Sometimes, my YA reads are self-selected, and other times, students encourage me to read books that will help me enter conversations with them. Gayle Forman’s If I Stay falls into the latter category. I didn’t know if I would like the book or not, and I certainly did not plan to see the movie without reading the book first. One of my students chose this for her book report last fall and recommended it to me. So I decided it was high time I pick […]
Getting lost, going wild, finding yourself.
One of my students read Cheryl Strayed’s Wild for her book review and oral report this last spring and raved about it. I’ve had several friends recommend it to me, and I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I thought that summer vacation would be an excellent time to finally break into Wild. I’m honestly really sad that I didn’t read it a lot sooner. When Wild opens, a 26-year-old Cheryl Strayed is in the process of losing her boots while in the middle […]
A life in urban foraging
I’m in the midst of reading for my Fall Composition class, and when I heard about Ava Chin’s Eating Wildly, I was intrigued by the concept of foraging. Would it be a survival skills book? A how-to in wild plants, herbs, fruits, and lore? Or would it be more dystopian in nature—a sort of book that explains how someone like Katniss Everdeen could eke out a living in a ruined landscape? As it turns out, no. Chin’s book is a memoir in food. Eating Wildly […]
A study in how we troll and shame each other–with a real-life example
I’ve never thought consciously about public shaming, but I’ve seen its effects on the internet, and seen an alarming increase in the incidents occurring. One actually came to my university campus. I won’t mention names, but you can probably get a result via Google. A doctoral student in a humanities department (not mine) teaching a freshman-level gen-ed course was discussing the Rawles principle and current social issues that violated it. A student brought up bans on gay marriage, and she affirmed the student for the […]
My introduction to Flavia de Luce
I have to confess, I’m a casual reader of mysteries at best. I do enjoy the genre, when I find a good mystery that I love. But sometimes I just forget to read them. When I was browsing my library the other day (and in my household, that’s only a day that ends in y), there was a display featuring Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce novels. I thought, “Why not?” So I decided that my Fourth of July vacation week would be a perfect time […]
The magic within yourself
After reading Jewell Parker Rhodes’ most excellent Ninth Ward, I was excited to learn that her newest children’s novel, Bayou Magic, was released this year. So I quickly requested it from my library and devoured it on my train ride to my in-laws’ house. I’ve come to decide that Ms. Rhodes is one of my new favorite children’s book authors. She is a terrific writer with incredible capabilities in character development and mythology construction. Bayou Magic takes place in the bayous of Louisiana, in more […]
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