A slice of Manderly

There’s nothing I enjoy more on a long weekend than digging into a book. So when Saturday morning dawned, I wandered into the family room with a copy of Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, grabbed my favorite wool throw, and cuddled up on the sofa to read.

As I read the famous first sentence, “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,” I found I  was in a place both familiar and completely foreign. I had never read Rebecca, but it had been on my tbr for a long, long time. And one can’t study literature without knowing that first line. It’s as known as the opening lines to Pride and Prejudice or A Tale of Two Cities. And so my journey to Manderly began.

Posted in Slice of Life

Because Girls Aren’t Funny

I get a lot of book suggestions from podcasts. If a book comes up more than once on a podcast or is mentioned on a few different podcasts, it immediately becomes something I check out (if it sounds like a book for me).

So when listening to Novel Pairings and Sara mentioned the book Unscripted by Nicole Kronzer at least twice, I knew I needed to get this book for my classroom library. Unscripted intrigued me because it was about improv–a topic I know I have no books about in my class library. The front cover boldly states, “Some jokes cross the line.” I knew going in this was going to be about a girl heading into a male-dominated world. I didn’t quite expect the toxic masculinity to cross into abuse. I definitely could have used those trigger warnings before I started reading the book.

Posted in Coming of Age, Empathy | Tagged as: , , , , , ,

Chipping Away–A reading slice of life

My home office is on the second floor of my house. There are two unused bedrooms and a full bath upstairs. In a word, it is the perfect retreat for work and writing. It’s not a great space for reading, but it does hold many of my books.

The north wall of the office contains four ladder style bookshelves–two sets next to the closet door, two sets next to the window, and a sofa table/bookshelf combo in the middle. The bookshelves are overflowing with books. And definitely don’t contain all of the books I have–not even close.

Posted in Slice of Life | Tagged as: , , , , ,

Ben vs. Charlie

In my last post, I talked about Spy School, and I’m still wondering why there’s a definite gender slant towards this series. And that has led me to another question, what about Stuart Gibbs’ other books?

Last year, Stuart Gibs published Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation. I read and LOVED this book, and I’m really excited that the next Charlie Thorne book is coming out in March. Charlie is smart. She’s strong. She’s bold. She’s fierce. She’s not letting anyone push her around. She’s a girl who is not just smart, smart, but she’s also math smart. In a word, this is Spy School if Ben were a girl.

Posted in Guys Read | Tagged as: , , , , , ,

There Is No Place Where Espionage Is Not Possible

The Spy School series is a VERY popular series in my class library. It is a series that I need to make sure I purchase the newest book when it comes out. My students become exasperated when they have to wait for it. I should say, my male students become exasperated when they have to wait for it. My girls just aren’t that into it.

If you haven’t read Spy School, the books are a completely implausible, funny romp through the fast-paced world of espionage–all told through an eighth-grade protagonist. Stuart Gibbs’ website summarizes the premise best, so I’m just going to use his words:

Posted in Mystery/Thriller | Tagged as: , , , ,
  • May 2024
    M T W T F S S
    « Aug    
     12345
    6789101112
    13141516171819
    20212223242526
    2728293031  
  • Pages

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Meta

  • YA Fest Affiliate Blogger

    http://www.yafestpa.com
  • Guess who’s coming to YA Fest 2018

    Can you figure out who's coming to #YAFest2018? Try to guess starting October 1 at 8:30pm EST on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!