Teacher-Mentors with Insights, Ideas, and Resources for Secondary Readers & Writers Workshop
Oh, man. I love and hate this book. You have to read it. Then we need to talk about it. It’s that kind of story, a hauntingly beautiful coming of age story.
Here’s the book trailer:
And a NY Times review
I would love to hear what titles are keeping you up lately. Please share.
I had the book Splintered by A.G. Howard on my shelves for a long while, but with so many other books towering my TBR pile, I kept skipping over it — until I got Unhinged. Now, I am a fan of both. Take a look and see why:
You will never think of the Rabbit Hole or Wonderland in the same way again.
When Mrs. Mueggenborg recommends a book I always look into it. I don’t always like the same books Tess does, but more than anyone I know I trust her judgment when it comes to books. Tess was excited about this one and openly shared her intrigue.
Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, a thin little novel, with a whole lot of weight. Check out these clips and see for yourself:
And this interview with author Alan Lightman.
I read the first part of the prologue to my classes and asked them to respond in their writer’s notebooks. We’r writing the introductions to our feature articles. I hoped that students would understand that the most engaging articles have elements of story. The story of Carla at the beginning of The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddartha Mukhergee grabs with an emotional pull. Many students wrote poignant descriptive responses. I love it when that happens.
A documentary with the same title as the book is in the works. It’s coming to PBS in the spring of 2015. Check out the website and the great trailer here: CANCER: The Emperor of ALL Maladies.
My students have been reading pretty hefty titles lately. Books like Wonder by R.J. Polacio might do their souls a bit of good. I think they deserve something special. I’ll give them a glimpse into August Pullman’s story with this, and then I’ll show them the comments, mostly by students much younger than mine. They are heartwarming.
Winger by Andrew Smith is another book I kept hearing about. (I’m a little jealous that so many of my teacher friends seem to be way ahead of me in their TBR piles.) I knew I needed to keep this one — like I did Eleanor and Park— and read it before I let my students get their hands on it.
I did not have my own copy, but at #ALAN13 in Boston, after I had the pleasant task of helping Donalyn Miller with her jacket, she gave me a copy from her book stacks. She gave me a copy! 
Surprisingly, I found no book trailers promoting it. However, I did find and read an interesting piece in The New Yorker called “The Awkward Art of Book Trailers,” which made me rethink the value of them at all. Rachel Arons says, quoting Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom: “Franzen explains—in a tone that is polite but characteristically aggrieved—his “profound discomfort” with having to use moving images to promote the printed word. “To me, the point of a novel is to take you to a still place,” he says. “You can multitask with a lot of things, but you can’t really multitask reading a book … To me, the world of books is the quiet alternative—an ever more desperately needed alternative.”
Hmmm. I might agree with that.
So instead of a trailer today, let’s read a book review. I love this one at TLT: Teen Librarian’s Toolbox, and I’m thinking that a next step in my students’ literary journey is to write their own “professional” reviews. This one will make a good mentor text.
Any thoughts on book trailers? good idea or not?
I hope I get to read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell before this post runs; I am writing it in advance.
Every time I hear this title another person chimes in with commentary on how much they love this book. Thankfully, I finally got a copy at #ALAN13, and it’s steadily rising to the top of my TBR pile. Sometimes I let students read books like this first, but from what I’ve heard, this will be a popular hit with my kids. I was scared I might never get a chance to read it .
Yes, sometimes I am selfish and read books first.
Here’s another way to introduce students to books: introduce them to blogs about books. I like this one jenna {does} books. She’s got a Top Ten Tuesdays: My Favorite Quotes from Eleanor and Park.
I’ve wanted to read this book for some time now, but it wasn’t until I was searching the shelves at my favorite Salvation Army that I got my hands on it. (That’s a post for another day: Building a Killer Classroom Library by Hanging out at Charity Shops) I have a students who is passionately interested in WWII literature. He’s already read two books a
bout it this grading period. I will put Between Shades of Gray in his hands as soon as I am finished with it.
I’m doing a good job this year of talking about a lot of books. Of my 140 students, I’m down to just threefake readers. Many students are reading slowly, but they are reading. I’ve decided I need to do a bit more than just talk about books. I need to step up my use of videos and book trailers to get them interested. The only problem? Every time I use visual images like this, I have more than one student who wants the book. I want to believe that this is a good problem, but it’s pretty sad when not everyone gets a copy of a book when they are excited about it.
Here’s a clip of Ruta Sepetys talking about the story behind the story. I just know I’m going to need more than one copy.
I am always on the lookout for books for my boys– my own and those in my classes.
I heard about Lone Survivor on a blog post that talked about the author Marcus Luttrell’s speaking tour. The author of the blog said Luttrell was warm and funny, and his story would break your heart. I couldn’t help but want to share this story of survival with my boys.
I still haven’t read this book. It’s been in too many male hands. Now there’s a movie coming out, and since the book is always better than the movie, I’ve put on my wish list two additional copies.
Take a peek at the movie trailer. I know, the movie is Rated R. If the book had a rating, it probably would, too. It is about war after all. How could it be realistic if it weren’t?
I’m starting an Award-Winning Books Only shelf. (Okay, maybe award winning authors, too.)
Since I am teaching only advanced classes, and since I am allowing students choice in pretty much anything of length they read, I want to be able to challenge students to take a step up the ladder to more complex texts than the YA literature they so readily pick up. Not than any student, advanced or otherwise, shouldn’t be challenged; not that YA is not great reading for all students. But, you know, I am supposed to provide the rigor for an AP class as required by the College Board.
I want Pulitzer Prize Winners and National Book Award Finalists and Man Book Prize Winners.
I want students to take on the challenge and the feeling of accomplishment of reading a Prize Winner.
My list of award winners is long, and it will take me even longer to purchase all the books I want. But I’ve started, and The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer Prize Winning author, is the fifth on my shelf.
See the author talk about this Man Booker shortlisted title here:
Three Teachers Talk 