Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

I have to say that I loved this book. It is a series of monologues from different people involved in creating and maintaining a community garden in Cleveland, Ohio.

Through each short vignette, the story is advanced as the different perspectives of those involved are shared with the listener. This book could have diversity as its core value as each narrator was of a different age, sex, and race--from a young Vietnamese girl to a 78 year old man who spent his life working for social justice to a farmer from Mexico who speaks an Indian language only one person can understand. As this was an audiobook, I especially liked that each monologue was given a unique voice by a different narrator.

It touched me. I recommend it. I want to share it with my students.

Secret Origins, Volume 1 by Jeff Lemire, Pete Tomasi, Greg Pak, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, and Kyle Higgins

A couple of years ago DC comics rebooted its entire universe. This means it needed to update the origins of all the superheroes who made the transition to that universe. Most of these tales are ones I know. Heck a couple of them, like Superman and Batman, everyone knows. So why bother?

Well, for one thing, the way a story is told matters. The details of a story matter. And the details in these origin stories are slightly different from the older versions. Not so different as to be completely (or even substantially) changed. But the details allow the writers to set up the way they want these characters to grow and evolve in the New 52.

Some of the techniques used to tell the origin stories worked for me. The double-voiced narration of Superman’s story. The darkness mixed with hope in Batman’s story. It’s a different look at Aquaman and how his own future nemesis springs from it. Starfire’s story is definitely much darker. Batwoman’s story was completely new to me.

Of course, now that there is another multiverse shaking event coming up soon, who knows how quickly these new origins will be dated as well?

Trigger Warning: Short Stories and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan and was happily surprised when I saw he had a new book out. I was going to put it on my wish list in Audible, when my fiancée told me not to. Then she gave me my Valentine’s Day present a little early. Not hard to guess it was the hardback of Trigger Warning.

This is a book of short stories, with a few poems added in. As he is noted for, Gaiman’s stories are all more than a bit unearthly. He has a way of subtly raising the hair on the back of my neck, all unnoticed. Unnoticed, that is, until the story’s climax.

Included in the collection are a Doctor Who story, a story about Shadow (main character of Ameican Gods—a must read), a rather different take on Sherlock Holmes, and the award winning “Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains…”

The title comes from the Internet. Often a post is prefaced by the words “trigger warning” as a way to let readers know it contains disturbing material that could trigger “flashbacks of anxiety or terror.” The power of words to sculpt and shape our emotions and our emotional responses is always amazing to me. In the hands of a master like Gaiman, that power is multiplied.

If you are a Gaiman fan, I don’t need to tell you to get the book. If you haven’t read his work yet, this is a good an introduction as any. I don’t think I’ll put it in the classroom library, I think some of what is in here is a bit too much for most seventh graders. I will definitely keep it as a proud part of my collection of Gaiman’s works.