Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Each month LibraryReads posts a list of 10 recommended titles; this post and some subsequent ones will be an opportunity to comment on several of the those recommendations. The favorite overall was RED AT THE BONE by Jacqueline Woodson, a new coming of age novel set mostly in Brooklyn about several generations in one family. Melody is the youngest, now sixteen which is basically the same age as her mother Iris when she found out she was unexpectedly pregnant. Those two share narration duties with Melody’s father, Aubrey, and her grandmother, Sabe, married to Po’Boy. Woodson is adept at exploring the idea of fate: “Knowing that there’s so much in this great big world that you don’t have a single ounce of control over. Guess the sooner you learn that, the sooner you’ll have one less heartbreak in your life.” Personally, I found the story to be well-written, but mostly descriptive. I think students would look for more action. RED AT THE BONE received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.

Celebrate Independent Publishers

I wanted to take just a few moments to recognize some independent publishers and thought a good way to do so might be to mention some newly released titles. Kensington Books was founded in 1974 and is known as “America’s Independent Publisher." They publish roughly 500 new titles each year and some authors such as Janet Dailey, Joanne Fluke, Fern Michaels are likely familiar names.

Kensington just re-released SHEPHERD AVENUE by Charlie Carillo which is set in the early 1960’s in Brooklyn.  It tells the story of 10 year old Joey who loses his Mom to cancer and his Dad to grief and the subsequent decision to travel the country. Joey is taken to live with his paternal Italian American grandparents where he has to deal with feeling abandoned in a totally new environment. It is certainly a different time in terms of societal attitudes towards women, different races and even food preparation with scenes of animals being slaughtered.  Carillo’s work was an American Library Association Notable Book of the Year and he just recently wrote Return to Shepherd Avenue which is set 50 years later and will also be published this June by Kensington Books.

Skyhorse Publishing is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and focuses primarily on sports, nature and history.  They expect to publish roughly 900 titles across 18 imprints this year.

One is WHERE JASMINE BLOOMS by Holly Warah which explores the lives of the Mansours, an Arab American family living in Seattle.  Both sons, Ahmed and Khalid, have married American women with differing ties to their culture. Warah examines the relationships which form between the spouses and within the family, especially with the matriarch, Zainab. There is a clash of culture, language, religion and generations as Zainab believes “that America was full of disbelievers and the country was pulling her sons away from her.” An opportunity to move overseas presents itself and Margaret (Ahmed’s wife) struggles with the idea of leaving America and “planning a new life and dismantling an old one.” The characters, especially the three women, are memorable and offer unique perspectives about what a home and family means.