Title: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Author(s): Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
Genre: non-fiction, biography, education for girls

I am disappointed in this book. This was the January selection for the book club I belong to and we are reading books in 2015 about strong women. This book was my pick and it didn't live up to my expectations. Malala has an inspiring story and this book fails to capture this. At first I thought the busyness of life was not letting me enjoy this book but the writing was choppy and the whole book didn't seem to "flow" very well. On the positive side, Malala gives the reader lots of background information on the political history and climate of Pakistan and the history of Swat, her home in Pakistan. The reader learns how the corrupt and inept Pakistani government let the Taliban infiltrate their country and brainwash the Pakistani people. There are lot of parallels between the Taliban takeover of Pakistan and the Nazi takeover in Germany. Should people read this book? Yes, but it might not live up to your expectations.

Title: The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Armanpour - and (Ongoing, Imperfect, Complicated) Triumph of Women in TV News
Author: Sheila Weller
Genre: non-fiction, biography, TV history

This cover caught my eye since I have always viewed Sawyer, Couric and Armanour as respected journalists. Sheila Weller gives a brief history of the beginnings of women in television along with mini biographies of Diane, Katie and Christiane. At 481 pages, Weller did extensive research and interviews with friends and work colleagues of each women to get a balanced picture of each woman's work ethic and personality. We read how their upbringing influenced their choices of stories and interview styles. As with all celebrities what we see on the TV screen is not the same as what happens before airtime. All three women are accused of being demanding and difficult by coworkers. An interesting but long read.

Title: When Rain Falls
Author: Tyora Moody
Genre: Christian fiction, mystery, suspense, urban Christian

I met Tyora Moody at the 2014 Augusta Literary Festival in Augusta, Georgia, and she was one of the finalists for the 2014 Yerby Award for Fiction. I bought the first book in her Victory Gospel series and I finally had a chance to read it over the holidays.

Candace Johnson is a widowed mother of two two teenagers when she suffers another personal tragedy- the murder of her best friends Pamela Coleman. Darnell Jackson is a cop who is a transfer to the Charlotte, NC Police Department from LA. Detective Jackson becomes the lead investigator into Pamela's murder which means he ends up spending a lot of time with Candace. Together they pool their brainpower to find a killer while they cautiously acknowledge their growing attraction for each other.

I would recommend this for anyone who is in the mood to read a mystery that's not too graphic or too sickly sweet (like some cozy mysteries). I am definitely looking forward to reading books 2 and 3 in this series.

Title: Positive: Surviving My Bullies, Finding Hope and Living to Change the World
Author: Paige Rawl with Ali Benjamin
Genre: non-fiction, biography, memoir, inspirational

Paige Rawl, by all appearance was your typical, American middle school girl: she loved cheerleading, soccer, was a straight-A student and loved hanging out with her friends. Paige was also HIV-positive (from birth) and disclosed her secret to her best friend one night at a school lock-in. Before an hour had passed, all the kids at the lock-in knew Paige's secret and her relationship with her best friend was destroyed.
Bullying and teasing soon followed after this. When Paige went to the school counselor for help, she was told "to stop the drama." Because of this lack of understanding, Paige withdrew even more into herself and wouldn't tell her mother what was happening at school or about the nasty notes left anonymously at her locker. The stress eventually manifested itself through self harm and pseudo seizures, and out of desperation, Paige was homeschooled for a year. After a year had passed, Paige transferred to another high school that was more accepting and had a zero tolerance policy on bullying. Her middle school years still haunted her though and after another huge health scare, Paige used her anger, frustration and public speaking skills (from years of pageants) to bring awareness for HIV/AIDS.

A quick read (it took me two days); although this is catalogued in the adult biography section at my library, a middle schooler would be able to easily read this. There is no graphic content, although there a few swear words from when Paige recalls conversations with other kids. I look forward to watching Paige's successes in the future!

Title: Rain Reign
Author: Ann M. Martin
Genre: juvenile literature, special needs character, dogs

Since my last blog post (3 months ago!) I have been transferred to the Children's Department at the library where I work. A few weeks into my new position, this book by Ann M. Martin comes in. Yes, that Ann M. Martin of The Babysitters Club fame! I immediately snatched this book up because a) Ms. Martin was one of my favorite authors when I was a kid, b) the book cover is beautiful and c) this is considered research for work (reader's advisory).

The main character in this book is Rose who is high-functioning autistic and is obsesses with homonyms (hence the title) and prime numbers. Rose lives with her father, who is neither the best or the worst father in the world, but he does not act kindly towards Rose's disability. The book starts off with Rose's daily struggles in school to contain her outbursts and her awkwardness in social situations. Luckily, Rose has Rain, her dog, and her Uncle Weldon to help her through life and her father's moods. Unfortunately, Rain becomes lost during a hurricane and it's weeks before she is reunited with Rose. At the reunion, Rose learns that Rain had a family before her and Rose takes the hard, brave and unselfish journey to find Rain's original family...

Title: Sister Species: Women, Animals, and Social Justice
Author: Ed. by Lisa Kemmerer
Genre: non-fiction, ecofeminism, food issues, animals

I found out about this intriguing title through my Women's Studies class and college library. Years ago I had read an article about animal welfare that casually mentioned in a sentence that eating dairy products was harmful to animals, but the author of the article didn't elaborate as to WHY this was wrong. This book does that and explains how veganism, feminism and social justice are related.

Ecofeminism is a termed that was invented in 1972 by a French author (14) and "focuses on interconnections between the domination/oppression of women and domination/oppression of nature" (14). How exactly are women and animals connected in our society? "Nature and women have been devalued, objectified or exploited for the benefit of the dominant culture" (15). This view of women and nature has manifested itself through the centuries as "both women and animals have historically been considered less intelligent, less rational and ...more primitive and closer to nature than men" (16). This mindset has led to "objectification, ridicule, and control of reproduction" (16).

Feminist vegans have turned to animal activism because "the majority of factory-farmed animals, more than 20 billion individuals a year, are female" (67). " To produce milk, cows undergo a cyclical process of forced impregnation and repeated separation from their young. The male calves often are crated and killed for veal. The females, like their mothers, will be turned into dairy machines" (91). The various essays in this book also show us that pigs, chickens and turkeys are not safe either. Parts of this book are graphic as industrialized agricultural living conditions are explained in gruesome detail: pigs and hens living in cramped cages with no room to turn around, living in humongous warehouses with no exposure to fresh air or sunlight, forced separation from their eggs or piglets. Being a "farm" animal in the US is not the peaceful, pastoral scene we imagine it to be. Death at the slaughterhouse is not quick. Due to increase in animals being butchered some animals are not stunned/incapacitated as they should be before they are killed.

Title: Hair Story: Untaming the Roots of Black Hair in America
Authors: Ayana D. Byrd and Lori L. Tharps
Genre: non-fiction, beauty, anthropology, African-American issues, American history

I picked up a copy of this book at my local library. Even though I'm a former hairdresser, I never learned how to work on "ethnic" or "black" hair because there were no African-American students in my cosmetology class. If there were no African-American students enrolled in the cosmetology course at the local vocational school, African-American customers would not come into the beauty school. Same thing happened to me in the real world once I was employed at salons- no African-American hairdressers in the salon, no African-American customers. Because of this, African-American hair has fascinated me yet been out of reach. I have had conversations at work with patrons and coworkers about the African-American community's perception of hair and the reactions women receive when they wear their hair super short and natural.
As the title suggests, the authors dig deep into the roots of African-American hair culture- all the way back to Africa. In Africa, hairstyles were used to advertise marital status (or lack thereof0, "age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth and rank within the community" (p. 2). Because of the high status of hair within many numerous African cultures, when the slave traders shaved slaves' heads this caused great cultural shame "and the highest indignity. Arriving without their signature hairstyles, slaves.... entered the New World, just as Europeans intended, like anonymous chattel" (p. 10).
The American slave system and work hierarchy environment helped "develop the social structure of the slave community- 'light-skinned' house slaves and 'dark-skinned' field slaves; 'good hair' vs. 'bad hair' (p.18). This system of skin color gradients and hair types are still used within the African-American community today which has psychologically harmed millions of African-Americans as they use various products and chemicals in an attempt to fit into a rigid standard of beauty.
The book covers historical moments in African-American hair history such as: Madame C.J. Walker, the pressing comb, the relaxer, the Afro, wigs, weaves and the natural hair movement. Contemporary hair controversies (Gabby Douglas, Don Imus, Blue Ivy) are also discussed. As the natural hair movement becomes a global phenomenon (and business opportunity) many hair care companies are realizing that "the future of hair care is going to be about texture, not race" (p.224)