Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
by Tony Judt
Edition: Paperback
Price: $16.29

Reading PostWar was a project, an immersion experience during which I first unlearned, then relearned everything I knew of modern European history. It was worth the effort. This is a long book — 960 pages — crammed with so much information I had to read it twice before I felt I had a grip on the material.

Tony Judt was an historian with controversial opinions. He made no pretence of being a neutral observer. Not that any historian is really neutral. Every historian has an agenda. Whether or not he or she puts it out there for all to see is a matter of style, but there is no such thing as historical neutrality. If an historian is writing about an era, he or she has an opinion about it. All history is slanted, changed by the…

Book Description:

Do dark places bother you?

The space under your bed…

The closet, door slightly ajar…

Do you believe in the Bogeyman?

Who is he?

Where did he come from?

What does he want?

Maybe he has a story to tell,

And we should listen.

About Stacie:

Accomplishments: Started a used bookstore for the Friends of the Wilsonville Library, subject of Oregonian article, published in: Antiques and Collectibles Magazine, Bookman’s AB Magazine, Antique Trader…

“Hundreds of butterflies flitted in and out of sight like short-lived punctuation marks in a stream of consciousness without beginning or end.” HARUKI MURAKAMI, IQ84

Photo: Bazich, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Bette Stevens is probably best known for her highly successful children’s book, Amazing Matilda. Now she has dipped her toes into the deep waters of young adult literature with her new book, Pure Trash – The Story.

Having already read Bette’s ‘Amazing Matilda’, I was delighted to be asked to read this one as well. Though aimed at an older audience, it is still written in the same generous and caring tone. Set in the 1950’s, Pure Trash highlights the sense of social injustice doled out when two children are condemned and forever tainted because of their father’s alcoholism and the family’s unmitigated poverty.

My Review

Pure Trash is a short story focused on a day in the lives of two young boys, Shawn and Willie Daniels. They are extremely poor, have a drunken father, a long-suffering mother and live in a shack in 1950’s America; located near a small…

When I was a kid

Catching grasshoppers

During recess was cool

Running after balls

Playing hop scotch

Dressing up in costumes

Making friends

Were delights in life

My first date

The first kiss

Falling in love

Tears from break-ups

Saying I do

Kissing my new baby

Crying their first day of school

Seeing them repeat my own times

Having fun learning about life

Hearing their vows

Of saying I do

Makes me realize

Life is full circle

And I was a

The one

Who made

It all happen.

Written by,

Terry Shepherd

09/06/2013

(La reseña en Español está en la parte inferior)

Most of us will be judged by our actions. The people we meet will have a clean impression of us when we start a relationship, and their opinion of us will be formed and confirmed little by little by the things we do or by the things we don´t do. They will notice if we honor our word ─whether or not we do the right thing.

Shawn Daniels does not have that luxury.

He has been judged, perhaps even before he was born.

You see, he is one of Eddy Daniels’s kids.  And it just so happens that Eddy is the town’s drunk.

So no matter what Shawn and his kid brother Willie do, they are already labeled as the trash of the town.

While some people are nice to them, many folks are just terrible to the kids, and…