Thursday, June 24, 2021 • The BuLLeTIn
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 7
LOCAL LITERARY HIGHLIGHTS
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RECOMMENDED READING
FROM DESCHUTES LIBRARIANS
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
“Outside, Inside,” by LeUyen Pham
Two beautiful picture books tell the story
of the pandemic for young children, ac-
knowledging the losses and changes with a
reassuring tone of hope and resiliency, and
an emphasis on the helpers. In “Outside,
Inside” a little girl’s cat stays out and
silently takes us on a tour
of the block and then the
world after “everybody
who was outside went in-
side.” With few words and
stirring pictures, Pham de-
scribes our reliance on es-
sential workers, the courage
and exhaustion of medical
personnel, and the resultant
gratitude. Many children
will recognize themselves
and their families among
those depicted waiting, wor-
rying, laughing, crying, and
still growing and looking
forward.
“There is a Rainbow,” by
Theresa Trinder
Two friends use sidewalk
chalk to create a rainbow together just be-
fore they go inside to stay in their respective
homes. Trinder’s text describes what’s on
the other side of a screen, a window, sorrow,
a storm. Grant Snider’s drawings explore
the two friends’ separate lives, until “on the
other side of today” they are able to come
together again.
your first encounter with the Logan family,
this volume stands alone successfully as a
historical fiction gem. The book takes us
through the family’s experiences of WWII,
racial injustices and horrors of the seg-
regated South, the Great Migration, and
Civil Rights efforts including the Freedom
Riders. This history is a rich backdrop to
the personal and professional tragedies
and triumphs lived by
Cassie and her family as
they navigate a changing
world.
“The Extraordinaries,” by
TJ Klune
Nick Bell is a lot. His
ADHD-affected brain
and mouth go a mile a
minute even when he
takes his medication. He
has big feelings which
he expresses in big
ways. He is breathlessly
enthusiastic about his
fan-fic project. And
he is seriously smitten
with a real-life super-
hero. The action is car-
toonish but exciting.
The love and devotion Nick and his friends
display for each other is heart-warmingly
sweet and his budding queer romance is
awkward and clueless in the most adorable
way. Nick’s hilarious narration may have
you smiling until your face hurts. Sequel
coming soon.
ADULT BOOKS
TEEN BOOKS
“Afterlife,” by Julia Alvarez
“All the Days Past, All the Days to Come,”
by Mildred D. Taylor
If you grew up with Mildred D. Tay-
lor’s stories of the Logan family, including
Newbery Award winner “Roll of Thun-
der, Hear My Cry,” catching up with Cas-
sie’s grown-up life may feel like visiting
a long-absent childhood friend. If this is
How do you go on after a devastating
loss? Novelist Antonia’s husband Sam died
suddenly just as she was embracing re-
tirement from her career as a professor of
literature. Antonia’s internal monologue
is filled with Sam’s sensibilities along with
accumulated literary wisdom of the ages,
as she navigates her troubled oldest sis-
ter’s disappearance and the appearance of
a pregnant young immigrant in need of
shelter. Antonia’s experience as a long ago
immigrant from the Dominican Republic
with the privileges of a successful, educated
Vermonter contrasts with the desperation
of her neighboring immigrant farmwork-
ers and their relatives. Alvarez’s writing
is rich and succinct, full of humor, heart-
break, and hope. Antonia’s next chapter is
thought-provoking, engaging, and relat-
able.
“Blacktop Wasteland,” by S.A. Cosby
When his one-last-caper turns out to tar-
get a dangerous crime boss (thanks to his
bumbling associate), wheelman Beauregard
“Bug” Montage plans an even more daring
job to dig himself and his family out of the
resultant mess that threatens their lives. It’s
a thrilling high-stakes long-shot, featuring
one of the most pulse-pounding chase se-
quences to be presented on screen or page.
Racist Virginians, an absent criminal father
as a role-model, a mother in need of care,
and bad luck have conspired to lead Bug
from the straight life he’s been pursuing.
Cosby makes this trope fresh with the com-
plex and compelling character of Bug at the
center.
—Julie Bowers, Deschutes Public Library community librarian