Book Review: Everything, Everything

It's recently come to my attention that I love doing book reviews where I can talk about the movie or TV show adaptation as well (see Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher). I am planning to do a review of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda as well, but I just finished Everything, Everything this morning and the ending gave me chills. I had to write about it right this second.

WARNING: SPOILERS ARE COMING. If you haven't read the book, you will learn things you shouldn't until the end of the book. Read the book or watch the movie, then come back and read this entry.

Book info:
Title: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Year Published: 2015
ISBN: 9780553496642
Interest Level: Grades 9-12

Plot Summary (From Goodreads):

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

I have to be honest when I tell you how my reading this book came about. I saw the movie and thought it was vapid, shallow, and not at all realistic. I mean, an 18-year-old gets approved for a credit card online and her first thought is to rack up huge debt flying to Hawaii with a boy she's known for a few weeks. Her mother is a doctor with a large settlement from the accidental death of her husband and son, but there's still no way she would be able to afford that huge, white, air-locked house with all kinds of specialized accommodations made for her daughter's illness in Southern California, plus paying a full-time nurse's salary and benefits. Mostly, it was like the movie writers had themselves never been out in the real world, and lived in a bubble where money doesn't exist and plane flights and air circulation systems just appear for free when you need them. But we have to explain where they came from, so sure, that seems like something you could charge on a credit card with no spending limit from a magical credit card company who never sends bills. 

I left the movie theater feeling cheated, to be honest. I had heard nothing but good things about this book by Nicola Yoon, and while I hadn't read it yet, I couldn't imagine Hollywood would screw it up too badly. I should have used my past experiences hating almost every movie adaptation I've ever seen and saved my $13.

My negative feelings about the movie is why I saw it in May 2017 and just got around to reading the book this week. I wasn't planning to read it at all, but a little voice in the back of my head kept telling me to try it. "Don't donate that copy you bought on sale at Target," it whispered. "Pick it up and read the first 20 pages." So, I did.

The book still doesn't make my list of all-time favorites, but oh my god, it was SO MUCH BETTER than the movie (as if anyone is surprised. The book it always better). 

When I reviewed Th1rteen R3asons Why, I said the 13-episode TV series could have been pared down to a feature-length film. I feel the exact opposite way about Everything, Everything. The movie didn't go into nearly enough detail. I would, without hesitation, binge a 13-episode series based on this book. 

The beauty of this book is in the details, and we see almost none of them on screen. The reader sees pages from Madeline's journal, IM conversations between Madeline and Olly, pictures of plane tickets, entries from Madeline's blog, and most importantly, the inscriptions she writes in all of her books. This is a small detail, but by the end of the book it has become integral to the plot. After Mady (spoiler) finds out she isn't really sick and (spoiler) goes to New York to find Olly, she sets up her copy of The Little Prince for him to "find" in a used book store. 

The last words in the book are "Found your book," spoken by Olly, the implication being that they now get to be together (forever? As much forever as you can find in a teen book?). We get NONE OF THIS in the movie.

I'm not saying the book is a masterpiece, but I would say I high-level-liked/low-level-loved the book, while I only tolerated the movie. 

Another thing I want to address is one very important character who appears in one scene of the book and zero scenes of the movie. When Madeline and Olly run away to Hawaii (another thing that feels a little more realistic in the book), they meet up with Olly's old friend Zach. From the moment he is introduced with his "dark umber skin and enormous dreadlocks and a smile that's almost too big for his face," I loved Zach. It turns out he is disappointing to his straight-laced parents for two reasons: 1. he is gay, and 2. he wants to be a rock star. We only know Zach for six pages, but I can think of ten thousand reasons he should have been included in the movie, and ways to do it that wouldn't catch them in the position of paying an actor to do only one scene. I won't bore you with those, but ask if you're interested. I am passionate about Zach.

I am passionate about Zach because he understands the lives of both Madeline and Olly in a way that those two characters might not even understand, themselves. He has seen firsthand the evolution of Olly's family from loving to nuclear, and knows what it's like when your parents don't understand you. He would also be capable of helping Mady navigate the world she knows nothing about through the lens of being a person of color. (In the movie Madeline's mom is black, but in the book, they allude to her being light skinned and something other than black). Madeline's only experience with society is through her computer; she's never had a stranger judge her for the color of her skin or ask to touch her hair, because she's never met a stranger. An elongated friendship with Zach would be helpfully educational when it comes to aspects of black culture that she has missed. Also, getting more symbolic, Zach feels figuratively trapped in the oppressive walls of his family and can identify with Mady being literally trapped in her home. 

I feel like I should address the elephant in the room: Madeline's illness. Or, spoiler, lack thereof. Madeline has grown up thinking she has SCID, an incredibly rare autoimmune disorder that comes with environmental triggers that can be fatal. For this reason, her mother has rigged their house with an airlock and multiple decontamination systems that separate Madeline from the outside. Even though Madeline is the narrator, and this is a YA novel, and teens are supposed to read it and identify with the love story between Mady and Olly, I feel like this is really a story about Madeline's mother.

Madeline's mother lost almost everything when her husband and son died. She was left with only baby, chronically ill Madeline. Of course, her instinct was to keep Mady safe and healthy so she didn't lose the one family member she had left. She let this instinct eat away at her until it was her only personality trait; it was everything. She perpetuates this lie throughout her daughter's entire life. She never lets her daughter go outside. Her daughter will never have a first day of kindergarten. A prom. A best friend. She has convinced herself that even though her daughter's entire life will take place inside the walls of their home, it's okay because she won't be dead. Madeline decides the opposite when she (spoiler) decides to run away.

Madeline's mother would rather her daughter survive than live. Madeline herself risks her own survival to thrive in the real world for even a short period of time.

If the book were longer, or if the intended audience weren't teenagers, maybe Yoon would go into this part of it. I do know that Munchhausen by Proxy and SCID awareness groups are not happy with the way either disorder is depicted in the book; maybe if they were portrayed more realistically these ideas would be expanded upon as well.

As it stands, I would give the book a solid 7/10. Could be better, but I've definitely started and never finished much worse novels. 

Baby Lapsit 5-25-18: Transportation

After our intro this morning, the first book we read was Peek-a Choo-Choo by Nina Laden. I like this board book for a transportation-theme storytime because it also includes a theme I like to use as much as possible with the infants: peek-a-boo! Even though lots of them are under a year old and might not be ready for the level of dialogic reading a book like this requires, I think they still have fun seeing the colorful pictures and playing peek-a-boo.

Next it was time for our lap bounce journey and it began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)
For our musical lap bounce today, we used "Wheels on the Bus" and "Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck."

Click here for the version of "Wheels on the Bus" I use.

After the lap bounce, our second story was Let’s Look at Firefighters by Britta Teckentrup. I related the things in this book back to the firetruck song, which provided a nice amount of structure that reminded everyone of our theme today. 

Finally, we sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to throw in another form of transportation. As a bonus, this one includes a verse of "tickle, tickle, tickle your boat" which is always fun for babies and grownups alike.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye and then have bubbles and toys. Another successful "things that go" storytime; I feel like you can never use this theme too many times!

Patron Interaction: Picking Up Lots of Things

There is a family who regularly attends storytime: a mom, 4-year-old twins, and a toddler who is about 2. The twins, one boy and one girl, are incredibly smart and advanced for their age. The boy could sit down and read an entire picture book from cover to cover when he was three. They are also pretty calm and reserved, preferring to stay on mom's lap or on the outskirts of the group when we sing and dance in storytime.

On Wednesday, the whole family came to Toddlertime, which once again includes a 15-minute toy session at the end. When clean-up was finished the boy twin came up to me with a very concerned look on his face. I knelt to his level and held both of my hands out. He placed one hand in each of mine, very delicately. I asked him what was wrong.

"UM," he said. "I only got to pick up one thing. I wanted to pick up lots of things."

From getting to know this family over the last year, I know it's extra important to this little guy that he has items and experiences that are just his own, because he has to share so much with his twin sister. I told him that if he came back on Friday (today) for Shake, Boogie, and Bop, he could be an extra good cleaner-upper when we played with egg shakers.

Flash forward to today. The Shake, Boogie, and Bop group were fairly raucous. We didn't get to the point in the program where I would have brought out the egg shakers, and I'm glad we didn't, because there were some older boys in there and I was having psychic visions of egg shakers being hurled full-throttle at their brothers' heads. The twins, their baby sister, and their mom were exemplary storytime goers as usual. After we sang our goodbye song and had bubbles, most of the crowd left, but this family stayed behind to chat as they sometimes do.

I brought out the box of egg shakers and set it on the floor. I asked the boy if he would help me sort the shakers and put them back in their box, since we didn't get a chance to use them in class. He and both of his sisters excitedly organized the shakers by color on the floor, then gingerly placed each one back in their bin.

Before they left, I asked him if this satisfied his urge to put away lots of things. He answered with an uncharacteristic yelp of "YES!" He was, however, not nearly as enthusiastic when I suggested he tell his mom he wanted to help clean up lots of things at home, too.

Patron Interaction: On Being an Outcast

I was working at my desk in the staff area of the library, when my phone rang. It was a question from one of our Library Assistants currently at the Service Desk. They had a teenage patron looking for books about being an outcast, misfit, or misunderstood. Preferably nonfiction. Our LA said she sent the patron to a section in nonfiction, but wasn't sure she had found exactly what she was looking for. I gave her a few vague suggestions before we hung up, but a few minutes later, the LA came back and asked me to come meet the patron and see if I could help her.

The patron was a younger-looking teen girl with glasses and an enviable afro. I realized I've helped her before, when she was looking for certain numbers in the Dork Diaries series, so we recognized each other and had an instant rapport. I tried to get more specifics about what she was looking for, but she couldn't seem to tell me much more than, "I'm looking for books about when you're kind of a misfit, or don't really fit in with the people around you." It turns out her mom suggested she come to the library to look for books on this topic.

After a few more questions, I got a little more information:

• She doesn't feel like she fits in with the other kids at school
• She searched "misfit" in the library catalogue and saw some Juvenile Fiction books that sounded good
• She recently read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and loved it
• More specifically than being a misfit, she wants books about when you are being bullied

These are facts I can do something with! I am a die hard Jerry Spinelli superfan, so I was happy to hear how much she loved Stargirl. I asked if she knew that book has a sequel called Love, Stargirl; she did not. We even found it on the shelf, and her face lit up with excitement!

I was also able to find her misfit book from the catalogue: The Misfits Club by Kieran Crowley.

In nonfiction, we located a book called Uncool: A Girl's Guide to Misfitting In that she thought looked okay. I think the part that attracted her was that it has quotes from real teens.

Instead of finding a nonfiction book about bullies, she thought she'd rather look in our YA fiction section to see if there were any stories about overcoming bullying. We found a couple she thought looked okay, but ultimately ended up putting them back. She was not interested in romances or anything violent or overly sad, which narrows down your choices considerably in YA. 

This morning, I was reading a profile on the author Jacqueline Woodson and her profound impact on diverse YA literature for the last 2 decades. While browsing with this patron, I came across If You Come Softly, which I have never read, but felt good recommending because of what I had recently learned about this book specifically and the author in general. She thought the book sounded good, and I told her I'd recently put it on my list as well so she should come back and tell me what she thinks about it.

Then she asked a question that sort of threw me: "When I'm just browsing, what should I be looking for in a book that tells me it's about the subject I want?"

I had to think this over for a minute, because I've never really considered this before on the level of just checking out book covers. Funny enough, the old trope "Don't judge a book by it's cover" couldn't be more untrue at the library. We create displays specifically so you'll judge a book by it's shiny, interesting cover and check it out. So, what should this patron be looking for when she's browsing the YA fiction section looking for uplifting stories on being a social outcast?

I think she was looking for me to give her buzzwords to find in the titles. Instead, I gave her the best advice I could think up in the moment: "This is not a complicated subject, but it's very broad. You have a small stack of books in your hand that relate to the subject in one way or another. At this point I recommend you keep browsing, and try out anything that sounds good to you. If you relate to them, great. If not, no worries. I am going to think about this subject more, so if you need more guidance feel free to ask for me at the desk whenever you're here."

She promised to let me know what she thought of Love, Stargirl and If You Come Softly, and then I left her to browse. 

This interaction felt really special to me, because she was looking for something so specific and relatable, but somehow elusive. Why aren't there more books in YA nonfiction about empowering the "misfits" and the outsiders? Are there, just not on our shelves? Are they on our shelves and I just missed them in the catalogue?

I would LOVE some opinions on this subject. I will definitely be seeing this girl around the library again, and I would love to have a list of suggestions ready for her when I do (especially if she likes the ones we found today). Do you think these books were good picks? What would you have done differently during this reader's advisory interaction? If you are a librarian, educator, parent, writer, etc, comment on this post or contact me on the Welcome page with any thoughts or title suggestions. 

Baby Lapsit 5-18-18

Today after saying hello, our first book was Who Says That, Cat the Cat by Mo Willems. Personally, I'm delighted by every single Mo Willems book, so I was excited to find out he has board books as well. This one invites lots of interaction with animal sounds, and ends with a big hug for Bunny the Bunny.

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

For the musical lap bounce portion today, I went with my standby theme of "pop:" "Pop Goes the Weasel," and "Popcorn" by Raffi twice through. This morning, I encouraged the grownups to toss their baby into the air a couple of inches for the POPs, instead of just lifting them. A few did, and it sounded from the giggles like the babies had the time of their lives. 

Our second book today was I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak. That book happened to be an at-home favorite of one of my regular babies who attends with his grandma, so it was fun to read it with them in the room. There's nothing especially remarkable about this book as far as baby-level board books go, but it's very sweet, and I like to pick books about grownup/child love and bonding as much as possible for this storytime.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to our friends, and finish up with bubbles and toys.

Baby Lapsit 5-11-18

Today after saying hello to all our friends, we read one of my favorite books: Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn. I love the whole Lola series, because Lola and her little brother love reading, the library, and books. The board book is a shortened version of the original picture book, but just as fun for kids to see the environment they are currently in reflected back at them on the pages of a book.

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

Our musical lap bounce today was "Little Red Wagon" and "Milkshake." 

Usually I do "Milkshake" the way the Jbrary ladies do, but today we stood up on the last verse. It was a hit for babies and grownups; I heard lots of big belly laughs!

Our second book today was Nighty-Night by Leslie Patricelli. There are no more than four words on each page, and it demonstrates a nice bedtime routine for a baby about the age of our Baby Lapsit patrons. 

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to our friends and have bubbles and community playtime.

Sign Language Storytime: Colors

My Sign Language Storytime format is:
Intro and hello
Felt story
Movement song or video
Book
Movement song
Goodbye

This storytime is special for a couple of reasons. First, it's the only one that I give a handout with pictures of the signs on it, so that the kids and grownups can refer to it during storytime and then practice at home. Second, I'm experimenting with adding an AV component to storytime by showing videos to follow along with instead of just listening to songs.

Handout:

Intro and hello:
Hello: "Hello Friends"
Before turning on the music, I teach the kids (and grownups) the American Sign Language sign for "friends." Then we boogie, wave, and sing hello to all our friends!

Warming Up Motor Skills: "Open, Shut Them"

On this song we do the movements described in the lyrics: open our hands, close our hands, clap three times, put our hands in our lap, creep our fingers up to our chin, and don't let them in our mouths.

Stretch: "Tall/Small"

This is a short, easy stretch the kids get a kick out of. While we're stretching, I like to encourage them to reach for the ceiling, touch their toes, then make themselves into a tiny ball.

Felt Story

"Teddy Wore His Red Shirt" (to the tune of "Mary Wore Her Red Dress"

As we sing, I encourage everyone to practice the color signs. Between verses I hold up the next article of clothing and ask the kids what kind of clothes it is and what color it is. Technically the black gloves are supposed to be shoes, but they always think they're mittens so I just go with it.

Teddy wore his red shirt, red shirt, red shirt

Teddy wore his red shirt, all day long.

Teddy wore his blue pants, blue pants, blue pants

Teddy wore his blue pants, all day long.

Teddy wore his yellow hat, yellow hat, yellow hat

Teddy wore his yellow hat, all day long.

Teddy wore his green socks, green socks, green socks

Teddy wore his green socks, all day long.

Teddy wore his black gloves, black gloves, black gloves

Teddy wore his black gloves, all day long.

Teddy without clothes

Teddy with clothes

Video

"Colors" by My Smart Hands

During the video, I encouraged everyone to practice along. I haven't used videos in storytime before, but it seemed to be a welcome activity.

Book

Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

This book is great for colors and counting. Even though the theme of this storytime was colors, I briefly went over how to count to ten in sign language as well.

Movement Song

"I See Something Blue"

Before turning on the music, I explain that the song will tell us which color to look for. When we hear the name of the color, we practice the sign and then hunt for the color somewhere in the room. 

Goodbye

"Until We Meet Again" from Out of the Box

When we sing this song, I help them recall the sign for friends from the hello song, and teach them a couple others as we sing: meet, time, and say.

Friends

Meet

Goodbye

Friend(s)

This is the only storytime that I don't close with bubbles, because directly following is another program called Stay and Play where I set out 4-5 bins of toys for a 30 minute free play. Adding bubbles to that seems to be too much stimulation. 

Baby Lapsit 5-4-18

After our usual hello this morning, our first book was One, Two, Three... Crawl! by Carol Thompson. This is my favorite type of board book to read in Baby Lapsit, because there are action words the grownups can demonstrate to/with their baby while reading. Also, the diversity in babies is wonderful to see in a board book.

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

For the musical portion of the lap bounce, I brought back a couple songs I haven't used in a while: "Noble Duke of York" and "Humpty Dumpty." I like to encourage the grownups to get creative with how their baby "falls" in "Humpty Dumpty," since the verse repeats three times in the version I use.

Our second book was a classic: Llama Llama Nighty Night by Anna Dewdney. Short and sweet, simple rhymes, and a lilting rhythm to the words make all the Llama Llama board books a Baby Lapsit slam dunk.

The unofficial theme of the day was sleep. One, Two, Three... Crawl! ends with the babies taking a nap, and of course our llama book is about bedtime. For this reason, I decided to throw in a little baby sign language today with "Hush Little Baby."

This is the version of the song I use, usually twice through because it's so short. Below are the signs I teach and encourage the babies and grownups to follow along as we sing.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye until next time.