Scars Like Wings and A Song Below Water

SCARS LIKE WINGS by Erin Stewart is an inspiring debut novel that tells the story of Ava, a 16-year-old burn victim, as she attempts to return to high school.  She says, “As if my face doesn’t draw enough attention to the fact that I. Do. Not. Belong. That’s a pretty big problem when the first commandment of high school is to Belong.” With quips like that, I found the characters to be very relate-able and to quickly develop empathy for them. Ava lost her parents and a cousin to the fire and now lives with her aunt which makes for some difficult, sensitive conversations. That is especially true in regards to Ava’s new friend, Piper, who is also an accident victim, but with a fighting attitude: “Do you know what they call handicapped people? Invalids. In. Valids. Which sometimes doesn’t feel entirely In. Accurate.” Piper definitely pushes Ava out of her comfort zone. So does Asad, a student who loves theater and tells Ava, “at first, your scars were all I could see. Now you’re just my friend, Ava, who, by the way, was burned.”   

Read this book about developing strength and resilience and then look forward to more from Erin Stewart, herself a “heart failure survivor and adoptive mother, ... [who] believes life throws plot twists and people in our path for a reason.” Her young adult novel, SCARS LIKE WINGS, is a great vehicle to help students, especially middle school and early high school, talk about our biases, about acceptance, and about emotional and physical pain. The difficulties of establishing true friendships and seeing beyond ourselves are deftly explored. There are so many quotes from which to choose; I’ll end with this: “you’re different and that’s the point of the whole thing. The world casts us into roles based on snap judgements. We look at people, but we don’t see them.”  

A SONG BELOW WATER by Bethany C. Morrow is an interesting sci-fi, fantasy read.  It has received some great reviews - Jason Reynolds calls it “beautiful” and “brilliant” and includes it in his list of suggestions for summer reads (see video below). Yet, I found the beginning to be slow and confusing and did not understand who these girls, friends Tavia and Effie, were supposed to be - ironically, in part because I had difficulty picturing them. Both are Black and it seems like they are also some kind of mer-people; plenty of comments about swimming and scaly skin for Effie and about Tavia’s ability to use a siren call to influence other’s actions. However, they try to hide their powers and often act rather sad and afraid. Like other young people, they struggle with restrictions and expectations imposed by the adults in their lives. Morrow does explore themes of marginalization, trauma, and prejudice and the fantasy aspect is reinforced with a guardian gargoyle, mischievous sprites, and privileged eloko characters. If you like fantasy, check it out for yourself and please let me know what I was missing. The cover is indeed beautiful and A SONG BELOW WATER received a starred review from Booklist.

How Innovation Works and Eat, Sleep, Innovate

HOW INNOVATION WORKS is written by Matt Ridley, a member of the House of Lords and an award-winning author (The Evolution of Everything). His new text actually speaks to the flywheel concept that Dumaine raised in Bezonomics when Ridley points out that “innovation is potentially infinite because even if it runs out of new things to do, it can always find ways to do the same things more quickly or for less energy.” Ridley provides an engaging read by illustrating innovation (“turning ideas into practical, reliable and affordable reality”) across history and a range of fields (Energy, Public Health, Transport, Food, and so forth).  He then explores patterns in those stories and argues that innovation “Flourishes in Freedom” while devoting a chapter each to innovation’s Essentials, Economics, and Failures, and finally concluding with sections on Resistance to Innovation and Innovation Famine. This is a very readable text and is full of facts, often amusing stories, and relatable explanations, such as “the genius of the Wright brothers was precisely that they realized they were in an incremental, iterative process and did not expect to build a flying machine at the first attempt.” Teachers will appreciate that Ridley emphasizes the value of traits like trial and error and collaboration. Students with interest in the STEM fields will especially enjoy HOW INNOVATION WORKS which received a starred review from Kirkus.

 

EAT, SLEEP, INNOVATE, by Scott D. Anthony, Paul Cobban, Natalie Painchaud and Andy Parker, is forthcoming this Fall from Harvard Business Review Press. Cobban is based in Singapore working for DBS Bank and the other three authors are executives with the growth-strategy consulting firm Innosight. They collaborated to explore “How to Make Creativity an Everyday Habit Inside Your Organization” and the text has a slightly playful, irreverent tone, perhaps meant to reinforce the idea of creative freedom, which is fun at first.  I loved the footnote that includes: “And hello, footnote reader. We are glad to have you with us.” It does wear after a bit, though, as they actually recognize when another footnote says, “we’re going to stop doing this soon.” Overall, there are plenty of serious suggestions to help businesses. In Part I (over four chapters with three companion case studies), they lay out a series of definitions, discuss why organizations struggle with innovation, and then introduce and explain the idea of BEANS (behavior enablers, artifacts, and nudges).  Part II, filled with “tips, tricks and tools” focuses on the more practical application. In an appendix, they also provide a “Culture of Innovation Bookshelf” with titles they consider most influential. While a bit jargon-y, it is a luxury to stretch one’s brain and spend time with this text. It is certainly relevant; as the authors point out, “uncertainly increases the need for innovation.” Visit their website plus pick up EAT, SLEEP, INNOVATE if you are looking for ideas about how to make innovation more of a “habit of mind” and daily focus.