Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Nevermore: Lighting the Way, Toxic Designs, Mysterious Death of Junetta Plum

 

Nevermore 5-19-26             Reported by Rita

 

 


Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America by Karenna Gore Schiff

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who was born a slave and fought against lynching; Mother Jones, an Irish immigrant who organized coal miners and campaigned against child labor; Alice Hamilton, who pushed for regulation of industrial toxins; Frances Perkins, who developed key New Deal legislation; Virginia Durr, who fought the poll tax and segregation; Septima Clark, who helped to register black voters; Dolores Huerta, who organized farm workers; Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias, an activist for reproductive rights; and Gretchen Buchenholz, one of the nation’s leading child advocates. Gore Schiff delivers an intimate and accessible account of the nine trail-blazing women who deserve not only to be honored but to have their example serve as beacons.

It was educational yet easy to read. Very well-written.      -KM      4 stars

 

Toxic Designs by Kristi Holl

Nothing hits as close to home as having a loved one get sick, which means double trouble for Kate Stevens when her daughter, Vanessa and her best friend, Vivi Lawrence, both become deathly ill within hours of each other. Vanessa is home for two weeks over summer break, and a shared meal between the three of them seems to be the source of the food poisoning. But why doesn't Kate herself become ill? Is it just luck, or is something more sinister afoot? Kate becomes all the more suspicious when Vivi has several recurrences of illness, and doctors cannot find the cause. Kate is sure that someone is out to harm -- or worse, eliminate -- her friend, but no one will listen to her protestations, not even Vivi.

I thought it was kind of trite - it felt juvenile.      -BH       3 stars

 


The Mysterious Death of Junetta Plum by Valerie Wilson Wesley

At the darkly glamorous height of the Roaring 20s, an independent Black intellectual and her bi-racial foster child are immersed in the vibrant world of the Harlem Renaissance – and a shocking murder on Striver’s Row.

It's very well-written. The language is wonderful.    -AH        5 stars

 

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

 

Victor T. Vulture by Roger Jones

Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam

Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

The Amazing Mrs. Polifax by Dorothy Gilman

 

 

New Books

 

Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World by Brandon Keim

Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs by Antony Beevor

A Terrible Intimacy by Melvin Patrick Ely

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