MOVIE - The Rider

R (1:44)

4/13/18 Limited release

Viewed Tuesday, 6/19/18 at The Majestic in Gettysburg
IMBd: 7.7/10

RT Critic:  97  Audience: 81
Critic's Consensus:   The Rider's hard-hitting drama is only made more effective through writer-director Chloé Zhao's use of untrained actors to tell the movie's fact-based tale.

Cag:  6/Awesome  

Directed by Chloe Zhao

Sony Pictures Classics

Brady Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau, 

My comments:  The Rider was an amazing movie, and I didn't fully realize the extent of the meaningfulness of it until the credits rolled.  The actors were all the real people that apparently lived the story playing themselves.  Like a documentary told completely as a story. Incredibly depressing, heartfelt, and even upliftiing in its sadness.  The South Dakota plains.  Thelvies of young people that are raised around horses, raised to ride.  The harshness and reality of spial cord injuries and brain injuries.  The rodeo.  Horses.  I don't even like horses!  But I sure did like this movie.  Here is Roger Ebert's (actually Godfrey Cheshire's)vright-on, excellent review:  https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-rider-2018

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Based on his a true story, THE RIDER stars breakout Brady Jandreau as a once rising star of the rodeo circuit warned that his competition days are over after a tragic riding accident. Back home, Brady finds himself wondering what he has to live for when he can no longer do what gives him a sense of purpose: to ride and compete. In an attempt to regain control of his fate, Brady undertakes a search for new identity and tries to redefine his idea of what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.

PICTURE BOOK - I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel & Jazz Jennings

Illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas

2014 Dial Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Penguin Group)

HC $17.99

24 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.12 - 1313 ratings

My rating:  Think I'm going with a 4

Endpapers: Pale pink

1^st line/s:  "For as long as I can remember, my favorite color has been pink. (My second-favorite color is silver and my third-favorite color is green.)"

My comments:  A child with a girl's brain and a boy's body.  So unfair, and so good that books are written about kids like this.  There are more than most people think, I'm guessing....I'm thinking of some of the kids I've taught in the past umpteen years.  To have parents that understand, and accept is the first step.  To have peers understand and accept is the next.  And a book like this goes a long way towards that, I would think.  This is ased on the true story of a now-teen named Jazz (who is NOT white, so why make this protagonist white, I wonder) - a beautiful young lady.  She's "written" a memoir, which I just found in the teen section of the library and checked out.

Goodreads:  The story of a transgender child based on the real-life experience of Jazz Jennings, who has become a spokesperson for transkids everywhere.
          From the time she was two years old, Jazz knew that she had a girl's brain in a boy's body. She loved pink and dressing up as a mermaid and didn't feel like herself in boys' clothing. This confused her family, until they took her to a doctor who said that Jazz was transgender and that she was born that way. Jazz's story is based on her real-life experience and she tells it in a simple, clear way that will be appreciated by picture book readers, their parents, and teachers.

PICTURE BOOK - Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind by Cynthia Grady

Illustrated by Amiko Hirao

2018, Charlesbridge Publishing

HC $16.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.29 - 92 ratings

My rating:  4.5

1^st line/s:  "Katherine Tasaki returned a stack of books and turned in her library card.  "We've go to move soon," she said.  "All Japanese, you know."

My comments:  The internment and mistreatment of Japanese Americans during WWII has always bewildered and incensed me.  This true story connects kids not only to this sad part of American History, but also highlights a brave American woman who did something to help alter a horrendous situation.

Goodreads  A touching story about Japanese American children who corresponded with their beloved librarian while they were imprisoned in World War II internment camps.
          When Executive Order 9066 is enacted after the attack at Pearl Harbor, children's librarian Clara Breed's young Japanese American patrons are to be sent to prison camp. Before they are moved, Breed asks the children to write her letters and gives them books to take with them. Through the three years of their internment, the children correspond with Miss Breed, sharing their stories, providing feedback on books, and creating a record of their experiences. Using excerpts from children's letters held at the Japanese American National Museum, author Cynthia Grady presents a difficult subject with honesty and hope.
          " A beautiful picture book for sharing and discussing with older children as well as the primary audience" -- Booklist STARRED REVIEW 
          "A touching tribute to a woman who deserves recognition" -- Kirkus Reviews
          "[An] affecting introduction to a distressing chapter in U.S. history and a brave librarian who inspired hope" -- Publisher's Weekly

PICTURE BOOK - The Case for Loving: the Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko

Illustrated by the author's husband, Sean Qualls

2015 Arthur A. Levine/ Scholastic

Author's note & Bibliography
HC $18.99

32 pgs.
Goodreads rating: 4.27 - 836 ratings

My rating: 5+

Endpapers: white with hearts and music

Illustrations: Collage and paint and colored pencils (mixed media) Edge of page to edge of page :)

Preface:  "Imagine not being able to marry the person you loved, just because they were a race different from your own.  Here is the story of the love between Mildred and Richard Loving.  Here is the story of the courage they needed to have that love recognized:  a story about how the law changed for the better, about how the law made room for the Lovings, and by doing so made way for love."

My comments:  This book is a SIX star book!  Selina Alko writes the story perfectly.  It couldn't have been told better, or illustrated more lovingly or well.  Because this book is shelved in our library in the nonfiction section instead of the picture books, I  almost missed it.  It was because of the recent movie about the Lovings that it jumped out at me.  Thanks goodness.  I loved it.  I  want to own it.  I want to share it with every 8, 9, 10 11, 55, or 88 year old I see.  This is the story of the two people who fought for nine years to have their interracial marriage legal in their home state of Virginia. It wasn't until 1967 ... 1967!!! ... that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of interracial marriage....because of this shy, loving pair who only wanted to be able to live as a married couple. Superbly told story by a interracial couple - terrifically!

Goodreads:  For most children these days it would come as a great shock to know that before 1967, they could not marry a person of a race different from their own. That was the year that the Supreme Court issued its decision in Loving v. Virginia.
          This is the story of one brave family: Mildred Loving, Richard Perry Loving, and their three children. It is the story of how Mildred and Richard fell in love, and got married in Washington, D.C. But when they moved back to their hometown in Virginia, they were arrested (in dramatic fashion) for violating that state's laws against interracial marriage. The Lovings refused to allow their children to get the message that their parents' love was wrong and so they fought the unfair law, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court - and won!

PICTURE BOOK - Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hook

Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

2016, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.38 (72 ratings)

My rating:  %

Endpapers:  Pale Aqua

Title Page: Dirt-ish background with torn scattered pieces of musical score strewn about

Illustrations:  Collage and drawings together, perfect for this book!

1^st line/s:  "Ada Rios grew up in a town made of trash."  Powerwful!

Note:  In the MIM in Phoenix, there is a display of some of these intruments!  There has been a 60-Minutes segment on it and there are all sorts of YouTube videos.  recycledorchestracateura.com

My comments:   Nonfiction picture books that tell true stories of what's going on in other parts of the world draw me like a bee to nectar.  And when they're well told, illustrated beautifully, and loaded with pertinent information, I'm one happy teacher.  However, I don't have a classroom in which to share this book anymore, and this is a book to be shared and discussed.  Perfect for the intermediate-grade classroom that is learning about how to make a difference in our world.
          I can't imagine a town that's built on, at, or even near a huge garbage dump.  What a wake-up message for kids AND adults.  Lots of additional information so that I can look and learn more, and maybe even help a bit.....

Goodreads:  From award-winning author Susan Hood and illustrator Sally Wern Comport comes the extraordinary true tale of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay, an orchestra made up of children playing instruments built from recycled trash.
     Ada Ríos grew up in Cateura, a small town in Paraguay built on a landfill. She dreamed of playing the violin, but with little money for anything but the bare essentials, it was never an option...until a music teacher named Favio Chávez arrived. He wanted to give the children of Cateura something special, so he made them instruments out of materials found in the trash. It was a crazy idea, but one that would leave Ada—and her town—forever changed. Now, the Recycled Orchestra plays venues around the world, spreading their message of hope and innovation.

MOVIE - Selma

PG-13 (2:07)

Wide release 1/9/2015

Monday 1/12/15 at El Con with Sheila and Gwen

RT Critic:  99  Audience:  87

Cag:  5/Liked it more-than a lot, and it was beautifully crafted

Directed by Ava DuVernay

Paramount Pictures

Based on a true event

David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, 

My comments:  Wow.  This is not just any old story...this is an incredibly important piece of history.  This happened when I was a freshman in high school in a suburb of Boston, and I don't recall knowing about it at the time.  Imagine!  What a wonderful way to learn about the details of Martin Luther King's brilliance, determination, and sensitivity. The acting, particularly by David Oyelowo, was amazing.  His portrayal of MLK was ... mesmerizing.  (And to think I probably wouldn't have gone to see this if it hadn't been chosen by Sheila as our monthly fare!)

RT Summary:  SELMA is the story of a movement. The film chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernays SELMA tells the real story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history,

4. The Witness Wore Red; The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice - Rebecca Musser & M. Bridget Cook

Audio read by the author

12 cds (the last one are some black & white photos)

14 hours.

2013, Hachette Audio

 352 pgs.

Adult Memoir

Finished 1/14/2014

Goodreads Rating: 4.02 (795 ratings)

My Rating: 2.5/The story was fascinating, didn't enjoy the writing or narration

TPPL

Setting:  Colorado City, Arizona, then Oregon and Idaho

My comments:  Fascinating story, and Becky Musser was really brave to tell it (and to live it!), but I had some problems with the book. I'm not a nonfiction reader AT ALL, and as much as I want to read memoirs and autobiographies, I never like them.  A couple of problems for me. I have a really lousy memory myself, but I can't imagine that the details remembered in this book, without a journal or diary to refer to, could be remembered truly. Also, I realize that Ms. Musser is not a writer, but she did have help ....  I found the writing repetitive, pretty simplistic, and boring.  The author, herself, read the book, which in a way was really good, but after awhile her awkward pauses between words in weird places really bugged me.  I'm too picky, I guess.  My heart aches for her and all the women that are in their situation, and I'm really glad I got to hear her story.  However, I found a Dateline episode about this whole story which I found much more interesting and concise.

Goodreads Review: Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs. Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens she became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family.

     The church, however, had a way of pulling her back in-and by 2007, Rebecca had no choice but to take the witness stand against the new prophet of the FLDS in order to protect her little sisters and other young girls from being forced to marry at shockingly young ages. The following year, Rebecca and the rest of the world watched as a team of Texas Rangers raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a stronghold of the FLDS. Rebecca's subsequent testimony would reveal the horrific secrets taking place behind closed doors of the temple, sending their leaders to prison for years, and Warren Jeffs for life.

     THE WITNESS WORE RED is a gripping account of one woman's struggle to escape the perverse embrace of religious fanaticism and sexual slavery, and a courageous story of hope and transformation.

Queen of the Falls – Chris Van Allsburg

Illustrated by the author
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011
HC $18.99
40 pgs.
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Silver-gray
Illustrations Brown & white, most of them squared off
Lots of text
Author’s note: full page at end of book
Title page: 3 X 5 illustrations of a barrel in foaming water

First line/s: Imagine being as small as a flea, standing on a sidewalk next to an open fire hydrant. This is how visitors to the waterfalls at Niagara feel. The water drops from a height that is as tall as a seventeen-story building, roaring like a locomotive and sending up an endless cloud of mist as it crashes onto the rocks and water below.

Setting: Niagara Falls, 1901
OSS: The true story of how Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to ride a wooden barrel over Niagara Falls and survive.

First of all, how cool to have found someone with such an interesting story that had never really been told – or heard – by most of the general public. Apparently this prim and proper senior citizen cooked up this scheme to earn herself enough money to live through her senior years. And , unfortunately, it never made her any money! So here’s the story. Very different from VanAllsburg’s usual tales of magic and wonder. Nice writing and still-magical trademark illustrations.

Beatrice's Dream - Karen Lynn Williams

A Story of Kibera Slum
photos by Wendy Stone
HC $17.95
Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011
24 pages
Rating:  4
Endpapers:  Purple with vertical streaks

Kiberia is a huge slum in Nairobi, Kenya.  There are no roads and almost no electricity, plumbing, or drinking water.

13-year old Beatrice lives here with her brother and his wife.  Both her parents are dead.  But she's lucky to go to school every day and dreams, even in her extreme poverty, of becoming a nurse.

This simple photo journal tells of her daily life.  Well, the words are simple.  It's the photos that show her life.  A good one to share with my fourth graders when studying Africa and discussing poverty.

MOVIE - Fair Game

Excellent - Entertaining AND educating
Limited Release 11-5-10
PG-13 (1:48)
12/9/10 at El Con with Sheila & Ronnie
RT: 80% Flixter: 72% cag: 93%
Director: Doug Liman
Naomi Watts, Sean Pen

This was the real-life story of Valeri Plame, the CIA agent whose covert CIA cover was blown by the WHITE HOUSE and her husband, Joe Wilson.

My friend Sheila, a wonderful writer, tells about this much more eloquently than I ever could. She's begun a great blog of her thoughts, and you can read her review here. Please do! It's great.

The Librarian of Basra - Jeanette Winter

A True Story from Iraq
Published: 2005
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Aqua

"In the Koran, the first thing God said to Muhammed was 'Read' " (NYT 7/27/03, from the book's preface.

Just to open a Jeanette Winter book brings a simple joy to me. You see orderliness and color and terrific illustrations - framed boxes and no white. Really tugs at my anal heart.

Simply told, beautifully illustrated, here is another version of the bombing of the central library in Basra, Iraq. Ensconced in rich purples and yellows and blues, Winters' recognizable artwork accentuates the story beautifully. A great companion book to Alia's Mission.

Alia's Mission - Mark Alan Stamaty

Saving the Books of Iraq
Published: 2004
Rating: 5
Endpapers: red
Illustrations: Brown on cream

I'm still getting used to reading graphic novels - I realize I like the large, easy-to-read font in this one. And the illustrations show the magnitude of the job this brave woman took on. I really like Jeanette Winter's version, but I like the way Stamaty's version really makes the plight and the task overwhelmingly real.

Although Alia knows that war in Basra, Iraq is imminent, it's not until she arrives at her job as chief librarian at the Basra Centrl Library and sees armed soldiers (with an anti-aircraft weapon!) on the roof that she knows the library is in terrible danger. So, in a few fast-paced days, she and many helpers move over 30,000 books - by hand - before the library is destroyed. They're stored stacked everywhere in her own home and home of friends. Whatt a story!

The last page tells the history of other famous libraries in the middle east.