I wrote a book with a former professor of mine for teachers who like to use YA lit to engage students. It focuses on SEL for each of the unit. Long Way Down, Highly Illogical Behavior, and The Poet X are just a few of the books for which we wrote activities. So excited about it coming out today! #Englishteachers #education #YALit
pickHad to reread this before the start of the new school year. Chavez's book is absolutely amazing and I am so glad that I had it in my life. #EnglishTeachers #TeachersOfLitsy #WritingWorkshop #antiracist #antiracistteaching
so-soStill working on some personal PD this summer as I look towards ways to teach writing in new ways to my students. #EnglishTeachers #TeachersOfLitsy
pickAnother book to throw out to #teachersoflitsy, #englishteachers. I have been doing well preparing for my thesis and this has been my latest read.
pickI just love Laurie Halse Anderson. I began listening on @scribd to her novel Twisted, and I was immediately swept away. The protagonist, Tyler, embodies so much of what is great about teenagers: self-discovery, wavering self-confidence, and an earnest attempt to do what is right. While some of the twists and turns seemed to be a little overdramatized, I left convinced (once again!) of Anderson's ability to dig into the minds of teenagers.⠀
pickJoseph Boyden's Wenjack is a masterpiece, a concise, spare, and poetic story of Chanie, a nine-year-old Ojibwe boy who was taken from his home and placed in an Indian school designed to assimilate him into the Canadian culture. His escape with two other boys moves through his perspective and the views of the animals who accompany him on his journey in a beautiful, heartbreaking account.⠀
I have a LOT of feelings about both this book AND the movie adaptation (although maybe I should say this screenplay, book adaptation, and subsequent movie adaptation? There are many layers here). Check out our varying opinions about Five Feet Apart in our most recent podcast episode to see what each of us thinks. Then share your opinion—we‘d love to know what you think!!
Our newest episode of Unabridged features our reflection on the sessions we attended at the Virginia Festival of the Book. This was our first Unabridged Field Trip, and we had SO. MUCH. FUN. (as you probably guessed if you follow us on social media). Tune in to find out just how much we can go on about meeting some of our literary heroes.
pickJason Reynolds's Track series concludes with Sunny and Lu. In these final two books, he continues doing what he did so well with Ghost and Patina: developing unique characters who have faced tragedy and have struggled. For each of the four, the Defenders track team offers friends, family, an amazing mentor in Coach, and something to strive for beyond themselves. What a fabulous middle-grade series . . . though I loved it just as much!!!
pickJulie Murphy's Puddin' confirms (after Ramona Blue and Dumplin') me as a read-everything-she-writes fan. In this companion to Dumplin', we return to Clover City through the perspectives of Millie Michalchuk (one of my favorite characters from Dumplin') and Callie Reyes (who thoroughly annoyed me in the first novel). Watching these characters work toward a clear understanding both of who they are and of who they want to be is a beautiful thing.
