Life Gave Me Lemons: Good News and Good Books

Some protest signs; life gave me lemons; my dogs; Chris Crutcher’s “Period.8”

Hello Friends,

We’re finishing up National Library Week. It also happens to be National School Library Month. So I hope you’re giving your librarians some love. And: The American Library Association announced the theme for Banned Books Week 2025, “Censorship Is So 1984.”

Banned Books Week theme

With the escalation in attempts to ban books in libraries, schools, and bookstores around the country, George Orwell’s cautionary tale “1984” serves a prescient warning about the dangers of censorship. This year’s theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, and that censorship has no place in contemporary society. Banned Books Week will take place from October 5-11, 2025.

Just one more reminder that I am now separating the library and book ban news and posting it during the week (my goal is to post it each Friday). Here is the news I included last Friday. There were two very important stories: the book removals at the Naval academy library and the American Libraries Report from the American Library Association that shows that only 16% of demands to censor books come from parents.

Good news

On the positive news front, I learned that

Chris Crutcher

is on Substack when he commented on a post by

Sherman Alexie

. Chris Crutcher’s books were the first YA novels I booktalked to classes when I became a librarian. So many good books. And lots of them had sports in the stories, so they had wide appeal. If you have a teen who isn’t a big reader but needs a book, Crutcher might be the solution to your problem.

I attended a small ‘Hands Off’ rally last weekend. In the past, I’ve attended rallies with friends, but now I don’t know anyone nearby, so I went alone. The theme was ‘Hands Off Education,’ and I could tell there were a lot of teachers there. One way to identify teachers: they give positive feedback for the smallest actions. Ex: Someone in a car moving past the rally gives a thumbs-up. All the teachers call out: “Thanks! You’re doing great!” They do this for the entire two hours. 🤣

Here’s my poster. The tiny print was just to give a laugh to the people standing nearest me (too small to be seen by people walking or driving by). Here are some other posters I liked. As someone who spent my career working in high-poverty Title I schools, my favorite was the “Title I students know what groceries are” poster. (Honest to God, you all, we need leaders who don’t have dementia. It’s an extremely low bar.)

Change of plans

Today, I was going to share a review of Wild Faith. I’m trying to understand why we Americans so easily fall under the sway of cultish leaders—snake oil salesmen who have proven to be nothing but that in the past, men whose entire world is about greed and self-dealing. But today’s a sunny day here, and I feel like I need a break. So here’s something delightful. My dogs, Loki and Curiosa. Back when I started Be a Cactus, I promised dog posts. I didn’t realize how much there would be to discuss about books, publishing, and censorship. The dogs got pushed to the side. Now I figure I will just toss some photos of them into posts rather than trying to create posts about them.

Living the life of Riley. Sleeping and dreaming the afternoon away.

Here’s something else that delights me: things I’ve made from the lemons I’ve gotten off our little lemon tree. When we moved here, this mini tree had leaf curl and no lemons. I thought it was going to die. With water and nutrients, it has revived and its branches are full of lemons. I decided I would use all of them, no waste. I’ve made lemonade and lemon bars. But I also tried a few recipes I got from the NYT Cooking section—a heavy lemon cake made with almond flour and olive oil. Not too sweet, no icing, perfect. And a baked lemon pudding full of sweet tart flavor. Lemon pound cake is up next, for Easter.

Lemon pudding, lemon tree, lemon almond cake

I wrote a story (just finishing up the last round of editing) that I’m very pleased with but am not sure who its audience is. If you ever feel that way about your work, you might enjoy a recent post on Jane Friedman’s blog “Trust Your Instincts: Why Writing for Yourself Leads to Better Books.”

Some good YA novels

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is one of my favorite Chris Crutcher novels. I wrote out a book talk back in the day, but I can’t find it. The narrator, Eric “Moby” Calhoune, attempts to answer his best friend, Sarah Byrne's, dramatic cry for help in dealing with a horrific event in her past. It’s been both challenged and banned at some schools. I think this is partly because of the discussions the students have in their Contemporary American Thought class, including on topics such as abortion, suicide, religion, body image, and social justice. With everything in schools centered on test scores, I’m not sure such classes are even offered anymore. But teens having the opportunity to discuss the difficult subjects in their lives is important.

Another Crutcher novel I loved was Period.8. And I do have the review I wrote in 2016. If you’re looking for YA novels with sports action, grab this one.

The problem with having too great a time span between reading Chris Crutcher books is that I forget how good they are. Forget how the fast-talking, conscience-driven teens can connect with teachers who care about them. Forget about how teens are always seeking answers to the real questions of their lives, and that this sometimes means that zombies and fantasy worlds have to take a back seat.

The real world question that opens Period.8 is about sexual cheating. The novel doesn’t mince words. When Paulie Bomb (Baum) confesses to his girlfriend Hannah that he has cheated, she asks for clarification: “‘Did you put your dick into someone who wasn’t me?’”

The thing is, Paulie could have gotten away with cheating–no one knew–but he doesn’t want to end up being a jerk like his dad, who is a serial cheater, one who makes Paulie’s mom pathetic in her need for him. In Period 8–which is something like a counseling session and not a regular class (no credit, no attendance and anyone can join)–Hannah lets everyone know what’s up. The guys argue that it’s their genetic destiny to cheat, and that their brains aren’t quite formed yet. The girls are not buying their excuses. When the students ask the teacher, Logs (Mr. Logsdon), about his experience with counseling and how well it worked, he answers, “‘I live with a cat.’” So yes, there’s humor in all this as well.

Unfortunately, teen romance and cheating aren’t the worst things that happen. An A student, Mary Wells, (aka ‘Virgin Mary’ because her dad is so strict and she is so perfect) appears to be missing although she’d never missed a day of school in four years. What happens to her and why is the mystery on which Period.8 is centered. That the madness involves Paulie and Hannah in ways that they can’t imagine, that the confidential cocoon of Period 8 appears to be violated, that people will be running for–and risking–their lives, makes this one a heartstopper.

High school housekeeping: The reading level is easy although there are many characters whose personalities must be sorted immediately. And the Lexile level (HL 660) doesn’t indicate how deeply Crutcher is willing to explore teen emotionality, the inner psyche, and the difficulty with long term relationships. Also, the wittiness of the banter among students and teacher is a cut above much YA novel dialogue. So on the whole, Period.8works at many levels. It’s a great read for the reluctant reader with intrigue that will drive him or her along. For more sophisticated teen readers, the thoughtful discussion of relationships, not just romantic, but parent-child relationships`, will also add interest.

Bonus round: As in many of Crutcher’s books, several of the students (boys and girls) are athletes–swimmers, rowers, and wrestlers. There’s a lot of basketball action very well described. When the stuff hits the fan, the athletes push their ability to endure pain and fatigue to the outer limits, something that any true sportsperson can connect with.

OK–I admit it. I love Chris Crutcher. But this is my new favorite because it has all the edginess that teens now demand combined with all the author’s usual insights. Don’t miss this one!

For kids who are a bit younger, Kwame Alexander’s books with basketball action are wildly popular. Since I worked at a high school, I didn’t booktalk them, but I always kept Crossover and Rebound on display because we had many students who were English language learners. They checked out constantly—not always the case for books with younger protagonists—so I bought multiple copies.