Skip to main content

Review of SOLO

Cover art taken from http://kwamealexander.com/solo/.

How do you move forward when everything in your life is pulling you back? How do you establish your own identity if you don’t know who you are? These are just two of the issues that Blade is grappling with as he tries to separate himself from his father, a faded rock star in a downward spiral of addiction and bad publicity. The one person who makes him feel safe is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her strict Christian father forbids her from seeing Blade, thanks to his father’s notoriety. Blade’s already fragile world is shattered when Chapel dumps him and he discovers a family secret. Reeling from shock and heartbreak, he sets out on a journey to Ghana to find the answers he needs and learn how to move forward. The relationships he forges there will teach him about unconditional love, true happiness, and the meaning of family.
“It’s as awkward
as things can get.
But I hear grace
can feel
that way
at first.”
– from “Travis”, p. 392
If you have been reluctant to give audiobooks a try – if you have a hard time surrendering the feel of paper under your fingers or worry that a narrator’s voice will detract from your experience – now is the time to move past this particular hang-up. Solo will change your opinion and make you a zealous convert to the magic of a well-done audiobook. Kwame Alexander himself reads the book, and if you have ever been fortunate enough to hear him speak, you will know that he could read the phone book and make it sound like poetry. Hearing him read Blade’s words adds a powerful dimension to the experience of this novel in verse that you cannot enjoy from reading it yourself. As if that was not enough enticement on its own, the audiobook also allows you to actually hear Blade’s songs, brought to life by singer/musician Randy Preston.

Alexander, K. and Hess, M. R. (2017). Solo. [Audiobook]. Blink. Retrieved from https://www.hoopladigital.com/.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Infographic Adventure

Image by UnboxScience on Pixabay I have been intrigued by infographics since I first started to notice them seven or eight years ago. A French teacher at the time, I was excited by the possibilities French infographics presented as authentic input that was significantly less intimidating to students than a text-only article. What was intimidating about them, however, was the thought of trying to make one myself. A few times over the years I thought I might try to tackle an infographic syllabus for my courses - always during that fleeting, golden moment of end-of-summer motivation - but each time I abandoned the idea after a few half-hearted attempts. This is just too hard , I thought. And then my Internet for School Librarians course required that I create an infographic. *Gulp* Being an over-achieving, grade-grubbing perfectionist, I knew I had no choice but to finally overcome my intimidation. Luckily, aspiring infographic designers do not need to purchase or learn complica...
3 comments
Read more

Review of THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO

Cover art taken from  http://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?mode=book&isbn=0763676187&browse= . Todd is an orphan who has been raised by family friends in the New World settlement of Prentisstown, which was founded by colonists looking for an alternative to life on Earth. Life in Prentisstown in difficult- all of the women have been killed by an alien germ, and all of the men have been infected with Noise – the inescapable ability to hear other men’s every thought. On the verge of his thirteenth birthday, when Todd will officially become a man according to Prentisstown tradition, he discovers a frighteningly quiet spot. The truth behind this quiet is so dangerous that Todd, his talking dog Manchee, and a mysterious new arrival are soon running for their lives from the men of Prentisstown. Can they reach safety in time, and can they save the other settlements of New World from the army at their heels? “The world’s a dangerous place when you don’t know enough.” (p. 142...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review of OUT OF DARKNESS

Cover art taken from  http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/09/book-review-out-of-darkness-by-ashley-hope-perez/ . Naomi is a high school senior whose father died before she was born and whose mother died after giving birth to Naomi’s twin half-siblings, Beto and Cari. After being raised by their grandparents in San Antonio for the past decade, the twins’ father, Henry, finds Jesus and decides his family needs to live with him in East Texas. They are enrolled in the New London School for the 1936 school year, where Naomi endures taunts of the “dirty Mexican” variety; she puts up with this and many more indignities so that the twins (who can pass for white) will have the opportunities afforded by their state-of-the-art new school. Naomi finds solace in her friendship and budding romance with Wash, but they must keep their relationship secret because Wash is African-American. When tragedy strikes the school, a grief-stricken community looks for a scapegoat, and Naomi and Wash...
Post a Comment
Read more