Ldyenki Reads Anger Is A Gift - Tumblr Posts
Ldyenki reads Anger is a Gift (Intro)
For those of you who don’t know, Mark Oshiro of Mark Reads wrote a YA contemporary fiction book called Anger is a Gift. It came out in May. I have been following Mark Reads since he was announced as a gust of honor at the first Crossingscon, and I very quickly went from puzzled ‘what is this, he does what?’ to ‘this is the most amazing idea ever.’ So I was very excited for the release of his first book and have been recommending it to everyone I know.
I decided that I would try to follow Mark’s style and read one chapter at a time, pausing after each to write down my thoughts without being influenced by knowing what happens next. I will be posting what I wrote here, a few chapters at a time and if anyone wants to discuss this book with me I would love to talk about it.
There will be Spoilers. If you do not want to be spoiled I will tag everything with ‘Ldyenki reads Anger is a Gift’. I hope you will come along this journey with me.
Reblog. I will be posting my comments on the first few chapters very soon.
Ldyenki reads Anger is a Gift (Intro)
For those of you who don’t know, Mark Oshiro of Mark Reads wrote a YA contemporary fiction book called Anger is a Gift. It came out in May. I have been following Mark Reads since he was announced as a gust of honor at the first Crossingscon, and I very quickly went from puzzled ‘what is this, he does what?’ to ‘this is the most amazing idea ever.’ So I was very excited for the release of his first book and have been recommending it to everyone I know.
I decided that I would try to follow Mark’s style and read one chapter at a time, pausing after each to write down my thoughts without being influenced by knowing what happens next. I will be posting what I wrote here, a few chapters at a time and if anyone wants to discuss this book with me I would love to talk about it.
There will be Spoilers. If you do not want to be spoiled I will tag everything with ‘Ldyenki reads Anger is a Gift’. I hope you will come along this journey with me.
LdyEnki Reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 1 and 2
I read “Anger is a Gift” by Mark Oshiro in the style of Mark Reads, stopping after each chapter to write down my reactions. I am posting these reactions here. I highly recommend everyone read this book and am happy to talk to people about it. So here we go, LdyEnki is unprepared.
Chapter 1:
I am loving Moss and Esperanza already.
I knew about the interaction Moss has with Javier because I heard Mark give a reading of the scene where Moss tells his mother about him. So I was excited from the second he showed up while also feeling Moss’s panic attack looming closer and closer, inevitable despite the techniques he tries to employ to stave it off.
Chapter 2:
The line about renewal was a punch to the heart. When will Moss get his renewal. I’m only in the second chapter and already Mark is making me cry. Moss sitting on the steps remembering his father and the horror of that night and trying to overlay that memory with good ones literally had me tearing up in public. Note to Self: stop reading this book in public places.
(spoiler alert: I don’t learn my lesson)
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 3 and 4
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 3:
I don’t feel like I really know Moss’s friends yet, but I am intrigued. So far we have only gotten little tidbits of information about each and I still trying to figure out who’s who. But I want to know more.
School- I was wincing reading the description of Moss’s school, it is so far from my experience. My high school wasn’t great (though we had some great teachers) and the principal actively encouraged kids to drop out rather than create the kind of supportive space where they might actually succeed, but it was nothing like this. I felt uncomfortable just reading about the worn down, grimy building. And if I felt this uncomfortable just reading about it I can’t even imagine trying to learn here. And yet I know this is an experience so many kids have. And it's wrong. They deserve better. (I want to gather up all the kids and send them to the elementary school of my childhood)
Chapter 4:
“What are you going to do about it?” I get the feeling that this is the central question of the book.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 5 and 6
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 5:
Being a librarian influences my priorities so I’m not sure anyone else had the “Wait. What?!” reaction I did about the library inventory being sold off. So please excuse me a moment as I say, “They did what!? Why!?”
Now weeding out books and other material from a library is important for keeping a library current, relevant and helps prevent books from being lost and overwhelmed by no longer active materials. I’m not going to go into my defense of weeding diatribe here, though if anyone wants to talk about it I’m happy to. But if a book (or several copies of a book) in the library is still being used in a classroom, you don’t weed out that book. You weed out the book that the teacher who left for a different job 5 years ago used in their classroom. I want to know who sold off “most of the library inventory” and why.
Moving on to the much more plot relevant scene with the girl having her locker searched. To quote Mark, “Fuck.” I can see the shape forming of the coming conflict, Officer Hull, an abusive bully, targeting these kids. Moss won't be able to avoid him forever. I’m glad there are some good teachers who care in all of this.
Chapter 6:
Alternate Title: “Or why I love Moss, his Mama and their whole found family.”
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 7 and 8
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 7:
Well that happened sooner than I expected it to. That was intense. The call is knocking on your door Moss.
Chapter 8:
Much needed release. I love the detail of Moss’s dad bringing home stray furniture.
That last line of the chapter has me very worried. Please don’t let that be foreshadowing. Mark don’t do that to us. I am now very concerned for Moss’s mother.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 9, 10 and 11.
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 9:
This feels very much like a setup chapter. We see the pieces start to move. The school escalating, becoming more controlling and the students starting to ask why, starting to get angry and want things to change. And we see Moss’s hopelessness, the world isn’t fair and there is nothing we can do to fix the overwhelming wrongness in the world.
I am worried about Moss and Esperanza. They have each had very different first weeks and it is jarring after everything that has happened to see Esperanza busy but happy, talking about college. It is a careless comment she made, probably something she didn’t even think about before saying but I can see how it puts Moss on edge. There is a tension between them and it doesn’t feel right. Don’t do this to us Mark. The power of friendship is sacred.
Chapter 10:
Yay! Happiness! They are so cute. I love how realizing Javier is nervous helps Moss relax.
Though Moss, the whole doing push ups just before a date, sorry but it doesn’t work that way.
Interesting contrast of Javier’s response to the locker situation with Esperanza’s response to the college booths.
Chapter 11:
And some hope! They are starting to plan.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 12 and 13
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 12:
Again, the tension between Moss and Esperanza hurts. It makes sense though, their different experiences are going to cause misunderstandings. Esperanza feels left out and isolated because she goes to a different school from her friends but Moss can’t conceive of anyone wanting to go to his school, especially now. His school is a trap to be escaped, not a fun experience Esperanza is missing out on.
Chapter 13:
That was intense. The stomach tightening, heart pounding kind of intense. I expected the crowds and everyone being late to class. I expected the cops to give Reg a hard time. I did not expect that. I didn’t even know it was possible for a metal detector to have that effect, though I knew machines like MRI scanners can do that and worse. God, Reg. And he was already worried about making a full recovery.
I can’t help thinking about a friend I had in college. She has 3 metal rods in her back, but you would never know it to look at her. She has enough metal in her back that you can place a magnet there and it will stick. She took something that must have been a traumatic childhood experience and turned it into a party game. I didn’t hear her talk about it much, but I know she was always given a hard time whenever she had to go through metal detectors. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened in a situation like this.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 14 and 15
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 14:
Alternate Title: Wanda is Awesome.
First the part that made me laugh. The line about Obama. I love this bit. I could absolutely see Wanda talking to Obama every night.
I keep thinking about this cartoon I saw as part of a discussion my church group had. A person is fleeing from someone wielding a knife, but a news camera is filming it in such a way that it looks like the person being chased is attacking someone unarmed. Already the school and media are trying to spin an adult police officer attacking a teenager who hadn’t done anything wrong into a fight that shows how dangerous the students are. And now a serious injury caused by a cop forcing a student into a situation he had said could be dangerous for him is a minor accident due to malfunctioning equipment.
Reality is being overwritten and it’s terrifying.
On a lighter note, Moss you can stop trying to play it cool. It isn’t working.
Chapter 15:
A needed respite for Moss and me as reader. I really enjoyed the meeting of the 2 families. What Wanda said about love and the example she gave of Moss’s dad snoring was wonderful. I love how she normalizes Moss’s anxiety and panic attacks at every opportunity.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
Chapters 5 and 6 are here.
Chapters 7 and 8 are here.
Chapters 9, 10 and 11 are here.
Chapters 12 and 13 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapter 16
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 16:
Oh my God, Javier, you are so sweet. Racing and losing to a little kid in pull ups, I am overcome with the cute. “Tim Gunn would be proud./At least he is a little weird” Mark, I am making inappropriate noises in public and it is all your fault.
Dumbledore’s Army!!!! This reference makes me happy.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
Chapters 5 and 6 are here.
Chapters 7 and 8 are here.
Chapters 9, 10 and 11 are here.
Chapters 12 and 13 are here.
Chapters 14 and 15 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapter 17
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 17:
I feel like Moss, excited by the show of support and the plan for a walkout. But I also feel foreboding that something is going to go horribly wrong.
Wanda is amazing as usual and I really feel here that she is teaching the next generation how to be leaders and activists. Specifically she is training the next generation of black women.
Interesting questions raised about what makes a school safe and who do we need to make it safe from. For Moss and his friends it’s the police and the measures put in place to keep the school ‘safe’ that make them feel threatened. For some of the adults in the meeting, the students need to be protected from the other students.
But what are the metal detectors really going to do? How do they increase safety? If there was a history of students sneaking in knives and stabbing each other, then yeah, they would help, but that is not what is going on here. Even ignoring the truth of the situation, the ‘brawl’ was unarmed fighting and a projectile chair. In my admittedly limited experience, all the school violence I have seen has been similar, fist fights between students, sometimes very serious, but still fist fights. Metal detectors will do absolutely nothing to prevent that.
I can admit that like some of the cautious adults in the crowd, I can see the benefits of having a police officer present to respond to problems quickly. I used to teach at a community college. One day a young man burst into my classroom and started pounding on one of my male students. He, of course, fought back. There was blood. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, I could do to break up the fight. We had a officer on campus. He heard the commotion and came in and was able to separate them. And I can admit, I was very relieved to have him present. Statements were taken, stern talking tos given, but no one ended up handcuffed on the floor and as far as I know no one was arrested. The cop defused the situation and that was all. But, both of the young men were white. I honestly don’t know if it would have gone down differently if one of them had been black.
We want school to actually be safe for kids but cops who can’t be trusted not to escalate or create a situation are not the way to do that. I don’t know what is. It might help to remember that the ‘hooligans’ we want to protect kids from are the kids we’re trying to protect.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
Chapters 5 and 6 are here.
Chapters 7 and 8 are here.
Chapters 9, 10 and 11 are here.
Chapters 12 and 13 are here.
Chapters 14 and 15 are here.
LdyEnki reads Anger is a Gift Chapters 18 and 19
The continuing adventures of LdyEnki being unprepared for Mark Oshiro’s “Anger is a Gift”.
Chapter 18:
Javier continues to be perfect boyfriend material. They had some important conversations they needed to have and I’m glad to see them work some things out. Hopefully this will help Moss fight back against his brain. Plus they are so cute.
Moss and I have the same problems with comics. I’ll find one I really like and then they’ll mess everything up.
Chapter 19:
Sometimes the tension of waiting for something to happen is the hardest part.
I’m glad to see support for Reg, but warn a guy before you grab him.
Chapters 1 and 2 are here.
Chapters 3 and 4 are here.
Chapters 5 and 6 are here.
Chapters 7 and 8 are here.
Chapters 9, 10 and 11 are here.
Chapters 12 and 13 are here.
Chapters 14 and 15 are here.