"I Wish You All the Best"
Author: Mason Deaver
Reviewed by Rachael Collins
Published in 2019, I Wish You All the Best, is Mason Deaver’s first published book. Deaver, a nonbinary author using the pronouns they/them, has written a story with the first nonbinary protagonist. Deaver describes this book as the one that they needed to read when they were 15-years old and grappling with their own gender identity. A coming of age story, I Wish You All the Best shows its readers that love can be found when we take the chance to reveal our true selves to others. This book explores nonbinary gender issues and is simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful. It is a story that needs to be written and a story that needs to be heard. It is a story that reminds us that love is as fluid as its characters the characters portrayed here.
The book opens with our protagonist Ben De Backer having decided to come out as nonbinary to their parents. Ben is a high school senior who identifies as neither male nor female and uses the pronouns they/them. Admitting this truth to oneself is one thing, saying it to one’s parents is another. Indeed, the opening pages of the book are heartbreaking as the reader sees Ben grappling with trying to find the right words to tell their parents. Ben chooses what should have been the safe space of the family dinner table, but they just cannot seem to say it out loud. The evening passes and moment after moment seem to slip out of Ben’s grasp until finally Ben overcomes their fear and tells them. However, instead of receiving the acceptance they crave from their parents, Ben is met with rejection, especially from their father who at first accuses them of joking and then kicks them out of the house.
With nowhere to turn, Ben calls their sister, Hannah, who has been estranged from the family since she graduated high school ten years earlier. Hannah immediately sweeps in to help Ben and provides them a safe place to land. Grateful but trepidatious, Ben slowly learns to navigate the murky waters of their new life, and yet, fear controls much of their emotions and decisions. Ben fears the arrival of the parents that threw them out and most importantly, fears being rejected further by anyone who gets to know them. Holding their truth even closer to their heart, Ben must leap once again and has to out their senior year at a new school.
Ben allows the fear of rejection to influence them throughout a good part of the story. It controls their decisions and words causing Ben to be unable to fully trust other people in their life. Ben prefers to hide in the background afraid of being noticed by others. This changes when they meet Nathan, a fellow student at the new high school who slowly coaxes Ben back into living. A friendship grows between Ben and Nathan, but Ben remains fearful of telling Nathan their truth. However, Nathan’s endearing determination to befriend Ben slowly chips away at their walls.
I Wish You All the Best is a beautifully crafted story of learning to love oneself and trust others. I found myself unable to put the book down as I was drawn into Ben’s journey from fear, rejection and finally to healing and growth. The story was not always easy to read as I found my heart breaking for Ben several times but much like Ben, I held out hope that they would find peace, acceptance, and love. This story does not disappoint. Ben’s voice is one that needs to be heard now more than ever.
Purchase link: Scholastic
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. (May 14, 2019)
ISBN-10: 133830612X
ISBN-13: 978-1338608359
Published in 2019, I Wish You All the Best, is Mason Deaver’s first published book. Deaver, a nonbinary author using the pronouns they/them, has written a story with the first nonbinary protagonist. Deaver describes this book as the one that they needed to read when they were 15-years old and grappling with their own gender identity. A coming of age story, I Wish You All the Best shows its readers that love can be found when we take the chance to reveal our true selves to others. This book explores nonbinary gender issues and is simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful. It is a story that needs to be written and a story that needs to be heard. It is a story that reminds us that love is as fluid as its characters the characters portrayed here.
The book opens with our protagonist Ben De Backer having decided to come out as nonbinary to their parents. Ben is a high school senior who identifies as neither male nor female and uses the pronouns they/them. Admitting this truth to oneself is one thing, saying it to one’s parents is another. Indeed, the opening pages of the book are heartbreaking as the reader sees Ben grappling with trying to find the right words to tell their parents. Ben chooses what should have been the safe space of the family dinner table, but they just cannot seem to say it out loud. The evening passes and moment after moment seem to slip out of Ben’s grasp until finally Ben overcomes their fear and tells them. However, instead of receiving the acceptance they crave from their parents, Ben is met with rejection, especially from their father who at first accuses them of joking and then kicks them out of the house.
With nowhere to turn, Ben calls their sister, Hannah, who has been estranged from the family since she graduated high school ten years earlier. Hannah immediately sweeps in to help Ben and provides them a safe place to land. Grateful but trepidatious, Ben slowly learns to navigate the murky waters of their new life, and yet, fear controls much of their emotions and decisions. Ben fears the arrival of the parents that threw them out and most importantly, fears being rejected further by anyone who gets to know them. Holding their truth even closer to their heart, Ben must leap once again and has to out their senior year at a new school.
Ben allows the fear of rejection to influence them throughout a good part of the story. It controls their decisions and words causing Ben to be unable to fully trust other people in their life. Ben prefers to hide in the background afraid of being noticed by others. This changes when they meet Nathan, a fellow student at the new high school who slowly coaxes Ben back into living. A friendship grows between Ben and Nathan, but Ben remains fearful of telling Nathan their truth. However, Nathan’s endearing determination to befriend Ben slowly chips away at their walls.
I Wish You All the Best is a beautifully crafted story of learning to love oneself and trust others. I found myself unable to put the book down as I was drawn into Ben’s journey from fear, rejection and finally to healing and growth. The story was not always easy to read as I found my heart breaking for Ben several times but much like Ben, I held out hope that they would find peace, acceptance, and love. This story does not disappoint. Ben’s voice is one that needs to be heard now more than ever.
Purchase link: Scholastic
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. (May 14, 2019)
ISBN-10: 133830612X
ISBN-13: 978-1338608359
Holes in the Sky: “All Things Reach for the Stars”
Author: Patricia Polacco
7/9/2020
Reviewed by Ileana Jennings
Patricia Polacco’s 2018 addition to her lovely book list is a gift in a time of loss and loneliness. This book has it all: grandmothers, friends, unexpected community, death, grief, empowerment, cultural diversity, love and the all important service within our community. Holes in the Sky by Patricia Polacco is published by Babushka Inc. through Penguin Random House in 2018. This is an author who does not disappoint, and I found this book remarkably needed during COVID quarantine.
Trisha and her brother Richie are blessed to have time with her Babushka on the family farm until Babushka's illness, which she has hidden from Trish, takes her “to the other side.” Where she has promised that she will be “watching over you both through those holes each and every night,” and that she will “Send [them] a sign so [they’ll] know,” she is there (pg. 3). Soon their beloved Babushka passes over and the Grandpa sells the farm. Trish and Richie have to move with their mother to California. It is here that Trisha finds her way to deal with her grief and make a big difference within their new community.
Mom, Trisha and Richie have found a perfect new house although their new neighborhood is going through a drought which means that everywhere is brown and dried up. Vegetation aside, the house offered great sunlight and began to feel like home. Soon after moving in, there is a “loud knock at [her] front door.” Stewart, a young African American boy, introduces himself and offers to sell her a “May basket” (pg. 8).
Trisha and Stewart go through a lovely friendship arc that moves them through making May baskets, sharing ice cream and Miss Eula’s garden, as well as relishing in the diverse neighborhood. The diversity is welcomed by Trisha who says, “My new neighbors weren’t like the folk back home. In Michigan, pretty much everyone looked alike. Here, people were so different” (p. 14). The neighbors who were so welcoming to Trisha’s family included Hispanics, Armenians, Asians, Yemenites, and black Muslims.
The new duo find a way to help the “ole lady” who is mean to all of the kids, Ms. Bacci and we get to meet Stewart's grandmother, Eula Mae Walker. Through Miss Eula we get to see Trisha make connections and grieve her grandmother while she embraces this new Grandmother figure. We learn why Ms. Bacci is so mean and they activate their neighborhood as they bring Ms Bacci’s garden back into life, much like Ms. Bacci needed.
Through all their adventures, Trusha has been looking for a sign that her Bubbie is still watching over her. Then when Miss Eula mentions the “holes in the sky” that are from “all of those we love who have left us” Trisha realizes that the “sign” that she has been waiting for from her bubbie had been there the whole time, it was “Miss Eula herself” (p. 43). Miss Eula continued the teachings that Trisha’s grandmother had begun, including that “all things reach for the stars. Even us” (p. 43).
Throughout this text, we see the emotional and social growth of Trisha as she has lost her beloved grandmother and moved across the country. Two dramatic changes for any person or family, but for a young girl it could have been debilitating. Instead, an immense strength that Polacco has shared in that it is through the community we create that we can find healing. The sign that Trisha’s babushka had promised her was already there. She had been embraced by another grandmother in Miss Eula. As so often happens in life, we often miss the love and comfort offered to us because we are confined by our own strict expectations.
This is a beautiful book to share with those who have lost someone they love or had major changes in their lives. The artistry brings the characters to life by making them seem realistic and relatable. There is such a lovely reminder of why we need our community, whatever they may be, to help and support us. The dichotomy here is that we can often find healing through our service to others within our community. The community that we choose and create for ourselves. Even when we feel that our light is at its dimmest, we may be the only light shining for another.
Reviewer Information:
Ileana Jennings currently teaches English IV AP/Dual Credit at Caprock High School in Amarillo. Because of family issues and generational poverty, she tried to drop-out of high school; however, caring teachers and her grandmother refused to allow that. A single mother at 20, Ileana began attending Amarillo College in 1991. She fought her way through to become the first in her family to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Education Sciences and a minor in English in 2002, at 32. Her second daughter’s illness has pushed Ileana to be a better teacher and mother through two advanced degrees: a Master of Education in Secondary Reading and Curriculum Design in 2011 and Master of Education in Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages in 2012. She has shared her love of learning and dedication to community service with various grade and ability levels pushing all to “Be the Change” everyday. She revels in her love of her daughters, the outdoors, athleticism and writing. Having presented at various workshops for her district, Amarillo College, Region 16, Texas Association for Literacy Education and EdTechTeam South Plains Summit, Ileana is always willing to share the triumphs and failures of teaching every day.
Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Holes-Sky-Patricia-Polacco/dp/1524739480
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (September 11, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1524739480
ISBN-13: 978-1524739485
Patricia Polacco’s 2018 addition to her lovely book list is a gift in a time of loss and loneliness. This book has it all: grandmothers, friends, unexpected community, death, grief, empowerment, cultural diversity, love and the all important service within our community. Holes in the Sky by Patricia Polacco is published by Babushka Inc. through Penguin Random House in 2018. This is an author who does not disappoint, and I found this book remarkably needed during COVID quarantine.
Trisha and her brother Richie are blessed to have time with her Babushka on the family farm until Babushka's illness, which she has hidden from Trish, takes her “to the other side.” Where she has promised that she will be “watching over you both through those holes each and every night,” and that she will “Send [them] a sign so [they’ll] know,” she is there (pg. 3). Soon their beloved Babushka passes over and the Grandpa sells the farm. Trish and Richie have to move with their mother to California. It is here that Trisha finds her way to deal with her grief and make a big difference within their new community.
Mom, Trisha and Richie have found a perfect new house although their new neighborhood is going through a drought which means that everywhere is brown and dried up. Vegetation aside, the house offered great sunlight and began to feel like home. Soon after moving in, there is a “loud knock at [her] front door.” Stewart, a young African American boy, introduces himself and offers to sell her a “May basket” (pg. 8).
Trisha and Stewart go through a lovely friendship arc that moves them through making May baskets, sharing ice cream and Miss Eula’s garden, as well as relishing in the diverse neighborhood. The diversity is welcomed by Trisha who says, “My new neighbors weren’t like the folk back home. In Michigan, pretty much everyone looked alike. Here, people were so different” (p. 14). The neighbors who were so welcoming to Trisha’s family included Hispanics, Armenians, Asians, Yemenites, and black Muslims.
The new duo find a way to help the “ole lady” who is mean to all of the kids, Ms. Bacci and we get to meet Stewart's grandmother, Eula Mae Walker. Through Miss Eula we get to see Trisha make connections and grieve her grandmother while she embraces this new Grandmother figure. We learn why Ms. Bacci is so mean and they activate their neighborhood as they bring Ms Bacci’s garden back into life, much like Ms. Bacci needed.
Through all their adventures, Trusha has been looking for a sign that her Bubbie is still watching over her. Then when Miss Eula mentions the “holes in the sky” that are from “all of those we love who have left us” Trisha realizes that the “sign” that she has been waiting for from her bubbie had been there the whole time, it was “Miss Eula herself” (p. 43). Miss Eula continued the teachings that Trisha’s grandmother had begun, including that “all things reach for the stars. Even us” (p. 43).
Throughout this text, we see the emotional and social growth of Trisha as she has lost her beloved grandmother and moved across the country. Two dramatic changes for any person or family, but for a young girl it could have been debilitating. Instead, an immense strength that Polacco has shared in that it is through the community we create that we can find healing. The sign that Trisha’s babushka had promised her was already there. She had been embraced by another grandmother in Miss Eula. As so often happens in life, we often miss the love and comfort offered to us because we are confined by our own strict expectations.
This is a beautiful book to share with those who have lost someone they love or had major changes in their lives. The artistry brings the characters to life by making them seem realistic and relatable. There is such a lovely reminder of why we need our community, whatever they may be, to help and support us. The dichotomy here is that we can often find healing through our service to others within our community. The community that we choose and create for ourselves. Even when we feel that our light is at its dimmest, we may be the only light shining for another.
Reviewer Information:
Ileana Jennings currently teaches English IV AP/Dual Credit at Caprock High School in Amarillo. Because of family issues and generational poverty, she tried to drop-out of high school; however, caring teachers and her grandmother refused to allow that. A single mother at 20, Ileana began attending Amarillo College in 1991. She fought her way through to become the first in her family to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Education Sciences and a minor in English in 2002, at 32. Her second daughter’s illness has pushed Ileana to be a better teacher and mother through two advanced degrees: a Master of Education in Secondary Reading and Curriculum Design in 2011 and Master of Education in Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages in 2012. She has shared her love of learning and dedication to community service with various grade and ability levels pushing all to “Be the Change” everyday. She revels in her love of her daughters, the outdoors, athleticism and writing. Having presented at various workshops for her district, Amarillo College, Region 16, Texas Association for Literacy Education and EdTechTeam South Plains Summit, Ileana is always willing to share the triumphs and failures of teaching every day.
Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Holes-Sky-Patricia-Polacco/dp/1524739480
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (September 11, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1524739480
ISBN-13: 978-1524739485
Teaching, affirming, and recognizing tran* and gender creative youth: A queer literacy framework
Author: S.J. Miller
7/2/2020
Reviewed by Matt Panazzo-Schagene
Preview: “We’re so fearful of parents’ complaints," Jessica Lifshitz said, "and yet I don’t understand why we’re not more fearful of children sitting in our classrooms feeling like they’re invisible” (O'Donnell, 2018, p. 37). Imagine, for a second, what it feels like to live in a world where who you love or how you see yourself does not match the gender roles and gender norms that construct the world in which you live. For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth, feeling invisible or misunderstood is all too common an experience in schools as LGBTQ students navigate a heteronormative world filled with gender constructs that pressure them to look, act, and love a certain way in order to fit in."
Read more of this review at: https://journals.tdl.org/read/index.php/read/article/view/69
Journal Information: READ An Online Journal for Literacy Educators, Vol. 4 No. 7 (2018), Sam Houston State University, Published in 2019, pages 105-109
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Affirming-Recognizing-Gender-Creative-ebook/dp/B01HEF6WFK
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st ed. 2016 edition (June 21, 2016)
ISBN-13: 978-1137567659
ISBN-10: 1137567651
