We discussed our picture book, Leave Me Alone by Vera Brosgal
first. We all liked it a lot. We thought it was an 'old-fashioned' type of story
of a grandma who just needed some peace and quiet from her many grandchildren,
who prevented her from doing her always-important knitting. When she left them,
carrying only a large bag full of yarn and traveling through time and space, she
finally found a place where she could just sit and knit, and enjoy tea from her
samovar. She finally came back with new sweaters for all. We all liked the
illustrations a lot; one person liked the pictures of the grandma, with all of
her expressions, better than those of the children. We liked the fact that an
old lady was the main character, without being a witch, as usually happens in
many children's stories. We talked about whether children would relate to an old
woman as the main character of a story, but agreed that probably all children
had at some time experienced an adult (or older sibling) saying, "Leave me
alone!." One of our members had read it to a group of young children, and she
reported that they giggled and laughed throughout, and loved it. A couple of us
wondered how Grandma was able to bring the large samovar, plus a broom, in her
bag on her journey, but -- oh, well -- it's a story! So we suspended disbelief.
and gave it a unanimous 'A'!
We had a great discussion of our novel, The Hate U Give by Angie
Thomas. We all agreed that it was a very important book for the times we are
living in, and a few readers felt that this story of a 16-year-old black girl,
Starr, who witnesses her friend shot to death by the police while she is in the
car with him should be required reading for all white people. Along with the
aftermath of the shooting, and whether Starr can testify about really happened,
we liked the fact that this book provides a detailed window into one black
community -- the strength of the family, the interrelationships between people
and the support they give each other, the idea of having to live in two worlds
(the community and a mostly white private school), the usual teen-aged angst and
relationships in high school, and the fact that things are not always how
they look on the surface. A couple of readers expressed that they had learned so
much from this book, and that they would probably look at some of the similar
situations in today's news arena with different eyes. A couple of readers were
put off by the first chapter, which was told in black vernacular, and said they
just couldn't go on reading -- although the voice ultimately changed as the
story went on, and was quite comfortable for us to read. So -- though a very
important book, and a great story, an 'A' rather than an
A+.
