Sticking the Landing - Thoughts on "Avengers: Endgame"

It should go without saying that there will be massive SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame in this post. Proceed with caution!

Yeah, yeah, I know. There was once a time when I would have had this written down mere moments after seeing this movie on opening night. All I can say is that adult life is a bitch and we didn't have the time or the funds to see it until tonight.

I did manage to stay mostly spoiler-free, however. Even after the embargo was lifted a week ago, I still didn't see too many spoilers, which I didn't expect. So, way to go Internet. You did something right for a change.

Anyway - my thoughts on this capstone of over ten years of comic book superhero movies -

It is very rare that a series with huge ambitions in the beginning manages to stick the landing at the end. I mean, just this morning multitude of Game of Thrones fans are complaining that this final season is not living up to expectations (meanwhile, I am vindicated in my choice to not get into it, even though there were times where I felt like I was missing out on something. Turns out, no - I really wasn't). Once Upon a Time fizzled out at the end. The DC movie universe is kind of... not. The less said about Universal's Dark Universe, the better. And, of course, the most infamous example of a series turning out a massive pratfall and pretending that all is well while also insulting the fans who are presenting legitimate criticisms - the less said about Star Wars, the better (never thought I would prefer the prequels, but I'll gladly take another Jar Jar Binks scene if my other choice is some hipster-beard asshole soy-splaining to me how I just don't get the glorious vision of Kathleen Kennedy subverting audience expectations by vacillating between utter laziness and preachy bullshit).

But, somehow - the Marvel Cinematic Universe pulled off the impossible. It stayed the course for 22 movies, with minimum flaws, sticking to the plan, and not churning out a single sub-par entry. Mediocrity was never an option. Even some of the MCU films that weren't quite up to snuff with their comrades are VASTLY better than anything else the imitators are trying to present. I mean, I would happily watch Thor: The Dark World when compared to some of the offerings of other studios lately.

I loved Endgame. I don't know if I'll get to see it in theaters again, but I'd love to. This was a love letter to these characters and this entire series. It went against everything I expected to see, but in a way that I enjoyed. Sure, I expected them to go after Thanos in the aftermath of Infinity War, but to have that confrontation happen and be done within the first act, it's like "Okay, what do we do now?"

We jump ahead five years later and have Scott Lang show up with the Applied Phlebotinum to save the day. That's precisely what we do now.

Who knew those memes about Ant-Man being the hero, rather than Captain Marvel, were actually pretty accurate?

Did I see the time travel plot coming? Nope. Did I enjoy it? Hell yes, I did! It was even explained fairly well (using pop culture references as well as scientific explanations in a way that the audience could follow. I appreciated that effort).

Remember what I said about this movie being a love-letter to all the movies that came before? This is how you make that work. The first Avengers movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, every Captain America movie, Doctor Strange, even Thor: The Dark World had a nod within this sequence (Thor reunited with his mom here was great). And in between, there are nods to other moments in the MCU and how it all connects together. This makes me want to re-watch all of the MCU movies in order, and now I'm not under a time-crunch to do it in. I can do it at a leisurely pace and enjoy myself as I do.

A few things that I did know going in, but I didn't really have context for - I knew about Thor letting himself go, but I didn't know that it was because of his guilt for not "going for the head." But the joy on his face when he finds out he's "still worthy" of Mjolnir - that was worth it. Also, I knew Black Widow died, but the reason for it and how it went down, was absolutely gut-wrenching.

Nebula was outstanding, even with the problem of her inadvertently alerting Thanos to the Avengers' plans (who knew that future!Nebula would have been on the same outer-space-wifi network as past!Nebula?) I loved that she got the chance to shine in the fight against Thanos. I'm even more excited that she's not only a Guardian of the Galaxy, but also an Avenger (but it's Karen Gillan - I already have a soft spot for her in general).

Banner-Hulk was adorable, as was Rocket (though I ought not to let him hear me say that). Tony's little family was unexpected, but lovely. I'm glad that he and Pepper finally got to live their lives together - also that Pepper finally gets what makes Tony tick. Seeing her as Rescue in the ending was great.

The cavalry at the end - everyone coming in through those portals behind Cap when he's facing down Team Thanos, seemingly on his own. If nothing else, THAT is what I mean when I say this movie - this whole series - stuck the landing. Nothing short of everybody showing up was going to be satisfactory enough. And it didn't feel like they were just throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck. It actually WORKED (with a few minor exceptions that I will mention shortly, but those were hardly enough to be a bother).

Cap lifting Mjolnir was amazing. But what was even more amazing was Thor shouting "I knew it!" Meaning that he wasn't jealous of Steve's worth - they're a team and they all had common goals. But admit it - seeing Cap control Thor's lightning was pretty kickass.

Everyone reuniting with their friends - Scott and Hope, Tony and Peter Parker (oh man pull out the tissues for THAT one), Steve and Sam and Bucky, Groot and Rocket, all the Guardians showing up - just everybody. Wanda coming back and being utterly PISSED at Thanos (that was another one that I was cheering to get a good crack at Big Purple Ugly). I admit, I am looking forward to the Wanda/Vision show on Disney Plus.

One minor quibble of a moment that I thought was too on-the-nose and kind of took me out of the story for a bit - the Girl Power thing when Captain Marvel was trying to get the Infinity Gauntlet to Scott's van... eh, was that entirely necessary? I mean, everyone's already shown up to fight this insane threat. Would it really be so bad if, like, Thor or Black Panther or Doctor Strange or Drax helped too? It's not like Scarlet Witch or Wasp or the Wakanda warrior ladies really know this butch chick from outer space. Did they all have some weird estrogen wavelength moment where they all decided they were going to run block for her because, X-chromosome or something?

Then again, Girl Power was a huge deal in the '90s. It's kind of passe at this point.

But that's neither here nor there. It doesn't last that long and soon enough, we're back to everyone fighting toward the same goal - stop Thanos from getting the Infinity Stones again. And, honestly, having Tony be the one to do it was the best way they could have done it. This whole saga started with Iron Man - both in universe and as far as the success of the first Iron Man movie in the real world - he deserved to be the one to finish it. And it made sense - Doctor Strange even said that if he told Tony what he'd seen, it wouldn't happen.

But just that final "I am Iron Man" - I knew it. I mean, I figured that this was going to be RDJ's last hurrah as Tony Stark. And it wouldn't do for him to go out with anything less than a bang. Didn't make it any less heartbreaking (especially considering little Morgan Stark is now without her dad).

And then Cap wraps up the rest of the story by putting all the Infinity Stones back where they need to be - and then he gets to choose what he does with the rest of his life. And THIS - this part right here - this is what sealed the deal for me. Because from Captain America: The First Avenger, I have been the biggest hardcore Steve/Peggy shipper. I didn't get too carried away with it, though, because everything I've seen indicated that it was simply never going to happen. But I adore Steve Rogers and I adore Peggy Carter - both in their own rights as individual characters (honestly, I'd trade any future seasons of Agents of SHIELD for just one more round of Agent Carter). And once Banner and co. were all "Where's Steve?", that's when I knew what he'd done. He retired and went back to find Peggy and live out his life with her.

Funnily enough, I didn't get too weepy at any part of this movie. But at that moment - when Old!Steve came back to bequeath his shield to Sam Wilson and Sam commented on Steve's wedding ring - that's when the waterworks started.

What's weird is that, out of everything that happened in this movie, that's the thing that pissed some people off. Because their Tumblr slashfic of Cap and Bucky didn't get realized on screen. Honestly, if you have a problem with Captain Steve Rogers getting his happy ending with Agent Peggy Carter, First Lady of SHIELD and all-around classy badass, I really don't want to talk to you.

So - who's left? Thor's gone off to be an Guardian of the Galaxy (I think). Banner and Falcon and Bucky are still at Avengers HQ (what's left, anyway). Spider-Man's getting another movie in a couple months. After that, who knows?

And the credits - man, I think anyone who ever had a significant role in this universe got a mention in the credits. Which is more than appropriate. This is the capstone to an insanely ambitious project that started out as a pie-in-the-sky idea and that somehow - through the intervention of Fate, Kevin Feige, and the Disney Company's checkbook - came together and smashed all kinds of preconceptions and traditions in film. It has been imitated from studio boardrooms, but I don't think ANYONE is going to do this again. If the damn Academy could ever get off their high horses and stop huffing their own farts, Team Marvel deserves some kind of special recognition award for pulling this off (they'll never do it, because the Academy is about celebrating their own egos, not anything to do with actual film and culture). This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience, for which I thank all involved for putting this all together.

It all worked. Everything just worked. There's nothing left that I have questions about (at least, nothing that I can accept belongs to future stories). I will probably have other thoughts as I have more time to process the movie. But I'm just feeling great about how this ended. Will I go see more Marvel movies? Um... not sure. I kind of want it to go out on a high note. I don't want to risk it hanging on longer than necessary and getting run into the ground (as inevitably happens with a lot of long-running series, see the list of failures mentioned at the beginning of this post).

But for now - let me enjoy this.

I Am Not a Scolding Librarian, So Please Don't Ask Me To Be

I could blame my lack of blogging on the stresses of being a parent and holding down a job and just general life. But if I really had anything to write about - and that I wanted to share publicly - I could find time to blog. It's just that I haven't had anything I wanted to talk about in front of the entire world. Privately, yes. I guess I'm just kind of over having my personal life and philosophy laid out for all to see and critique.

However, today something happened that's got me connecting a few dots and, yeah, I want to share my conclusions.

When I'm on the reference desk, I get TONS of questions from people. Some are straightforward: Can I help someone find Book X or Movie Y? Can you help me with the printer? Where's your copy machine? Where's the bathroom? Some are a little more complicated, like how to check out an ebook or use the online Consumer Reports database. All fairly manageable and routine. (Though anything that involves calling the police, I hand over to the Librarian in Charge - thankfully those instances have been few and far between in my experience.)

And some are simple on the surface, but then they stick with you all day and makes you worry just a bit.

I had a mother bring her teenage daughter to the library today. Nothing out of the ordinary - lots of parents escort their kids to the reference desk looking for books. But this mom was out to prove a point to her child. The first thing she asked me was if there was anything "like Stephen King in the teen section, but not Stephen King." Meaning something that could be classified as horror, but that wasn't overly graphic in terms of language, sex, and violence. She kept bringing up Stephen King, which clued me into the fact that her daughter liked reading Stephen King, but the mother strenuously objected to it.

Maybe this is more like what she expected to get? I dunno...

Already, I can tell that I am not the librarian this mother wants to take on this task. Sure, Stephen King isn't exactly my cup of tea, but that's not to say he's a horrible writer (just in some cases). He certainly has his fans, nothing wrong with that. But this mother wants me to play the finger-wagging scoldy librarian who will introduce her daughter to the wonders of dusty old "classic" literature that only the high and mighty ever understand (in the service of irony, have a link to an article on that subject). Or at least squeaky-clean literature where no one ever, ever says a bad word or has dirty thoughts and no one ever dies in terrible, violent ways.

If I could have shown this mom the contents of my Kindle, she would have passed out on the fainting couch.

As is my habit in these cases, I turned to talk to the girl. If I had to guess, she's probably 14 or 15. Certainly no younger than 13. I asked her what she liked to read. She didn't want to answer. Okay, maybe a reluctant reader, this is not my first rodeo. What about her favorite TV show? Her answer? Supernatural. Got it - that's something I can work with. What does she like about that show and would she want to read something similar?

I had to pry these answers out of this girl. She looked like she would rather be anywhere else than in front of me with her overbearing mother. Because at this point, Mom jumps in with "But not Stephen King. None of that - ew - gross horror stuff."

(Here I started thinking "I didn't bring up Stephen King, lady. You're the only one mentioning the guy.")

Mom suggests a few titles that I can tell the girl is not going to like. All teen paranormal romance titles, which Mom thinks the girl is going to like because there's vampires and spooky magic stuff in them. The girl is annoyed, but doesn't say anything. Looking back with the benefits of hindsight, it seems this has been a point of some contention and the daughter is tired of trying to make her point.

In the interests of being the helpful librarian (see also: my day job) - I come up with a few ideas. I first bring up Maura McHugh's Twisted Fairy Tales and Twisted Myths, which are both anthologies of traditional fairy tales and classic myths, respectively, with a horror twist (not a far stretch in most cases) that I read during Halloween and enjoy for their macabre atmosphere. Mom put the kibosh on those on the grounds of "That looks too scary."

"Polka will never die!"
(It makes sense in context. Pic from here)

Okaaaaay... how about the Dresden Files? The girl says that she likes Supernatural because the guys investigate things like ghosts and otherworldly creatures. (I can honestly say that I couldn't think of a damn thing in the teen area because it's all Twilight and Hunger Games love-triangle knockoffs.) I even describe the scene in Dead Beat where Harry resurrects a T-rex skeleton in the Museum of Natural History and rides it into battle. And I swear, the girl's eye lit up like a frickin' Christmas tree.

BINGO.

I pulled up the catalog entry with all of Jim Butcher's stuff and the mom asked "Is there bad language and violence?" At most, the Dresden Files contains a handful of swearwords, and very rarely the most objectionable. But even that explanation didn't fly here. Honestly, I probably should have lied and said that Harry Dresden is a paragon of the moralest of moral virtues and never says anything worse than "shucky-darn" (though his best friend, Michael Carpenter, certainly fits that bill - and he's also an awesome badass bonefide paladin soldier of God who owns a magic sword that contains a nail from the Cross. Oh man - and the relationship between his wife, Charity, and their daughter, Molly, would have probably hit home for this girl. Maybe she'll pick up the series on her own. I sure hope so).

This whole back and forth was really frustrating for me, and I could tell the girl was getting upset too. I so wanted to tell this girl to come back later without her mother and we'd talk. Or that I could have told Mom to go peruse the parenting aisle for a few minutes while I helped her daughter find something that she'd be interested in reading. As it was, I managed to find a kind of compromise with "The Last Apprentice" by Joseph Delaney. At least it was in the teen area.

And here's the deal - I can pretty much guarantee that this girl is going to read and watch what she pleases behind her mother's back. I know because I did that (the statute of limitations has far run out on these "crimes"). I had Sailor Moon on recorded VHS tapes and Animorphs books that I bought with my own money and that I had stashed away in a bottom drawer and in the back of my closet. Now, I wouldn't say my parents were overbearing about my reading habits - but there were a few things they didn't quite approve of at the time. But if I could do that in a time before the internet was ubiquitous and smartphones and ebooks weren't even a thing, what are today's teenagers going to get away with? And spare me the pearl-clutching, panic-inducing, scare-tactic, click-bait, pop-up-ad-riddled articles proclaiming this app or this website is going to eat our children in one painful swallow. While your concern is appreciated, your gullibility is less laudable. Correct it.

(Apologies to Lois McMaster Bujold with that last sentence.)

Here I come to where I start to connect the dots - I subscribe to a philosophy that more ideas, not less, is the ideal. Let people - adults, teens, kids - learn about things for themselves. True, you have to take into account maturity levels with certain subjects and materials. You can be a responsible adult and allow kids to experience these ideas and still do it in a safe and controlled (note, not controlling) environment.

But this Puritanical moral guardian panic attitude helps precisely no one. It didn't work in the '80s when parents groups were freaking out about D&D and saying that a game of make-believe is going to lead to their kids worshipping Satan. It didn't work in the early 2000s when parents thought Harry Potter was going to lead their kids to worshipping Satan. It's not working now when social justice scolds think a mention of Native American culture in a kids' book is going to lead kids to turn into bigots and worship... whatever their shitty version of Satan is.

I don't have to like everything that I put in a patron's hand. There have been times where helping a patron find a particular book has pissed me off so badly because I hated the book that they were looking for and my instinct was to warn them away from it. But by damn, if that's what they're looking for, I will help them find it and let them read it. I will save my internal rants for when I get home. There should be something in every public library that will piss off at least one person. If we tried to keep our libraries free of inoffensive content for everyone, we wouldn't have a damn thing on the shelves.

People probably associate me with the ultra-conservative religious right as far as politics go. In some ways, that is true. However, there is a lot that has caused me to diverge more into the small-l libertarian ways of thinking (and before some jackass starts, I really have no opinion about legalized pot one way or the other, so don't even ask). Meaning, you leave me alone, I leave you alone, and you can do as you wish as long as you don't steal from, injure, or kill somebody. Pretty straightforward.

(An acquaintance once characterized it thusly: "I want my gay-married neighbors to be able to protect their pot garden with AR-15s.")

And yet, there are people who not only want to police what they themselves say, do, and think, but they want to make rules for what we ALL say, do, and think. I used to be a little more secretive about the media I enjoyed, but that made me feel like some kind of criminal (or at least a junkie that had to indulge her bad habits on the sly). But I've come to a point in my life where I don't give a crap if people know that I read trashy romance novels or watch anime or read books with violence and bad language, but have interesting stories and well-written characters. If they want to scold me for my choices, that says a lot more about them than it will ever say about me.

I've sure come a long way from that scared kid trying to navigate middle school and endure snotty comments and snide looks from her classmates. With any luck, this girl that I tried to help will also learn some valuable lessons along the way.

Sigh... I can only do so much. Which is why I plan to let my kid's friends come over and read whatever they like, especially if it's something their parents give them crap about. I'll even provide the snacks. Probably won't make me popular with the adults in the neighborhood, but I'm starting to learn that social sphere is kind of overrated.

Jared Watches Sailor Moon Crystal: Episode 13 - Final Battle, Reincarnation

***Note: Yep. I'm back. It only took me a year and a half, but I FINALLY got to the next part. Hope people are still around to enjoy this.***

***

Last time...

...oh yeah... that...

Me: She did get him in the chest.

Jared: Yeah, but not that deeply.

Quick montage of the princess and her prince and living new lives, falling in love.

Usagi (inner monologue): I know we will always find one another. And we will fall in love... all over again...

Jared: But you left the Crystal in the hands of the bad guy!

Eternal love, be together... blah, blah, blah...

Jared: That's gonna hurt when she lands on it...

CLANG!

Jared: What? That shouldn't have happened!

Anime physics? Meaning, there are none. Physics, I mean.

Me: You're analyzing the trajectory of where she jabbed the sword into her stomach?

Jared: ... yeah...?

Cue "Moon Pride" - and away we go!

The Guardians finally land and lament the pathetic repeat of history. Suddenly, the Silver Crystal appears and starts growing and engulfing Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask.

Sailor Mars: We can't allow it to grow! Not in the Dark Kingdom!

Jared: Okay... why? That's something new.

The Crystal grows and grows and grows - until it's so big that no one can do anything about it.

Jared: It's the size of a bus now. What are you going to do?

Queen Metalia begins to feed off the growing Crystal. And she even gloats about it.

Jared: HOOOOOOOOOSED!

Seriously - this Crystal is like a freaking nuclear bomb. It doesn't care where the power it feeds on is coming from. It's neither good nor evil. It just... is.

Which begs the question: Why is a fourteen-year-old girl its caretaker?

Queen Metalia: I have all the energy I need! And I shall have the Crystal too!

Luna (coming through a portal with Artemis): No you won't!

Jared: What are the cats going to do??

Queen Metalia: Foolish cat!

Jared: I'm going to have to agree with the bad guy here. I mean, you're a cat! Sure you can talk and type on keyboards and stuff. You're still a cat!

Flashback to Luna talking to Queen Serenity.

Queen Serenity: Luna, promise me that you'll watch over the Princess.

Jared: So is she actually a fairy, then?

Me: I think she just had a really big bow on her back. But maybe.

Back in Present Day, Queen Metalia disappears and leaves the Sailor Guardians and the cats to figure out what to do next. The girls then teleport away.

Jared: You left the sword! You know, the powerful thing?

Luna, injured from her fight with Queen Metalia, asks Artemis to take her to the Moon so she can be near the site of the palace ruins. And... they leave without the holy sword too.

Jared: You left the sword too! Honestly, people!

And cats.

The girls arrive at their destination. Sailor Venus has some... observations to make.

Sailor Venus: We're in the Arctic Circle. Shouldn't there be ice?

Jared: Wait, THERE'S NO LAND THERE! The Arctic Circle is in the middle of the ocean.

Queen Metalia shows up and acts evil.

Sailor Guardians: Queen Metalia!

Jared: Nah, it's the Easter Bunny.

Queen Metalia: Now I have the power of the Legendary Silver Crystal within me!

Jared: Hey look, she turned into a Haunter.

Queen Metalia continues to be menacing and evil. She spreads her evil power all over the earth. People react in various ways - shock, fear, disbelief, becoming Metalia-zombie-clones and attack others.

No, seriously. That happens.

Jared: Well, that was creepy.

Yeah, it's pretty bad all the way around. Even the Sailor Guardians have given up. But then - of course - the girls remember that Usagi is their best friend and she is Happiness and Hope Personified.

Jared: At least they're consistent with the whole "Power of Love" thing.

The girls decide to give up all their power to help Usagi beat Queen Metalia and it's very awe-inspiring and stuff. Usagi, still trapped inside Queen Metalia's evilness, wakes up and slowly realizes what is going on. More or less.

Sailor Moon: The Legendary Silver Crystal!

Jared: Got a lot smaller again.

Just beyond the Crystal, Usagi sees Mamoru who is still unconscious. Also, his pocketwatch is floating in the ether and it's broken.

Sailor Moon: His pocketwatch? It stopped the sword from running me through.

Jared: The sword that breaks diamonds. Uh-huh.

Queen Metalia starts doing something... really weird and disturbing. Usagi fights her off and a lot of sparkly things and choir music take over and push away Queen Metalia's power. Mamoru wakes up and he's not brainwashed anymore (yaaay). It all happens kind of fast.

Jared: That was fairly anti-climactic.

Queen Metalia: [growls, starts flying around in all her scary evil gloriousness]

Jared: There we go!

The Silver Crystal floats near Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. Mamoru, showing a moment of clarity, reaches up and takes it before Metalia can capture it again.

Jared: Glad someone finally grabbed the stupid thing. Letting it hang about like that, pffft.

Then a lot of crazy stuff happens, including the Shitennou coming back to life and giving Mamoru an important info dump that I really wish could have been set up better. Sigh... they really didn't handle this Generals thing very well. I guess new story ideas for Sailor Moon doesn't sell purses or lip gloss or visits to fancy themed cake shops in Japan. Oh well...

Anyway, turns out the spirits of the guys were actually responsible for keeping the sword from killing Tuxedo Mask when Sailor Moon tried to stab him.

Mamoru: You stopped the sword from piercing my heart!

Jared: Yeah, from Sailor Moon! Seriously, what was her plan??

Sailor Moon is not known for her logic and reason.

Meanwhile, Usagi and Mamoru start to get all sweet and lovey all of a sudden. Their royal alter-egos take over for a bit, too. 

Jared: ... is there really time for this in the middle of a fight?

Me: There's always time for this, dear. Especially in magical girl anime.

Mamoru: Remember, aim for the star on Queen Metalia's forehead.

Jared: What do you mean "remember"? This is the first she's hearing of it!

Sailor Moon gears up to take out Queen Metalia for good... and then we get left on a cliffhanger. 

Jared: That's an interesting place to end!

Well... hopefully it doesn't take me another year and a half to get to the next one. #Oops.

***
Next Time: Episode 14 - Conclusion and Commencement, Petite Etrangere

Previously: Episode 12 - Enemy, Queen Metalia

Seven Day Break From Fake

Last Sunday, President Russell M. Nelson challenged youth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to (among several other things) do a week-long "fast" from social media. The devotional where that challenge was issued is summarized in this video -



Here's President Nelson's full quote from his talk (the entire text of which can be read here) -

So, my first invitation to you today is to disengage from a constant reliance on social media by holding a seven-day fast from social media. I acknowledge that there are positives about social media. But if you are paying more attention to feeds from social media than you are to the whisperings of the Spirit, then you are putting yourself at spiritual risk—as well as the risk of experiencing intense loneliness and depression. You and I both know youth who have been influenced through social media to do and say things that they never would do or say in person. Bullying is one example.
Another downside of social media is that it creates a false reality. Everyone posts their most fun, adventurous, and exciting pictures, which create the erroneous impression that everyone except you is leading a fun, adventurous, and exciting life. Much of what appears in your various social media feeds is distorted, if not fake. So give yourself a seven-day break from fake!
Choose seven consecutive days and go for it! See if you notice any difference in how you feel and what you think, and even how you think, during those seven days. After seven days, notice if there are some things you want to stop doing and some things you now want to start doing.
This social media fast can be just between you and the Lord. It will be your sign to Him that you are willing to step away from the world[...] 

Now, if hundreds of thousands of 12-18 year olds can be challenged to give up Facebook and Twitter, there's no reason that I - a 30+ adult who did not grow up on the internet - couldn't do it too. When I heard of this challenge from President Nelson, I'd already been thinking of trying to find a way to scale back my social media usage.

Since Tiny was born 10 months ago (and since I was fired from COTR), I have taken the internet equivalent of a machete to my social media feeds - particularly Facebook and Twitter. But even with the mass unfollowing/unfriending of pages and people that just flat-out pissed me off, irritating crap still managed to get put up on my feeds. Even from people who are usually quite positive. Political talk is the worst offender, but it's also the idiotic click-bait stuff is a huge problem.

So, seven days. Could I do it?

One of my techniques was to move my Facebook and Twitter apps on my phone. I didn't delete them, but I just put them somewhere else. Not seeing them in their usual spot reminded me that I was working toward a goal. It was actually quite easy to remember to stay off Facebook and Twitter. Even when I was wondered what someone in my family was doing, I would just call or text them.

And I read a lot more, too. I'd use Kindle or Libby or Audible to read (or listen to) a book instead of finding the latest outrage hit being pushed by my Facebook feed. It was so much more calming.

The one night I had a hard time with it was Thursday night. I've also been fighting off a cold this past week and Thursday night is when it hit me the worst. I just wanted something mindless to distract me from being sick. Instead, I turned on Perfect Strangers reruns on Hulu (Tiny likes watching that show. Trust me - I tried to get him interested in a kids' show that night and he was not having it. But watching Larry and Balki's antics? Yep. That did the trick. Sometimes, I can't explain my child at all).

The best reflection I could come up with happened when I was checking Facebook and Twitter in the wee hours of the morning when I was up with Tiny (around 4:30, I think). I hadn’t been back on five minutes when I saw something that made me want to throttle somebody. That contrast, more than anything else, told me everything I needed to know about my relationship with social media.

All week, I didn't get mad about anything I couldn't control. I don't have regular TV, so I didn't watch the news. No headlines crafted to incite the anger junkies and keep them addicted to the click-bait sites and their insane pop-up ads. I was more present in my own life. I spent more time focused on my family and their needs. My mental health was so much better. More than anything, that was worth the effort.

Also - and this may lose me some librarian cred, but I don't care - being informed is hardly the virtue that it's made out to be anymore. Even if I kept up with all the current events in the world - what am I going to be able to do about it? All I'm going to do is sit and stew about it and lose sleep over it. And here's a dirty little secret I've gleaned from working in news (both recently and years ago) - but the news isn't about telling people what's going on. Even professional news outlets try to find the most outrageous and sensational gossip and maddening things they can report on. It gets hits and clicks and eyeballs and makes tons of money. There could be something worthwhile in that pile of garbage, but my motivation to find it has been completely shattered.

Sturgeon's Law is a thing for a reason, peeps.

Anyway, life without social media is lovely. I’m not beholden to some dopey curly-headed robot parading around as a college kid who thinks all his money entitles him to dictate the things I read and see in my feeds. My time is my own again. I’m more present for others. I’m not bound by the shallow scaremonger headlines and clickbait quizzes and inane crap that people think is a matter of Life and Death.

If I want to know something, I look it up specifically and get what I need. Pinterest - for all it’s froofy weirdness - is actually a handy organizational tool. Saving things on Facebook doesn’t work. But if I find a recipe (for example) that I want to try, I save it to my Pinterest board and I’ve actually tried a bunch of things there. I actually feel more personally enriched when I specifically look for a piece of information, than if I just sit back and let an arbitrary feed dump it into my brain.

I don't really care what other people decide to do with their social media presence. And I don't intend to completely get off social media - it does serve some positive purpose for me. I keep in touch with my family and friends, I do things for the podcast on social media, I keep track of events and things like that. But I can do without getting sucked into the pointless drama.

'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' and the Politics of the Perpetually Aggrieved

I have not yet seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I have no opinion about it yet. There are people who I respect who love the movie, and there are people who I respect who hate the movie. So far, I've managed to keep my backside firmly planted on that fence in the middle - purely because I haven't seen the film yet. Though I will say that I haven't been quite so religious in avoiding spoilers. Still, without context or seeing it on the big screen, it doesn't really matter that I kinda, sorta know what happens.

But this post isn't entirely about Star Wars or any fandom in particular. This post is an observation about society in general and how it seems like everybody - and I do mean everybody - is always spoiling for a fight over the most idiotic stuff. Not only looking to fight, but to make these fights personal. Like, if you don't agree with someone on a particular topic, you are somehow morally obligated to insult them, their mother, their dog, their car, their ancestors all the way back to Adam, and the single-celled organisms from which their lineage spawned.

Really, people? Really?

I'm sure you've seen the posts about "How to Handle Your Crazy Uncle Who Voted For [Insert Political Candidate Here] At Thanksgiving." I mean, we're letting politics dictate how we associate with family members. Politics. Something run by people that are complete strangers, but for their presence in the daily news, and that demand our unswerving loyalty because... voting or something. Hell, I don't know. But politics makes people lose their freaking minds and I'm sick of it (I include myself in that assessment. I'm really trying my best to stay out of it these days).

Here's a newsflash - whether you love the person in charge or hate his stinking guts (and it doesn't matter which "he" I'm referring to - there have been 45 of them. Pick one. The ones from my lifetime have been kind of crappy, truth be told), the president is not God. No politician is. No politician has  have the power to completely ruin your life or give you the most perfect existence in this mortal coil. I would appreciate it if people on both sides would stop acting like it.

I know, I know. I'm asking for waaaaaaay too much. I'd have a better chance of Santa Claus bringing me a sparkly purple unicorn that farts $20 bills and vomits ice cream.

Somehow, all of these online political fistfights have taken over pop culture as well. Somewhere along the line, it became virtuous for celebrities to voice their political opinions and make their fans feel like crap if they disagreed. Same with directors, writers, etc. Then there were the big-name fans who like to rub it in because it inflates their egos and they're getting paid to props these other egos up as well. And some fans took it to heart. Maybe they boycotted the movies. Maybe they went into the movie expecting it to be horrible and then they'd be justified in their hatred of it. Maybe they went on to create stories that similarly shoved overly-preachy message fic in our faces, just in the other direction.

Personally, I hate that pop culture has to be saturated with politics. I go to movies and read books to get away from that insanity. Call me a wimp - but maybe I just don't have the mental fortitude for 24/7 outrage (probably why I lost my COTR job - I just couldn't fake being angry at everything in the whole freaking world like my co-workers always seemed to be). I do like to take a break once in a while (or permanently). Turning my brain off to watch two-and-a-half hours of space battles and lightsaber fights is infinitely more preferable to watch two pompous blowhards yell at each other on TV and pretend they're debating anything of value.

This is what I say to that (and anyone else telling me to pick one side or the other) -



I have come to hate the phrase "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." Like paying attention to every little stupid thing that happens is what I should aspire to. Guess what? I don't want to pay attention. I want to ignore the news. Being "informed" has become a hindrance, rather than something useful. For all of Facebook's insistence on constantly changing their interface because they have nothing better to do, I wish they'd give us the option to turn off that idiotic "Trending News" box. I don't give a crap what news is "trendy." I never cared about trendy stuff when I was a kid, what makes you think I want to know about the trendy news now that I'm an adult?

Sigh... anyway... where was I with this? Oh yes - Star Wars.

Look, I know it's become cool to pick apart things that people like. Even "fans" of Star Wars pick it apart. First, it was that the prequel were bad - the original trilogy was the only thing worth watching. Well... except Return of the Jedi had those goofy Ewoks. And in A New Hope, Luke's super-whiny. But Empire - now THAT is Star Wars. That movie is PERFECT.

Wait... doesn't Leia kiss Luke in that one? They're siblings! HOW COULD THAT BE???

See? Picky, picky, picky. "Fans" seem to be more about picking things apart and hating on everything, rather than enjoying what you love.

It's fine to acknowledge flaws and missteps. It's even good to recognize that there's room to improve. But when you do that at that expense of also recognizing the good things they did, then you're just beating the dead horse alive (yes, that's what I meant). It's why I like this Nostalgia Critic video -



And the YouTube channel CinemaWins is a great one for this as well. Finding the mistakes in anything is easy. Finding things to praise and be complimentary about has become a lost art.

Which brings me around to that pesky political topic. Leave aside any political parties or even politicians (they're all scum anyway) - think about your friends and family. Are you going to throw away valuable relationships over a political disagreement? Unless your relationship is purely based on political views (and that is a pathetic thing to base any sort of personal relationship on at all), it's not worth alienating people you care about just because they voted for X and you voted for Y and someone else voted for Z.

For the record - I don't consider that I won or lost in the last election. I knew it was a losing prospect for me to try either way, so I took a third option. Both the main choices sucked and I was doing the best I could with what I was given. In my former day job, I wrote to represent my employers, since speaking my honest opinion wasn't something they seemed to be interested in (to put it mildly). Dishonest? Probably. I didn't enjoy it. The pay was good. There is good money to be made in feeding people's outrage. But clearly, my tactics didn't work. Judge me as you will - everyone else already has. I learned my lesson. I'm staying out of it. I'm just praying it sticks.

I'm not saying you have to give up your viewpoints if you don't want to. Just because I'm washing my hands of the whole mess doesn't mean you have to. But realize there are other things in life than politics. Same goes for pop culture. Not everything has to be dripping with political campaign messages. Luke Skywalker is not a stand-in for [Insert Favored Politician Here]. He wouldn't even know what Earth politics are like - he's never been to Earth! He's got bigger problems to worry about than who is running Washington DC, anyway (it's rough being the last Jedi in existence, I'm sure).

This plea is probably falling on deaf ears. Being angry and yelling on Twitter at people that you don't even know can be a lot of fun in the moment. It's even cathartic to vent on social media. You've probably heard some variation of the phrase "Anger is the devil's cocaine." It's addictive and it's easy to be mad all the time, even though it doesn't feel all that great. Being happy and positive feels better, but it's more work. A prominent leader in my church once gave a talk called "The Canker of Contention." I would highly recommend reading his talk, whether you're religious or not.

What I'm getting at is that I'm sick of all the fighting. Whether it's over politics or Star Wars or anything else. There's enough trouble in the world without going to look for it where there is functionally none. And honestly, whoever you're mad at probably didn't even mean to be insulting. What happened to giving people the benefit of the doubt? I worry that I give that benefit out too much, and when it comes time for me to be granted the same, I'll have to deal with somebody who refuses to cut me any sort of slack. Doesn't mean I won't stop.

There is contention in this world, true. But we don't have to participate in it. Instead of looking to famous people to be our role models, why not be the role model you'd want to see? That's so much easier to control.

And now it's late and I have things to do in the morning (and a baby that will probably be awake in a few hours). Sure wish my brain would stop having ideas so late at night...

The Great Review Roundup

As is probably very apparent, my blogging time has been next-to-nonexistent lately. Taking care of a new baby, going back to work, and having my husband finishing up his second-to-last semester of grad school has taken up most of my time, energy, and attention. All good things, of course. But I do miss writing (and this time, it's purely for myself. I don't have to pretend what my opinion is in order to make someone else look good. I can be completely honest in my thoughts again. I'd almost forgotten what that felt like).

What follows is a list of fandom-related things that I've read/seen/listened to/watched and want to comment on. They are in no particular order, just whatever order I remember them.

Once Upon a Time - Remember how I used to faithfully review each episode every week? Yeah... I've certainly fallen off the wagon there. And I can't fully blame my time constraints for this. There's just nothing about the show lately that makes me want to write about it. It's not fantastic, it's not a trainwreck. It's just kind of... meh. It's a retread of everything they did before - and better. This season has been one giant "We've gotta pull something together because, the network." There are some entertaining moments, but on the whole, it's nothing to write home about.

Sigh... so much potential wasted.

Honestly, this season has been an extended cut of Mean Girls with magic. Victoria Belfrey, Ivy, Mother Gothel - even Tiana and Jacinda to an extent. None of these characters resonate with me. Very few of them are even likable. Lucy's storyline was great, but they keep forgetting that she's around. Now they've knocked her out, as well as destroyed her belief in fairy tales and happy endings.

What the actual hell??

Oh, and Cinderella's evil stepmother is actually Rapunzel. Sigh... remember how I was pissed to the nth degree over "Peter Pan is Rumplestiltskin's father"? With this, I can barely muster up enough emotion to raise an eyebrow. I blame ABC for keeping this show running when the creators were happy to bow out gracefully last year.

Dune (1984) - Jared and I watched this last night. I've read the book, but not recently. And I must have seen the miniseries many years ago, because I did not remember anything from this movie. The movie looks beautiful. The sets, the costuming, the design, the art - even some of the effects look good. The first half of the movie is even plotted pretty well. But then the House of Scabby Gingers attacks and the storytelling kind of falls apart. I can't fault them too much for it, though. Adapting any book for a two-hour movie is a chore, and Dune is a complicated story even in book form. It strikes me as one that would be better served as a TV series. Watching this movie is like watching Harry Potter - you aren't there for the faithful adaptation or even the coherent storytelling. You're there for the pretty sets and costumes - the things you imagined when you were reading the book.

Still - there are worse ways to spend an evening.


Doctor Who - I have the most unpopularest opinions of unpopular opinions about the upcoming season: I'm not that excited for it. And it has nothing to do with the gender of the lead character (before any obnoxiously "woke" blowhard dipshit decides that's what my opinion is and rushes to close the clubhouse door on me. Like I need the internet to approve my fandom before I can watch this show. What are you going to do? Sneak into my house and steal my DVDs? Delete my Big Finish collection? Please).

The Christmas special? I'm here for it!

Chris Chibnall has not engendered much confidence as far as his Doctor Who writing has gone. The only episode of his that I really liked was "The Power of Three." The rest were forgettable. Not bad, necessarily. Just... forgettable. Yes, I liked the first season of Broadchurch, but I'm probably never going to rewatch it. And I couldn't get into the second season, or even Gracepoint, so that was a bust for me.

Now, that's not to say I'm not going to give him and Jodie Whittaker a chance. I wasn't all that impressed with Moffat's final season - though he did have a strong finish. Peter Capaldi has been a fantastic Doctor, but much of the writing in his era has not served him well. A change-up is what Doctor Who needs right now. I just hope that the changes that Chibnall brings are what's needed to keep the show fresh.

And I'll explain what I mean by "keeping the show fresh." Just last week, I had occasion to pick up DWM 518 (the December 2017 issue, if I'm remembering correctly) from the library. I kind of just skipped around the magazine, looking for interesting things to read (or passing on the things that didn't hold my attention). I wasn't going to read the comic, having been unimpressed with previous DWM comics. But this time, I read through it. The comic, titled "Matildus," was absolutely brilliant. And I am going to thoroughly spoil it for you, so deal with it -

The Twelfth Doctor and Bill land on a planet with a giant and ancient library (not that Library, completely different one). The library is kept by an old alien woman named Matildus. She's stern and kind of prickly, but she helps the Doctor with some questions he has. Though her prickly nature does cause Bill to leave the library and go out into the city. Bill is subsequently caught by a gang of street kids who tell her that Matildus used to be a kind (still stern) woman who let them hang out in the library (as long as they read the books she recommended - that made me laugh). But now she's chased them off and become a totally different person. The kids think there's something nefarious going on because nobody's gone in or out of the library in months - Bill's the first person they've seen come or go.

Meanwhile, Matildus's "granddaughter" who's been helping her maintain the library isn't her granddaughter at all. It's an evil alien entity that's trying to take control of the library with all its information and knowledge. The entity has been trying to convince Matildus that she's too old and senile to be the head librarian, so she should sign control of the library to her granddaughter - except she doesn't have a granddaughter. The Doctor and Bill reveal the entity's evil plan and the entity flees. But Matildus realizes that she's been too absorbed by her work that she doesn't have anyone close to her. No family, friends, or even colleagues. She's pushed everyone away (even before the alien entity was messing with her mind). But then the kids come rushing in and insist that she has them. It's happy endings all around - these street kids have someone who cares about them, and Matildus has an adopted family to share her life with.

I loved this story - not just because it takes place in a library and that hits all my warm-fuzzies in the right places, but that it's something that everyone can relate to. Wanting a family, wanting to share your life with somebody, not wanting to be alone forever. And it's the Scrooge trope - a mean-spirited and closed-off person learns to love and let people into their life. Maybe it's the Christmas season (though this wasn't a Christmas-themed story), but that made me feel good.

That's what I've been missing from Doctor Who - stories that make me feel good. I don't need overly-sweet and soppy storytelling, but something wholesome and heartwarming would be nice for once. Lately, Who has felt entirely too preachy and heavy-handed and I'm sick of that. Whatever you may think of the world at large (and there are a lot of crappy things going on in the world, I will not dispute that) - I think we need something positive and uplifting. Besides, if you really believe that world events are too much to overcome and nothing good is ever going to happen (I wouldn't go that far, but some people would), wouldn't you want to try to bring something good to people? Something that we can all agree with? I'm tired of all this divisiveness and arguing. I want something that most of us can agree on. Doctor Who is capable of such storytelling - it's why I fell in love with the show in the first place. More "Vincent and the Doctor" and "Closing Time", less "Oxygen" and... whatever the hell that monk three-parter was. Please and thank you.

I'll give the show a chance - I hope I will be proven wrong and that my concerns are unfounded. I would love to come out of Series 11 and say that it was the greatest thing since two-slotted toasters. But I'm not terribly confident right now.

Oh, and the 13th Doctor's costume looks like she's a five-year-old doesn't know how to dress herself. Speaking of unpopular opinions... (good grief, people - you made this big stink about casting a woman to play the Doctor and the first thing you do is dress her so she doesn't even look like a woman?? WTH is wrong with you???)

The coat is neat, though.

Okay, that's enough of that. On with my list!

Gate - Jared and I found this anime on Hulu and we enjoyed it immensely (seriously - if you want to find new anime to watch, Hulu is a good place to find it. And, yes, I know about Crunchyroll. They have great stuff too).

The premise goes thusly: A medieval fantasy empire tries to invade modern-day Japan during a comic convention. Horses, swords, magic, the whole shebang. A guy named Itami on his way to the convention, but he also happens to be a reservist in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. He helps get people out of harm's way and helps stop the invasion before it starts. It turns out there's a magical gate that's opened between these worlds and both the fantasy empire and modern governments want to establish diplomatic relations. The JSDF does send a team through the gate to establish an outpost in the "Special Region" - and because Itami was there during the initial attack, he get promoted to officer and he's one of the guys in charge (poor guy just wants to stay home and read comics). In the Special Region, Itami meets elves, wizards, princesses, even a demigoddess. Both cultures learn about each other and try to get along - though there are good guys and bad guys in both worlds.

The first half of this show was hilarious and charming. The second half is where most of the gritty conflict takes place, and it is no less entertaining. Definitely worth checking out.

The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter - This is the fourth book in the Riyria Chronicles by Michael J. Sullivan (I reviewed/gushed about his first series, the Riyria Revelations, here. The Riyria Chronicles is a prequel series dealing with Royce and Hadrian's earlier exploits). I'm currently listening to the audiobook and it is a treat - though I would expect no less from this series. There was a Kickstarter for it that just ended and I have to give the whole team big-time props for the way it was run. I haven't backed a whole lot of Kickstarters, so I don't know how this one compares with others. But every time there was a behind-the-scenes update, they made sure the backers knew what was going on. Even to the point of sending us relevant pieces of correspondence from Audible when it looked like the redeem codes for the audiobooks weren't going to work quite right (though I was able to get my audiobook from Audible without any problems, so I appreciate that even more).

I haven't gotten my limited edition hardcover copy of the book, but I don't think they've shipped yet. I'm sure once they do ship, I'll get it the way I expect to. This is a quality operation and, when you're running a business like this, a little praise is appreciated greatly. And they deserve it.

Oh, and the book is fantastic! Don't worry if you haven't read the first three yet, or even the first series - all of these are standalone enough that you can jump in wherever you like. But once you read one, you'll want to read them all. If you don't have time to read, the audiobooks are great too. The narrator does a lovely job.

Cozy Mysteries - Now that I'm back working at the library, I've been trying to expand my horizons (as it were) with different genres. Trying out things that I wouldn't normally read. And I think I've found something new that I love - cozy mysteries. I didn't think I would enjoy these, but here we are.

Cozy mysteries are light-hearted mysteries that usually deal with solving a murder, but I've run into a few that deal with theft and fraud. That juxtaposition shouldn't work, but it does. The stories usually revolve around a regular person - usually a woman - who gets thrust into an impossible situation and has to find out what's going on with her neighbor or co-worker or family member. A lot of cozies revolved around things like quilt shops, libraries, food, small boutiques. To start off with, I read Lemon Tart by Josi S. Kilpack - the first of the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mysteries (all of the books in this series have desserts in the titles, plus there are a bunch of recipes in the story). That one was a lot of fun, though her neighborhood is beyond dysfunctional. I also read And Only to Deceive, the first in the Lady Emily Mysteries series by Tasha Alexander. This one's a historical mystery where Lady Emily suspects her late husband was dealing in art fraud and she tries to find out the truth. All the while, her mother badgers her about getting remarried because how could a young, rich widow not get remarried (though I have been spoiled on the fact that she does remarry eventually).

Cozy mysteries - give 'em a try.

Music - As I've mentioned on Facebook, Alex loves to listen to Queen. He falls asleep listening to all the Queen music I have on repeat on an iPod playlist I created after we figured this out. Consequently, my knowledge of the band and their music has increased considerably since Alex was born. I think my favorite song of theirs that I've discovered (few things can beat out "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" overall. Or "The Show Must Go On," for that matter) is "The Invisible Man." I'd never heard this song until I pulled up a YouTube playlist of Queen music and I thought the accompanying video was just a lot of fun -



Other notable tunes: Under Pressure, Radio Gaga, Innuendo, Somebody to Love, White Queen

I've tried slowly introducing Alex to other musical artists and while there are some that he seems to responds positively to ("Thunder Island" by Jay Ferguson caught his attention this morning), he always goes back to Queen.

Eh, there are worse things to have to listen to on infinite repeat. Especially where kids are concerned.

That's what I've got for now. I might think of other things later, but that's a good overview.

Jared's Book Reviews: Castles Old Stone Poems - Module 14 Poetry

Title: Castles Old Stone Poems Module 14 Poetry

Genre: Castles Old Stone Poems (Lewis, J. P. and Dotlich, R. K., 2006) i

Book Summary: Castles Old Stone Poems is a collection of poems about famous towers and castles, including The Castle in the Air from Viking legends, the Tower of London, and other famous castles and palaces.

Impressions: The poems are all nicely done, but some stand out a lot more than their fellows. The London Tower with its talks of executions, Bunratty Castle’s poem is more vivid in terms of the fights and blood spilt there, Himeji Castle’s walls built of Japanese ghost stories, images like that really set the best poems apart from the others.

Professional Review: From Booklist (2006)
Castles have a perennial allure for young people, and this illustrated poetry collection celebrates some of the most legendary, from England's Bodiam Castle and the Tower of London to Japan's Himeji Castle and California's Hearst Castle. Each spread focuses on a different location, and the words often reflect a contemporary viewer imagining long-ago life: "What splendor did the maid see / from that window long ago?" Lewis and Dotlich are frank about the bloodshed and terror that are part of the history, when "beheadings were as easy as breathing." Children may need help with some of the allusions ("Windows pierce the sky like hushed haiku," for example) and the historical context. Burr's paintings add immediacy and sense to the words in dramatic scenes of medieval courts and castles, and the extensive appended material includes a bibliography, time line, and background about each site. Suggest this for classroom exercises that show how poetry can help bring history into the present. Gillian Engberg

Library Uses: Some of the poems could be used in storytimes about knights and castles, or in programs to help kids or teens write their own poems. Given the more martial elements of the poems it could be a good way to make poems cool for boys too.

Readalikes: David Macauly’s Castle would be a great book to pair with this collection of poems, with its detailed and beautiful drawings adding context and life to the poems about castles. On a more poetic note, any of Shel Silverstein’s books of poems would be good books to recommend as well. It wouldn’t work for all readers, and some would need help from parents, but readers who enjoyed these poems could potentially highly enjoy Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s the Lady of Shalott.

References
Engberg, G. (2006). Castles: Old stone poems. The Booklist, 103(3), 51. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2165/docview/235532088?accountid=7113
Lewis, J. P. and Dotlich, R. K. (2006). Castles Old Stone Poems. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.

Jared's Book Reviews: "Pink and Say" by Patricia Polacco - Module 10 Historical Fiction

Genre: Pink and Say (Polacco, 1994) is a powerful historical book

Book Summary: Pink and Say is the story of a very young Union flag bearer, Say, injured and left for dead after battle, who is found and rescued by a Black teen, Pink, who had also been separated from his unit. They recuperate at Pink’s mothers hut, on the partially burned out remains of the plantation where they were held as slaves. Eventually marauders kill Pink’s mother, and the pair is captured trying to get back to the Union army. Say survives the prison camp and lives a long full live, while Pink is executed almost immediately on arrival at the camp because he is Black. The last bit of the book talks about how the story is true, as Say is the authors ancestor.

Impressions: This is one of the most powerful tales of the Civil War I have read in many a year. As simple and uncomplicated as the language and story are it is very profound and moving. That the protagonists themselves were quite young only adds to the tragedy and heroism of their actions.

Professional Review: From Kirkus Reviews (2017)
A white youth from Ohio, Sheldon Russell Curtis (Say), and a black youth from Georgia, Pinkus Aylee (Pink), meet as young soldiers with the Union army. Pink finds Say wounded in the leg after a battle and brings him home with him. Pink's mother, Moe Moe Bay, cares for the boys while Say recuperates, feeding and comforting them and banishing the war for a time. Whereas Pink is eager to go back and fight against "the sickness" that is slavery, Say is afraid to return to his unit. But when he sees Moe Moe Bay die at the hands of marauders, he understands the need to return. Pink and Say are captured by Confederate soldiers and brought to the notorious Andersonville prison camp. Say is released months later, ill and undernourished, but Pink is never released, and Polacco reports that he was hanged that very first day because he was black. Polacco (Babushka Baba Yaga, 1993, etc; My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, above) tells this story, which was passed down for generations in her family (Say was her great-great-grandfather), carefully and without melodrama so that it speaks for itself. The stunning illustrations -- reminiscent of the German expressionist Egon Shiele in their use of color and form -- are completely heartbreaking. A spectacular achievement. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 4- 8)

Library Uses: A older storytime about the civil war would be a good use of this book, or during Black History Month. Honestly, despite being a picture book this book would be just as useful for a teen program, read aloud with the art up on a projector or big screen tv. The simple and direct narrative would make it even more powerful for teens.

Readalikes: Any number of books on the civil war could be recommended here, along with some other fine picture books about events in roughly the same time period, such Papa’s Mechanical Fish about an attempt at making a submarine in 1851, or Paper Son, Lee’s Journey to America, which talks about a twelve year old orphan emigrating from China to San Francisco.

References
Polacco, P. (1994). Pink and Say. New York, NY: Penguin Young Readers Group.
Kirkus Reviews. (2017). Pink and Say. [Review of the book Pink and Say]. Kirkus Media Reviews, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/patricia-polacco/pink-and-say/

Jared's Book Reviews: "Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein" by Don Brown - Module 12 Biographies

Genre: Odd Boy Out (Brown, 2004) is a simple biography of Albert Einstein, lingering more on his school years than after, fitting for a book intended for children still in school. It also does not delve deeply into his scientific discoveries, which would be too complicated for the intended reading level, nor does it touch on the issues of WWII and how and why Einstein moved to America nor his involvement in the development of atomic weapons.

Book Summary: Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein is a picture book biography of Albert, starting with his unusual size at birth, his moody and angry disposition as a child, and a lot on his schooling, including how he ignored his work and areas that he didn’t care about, with a very brief discussion of his work in the patent office, marriage, children, and a bit about his discoveries.
Impressions: I am somewhat dissatisfied with this book’s focus on his schooling and having so little on his scientific career and adult life. I do think the schooling is important for a book targeted as school age children, but leaving off almost entirely his marriage, children, and the things he studied does the reader a disservice.

Professional Review: From Publishers Weekly (2017)
Brown (Mack Made Movies) shapes an impressionistic portrait of Einstein in his early years, opening with comments of family members gazing upon the newborn (his grandmother says he is "much too fat" and "his mother fears his head is too big"). Writing in the present tense, the author shares anecdotes that reveal young Einstein's character: his temper tantrums scare away his tutor; he brings "a single-minded attention" to such pastimes as building elaborate houses of cards; his parents so encourage his independence that they allow him to wander the streets of Munich alone at the age of four; and the boy early on displays an extraordinary skill at and fascination with mathematics (though other schoolwork bores him). True to the book's title, Brown emphasizes ways in which Einstein fails to fit in with his peers. He dislikes sports, is disturbed rather than excited at the sight of soldiers parading in the street and, as the only Jewish student in school, is taunted by his classmates. The writing occasionally becomes muddy when discussing Einstein's scientific thinking and discoveries ("He says that everything is in motion and when something moves very fast, as fast as light, strange things happen, like clocks running slower and objects becoming shorter"), targeting the book more to kids who identify with the hero's personality traits than to those interested in the man's ideas. But Brown's narrative and appealingly quirky pen-and-ink and watercolor art effectively illuminate the eccentricities and intelligence of Einstein the boy and the man. Ages 4-8.

Library Uses: This book could be useful for any number of STEM programs, inspiration for the kids who might think they aren’t good enough for science fields, or a storytime about famous people.

Readalikes: Gene Barretta has a series of picture book biographies of other famous scientists, such as Neo Leo on da Vinci, and Now and Ben about Benjamin Franklin. Karl, Get Out of the Garden, about Carl Linnaeus would be another interesting kid appropriate biography, about the father of the modern classification system for plants and animals.

References
Brown, D. (2004). Odd Boy Out Young Albert Einstein. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Publishers Weekly. (2017). Odd Boy Out. [Review of the book Odd Boy Out]. PWxyz, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-618-49298-5

Jared's Book Reviews: "Hold Me Closer, Necromancer" by Lish McBride - Module 8 Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Genre: Hold Me Closer Necromancer (McBride, 2010) is a fine example of urban fantasy, that is, a fantasy book set in modern day, in a city where the city setting is an important part of the book. It follows the more common pattern of having the fantastical elements hidden from the world at large, rather than having some explanation for how the world knows about magic and the resulting ways it is different from the real world.

Book Summary: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer’s protagonist is something of a loser, a fry cook college dropout. A chance encounter gets him on the hit list of a powerful necromancer, Douglas, one who seeks to subvert or kill any other necromancers in his domain, usually stealing their powers. After having the still talking head of his friend Brooke dropped on his doorstep delivering an ultimatum from the necromancer Sam learns that at birth his mother had his powers hidden to keep him safe from Douglas.

Kidnapped and caged in the necromancer’s basement, Sam’s only help in trying to escape is Bridin, a lycanthrope teen who is the daughter of the werewolf alpha, and a ghost like Harbinger who looks like a catholic schoolgirl.

Eventually a full battle breaks out, not surprising given Bridin has some rather angry werewolf brothers, and Sam ends up killing Douglas and inheriting his place and power.

Impressions: I really liked this one. While it isn’t entirely unknown for a fantasy series to have a protagonist (or love interest) with ‘bad powers’ (see most paranormal romance ever) this book does it with a little more subtlety, and not to give the protagonist the ‘bad boy’ vibe most paranormal romances are going for.

Professional Review: From Publishers Weekly (2017)
A title this good has a lot to live up to, and debut author McBride proves she's largely up to the task in this scary and irreverent romp. College dropout Sam is underwhelmed by his life as a fast food fry cook, when a game of potato hockey behind the restaurant goes awry and throws him into the sights of an evil and powerful necromancer named Douglas Montgomery. Sam turns out to be a necromancer too, making him Douglas's target for either slavery or death. With help from Brid, a teenage werewolf/fey hybrid who is Douglas's prisoner, and a ghost named Ashley, Sam must figure out how to escape Douglas, keep his loved ones alive, and use his power while avoiding its more horrific aspects. McBride pulls no punches and hits where readers will least expect it; the story can be gory and violent, but isn't gratuitously graphic. A solid start that concludes with the promise of Sam's power growing greater and darker, secrets getting deeper, and more fun to follow. Ages 14–up. (Oct.) 

Library Uses: There is a lot of modern fantasy that is quite popular, this book would go well with a teen program discussing them, maybe titled “modern fantasy… besides Harry Potter,” or something like that.

Readalikes: There are a lot of other fantasy novels that could appeal to readers of this one, though urban fantasy doesn’t seem to be quite as common/popular in YA as opposed to adult fiction. Still, Artemis Fowl could be a good go to series, as well as the Alcatraz Vs. series which, while written for a bit younger audience, is enjoyable by reader of any age. Dan Wells's John Cleaver series would be another good one, with a protagonist with even darker tones than the necromancy of Sam.

References
McBride, L. (2010). Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
Publishers Weekly. (2017). Hold Me Closer Necromancer. [Review of the book Hold Me Closer, Necromancer]. PWxyz, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8050-9098-7