books 2016: Magic Tree House #13-16, #35, #37, by Mary Pope Osbourne

Here are my notes on the latest set of Magic Tree House books:

Vacation Under the Volcano (Magic Tree House, #13): In book #13, Jack and Annie are finally "Master Librarians" who travel through time rescuing lost books. Here they visit Pompeii. The bit with the soothsayer was a little annoying, but overall, props to Pompeii!

Day of the Dragon King (Magic Tree House #14): A fun visit to ancient China to rescue an ancient scroll from a book-burning emperor. Spoiler: Jack and Annie hide in a super-cool tomb full of ceramic soldiers! I think Mary Pope Osbourne must love archaeology as much as I do.

Viking Ships At Sunrise (Magic Tree House, #15): Why is it that I can read a book about two kids traveling back in time via a magic tree house to a monastery in Ireland in the Middle Ages, where they meet, presumably, Saint Patrick, and yet it's when the friendly sea monster shows up that I start finding things unbelievable? Really good one though.

Hour of the Olympics (Magic Tree House, #16): To my great dismay, I've heard bits and pieces of this several times, but haven't yet heard the ending, and it's due back at the library this week. Annie, to her credit, is totally over ancient Greece, because girls can't do anything there, and the book they rescue is a narrative poem written by a young woman, because it needs rescuing if anyone's going to read it. (Although how often it'll get read in Camelot's magic library is debatable.) Three stars for feminism!

Night of the New Magicians (Magic Tree House, #35): Read this in paperback, thanks to my mom taking my daughter to the used bookstore. This was actually pretty awesome: Jack and Annie meet several famous inventors and scientists at the Paris World's Fair, and the book came with a window cling that was actually still in the back of the book and is now on my daughter's bedroom window. And she's totally excited to go to Paris someday, so my job is done here.

Dragon of the Red Dawn (Magic Tree House, #37): I really liked this one: Jack and Annie travel to ancient Japan searching for a secret of happiness for Merlin, who is seriously depressed, and they meet the poet Basho. And all the samurai adore poetry, it's totally respected by everyone! Also they convince a cloud dragon to rain on a rampant fire, thus saving the city. Awesome sauce all the way around. My daughter f, however, wasn't as hot on this one; we started it like a month ago and, despite the awesome dragon on the cover, we've read like four other books in the meantime.

books 2016: Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Easily the best book I've read this year, and the most important book I've read in years. I want everyone to read it. I want to read it again and again, despite how guilty it made me feel, because of how guilty it made me feel, because I need to keep pushing myself not to get lost in the Dream. It's hard to talk about this but it needs to be talked about. Coates, a black man, should not be less safe than me, a "white" woman; Coates's child should not be less safe than my child; everybody's children should be safe and able to be who they are without fear. I want to think about this book every day.

books 2016: Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch, #2), by Ann Leckie

I continue to love this series. This second book in the trilogy doesn't fail to deliver on the promise of the first book. We still get, in essence, a mystery to be solved, in space, told through the eyes of a unique character with a voice unlike any I've ever read. I think what continues to get me is the way that, through the standard use of feminine pronouns and terms ("daughter", "sister", "mother"), I consistently imagine every character as female, even after we're cued that the character is male. In fact I think only maybe two characters in this book are explicitly gendered; the fact that we're not told and are free to imagine everyone as female is just so liberating. I also appreciated the description by multiple characters on several occasions of another character who is very large and very dark skinned as incredibly beautiful. S/he is the hottest person on the space station and you just don't see this in sci-fi, I love this! Keep turning sci-fi stereotypes on their heads, Ms. Leckie!