A member of my book club chose this as one of our reads this year. The novel is based on a true part of America’s history: Georgia Tann and the Memphis Tennessee Children’s Home Society. According to historical records, Tann coerced parents to sign away the rights to their children, sometimes having mothers sign over […]
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Disclaimer: My story, “Dorsal Fin,” appears in this anthology. The anthology was published several years ago, and I thought I’d wait a while to review it to avoid an immediate conflict of interest. I receive no financial benefit regardless of how well the anthology sells. The anthology contains 75 pages of horror stories, 11 stories […]
A friend loaned me this book as a “quick summer read.” I put it on a stack that got misplaced over the summer, and I recently found it again. Quick—she wasn’t kidding! Even going to bed exhausted, I was able to finish this book in about three days, reading it before bed and while keeping […]
Inside Out & Back Again is this year’s “One Book, One Community” selection, and I picked up a copy from my local library while I was there during an author event. The timing was serendipitous: the book was on my TBR list, as I’ve heard it recommended several times (it’s a Newberry Honor Book and […]
Where to start… I had to read this book for a young adult book club/professional development group I’m in: the purpose of the book club is to assess novels for possible use in classrooms. I would not have chosen to read this novel on my own (I had heard of it and read some preview […]
I read this book as part of my young adult professional development reading group. The book follows a 17-year old girl named Charlie who has been through more in her young life than most of us experience in all of ours. She has been homeless, had a rough family life, battled an unstable and abusive […]
This title is part of a book club I’m in, in which teachers evaluate young adult (YA) books for use in the classroom. The goal is for teachers to have resources available to help students choose books they would enjoy. To that end, I’m evaluating this novel not only on its own merit but on […]
I chose this book as part of my interest in exploring the steampunk genre. It’s a young adult version of Cinderella, only it involves elements of steampunk and a super-empowered protagonist. Mechanica, or Nicolette, is a girl whose mother passed away. Following the traditional fairy tale, her father remarried a less-than-kind woman with two daughters […]
Earlier, I reviewed the first book in Mary Pope Osborne’s series. With a little one at home, I’ve been delving into some of the children’s books that came out after my childhood so that I can be ready with recommendations. I purchased a collection of these books at a consignment sale and decided to give […]
I chose this as my “summer reading pick” at the school where I teach: each teacher shared the title of a book they were reading and invited students, parents, and community members to read the same book. In August, we will have an opportunity to convene and discuss the book. Because of that, I’m making […]
