CET Writes

Thelma Streeter (circa 1948) Earlier today I was chatting online with a friend and colleague about the surreal and exhausting state of the world, and he made the following statement:  Sometimes, I feel like an imposter in the conversation  [about equity work], as I am the quintessential benefactor of this historic class system, but I still feel like it has to be much more difficult to be a mouthpiece as a black American. So often, it has to feel like people immediately shut down when you start talking about inequality. Or systemic racism. To which I replied: If you're the imposter, then I'm the sleeper. I, too, have benefited from the same class system. My parents circumvented and exploited it, and then taught my brother and I to not only do the same but to also conduct ourselves as if we have always been here. And that was just the most recent generation. Some day, we'll talk about my social-climbing, paternal grandmother. ***** Thelma Streeter (née Dennis) was born on Jul...

Image from  amazon.com As a matter of full disclosure, please be aware that I was gifted a free electronic copy of this book to review. Serena the Sailboat is a charming tale about a day’s adventure involving the protagonist and her friends Simon Seagull and Danny Dolphin. After parading through the harbor and bidding their friends a joyous farewell, the trio head out to sea for a day of fun in the sun; however, their outing turns perilous when a storm rolls in and Serena fears that the gale may breach her hull. Recognizing the power of their collective strength, the friends find a safe harbor where they can weather the storm together. In Serena the Sailboat , Laura Thomae Young crafts a sweet, gentle story in verse while Raina M. Tubba’s illustrations extend the fun sing-song rhyme of Young’s quatrains in a friendly style that will make a good read for pre-kindergarten children ages 3-5. Furthermore, fans of Eric Carle, Leo Lionni, and classics from the Little Golden Boo...

Unlike Rickety Stitch, I know exactly how I arrived at the inaugural Greater Austin Comic Con; indeed, I recall my origin story in more than half-remembered snippets that come to me in a dreamlike state. Just under fifteen years ago, I rather unironically met the man of my dreams and then became his beautiful wife. 🎶 At this point, I quickly realized that I’d been on the periphery of comic fandom all of my life. Comics feature heavily in the reading preferences of all of the significant men in the Christinaverse—my husband, my father-in-law, my father, and my brother. Upon further investigation, as a veteran teacher of literature and literacy I quickly recognized that superheroes are frequently modern instantiations of literary archetypes and that having so much of the story told via a mélange of expertly crafted images and text greatly benefits struggling readers. In short, comics are not only fun to read but could easily be the edification of the innocent!  Thus, ...

Image from Amazon.com Jensen Graham’s fertile thought life is full of heroic antics and daring do in which he regularly saves not only himself but his friends as well. Unfortunately, his actual existence is less spectacular.  As an overweight, awkward, socially inept middle schooler, he finds math hard, friendship harder, and avoiding bullying—even by those he thinks of as friends—hardest of all. Although Jensen has always struggled in that game we call life, someone seems to have cranked up the difficulty setting. So, when the elevator tries to break him down… he stalls out and is at a complete loss as to how to recover himself. Forced into introspection by the school newspaper’s power team, Jensen accepts some ugly truths, finds guidance in YA novel, and actively works on “fixing what’s wrong, changing what’s around [him], and doing what [he’s] afraid of” (236). Brave would be a good read for late elementary and middle grade readers (grades 5-8) who enjoy painfully awkw...

Having barely survived a demon possession,  Mia must move in with her Milanese extended family where she’ll stay alive by learning the family heritage and mastering the family trade of demon catching with the ancient lore of bell, book, and candle.  In the course of these studies, she begins to understand that the world is far more complex than she ever believed it to be and the powerfully seductive forces at play can’t be easily categorized.  Beyer constructs a narrative in which the quick and the dead, the animate and the inanimate, as well as the characters and the setting have had a long standing multi-generational intimacy. As the plot unfolds, the audience quickly realizes that the protagonist seems to have a walk-on part in an expansive drama that has been playing out for a very long time.    Nonetheless, for this scene Mia seems to play the role of both Dante and Cervantes simultaneously-functioning as not only the damned but also the guide through th...

Cover from Goodreads As a typical American teenager, Pri (Priyanka Das) has a lot of questions. As the child of a single, Indian immigrant mother, she has many unanswered questions: Why did her mother leave India? What was India like? Who is her father, and why did her mom leave him? Unfortunately Pri’s mom avoids answering these questions—putting a strain on their relationship and further piquing Priyanka’s interest, as India seems to call to her. Just when mother and daughter seem to be at an impasse, Pri finds a mysterious pashmina that holds the answers to her questions and transports her back to the seat of her heritage. But is this the real? In order to gain the answers that she craves, Pri must travel farther than she’s ever dared—physically, intellectually, and spiritually. This graphic novel's heartwarming navigation of the quotidien terrain of maturation, the hardship of self-discovery, and the adolescent tendency to rail against the confines of familial authority ar...

I originally published this piece March 6, 2017 on Deepstacks - DragonLibrary's blog. Skipping up the steps of the grand institution that resides at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, the language arts educator and public school librarian in me appreciates the majestic Beaux-Arts building that I’m about to enter. But the suppressed ten-year-old in me secretly hopes that Cee-Lo Green will burst forth from Patience—his marble prison—and offer up a modern rendition of “I’m a Mean Old Lion.” And even the sobering knowledge that no such whimsy will come to fruition on this day is incapable of sapping my joy.  Having waited these many years, the mere thought of spending my morning on a reading date in the hallowed halls of the New York Public Library prompts a hedonistic flush that can only be rivaled by the fond childhood memory of myself paying gold-lamé-clad homage to Ted Ross’ high-stepping, ousted leader of the pride. After a short jaunt down the first floo...