Welcome to Litsy!

Meh. The structure of this…biography didn‘t do much for me, but I learned something about Butler‘s childhood…so 🤷🏻‍♀️ At least it was short.

Because I used Parable of the Sower for #dystopianfiction this is #byOctaviaButler for #52Books23

Last month of the year! And it‘s a busy one. I chose a lot of poetry and graphic novels for December‘s #BookSpinBINGO.

This middle grade biography of Octavia Butler took a creative approach, but I felt like it only skimmed the surface and I wanted more.

What works in this middle grade biography of Octavia Butler:
—Mix of poetry & brief prose passages
—Mix of biographical info & historical context (Great Migration; Cold War; Space Race; Civil Rights Movement etc)
—Many direct quotes from Butler
—Archival photos & documents
Where it falls short:
—Poems uneven, sometimes leaden
—Zoboi‘s text is sometimes just a rewording of the quote on the same page
Overall:
—Worth borrowing from the library

The quotes from Octavia Butler are perfectly chosen. This is one is on the final page.

Octavia Butler wrote and illustrated a story about horses when she was ten. It‘s great that there‘s a couple of sample pages from it in this biography aimed at young readers.

Examples of concrete poems in this book.

… a girl and her books fly through
The high, open windows
And toward the wide expanse
Of her sky-blue and star-speckled
Imagination

(Photo of Ibi Zoboi & Octavia Butler, at a shared birthday celebration in June, 2001.)

Excellent choice of epigraph for this biography of Octavia Butler, which is written partly in verse.

Look what just came in the mail! It‘s SO PRETTY

I will add any book by Ibi Zoboi and I want to learn as much as possible about Octavia Butler. Win win.

So incredibly excited for this book!