Rapture Practice is Hartlzer’s memoir of growing up on a conservative
Christian family. He struggles with the strict rules his mother and father enforce
mainly through guilt and tactics such as reminding him “God will know if you [insert
sinful behavior here]. Hartzler endures a number of public apologies (sort of reminiscent
of those religious leaders who publicly confess their sins) for his sins (ranging
from listening to a soft rock radio station to drinking alcohol at a New Year’s
party) and with each one, he resolves to hide his behavior better and looks to
the day when he will be on his own.
Hartzler’s
title is great—probably the best one out of the bunch I’ve read so far. It’s the
kind of title that has several possible meanings and captures the themes in the
book wonderfully.
Memoirs
aren’t really my choice of book, but I have a graduate student who just earned her
PhD whom I think will enjoy this book. Her dissertation was on using young adult
memoirs with teachers in the hopes that they will use them with their students,
and she was saddened by how many of them found the books to be too controversial
to use in their classrooms. RP would probably
have generated the same response.
I
think my favorite parts of Hartlzer’s book are the moments he spends with his grandparents,
especially his grandmother. We travel to Emery’s grandparents’ houses several
times each year and I hope he is able to form a close relationship with them during
these brief visits.
And
now for the bonus book.
I
always feel the need for some self-help reading when I get overloaded on children’s
and young adult books (I had just read Fako
Mustache over the weekend after Emery asked me too—it’s a great, funny read
for a boy or a girl and yes, it’s about a fake mustache). So, I was browsing my
public library’s digital offerings on my Nook, when I came across Rosalind Wiseman’s
Masterminds and Wingmen (she’s the author
of Queen Bees and Wannabees).
Masterminds and Wingmen is a perfect companion to Rapture Practice. For example, every
time Aaron gets in trouble for doing something “wrong” he vows not to get caught
again. According to Wisemen, this is part of an adolescent boy’s behavior. In
her chapter “Lying and Reconnaissance,” she writes:
"Don’t take your son’s lies personally. If you do take his lies personally, your anger, embarrassment, and frustration will stop you from teaching him that being truthful is worthwhile and you will teach him instead to hide and deceive more."
I
think this statement, in part, explains what happens in Hartlzer’s family each time
they catch him lying (apparently, I'm not the only one who noticed the lying part, here's a link to a New York Times review noticing the same thing--also contains a review of Openly Straight, which is also in my box). If you read the author’s blurb about him, you learn he goes
onto being an actor and lives with his boyfriend (and I just checked Aaron's site and according to twiiter, they are engaged! Congrats!). At the end of the memoir, I can’t
even imagine how he gets to that spot without a tremendous amount of hard work,
perseverance, and tears. I would like to know that story too.
Do
you have any recommendations for pairing children’s/ young adult books with
books about parenting?
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