Confessions of a Middle School Nerd

Ok, so I found this one on the local authors shelf as well, and I picked it up for my 10 yr old son who is now part of the middle school in our small town school system. But he has a long to read list of his own, so I decided to go ahead and read it by myself. A very interesting choice.

Confessions of a Middle School Nerd is a very short read, only 81 pages with the text taking up only a small block of each page. But it was a fun and quick read for that reason. Written in the first person by a narrator who is quirky and funny, this book is almost like a journal for the writer. The narrator starts off by saying that she wrote most of this down to work through a few things, mostly days in her life that she feels should be highlighted to help her come to a conclusion she can only catch glimpses of. So we get little tidbits of this middle schooler's days. The stories are all focused around one main point, the narrator is awkward. But in the end she comes to the realization that not only is she ok with this fact about herself, she can revel in it, because she likes who she is.

Like I said, the book was short and sweet. I enjoyed taking a little time to read it, especially since I could so relate to some of these moments in the narrator's time in middle school. So I encourage anyone to pick it up. Have a laugh or a knowing nod of the head, and pass it on to a middle schooler that might need a little reinforcement that they are not the only ones out there being awkward, and it's perfectly fine to be so. Let me know if you have read this one!

Symptoms of Being Human

January - Books with white covers

When I saw the theme for this month I had to make my way to the library for both books because incidentally I have no books with white covers! I am so glad that I did! Because I found two that I think will be incredible. And the first one really was!

Riley is gender fluid, meaning that instead of waking up with the anatomy of a female and feeling like a girl, Riley has to take a moment to gauge where their gender dial is at the moment. Of course, this doesn't help much because Riley is not out as gender fluid and therefore cannot dress to their preference for the day. So this is the story of Riley switching schools, going through therapy, being the child of a conservative congressman, all while trying to navigate the very confusing path of gender fluidity. And this story is wonderful!

At the end of the book Jeff Garvin writes a note including statistics for trans and gender nonbinary people: how many are sexually harassed, how many commit suicide, how many have no access to helpful resources. This note is necessary because his character, Riley, has it relatively good, with help and support from numerous sources. Most in Riley's situation do not. And yet, even with having it good, Riley in no way has it easy.

Garvin does an incredible job of trying to nail down the symptoms and effects of a term that is just as fluid in how it effects individuals as it is for the day to day of those with it. There are many times when Riley described a panic attack that had me feeling in the moment of one of my own attacks, Garvin captures it so perfectly. This is an incredible debut for a man that has no personal experience with the things he describes in his book. It makes me excited to see what he tackles next!

So, this is when I say what point of view this books is written in and dissect how it effected my reading of the book. First person! I know, I know, for someone who hates first person so much I seem to find a lot of novels written in it! But this one, this one could not have been written in any other way! Because Riley is fluid, the reader cannot see Riley in any other way than how Riley sees Riley. Notice how earlier in my post I have to use they/them so that I do not assign a gender to Riley? Garvin avoids the pronoun issue by allowing Riley to tell the story. That coupled with the fact that only Riley can accurately portray everything they go through forces this book to be best done in first person. And it was wonderful that way! Maybe it helped that I could relate to Riley's punk attitude and made me love them from the first lines of the book!

I loved everything about this book! I was so excited to see it on the shelf and get to take a look into the world of a character set that is slowly finding its way into books these days. I love nontraditional characters. And I love that the number of novels are growing that can help those with less traditional problems. The best way for a teenager to feel safe is to show them others that feel the same way. Riley is an example of of trying to give more teenagers this safe space through understanding. It touches my heart to see the genre expanding in such a way! So, if you have more books along these lines, please send them my way! I would love to read more on subjects that I cannot understand first hand but want to understand for others. And if you haven't picked this one up but are willing to branch out of the norm, please do. This one was incredible! Let me know what you think!

Library Wars: Love & War vol. 9

This series has been amazing so far! Along with a love story that has me squealing and mumbling under my breath on every other page, this manga tells the story of the library. As Iku, now a Defense Force Member, works her job and figures things out, the library is put through some serious trials. From the threat of a pervert targeting patrons to rumors of one of their own burning books, Iku and her friends deal with a lot in the year and half that is covered in volumes 1 through 9.

My primary reason for writing the post is to talk about how awesome these books have been. Yumi is an incredible writer and artist as she turns the story into a manga that is both exciting and sweet. I even loved the little skit panels at the start of every new chapter.

But I also wanted to note that this is as far as I can go with the help of my local library. I know there have been at least 6 others published, but the library does not have any copies at this time. That leaves me to buy them myself or find an alternative method of reading the series. So, for now I have to put it down, which just breaks my heart because I am so enthralled by this story. If I manage to get my hands on more I will let everyone know. Otherwise I am currently moving on to a new series and book.

So, if you haven't read these yet, please do, the story is incredible. And if you have, let me know what you think of it. Especially if you know where I can find more of them! Until next time!

Library Wars: Love & War vol. 1

Ok, so looking through the teen manga section at the library led me to this new discovery. Which, thank goodness because I just found out that Sword Art Online: Progressive only has three books in the series. So I have read as much of that as I can. So here we have another series that doesn't go very far as of yet, but I am still enjoying it.

The story is that censorship of books got out of hand. So, governments got together with libraries to start an army to protect their collections from those trying to get rid of books they find wrong in some way. When Iku was younger she had to wait 10 years for a book of fairy tales that she wanted to read. And when it finally came in it was going to be taken from her. Instead, an agent from the Library Defense Force showed up and stopped the confiscation and gave Iku back her book. Since then she has been determined to join the DF and save books for other young readers. This is about her journey starting with training, trying to make proud a man she barely remembers while dealing with a commanding officer that is a bit too hard on her.

I love this story. Not only is the concept of a nerd army going out to protect books just awesome, but I am really loving the characters Iku and Dojo who seem to have the face they show the world and then the part of themselves they are slowly showing to each other. In this first installment alone Iku learns some important things about being in the forces and pushing herself to new heights.

I am really looking forward to reading more in this series. Even though I went in knowing that there are only 9 books available to me right now. This will be a new series for me to follow as it come out. You should check it out!