Parenthetical

Cammy is a “loser” in typical high school novel style: she’s awkward, shy, the butt of jokes, and only has one friend — Gerdi, the perpetual Danish exchange student. When she starts receiving mysterious texts promising to help her get revenge on her popular classmates, she does what the texts say, of course. Before she [...]

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If you could make all the students in grades 8-12 (plus faculty) at an all-girls prep school read one book, what would it be? Rules: It can be fiction or non-, all one author or essays by multiple authors, on just about any subject. It should be available in paperback by May, to keep costs [...]

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Wallace hasn’t told a lie in his life. So when Mr. Fogelman assigns him to review the classic Old Shep, My Pal, he says exactly what he thinks: “[This] is the most boring book I’ve read in my entire life…. This book couldn’t be any lousier if it came with a letter bomb,” etc. Mr. [...]

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It’s an eventful year for Frankie: she starts a new school (the formerly all-boys St. Seb’s, at which girls are welcome officially if not in practice), her normally outgoing mother becomes so depressed she won’t get out of bed, and… y’know, boy stuff. It’s YA, after all. I didn’t love it like I loved Jellicoe [...]

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More apocalypsey goodness tonight, I promise. But in the meantime, Guys Lit Wire is running a fantastic book drive for Native American reservation school libraries. These schools don’t have much budget for new books, so their collections are looking a little sad. Help get some shiny new reading material into the hands of these kids! [...]

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1. No Brownies at Bake Sales, but Doritos May Be O.K. raised my blood pressure way more than a whole plate of brownies (mmm… brownies): Nine months after effectively banning most fund-raising food sales in city schools, a city panel will vote Wednesday on an amended regulation that will allow student groups to sell items [...]

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Following up on last week’s post about books in libraries… the NYTimes Room for Debate blog posted some of the comments from students. Most didn’t say much new, but here are a couple of thoughts I liked: One signed just “a thought”: Also, books (or any other printed material) cannot be changed by any means [...]

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I think Kristin recommended this one to me, in which case, props to you! Loved it. I finished it over a dinner shift at work and was totally sobbing in the library kitchen. But don’t worry; it’s not just a sad book — there’s plenty of funny, romantic, and hopeful in there as well. I’m [...]

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If you write, or care about writing, or teach students who write, you must read “Writing English as a Second Language”. It’s a talk William Zinsser gave to new international students at the Columbia Graduate School for Journalism, and it’s so brilliant it made me choke up a little. It helped me understand the writing [...]

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This summarizes every movie about urban public school teachers ever: Nice White Lady.

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