A thoughtful Christian grief guide that will comfort and support teens and adults alike.
“It was the worst news, the worst time, and the worst day of my life.”
Drawing on their own experiences of losing a husband and father, the mother and daughter co-authors of this faith-based handbook help to normalize grief. They encourage readers to embrace their unique nonlinear journeys through this universal experience and all its physical, mental, and emotional challenges. The work is designed to be useful whether read through or dipped into as needed. Text boxes throughout the work invite moments of self-reflection, testimonial, and prayer. A rich appendix offers information on U.S.-based health resources, along with playlists, books, and films. The tone of the writing has an easy intimacy to it that’s both approachable and sincere, evoking the authentic voice of a trusted peer or empathetic adult (college student Fiona’s mom and co-author, Clarissa, is a middle school teacher). The Molls’ sensitivity in contextualizing feelings provides teens with the ability to understand and discuss their responses and symptoms. The authors also help readers understand when they should reach out to health care professionals and other forms of support. The duo deftly navigates questions of faith and the fluctuating relationship to God that readers may experience when navigating loss.
A thoughtful Christian grief guide that will comfort and support teens and adults alike. (grief relief tool kit, creating a memory book, Bible verses, endnotes) (Nonfiction. 12-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781496487247
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Wander
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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