How to use this Page

Welcome to the first Monday of the month, and another episode of Wicked Cool Overlooked Books! I completely missed September somehow -- but I'm back! In honor of Beverly Cleary's 36,526th day on Earth (we have to count the Leap Years, people, come... Read the rest of this post

...drum roll, please: THUG NOTES does THE GIVER and THE HUNGER GAMES.What I love about these is that they're not just summary, but literary criticism as well - good, often deeper-than-I'd-thought-of litcrit, which makes me extremely cheerful. Best... Read the rest of this post

First Wednesday of the Month, kids! Once upon a time we at Wonderland dubbed these find days Wicked Cool Wednesday! In the name of full disclosure, that these things come together in this posting is a total accident, but hey: it's the first... Read the rest of this post

I bought Paula Martinac's Out of Time at a tiny bookstore in my hometown that went out of business fairly soon after it opened. (Honestly I was not surprised, they had such low stock in there I couldn't figure out why they even bothered to open in the first place.) It caught me with the cover and then the jacket copy about a mysterious scrapbook of 1920s photographs and a potential haunting of the main character was enough to make me buy it immediately. I read it and loved it and every few years I reach for it again. The other day I gave it a reread, largely because I have become so preoccupied with the time period due to my own great grandmother's photographs. It is still wonderfully fabulous and if you can luck into a copy (it's out of print), then I strongly urge you to do so.

Susan Van Dine is a professional graduate student (lately working on a doctorate to add to her pile of diplomas) who has no idea what she wants to do with her life but keeps hoping to figure it out. In an antique shop she comes across a scrapbook of 1920s photos, all of four young women, and feels powerfully drawn to it. In the days that follow she begins to suspect she is being subtly haunted by one of the young woman - Harriet - and also realizes the women are two couples. With the help of her girlfriend Catherine, a history teacher and researcher, Susan sets out to learn what she can about Harriet, Lucy (who owned the scrapbook) and their friends. The hauntings become much more real and the mystery of what happened to the four women (and how they met and became friends) deepens. In the end Susan finds herself and Lucy and Harriet (and Sarah and Eleanor) and also learns a ton about what it was like to be a lesbian during the Roaring Twenties.

I loved the history (my favorite period really) but it was Sarah and Catherine's relationship that really drew me into this novel. Rather than have Sarah cast aside her girlfriend as she becomes immersed in the mystery, Martinac lets the characters fight their way through this new obsession and work things out. It's what makes the book such a mature read - the characters act like grown-ups which I found quite refreshing.

But mostly - a scrapbook! Photos from the 1920s! Discussion of women's roles in the 1920s! VISITS TO ARCHIVES!

Yeah, you know why I loved it. Perfect winter reading if you dream of finding treasure in antique stores.

Oh, serendipitous books, you give me such joy. This book you might have missed, as it's a quietly self-published book available only on Amazon. It needs a bigger audience. Reader Gut Reaction: There is NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING like just picking... Read the rest of this post

It's Wicked Cool Wednesday already. This book is "overlooked" in that it was released in 2009 - and its sequel released in October of 2010, so I'm way behind the curve. Happily, it's sometimes more fun to catch up this way -- no pauses in between... Read the rest of this post

I have been fascinated with photo albums forever, mostly I think because my Irish grandmother kept a row of them in her den that I was allowed to look through whenever I wanted. Some of my earliest memories of visiting my grandparents (and as my grandfather died when I was 5 this was very early), included sitting on the floor in the front room, the row of black binders in front of me, as I chose what year I wanted to page through. The albums were in perfect chronological order, all matching binders with black pages inside, all neatly labeled. They are a standard I have sadly not lived up to in the slightest, but hope springs eternal. This year, I swear, I will finally get my photos in order.

(Starting with the old pics of my father's and moving forward to my own.)

Snapshot Chronicles: Inventing the American Photo Album is a homage to albums like my grandmother's. With text by curator Stephanie Synder and curator and collector Barbara Levine (who has impressed me with several other books), Snapshot is kind of a difficult book to recommend - you have to be interested in this subject to want the book and yet I can't help but think that a lot of people who likely are interested in it may have missed it. (Although if you are into photography, history or generally quirky/cool books then you really need to haunt the Princeton Architectural Press site.) Aside from the text, which considers the history of the American photo album to a discussion of what makes albums worthwhile both as personal and historic objects, the pictures that have been reproduced here are really fantastic. The book is designed as an album itself - from a crushed green velvet cover to flat black pages with textured backgrounds. On the one hand, these are just other people's photos (from Levine's collection) but as she describes the albums themselves and you read the notes written inside them, it's easy to see how they are part and parcel of the same story as your own photographic albums.

Not to be cheesy, but it's definitely the American story of the subtitle.

I think a lot of people would see Snapshot Chronicles on the shelf and think it's an interesting novelty but pass it right by which is a shame. If you are into history at all, then you will find this title immensely enjoyable and if you're trying to get away from the prepackaged scrapbook mania that's all too common these days, then it will inspire you in all sorts of new directions.

(Oddly enough, for all that the albums are decades old, there is a modern feel to their layouts - and they look much more honest then all those scrapbook sets present.)

More about Barbara Levine in this recent interview.

As numerology buffs (and, frankly, straight out nutters) are preparing for the Day of Significance that will be tomorrow - Tuesday, the eleventh day of 2011 at 11 a.m. (or p.m., unless you like military time) -- we lesser mortals will start our... Read the rest of this post

The first Monday of the month, seven days 'til my older sister's birthday, and time once again for book talking. It's Wicked Cool Overlooked Books!Charlotte rounded up all manner of SFF books for MG and older which are descriptive of COLD and ICE... Read the rest of this post

In the oft mentioned issue of do lit blogs matter, I always feel like a freak for wondering why the question even comes up. They matter because they recommend books and if you love books then you love finding out about those you have missed and so you read your favorite blogs and you buy books and you read them and you post about them and the whole circle of life/good book recommending goes on forever. Case in point: The Last Samurai by Helen Dewiit a grossly overlooked title I had never heard a single thing about until I came across it at Jenny D.'s. She has written about her love of the book many many times and so I finally thought really, I have to have this book, and found the most delightful used copy at Powells in April and snapped it up. (Sometimes, it is about the cover -don't you love that cover?) Interestingly, shortly after it arrived, I mentioned my purchase on twitter and Sara Ryan immediately chimed in that it was fabulous and I very nearly reeled at the convergence of Jenny D. and Sara - two authors whose work I love, with blogs I love and who I personally think are fabulous completely separate from their writerly and bloggy selves.

Seriously - this Helen Dewitt person had to be all that and a bag of chips to count these ladies as fans.

Basic plot: Sibylla is a single mother struggling to make ends meet and driven to distraction by her young son. Believing in unorthodox education methods (such as how young Yo Yo Ma was when his father handed him his first cello) she doesn't plop Ludo down in front of the TV but rather gives him foreign language books to page through and hunt out specific words which he then colors. To her surprise, he takes to this challenge like a duck to water and proves to be a genius in a major way. Soon enough Ludo is learning tons of languages and math and physics and pretty much everything else his voracious mind can get his hands on. Much hilarity (and interesting asides) ensue.

It's not all about a smart kid though. The title comes from the Kurosawa classic The Seven Samurai and Dewitt quotes from the movie throughout the text as mother and son watch it repeatedly (mandatory learning, of course). She also diverges into discussions on Greek and travel literature and philosophy among many other subjects as the son learns everything that comes his way. Sibylla and Ludo are the novel's framework but they are not the only thing and all the other things are fascinating indeed. PLUS - Ludo wants to know who his father is and while the reader is aware from early on (as Sibylla recalls how she became a single mother), he spends years trying to puzzle out this secret and then must decide if biology is really the most important thing when it comes to fatherhood. This would be where Kurosawa's ideas of heroics and manhood come into play although I still don't know yet what will happen as Ludo is still searching.

First, I need someone to explain why you all haven't heard of this book. The easy answer is that it is too offbeat, too unusual, basically just too damn different. And yet in a world that supports Scarlett Thomas and Samantha Hunt I do not understand why Helen Dewitt is not equally embraced by a cult-like following. The Last Samurai is not a page-turning thriller but it is so bloody smart and witty that I can not understand for the life of me why it isn't the book that all the 21st century witty smart readers who like learning and think being curious is truly a c

April suddenly seems like it was a really short month.Welcome to the first Monday in May - time again for Wicked Cool Overlooked Books.As always, these books are not necessarily overlooked by the whole world - just me - and I'm excited to find them... Read the rest of this post

Un. Be. Lievable.It's the first Monday of the month, and that hair-raising WHOOSH! you just felt against your face was February blowing by. 2010 has a superpower, and it's speed of days, people (but only when you're not paying attention). Already,... Read the rest of this post

It's the first Monday of the month, and while you're still trying to figure out what happened to January, it's already time for February's Wicked Cool Overlooked Books!A recent conversation at The Spectacle had a lot of great things to say about... Read the rest of this post

You have gone downtown to do some shopping. You are walking backwards, because sometimes you like to, and you bump into a crocodile. What do you say, dear?Nope, you're not in the wrong place, and yes, I'm very early for the first-Monday-of-the-month... Read the rest of this post

It's the first Monday of the month, and time once again to enjoy WCOB ~ Wicked Cool Overlooked Books.Africa. It's a continent that is constantly embroiled in conflict, and it's a gathering of small nations and kingdoms and peoples of which I didn't... Read the rest of this post

We have all heard stories, either the ones about our family that struck us as strange (I have a great uncle who swore that he saw the Virgin Mary crying over the trenches at the exact moment that the cease fire was announced on November 11, 1918) and some that just freak us out (there was a haunted hotel in my hometown that was vacant forever - very beautiful and old though and since its been torn down every business that has gone up in its place has failed. Coincidence? I don't think so.) For most of us these are just stories that we might pass on and we all agree could be "turned into something" but few of us ever do anything with them. Cherie Priest is the exception to that laziness rule - she hears a story, glimpses the thread of something interesting and eventually, in one form or another, she turns it into a complete work that exceeds its origins in some respects but never forgets where it came from either.

She is, in essence, the very definition of storyteller.

I read Cherie's upcoming novella, Those Who Went Remain There Still, last week (after I met my deadline for my essay and it was happily accepted with no problems - this was my reward!). The book has two parallel storylines: one about Daniel Boone and his crew cutting the Wilderness Trail in 1775 while pursued by some kind of monster and the second, in 1899, when the descendants of one of Boone's men find themselves with a family mystery that involves a cave and a missing will. To put an end to a long standing family feud six men must go into the cave and determine their patriarch's final wishes for the family land. The cave has long been avoided by everyone and is thought to be haunted. One of the men, who left the family feud and chaos behind years before, is particularly torn about entering the cave. When he was young his sister disappeared - after she told him that the cave "called to her". Meshack can't forget one of their last conversations:

Winnter turned to me then, and stared at me hard - in that way where I swear, she saw right past me and was watching something else. "That's cause whatever's calling you, it's so far away you can hardly hear it. This isn't like that, not for me. I hear it clear, because it's close. I'm going to leave this place as sure as you will, but I'm not going with you, and I'm not going far."

Two days later Winnter vanished into the cave. No matter how many years have gone by, would you want to go in there and see what happened to her - or discover just what the hell was "calling to her"?

Nope. Me neither.

The story here is what happens in that cave and how it all ties to the long ago Boone expedition. What I thought as I read it though was that Cherie could have taken the Boone story, with all its history of what Boone really did do in Kentucky and who he really was, and made it a "Daniel Boone: Monster Killer" short story. It still would have been suspenseful and scary and fun and I'm sure a good read. But that is not enough for this author and so into the Boone story she tied a family story that had nagged at her for years about cutting the Wilderness Road, a haunted cave, a family feud and just how many of her ancestors went underground one day and how many came running back out. The real truth of that story long faded in the last century but she picked away at it until it became coherent enough to form a complete tale around. That became Those Who Went Remain There Still and it is excellent.

This is a story of family, of reinvention, of the ties that can not be cut, and of something way gone creepy that likes to eat meat. It is horror in that you do have a monster but like all of Cherie's stories it is also a story of place and the people who live in that place. This is part of why I enjoy her work so much - her stories can not be transplanted to other locations on a whim; they are deeply ingrained in the territory she places them in. Just as the Eden Moore trilogy would only work in Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Florida, and just as Dreadful Skin demands a Mississippi riverboat and southwestern sojourn, Those Who Went... holds firm to Kentucky. Cherie recognizes that we may all be of one country but the parts we hail from are vitally different; they hold history and stories in different ways. This respect for place is key to why I read her books - the thoughtful walks on the scary side are the added bonus that puts them over the top.

I've written about Cherie's Eden Moore trilogy before - and reviewed the third book, Not Flesh Nor Feathers, last fall. I also reviewed her three werewolf tales, Dreadful Skin. Along with all her books they can be enjoyed simply as great stories but consider this bit from an interview between Cherie and John Scalzi:

Also, yes - I've had an unexplainable experience or two personally. One of them worked its way into Four and Twenty Blackbirds, at least loosely. Pine Breeze (the abandoned institution) really did exist until it was torn down a few years ago, and I really did go there a few times. The last time I went, my friends and I were chased out of the building by something we couldn't see. It scared the s**t out of us, and yes, that's the short version. Also, I've been to the Chickamauga Battlefield more than a few times - at least once in the middle of the night, when the fog was so thick you couldn't see the hand you were holding. If you can go there, do that, and not feel the weight of history (and 35,000 dead people), then I don't even want to know you. Not on Halloween, anyway.

She has said Four and Twenty Blackbirds started mostly with a little girl drawing chalk pictures on a sidewalk - a common enough thing for six year olds, but clearly triggered much more (along with a dream) for Cherie. I think the reason why she is able to create so much out of fragments (haunted places, half remembered family stories, landmarks on a city's streets that are barely noticed by most of the population) is that she is a writer who is actively, constantly, continuously looking for story. She wants to see what else is there and so she does, simple as that.

The writing part - well that's where it gets hard. But most of us never even get to the writing part, because we just never notice.

I know that Cherie Priest has many fans but she has certainly not broken through to the level of popularity that I think her talent deserves. Somehow, when someone hears "horror" it relegates an author to a different place - a place that is not nearly as valued for its literary merits as the author deserves. (See Stephen King, Anne Rice, Caitlin Kiernan for further proof.) It's all good and well that King and Rice are making a ton of money but they are the exception and they don't get nearly as much respect for their work as a lot of completely crappy so-called literary authors seem to. (The list would be far too long for me to include here.) Cherie Priest is one of my all-time favorite writers; she is right up there with Ray Bradbury, Andrea Barrett and Scarlett Thomas as an author that never disappoints. I suppose we could say she writes literary horror if that will make everyone feel better about reading her books. Call it whatever you want, I just know she is good and that's plenty for this reader - in fact that's everything.

[Those Who Went Remain There Still is due for a December release from Sub Press. My review will be in my October Bookslut column. If you purchase the limited edition it includes a chapbook explaining where the story's idea came from. Cherie also has a new novel due in December from Tor - Fathom. Hopefully I will be reviewing that one this fall as well.]

Other Wicked Cool Overlooked Books:

What Happens Here by Tara Altebrando at Bildungsroman:They had made plans, so many plans, about their futures. They would stay connected past high school, going to college together, traveling the world together, maybe even marrying twin brothers. They would always be the best of friends, as thick as thieves, as close as sisters, no matter what. That is what they planned.

This is what happened instead.

I write fantasy because it's there. I have no other excuse for sitting down for several hours a day indulging my imagination. Daydreaming. Thinking up imaginary people, impossible places. --from "Faces of Fantasy" by Patti Perret, Tor Books ©1996... Read the rest of this post

Swanson, Julie. 2004. GOING FOR THE RECORD. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 0802852734.

Leah Weiczynkowski is seventeen years old. She's a soccer player who has wonderful news for her father: she's just made the Region II Under-18 Olympic Developmental Program team with an opportunity in August of making the National team. But her father has news of his own: during the week she was away at soccer camp, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he only has three months to live.

Leah, of course, is in a state of shock and disbelief. She doesn't want to accept the news--and does everything she can to deny it. He doesn't look that sick. Maybe the doctors were wrong. Maybe he'll be miraculously healed. Maybe they're some kind of cure or alternative treatment that will save his life. She goes to the bookstore and finds all of these self-healing, positive-thinking books and she also goes to the nutrition store and buys all these alternative type drugs. But her father will have none of it. He is past the stage of denial....he knows that whether or not he is ready to die...or whether or not his family is ready for him to die...that he really has no choice in the matter.

Leah's father signs a living will stating that he does not want any life-saving measures to be taken. He wants to die at home away from the hospital. He is in the hospice program. They have nurses come to the house regularly to care for him. They give him pain killers to ease his pain and keep him comfortable.

Leah doesn't know how to react or how to live her life with her father dying in front of her eyes. Practicing soccer three or four hours a day...driving around with friends....shopping at the mall...etc...all seem pointlessly unsignificant in the scope of things. She doesn't want to lose a moment of time with her father. But at the same time, he's urging her not to give up her dreams to sit home and watch him die. He wants her to go to soccer camp and try to make the National team--after all, hasn't that what she's been working hard for all these years? During this time she's very angry. She's angry and acting out against her friends.

She goes to camp, but with a heavy heart, a few days into camp...she's called home. Her father's failing. He is not quite ready to die yet. But this close call forces Leah out of denial. The whole family is hoping, praying, begging that he will be able to live long enough to see the birth of his first grandchild due the first week of September. All of the family--Leah's older brother Paul, and her pregnant sister Mary--come home to say goodbye. Her uncles and aunts say their goodbyes. But eventually Leah and her mom are left at home with him watching him die.

A few weeks before his close call, the father and daughter have a chat about how he is ready to die...and how he's ready to go home and be with Jesus. And although Leah's relunctant to let him go...to give him permission to go...the more pain she sees her father in...the weaker he gets...the more disoriented and disconnected he is from reality...she begins to realize the kindest thing in the world would be to let her father go...to not pray for his recovery...but pray that God would take him...that God would spare him another day of pain.

He survives several days past the birth of his grandchild...but as soon as he hears news of its birth...he begins to let go...he disconnects himself from the world...and his family. His condition starts to deteriorate quickly. It was true that he was fighting to hold on to life for the birth...and now he has no reason to keep fighting...he can just let go.

After his death, she's very depressed--naturally--and she is hesitant to enter social life. She has no interest in ever playing soccer again. She does patch things up with her friend Clay...but mainly this is a slow healing process for her.

This is one of the hardest books I've ever read. It is a very accurate, realistic, honest look at how it feels to watch someone you love very deeply die. The book had me close to tears in several places. The feelings were just so true--so honest. My grandfather died of bladder cancer and was in hospice...and reading those chapters about his last few weeks...were just so right. The author just got everything right in those scenes. Anyway, it was a powerful well written novel.

http://www.julieaswanson.com/

"Wherefore Art Thou, Teen Detectives?" was Colleen's plaintive query recently at Chasing Ray. It's a good question, actually. Where are the great mysteries for teens and young adults? There are myriad mysteries for middle grade readers. Remember... Read the rest of this post

One of the more appealing aspects of Jenny Davidson's upcoming YA alt history novel, The Explosionist, is the way her earth is so close to the spirit world. (A formal review of that one will follow in my June column.) Seances are not uncommon, speaking with the dead is not unheard of and mediums are fairly common (and accepted). America has a rich history of spiritualism and most of it begins with the Fox sisters. I first heard about Margaret Fox because the great love of her life was the great polar explorer Elisha Kent Kane, a man who truly was famous in his own time. The Fox sisters were the ones who claimed to hear "spirit knocking", mysterious knocking or popping noises from the dead in response to questions. They later admitted (a long time later) that they produced the popping sounds by cracking the knuckles in their toes. They reigned supreme in the spiritualism era of the mid 19th century and had a massive following. Maggie's relationship with Elisha Kane just added to her allure.

I reviewed an excellent biography of Margaret Fox a year ago. Here's a bit from my piece about Nancy Rubin Stuart's The Reluctant Spiritualist:

And as Nancy Rubin Stuart shows in her biography, The Reluctant Spiritualist, Maggie Fox was a beautiful woman, and Americans are always more than happy to believe what a pretty face tells them.

So Kane and Maggie Fox spent time together--a lot of time together. They spent enough time in each other's company to drive both sets of parents into a bit of a tizzy--hers because he didn't seem too interested in marriage but walked the fine line of propriety by seeing her too much and his because Maggie wasn't "good enough." The lovers didn't seem to care, (some things never change) although Stuart shows that Kane was sensitive to the pressures of his parents and kept his relationship with Maggie both unofficial and secretive. Added to the pressures she was already under to constantly perform, it is no surprise that she became desperately unhappy. After Kane died, and she was left alone with the memory of a relationship that seemed all too easy for everyone to deny, Maggie started a slow and painful decline into alcoholism, poverty and eventual obscurity. Interestingly, Kane also began to slowly disappear from the national memory, something that seems impossible to believe from the description of his funeral in Chapin's book.

Kane's funeral procession had developed into a nationwide celebration of the values he was held to represent. Thousands of Americans in New Orleans, Columbus, Louisville, Baltimore, Philadelphia and other cities, who knew neither one another nor Kane, all could imagine themselves as part of the same nation, despite growing sectional conflict of the era... in a public letter to Judge Kane [his father]: "You must know that the reputation of your son belongs to the American public, and will be cherished as a part of the nation's wealth. His heroic devotion to humanity and science has conferred imperishable glory upon his country."

It's hard to believe how quickly and completely Kane and Fox could be forgotten and how easily their lives could disappear into historical obscurity.

Maggie's story is ultimately a tragedy, aided in no small part by the fact that she fell in love with a man who could not (or more honestly would not) publicly admit his feelings for her. Kane did try to save her but in a very Pygmalion kind of way and it just didn't work. Plus the payoff was never going to be that he married her and brought her into his world. The combination of being an acclaimed fraud (who could not handle the guilt of her lies and came clean about to great scorn) and never being acknowledged by the love of her life (or being allowed to even mourn the love of her life) was clearly soul crushing.

Margaret Fox's life is fascinating stuff and The Reluctant Spiritualist is one riveting story. When I first read it I was only interested in her as an ancillary to Kane's life but in the end I was more impressed with her than Kane, for all his professional accomplishments. She honestly loved him and deserves some credit for that; it's too bad he couldn't love her enough.

[Post pic of Margaret Fox]

Other Wicked Cool Overlooked Books:

Little Willow takes a look at the Zibby Payne series over at Bildungsroman: "In the spunky, stubborn Zibby Payne, author Alison Bell has created an outstanding character who sticks to her guns and trusts her instincts. Were they contemporaries, Ramona Quimby and Zibby Payne would be friends. Zibby is extremely loyal and very aware of the power of words. She's unafraid to say how she feels, and she also apologizes if she gets too loud or overworked about something. Young readers will learn some important lessons from her, including three very big ones: you don't have to change for others to like you; be proud of who you are; and sometimes, you just gotta go for it! I highly recommend this series for kids in elementary school and just beginning middle school."

Mat Johnson's devastating new graphic novel, Incognegro is based partly on his own experience as "a black boy who looked white" and partly on the real experiences of Walter White, longtime executive secretary of the NAACP. This story, of a black journalist named Zane Pinchback who passes in the south for white to write his column against crimes against blacks is direct, intense, and mesmerizing. The violence, as depicted by artist Warren Pleece, can not be denied. The book opens with a lynching and it doesn't back down from there. But the story it tells, of America in the 1930s, is one that I don't think has been told in popular fiction nearly enough. Johnson agrees, and this story - which has been part of him since his childhood - is a heartbreaking, thrill a minute, historical mystery. It's ugly and it's beautiful and I think everybody needs to read it.

I know the book has only been released a month ago, but other than some news on the comics blogs, I haven't heard much and I certainly haven't heard anything among lit bloggers and I think this is a very literary book. It is a mystery in terms of plot - a white woman is killed and a black man (who is very personally close to Zane) is found with the body. He is arrested and will likely be lynched in a short time. Zane goes south along with a friend to uncover the truth. But nothing is as it seems in Tupelo and the mystery takes several unexpected twists and turns. As Zane follows his leads along divergent paths, the day to day life of whites and blacks in Mississippi is revealed and the differences between those realities, and the life Zane and his friends enjoy in Harlem is startling.

To some degree Incognegro is nothing new - we know that blacks were lynched for crimes they did not commit, we know many southern whites were racist and the KKK was incredibly powerful in this period. What most whites will likely not know anything about is the power of the black press and the lengths that many people, like Walter White, were willing to go to in order to make sure the truth of America's crimes against its own is revealed.

What you have here is basically a riveting history lesson that could not - will not - be taught better in any classroom or with a textbook. Couple it with watching Rosewood and you've got fodder for some amazing and important discussions. But really, Icognegro is not a YA book (nor is it marketed as such); it's for anyone with a keen interest in understanding more about America and a willingness to know just how dark some of our days have been.

Wicked Cool Overlooked Books found elsewhere today:

Little Willow highlights Notes on a Near-Life Experience by Olivia Birdsall: What do A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban and Notes on a Near-Life Experience by Olivia Birdsall have in common? Both use quirky vignettes with quirky titles to effectively tell a story. While Crooked offers cookies, organ music, and striped toe socks, Notes includes pepperoni, prom, and a person from Peru.

Dear Enemy by Jean Webster (who sounds amazing) is celebrated at Finding Wonderland: Dear Enemy deals with simple and practical solutions to life in institutions, and things like hand-washing and cleanliness and order are discussed thoroughly. The irony of Jean Webster dying from a disease brought on by an unsterilized obstetric room and dirty hands is simply painful.

Becky looks at Rash by Peter Hautman: It doesn't take a genius to predict that it would practically impossible for a sixteen year old boy to control his temper 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 years. And sure enough, when he sees Karlohs Mink with his arms around Maddy at the local mall...his brief glimpse of freedom and a future fade away in rage.

Now Bo is being sent away to Prison 387 owned by the McDonald's Rehabilitation and Manufacturing Corporation and located in Canada after all "since the USSA annexed Canada during the Diplomatic Wars of 2055" most of McDonald's prison factories were moving up north.

MacDonald's running prisons - okay this book book is too brilliant to be overlooked for sure!

Hautman, Pete. 2006. Rash.

Rash by Pete Hautman is an enjoyable novel that is unique in many aspects.

I pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the Safer States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one Nation under Law with Security and Safety for All

Set roughly in the 2070s, Rash provides readers with a clever and imaginative look at the future. Opening, in my opinion, with one of the greatest first lines I've ever read: "Gramps, who was born in 1990, once told me that when he was my age the only way to wind up in prison in the USSA (back when it had only one S) was to steal something, kill somebody, or use illegal drugs" (3). But times have changed quite a lot since then as our hero Bo Marsten finds out.

"Back then there were five of us Marstens serving time: my father, my brother, two cousins, and an aunt. . .Most people don't like to talk about their jailed family members. It's embarrassing. But having five close relatives in the prison system is not that unusual. According to USSA Today, 24 percent of all adults in this country are serving time. My family was only slightly more criminal than average. . .Of course without people like us Marstens, there wouldn't be anybody to do the manual labor that makes this country run. Without penal workers, who would work the production lines, or pick the melons and peaches, or maintain the streets and parks and public lavatories? Our economy depends on prison labor. Without it everybody would have to work--whether they wanted to or not." (4-5)

Bo continues: "Anyway, here's my point: Given my family's history I should have known to keep an eye on my temper. Lose control for one tiny chunk of time and bam--next thing you know you're ripping the legs off shrimp. But at the time...Well, if you look at history, you will see that I was not the first guy to do something really stupid over a girl. Look at how many Greeks died for Helen of Troy. How much self control do you think they had?" (5-6)

Maddy Wilson. The girl who started it all. At least from Bo's perspective. When Bo sees Maddy getting a bit too friendly with the guy he dislikes, Karlohs, his natural reactions lead him into trouble. True, modern readers won't 'understand' what was so wrong with the altercation. After all, no physical violence occured. But in the 2070s, hurting another's feelings by name calling can be just as dangerous according to the law. Judge for yourself: 'She doesn't want anything to do with a pretentious droog like you,' I said, getting right in his face. 'So leave her alone, okay? I don't want your disgusting dog-anus mouth anywhere near her, understand?' Karlohs staggered back as if he had been struck. I felt a moment of satisfaction followed immediately by a sick feeling. I knew I'd gone too far, even though it was true--his mouth really did look like the south end of a beagle. But verbally attacking someone's physical appearance is a class three misdemeanor. Then I watched as Karlohs's eyes went glittery and his anus lips spread across his face in a smile. I picked up my helmet, turned, and walked away with a lead weight in my belly and a prickling on the back of my neck. I already had two violations on my record. Three strikes and you're out. (14-15)

His sentence is handed down several chapters later: "Because I had refused to offer a plea, the judge reviewed my case and my record, asked me a few questions, then handed down an instant judgment: Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. She sentenced me to three years, let that sink in for a few seconds, then suspended the sentence and told me I could go home. . . You have been tried, judged, and sentenced. However, I am waiving the requirements that you serve your sentence. You will remain free so long as you commit no further criminal acts between now and your nineteenth birthday. . .At the moment you remain free at the pleasure of this court. In other words, the next time you get in trouble, you will be incarcerated. One more verbal assault, one more reckless act, one more instance of self-neglect, and it's off to the rock pile" (68).

It doesn't take a genius to predict that it would practically impossible for a sixteen year old boy to control his temper 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 years. And sure enough, when he sees Karlohs Mink with his arms around Maddy at the local mall...his brief glimpse of freedom and a future fade away in rage.

Now Bo is being sent away to Prison 387 owned by the McDonald's Rehabilitation and Manufacturing Corporation and located in Canada after all "since the USSA annexed Canada during the Diplomatic Wars of 2055" most of McDonald's prison factories were moving up north.

According to Gramps, McDonald's used to only sell food, back when French fries were legal. But in the 2020s, they merged with a suv company called General Motors under the name the McMotor Corporation of America. A few years later, McMotor was bought by a Chinese company called Wal-Martong. In 2031, during the Pan-Pacific conflict, Wal-Martong was nationalized and privatized by the USSA government and renamed the McDonald's Rehabilitation and Manufacturing Corporation. I guess I learned something in school after all. For all the good it would do me. For the next three years, I would be a worker drone for McDonald's. They would use me however they saw fit, and there was nothing I could do about it. (86-87)

Prison 387 made frozen pizzas for McDonalds. You are no doubt aware of the retro craze for hand-tossed pizza. Until recently most people thought of pizza as just another old-fashioned grandma/grandpa food, like oatmeal or hamburgers. Most towns still have one or two old-fashioned pizzerias that cater to the geriatric crowd, but nobody I knew ate the things until recently, when Keanu Schwarzenegger told PeopleTime magazine that he enjoyed a hand-tossed, hand-topped sausage pizza during breaks on the movie set. That's how these things get started. (102)

But the lessons Bo learns about life, friendship, pizza, and football--which is also illegal by the way--open up his eyes to a whole new world. Prison life may not be easy, in fact it could be deadly, seeing as to how polar bears prowl around the fences of the prison, but Bo must learn to cope and adjust. And as he does so, the reader is taken on a very enjoyable journey.

http://www.petehautman.com/

"I plunged into this thing lightly enough, partly because you were too persuasive, and mostly, I honestly think, because that scurrilous Gordon Hallock laughed so uproariously at the idea of my being able to manage an asylum. Between you all you... Read the rest of this post