Riveting, powerful stuff: The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas pulls no punches in The Hate U Give.

When I was one hundred pages in, I emailed a former student who noted a need for more black narrators in my library, recommending she read it. The next day another former student, who's long graduated from South, posted a video on Facebook of a woman protesting in the wake of no charges being filed in the Philando Castille case; I messaged her about this book as well.

I think this text could be a powerful springboard for discussion about racial tensions, stereotyping, and how our prejudices and biases (and sometimes ignorance, fear, resentment, etc.) often stunt candid and eye-opening conversation. One of my first thoughts was, "Who's taking over Diversity Club now that Rikaia has graduated?" Thomas creates awesome examples for character study and rich opportunities for open dialogue. And I found it more than a classroom library choice; discussion around it deserves a variety of voices--not just freshmen or adults, black or white students, etc. A diverse group feeling safe to share their take and their suggestions about these issues could be some pretty powerful stuff.

Narrated by sixteen-year-old Starr, The Hate U Give includes a LOT of profanity and references to drugs, gangs, violence, and criminal behaviors in its depiction of the struggles in Starr's community.
It's a weighty read at 440 pages, but it's a perfect example of a book riveting enough to keep kids engaged through the extra time and effort it takes to complete it. I do think that because of its complexity and more volatile subject matter, kids should have some guidance in the discussion.

I love this book. There are a couple spots where this pushing-50-white-midwestern-Catholic-school-girl teacher metaphorically clutched at her pearls--but again, great opportunities to start some meaningful conversations.

I have three copies right now--happy to drive toward Waukesha to lend them out. :-)

Music On My Brain (What's new, huh?)

Just finished two music reads for the summer.  Both are easy reads and very insightful into their respective topics.  I really enjoyed both of them.

First was The Road to Woodstock by Michael Lang (co-creator of the festival).  Cool behind the scenes tales of the music festival that defined a generation.  I knew quite a bit about this already but to hear it from Mr. Lang himself was cool.













Second was Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of HEART, Soul, and Rock & Roll.  The story of the rock band HEART.  Told by both Ann and Nancy Wilson.  I never knew much about the band and this book did a great job of explaining the battles these two talented sister-musicians had to take on throughout their entire career.  From sexism in a male-dominated profession to drugs and alcohol to relationships, this book tells a lot.  Having seen them several times during their 80's heyday, I know feel a bit bad knowing how they really felt about that moment in the band's history.  It's ironic how the common theme in their story is the tight bond between Ann and Nancy during their entire lives but now, currently, they don't even speak to each other and the future of the band may be in doubt.













Not sure what the next read will be.  I'll see where the music takes me......

#20minutes-Just Mercy

Amazed.  Shocked.  Naive.  Ignorant.  Hopeful.  These all describe how I am felt after finishing the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.  I was not intending to read this book as it's outward similarities to To Kill a Mockingbird seemed too heavy for the beginning weeks of summer.  However, I lost my first choice in my car, so there I was.

You cannot miss the obvious similarities to one of my favorite novels, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Sure enough, it's right on the cover: "Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so...a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields."  Chapter one is even titled "Mockingbird Players".

Yet, there is so much more to this nonfiction book than the comparison to TKAM.  Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer who started the Equal Justice Initiative, and he has the stories to prove it.  He started his legal practice, according to the back cover, "dedicated to defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those trapped in the furthest reaches of our criminal justice system."  The book focuses on one of his biggest cases with Walter McMillan, but throughout the book, he weaves in a lot of other stories of clients that have been treated unfairly by the justice system.  Besides stories, Stevenson includes jaw-dropping statistics of the injustice within our systems.  I personally had no idea of some of the horrific facts that come from present day.

Here are reasons why I think Just Mercy would be a good book to bring in to any curriculum (with a big focus on TKAM):

1. The stories are true and more current in JM  than TKAM.  The main story of Walter McMillan takes place in the 90s, but there are smaller, side stories all the way up to 2013.  Take the timeliness and then add the shockingly, true stories, and I was hooked.

2. Bryan Stevenson tells the stories of each individual client in a way that makes you feel connected to the client.  You hold on to each story thinking something good will happen, but page after page, you see justice fail.  Right when you think there is no good in this world, Stevenson pulls you back in with a breath of hope.  Only to throw you right back in to the data that may show our nation still has a ways to go in improving our justice system.

3. I am in no way saying that this should replace TKAM.  Absolutely not.  I personally would not teach this as a literature circle text unless I had students who were very interested in the topic and strong readers.  The vocabulary in this book is tough, and there were so many times where I caught my self rereading pages to figure out what just happened.  I found my thoughts wandering so much more frequently as the topic of death row and justice kept making me think beyond the text.  BUT holy cow could you use passages in this text to show students the idea of justice and how it fits in our world today.   Ideas:

• A compare/contrast activity with a fictional text (TKAM)
• An informal socratic seminar by using a short story from the text to discuss
• Philosophical chairs where you create controversial questions based on the passages (I would help create the questions if you want!)
• A silent discussion either on posters around the room or with a notebook pass about one of the stories
• Use a passage as a model text to show how you interact/mark/annotate. 

This text brings a lot of opportunity for nonfiction reading paired with fiction reading.  I'm in love. 💕

4. Stevenson is a big believer in hope, and this is a concept that I have become more and more interested in.  Stevenson states, "But Havel [a great Czech leader during the era of Soviet domination] had said that these were things they wanted; the only thing they needed was hope.  Not that pie in the sky stuff, not a preference for optimism over pessimism, but rather 'an orientation of the spirit.'  The kind of hope that creates a willingness to position oneself in a hopeless place and be a witness, that allows one to believe in a better future, even in the face of abusive power.  That kind of hope makes one strong" (219).  Let's show this to students.  Let's give them hope in a time of their lives when they are struggling to grow up.  The other "hope" quote I loved from Mrs. Jennings (a woman who took in one of Stevenson's clients), "We've all been through a lot, Bryan, all of us.  I know that some have been through more than others.  But if we don't expect more from each other, hope better for one another, and recover from the hurt we experience, we are surely doomed" (126). Stevenson and many others, like Mrs. Jennings, show the reader countless times that it is so important to not give up no matter what situation you are in.  Stevenson is faced with the impossible in many of the cases that he takes on, but to see him put every ounce of his energy in to helping others is so inspiring.  If he can accomplish what he shows in the book, what can we accomplish as an individual?

I'm going to stop there, but I'm sure I am missing more reasons of why this book should be included in any curriculum.  I strongly encourage the English 9 teachers to pick this book up (shout out to all of you crazies teaching the freshmen next year!), or you can definitely borrow my copy!  I will even steal (shhhh!) my copy for one of your classroom libraries; it is much more appropriate in an English classroom than an intervention room.

Okay, on to my guilty pleasure First and Then.  Gretchen has made me even more excited to read this!

#20minutes

Real books, audiobooks, and bedtime books . . . oh my!

Some readers are one-book-at-a-time readers; not me.  I need to have books near me at all times; I wouldn't want to find myself in a waiting room, in a crowd, on a beach, ANYWHERE and not have a book with me! Perhaps I have abibliophobia, a fear of being without a book.  To make sure I am always ready to read, I usually have three different books going:

All the faves!

1. "Real" books.  These are the books that I can cuddle up with on a rainy day or take out on the porch to read in the sun.  These are the books I buy to possibly keep forever, to annotate, to revisit when I just need something good to read.  The best are here -- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, On Writing and The Stand by Stephen King, and Stiff by Mary Roach.  Old friends, all.

2. Audiobooks.  I walk my puppy nearly every day, and every day I pop in my earbuds and listen to a book as we walk.  There is no rhyme or reason to what makes me choose an audiobook because the titles run the gamut from pop fiction (most recently, Us by David Nicholls) to random nonfiction (currently Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky) to spooky stories (The River at Night by Erica Ferencik).  A pleasant-voiced narrator and a compelling tale are the only criteria for a quality audiobook.

3. Bedtime Books.  I have a Kindle, and it only get used at night.  I regularly fall asleep unknowingly continuing to flip pages on my bedtime books.  I know this because almost every night, I have to go back several pages to remind myself what's happening before I pick up the story anew.  Oops!

So, all that being defined, here's the "real" book, audiobook, and bedtime book highlights from June (so far):

Real book:  The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.  This is one of the most charming books I've read in awhile.  The story was so engaging I finished it in one afternoon sitting.  The protagonist, the titular A.J. Fikry, is a curmudgeonly widower who owns a bookstore on a tourist island.  He owns one thing of value, a unique Edgar Allen Poe collection, and that is stolen early in the story, though that is really not the primary plot point.  As Fikry's story unfolds, he unexpectedly becomes a father, he falls in love with a quirky woman, and he interacts with all of the unique characters who populate the island.  I came to really like the cranky Fikry and was moved by his story in the end.

Audiobook:  The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich.  I love true stories, and this book combines two true stories into one fascinating examination of lives in crisis.  Story one follows the case of Ricky Langley, a man who is accused of molesting and killing a six-year-old boy in Louisiana.   As Marzano-Lesnevich explores the murder case of Langley with all its twists and turns, we learn about Langley's unique conception, birth, and childhood.  We come to have some degree of compassion for Langley, even though he is a convicted child-molesting killer.  The second story is Marzano-Lesnevich's own story.  She was molested by her grandfather throughout her childhood, and as she explores the Ricky Langley case, she is also attempting to understand what her own childhood experiences mean to her as an adult and how they shaped her to become who she is.  The author narrated the book, and that gave it a very personal feel to it.  

Bedtime book:  American Gods by Neil Gaimon.  Full disclosure:  I am struggling with this book as my bedtime book.  First, this book requires a mythological background that I don't, but probably should, have.  The reader needs to know Nordic, Egyptian, Greek mythology in order to really follow what is happening to Shadow, the main character.  In addition, as this is a bedtime book (and I keep falling asleep), I am finding the plot hard to follow.  However, I'm intrigued enough by Shadow and his experiences, and this book is getting enough positive publicity right now (probably because it's been adapted into a cable TV show recently) that I'm willing to follow it through to the end just to see what the big deal is.  I will persevere through this!

To keep the abibliophobia at bay, I've already begun the next set of books.  My current "real" book is In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi, the audiobook is Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky, and I am persevering through American Gods at night.  It's a beautiful summer day -- perfect for reading -- so I best get to it!

My first summer read: First and Then

(Shout out to Alyssa for mentioning this book in her Commitment-to-Summer-Reading post)

Finished my first book of the summer, YA fiction First & Then by Emma Mills, and though it requires some suspension of disbelief in spots, OMG, I loved it. As Alyssa would say, "Not gonna lie." 😊 It was a guilty pleasure.

A lot of teen fiction is written for a well-read reader who will appreciate the literary allusions and twists of language, and Mills uses more than most. Our protagonist/narrator is a fan of Jane Austen, referencing characters and plot twists from Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice foreign to the majority of high school readers. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing--these references could nudge a few readers toward reading Austen's works.

Additionally, the central plot weaves original conflicts and more rounded minor characters into into the more traditional, somewhat predictable high school storyline, giving all readers who've experienced high school some connection and relevance. There's football, there's padding the resumé for college applications, and there's the girl-likes-boy motif, sure--but Mills' style and the narration excused the clichés for me.

I see myself using a couple paragraphs as read-alouds, and several lines jumped out as mentor texts for writing in the fall. It's definitely a title I'll add to my classroom library, but it's a more solid recommendation for upperclassmen, who'll tend to better appreciate its subtleties and nuances.

Next up: The Curious Incident of the Dog in Nighttime, borrowed from Ashlee. Happy reading!

Commitment

This year has been a great year in my reading life as I have made time during the day to allow my students and myself to read. As summer approaches, I am afraid of what my reading life will look like when I need to clean the house, prepare meals (apparently kids need to eat!), and all of the endless "life" jobs we all need to do.  Often, I admire Anne's dedication, or just desire, to read every day, so I started to think "why can't I do that?"

So here it is: I am making a public commitment to read at least 20 MINUTES EVERY SINGLE DAY this summer.

Yikes.  What's 20 minutes, right?  No matter the vacation, craziness of the day, number of meltdowns Aiden has had in the last 24 hours, I am going to give myself 20 minutes.  Because I can and I need it.  Because it's what I believe in and what I enjoy.  The reason for the commitment: I know myself.  I am competitive and very goal-oriented; this may not be a strategy for all, but it works for me. Wish me luck!

Here are the titles I will start with (not in any specific order):

Just Mercy was a book that was recommended by a friend who teaches middle school as a good book to pair with To Kill a Mockingbird.  Since TKAM is a 9th grade book, I thought I would give it a shot.  Written by a lawyer, Bryan Stevenson writes about the case of Walter McMillan who was sentenced to death for a famous murder that he didn't commit.
















American Street was a book that was recommended by Pernille Ripp at a conference.  Not going to lie, the book cover is what sold me on this book.  The other part about this book that caught my attention was the topic of immigration from a Haitian perspective.  Excited to read this one!

I am a sucker for YA romance literature (this somewhat explains my binge watching of Gilmore Girls this past spring).  Gross, I know, but when Pernille Ripp suggested this book as a light, romance novel, I was in.  First and Then could be great, or it could be ridiculous.  We will see!

This last title is a professional book because who doesn't love getting some good PD during the summer?  Seriously, I love it.  Choice Words has been in my office at my house for the past two years.  One of my graduate professors recommended this book as one of the top books every educator should read.  He fully admitted that Peter Johnston comes from elementary land, but according to my professor, all grades would find useful information in this book.  With the increase of conferring in my classroom, this book has been calling me for the last two years.  I am hoping to learn more language to use during conferring sessions to put students at the center of the learning and to increase student accountability.






Here we go!  Even though summer hasn't "officially" started, I have no students today or tomorrow, so I'm starting my commitment today.  Finally, freedom.

I May or May Not Be a Procrastinator

I promised myself I would never travel the same day as the last day of school ever again...but here we are. As the school year comes to an end, I anticipate last minute everything (I'm no better than the kiddos). I have to get grades in, finish up packing, and put together my summer reading list. Although my Goodreads Want To Read list continues to grow, I find myself turning to last minute suggestions and re-reads as I closeout my third year in the classroom.

The Handmaids Tale: I read this title in college as part of my Postcolonial Lit. course, but decided to give it a second chance becuase I've been watching the Hulu adaptation since its release in April. I've always loved visual adaptations of novels, and this one is no exception. The show has peaked my interest in the dystopian nature of the novel, so I'll be revisiting this title over the summer.

The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House: This book was recommended to me by one of my mom's friends. I saw it on the kitchen counter the other day, immediately checked out Goodreads for a rating, and started flipping through it. I'm not much of a political or history buff, but I'll give any book (even Twilight) a chance.

You're probably thinking to yourself that two books are a pretty measly summer reading list for an English teacher, and you're right! I need more titles, people! Please let me know of any books you've enjoyed this year, and I'll be sure to check them out. I'll need something to keep me busy at the beach after all.

Ken's Summer Reading (Well, maybe one or two)

Here are my plans for summer reads.  Hopefully I'll get through a few of them.  My summer usually consists of autobiographies and biographies of musicians/bands and historical literature.

Love Erik Larson's books.  Haven't been disappointed yet by him.

Another of my favorite authors.  Really get into the research he does with his co-writer. 

Tom Jones - always been interested in his life. Especially in his 1970's heyday. 

Saw the cover at Barnes and Noble.  Know nothing of it but it looks interesting.  Starts out with murder in a brothel in the first couple of pages.  Talk about grabbing attention! 

Lead singer of Iron Maiden.  Love my heavy metal reads \m/

The Main Thing

tweeted out August 2016

Back in August, Donorschoose.org asked Twitter followers to post a selfie with their "school year's resolution" for 2016-17. Motivated by a summer's re-read of Penny Kittle's Book Love and the pile of new (from Donors Choose) and used (summer garage sale finds) books on my office floor, I committed to slicing a little more than 25% of class time--fifteen minutes per day--for independent, self-selected reading.

#SDW Risk.

And, I think, it was worth it. We still followed our set curriculum, which included a whole class novel every quarter; in addition, over half of my students this year read at least one book from my classroom library, and 80% checked out independent books from the school library. 50% read three or more. That's a win. Could I have done a better job of integrating their choice reads into our articles of the week, writing instruction, grammar and vocabulary? Absolutely. My to-do list gets longer every day as I reflect on ways to build from here.

Tim Joynt, our former principal and a tremendous teacher advocate, advised the staff a couple years ago that when we're feeling overwhelmed by initiatives and expectations, we should remember to "keep the main thing the main thing." Literature and language--the reading of it, writing about it, discussing of it, and creating our own. That's my main thing. Keeping that at the heart of every decision I've made this year in planning, teaching, and assessing has made this my best year of teaching.

So far.

Anne's summer reading list

Summer -- my favorite time to kick back on the patio with sunshine on my face, a cold ice-tea on the table, and an awesome book in my hand.  My summer reading list is extensive this year; I may need more of a vacation to get through them all!  Here's a few on my list:

Goodbye Days, a novel by Jeff Zentner:  I just started this book yesterday, and I am hooked.  Three teenagers die in a tragic, awful car accident.  As the book begins, a friend of all three kids is attending their funerals -- and contemplating his own guilt and culpability in the accident.  The narrator, you see, sent a text to the students as they were driving, and a half-written response was found on the phone of one of the dead teens.  I'm not sure where it goes from here, but I'm in until the end.

This Is Just My Face, Try Not To Stare by Gabourey Sibide.  I saw her talk about this autobiography on The Daily Show, and she was witty and sharp and insightful -- a far remove from what I thought of her based on her performance in Precious, the movie.  I'm going to "read" this one as an audiobook because she narrates it herself, and my favorite audiobooks are those where the author narrates it.  I can't wait to hear her voice tell her stories.

The Fact of a Body:  Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich.  This one fits right into a genre I love to read, macabre true stories.  The author is an attorney who is working to defend men accused of murder, and one of her clients has a story she is compelled to explore further.  Somehow his story also ties into her own story.  I love In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, and this one in its description sounds a little similar to it.

The Goddesses by Swan Huntley:  Best I can tell, this author somehow got into my head and stole my life fantasy.  The narrator moves to Kona, Hawaii and has a midlife adventure.  I want to move to Kona, Hawaii and have a midlife, a rest-of-my-life, adventure!  This one arrives in July and will go immediately to the top of the reading list.

Heading back into Goodbye Days for awhile!  Happy reading!