Rachel Baack

Summary: Brainstorm explains the essence of adolescence in a way that allows both teens and adults to engage with their own brains and development as well as the minds of others. A few important takeaways for me were the idea of taking time-in to feel one’s sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts; the importance of being a secure, dependable attachment figure rather than an absent or unpredictable one; and the necessity of simply being present—being there for others without judgement, and really experiencing their feelings and listening to what they have to say.

Summary: In this retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale, recent fashion graduate Cindy finds herself in a design slump. She sees a perfect opportunity to promote her work and maybe get her groove back when a slot opens up on Before Midnight, a Bachelor-esque dating show that her stepmother (not evil, just a bit of a workaholic) happens to produce. The problem, however, is that Cindy may be a little more into the show’s “suitor” than she’d expected she’d be.

My favorite thing about this retelling is that Cindy gets to have a positive, supportive relationship with her stepfamily. The ending didn’t totally live up to my expectations, but it was still pretty cute.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning collection is both straightforward (hence the title) and melancholic in its tone, addressing topics that run the gamut from addiction to death and loss to the depths and horrors of love and back again. The sonnets are untitled, but my favorites from this collection are on pages 7, 35, 38, 57, 66, and 105.

This graphic novel depicts nine under-told stories from Black history—those of Henry “Box” Brown, Harry “Bucky” Lew, Richard Potter, Theophilus Thomson, the residents of Malaga Island, the students and teachers of the Noyes Academy, Marshall “Major” Taylor, Spottswood Rice, and Bass Reeves—in a way that honors the legacies of those stories’ subjects and will connect with a modern-day audience of all ages.

In under 250 pages, author Robert P. Jones illuminates the close relationship between white Christianity and white supremacy in the United States, both historically and presently. He describes how white Christians have not only tolerated but actively participated in racist speech and action throughout American history, how white Christian theology developed and still exists in ways that allow and even encourage white supremacy, and the present reality that white Christian identity in American is independently correlated with an increase in racist attitudes (and vice versa). He goes on to call his readers to do the necessary work of reckoning with the past and present of white Christian racism and of pursuing racial justice, providing some examples of churches and communities that have begun that work.

While white American Christians are the imagined audience for the book, I think it would be certainly accessible and likely interesting to a much broader audience, including anyone who has ever observed and wondered at the paradoxical connection between white Christianity and racism in the United States.