Tag Archives: young adult literature

Learning to Soar

I was gifted a copy of Parachutes by Kelly Yang a few months ago. It sounded like it would be a good read, so it moved to the top of tbr pile. I finished it last week. Despite the tough content, I read this in two sittings (if it had been 200 pages shorter, it would have been a one-sitting book).

Posted in Agency | Tagged as: , , , , , ,

Anna and the Circle of Sisterhood

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins has been on my tbr list for a loooooong time. However, I just never found myself getting it to read. Until I happened upon the pretty 10th Anniversary Edition in my local Barnes and Noble. 

It felt like fate was telling me to put this book on my summer reading list. So I did. There was a lot about this book I really loved–despite not being the intended audience.

Posted in Chick Lit, Coming of Age | Tagged as: , , , , ,

The Person Left Behind

I can’t tell you exactly why I put The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand on my nook. It was probably on Book Bub, and it probably sounded good. It also probably compared it to Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. But for whatever reason it ended up on my nook, it ended up being the next book up to be read. And it’s the same as Thirteen Reasons Why in that both protagonists are struggling to understand why another character committed suicide. 


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

What Am I Reading Monday

Since I’m not reading as much YA and I want to be more consistent with my blogging, I’m going to be sharing a weekly post about what I’m currently reading–YA or otherwise. 

Monday finds me halfway through Fredik Backman’s book Anxious People. This is the story about a bank robbery turned hostage situation. However, it’s definitely more than that. As the novel unfolds, it’s really about the interconnectedness of all of us. I was looking forward to being able to sink into a story, but I find the style and narration of this novel makes it a bit harder for me to sink into the story. It reads as smaller vignettes interrupted by the narrator speaking directly to the reader–almost an adult Choose Your Own Adventure. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about the style.




Posted in Reading Life | Tagged as: , , , ,

A Seat at the Table

In addition to teaching 8th grade ELA, I also teach Research Methods and Capstone Writing in the Urban Teaching Residency (UTR) program in the Graduate School of Education (GSE) at UPenn. (That knowledge and $1.25–if you have EZ Pass–will get you across the Delaware on Rt 295 in Mercer Co.) As it’s May, I’m just finishing up reading my students’ theses for completion of their Master’s Degree. One of my students designed her study to be a case study of two formerly incarcerated men. She wanted to find out how their former incarceration affected their children’s education. One of the men received a pardon, and the other is going through the pardon process. What she found and wrote about was heartbreaking.


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