Stacey Loscalzo

Apr 03

March Reading

by Stacey

Well, if I thought February was a slow reading month, March was down right sluggish.

I suppose this whole moving thing has really cut in to my reading time.

That said, I did read a great Patricia Cornwell novel, The Bone Bed, which is always just a fun and relaxing thing to do when the world is spinning around like crazy. Reading these types of books just makes me feel a bit like I am on vacation. Even when I am clearly not.

And then, I read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.

This book won three ALA Youth  Media Awards this year; The Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults, the Pura Belpre award presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth and the Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.

Aristotle and Dante tells the story of two teenage boys coming to understand their own sexuality. I love reading for the ability it gives us to feel what others do and this book is a perfect example of this. I am not a boy, nor Hispanic, nor gay but through reading this book I have a much greater understanding of each of these perspectives.

If you have limited time to read this month, I certainly recommend Aristotle and Dante. It will be time well spent…

 

One Comment

  1. jules says:

    Ooh, I wanna read Saenz’s book. Thanks for the reminder!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *