because Mollie is missing at the very beginning. Horatio and his friend Erik find Mollie, dead, by the river. Mollie's loss depresses O.P., and it is up to Horatio to cheer him up.
Happy reading.
Mr. Magro has an SOS file for his students stories. At the end of the year, twelve SOS stories are in the file. Mr. Magro says that all but one of the stories has earned extra credit. Eleven students read their stories, and Mr.Magro reads the last one. Each one deals with an urgent situation and how the student solved it, or suffered through it. Illustrations accompany each story, going along with the theme of the story, sticking animals in where ever possible.
Fun reading.
At age three, Willey's parents had her tested, and found that she was gifted and spoiled. Her behavior explained, she was raised as gifted and spoiled. She made her way through elementary and high school, knowing she was different but not self-aware enough to know how she was different. In college, away from the people who knew of her idiosyncrasies, away from friends, her AS became more problematic. However, she made it through college, got married, and can pass for normal.
This is an account of the problems her Asperger's Syndrome present(ed) to Willey. As such, it emphasizes her problems more than her solutions. It blames her problems on AS in general, instead of sensory dysfuctions which come along with AS. Although Willey tells us that she is glad she is AS, her book doesn't show us the strengths that would make her feel good about who she is. The last chapters do give practical advise. Willey says that her husband is a big part of helping her to get through her life, but does not tell us how she managed to date in the first place.
Happy reading.
This is one of those books where knowing too much about the plot really spoils it, which is a recommendation of the book, because that means that there is subtlety and plot. The setting is that the author is on a motorcycle trip with his son, and he spends a lot of time reflecting on the past of a man named Phaedrus, who had a question. That question is the focus of a philosophy. After you have read the book, check out the philosophy.
Thoughful reading.
Walter McLuckie(10), Sylvia McLuckie(14), and their dad move into a cottage in summer, not knowing that they have moved into the infamous gravedigger's cottage. Soon after the McLuckie's have settled in, Carmine(almost 11) barges into their knew home. He anounces that he is Sylvia's new boyfriend, a prospect Sylvia does not care for. Mr. McLuckie takes Carmine on a tour of the house, and in doing so, notices that the house is falling apart. Mr. McLuckie, who could formerly be counted on not to notice the world, and definitely not to do home repair, begins a crusade against the fallibilities of the old home. Sylvia and Walter want their Dad back.
This story is told by Sylvia, where in alternating chapters she talks about their exasperating life in their new home, and the deaths of all of her former pets. Sylvia's take on the world is always a little bit offbeat, but always on the mark. She is a very likeable protagonist, and is not terribly concerned about the angsty issues present in so many teen books.
Happy reading.
The Pink Triangle The Nazi War Against Homosexuals
by Richard Plant
During the Nazi reign, homophobia was the rule of the day. Homosexuals were viewed as traitors who would lead to the the downfall of the German nation. The rhetoric went that if homosxuals did not have children, and if they infected others with their disease, then pretty soon there would be no more Germans. Nazi law stated that merely looking at another man was enough to know that a German was homosexual. Accusations of homosexuality was an easy weapon to be used on upon any opponent of whom one was not particularly fond. Homosexuals in the concentration camp had a forty percent survival rate. Homosexuals liberated from concentration camps faced prison sentences because their liberators also thought that homosexuality should be punished. How did this happen? Plant covers the history of homosexuality in Germany, the use of homosexuality to depose the SA from power(their leader, Roehm, was unapologetically homosexual), the manner in which Himmler thought, and what actually happened. This book has endnotes, the text of paragraph 175(which outlawed male homosexuality and bestiality), a chronology, a bibliography, and an index.
Except for the introduction and conclusion, which give Plant's own experiences, the narrative is very detached and dry- understandable in writing about emotional events. That is, events that to the modern reader are heinous enough to be emotional, not events in which the actual participants necessarily felt an unusual number of emotions. Strangly, Plant repeatedly compares gay to persecution to that of political prisoners and Jehovah's witnesses. I would have benefitted from an explanation of what the other symbols on prisoners meant.
Sad reading.
A Match Made In Hell The Jewish Boy and the Polish Outlaw
Who Defied the Nazis
by Larry Stillman from the testamony of Morris Goldner
The curtains go up on a memory. Our narrator remember crawling out from under the body of his dead father. He is seriously injured, and he is saved by a man named Jan Kopec. Then we get some backound. The narrator is Moishe Goldner, called Moinek by the neighboring Poles. He is 16 or 17, he's not sure which, and it is now 1943, January. He is fairly sure that his entire family is dead, killed at the hands of the Nazis. He had been living in the forest, stealing food, for the past year and a half. He knows who Jan Kopec is; he's the infamous outlaw whispered about even before the war. Kopec brings Moniek to his home, and allows him to recuperate before taking Moniek with him to one of his hiding places. Kopec informs Moniek that he is going to be his accomplice. Because of Moniek's hight (five feet), he can go pull off what Kopec cannot.
The violence that Moniek is brought to is a sad testimony to war; the heroics he is brought to are a glad testimony to man. This is not fiction, and the stories and people herein are not stories and characters that a fiction writer could get away with; they are not particularly glamorous, their objectives are serious. Their politics cannot be fully explained; nor can anything else. There are no definite good guys, but there are plenty of villains. Stillman does not dehumanize Moniek's enemies(Moniek got changed to Morris when he moved to America). The boundries seperating good and bad, boundries that make us comfortable in our lives, disappear in wartime. Includes a bibliography.
Thoughtful reading.
It's 1978, two years after Kevin's mother's car hit an ice patch and sent her into the Missippi river. Kevin's a high school senior, living with his Dad, bagging groceries after school, and crushing desperately on Jom Thompson. At a party, a very drunk Kevin manages to feel up an equally drunk Jon. Following that, he asks Jon out to a movie. The semi-date(one half is on a date, one half isn't) is a disaster; Jon spends the whole time commenting on women. That doesn't really change Kevin's life; he'd already known that the likelihood of Jon liking boys was low. What does change Kevin's life is an outburst from his Aunt Nora, in which she says that his mother went into the Mississippi on purpose, because Kevin's dad was cheating on her. That opens a whole can of worms, and Kevin has to scramble to cope.
Kevin is not a very deep character, but his life is of real life worms, and the people in his life run a full spectrum. This is a narrative from Kevin, from January until December 1978. The drugs and alcohol used in this book bother me on a comfort level, but don't really have mcuh to do with the story.
Happy reading.
Elijah's Cup A Family's Journey into the Community and Cluture of
High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome
by Valerie Paradiz
Elijah had many seizures between the ages of two and three, and he was diagnosed epileptic before he was diagnosed autistic. After Valerie Paradiz(narrator) watched a movie of Temple Grandin with Elijah's babysitter Sharron, Sharron tells her that she thinks that she is also autistic. Soon after, Sharron leaves to find her autistic roots. She and the author keep in touch, and so Paradiz is launched into the subtitle.
Many parents of autistics and neurotypicals working with them find it difficult to accept that autistics could have a community. They are wrong.
Happy reading.
