STARFISH

Author Lisa Fipps posted on Twitter the other day a picture of a jar with slips of paper in it.  "Every time someone says something good about STARFISH, I print it off and place it in the jar," she tweeted.  Perhaps this blog post will warrant a print out? 

There are so many things I love about this book in spite of the fact that I had a really hard time reading the bits about Ellie's brother and her mom. But that's what makes the book good, right?  When I fall hard (or don't fall, in this case) for my characters I love it. So many strong feelings one way or the other. Just ask my friend, Alicia. Ellie's mom does everything to get her to lose weight from posting things on the fridge to wanting her, at 12, to get bariatric surgery. And her brother is one of her worst bullies.  It's not that they were unbelievable, just hard for my heart to believe, you know? But, enough about them--Who do I love? Ellie, of course. Her dad. Ahhh...Her old BFF and her new BFF. Yes, the old adage, "make new friends but keep the old" totally fit here, drama free and it worked. Her Doc got a big heart in my notes. I even like her sister, who is trying.

Speaking of hearts, I💜 Julie Murphy and KA Holt and I feel like if you "shipped" (do they still use that term these days?) those two together, you would get Lisa Fipps.  Her verse is so en pointe, like Holt's. And she's got all the fabulous feels of all the Murphy novels I love. Plus all three write in Texas. Period. End of sentence.

Back to mom...there are good mom memories. "I guess I cling to those moments/like a drowning girl to a life preserver/whenever Mom's words/gut me like a fish." Wow. I just wish Ellie didn't have to endure it for so long. Eventually, with the help of Doc she stands up for herself beginning with tossing the family scale. "Untrue, negative thought:/The higher my weight,/the lower my value./True, positive thought:/A scale does not/determine my worth." All I wanted to do was yell, "You got this, Ellie!"

I highlighted a lot more quotes from the book. Trust me they are good.  Take the time you would have read them here to preorder STARFISH now.  I say it's a strong Newbery 2022 contender. Now, the big question: Will my words leap into your jar, Lisa? 😉 🤞

 

My Love for Texas

I am often asked, "Why Texas?"  I still need to figure out a pat answer that I can use over and over again.  It's almost an obsession.  My own kids call me on it all the time.  I dare you to find someone else (not from Texas) who has a postcard of the state flag hanging in her library, more Texas t-shirts than from any other state and whose working on her twang.  I'm proud to be from NoNo Texas.

Where did it stem from?  I can't exactly pinpoint the date but somewhere between a #txlchat and a book stand.  I had already been mildly obsessed when I posted on Twitter a picture of a new book from my library.  It happened to be on a book stand that caught Fort Worth librarian, Kirsten Murphy's eye.  The conversation went something like this:

"Where did you get that book stand?"

"Borders.  When it went out of business, I snagged a bunch of them."

"Can you take a few pictures of it from different angles for me?  Maybe my husband can build me some."

And so our friendship began and so did my love for Texas and all the Texas librarians, authors and illustrators. (I did love Barbara Jordan way before that, Chris Barton). That was nearly three years ago. Since then I have attended two TLAs, made many more Texas friends, fall hard for any character or book that takes place in Texas (thank you, authors Julie Murphy and Benjamin Alire Saenz) and know how to eat queso the right way.

You can only imagine my feeling when I opened up my New York Times Book Review (yes, I am still a Queens native at heart who thinks the NYT is the only paper to read) this morning to see the cover article. It's a review by David Oshinsky of God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright.  It has ME written all over it. Even if you don't read the article, check out this pool I NEED to swim in!

♥

The article (and book that is already on my TBR pile) just validates all the reasons why I love Texas and why my liberal Yankee self belongs there.  Maybe not to live but certainly to visit often.

A side and very embarrassing anecdote

On Friday, Mrs. DeMassio's class held their "Celebrity Ball."  We worked for a month on this project, reading biographies, diving deep into one special person's life and then ultimately dressing up and sharing ourselves as that person to families and friends.  It was a great event.  And no surprise here, the biography I chose to introduce and model the project to the class was of course, a Texan, Lady Bird Johnson.

When Dolley Madison came up to the mic to be interviewed by me, I could tell she was nervous. And maybe I was too.  Or just distracted by the SHeDAISY version of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" Whatever it was Dolley ultimately became a mashup of Dolley and Lady Bird.  I asked her about the parties she hosted and her fourth president husband, James.  We talked about the War of 1812.  It was all going so well until I looked down at her paper and saw the student had written she went to the University of Texas.  Oh boy.  You know where this is going! In that moment, it didn't seem odd to me. So just like that I said, "You went to the University of Texas? You know I love Texas! Go Longhorns!"  Parents laughed and no one said anything afterwards.  Maybe they didn't catch it. It was only yesterday that I realized what happened and so today, rather than die of embarrassment, I will just chalk it up to my ongoing Texas obsession. Lone Star State rules!

Are you lucky?

Today is the day of the "luck of the Irish." Green is everywhere and I'm feeling lucky.

If you have the good fortune, like I do, to have a friend who recommends books that are so perfect for you that they are unputdownable, make you cry, smile, laugh, scream and leap,  then, you too, are lucky.

Oh, Alicia.  Sometimes I just wish I didn't listen to her. Why does she know me so well?  Her book recommendations get in my way! They make everything I do come to a complete halt. And they make me do what I thought was the impossible.  Like today. (And skip ahead if this is too much TMI) I brought my wireless speaker into the bathroom so I could continue listening to my book while I was in the shower?! What?! My 11 year old does that with the audio from TV shows but me?! And for a book?!

The book that I am currently obsessed with is Dumplin' by Julie Murphy.  It's TEXAS people! How could I not love this book.  Everything is big in Texas and this book has taken over my heart in a BIG way.  Honestly, I can't believe I stopped listening to write this? Huh?! To be fair, I'm supposed to be working on something else, so this is a distraction.

My daughter is on her way to the city right now.  Tomorrow she will come back via Metro North, which means my husband or I have to drive an hour and a half to pick her up.  I'm eagerly going to volunteer because there's not enough water in our system to get me through to the final chapter.

So yeah.  Alicia knows me so well and I am lucky.  Move over green beer and shamrocks.  I've got my own personal "Reader's Advisor" and that's all the luck I need. ☘☘☘☘☘