The Ghosts of Heaven: Marcus Sedgwick

Master storyteller Marcus Sedgwick winds four separate tales along a connecting spiral shape. Twirling from prehistory into the future, characters face the symbol of life that "copies itself and builds on itself, forever."

A girl in a cave with a charred stick, an accused woman plunged below water, a poet in a sanitarium, and an astronaut turning in a spiral in space all find the stair to climb higher and higher, while they remember the past and reach forward into the future.

Marcus' woven stories turn the reader round and round, yet he leaves them before the light of wet grass, an apple tree, and love. If you didn't cross paths with The Ghosts of Heaven last year, readergirlz, find it and turn, turn, turn.

The Ghosts of Heaven
by Marcus Sedgwick
Roaring Brook Press, 2015

Just. One. Book.

Margaret at the blog Throwing Chanclas recently shared the plight of a school in her neighborhood:

The local junior/senior high school has not been able to purchase new books since the 90s. Some of the "check outs" for old books are in the 1980s. There are no books by people of color in the library. Hardly any books by women are in the few book cases except your standard Austen and Lee. It's an uninviting place. There hasn't been a librarian for nearly a decade. And volunteers weren't allowed. The last eight years students couldn't even check out books.

But all that is changing now.

Margaret is now collecting books for the library. Let's help out! You can donate books via their Amazon wishlist or by sending books directly to the address below. For more informaion, please email Margaret and visit her blog.

Greenville High School/Indian Valley Academy
Library Project Attn: Margaret Garcia
117 Grand Street
Greenville, CA 95947

If sending during the month of July, when school is closed, please send to:

Library Project/Margaret Garcia
PO Box 585
Greenville, CA 95947

All We Have is Now: Lisa Schroeder

My most recent read is All We Have is Now by Lisa Schroeder. With the end of the world quickly approaching, how would you spend your last hours? What if you were a homeless teen, what choices would you make?

Lisa explores the value of now and the gift of kindness. A diverse group of characters is met and wishes are fulfilled as humanity explores compassion when all is to be lost in moments.

Thought provoking and hopeful, be kind to yourself and read All We Have is Now, rgz. A great follow-up movie would be Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.



All We Have is Now
by Lisa Schroeder
Point, Scholastic, 2015