I love April, because it’s such an interesting convergence of weather. It finally starts to get warm and sunny, but the unpredictable rain showers can change your plans at any minute. And as a reader rain means D.E.A.R (Drop Everything and Read) time and a boost to my April Reading Hopefuls! In honor of National […]
As an 80s baby who was inventing ways to bring recycling to my classmates and my own home, I loved this book! I still cannot physically let a soda can six pack plastic ring go into the recycling bin without cutting it up because of the discussions and studies I did about the environment when […]
I was humming a song the other day and realized it was Pierre sung by Carole King. Pierre by Maurice Sendak as well as Chicken Soup with Rice are childhood favorites of mine. What about Max in Where the Wild Things Are you ask? I liked it, but that was my brother’s book so I […]
A Captivating Novel-in-Verse Let me just say that I finished this book in two days and that was only the first of several re-reads that I plan for it. When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez is a phenomenal novel-in-verse that is both heart touching and heart wrenching. Some Background This novel-in-verse is based on […]
Book Title: Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans Published: March 2021 Honest Confession: It’s been a while since I’ve read a volume of poetry by a single poet. And by a while I probably mean like 15 years. I recently did some professional learning where I listened to the founder of #TeachLiving Poets talk […]
National Poetry Month is almost over, but poetry is something we should celebrate all year long. I used to just read poems in isolation, but recently I’ve begun to check out poetry volumes. After watching a session on teaching poetry at the 2020 NCTE Convention by #TeachLivingPoets founder Melissa Alter Smith and APLitHelp.com Educator Susan […]
Today I started reading Jasmine Mans’ poetry book Black Girl, Call Home in celebration of National Poetry Month. I sought her book out at the bookstore after seeing it mentioned repeatedly around the #bookstagram universe. But what got me to purchase it was landing on the poem, “Secrets” when I began to flip through it. […]
It isn’t often that I finish an entire poetry book in one sitting. But Say Her Name was so powerful and heartbreaking and uplifting that I had no choice, because it spoke to my spirit. I read this for the first time in June 2020 and it was the balm I needed at that moment […]