Coffee Will Make You Black
[Book]
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April Sinclair’s young adult novel tells the story of Stevie, a young black girl, living in Chicago in the late 60s/early 70s. Stevie has to deal with other people’s ignorance about race and sexuality as she comes into her own identity. Her mother wants her to use bleaching cremes to lighten her skin, but she’s becoming involved in the Afro-American Club at school and she begins to wear her hair natural. Stevie’s Grandma and her mama are strong influences on Stevie and she finds comfort with her Grandma and is often frustrated by her mama. This is a great book for adults, young adults, and teens.
Reviewed by Bridget
Tagged: Coming-of-age, Families, Fiction, Friendship, LGBTQ, Racism, Sexuality
Finding the Green Stone
[Book]
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Find the Green Stone is a story about a boy named Johnny who lives in a town where everyone has a glowing green stone. Johnny is distraught when he loses his stone and it takes the community coming together to help him for Johnny to realize he needs to find the love in his heart to get his glowing green stone back.
Reviewed by Bridget
Tagged: Fiction, Picture books
No Laughter Here
by Rita Williams-Garcia
[Book]
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This novel explores the intimate friendship between friends Akilah and Victoria. Victoria suffers a tragedy that changes her life and her relationship with Akilah. This is an honest and accessible book that explores real-life problems.
Reviewed by Bridget
Tagged: Coretta Scott King Book Award, Female genital mutilation, Fiction, Friendship
Bored To Death
[DVD]
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Jonathan Ames casts Jason Schwartzman as his alter-ego “Jonathan Ames” in the comedic, sleuth series Bored To Death. Ames is a young author from Brooklyn with motivational issues struggling to complete his second novel. One evening he turns to famed pulp writer Raymond Chandler for inspiration. After completing Farewell My Lovely, he proceeds to take out an advertisement on Craigslist boasting his reasonable rates and unlicensed detective services.
Each episode follows Schwartzman on madcap cases, painful romantic encounters and surprisingly tender buddy-buddy moments with brilliant co-stars Ted Danson and Zack Galifiankis. The show also features cameos appearances from John Hodgman, Patton Oswolt and Kristen Wiig.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Comedy, Mystery, TV series
Three Solo Pieces
by Lubomyr Melnyk
[Music CD]
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Ukrainian-Canadian composer Lubomyr Melnyk is positive that he’s the fastest pianist in the business. A boast from his website reads: “in exactly 60 minutes, Melnyk sustained an average speed of over 13 notes per second in each hand, yielding a remarkable total of 93,650 INDIVIDUAL notes.”
Despite Melnyk’s dexterity and technique, listening to Three Solo Pieces feels nothing like a frantic, fast paced album. Rather, this “Continuous Music” recording, which is filled with seamless melody and overtones, is a rich, mysterious and ethereal experience. Relying on a constant sustain pedal, this modern classical album is both cacophonous and soothing. Quite the feat and quite the recording.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Contemporary music, Piano music
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
[Book]
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Liesel Meminger lives with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in Munich, Germany. It’s 1939 and Liesel and her family are living under Nazi rule. Despite tremendous risk the Hubermanns house a Jewish man, Max. After Liesel endures her first tragedy books become a way of life for her. Zusak writes beautifully with hints of surrealism that make this story quite extraordinary.
“Together, they would watch everything that was so carefully planned collapse, and they would smile at the beauty of destruction.”
Reviewed by Bridget
Tagged: Fiction, Friendship, Nazi Germany
Don’t Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday
[Book]
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This book is written as a prose poem that the tells the story of American jazz singer, Billie Holiday’s life. De Veaux writes,
“It was 1935.
American was in between wars.
Harlem was between jobs and riots.
Billie was between 20 and stardom.”
Reviewed by Bridget
Tagged: Billie Holiday, Biography, Jazz, Non-fiction
Beautiful Oops!
[Book]
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This book demonstrates the many ways that torn, crinkled, and smudged bits of paper can be transformed into various shapes and images.
Reviewed by Jude
Tagged: Art, Fiction, Picture books
Sophie’s Masterpiece
[Book]
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Sophie is a very artistic spider who is finally able to create her pièce de résistance as she reaches old age.
Reviewed by Bridget
Tagged: Art, Fiction, Picture books
Chuck Close: Face Book
[Book]
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Chuck Close created this beautiful autobiography complete with pages of mix and match self-portraits and a glossary of art terms. Close realized his love of art when he was very young. As a result of severe dyslexia, Close was labeled “dumb” and he also had a neuromuscular condition which prevented him from being physically active. The talented Close admits dedication to art saved his life. In this book Close talks about his process for creating his massive paintings and prints. To young artists Close says, “ease is the enemy of the artist. Go ahead and get yourself into trouble”
Reviewed by Bridget
Tagged: Art, Autobiography, Faces, Non-fiction, Portraits
Miss Rumphius
[Book]
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As a child Great-aunt Alice Rumphius resolved that when she grew up she would go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age, and do something to make the world more beautiful–and she does all those things, the last being the most difficult of all.
Reviewed by Ellen
Tagged: Aunts, Fiction, Old age, Picture books, Sea
A Story for Bear
by Dennis Haseley
[Book]
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A young bear who is fascinated by the mysterious marks he sees on paper finds a friend when a kind woman reads to him.
Reviewed by Jude
Tagged: Bears, Friendship, Kindness, Picture books, Reading
