young adult fiction
-
Is it possible to grow readers who are also digitally savvy?
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Penny Kittle speak about reading and how complex it is for intermediate/senior teachers to teach. Kittle estimates that in 1st year college/university that the average pages a student reads is 500. She proposed that the #1 reason that students drop out after first year…
authentic audience, books, children’s literature, critical thinking, definition of literacy, digital literacy, Don Tapscott, education, Grown Up Digital, Heather Durnin, inquiry-based learning, literacy promotion, Literature Circles, Penny Kittle, reading, struggling reader, student-centred learning, Vygotzky, young adult fiction -
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Eragon by Christopher Paolini My rating: 3 of 5 stars It’s a solid first novel …. lots of world-building and the dragons are introduced well. Paolini’s writing style is juvenile …. self-indulgent in terms of cryptic vocabulary use, and the plot is predictable. The best part about this book is …the dragon. View all my…
-
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb My rating: 4 of 5 stars I rate Wally Lamb’s other two books as some of my all-time favourites. The Hour I First Believed has his usual depth into emotional hell (which I love!) but it was not something that I could read all in one sitting.…
-
Kiss of the Fur Queen by Tomson Highway
Kiss of the Fur Queen by Tomson Highway My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’m not sure why I never read this book when it first came out, but I just found it this year. It is an incredibly moving story of what it was like to attend a residential school. More importantly, it made…
-
The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric
The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric My rating: 4 of 5 stars Transported me in time and space to an unfamiliar world where brothers are very very mean to sisters. In this patriarchal place, the female protagonist has to do her utmost to survive her brother’s bizarre tastes. This book is kind of…
-
Triptych by J.M. Frey
Triptych by J.M. Frey My rating: 5 of 5 stars Triptych’s exploration of heteronormativity touched me in places that I didn’t even know existed. The characters and their relationships make the sci fi problems Frey creates, very real and very relevant to the human reader. It is a very brave first novel, and I found…
threadbare beauty 