Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is dystopian novel. But like Internment by Samira Ahmed, the premise is not such a big leap from our current reality. The story imagines our country has gone through a terrible recession and violent unrest, only settled by a law prohibiting anything foreign or unpatriotic. Asian-Americans unfairly bear the blame for the country's problems, and any criticism of the new rules is quickly squashed: protests are stifled, books are removed from libraries and children are taken from “unfit” parents. Still, a resistance rises, one that uses story and art to amplify voices that are being silenced. It’s not an action-packed book, focusing heavily on the families and friendships torn apart, so it’s not exactly a thriller. But it’s not science fiction or straight realistic either. It’s a bit of a slow build as you follow 12-year-old Bird, his enigmatic mother and those who support the resistance. I was particularly happy to see libraries and librarians play a crucial role. The author, who is known for family dramas like Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You, says she was inspired by our current divisive politics and the anti-Asian sentiment stirred up by COVID.
Internment was similarly inspired by politics and American history. In the near future, the U.S. government has imprisoned all Muslim-Americans in internment camps, including 17-year-old Layla and her family. Even though they are citizens, they are stripped of their rights and possessions and considered enemies of the state. This echoes what happened to Japanese-Americans during World War II. It also draws on the hate and fear directed at Muslims after the September 11th attacks committed by radicals in the name of their religion. This is a fast-paced, thrilling story of tolerance and reason triumphing over fear and hate. It also highlights the danger we face when we stay silent in the face of injustice. There are countless examples of dystopian novels, including The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and 1984 by George Orwell. But in each of those books, something catastrophic has happened and our world is barely recognizable. In Our Missing Hearts and Internment, the world is very familiar. The good – and the bad – feel very real. Perhaps that is why these books have such a strong impact.
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“This is not a history book. At least, not like the ones you’re used to reading in school. The ones that feel more like a list of dates (there will be some), a declaration (definitely gotta mention that), a constitution (that too), a court case or two, and, of course, the paragraph that’s read during Black History Month (Harriet! Rosa! Martin!) . . . Instead, what this is, is a book that contains history. A history directly connected to our lives as we live them right this minute. This is a present book. A book about the here and now.” This declaration by author Jason Reynolds, in chapter one of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, reveals quite clearly that readers will get something unexpected. Few books promise to give you a definitive history of racism, and even if they tried, you’d probably require a dictionary, thesaurus and PhD to understand it. Not so with this book. It’s a young adult version of the 2016 book Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi, author, activist and founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi asked Reynolds, a fiction writer whose books include All American Boys and Long Way Down, to translate his ideas for today’s teens. The book starts in 1415, with a chapter titled “The Story of the World’s First Racist.” Going back this far is a good reminder that Black history did not begin with slavery or the Civil Rights Movement. Black history has roots in the ancient empires of Africa including the Mali, Songhai and Great Zimbabwe. The other point this chapter drives home is that racism is deep-seated, and it’s often influenced by profit as much as hate. Racism isn’t just the thoughts or actions of an evil person, but policies that impact trade, government, and social norms. Systemic racism is not new, and its impact on how the world has been shaped cannot be overstated. “The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, whether financially or politically,” Reynolds writes. “… it’s woven into people as much as it’s woven into policy that people adhere to and believe is truth.” The book continues through history, shedding some new light on the causes of the American Revolution (Great Britain banned the slave trade, but the American colonies didn’t want to), the expansion of slavery, the Civil War (the first enslaved men who tried to fight for the North were sent back to the southern plantations they escaped from), Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement. It discusses well-known figures – Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., – as well as names that might be new to you – Angela Davis, Jack Johnson, Stokely Carmichael. It breaks down some of the mythology around the people and historical events that history textbooks have simplified over the years (for example, Rosa Parks was not just a tired old seamstress when she didn’t give up her seat on that bus). Of particular interest to me was more recent American history, including the “War on Drugs” in the 1980s that many studies have shown led to harsher penalties for Blacks than for whites, something still represented in our prison populations today. Another was a public school policy called No Child Left Behind in the 2000s, where schools in poor, mostly Black communities had funding pulled when they failed to meet certain standards – which caused them to fall even farther behind. The book does an amazing job tying our history together, helping us better understand the causes and effects of racism in our country so we may better understand what’s happening in our communities today. The authors do so in a way that is conversational, engaging, and even inspiring. Their hope is that young readers, equipped with this new knowledge, will not only recognize racism, but become actively antiracist – not just bystanders in the quest for a better world, but leaders of that world. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has made life more challenging for all of us, Hanover High's summer reading has been changed this year to offer more choices for students and eliminate a required assignment. The recommended titles include a variety of genres, topics and lengths. This week, I'm going to review a few of the FICTION titles that I have read and really enjoyed.
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely - This engaging collaboration by two writers - one white and one African American - explores racism and police violence, issues that could've been pulled from the news today. When Quinn, a white teen, sees a white police officer brutalize a Black teen, his sense of justice is turned upside down. The fact that the police officer is a trusted family friend makes the situation even harder. But the book is not just told from Quinn's point of view; the Black teen, named Rashad, tells the story too. In this way, you get to explore the incident and its repercussions not just through one lens. It's a quick read that's hard to put down and the ending offers hope for healing that might help with issues we're facing in real life. Internment by Samira Ahmed - When a book or movie is called "dystopian," it usually invokes images of a post-apocalyptic society, where law and order have broken down in the wake of a terrible catastrophe like nuclear war. Books like 1984, The Hunger Games and The Road are considered dystopian. So is Internment. Unfortunately, the premise of this story feels a little too easy to imagine. It's the near future, and the U.S. government has imprisoned all Muslim-Americans in internment camps, including 17-year-old Layla and her family. Even though they are citizens, they are stripped of their rights and possessions and considered enemies of the state. This echoes what happened to Japanese-Americans during World War II, when the U.S. declared war against Japan and considered anyone with Japanese ancestry to be the enemy even if they hadn't been in Japan for generations. It also draws on the hate and fear directed at Muslims after the September 11th attacks committed by radicals in the name of their religion. This is a fast-paced, thrilling story of tolerance and reason triumphing over fear and hate. It also highlights the danger we face when we stay silent in the face of injustice. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - When a Jewish girl and her family are rounded up in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, the girl locks her brother in a cabinet to keep him safe. She believes she'll be back soon to let him out and resume their lives. But she never returns to the apartment and is haunted by her decision forever. Her story is uncovered by a modern-day French woman who moves into the apartment and learns she was never taught in school about this terrible roundup. Her discovery that the French government helped kill thousands of its own citizens changes her life. A heart-breaking and powerful story. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo - Emoni, the main character of this story, is an unwed teenaged mother trying to juggle the demands of parenting, work, school and her feisty grandmother. While you might think you can't relate to her experience, I would argue you'd be wrong. Hers is a story of falling short of expectations, pushing through disappointment to pursue your dreams and overcoming financial and social obstacles - things we can all relate to no matter our culture, gender or class. Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - Part historical fiction, part fantasy, this story imagines that the famed network to freedom is a literal train running beneath the earth. I thought this idea would be hard to accept, but the author does an amazing job weaving the imaginary with the truth. The story follows Cora as she risks everything to flee from a life of brutal slavery, bringing to life the hardships of her captive life and the dangers she faced on the way to freedom. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson - During the Great Depression, when the country was sunk into desperate poverty, sometimes the only hope and diversion people could find came from books. But some rural towns were far from a library, so the government organized a group of women to deliver the library to them. These pack librarians rode horses and mules, miles each day, through rough terrain and bad weather, bringing hope via the printed word to the hopeless. In this fictionalized account, Cussy is a young woman considered an outcast in her Kentucky community because she suffers from a rare genetic disorder that turns her skin blue. She finds purpose and joy as a pack librarian., but also faces intolerance and physical danger from those suspicious of her color or the government program. Both the pack librarians and the Blue people of Kentucky are true stories. This book tells a story of tolerance and resilience in a new light. |
AuthorMrs. McHugh is a librarian and instructional technology specialist. She loves talking books and pop culture with her students at Hanover High School. Archives
February 2024
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