Flying Lessons

Flying Lessons and Other Stories
Edited by Ellen Oh
(Cofounder of We Need Diverse Books)

This is a fabulous book of short stories, by a group of very diverse authors. One of the great things about reading short stories is that they can introduce you to a new author, someone who may have other books you'd want to check out; another thing about short story collections is that you don't have to read them all, or even read them in any particular order...and they may be different styles and genres. Some you may like more than others.

I love the variety of the stories in this collection. Basketball, crushes, dreams, new neighborhoods, family craziness, school stuff...a little something for everyone!

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu
By Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Sixth-grader Lucy would much rather play basketball than go to Chinese School. She knows she will hate it--and besides, why does she need to learn to speak Chinese anyway? She wants to be a basketball star!
When her great aunt comes from China to visit for an extended stay (months!) Lucy is even more horrified that she will have to share her room with Yi Po...who doesn't speak any English.
Lucy is sure her year is doomed. But she is in for some surprises, to help her deal with the challenges of family and school stuff!

grayson

grayson

By Lynne Cox

A lovely little book! Lynne Cox recalls an incredible experience she had as a 17-year-old long-distance ocean swimmer: a baby grey whale, separated from its mom and lost, followed her around as she swam in the ocean near Long Beach, CA one morning.
The author describes the amazing ocean animals she saw and the wild experiences of that day in vivid detail, sharing the magic of the Pacific ocean with those of us who usually stay on the beach!

Peak

Peak

By Roland Smith

I was curious to read Peak partly because I remember when Roland Smith, the author, visited a school I taught at years ago in Oregon, and he was so interesting!

And I've always been fascinated by Mt. Everest (OK, maybe not always, but ever since I was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail for 3 months and got obsessed with reading an Outside Magazine article about a climb-gone-wrong on the highest mountain on Earth. That was 1996, when 12 climbers died in one season, and Jon Krakauer wrote about it later in his book Into Thin Air).

Anyway, I'm glad I picked this one out. I really had a hard time putting it down, and felt like I was right there gasping for breath at 28,000 feet above sea level with the 14-year-old protagonist, Peak Marcello.

There's a lot about mountain climbing in this novel, obviously, but there are also other interesting story lines--about Peak and his self-absorbed, distant but famous father; the terrible treatment of Tibetans by the Chinese government; and what it's like to feel competitive with a close friend.

Highly recommended!

Satchel Paige

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
By James Sturm and Rich Tommaso

Leroy "Satchel" Paige was the most popular, highest paid and most photographed baseball player in the Negro League from the 1920s to the 1940s.  Satchel Paige was a master pitcher who got the crowds laughing with his warm-up tricks and jokes.  This was all during a time in U.S. history when African American athletes were not allowed to play on the same teams as white athletes--so they formed their own professional leagues.  This graphic novel tells the story of one great ball player and the obstacles he overcame because he loved the game so much.

Athletic Shorts

Athletic Shorts;  Six Short Stories
By Chris Crutcher

It's fun to read short stories sometimes.  Especially good ones.  You don't have to read them in order, you don't even have to finish the book (though you'll want to with this one), and it's just not as big of a commitment as picking up a novel.  Almost all of the stories in this book feature characters from other novels by Chris Crutcher--so if you're familiar with his books, you'll probably recognize some names.  But you don't need to read the other books to enjoy this one.
The teenage boys in these six short stories are all dealing with different issues;  one boy lost his parents and little brother in a drunk boating accident, another puts up with teasing about his gay parents, yet another is afraid of humiliation when he has to wrestle a girl during a tournament.  There are loving fathers and abusive fathers and absent fathers and racist fathers within these beautifully written stories.  What all the teenagers have in common is a love of sports--wrestling and swimming, especially.  For them, being athletes is the way they release anger, sadness, joy, and playing sports allows them to feel like part of a team.
Chris Crutcher tackles real-life problems.  I kept thinking about the characters even after I finished reading--because they seemed real.  I wondered how they were going to overcome certain things, and felt sort of proud of the way they got through hard situations.  Mostly I admire how the author is not afraid to write about serious, hard-to-hear-about subjects like racism (one story is told from the point of view of a white boy who has always been racist, but starts to question his own perspective).  For those readers who enjoy(ed) Matt Christopher's books but want something more challenging and complex, try reading Chris Crutcher.
(ISBN: 978-0-06-050-783-1)

Center Court Sting

Center Court Sting
by Matt Christopher

I thought I'd read a Matt Christopher novel, since he's the #1 Sports Writer for Kids and has written about a million books.  So I chose Center Court Sting.  I was impressed!  Not only was the play-by-play basketball in the novel exciting and graphic, but the story of Daren McCall figuring out how to be a better team player and friend was realistic and gripping.
Daren is a decent basketball player on his middle school team, the Rangers.  They are one of the best teams in their league.  However, their success is jeopardized when Daren can't get his anger under control.  He loses it on the court and in the locker room one too many times.  His coach, and even his close friend Lynn start to call Daren on his bad attitude.  But the trouble is that Daren isn't sure why he's acting the way he is--it seems like all the problems are other peoples' fault!  He even messes up a chance to impress his next door neighbor, Judy, when her little brother goes home crying after playing ball with Daren.
Luckily, Daren has a dad who listens and helps him out by giving him some good advice.  At school and then on the court, Daren starts to pull it all together--just in time for the final game with their rival team, the Demons.
Daren seems like a regular kid, dealing with the kind of frustrations everyone has sometimes.  When he finds out some sad information about one of his teammates, he's able to understand why the other player has seemed so hostile.  And he changes his own behavior.  For anyone who likes basketball, or any sport, this book is a great read. 
(ISBN: 0-329-09547-1)