Banned Books Week: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

Every year leading up to Banned Books Week, I like to read at least one new to me book from the previous year’s top 10 banned books list. This year I chose number three on the 2021 top 10 list, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson because it caused quite a stir in my neck of the woods last school year. Parents in several school districts in my area called for it to be pulled from school library shelves based on a handful of sexually explicit passages that were taken entirely out of context. Back when the excerpts from the book were floating around, I too, was a little uncomfortable reading them (not enough to call for its ban though!), but after reading this book, it makes total sense why they were included. All Boys Aren’t Blue is a memoir of Johnson’s coming-of-age experience while being both Black and queer. Of course, there is sexual content in it! None of it is gratuitous. And oh my gosh, reading their story will be so helpful for all the other Black and queer folks out there who might feel alone and confused like they did growing up.

Honestly, I think most of these parent groups want all LGBTQ books out of school libraries, whether there is sexual content or not, and will use any excuse for why a particular LGBTQ book is not appropriate. Ironically, some of these people are parents to LGBTQ youth who are not out to their homophobic parents and could desperately need the books their parents are trying to ban.

I’ll have a full review of All Boys Aren’t Blue up later this week but spoiler alert….it gets five stars!

2022 Banned Books Week

It’s time for the 2022 Banned Books week! You can find all sorts of information and events at Banned Books Week.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

Banned Books Week 2022 will be held September 18 – 24. The theme of this year’s event is “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.”

By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles lists of challenged books as reported in the media and submitted by librarians and teachers across the country. The Top 10 Challenged Books of 2021 are:

1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
2. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
3. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
4. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
7. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
8. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
9. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
10. Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin

Audiobook Review: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Miranda Raison
Release Date: April 05, 2022
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. 

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo. 

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist working in an all-male lab in the 1960s. She’s highly intelligent and a great researcher but since she’s a woman, she’s overlooked and mistreated. One day, she meets her coworker, the Noble Prize-winning Calvin Evans. He loves her for her brain, not in spite of it. Then a lot of stuff that would be a spoiler happens and she finds herself the host of a cooking show called Supper at Six. Her cooking lessons are infused with chemistry and give bored housewives the mental stimulation they’ve been looking for. She knows that all women have the potential for greatness if given a chance.

I love books with characters who don’t follow social norms and make humorous observations about those who do, without realizing that what they are thinking is funny. Think Don Tillman in The Rosie Project or Bernadette in Where’d You Go, Bernadette – like them, Elizabeth refuses to do things just because that’s the way they have always been done and seems genuinely confused about why other people do them that way.

Lessons in Chemistry had humor for sure but it also had some heavy stuff. The way women were treated in the 1960s is not sugar coated. Some pretty horrible stuff happens to the women in the book. I listened to this book on a long drive and got myself pretty worked up! The narrator was amazing. If you’re able to listen to it, I think it will really add to the experience. She gave each character their own sound and there are a lot of characters. She nailed them all – from gross, blustery men to small children.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Smells Like Tween Spirit by Laurie Gelman

Smells Like Tween Spirit by Laurie Gelman
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: August 2, 2022
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even with the cutthroat days of being Class Mom behind her, as a freshly minted mat mom of the Pioneer Middle School (PMS) wrestling team, Jen Dixon cannot catch a break.

This year, as her son joins the ranks of the PMS wrestlers, Jen faces mystifying new social dynamics with her trademark combination of reluctance and resigned acceptance. The sights and smells of her son’s wrestling matches are more than enough for her to deal with, but Jen also finds herself fully immersed in sports-mom competitiveness. These parents all seem perfectly unassuming until their kids start to wrestle, and then some become raging momsters.

Jen steels herself for the indignities of middle school life, but she cannot quite fathom the extents to which some kids (and moms) will go for the sweet taste of victory. Add to this some truly bizarre encounters with students from her spin class and deeper challenges managing her parents, and Jen has more gum than she can chew…and even her riotously funny one-liners might not get her through it this time.

I did it! I’m all caught up on the Class Mom series. And Max has caught up to my daughter – they are both in seventh grade now. Unlike my daughter, Max is on the wrestling team so Jen has a whole new group of moms to deal with – the Mat Moms. They all seem to take wrestling way more seriously than she does. Most of the moms are welcoming but one is downright mean.

In the meantime, Jen’s aging parents are becoming more of a handful and her adult daughters are trying to start a business. And Jen is still teaching spinning classes. One of her students is getting a little demanding. So as usual, Jen’s plate is full but it’s with all new problems so it feels fresh. There is a little bit of sadness in this book and also a point at which I wanted to shake Jen because she was being very unreasonable. I wasn’t expecting a Class Mom book to get me worked up!

Smells Like Tween Spirit was very satisfying but I hope that Laurie will write another one – I’d love to see what Jen gets up to when Max is in high school.

My reviews of the rest of the series:

Class Mom (Class Mom #1)
You’ve Been Volunteered (Class Mom#2)
Yoga Pant Nation (Class Mom #3)

Audiobook Review: Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair
Narrator: Selma Blair
Publisher: Random House Audio
Release Date: May 17, 2022
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention.   

Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape.   

Over the course of this beautiful and, at times, devasting memoir, Selma lays bare her addiction to alcohol, her devotion to her brilliant and complicated mother, and the moments she flirted with death. There is brutal violence, passionate love, true friendship, the gift of motherhood, and, finally, the surprising salvation of a multiple sclerosis diagnosis.   

Geez Louise – Selma Blair has had a hard life. The title of her book comes from that when she was an infant, her face supposedly looked scrunched up into an angry stare and everyone called her Mean Baby. It seems it became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

I didn’t know very much about her before reading her book. Really, all I knew is that she had been fairly recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She’s also a recovering alcoholic and was sexually assaulted several times. And her mom! She seemed like a very cold and often cruel woman. She constantly criticized Selma and said the most horrible things to her. Selma is the youngest of four girls and was a surprise baby. I don’t remember the exact quote but when Selma was a child, her mom said something to her to the effect of, “You know, I could have had an abortion but I didn’t.” And yet Selma loved her and was desperate for her approval.

The entire book was tough to listen to. Selma narrates it herself and chokes up at several points. And I don’t blame her. Her alcoholism is probably sprung in part from self-medicating not only to forget about her mother and other problems but also because she suffered from painful physical symptoms for years before she was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The book’s timeline was a little jumbled but that didn’t bother me too much. I knew from reading reviews before I read it that it wasn’t going to be a fun, tell-all Hollywood memoir. Know that and read it when you’re in the mood for something more serious. It’s very well-written. Selma studied writing before she became an actress and it shows. Recommended.

Audiobook Review: Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
Publisher: Recorded Books
Narrator: Ali Ahn
Release Date: January 14, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding. But change is looming on the horizon. 

And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. 

Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family – and possibly the boy she loves – behind. When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

Always and Forever, Lara Jean is the final book in the Two All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy.

*****This review has spoilers for the first two books in the series.*****

In Always and Forever, Lara Jean, Lara Jean and Peter are now high school seniors. Their relationship is better than ever. But what will happen after graduation when they head off to college? Peter is going to the University of Virginia on a lacrosse scholarship. Will Lara Jean get accepted there so they can stay together? If she decides to go somewhere else for college, can they sustain a long-distance relationship?

The primary stress in Lara Jean’s life is waiting to find out whether or not she got into UVA. All of Peter and her plans hinge on the assumption that she will be going there with him. To deal with her anxiety, she throws herself into planning her father’s wedding to her neighbor Ms. Rothschild. I thought that it was a little odd that Lara Jean’s dad and Ms. Rothschild were okay with Lara Jean, a high school student, handling the brunt of their wedding planning. I mean Laura Jean’s hominess is part of her charm and it makes sense she would want to help – I’m just surprised they let her do so much of it. She also does a lot of stress baking.

I feel protective of Lara Jean after following her trials and tribulations for three books now and I was rooting for her and Peter the whole time I was listening to this book. They both get some curveballs thrown at them that surprised me. After finishing this final book in the series, I can definitely recommend the entire series. My twelve-year old daughter has also listened to and enjoyed all three books. Even though they are about high schoolers, I don’t think there was anything in them that was inappropriate for her as a seventh grader to read. Take care, Lara Jean!

My reviews of the first two books in the trilogy:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
P.S. I Still Love You

Audiobook Review: Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American

Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American by Wajahat Ali
Publisher: Recorded Books
Release Date: January 25, 2022
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

“Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!” 

This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago? 

Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of Brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. (“Become a doctor!”) He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America’s enemy number one, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y. 

Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

I actually didn’t know who Wajahat Ali was before I read his memoir. I’m not sure where I heard about it or who recommended it to me. Whoever it was, thank you!

Ali is the son of Muslim immigrants from Pakistan. He manages to put a humorous spin on the mircroaggressions he faced as a child and the downright aggression he and other Muslims have had to deal with after 9/11. His book will educate white readers about white privilege and they probably won’t even realize it. Or at least they might not get as defensive.

Then, the middle of the book takes an unexpected turn when writes about his parents going to prison for some kind of white-color crime that I didn’t really understand. He had to take over the family business while still in college and had to care for both of his grandmas who were living with his parents. The business did not do well and he and his grandmas were basically homeless at one point. He doesn’t go into detail about the crimes his parents were alleged to have committed because he says that’s their story to tell. I would love it if they wrote a book because I’m very curious to know more!

Ali narrates the audiobook himself, which I think made it funnier than if I had read it in print. Even though he’s not a comedian, his comedic timing is spot on. Recommended.

Book Review: Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman

Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: July 13, 2021)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Jen Dixon of Overland Park, Kansas―fearless mother of a fifth-grade boy and two thirty-something daughters―is used to juggling a lot, from her mission to become a spin instructor, to stepping in as the most acerbic class mom ever (again), to taking care of her two-year-old granddaughter. But when the PTA president throws her a mandate to raise $10,000 for the fifth-grade class, even unflappable Jen is going to need more than her regular spin class to get her through this final year at William Taft Elementary School.

In the midst of new complications―organizing the class overnight to Topeka, an unexpected spin class fan in the form of her husband’s crazy ex-wife, and trying to navigate her parents’ sudden descent into apparent delusions―Jen hardly has the patience to listen to yet another half-baked idea (come on, ladies, another wrapping paper sale?) from WeFUKCT (We Fundraise Until Kingdom Come Team), her fundraising committee. But if anyone can get elementary parents to pull off the impossible, it’s Jen Dixon.

With her always irreverent and laugh-out-loud humor―boldly holding forth on those things you’re thinking, but would never dare say out loud―Laurie Gelman’s Yoga Pant Nation shines a light on the indignities and hilarities of modern parenting.

Yoga Pant Nation jumps to Jen Dixon’s son Max’s fifth-grade year. Not only is she class mom but she’s been roped into heading up the school-wide fundraiser – a daunting task that’s nearly broken moms in previous years. In addition to that, she’s trying to balance teaching spinning classes, caring for her aging parents, who seem to be getting dementia all of a sudden and helping her daughter navigate a pretty big issue.

I’m still loving this series! I like how the author is able to keep the plot fresh – it could very easily become formulaic and repetitive. I also love that Jen’s job for the school always involves her having to send emails. Those are the best part! This book even had a couple of little twists. The fourth book in the series, Smells Like Tween Spirit, just came out a couple of weeks ago. The hold list at my library for it is long (I guess I might be the last to know about this series!) but a friend loaned me her copy so I’ll be devouring it straight away.

My reviews for other books in the series:
Class Mom (Class Mom #1)
You’ve Been Volunteered (Class Mom#2)

Book Review: You’ve Been Volunteered by Laurie Gelman

You’ve Been Volunteered by Laurie Gelman
Publisher: ‎ Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: July 23, 2019
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

If you’ve ever been a room parent or school volunteer, Jen Dixon is your hero. She says what every class mom is really thinking, whether in her notoriously frank emails or standup-worthy interactions with the micromanaging PTA President and the gamut of difficult parents. Luckily, she has the charm and wit to get away with it―most of the time. Jen is sassier than ever but dealing with a whole new set of challenges, in the world of parental politics and at home.

She’s been roped into room-parenting yet again, for her son Max’s third grade class, but as her husband buries himself in work, her older daughters navigate adulthood, and Jen’s own aging parents start to need some parenting themselves, Jen gets pulled in more directions than any one mom, or superhero, can handle.

Refreshingly down-to-earth and brimming with warmth, Dixon’s next chapter will keep you turning the pages to find out what’s really going on under the veneer of polite parent interactions, and have you laughing along with her the whole way.

The second book in the Class Mom series, You’ve Been Volunteered skips ahead from Jen’s son Max’s kindergarten year, where the first book left off, to his third-grade year. Jen has not only been roped into being class mom again but is also now in charge of the safety patrol. As if that weren’t stressful enough, her husband Ron is trying to expand is gym business and is working long hours.

I thought You’ve Been Volunteered was just as funny as Class Mom. (Read my review of Class Mom here.)  Jen is still writing the same irreverent, sarcastic emails to the parents. There are even more of them since she has to email the safety patrol parents as well. Adding the safety patrol to her responsibilities was a good way to ensure that the humor was fresh and that this book wasn’t just a repeat of Class Mom.

You’ve Been Volunteered can stand alone but it will be even funnier if you’ve read Class Mom first. And you might as well because they are both quick reads. Now I’m off to read Yoga Pant Nation, the third book in the series!

Book Review: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
Publisher: Avery
Publication Date: September 11, 2012
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, MSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”

Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

I think you’re either a person that reads self-help books and gets something out of them or you’re not. I usually do not. I fully admit that I’m not a very introspective person and I’m sure that’s why. It’s definitely not because I think I’m perfect or anything. I remember feeling left out in college when my friends were “finding themselves” and having deep conversations about the meaning of life. I told my mom about it and she said, “Well, not everyone can sit around analyzing themselves all day or nothing would ever get done.” Hmm…wonder where I get it from?

The theme of Daring Greatly is that we should dare to be vulnerable and that there is a difference between shame and guilt. Shame is bad and guilt is not. Also, there is a difference between being vulnerable and just vomiting up your problems to anyone who will listen. Your vulnerability has to have appropriate boundaries.

I don’t disagree with anything Brown is saying, I’m just not sure how to put it to use in my real life. To me, being vulnerable is being open about your insecurities. But how do you express that without sounding like a whiner? I need concrete examples. I looked up my review of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, another self-helpish book I’ve read and that’s the same thing I said about that book!

Daring Greatly did lead to a really good discussion in my book club – one of the best we’ve had. I think that’s because we are all pretty close friends and we were able to be vulnerable with each other while discussing this book. I’m not sure it would as good of a discussion if the book club members were just acquaintances.

I know there are tons of people who worship Brené Brown, a lot of my friends included. I can see why but at the same time, I don’t see myself reading any more of her books.