Local, local, local reads

There’s a lot of important and exciting books with local connections out right now. Here’s what I shared this month on Good Day Alabama on WBRC Fox 6.

Werewolf Hamlet

By Kerry Madden-Lunsford

Humor, heart and Shakespeare come together in this new book for middle-school readers by local author Kerry Madden-Lunsford. Werewolf Hamlet is the story of Angus Gettlefinger, a 10-year-old theater fanatic minding his own business (mostly) and living his fifth-grade life. Angus has the perfect plan for his fifth-grade legacy project: stage a performance of Hamlet, but with werewolves. Werewolf Hamlet. Inspiration is close at hand. Angus’s 17-year-old brother, Liam, is like a werewolf these days. Angus never knows if he’ll be nice or mean or when he’ll sneak out to get drunk or worse. What’s more, it like his entire family is unraveling. Mom and Dad are going to default on the mortgage. Older sister Hannah is done and wants to move from Los Angeles to Maine, and little sister Sidney doesn’t really get what’s happening. When Liam goes missing, Angus decides it’s up to him to bring him home. So, he goes searching throughout Hollywood to find his brother before his family falls apart for good.

This is a book about tough subjects (mental illness and addiction) and tense family dynamics. Kerry writes from her life experience and wants the book to make a difference from the start.

The book launch and reading—February 11 at Red Mountain Theatre—will feature UAB Theatre students, Caleb Womack and Knox Cody Villemarette, performing Angus and Liam scenes from the book. Kerry will also share stories about researching and writing the book, as well as her lived experience as its inspiration. Kit Emslie, from the Collegiate Recovery and Intervention Community, and Susan Sallin, from the Birmingham chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), will also be on hand to provide insight into the family dynamics surrounding mental illness and addiction. The ticket price ($25) includes a signed book, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to NAMI.

Get tickets here.

Werewolf Hamlet is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection for upper elementary and middle-school readers (grades 5-7). The author’s page is full of really cool activities.

Son of Birmingham

by Mayor Randall Woodfin with Edward T. Bowser

This new book by Birmingham’s mayor is not a political book. That’s important to say especially right now, especially with our city’s history. Instead, it’s a memoir about a young leader of a city that’s battling both a racist past and present-day gun violence. It’s about the mayor’s family and friends and faith. It’s about his education at the historically Black Morehouse College. It’s about his journey to now, leading our city and advocating for equity and inclusivity and progress here and across our country. It’s about his WHY. And it’s all set against the beat and street wisdom of his generation’s Southern rap and hip-hop culture. During a recent book signing, Mayor Woodfin told the crowd: “You personally know that Birmingham, Alabama, did not stop in 1963. But I think so many people outside of our city, that’s all they know. This is a modern-day story of Birmingham. …”

More Poems for Hungry Minds

By the Highland Avenue Poets

Love. Loss. Boats. Baseball. Birds. Oysters. Just some of the themes in the latest anthology of poems by a talented group of local writers. As in the previous anthology (published in 2022), they write about recognizable themes, the everyday, the seemingly small things that really matter, and that’s what makes these pieces both accessible and remarkable. Consider the life lesson from Tom Gordon’s “Mother’s Day Gratitude”: (For all the times we mouth the golden rule, we fail nearly as often to carry it out. Still, your lesson to me from that long-ago Saturday is that every checkout line, every human encounter, is a chance at redemption.) There’s sadness in the poems about struggle. But there’s humor here, too, and I especially loved and recognized Roger Carlisle’s version of hell in “Waiting at the DMV.”

I link to Amazon to show you exactly what book I’m talking about, but I love to shop locally at Church Street Coffee and Books, The Alabama Booksmith, Little Professor, and Thank You Books in Crestwood. And I visit my local library often in person and online!