Frankie's World, The Golden Hour, and Goddess Girls

I read three graphic novels this Shabbat.

Frankie's World by Aoife Dooley is a book that should be in every middle-school classroom and every children’s library. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 

Frankie is an 11-year-old Irish girl who thinks she might be an alien. Her brain doesn’t work like anyone else’s she knows, and she keeps saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. She wants to meet her father, because she believes he might be able to explain why she is the way she is. The book is a wonderful introduction to autism in girls, written and drawn by a woman with autism. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith is a modern masterpiece that deserves the great reviews it has received. It deals with the tough topics of school shootings (one teacher is shot, but she recovers) and PTSD in young people, but against a gorgeous rural backdrop and through the lens of an adolescent who loves photography. The story is funny and touching, and the art is gorgeous. This might be a good graphic novel for a young person either dealing with anxiety or PTSD or who knows someone dealing with anxiety or PTSD. The book also teaches a little about photography and composition, as well as farm life. It’s a great book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams reimagines Zeus as the principal of a high school and the other characters of Greek mythology as the students. Athena has no idea she’s a goddess until she gets a letter from Zeus, who tells her she is his daughter and Hermes will be picking her up to take her to Olympus Academy. There she makes friends with Aphrodite and Pandora.

This book is okay. The writing and art are both fine. It’s a nice introduction to Greek mythology, but there’s no real conflict and no depth. The main girls are cheerleaders, and most of the girls in the book are a bit too boy obsessed. Personalities really don't go very far beyond “this is the smart one, this is the pretty one, and this is the curious one.” Still, I do think this could appeal to some very young girls, maybe in grades three and four, as an alternative to all the fairy and princess books.

🌟🌟🌟

And that’s it. I also started a fourth graphic novel I’m really enjoying, and I look forward to reviewing it next week. 

Happy reading!

Where in the World Is Shevi Arnold?

Hi, everyone!

So I haven't been blogging for several months. Here's why.

Whenever my life takes a turn, I like to look at where I am and ask myself how I got there. Was this my goal when I started this path? Is this path bringing me closer to my goal?

The purpose of returning to the USA was to get my son the best education for autistic kids that we could afford, and we got that. But in June of last year, he graduated out of the system at the age of 21. After that, we tried to get him into a program for young adults with autism, but we weren't getting anywhere.

Then the 2016 elections happened, and stability--especially for the disabled community--went out the window in the USA.

I don't know if you've noticed, but withdrawing funding from programs that help the disabled seems to be very high on the GOP's to-do list. It's horrible and shocking, but then so are a lot of things that have been going on in the USA lately. The day after the election, I experienced racism and antisemitism during a trip to my local supermarket. This was not my America, not anymore.

I looked at where I was and saw that being in the USA had fulfilled my goal for a long time...but it no longer was. I decided it was time to return to Jerusalem.

Independence Park in Jerusalem

Jump ahead a few months, and here I am, in the heart of Jerusalem! And I love this place. There are so many fun things to do throughout the week. When I left the USA, I was surrounded by fear and instability. Here in Jerusalem, I feel surrounded by joy and love and understanding. Most Israelis have been so nice to me and my son. It's so good to be back!

So that's what's going on with me.

I'm currently doing the final edits on the second book in the Legend of Gilbert the Fixer. Book one was called Why My Love Life Sucks, so book two is, of course, called Why It Still Mega Bites. (Get it? "Megabytes" and "mega bites," because Gilbert is a computer nerd who's also a vampire? Of course, you do. I knew it. My readers are geniuses.)

I've also started working on a nonfiction book entitled Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know about God, which I will be publishing under a pen name. (I don't want anyone to confuse it with my fiction.) Many people know that the three major monotheistic religions began with one man, Abraham. What most don't know is that it started with a logical argument. The book returns us to that logical argument, shows where religion went wrong, and explains how we can return to that logical view of God. It's built on commonly asked questions, like "Does God even exist?" "Does God demand faith?" "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  

But mostly I'm just taking care of my son and enjoying what Jerusalem has to offer. This city is amazing! If you go to my Facebook page, you'll see lots of photos I've taken of just about everything.

I'm feeling a lot better now, and hopefully I'll start blogging a lot more.

Stick around for more stuff about writing, my books, and Jerusalem. I love you all so much and look forward to sharing my continuing journey with you.

Gluten-casein-sugar-free chocolate cake recipe

Today is my son's birthday. Yesterday I mentioned on Twitter that I was making a gluten-casein-sugar-free birthday cake for him, and I received a few requests for the recipe. So I'm taking a break from my usual posts on writing and publishing to give it to you. 

My son is autistic and on a gluten-casein free diet, while I'm on a sugar-free diet, so it's a weird recipe we can all enjoy. I had to improvise it myself. I know it doesn't taste as good as the real thing, but if you're in a similar situation, I hope this recipe works out for you too. If not, you could try adapting it to your tastes. Enjoy!

SHEVI'S GLUTEN-CASEIN-SUGAR-FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients:

·         1 1/2 cups gluten-free baking mix (I use Arrowhead Mills all-purpose baking mix)

·         1 1/4 teaspoons stevia powder extract (I use SweetLeaf stevia extract)

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

·         3/4 teaspoon baking soda

·         1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze (if you have a tree-nut allergy, replace Almond Breeze with unsweetened vanilla soy milk)

·         2/3 cup vegetable oil (I use Hollywood expeller pressed safflower oil)

·         3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and lightly flour baking pan (with gluten-free baking mix).  Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix in the Almond Breeze, oil, and eggs. Make sure it’s all blended well. (At this stage I like to taste it to see if it needs more stevia or salt, and I add whatever I think it needs more of.) Pour cake batter into baking pan, and place in the center of the oven on a baking rack to bake. After about 25 minutes, poke the middle of the cake with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is ready to come out of the oven. If not, give it another five minutes and check again. 

The batter is also great for making chocolate pancakes. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for gluten-casein-sugar-free frosting yet.

Hope it works out for you. Enjoy!