Welcome to Litsy!

While I was still processing Dear Martin, I wanted to listen to this one. The story of Quan, who‘s in juvie for murdering a cop, & his contacts with Justyce. TWs for domestic violence, gangs, gun violence. This book is one I can relate to because I used to work in a school with these types of boys (poor, poc, trauma in fams). I have thought about my 3 Black boys from that school who have died before they were 18 in the last few yrs. The school 👇

Book scavenger hunt - gate #hauntedshelf @PuddleJumper #flerken

Tired, by Langston Hughes

It has been a hard week in the US, for those of us who believe the Death Penalty should be abolished. 5 state executions in 7 days.
I am sad, I am tired.

If you have not read the tagged by Angela Davis or The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander I really encourage you to even if you do not live in the states.

#AboutABook #ByMultipleAuthors @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

One of the only books this year I‘ve sent away for my own physical copy of as soon as my library copy got returned.

I can't wait to better recommend this one to my students. It highlights the school to prison pipeline that exists in much of America. It is about how small decisions can have big consequences and about accepting what you cannot change.

Stunning!

I'm teaching this one in my summer Children's Lit class! Zoe intercepts a letter from her absent father on her 12th birthday and learns that he is claiming to be innocent of the murder he's been convicted of. This starts her quest to get him released, learning how systemic racism impacts the judicial system. Zoe and her father start a sweet correspondence to get to know each other, bonding over food and music.

#MiddleGradeMonday @Karisimo

As someone who is not opposed to, but does not typically read, poetry, I thought this was okay. The poems were good overall. I would have liked more from the introductions of the women. Some were just vague impressions of the women; most didn't even mention their incarceration. I found it difficult to connect with the poetry when I knew so little about the subjects. Still, some of the poems are so powerful regardless of the context.

I don‘t think my words will accurately sum up this collection of poems better than how the autor herself does. Hill opens her preface by saying that reading these poems “will not comfort.” She goes on to say later that these “poems are love letters.” And in between that, she asked herself “what will my tears record today?” I felt and I saw all that and more while I read each poem.

June #bookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks