This book is like a love letter to language, and how reading books can impact a life. There was humor, and surprises, and atmosphere. I loved learning the "other side" of Huckleberry Finn story and appreciated how complex James' character was. Beautiful!
'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…
This is my favorite Kate Messner novel to date! I loved the premise of kid-having-to-climb-mountains in order to make reparations for his misbehavior. The changes in Finn across the book felt well-earned, and the storytelling style of including newspaper articles, recipes, and poems, helped make it a quick, engaging read.
This book starts with an impossible premise: the main character is cursed to die in every lifetime by the hand of the one she loves. Each reincarnation is gripping, and I swooned for and was rooting for these lovers/soulmates as they encountered one another, lifetime after lifetime. Gorgeous language, too!
If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility
By
Irene Latham,
Charles Waters,
Olivia Sua (illustrator)
What is my book about?
An ode to imagination and the power of “if,” this exhilarating poetry collection features the voices of thirty-one diverse poets.
If I could choose a best day it would be sunny it would be summer
and I would be with you.
Imagine what you could do with if. Build a tree house, ride your bike back in time, make a wish on a firefly and release it to shine with the stars. If is where your imagination begins, where the impossible becomes possible, if only you imagine. And if you do, just think of how much better our world could be. Thirty-one poets, selected by “poetic forever friends” and frequent collaborators Irene Latham and Charles Waters, begin each of their poems with the word if and imagine the possibilities the gift of if can hold. Olivia Sua’s cut-paper and painted-mosaic illustrations add warmth and meaning to the poems, allowing the reader’s mind to soar with possibility. An end note offers insight into the anthologists' selection process, aimed at gathering a comprehensive and representative collection.
With poems by: Lacresha Berry, Robyn Hood Black, JaNay Brown-Wood, Joseph Bruchac, Siv Cedering, Emily Dickinson, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Nikki Grimes, Jolene Gutiérrez, Georgia Heard, Anna Grossnickle Hines, Irene Latham, Renée M. LaTulippe, Nancy Tupper Ling, Sylvia Liu, Rebekah Lowell, Vikram Madan, Guadalupe García McCall, Lilian Moore, Eric Ode, Bob Raczka, Lisa Rogers, Sydell Rosenberg, Laura Purdie Salas, Janice Scully, Teresa Owens Smith, Gabi Snyder, Sarah Grace Tuttle, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Charles Waters, Janet Wong.
