I first read The Odyssey when I was a freshman in high school. I think it might actually have been the very first assigned reading that year, and I remember being excited for it, and liking the story, but having suuuuuch a hard time getting through it, because the translation I was reading was so dense. Looking back (and now having read this translation) I don’t actually think I liked it as much as I thought I did, and I have some definite opinions about […]
The Dr (Seuss) will see you now
Can you believe that I have never read Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss? I have known about it for years, but never picked it up. Mostly because (and this is blasphemy I know) I am not a big fan of the good Doctor. That comes from the fact my mother was not a fan and therefore, we never had it read to us (myself and my sister). My exposure came from teachers and what I found as an adult. With that said, […]
The ups and downs of routine changes
The team of Audrey Vernick, Liz Garton Scanlon and Chris Raschka probably had a substitute teacher or two during their school days. However, I wonder if they were as unsure of them as the narrator is of their substitute teacher in Dear Substitute. Finding out that their teacher is out unexpectantly (why did Mrs. Giordano not warn them?) all sorts of feelings pop up for one student. After all, Miss Pelly changes their routines, cannot pronounce some of the student’s names, she reads new books […]
No Matter the Wreckage there Can be Hope
Sarah Kay, along with illustrator Sophia Janowitz, created her debut collection of poetry back in 2014. And in 2018 No Matter the Wreckage came on my radar. Kay’s poems celebrate family, love, travel, as well as the oddness, beauty and darkness of the world. She is powerful and soft. Bold and quiet. She hits you over the head and whispers in your ear. To hear her read her works (so far only on YouTube) would be a grand treat. Her voice is the perfect vessel […]
It just feels young to me
Do you remember that discussion on the internet about how the world at large is always so eager to dismiss and mock the things that young girls love? I think about that a lot, and have tried harder to not do that myself. So, when I heard Rupi Kaur reading her poems on CBC Radio, talking about her youth and success and her dreams, I decided to give The Sun and her Flowers a try. This is Rupi Kaur’s second book; her first book Milk […]
Depression & Other Magic Tricks
You know that a book is good when you highlight/mark something in the acknowledgements of the author. Depression & Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim is a collection of poems dealing with depression: thoughts, what she wishes others knew, conversations she had, the struggle and finally, the hope they have that they will be well someday. While the poem “Explaining My Depression to My Mother” has become the poem associated with Benaim it was her poem “On Releasing Light” that I got the “feelz” from. […]
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