The Bad Seed by William March

 

William March's Rhoda has seeped into our cultural lexicon, so that like The Stepford Wives or Cujo, you don't need to have read the book (or seen the movie) to know that a well-dressed, polite child wearing formal, old-fashioned clothes is most likely a psychopathic killer. This child doesn't just braid her own hair, she loops them into "hangman's nooses." Her shoes have iron cleats to conveniently transition from outerwear to deadly weapon. You better hope you don't have anything she wants. 

What do you do when this murderous elementary schooler is your kid? March focuses his story on that dilemma. Christine's husband is abroad for work and though she writes him passionate letters full of desperation that verges on the erotic, those are locked in a drawer with other troublesome things like, oh, a loaded gun and a couple bottles of sleeping pills. She only writes him carefully edited letters that keep up the facade that all is well back home. 

The book begins with "the day of her last happiness," but darkness has assiduously followed Christine her entire life, a fact she forcefully tries to deny, despite the encouragement of her neighbor Mrs. Breedlove to delve into every unexamined thought and impulse. 

Speaking of Mrs. Breedlove, she is a fantastic character: a devotee of analysis, an older woman who speaks her mind (constantly!) and bucks convention. Her parties are the best. My favorite is the one where she invites three older ladies to get soused to convince them to fund her new endeavor -- a rehab facility for alcoholics. With Mrs. Breedlove, nothing is off the table. She freely talks about latent homosexuality and incestuous desire, true crime, and what is most fascinating to her: the inner workings of her own mind. But she has a massive blind spot when it comes to Rhoda, whom she just adores. Probably because Rhoda is quiet and well-mannered, the kind of kid adults who don't enjoy children adore. 

Through Mrs. Breedlove's influence, Christine is introduced to the dark and fascinating world of true crime, which she dives into obsessively, like a detective, hoping to find some sort of answer to the riddle of her child's behavior. The deeper she goes, the more unsettled she becomes, and finally, decisive action can not be avoided. It's a pretty good read! I'm looking forward to re-watching the movie. 

- Michael G.

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

The uncomfortable images the title of this book conjures up! I didn't want to know the story behind it. Like me, you may resist opening it, but once you have gotten past the first pages and been introduced to several characters, don't expect to come up for air for a while. In fact, expect your regular routine to be disrupted as you delay meals, sleep, and morning showers while your cat or dog complains of neglect. It is not only a compelling story but a shockingly revealing bit of history as well. 

The story told herein is in many ways like a Little House on the Prairie for grown ups, but not in the gently told way of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. 

Remember all the catastrophes the Ingalls and Wilder families endured on the prairies - the fire that engulfed Laura and Almanzo's home, a locust plague that destroyed an entire year's crop, droughts that rendered the labor of other years useless? The chronic poverty, harsh weather, frequent new beginnings, and the relentless struggles to establish stability? These devastating setbacks weren't merely one extended family's bad luck; this was typical of farm life in the upper Midwestern territories in the 1800s. The Ingalls and Wilder families were just two of thousands that suffered such misfortunes repeatedly. One of the revelations to me in reading this historical novel was that of a dishonest campaign perpetrated in European countries to lure immigrants to the upper Midwest. The U.S. government wanted settlers. "Have you longed for the magic of a prairie winter, gentle yet abundant snow to nourish the earth, neither too cold nor too warm, only perfection in every way?" - an ad in a European newspaper might say. In fact the opposite was true; living and farming conditions on those plains in the 1800s were so rough that over 60% of the homesteaders that had been attracted by such advertising ended up abandoning properties and dreams to return to the unpromising circumstances they had hoped to leave behind in Europe and the eastern United States. Of those who stayed, many didn't survive.

This novelized account of that time and place concerns one particularly deadly catastrophe (the historic part) - the January 12, 1888 blizzard in Nebraska and the Dakota territory during which hundreds of people - the majority of them children - froze to death. Why mostly children? The book will tell you.      

The best novelists are able to create a cast of characters who come from vastly different life experiences and are on differing trajectories when their paths cross and lives intertwine within the framework of a compelling story. Characters that give us new perspectives, making us see the world in ways we hadn't previously been able to. This novel does that, engaging readers with a small assortment of people and their varying motivations and motives, and the ways they help and hurt each other. On occasion the perspectives of wildlife do what people can't: foxes, hawks, wolves, coyotes, rabbits, even prairie dogs help us to see and feel what the earth is doing during this colossal storm. Through a hawk's eyes as it searches from the sky for a meal on the morning after the storm, we begin to see the cruel toll of the ghastly event in an impersonal way - briefly - before zooming back in to learn the fates of the individuals we have become so interested in. 

Author Melanie Benjamin drew on archived news accounts and written memories of people who lived through the storm to create sympathetic fictional characters caught badly unprepared for this shattering event that in real life left so many dead, so many lives changed, and so many families and communities throughout the upper Midwest bereft. In this bittersweet novel much more unfolds after the storm - unimaginable pain, gradual healing, growth, a few surprises among the characters, occasional redemption. The unredeemable fate of one character in particular though - Gerda - will remain in my mind for a long time.    

Thank you to patron Richard B. for recommending this informative, absorbing novel that I put off starting because of its title and then couldn't stop reading.

- Marianne W. 

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Generations upon generations of history and legacy weave through the life of this 16 year old girl. 

    This story is revolves around Bree Matthews, a young girl who recently lost her mother, as she navigates a new school campus. She finds herself involved with a secret society linked to the Knights of the Roundtable that fights shadowy beasts using a magic called "aether", all unbeknownst to the common people. It's all told from Bri's perspective as we watch her experience crazy rituals, battles, and culture, all while she has literally no idea what's going on and how she fits into it. All she knows is that she needs to find out who killed her mother.

    While it seems to have a simple premise, there are many themes that come into play surrounding racism, grief, and generational trauma. Bree has to navigate a PWI, or predominantly white institution, while also being dragged into a secret society that caters to the lineage of white people that goes back centuries. This very same society is deeply entrenched in privilege and high status, so Bree's presence in the space a rarity as a black person. When you also factor in her belief that has mother was potentially killed by one of them, it's a story many black folks are all too used to hearing.

    While trying not to spoil, one of my favorite things about the book is how deeply it involves ancestors and the effect they have had on us. Their choices have a chain reaction leading to our grandparents, our parents, and then to us. We are the living embodiment of each ancestors' choices, all the way down to our blood stream. All the way down to our magic. And this story is a reminder that even though this holds true, our history does not define all of who we are. We are the makers of the present and the power is in our hands.

Feel free to check the book out! I'll be happy to hear what you think. It is the first book of a trilogy, and I promise that if you get hooked on this one, you'll be hooked on the rest . I'm currently hooked on the second!

- Leo H. 

Big Boy Joy by Connie Schofield-Morrison; illustrated by New York Times bestselling illustrator Shamar Knight-Justice

 

A joyful ode to playing on a playground narrated by a Back boy who climbs up a high slide and crashes,  makes new friends, races, swings, makes imaginary worlds with toy dinosaurs, and plays in water puddles. His big boy feelings and lots of energy spread big boy joy for all to share.  With beautiful and bright illustrations, a book children ages 3-5 will be sure to enjoy. 

- Julie B.

Julie B. is a classroom volunteer with Ready Readers, a non-profit organization that strives to expand literacy for young children in low-income communities through high-quality books, strong relationships and literacy-related experiences.