Quick reads.

This week I'm concentrating on quick reads, books under 200 pages that have some real substance to them.  Ron Koertge, of Stoner and Spaz fame, has a brand new book on our shelf in verse form: Coaltown Jesus.  It’s about coming to terms with life, death, and the unfairness of it all. Walker’s older brother is dead and his mom hasn’t stopped crying ever since. Walker is also broken, so he feels powerless to help her. He prays for God to help her heal, and is shocked when Jesus shows up at his doorstep. Only Walker can see and hear him, so we’re never sure if he is really there, or only Walker’s way of talking through the pain and moving on. Jesus is an irreverent helper, and there is a lot of humor in his sparse, touching dialog. 

Think Tank by Matt Hawkins is a disturbing story of a young college graduate science genius who is recruited by the government to work in a top secret lab designing killing machines. He is fed up with all the death on his hands and resolves to escape.  Quotes from Albert Einstein, one of the creators of the atomic bomb, precede each chapter. This is a smart political thriller in graphic novel format. Volume 2 is coming soon!

Anyone remember Matthew Shephard?  Read about him here: http://www.matthewsplace.com/matthews-story/   Then pick up October Mourning by Lesléa Newman.  Newman has written a beautiful series of poems which tell Matthew’s story from the points of view of people involved as well as inanimate objects surrounding his death.  Quotes included before some of the poems are the most chilling part of this important story. (From one of the officers who found him: “The only place that he didn’t have any blood on him, on his face, was what appeared to be where he’d been crying.” ) Matthew’s life and death changed the way we view hate crimes and propelled the gay rights movement front and center in people’s consciousness.  Read it. 

For the environmentally conscious, try My Chemical Mountain by Corina Vacco. It’s a story about a toxic landfill which is poisoning a community and the teenage boys who unwittingly initiate a change. 

The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky is a haunting mystery which takes place in Australia. During a field trip into mysterious caves a teacher disappears along with the guide, a strange poet with whom the teacher seems obsessed. The girls in the class are sworn to secrecy before they all venture into the caves, so they do not reveal to school authorities where they went and with whom.  What really happened in the caves? A quick and thoughtful mystery.