April Staff Picks!
Here are Gina’s April 2020 Reads!
Here, Kristin Berry tells the story of her first year as a foster mother, when she and her husband prayed and committed to “keeping our doors wide open” for one year.
I could hardly put this book down; it was just so interesting reading about all the kids and their stories, and all of the challenges they and the Berry’s faced together. The Berrys have a welcome perspective on foster parenting - which is that oftentimes the birth family is loving, & just needs a little extra support to succeed. For example, in one chapter, Kristin and her husband help a child’s parents to make videos demonstrating how to give their child’s complex medications. Previously, these parents had been accused of neglect, when the real problem was that both had learning disabilities and trouble reading. The videos they created with the Berry’s helped them finally learn how to manage their child’s medical needs and regain custody.
Kristin Berry and her husband Mike are adoptive parents, cohosts of the podcast “Honestly Adoption,” and were foster parents to 23 children over a space of 9 years. I’m looking forward to checking out some of the Berrys’ other books next.
The term intersex “describes people who are born with a variety of physical characteristics that do not fit neatly into traditional conceptions about male and female bodies.” Often, an underlying medical condition is the cause. The Lohmans’ daughter Rosie was born with a genetic condition called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH), which means that her body is not able to produce the stress hormone cortisol; instead, it overproduces testosterone, which is what was happening while Rosie was developing in the womb. Here, the Lohmans present the research supporting their choice not to have normalizing surgery performed on Rosie while she is still too young to consent. They also write about how they are raising Rosie day-to-day, and how they plan to explain the condition to her as she grows older.
The great ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky electrified audiences in boundary-breaking performances during the Bell Epoque era (1900 to the outbreak of WWI). He was known for his powerful athleticism and magnetism in “Scheherazade,” “The Firebird,” and for his unconventional choreography in “The Afternoon of a Faun” and “Rite of Spring” (which caused a riot at its debut). Author and artist Lynn Curlee tells the dancer’s life story: from a childhood spent traveling with his show business parents; to his rise to fame with the Ballets Russes and Sergei Diaghilev (founder of the Ballets Russes and Nijinsky’s lover); to his marriage with Hungarian socialite Romola de Pulszky, and the birth of his daughter; and finally, the stifling war years and the mental illness that ended Nijinsky’s career. The book is illustrated with both period photographs and Lynn Curlee’s beautiful paintings.
Catherine de'Medici - Machiavellian mastermind poisoner? or political neophyte scrambling from crisis to crisis, trying desperately to hold on to power? Married at age 14 to a French prince, unloved and unwanted, Catherine learned in a hard school to be always on guard for threats to her own security. Against the odds, she became Queen of France, bearing 10 children (7 of whom lived to adulthood).
One of these was princess Marguerite of Valois, called "Margot," who had a passion for reading and scholarship, and was acclaimed as one of the beautiful women in Europe. Catherine de'Medici forced the devotedly Catholic Margot to marry the Protestant King Henry of Navarre, then betrayed them both by using the wedding celebrations as a excuse to slaughter the French Protestants (Huguenots) who had come to Paris for the wedding. This book tells the story of how this great betrayal came about, and what came afterwards.
I also enjoyed two of the author's other books: "Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe," and "The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc." Nancy Goldstone writes in an easy-to-read, humorous style, and she might just be my new favorite history writer.
I love Sarah Shrimpton's crochet books - I've also read her book "Supersize Crochet." Her other book, "Modern Crochet Bible" is a recent addition to the library. She explains things really clearly, both with clear words and clear pictures, all in color. No confusing instructions that make no sense. The book is nicely laid out and appealing to look at, too. She tends to have a lot of projects that involve making things for your house (rugs, pillows), which I like.
The one thing to keep in mind, though, is that she is British, and that the British stitch names are different from the American ones (example, "double crochet" in British mean "single crochet" for Americans). The author includes a little chart at the back of the book to show you the equivalents.