This week I jumped into two books with little information about them. The first was a book club selection and the entirety of the information I’d learned beforehand was, “it’s about jazz.” The second book made a list of YA books to watch out for on Buzzfeed, from which I added a lot of books to my To Read list and hoped for the best.- – –
Madeleine Altimari is the clear star of 2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino. While there are other interesting story lines related to hers, Bertino does a great job of developing a spunky character in Madeleine. She’s a driven little girl of nine who frequently turns to the instructional notecards left behind by her recently deceased mother and who grades herself (literally) on daily exercises to help with a future singing career. She has a mouth like a sailor and few friends, aside from the family friends working to care for Madeleine while her father loses himself in the despair over his wife’s death.
A favorite excerpt:
Madeleine prefers to spend this and every recess alone, singing scales under her breath, walking laps up and down the parking lot. Madeleine has no friends. Not because she contains a tender grace fifth graders detect and loathe. Not because she has a natural ability that points her starward, though she does. Madeleine has no friends because she is a jerk.
That had me laughing when I read it the first time, when I read it aloud to my husband and again while typing it here.
Later in the book, Madeleine reacts to her principal over an injustice regarding carmel apples, head lice and expulsion by yelling, “This is f—ing bullish–.” Were the character a boy, I don’t think that would have caused a reaction from me. But for some reason, that language coming out of a little girl’s mouth slayed me.
I don’t quite know how to properly sum up the plot of 2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas and not give anything away. I can say this: Bertino has a quirky writing style that’s not quite linear but still beautiful. A few times I found myself paying extra attention to the time stamps at the beginning of each chapter just to make sure I knew where I was. For me, having to take that brief, extra moment, helped me slow down and appreciate that book a little more, rather than just fly through the story.
I enjoyed this and look forward to reading peoples’ thoughts about it in the From Left to Write book group and hearing from my friends at my regular book club next month – the book was a selection for both.
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Buzzfeed lists might not be the most reliable source of book recommendations, or anything else, but they’ve been doing me pretty right in terms of young adult reading selections.
The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wonder is about two good friends, Hannah and Zoe. They’ve been friends since kindergarten and have each other’s back during the trials of high school. Where Hannah is goal-oriented, cares very much about her grades and her future, Zoe is a free spirit who’s demons appear in the form of bipolar disorder. While Zoe has spent much of their friendship guiding Hannah through the social intricacies of popularity (or lack thereof) and supporting her through parental implosion, Wunder focuses this story on a period when Zoe especially needs the support of her friend.
I read this book during an afternoon at the pool and liked it but can’t say I loved it. I appreciated seeing books about mental illness targeted at young people, to help start a conversation about the diseases and reduce stigma. That said, I’d like to think the books offer some implicit guidance on how to handle mental illness. Maybe it’s just learning how to be there for a friend, knowing when medical support is needed to when to go to an adult, but literature can play a powerful role in teaching people, through the power of story, how to approach serious situations. Looking to The Museum of Intangible Things for guidance on mental health would be to the detriment of everyone. As an example of friendship, however, it is well done.
