ROSIE AND SKATE is the story of two sisters. Skate is a year older than Rosie, though that does not affect their relationship much at all. Both are dealing with the fact that their alcoholic father has been imprisoned for robbing a convenience store while under the influence. Rosie faithfully visits Dad each week with her Aunt Angie who is serving as a temporary guardian. Skate, on the other hand, wants no part of visits or Dad himself. She has created a nice life for herself with her boyfriend and his mother. She does not want to be reminded of all the times Dad has disappointed her. In alternating chapters, Rosie and Skate relate the events of their lives. Rosie falls in like with another member of her Alateen group (Rosie calls the group, Drama Queen). Skate and her boyfriend split. Friendships change people disappoint. Somehow, life goes on. This book does not contain great scenes of angst. Rather, it is a quiet exploration of the lives of two teens who are doing their best to deal with whatever life throws them.
Since I have been thinking about and writing about reading ladders and connections between books, I was struck between the connection with SPROUT (see yesterday's entry) and THE PIGMAN (alternate viewpoints in alternate chapters) to name a few.
I responded to a comment on the blog posting about narrow thinking and, of course, there was another response to mine. It is exactly what I observed in the original post (two days ago): some folks just keep flinging stuff hoping to keep us so preoccupied with answering back that we forget to focus on what is important. Here is what is important: we must fight censorship in al its guises. Whether it is as obvious as what is going on in Kentucky right now or as subversive as filters that keep teachers from sites that contain "political" content or the argument that today's books are somehow not worthy of study. I intend to keep that focus.
Now on to some errands and then home to the ever threatening stack of books waiting to be read and shared (nefarious subjects and all) with readers.