Muff - or - How to keep your bunny with you all the time

 My hands get very cold. I wear mittens as soon as it is chilly. But when I started spinning angora fiber I had a thought that I might make an old-fashioned muff from the yarn.

Here's the yarn

I had vague ideas about knitting that muff. But when I finished my first ball of yarn I got a little bit of "good yarn anxiety" and put it away for a while. I finally got my yarn out again with a clearer plan. Instead of knitting, I decided to nalbind my muff, making the exterior with wool yarn (for sturdiness and extra warmth). The inner part is all angora and having your hands inside is like petting a rabbit constantly. I don't have directions for you because my approach to nalbinding tends more towards "vibes" than set patterns.

Book review - Every Story Ever Told

 

Title: Every Story Ever Told

Author: Ami Polonsky

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Similar books: Ruptured by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz

                      Sky Ropes by Sondra Soderborg

Rating:

Thoughtful

Summary (provided by publisher): Stevie Jane Cohen-Kaplan’s sheltered suburban life is shattered by a mass shooting at a festival in her town. In the aftermath, her brain feels broken. She can’t bear to visit her mom, recovering in the hospital under Stevie’s dad’s watchful eye, or to be pent up in her grandparents’ nearby Manhattan apartment.

To escape the apartment and her own thoughts, Stevie starts adventuring around New York City with her best friend, Avi, and a new therapy dog (in training). The trio starts chasing stories—about a neighbor’s life after the Holocaust, Stevie’s grandfathers who died of AIDS long before she was born, and even about her own mom’s activist upbringing. These stories may not bring Stevie all the way back to “normal,” but can they help her find a new version of herself?

My opinion: If Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close had been written for a child audience, the result might be something akin to this novel. It is a bit of a gut-punch read. These are capital B Big topics going on in this story - mass shooting, surviving the Holocaust, the AIDS crisis, and finding your way through PTSD. Each step of Stevie's journey is a painful one. She makes bad choices, can't explain her motivations. But we are deeply invested in her story from the beginning. A word on that beginning - the book opens before the shooting. Over the course of the first few chapters we live that shooting with her (as well as a couple of brief flashbacks). But while the events are described it is in the same fragmented way that Stevie experiences it. While there is no graphic violence there is blood and it may well be upsetting for middle grade readers. It is absolutely respectful but honest, so bear that in mind before selecting this book. 

More information: Every Story Ever Told releases October 29
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Listen with me

 

Tangleroot by Kalela Williams

Consider the set-up here - a girl forced to spend the summer at an old plantation with her high-achieving mother who is searching for details about family history. We're going to expect secrets uncovered about the slave-owning history of the town and probably some modern racism along with a confrontation between the girl and her mother. And all of that is present. There's nothing supernatural here, no ghosts haunting the place (though the early chapters certainly would have allowed for it). Ultimately, it's not even about confronting racism, exactly. Instead Williams has used a town's racist past as a method of exploring identity. Noni picks apart the history of the families that lived at Tangleroot, certainly, but she also ends up examining herself. She's asking what motivates her and the kind of person she wants to be. This is less of a thriller, though it has some big reveals and dramatic moments, and more of a piece that asks us to question behavior and attitudes. Not only is this one worth reading, it's probably worthy of a second or third pass to truly explore the ideas at play.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

WWW Wednesday

What are you currently reading?

Lonely Places by Kate Anderson - Chase's family has been living on the road for years, roaming the country in a converted school bus. They've settled for the year in a lookout tower in the middle of Pando. It should be a chance for Chase to work and earn some money, for her sister Guthrie to heal from a trauma. But strange things happen in Pando and Chase fears loosing her sister forever.

What did you recently finish reading?

Every Story Ever Told by Ami Polonsky - After a mass shooting at a street festival, Stevie feels like she's falling apart. With her best friend and her newly acquired therapy dog, she tracks down bits of her mother's history and starts putting herself together again.

What do you think you'll read next?

Let it Glow by Marissa Meyer and Joanne Levy

Book review - Giddy Barber Explodes in 11

 

Title: Giddy Barber Explodes in 11

Author: Dina Havranek

Genre: realistic fiction

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                      Life Unaware by Cole Gibsen

Rating:

relatable

Summary (provided by publisher): Giddy Barber knows with certainty she’s going to become a mechanical engineer. What she doesn't know is the last time she smiled.

With her parents overworked and unavailable, it falls to Giddy to make sure her siblings stay on track. But she’s exhausted. When you’re the person everyone else turns to, what do you do when you hit a wall?

Giddy finds an answer online—if you can’t handle how things are going, shake them up. Is it sound advice? Unclear. But is Giddy willing to try anything? Absolutely. Putting eleven days on the clock, she’ll change her routine. But soon it becomes clear that some problems are bigger than what an online column can fix—her family is fracturing, her anxiety is mounting, and all she knows is this: Something. Has. To. Give.

My opinion: We're hearing increasing reports of teens who are stretched to the limit and struggling with stress and depression. So Giddy's situation is timely. We see a character who is not only tightly wound and over scheduled, she's desperately unhappy and has no idea what would make her happy. The advice she follows sets me a bit on edge. Not only does she pick it up from what sounds like a pretty questionable source, her method of following it is deeply flawed. So her decisions can be pretty cringe-inducing. And the tension builds steadily throughout the book. The titular explosion feels increasingly inevitable. The resolution is ultimately satisfying and addresses some of her poor decision-making. Certainly, I wouldn't recommend that any reader follow Giddy's method of fixing their life but it's a solid illustration of how desperately wrong and over-burdened teen's life can turn.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - The Judgement of Yoyo Gold

 

Title: The Judgement of Yoyo Gold

Author: Isaac Blum

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Beyond the Mapped Stars by Rosalyn Eves

                     The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

Rating:

solidly contemplative

Summary (provided by publisher): Yoyo Gold has always played the role of the perfect Jewish daughter. She keeps kosher, looks after her siblings, and volunteers at the local food bank. She respects the decisions of her rabbi father and encourages her friends to observe the rules of their Orthodox faith. But when she sees her best friend cast out of the community over a seemingly innocent transgression, Yoyo’s eyes are opened to the truth of her neighbors’ hypocrisies for the first time. And what she sees leaves her shocked and unmoored.

As Yoyo’s frustration builds, so does the pressure to speak out, even if she can only do so anonymously on TikTok, an app that’s always been forbidden to her. But when one of her videos goes viral—and her decisions wind up impacting not only her own life but also her relationship with the boy she’s falling for—Yoyo’s world is thrown into chaos. She is forced to choose which path to take, for her community, for her family, and most importantly, for herself.

My opinion: There are plenty of books out there that feature characters in restrictive religious communities starting to look at the larger world for the first time. Mostly these books show the hypocrisy and stifling restriction of the religion. That's not quite what is happening here. Yoyo doesn't question her religion. Her belief in Hashem does not waver. Instead, she's questioning rules, restrictions. She's asking if all of these things are genuinely what is for her good. Or at least, that's how her journey starts. Without getting into spoilers, what I'll say is that I thought I had the direction of this plot figured out several times only to have the narrative shift in a small but significant way each time. The result is truly and introspective plot as Yoyo makes mistakes and keeps secrets, finding her way forward for herself. With a full cast of complex characters, this is an excellent read.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Graphic novel spotlight - Heebie Jeebies

 

Heebie Jeebies by Matthew Erman

Looking for a ghost story that's more funny and exciting than scary? This might be the book for you. Combining a search for a lost treasure with social conflicts, Heebie Jeebies gives us s story of outsider kids looking for stability and understanding. It's not afraid to make jokes even as it digs into their characters and motivations. With a strong visual design and a solid plot, this is an entertaining read suitable for middle grade readers.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley