Dear Evan Hansen

 
DEAR EVAN HANSEN by Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul is the novelization of the award-winning Broadway musical.  It’s a story filled with classic young adult themes of belonging and isolation, of anxiety and acceptance, of guilt and truth. But the novel version seemed especially slow – in fairness, maybe that was my reluctance to discover any “spoilers” prior to the show’s opening in Chicago.  I ordered a copy of the book and had it sitting on my desk where it sparked quite a bit of interest – students know and like the music as well as the story of a young outcast, Evan, who is mistakenly credited with being a good friend to a boy, Connor, who commits suicide and whose family struggles to understand.  

DEAR EVAN HANSEN received a starred review from School Library Journal (grades 9 and up).

Christy by Catherine Marshall

CHRISTY by Catherine Marshall is one of my ALL time favorite books and I am excited to see that a new hardcover is being released due to its 50th anniversary. Based in part on experiences of Marshall’s mother, CHRISTY shares the very moving story of Christy Huddleston, a nineteen-year-old school teacher in Appalachia (Cutter Gap, Tennessee) beginning in 1912. She battles extreme poverty and entrenched traditions while struggling with her own faith in an inspiring manner. I remember asking for a copy when I was in high school – even though I had read it, I wanted to be able to re-read it again and again. I think current high school students will relate to her questioning and to her desire to make a difference. 

A small concern, frankly, is the cover of this new addition – while realistic, I did not find it as appealing as some of the images associated with earlier versions and the mid-1990s award-winning CBS series. If you know this title, consider reading it again and it you are not familiar with the character, CHRISTY is a must-read in the vein of Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman and Nancy Freedman or Adriana Trigiani’s Big Stone Gap novels.

1000 Books to Read ...

We have a huge interactive display in our library for the Great American Read and should anyone finish those titles, they might want to start in on the recently published 1,000 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE by James Mustich. His compilation has a page or so devoted to each of the wide–ranging (the publisher says: poetry, science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children's literature, the novel) 1,000 titles.  One aspect I really liked was Mustich’s comments on “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations in addition to his frank assessments.  Several years ago someone gave me the gift of the original 2006 version of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die edited by Peter Boxall.  Both collections are immense fun to explore.

This fall has definitely felt like a case of "so many books, so little time" for me. I hope to make that up and will be adding several posts about a variety of exciting new books spanning several interests.  In the meantime, have fun browsing through the many, many suggestions that Mustich profiles.