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Book Review - Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.02.11]

I published a review of Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

Cover Image - Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

I published a review of Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

Cover Image - Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

When her dad randomly takes a job as manager of an old west theme park, Aven Green has to move to the Arizona desert for the start of 8th grade. Her armlessness was never a big deal with her friends in Kansas, where she had gone to school with the same group from kindergarten on up. Now at a new large school where she doesn’t know anyone, Aven is self-conscious and the kids she encounters aren’t exactly welcoming or friendly. Can she overcome her fear, make connections with people, and follow her interests and talents, or at least stop eating lunch in the bathroom? And can she uncover the mystery of the absentee owner of the quirky theme park, to which she feels a strange growing connection?

Told in an authentic, hilarious first person voice, this book is filled with life and heart. The author does a great job of showing Aven and other characters as authentic, growing people, making mistakes and learning throughout the book. It provides an empathetic and informative depiction of characters with differing abilities, helping readers understand the real challenges caused by specific disabilities as well as how little those challenges can actually limit a determined and supported person from following their interests and talents to accomplish great things. As an adult reader the story opened my eyes to ways I could improve my interactions with people of differing abilities and be a more considerate support. These are things I wish I had learned at a much younger age so I feel this could be an important book for young people to read. It’s an extremely engaging, easy read that kids will want to pick up anyway. Highly recommended for young people as well as teachers and parents of young people.

Read-alikes: • This book has a similar vibe to Wonder, but is lighter and funnier, without a central bully-villain. It’s a very accessible realistic/contemporary fiction story. • Could be a good next step for fans of humorous diary books like Wimpy Kid or Dork Diaries. It doesn’t have illustrations but it is told in first person and it includes funny entries from the character’s blog. • The quirky theme park mystery element has a similar vibe to small town stories by authors such as Sheila Turnage and Natalie Lloyd.

Review by Joshua Whiting, Media Specialist, Granite Educational Technology Department Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5 stars) Interest Level: Grades 4-8

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus Written by Dusti Bowling Sterling Children’s Books 262 pages Release Date: September 5, 2017

Tags: 2017 Children’s Fiction, Arizona Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Desert Fiction, Dusti Bowling, Humorous Fiction, Joshua Whiting, Mystery Fiction, Persons with Disabilities Fiction, Realistic Fiction

Standalone post link: Book Review - Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
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#NaPoWriMo

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.03.16]

Think I’m going to try writing a poem every day in April.

Think I’m going to try writing a poem every day in April.

https://twitter.com/jdwhiting/status/1106973881091252224 Think I’m going to try writing a poem every day in April.

I went looking and “writing a poem every day in April” is already a thing, it’s been a thing for a long time. It has a hashtag and a domain and some blog posts. That’s definitely enough to be thing. #napowrimo #glopowrimo http://www.napowrimo.net/

Not quite decided yet on whether I will post the poems online or share them in any way as I make them.

Actually I’m fairly decided that I won’t share them. I’ll just use it as a way to get back into writing, bank up some ideas and drafts, see what happens.

There’s also this other piece of it I’m thinking about, a weekly #NaPoWriMo class in Salt Lake, but I’m not sure I dare to do it or if it will be a good fit for me.

http://www.slcc.edu/cwc/workshops.aspx

I mainly mention it because it might be a good fit for someone else.

Standalone post link: #NaPoWriMo
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Misadventures in Book Reviewing: Thoughts After Reading and Reviewing *We’re Not From Here*

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.05.31]

I reviewed this book last week, and in doing so made some serious mistakes, which I’m hoping to learn from going forward. We’re Not From Here - Cover Image

I reviewed this book last week, and in doing so made some serious mistakes, which I’m hoping to learn from going forward. We’re Not From Here - Cover Image

Mistake #1:

The whole time I was reading the novel I assumed the narrator was a boy. I can point to several possible reasons in the text why I came to that assumption, but in the end they are flimsy justifications for my assumption, held up only by gender stereotypes, clichéd attitudes, and expected conventions of storytelling, all of which I would be unfairly imputing onto the text when they simply are not there. In fact, the text was consciously constructed by the author so as not to gender the narrator, and there really isn’t a legitimate way to argue from the text that the narrator is either male or female. I brought my bias, assumptions, and lazy reading to the book and came away with an incorrect assumption, which I then propagated on the internet.

There is one really positive thing I hope I can take away from this mistake. I hope by becoming aware of this problem through misgendering a character in a book, I can be more conscious of others and in the future perhaps avoid misgendering an actual person in real life. I believe this whole learning exercise I am going through is part of the reason why the author chose to create the book in this fashion. It is a nice playground in which to learn this, and yet another way that this book can be used for learning and discussion.

Mistake #2:

Before writing my review I consciously avoided reading other reviews of this book or really anything about this book other than the book itself and probably the publisher’s blurb. I told myself I had decided on this because I didn’t want to be influenced by others and inadvertently restate whatever others said about the book. This is a semi-legitimate fear, but in reality my decision was an attempt to just get a book review written without thinking about it too much or spending too much time on it. It was a short cut, and it didn’t really work. I realize now that I owe it to any author or book which I am taking the time to write about to write well, and that includes doing proper research and close reading. Not only does this do the creator of the work better justice, but it also can save me from looking foolish; in the case of this book, some more reading about it would have prevented me from making Mistake #1 (noted above.)

By the way, We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey is an awesome book. You should totally read it and share it with kids that you know. Here’s my review:

https://www.granitemedia.org/2019/05/were-not-from-here/

After Earth is rendered uninhabitable for reasons*, Lan’s family are among the last 2400 or so humans living on the Mars base. When they start running out of food, supplies, and any other options, they are relatively excited to receive an invitation from the insect-like Zhuri and a couple of other species to come to the distant planet Choom as refugees. 20 years of deep-space hibernation travel later when the humans wake up in Choom’s orbit, things have changed and the Zhuri are no longer so enthusiastic about bringing in a species who just blew up their own planet. They nonetheless let one human reproductive unit come down to the planet and go to school and work as a trial: Lan’s family. Can Lan survive the school day and charm the Zhuri into letting them stay, and letting the rest of the humans come down as well?

On one level this book is a cartoonish/sitcom-styled sci-fi in which the goofball kid Lan, their despondent former pop star sister, and their parents find themselves trying to fit in with the mosquitoish inhabitants of a beige, hex-shaped suburbia on Planet Choom. On another level it is a sophisticated middle-grade satire and a masterclass in media literacy and political science that speaks to compelling contemporary issues such as the worldwide refugee crisis and the responding rise of populist/nationalist anti-immigration political movements, news media manipulation, and more. That might sound like a lot for an ostensibly humorous middle-grade novel, but I promise you it does not come off as heavy at all; it is light with some completely age-appropriate dark humor. I think kids will enjoy this on either or both the silly and serious levels, and it would make for great discussions.

*nuclear war, mainly

Correction: The text of this review originally referred to the character/narrator Lan as a boy. This was a presumption entirely made by the reviewer. The author kindly pointed out that Lan’s gender is never specified in the text. You can learn more in the author’s guest post on Nerdy Book Club: “One Book, Two Imaginations.”

Standalone post link: Misadventures in Book Reviewing: Thoughts After Reading and Reviewing *We’re Not From Here*
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I guess I'm finally ready to admit to the world that I have a new website

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.07.09]

Ever do that thing where you start building a new website, and even write and publish a few things on the website, but never tell anyone about the website or link to the things on the website?

Ever do that thing where you start building a new website, and even write and publish a few things on the website, but never tell anyone about the website or link to the things on the website?

I guess I’m finally ready to admit to the world that I have a new website, such as it is. https://jdwhiting.com/

*And by “the world” I basically mean whatever fraction of my 700ish twitter followers and my 200ish Facebook friends happen to be logged in sometime in the next few hours and blessed by the almighty algorithm to see this status update.

Standalone post link: I guess I'm finally ready to admit to the world that I have a new website
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While Reading and Listening: Feed

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.09.08]

Today I happened upon an excerpt from Tommy Pico’s forthcoming poem/book Feed, and I’m weirdly excited about it now.

Screenshot of the preview of ‘Feed’ by Tommy Pico from the Poetry Foundation website

Today I happened upon an excerpt from Tommy Pico’s forthcoming poem/book Feed, and I’m weirdly excited about it now.

Screenshot of the preview of ‘Feed’ by Tommy Pico from the Poetry Foundation website

The books of the @heyteebs Tetralogy, taken now that I have copies of all of them and retconned into this old post

I can’t claim to be a studious or consistent follower of contemporary poetry, but Pico’s first book IRL jumped out at me a few years ago and since then he’s become one of my favorite contemporary poets. He is writing some of the most fun, funny, irreverent, low-key profound, and casually innovative poetry that I’ve come across, and Feed looks and sounds to be his best work yet.

I say “sounds” because I also found on his website a link to this audio excerpt of Feed that has him reading/reciting what I assume is a big chunk of Feed while simultaneously serving as a sort of audio walking guide to the High Line Gardens in New York City. The way he reads his poem is fantastic, and it makes me want to seek out more such audio recordings / podcasts of him and maybe other poets reading their work if they do it sincerely like this and not in that 90s “poetry reading” cadence I remember so well from high school and college, and probably used myself a few times. (Pico is a genuinely, uniquely great reader of his own work, but hopefully also a lot has just changed for the better since I used to go to poetry readings back in the 90s and 00s.)

https://soundcloud.com/highlinenyc/high-line-feed-soundscape-tommy-pico

I’ve never been to High Line (or anywhere in New York City for that matter) but I have fond feelings for it as the apparent inspiration for one of my family’s favorite picture books, The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. I don’t know if it is a stretch, but Brown and Pico seem to be working on some similar themes, though in vastly different formats for different audiences. I mainly just wanted an excuse to put this here and give this book a shout-out, though.

The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown - Cover

Standalone post link: While Reading and Listening: Feed
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Mesita made me a 5-Second Song on Twitter

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.09.29]

Mesita made me a 5-second song on twitter. I love that he does this and that I finally got the guts to ask for one, and he did it.

Mesita made me a 5-second song on twitter. I love that he does this and that I finally got the guts to ask for one, and he did it.

His professionally recorded music is quite good, btw. I’ve listened to it a little over the years but need to dig into his discography more.

Standalone post link: Mesita made me a 5-Second Song on Twitter
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Book Review - Other Words for Home

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.11.20]

Cover Image - Other Words for Home

I published a review of Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

I really wanted to put screenshots of this entire poem in the review, but couldn’t justify it on Granite Media. But here, I get to do whatever I want, so…

Poem from Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga - Screenshot of ebook

Cover Image - Other Words for Home

I published a review of Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

I really wanted to put screenshots of this entire poem in the review, but couldn’t justify it on Granite Media. But here, I get to do whatever I want, so…

Poem from Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga - Screenshot of ebook

I still smile at everyone in the street. Not everyone smiles back, though. When they don’t, I want to say, ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I am just a girl who likes movies.’ -–Jude, in Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home

This is the engaging story of Jude, a girl who lives in a ocean-side town in Syria, where her father runs a convenience store for the tourists who visit the nearby beach resorts. She loves to watch old (1990s) American movies and sing along to Whitney Houston songs, and wants to be an actress. As tensions rise between the Syrian government and young demonstrators pushing for democracy, including Jude’s teenage brother Issa, Jude and her mother travel to visit Jude’s uncle in America. As the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate they are effectively refugees in America, and Jude must navigate American middle school while not knowing what is happening to her brother back home.

Jude is a character that all readers will be able to identify with, and Warga does a great service in showing Jude’s personality and the details of her family and life in Syria before the political unrest and violence breaks out. Crafted in easy-flowing free verse, this is a story that will help refugees, immigrants, English language learners, and really any young person who feels like they don’t quite fit in to feel seen, and it will build understanding and empathy in readers as it puts an individual face and experience on a terrible individual situation that can be hard to imagine or understand. This would make an excellent classroom read, and I highly recommend it for all young readers and for inclusion in every elementary and middle school library.

Reviewed by Joshua Whiting, Library Media Program, Educational Technology Department Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars) Interest Level: Grades 4-8

Other Words for Home Written by Jasmine Warga Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 342 pages Release Date: May 28, 2019 ISBN: 9780062747808

Tags: 2019 Children’s Fiction, Cincinnati Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Emigration Fiction, Family Fiction, Government Resistance Fiction, Immigrants Fiction, Jasmine Warga, Joshua Whiting, Movies Fiction, Moving Fiction, Muslim Americans Fiction, Muslims Fiction, Novels in Verse, Ohio Fiction, Political Unrest Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Refugees Fiction, Syria Fiction, Syrian Americans Fiction

Standalone post link: Book Review - Other Words for Home
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Book Review - A Wolf Called Wander

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.11.22]

Cover Image - A Wolf Called Wander

I published a review of A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Perry on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

Enjoyed reading this one to my kids at bedtime.

Cover Image - A Wolf Called Wander

I published a review of A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Perry on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

Enjoyed reading this one to my kids at bedtime.

Swift is not the largest or strongest pup in his pack, but he loves his home in the mountains and he wants to grow to lead, provide for, and protect the pack just like his mother and father do. When stranger wolves invade their territory, Swift finds himself alone and blocked from his mountain home forever. He wanders far, encountering dangers from men and challenges on the prairie and desert. Will he ever find a mountain home among other wolves again?

This is a dramatic, realistic, and action-packed animal adventure story inspired by the true experience of OR-7, a radio-collared wolf that mysteriously traveled over 1,000 miles across Oregon and Northern California to establish a new wolf pack. The back matter features engaging photos, maps, and other information about OR-7 as well as about wild wolves generally and their habitats in the Pacific Northwest. The frequent illustrations add to mood and experience of reading the book.

I highly recommend this book for young readers who like animals, adventure and survival stories, and even lyrical/poetic writing about nature and the wilderness. Swift’s keen observation and love of the mountains made me want to get out and explore nature myself, and after reading the book I’ve found myself even paying more attention to the animals and plants around my home and in the city.

Reviewed by Joshua Whiting, Library Media Program, Educational Technology Department Rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars) Interest Level: Grades 3-8

A Wolf Called Wander Written by Rosanne Perry, Illustrated by Mónica Armiño Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 243 pages Release Date: May 7, 2019 ISBN: 9780062895936

Tags: 2019 Children’s Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Animal Adventure Fiction, Animals Fiction, Joshua Whiting, Journeys Fiction, Mónica Armiño, Mountains Fiction, Nature Fiction, Rosanne Perry, Shelley Francom, Survival Fiction, Wolves Fiction

Standalone post link: Book Review - A Wolf Called Wander
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Happy Life Day

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2019.11.28]

I forgot to observe Life Day several days ago, but I’ll observe it today on the Internet and on my website. I did share Life Day with my kids (just about 7 minutes worth) soon after when I had come to myself and realigned my priorities. They kind of loved it, and kind of thought it was terrible, which is just as it should be.

I forgot to observe Life Day several days ago, but I’ll observe it today on the Internet and on my website. I did share Life Day with my kids (just about 7 minutes worth) soon after when I had come to myself and realigned my priorities. They kind of loved it, and kind of thought it was terrible, which is just as it should be.

A day or two later I overheard my kids telling their cousins about it. My daughter gleefully informed them that Princess Leia did not have a very good singing voice. A few seconds later she literally fell onto her own face out of a swing, which I pointed out to her was likely recompense through the force for her speaking poorly and untruthfully of the princess, or perhaps even the force ghost of Carrie Fisher herself reaching out to bring balance.

The Star Wars Holiday Special poster on TMDB - I chose this particular one because it features Bea Arthur as well as the treehouse

I feel like the holiday special is actually one of the most important entries in the entire Star Wars canon because, other than the scenes by the lake on Naboo, it is the only time you really get a feel for the home front in these taxing times, and just how much is at stake to be lost by the regular middle-class inhabitants of the galaxy if the rebellion fails and the empire continues its crushing, authoritarian reign, not only on a galactic level but in its abuses of the personal freedoms and comforts of individuals right in their midcentury modern treehouses.

Standalone post link: Happy Life Day
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I Watched Killer of Sheep, 1978

[Last Updated: 2022.02.19]
[Originally Posted: 2020.01.05]

Kids singing rhymes Dogs barking Car ignitions turning over but failing to start This bitter earth Scuffling and throwing rocks An ice cream truck on the next street over That’s America to me

Killer of Sheep DVD Cover Image

Kids singing rhymes Dogs barking Car ignitions turning over but failing to start This bitter earth Scuffling and throwing rocks An ice cream truck on the next street over That’s America to me

Killer of Sheep DVD Cover Image

(First posted on letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jdwhiting/film/killer-of-sheep/)

Last night I also watched another film directed by Charles Burnett: My Brother’s Wedding, 1983. I watched the director’s cut. It was included in the same scratched-up DVD set as Killer of Sheep, which I obtained from the Salt Lake County Library. I waxed slightly poetic describing the sounds of Killer of Sheep above, but I think I liked My Brother’s Wedding even more, although I admit that a lot of the acting here is just bad. I laughed at moments that I don’t think were intended as comical on account of the acting, but maybe that’s okay. Overall, I’m glad I watched both of them as a double-feature.

My Brother’s Wedding Movie Image

(I’m still working my way through the 2017 and 2018 topics of the Film School Drop Outs Challenge at my own pace. This was watched for Week 32 (2018) - Movement - L.A. Rebellion.)

Screenshot of moment of Killer of Sheep frozen by a scratch in the library DVD Screenshot of moment of Killer of Sheep frozen by a scratch in the library DVD

Screenshot of library’s MARC Record for Killer of Sheep, just because I’m weird and this is my site so I can Screenshot of library’s MARC Record for Killer of Sheep, just because I’m a weird cataloging nerd and this is my site so I can. And also because I couldn’t get a direct hyperlink to their catalog record to work :(

Standalone post link: I Watched Killer of Sheep, 1978
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