Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

Age: Grades 9-12

I heard about this book several years ago on NPR. I had wanted to read it right away, but here I am several years later...at least I remembered I wanted to read it. This is a true story about Debbie Rodriguez, an American who got out of an abusive relationship and went to Afghanistan to help with humanitarian aid. After several epiphanies, Debbie decided to open a beauty school in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Now when I think of a beauty school, I think of superficial things and negative aspects of being a woman. But really, a beauty school is empowering to women. It is a women centered organization, run, and staffed by women. In Afghanistan, men are not allowed in a beauty parlor because women have their heads uncovered (actually if men are caught in a beauty parlor it will hence forth be considered a whore house). In a beauty parlor, it is the one place where women can be themselves and be successful business women. What Debbie did was see that there was a need and work to fulfill it.

Anyhow, being that Debbie was a beautician and not a writer, I was concerned that the book wouldn't be well written. However, it is fabulous! I went on Amazon and saw that there was another writer listed, likely writer who could help Debbie organize her thoughts. Well, that other lady did a great job!

Debbie is a fighter. She barrels into Afghanistan and wants to help everyone. Later, she realizes that her American 'Can Do!' sensibility has often hurt other's feelings and she is able to reflect and accept why--which is hard for anyone to do. When she hears the horrible stories of the Taliban, she wants to jump to action. But that is not the way of things in Afghanistan.

One story, I LOVED and also HATED was when Debbie when to the market and a creepy man groped her. She did what an American woman would do. She punched him and yelled out that she was being assaulted. This behavior was so embarrassing to Debbie's Afghan friend who accompanied Debbie, that she vowed to never go to market with Debbie again. In Debbie's mind, she was protecting herself. In Debbie's friend's mind, Debbie was humiliating herself. This is a vast cultural difference that makes me furious, but at the same time, these women's perspectives are not any less valid than mine because they are different.

At one point Debbie visits a women's prison. The overall experience was utterly depressing. When she spoke with the women in prison, she found that many were in there for running away from abusive husbands or for being raped. Debbie herself had just escaped an abusive husband. According to Afghan law, she should be in prision for that offence. It was a very moving moment in the book.

I guess what I am trying to get at, is there are ways you can work within a system that is dysfunctional and make people's lives better. The women Debbie helps would be lost with American women's independence. Many women had never made a decision on their own before. It would be a trial to just pick out what to wear in the morning (having only had the decision between a blue burqa or a black burqa in the past). What Debbie did was go behind the lines and make a difference immediately. Sometimes you can't want for a culture or whatever, to change. How many of these women would have starved or been killed before the culture made a change allowing them to be independent? Who can wait for that?

It is an incredible book. It blows my mind. I was born in America. What if I had been born in Afghanistan? That could be my life.

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Grades: 9-12

I have undertaken the mammoth responsibility of reading I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Now, the book isn't even really that long. I guess it is like 400 pages. That is not the problem. And it's not that the book is dry or boring, it is just a commitment. I am entering another time, a time before watches, computers, cars, electricity, radio, Nike shoes...really, there is more that that world didn't have (that I need and use in everyday life) than what that world did have. The book is just epic.

It is the "auto-biography" of Claudius the grandson of Augustus Caesar (Octavian), or the great-grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. The book is based on the historical accounts of the time. However, it is important to not that the historical accounts wildly vary. History at that time is more relative. I mean, Homer's Odyssey is, for the most part, considered a historical piece--you know the whole thing with the sirens and the cyclops. So while this book is definitely historical fiction, it is still mostly fiction. There is just no way we can know for sure what happens.

Claudius is an unexpected hero. He stutters, has a permanent limp, drools, and is frequently ill. It is amazing that he lived at all. Think about the kind of medical care he would have received. Basically, none. Sure they had doctors but they didn't know anything. Plus, he is born into a family that is famous for the "accidental" deaths, back stabbing, immorality (despite Octavian's insistence of the old school moral code), and borderline incest.

I mean look at this family tree! This family tree is ridiculous. When you have to list the number of times a person is married and who that person had affairs with, the family tree gets very confused. Basically, you might be a redneck if your family tree needs a key. But, let's keep in mind that marriage is a different thing then.

Double click on image to see full display.

Now this could be very confusing because everyone basically has the same name. Rome is a culture of nick names because of this fact. But Robert Graves writing as Claudius is very clear when he mentions someone. But, it's still confusing.

But, it is not at all boring. Look at that family tree! HOW COULD IT BE BORING! You have Tiberius and Caligula as characters. If you don't know anything about those two, then you are in for a scandalous surprise. Tiberius hated being emperor. He built a pleasure palace in Capri. There he holed up and when not participating in demented and strange activities, he spent his time being paranoid.  He was able to run away to the country because of the momentum of the economy that Augustus left behind. When it was discovered the kinds of things he was doing there, it is thought that he was murdered by his great-nephew, adopted son, and successor Caligula (although it is not clear exactly what happened. Tiberius was in his 70s. He could very well have died of old age.).

Now, Caligula was just about as bad but he was just stinking crazy. At one point, while fighting in England, he ordered his troops to charge the ocean. He was just crazy. Although, he is considered moderate a moderate ruler for the first few years of his reign. After these relatively peaceful years it is thought that Caligula suffered from the end stages of syphilis which caused his insanity. But you have to think about how Caligula would have been effected by Tiberius's peculiar tastes as they spent a good deal of time together. Make a long story short Caligula is assassinated and our good Claudius becomes the emperor!

So it is sooo not a boring book, but as you can see complicated.

EPIC!

The Hound of the Baskervilles: A Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel

Grades: 6-12

Story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Adapted by Ian Edginton, Illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard

When I saw this on the new book I squealed with librarian glee! I've often thought that the Sherlock Holmes books would be great in the graphic novel format. I have to say that even I, literate librarian, get bogged down by the Victorian language used.

I was however afraid that the story would be watered down into "BAM" and "SWOOSH!" that are generally associated with graphic novels. The Hounds of the Baskervilles is a very complex story that has many story components. It would completely change the value of the story to remove these. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of text that was kept. I tend to be a purist as far as how I feel with regard to abridged texts--that is, I hate it when a text is abridged--and this was a great adaption.

Mr. Librarian is likewise a stickler for detail in renditions of literary masterpiece. You did NOT want to sit next to him during the Harry Potter movies or Troy. He fumed that why would anyone want to change the storyline of a book series that was as popular as Harry Potter or as infamous and classic as that of the city of Troy. Sometimes there is a reason to change the storyline. However, in these cases, it was ridiculous. I know. But, I think EVEN would enjoy this adaptation.

The illustrations really make the graphic novel. If the illustrations had been some kind of wispy stick figures or some really pretty flower stuff, it would have been an utter disaster. I like the way the characters were drawn. While the reader is unable to read the descriptions of people, it is very evident that the illustrator has read the descriptions of the people and taken that to heart when he draws. The mood, tone, and general feeling of Victorian London and countryside was taken into account in the colorful, yet gritty images.

If you haven't read this story, you must do so immediately.

Eli The Good by Silas House

I know we've always been told not to judge a book by its cover, but when I saw the cover of Silas House's newest novel I knew I was going to love it. Just look at it. . .that gorgeous sunlight flowing through that leafy canopy. Stare at it for awhile. Can't you just smell the earthiness of it?

Okay, so I'm going to love this book. That's what I told myself, but, wait a minute--it's about the Vietnam War. For someone who majored in History that shouldn't be a problem, but I have a bad history when it comes to reading books having to do with the Vietnam. They're always too depressing (think In Country) or gory (think The Things They Carried), and they tend to give me nightmares. Silas House, how could you do this to me? And with your Young Adult debut?! After much anguish, I mustered up the courage to read Eli the Good, and I loved it!

It's the summer of 1976 and the whole of the US is finding itself in a paradox. The Bicentennial has everyone in patriotic celebration, but the anger and disillusionment from the Vietnam War still pain the country. Ten-year-old Eli Book realizes this all too well. His father, Stanton, was one of the men who survived the conflict physically, but was mentally scarred instead with post-traumatic stress syndrome. To make matters worse, Eli’s war-protesting aunt comes to stay with the family. While her free-spirited, music-adoring lifestyle is a welcome refreshment, she is hiding something that casts another shadow over the family. The bitter resentment Stanton feels toward his sister’s protests of war increases the tension in the household. Despite this palpable bitterness, Eli’s own sister begins to call the war into question—further fueling the conflict. Eli also has questions, but they are ones he does not think he can ask. He feels a distance between himself and his mother, and he knows his father will never talk about what happened to him in Vietnam. For solace, Eli turns to his best friend and neighbor, Edie, who is also struggling to cope with familial turmoil. In this delicately handled and endearing coming-of-age tale, Silas House has managed to take on the burdensome confusion and hurt carried by children of Vietnam War veterans while exerting the universal truths of love and hope. Eli the Good just might make me read another book about the Vietnam War. So, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Grades: 5+

The summer of 1899 is HOT in Calpurnia Virginia Tate's sleepy Texas town, and there aren't a lot of good ways to stay cool. Her mother has a new wind machine from town, but Callie might just have to resort to stealthily cutting off her hair, one sneaky inch at a time. She also spends a lot time at the river with her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist. It turns out that every drop of river water is teeming with life - all you have to do is look through a microscope!As Callie ecplores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.

I thought this would be a boring science story. It is funny. Calpurnia has an interesting point of view and comes to interesting conclusions. It also brings in some history without even meaning to. You know how people are still angry about evolution? Well, think about how people must have felt about it when the idea was fresh. Yeah, Calpurnia's neighbors are livid about the very idea of evolution. When Calpurnia tries to go to the library to get Darwin's book, the librarian refuses to give it to her. The librarian said it was inappropriate subject material. Such a change!

There were times when I laughed outloud funny. Just a really great story.