Fighting Words

 You know that part in the book when Naveah recommends a book to Della about a family that has to live in their car and she reads it and thinks it's meh and tells that to Naveah and Naveah gets a little upset because it meant so much to her? I *think* that's how 11-year-old me would have reacted had Della recommended her story to me. Like, I don't think she (me) would have been able to relate to the story enough that it would have resonated. And I know 11-year-old me would have been absolutely horrified, scandalized, mortified by Della's and Suki's experience with Clifton. These, of course, are only conjectures based on what I remember of myself 25 years ago. I can tell you that 36-year-old me thought this book was important and could be very useful to kids & adults everywhere. I am still disgusted by any story of sexual abuse, but I have (sadly, sadly) grown accustomed to them. 

I was very impressed by the way Della stands up to Trevor near the end and tells him with eloquence and assertiveness not to touch her when she doesn't give permission. Honestly, I was left wondering, "But could an 11-year-old even DO that?" I literally couldn't do that as a 20-something. I still remember the first time I actually used my words to say no. I was 27. Want to hear the story? It's short. I was at a friend's house during a snowstorm playing games with several people. A guy there made fun of me for something and I got fake mad (I was a little annoyed, but not mad) and approached him to respond. He was sitting on the couch and I was wearing a knee-length pencil skirt. I tripped and, due to limited mobility caused by my skirt, I landed face-first on the couch with my stomach on this guy's lap. Almost as an instinct, he spanked me. I got up, grabbed him by the lapels (literally) and screamed, "Don't you EVER touch my butt again. Don't you DARE touch my butt." He covered his face with his hands and said, "I'm sorry" over and over again until I stopped screaming. So, yeah, I found my voice. Eventually. As an 11-year-old, though? Not a chance.  But maybe, just maybe, if I had read this book at that age, I could have. 

P.S. Della using versions of "snow" for swear words was absolutely hilarious.

P.P.S. I have had foster-parent thoughts running through my head the last 48 hours since I finished this. Could I do it? A part of me wants to.

We Dream of Space

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I did not connect the space shuttle launch they talked about the ENTIRE book to the Challenger disaster until the very end (even though they called it the Challenger the whole time and the date January 1986 is literally written at the top of every page). I think I actually enjoyed the book more in my ignorance, though, because the climax of the book was a total shock to me (my actual thoughts: "The space shuttle exploded?! No way! Poor Bird. Wait, is this an actual occurrence in history? Oh my goodness, the Challenger!" *face palm*).

We Dream of Space was a good read. I did feel anxious for a large part of the novel because Cash and Fitch's situations seemed so bleak and their parents' discord was so potent. But their baby steps toward progress in the final chapters was just enough to feel totally hopeful for their ultimate redemption.

Back to the Challenger. I read about Judith Resnik after finishing the novel and she really was so cool. What a tragedy this shuttle explosion was . . . and I never mourned it until now. I thought it was fascinating to learn in the author's notes how few people actually watched this tragedy unfold live. No social media, cable news was rare and most people were at work. The one major exception was American children! NASA had arranged for schools to have satellite broadcast set up so students could watch the first teacher launch into space. That was honestly probably very jarring, very traumatic for many kids (I guess if they understood what was happening). Erin Entrada Kelly showed that well through Bird's reaction. 

Biggest Takeaway: I want to be a better parent.