The Afterlife of Malcolm X by Mark Whitaker
I first encountered the legend Malcolm X when I was in fifth grade. At my lily-white elementary school, my--a rarity in my hometown--black male teacher distributed a list of names to his predominantly white students and asked each to choose a name for a report. This was fifth grade and in the late … [Read more]
Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden
Not much to say here. I think McFadden was going for Serial Mom (seriously great dark comedy starring Kathleen Turner) and then it just turned into a mess of a book that made zero sense. I think she also should have kept the focus on the married couple [Debbie and Cooper] and adding in another … [Read more]
A Forest, Darkly: A Novel by A.G. Slatter
A Forest, Darkly is both a fantasy and a mystery. The Great Forest, where the action takes place, is a frontier where civilization seems to be slowly encroaching. Old magic and creatures are still very much alive here, and the presence of a witch has been tolerated by villagers for generations, but … [Read more]
Oracles by Olivia Sullivan
As I read the words of Olivia Sullivan on the pages of the graphic novel, Oracles, I heard the Beatnik standing on the coffee house stage making their words bubble out. I saw the slam poet gazing out into a darkened crowd. There was a spotlight in my brain that shone brightly on the poet … [Read more]
The Kamogawa Food Detectives (The Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1) by Hisashi Kashiwai
I maintain that this premise is amazing, and it needs to exist in real life. The idea of food I will never taste again HAUNTS ME. I am not even being dramatic, I am being so real with you right now. (My #1 pick for this would be Pizza D'Amore's piping hot square pizza slices, in the Paradise … [Read more]
Wake Now In the Fire: A Story of Censorship, Action, Love, and Hope by Jarrett Dapier
An ordinary day at Curtis Technical High School in 2013 sparks a movement when teachers are ordered to remove Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi from the shelves as it has been decided that the book is no longer allowed in classrooms or libraries at Chicago Public Schools. But the students aren’t … [Read more]
