Category: Nonfiction

Stranger Care

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

Stranger Care is Sarah Sentilles’ memoir of her and her husband’s journey to become parents. This book shares their process of deciding upon adoption, of the education and homestudy and licensing process, and of the long periods of waiting before they finally get the call that Coco needs a home. They pick up this sweet infant from the hospital, and want her to be theirs forever, but they also know her biological mama loves her and wants her. This memoir will make your heart bleed, but it will also make your heart swell with love. It comes out in May, so make sure to keep your eyes out for it.

The parts of this book where Sentilles was talking about adoption and foster care were absolutely gorgeous. She is a talented writer, and I was so invested in her journey to become a mom. However, much of this book focused on things other than adoption. Particularly for the first third of the book, we would get four pages about adoption, and then four pages on an unrelated nature topic like birds or trees, and then four page on adoption, and then four pages on another nature topic. These were still well written, but were less interesting to me as they weren’t what I had come to the book for. But if you can power through those, it’s absolutely worth your time to read.

What I loved most:

I really appreciated Sentilles’ thoughts on the responsibility of people to each other. American culture is so individualistic, and teaches us to care for ourselves and our nuclear/biological family. Beyond that, we don’t tend to feel like we need to care for other people – and in particular, for other people’s kids. We’re aware that there are kids in foster care, and that’s sad, but we figure it’s someone else’s problem to deal with it. That lets us ignore the fact that in the US, there are around 400,000 kids in the foster care system, and 100,000 of them have parental rights terminated and are ready to be adopted (stats from AdoptUSKids). Stranger Care brings up how important it is to be each other’s support networks. Some families are formed biologically, and that is great. But biology doesn’t always make the best family, and love doesn’t only come in one form.

Read this book if you like:

Memoirs, adoption, foster care, chosen families, Rock Needs River by Vanessa McGrady

Book details:

  • Author: Sarah Sentilles
  • Publisher: Random House
  • Date of Publication: May 21, 2021
  • Interest Level: Adult

Revenge of the Red Club

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

At Hawking Middle School, after you get your period for the first time, you’re invited to join the Red Club. It’s an after school club that serves as a safe space for girls to support each other through having their periods, and also through all the complexities entailed in the lives of middle school girls. Riley has loved being a member of the club; however, when a parent complains to the school, the club is no longer allowed to meet. Riley and her friends decide to fight for their beloved club to remain open, and try to create a more positive environment in their school while they’re at it.

What I loved most:

Man, at the age these characters are at, having your period is just such a big deal. In our current culture, it’s also so stigmatized. Every woman has hidden a tampon in their sleeve for a walk to the bathroom at one point in their life. Yet periods are a natural thing, and literally half of the world’s population gets periods. I love the concept of girls these age coming together to support one another through this process, and to remove the stigma from this natural bodily process. Also, I’m HERE for teaching kids to advocate for themselves, and to fight for what they think is right. Middle school girls are going to love this book.

Read this book if you like:

Activism, social justice, being proud to be a girl, contemporary fiction

Book details:

  • Author: Kim Harrington
  • Publisher: Aladdin
  • Date of Publication: October 22, 2019
  • Interest Level: 5th – 8th graders

Hard Truth

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

Dr. Lynda Ince-Greenaway was born in Barbados. Her father died when she was young; her mother migrated to England in hopes of creating a better life for her family. Lynda was able to join her eventually, fell in love, and got married. Her husband died just shortly before the birth of their son. She was a single parent, determined to make it through. Hard Truths is a reflection on grief and persistence and overcoming adversity and God’s faithfulness. It shares her story of prevailing over all of the obstacles she’s faced in her life, culminating in her son’s success in the medical field, her own successful attainment of a PhD, and a life lived in service to other people.

What I loved most:

Being vulnerable is one of the hardest things of all time to do. Yet being vulnerable, showing who you are and what you’ve been through, is the only way to form real connections. Ince-Greenway models vulnerability beautifully in this book. She never shies away from being honest about her trauma, her losses, what she’s been through – and this is what allowed her to grow.

As I live in my truth, I am able to take one step at a time and it gives me the confidence to keep moving forward with the intention of increasing my capacity to cope with adversity located in the past and the present. Knowing where I am coming from, remembering my roots and hot hiding the truth has been a powerful way to overcome adversity. As I accepted truth as it stood, I was able to accept the negatives and with time, grew out of them.

Hard Truths, page 164

Read this book if you like:

Pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, processing trauma, social work, reflecting on values

Book details:

  • Author: Lynda Ince-Greenway
  • Publisher: Balboa Press
  • Date of Publication:July 27, 2017
  • Interest Level: Adult

I received a free copy of this book from the author, but all the thoughts in this review are my own. I only write about books I enjoy, and was not financially compensated for this post.