Provided by Lori Goodson

Books. It’s all about the books.

After spending seven days in Orlando, Fla., for the National Writing Project/National Council of Teachers of English/Assembly on Literature for Adolescents conferences in November, I’m STILL flipping through pages and pages of books I brought home—when I can pry them away from my students.

Call it decompressing or whatever you want, but it takes a while to get back into lunch duty, taking attendance and all those other things that make up the everyday life of a teacher. And it also takes a while to get through stacks of new books. But my students and I have steadily made progress.

To continue reading “Books…by the Boxful”, click here.

ALAN’s Picks is a monthly book review column that is compiled and edited by Dr. Pam Cole of Kennesaw State University.  Be sure to check the site often to see a preview of the latest titles in YA Lit.

Reviewed this month:

Efrain’s Secret by Sofia Quintero
Faithful by Janet Fox
Fat Vampire by Adam Rex
Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Neilson
Good Behavior: A Memoir by Nathan Henry
It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
The Queen’s Daughter by Susan Coventry
Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman
Nobel Genes by Rune Michaels
The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood, with the Duchess of Northumberland
Sleepless by Cyn Balog
You Are Not Here by Samantha Shutz

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Provided by Dr. Lori Atkins-Goodson

With every new young adult title, I find myself flashing through my class rosters—trying to connect each new book to a specific student.

For those of you in a classroom, you know it sounds easier than it is.  I’d love to hand each of my sophomores a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird (my favorite book ever), watch them smile and become totally engrossed in the novel—and know that the love of reading has been born.

But then I wake up and realize each student has his or her own unique likes and dislikes when it comes to reading, and Harper Lee isn’t going to offer that magical moment for all my other students like it did for me a few decades ago.So, sadly enough, I push my own interests aside to help them find something they’ll read—rather than just having them hold the book up and turn a page now and then when they think I’m watching.  (My daughter, who was 10 at the time, told me that’s the secret to making teachers think you’re reading.)

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As sub-genres go of young adult literature, we probably won’t find “Creepy Cool” on any library shelf.  But it’s the term I use for books that are a little edgy, a little unpredictable, a little uncomfortable to read, and incredibly engaging. 

Of course, I can’t tell sophomores a book is contemporary gothic.  Instead, I just say it’s “Creepy Cool,” and that seems to cover it.

These Creepy Cool books have helped snag several reluctant readers—those who try to find other things to do rather than pick up a book.  I’ve mixed in different grade levels, some for middle school and some for high school.  Of course, I know readers vary at any grade level, so use your own judgment when deciding who might enjoy one of these books.  

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Building a Classroom Library
Dr. Lori Goodson

I have a few personality flaws that have served me well in teaching.  Possibly the best of those is that I’m a tad lazy.  To be more specific, I like to find ways to make my life easier.  Remote mini blinds, pet doors, etc., all sound like wonderful inventions.  When it comes to teaching, one of my most valuable decisions was to create a classroom library filled with quality young adult literature.

At first, it seemed a little excessive—especially since my school library at the middle school where I taught was just across the hall from my classroom.  However, one of the things that hit me early on in my teaching career was that the kids who really needed books in their hands couldn’t check out books from the school library because they had unpaid fines from lost books.  My classroom library was an easy fix for this problem—they were accessible to all students.

Since then, I’ve gathered an estimated 2,000 books for my classroom—so much so that I had to have a friend build six new bookcases for me. Continue reading →