Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Why: This is part of my 2014 YA Lit challenge

When: January 2014

How: as an ebook on my iPad

Thoughts: I loved this book. Lots to think about. It's set in a high school that doesn't operate on the heteronormative view that organizes our society for the most part. The GSA in this book, for instance, exists to help the straight kids learn how to dance for homecoming. The quarterback of the football team is transgender and also the homecoming queen. And in the middle of all of that, a romance builds--a realistic, honest, teenage romance.

Click on the book image to read about the book on Wikipedia.

Review Haiku:
teenage love without
the obstacles of our world
human loves human

The Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks

Why: I read this to prepare for a two-day seminar I'll be teaching for the Colorado Writing Project this spring.

When: January 2014

How: I read this one in hard copy. Took notes old-school (on note cards that are now stuffed in the book).

Thoughts: I definitely picked up some ideas in this book about using digital tools to support the writer's workshop. And this book got me thinking more about getting my students to produce digital, multimedia texts. That is a skill that their world will likely ask of them.

Click on the book image to learn more about the book.

Review Haiku:
literacy now
in the 21st century
demands technology

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

why: Malinda Lo spoke at last fall Colorado Language Arts Society conference. She's a product of BVSD. She writes YAL with LGBTQ characters.
when: January 2014

how: as an ebook on my ipad.

thoughts: Lo's work is important. Young people who identify as LGBTQ need to see themselves in books, to see their stories and experiences represented. And that's what we have in this book. This was a great read as a work of science fiction. The beginning opens with some birds falling dead from the sky--and not in a magical realism sort of way where the characters don't seem to notice and this all seems to be normal in the world of the text. The characters are freaked out. And it only gets weirder. And in the center of this there is a character trying to figure out her sexual identity, and that struggle is woven fully into the science fiction-y issues at the center of the text as well. Very cool how Lo has done that. There's a sequel. I'll read it after I conquer The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (which so far is delightfully strange).

Click on the book image to go to the author's website.

review haiku:
birds dead from the sky
airplanes downed by birds. Girl gets
alien DNA

Columbine by Dave Cullen

why: I've been wanting to read this book for a while. After the Arapahoe shooting, I figured it was time.

when: January 2014 (took me about a week)

how: as an ebook on my iPad, purchased from my local independent bookseller

thoughts: The author says this book took him 10 years. And I believe it. It's exhaustive. It pours through the writings and videos that Klebold and Harris left behind to try to understand what drove them both to murder. In short, Harris was a psychopath. Kelbold was depressed and suicidal. Together they were a deadly pairing. I also learned that their plans were to kill far more people than they did that day. Their bombs failed to detonate. As a high school teacher, it's terrifying to read and learn about these events, but I'm more and more convinced that prevention is not about arming teachers, but doing everything you can to have a healthy community that seeks out and supports kids who struggle. There were plenty of opportunities to do just that with these two but it didn't happen as it needed to.

Click on the book image to go to the author's website.

review haiku:
terrifying simply
terrifying. That's all.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

why: book club

when: January 2014 (took me less than a week)

how: as an ebook on my iPad (purchased as always through my local independent bookseller)

thoughts: This was a suspenseful read. You get three different story arcs starting in the first three chapters, but you very quickly realize that all three story arcs will weave together and likely collide somehow (and they do, violently). The premise here--a woman finds a letter sealed in an envelope--addressed to her from her husband, to read on the event of his death. Should she read it? Would you?

Click on the book image to learn more about the book.

review haiku:
we carry secrets
but some are worse than others
and then there's karma

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

why: I got a strong recommendation from a teacher colleague for this one last summer and I'm finally getting around to it.

when: start 5/30/2013, end 1/5/2014

how: as an ebook on my ipad

thoughts: This is a tome, but it was well worth my time. I started reading it months ago--but I wasn't able to give it the brain space needed by reading it in the 20 sleepy minutes I had before falling asleep on many nights. I put it down after getting about a third into it. I wrote about that here. So once winter break started, I picked it back up again and started at page one. Wow. Loved this book. Chabon makes you work for it. The writing is gorgeous. The characters are wonderfully complex. The heartbreak is real. This is yet another book connected to the holocaust and that has a carney element. Not sure why I keep getting drawn by these kinds of books. But wow. This definitely explores what the devastation of the holocaust can mean to an individual who escapes. This explores the golden age of comic books in America. This explores love and devotion and magic. I definitely recommend it, but be ready to work. Chabon will not coddle you. You've got to pay attention.

Click on the book image to go to the wikipedia entry for this book.

review haiku:
heartbreak and heartbreak
how many ways to escape?
read this book to see

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

why: I loved Eleanor and Park and was really sad when that book was over, so I thought another Rainbow Rowell book would be good.

when: December 2013 (again, due to ignoring of blog updating, I'm not certain of the actual dates, but again about three days this took me).

how: as an ebook on my iPad.

thoughts: I loved this. I really did. Rowell builds very complex adolescent worlds. I loved the whole fanfiction thread--something I have known very little about prior to reading this.

Click on the book image to learn more about the book.

review haiku:
is fanfiction mere
plagiarism? professor
thinks so, but not Cath