Writing about my reading life. Reading is life. By Michelle Wuest
Title: For Everyone
Author: Jason Reynolds
Date read: December 3, 2018.
Two Snaps.
Read this poem/letter in one sitting. I told you already to read everything Reynolds writes… still true. This book is a poem. A nod. A nothing to lose. Needs to be passed on.
One line sticks, especially: “I’d rather suffer from internal eczema, constantly irritated by the itch of possibility.”
Title: Tradition
Author: Brendan Kiely
Date read: November 5, 2018.
Two Snaps.
Finished late at night in the dark with a flashlight. Used to do that to read past curfew. Did it last night because I had no power. Another powerful YA novel tackling important issues. The traditions of this prep school allow a toxic masculinity that ask both main characters to push up against what’s expected of them at school that demands that they conform.
“…Even in a room full of girls it was all about the guys.”
― Brendan Kiely, Tradition
Read Kiely’ article in The Atlantic: “The Girls Who Live in an All-Boys World.”
Title: Vox
Author: Christina Dalcher
Date read: October 9, 2018.
Two Snaps.
Loved it. Was riled by it. My haunches were rankled, my dendrites were alight.
If 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale got together and made a baby… the result would be Vox, the most riveting, frightening and compelling book. Told now, in Trump’s America, makes it horrifyingly realistic. Could not put it down. Two thumbs way up!
Title: This Is Not A Love Letter
Author: Kim Purcell
Date read: September 5, 2018.
Two Snaps.
A long, beautiful, heart-breaking love letter… an amazing YA novel. One I book-talked with my young readers.
Title: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
Author: Stephanie Oakes
Date read: August 29, 2018.
Two Snaps.
Amazing YA novel! Two very loud snaps! I was riveted to this story. My students also loved it. A painful and harrowing story about the dangers of blind faith—and the power of having faith in yourself.
