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Category Archives: Series
Happy New Year (My Year in Review)
Greetings, Gentle Readers. It’s been quite some time since my last blog post. This happened not for lack of ideas but for lack of time. During 2011 I read 152 books, participated in a 100 task book challenge – of which I finished 98 tasks, had a successful first defense of my doctoral dissertation (topic adolescent literacy), got married, went to a slew of author readings and concerts, and managed to miss seeing Ellen Hopkins twice within the space of three weeks when she was near my hometown reading, signing, and promoting Perfect and Triangles. (Of course this list is in no particular order of importance, and if it were my marriage would be first.)
I have many New Year’s Resolutions. One is to post more on the blog. Since it’s been sitting abandoned the only people visiting it are spammers, and I’ll refrain from sharing their comments with you, but I could give you the secrets to unlocking the iPhone 4, sell you some Uggs, and well, oh never mind. I’m hoping to post at least once a week. In a perfect world, I’ll post almost every day. For those of you who do visit the blog regularly (and you’re not spamming me), I do update My Reviews and Currently Reading on a regular basis.
Here’s my year in review:
Windows and Mirrors
After a ridiculously long hiatus, I’m back. The hiatus may seem as if I have nothing more to say about YA Lit; however, that’s quite the contrary. I’ve had so many ideas swirling through my head, it’s been hard to tie myself to one idea, sit down, and write. As I know from my writing experiences, you have to just sit down and write and not wait for inspiration to strike. For my blog project, I haven’t followed that advice. I have waited for one idea to stand out from the rest. And this morning inspiration struck.
I’m currently reading The Warlock by Michael Scott. I’ve had The Warlock sitting on my nightstand since it was released in the spring. And after pressure from my students, who are clamoring for the next book in the series, I have picked it up and started reading. And I’m not disappointed.
Posted in Random Musings, Series
Tagged as: Judy Blume, Michael Scott, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
Serial Reader
Earlier this week, one of the few days we were in school without snow and ice days, one of my students stopped to talk to me after class. This is not an odd occurrence because the students have lunch after this particular block so they’re not rushing to be on-time for a class – but I digress. The conversation began with my student recommending a book to me. Then the conversation took a turn. The young lady was upset and needed to share that she was upset. And as an aside, I love that books can be the bridge to start to build the teacher – student relationship since connections with teachers are so important to middle school students. At first I thought she was upset about a grade or an assignment or a peer. Nope. None of the above. She was upset because she had just finished the first two books of a series, and she now had to wait until July to find out what was going to happen next.
To Read or Not to Read
As someone who’s mother used to tell her, “It’s a beautiful day. Get your nose out of your book, and go outside,” I don’t quite understand the reluctant reader. Okay, I’ll admit it. I don’t. I understand not wanting to read something you’re forced to read (Moby Dick), I understand not having time to read (writing grad school papers), I understand needing a break from reading (yeah, sometimes I do). But I just don’t understand not ever wanting to read. Because I don’t understand it, as a language arts literacy teacher, I’ve become a bit fascinated by it.