Book Review: Ghosts By Raina Telgemeier

*note: Raina Telgemeier is on the Banned Book List this year for her graphic novel Drama. Here is a book review of her graphic novel Ghosts.*

Ghosts By Raina Telgemeier
Genre Graphic Novel
Reviewed by Jabriana G.



My overall opinion of this book is that it’s a really interesting and wonderful book.The plot of this book is that Cat has a little sister named Maya, and they move to Bahia de la Luna because of Maya’s Cystic Fibrosis. They both meet a boy who tells them about the ghosts in the town.


My favorite part in this book is when Maya meets an eight-year-old ghost named Jose, and she tells him,”Jose, if I die, Cat will be all alone. She’s terrible at making friends.” This is my favorite part of this book because even though Maya knows she might die sooner than later it shows that she’s not afraid, but that she’s afraid of what might happen to her sister after she’s gone. I would recommend this book to people who like Graphic Novels, and possibly someone who is struggling from moving from somewhere old to somewhere new.This book is also really good to read if you like stories that involve Dia De Los Muertos or ghosts. I think that someone might enjoy this book as the weather gets colder and windier, so this is a book that’s perfect to read in Autumn, or during Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos.

Banned Book Week!

We at Boston Arts Academy actually love Banned Book Week; it is how we find books to add to our reading lists!

The Top Ten Banned Books of 2016 were: 

1. This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
   Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, drug use and profanity, and it was considered sexually explicit with mature themes
2. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
   Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint
3. George written by Alex Gino
   Reasons: challenged because it includes a transgender child, and the “sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels”
4. I Am Jazz written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
   Reasons: challenged because it portrays a transgender child and because of language, sex education, and offensive viewpoints
5. Two Boys Kissing written by David Levithan
   Reasons: challenged because its cover has an image of two boys kissing, and it was considered to include sexually explicit LGBT content
6. Looking for Alaska written by John Green
   Reasons: challenged for a sexually explicit scene that may lead a student to “sexual experimentation”
7. Big Hard Sex Criminals written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky
   Reason: challenged because it was considered sexually explicit
8. Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread written by Chuck Palahniuk
   Reasons: challenged for profanity, sexual explicitness, and being “disgusting and all around offensive”
9. Little Bill (series) written by Bill Cosby and and illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood
   Reason: challenged because of criminal sexual allegations against the author
10. Eleanor & Park written by Rainbow Rowell
    Reason: challenged for offensive language

We are also taking part in the American Library Association's Rebel Reader Twitter Tournament! 

Participate by: 

• Taking a selfie with a banned or challenged book
• Share a video of yourself talking about censorship or reading from a banned or challenged book
• Post a quote from a favorite banned or challenged book
• Share a story about an educator who helped you learn the power of works
• Take a photo of a completed ALA Banned Books Week coloring sheet
• Take a photo of yourself with any Words Have Power swag
• Share a link to your local library's homepage or book selection policy
• Tweet some love at a banned author from this list: twitter.com/OIF/lists/banned-authors/members

Use the hashtag #rebelreader and don't forget to tag @baa_lib 

Check out our displays and read a Banned or Challenged Book! 

Habibi
Challenged for "nudity" and
being "sexually explicit"

And Tango Makes Three
Challenged for being "anti-family"
and due to "homosexuality"

Being Jazz
Challenged for "homosexuality"
and "sexual education"

Eleanor & Park
Challenged for "offensive language"

My Mom's Having a Baby
Challenged for "nudity"
and "sex education"

Drama
Challenged for "LGBT content"
and "offensive political viewpoint"

George
Challenged for "LGBT content"
and "sexuality"

TTYL (series)
Challenges for "offensive language"
and "religious viewpoints"

Two Boys Kissing
Challenged for "explicit LGBT content"

Beyond Magenta
Challenged for being "anti-family"
and for "sex education"

Nasreen's Secret School
Challenged for "religious viewpoints"
and "violence"

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
Challenged for "offensive language"
and "sexually explicit"

Pride
Challenged for
 "sexually explicit content"
*note: Brian K. Vaughan is
often on the banned lists!

It's Perfectly Normal
Challenged for "violence"
and "sexual content"

Scary Stories (series)
Challenged due to being
"unsuited for age group" and "violence"
*note: original artwork ONLY,
not the updated versions

I Am Jazz
Challenged for "sex education"
and "portrayal of a transgender child"

Lush
Challenged due to "drugs"
and "sexually explicit"

Captain Underpants (series)
Challenged for
"offensive language" and "violence"

Book Review - Milk & Honey

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Reviewed by Zorely 

Milk and Honey is a book filled with a series of poems that I absolutely love, and you will too.

This is a book that is filled with meaningful poems that somehow get you inspired to write your very own. The book is divided into four chapters that have poems relating to the title. The Hurting, The Loving, The Breaking, and The Healing.

Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey is by far one of my favorite books that are dedicated to poems. There aren’t many books like that, and I adore them. I don’t have just one favorite poem, in fact I have four poems that I enjoyed and they all happen to be in the same chapter called “The Healing.” The first one is on page 157. It is about co-depending on people to fill the spots you think that are empty. This could mean that you’re lacking happiness, love, anything you think that you don’t have. The last part of it really makes you think deeply about where you stand in life. “Who tricked you into believing another person was meant to complete you when the most they can do is complement.” The second one is on page 167 and it talks about that one quote that is most famous from males who try to impress a woman by saying, “You’re not like most girls.” Some girls might like to hear that, but others don’t. For some it seems more of an insult to them than a compliment because as the poem states, “Something about the phrase-something about how I have to be unlike the women I call sisters in order to be wanted makes me want to spit your tongue out. Like I am supposed to be proud you picked me. As if I should be relieved you think I am better than them.” And lastly, my favorite poem is on page 190. It explains about fellow females joining together hand in hand to help each other. Whether it be emotional support, physical support, jobs, or even something as bold as standing up to women’s rights. In the poem it compares the need for feminism to  flowers needing spring.

I would recommend this book to people who love poems as much as I do. This book is for the people who want to find their inner poet through the writing of another author.

If you feel like reading something that has multiple hidden messages or you just want to read something unlike most books, you’d absolutely enjoy this book.

Literature Circle Assignment

Here is the link to the Literature Circle assignment: HERE.