Happy NaNoWriMo Eve!

I will be working on a YA dystopian novel during the month of November.  Wishing all other writers the best of luck!

Fresh Reads for Freshmen

Now that I am teaching high school, I realized I had to change the name of my sort-of-monthly title sharing posts.  I realize I haven’t updated since last winter, but that is changing.  Now that I can use Goodreads with my students, I have constant access to what they are reading, what they think about [...]

Voices from the Land Workshop

A few years ago I participated in the Voices from the Land project through EIRC/Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.  Since then, I have been unable to participate in the training for a variety of reasons. But this year, my district sent me to the two day workshop because the project fits in with our curriculum so [...]

Hope in Patience by Beth Fehlbaum

Beth Fehlbaum is an inspiration- she writes AND teaches fifth grade in East Texas!  Talk about a busy woman… Hope in Patience is the sequel to her gut-wrenching Courage in Patience (click to read my review). The Patience Books are the story of fifteen-year-old Ashley Nicole Asher, who is sexually, emotionally, and physically abused by [...]

Matched by Ally Condie

Oh, how I love dystopian books.  When I saw that it was being handed out at BEA I made sure to make my way to Dutton’s booth well before the designated time.  I lucked out and got one of the ARCs a bit early and didn’t even have to wait on the long line that [...]

Cybils Nominations!

The Cybil Award nominations close tomorrow!  Remember, anyone can nominate a book.  Teachers, librarians, parents, readers, teens, grandparents- anyone! The Rules (courtesy of the Cybil Awards website) The rules: One book per genre per person. Have two young adult books you love? Get a best friend, co-worker or random stranger to nominate the other one. [...]

Deadline by Chris Crutcher

I’ve been working on catching up on all the YA titles I missed over the last five years or so.  While I read a lot of YA as a sixth grade teacher, there were certain books that I knew did not have a place in my classroom, with my particular students.  Thus, I rarely purchased [...]

National Book Award Nominees- Young People’s Literature

Today is one of my favorite days of the year….the announcement of the National Book Award nominees!  I love the NBA because the nominees are always so varied and sometimes seem to come out of nowhere.  But the books are always amazing, and I love being introduced to new authors and books. This year, the [...]

NaNoWriMo?!

Yes, I am crazy.  Yes, I am super busy and overextended.  Yes, I also need to read many Cybils books in the new 6-8 weeks. Yes, November does mean a few extra days off from school, thankfully! Yes, I am signing up for NaNoWriMo again.  Are you?  Do you want to be writing buddies?  I [...]

My New Job

I love, love, love my new job.  I promised updates here on the blog and I have been terrible about keeping everyone informed.  Here’s a quick summary of my year so far: I teach freshman and seniors.  My senior class is a new curriculum focused on 21st century literacies.  I teach two modules (one marking [...]