it has happened. April has arrived and with it a month dedicated to Poetry. One are you going to do with it? I know people try to write a poem each day? Other read a poem to their students each day? I think I will read an old favorite each day. I woke up not long ago thinking about W. B. Yeats' Among School Children. When I first read that poem in college over forty years ago, I never imagined, that I too, would be a sixty year old public man. I read the poem with renewed interest. Shortly afterwards, I also reread Frost's Birches. ​Both poems were important when i first encountered them.  Upon reading them again I was struct with how powerful they remain. I enjoyed teaching them over the years as a high school teacher. 

​Today, my colleague and friend Lesley Roessing adds to a post she wrote a year ago. She suggests, and I agree, that more of need to be better acquainted with the YA verse novel. You really should revisit the older post and then enjoy the new books she adds this time around. Lesley is a frequent contributor to Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday. She has too many to list her, but it is well worth your time to browse the contributors 'page.

Perhaps another activity for April would be to introduce your students to a variety of verse novels of the course of the Month.

“I read a 300-page book!! Of course, the pages weren’t filled, but I. Read. A. 300. Page. Book!” Michael’s excitement filled the room. Some other boys nodded. This was not a class; it was an activity period group of book clubs. Participation was voluntary, and no grades or credit for their ELA classes was given. The boys were motivated in part by snacks and the promise of an outing as a reward for attending and actively taking part in every Thursday meeting. However, no one could force them to read. These twelve 6th-8th grade boys had been fake-reading all their lives. They were reluctant readers; students who could read, but chose not to. Michael admitted that he had never actually read a whole book before, other than picture books when he was younger.
​
So what was this magic book that Michael read (actually 304 pages)? The novel was K.A. Holt’s House Arrest, an arresting story in its own right, but one reason Michael felt he was able to read the whole book was that the text on each page was less dense. This is a verse novel. In fact, all the choices for these book clubs were verse novels—those by K.A. Holt and Kwame Alexander. And all the boys read two entire books in the eight weeks, and many read three. I wrote about this group of boys in “30+ MG/YA Verse Novels for National Poetry Month”, but I thought it worthy to repeat for those who had not read last year’s blog as it illustrates the immense power of verse novels.
 
And verse novels aren’t only appealing to reluctant readers. Verse novels can be more lyrical than prose, and proficient readers are engaged by the words, the spacing—sometimes creatively designed, and are intrigued by the effectiveness of the line breaks which nuance the author’s or narrator’s message. Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “Prose, the best words; poetry, the best words in the best order.”
 
Many verse novels are actually multi-formatted novels including an assortment of free verse, rhyming verse, graphics, and prose or are written in a variety of poetic forms, introducing readers to new forms and teachers to new mentor texts for teaching writers.
 
Below are the 33 verse novels I recommended and reviewed last year.
​After the slideshow I share 10 more, in no particular order:

Alexander, Kwame. Rebound. HMH Books for Young Readers, 2018.
 
“I want to be the hero in my story.” (339) The year Charlie Bell turned twelve many good things were supposed to happen, but his father died suddenly, and Charlie began to lose his way. His dad was “a star in our neighborhood” but on March 9, 1988, Charlie’s “star exploded.” A good kid, with his best friend Skinny, he starts making bad decisions—skipping school, taking part in stealing an elderly neighbor’s deposit bottles. Even his smart friend CJ, a girl who might become more than a friend, can’t keep him on track. And his life began to revolve around his comics.

Then his mother sends Charlie to spend the summer with his grandparents on their “farm.” Through his grandmother’s love and his grandfather’s work ethic, and most of all, through his cousin Roxie’s obsession with basketball, the re-named Chuck discovers a love for basketball, and he learns to “rebound on the court. And off.” (2)

I became immediately caught up in the rhythm and rhyme of the free verse, and font size, style, and spacing were effectively employed throughout the narrative. However there were a lot of pages devoted to couplet dialogue that broke the rhythm and became somewhat monotonous. Many readers will be engaged by the graphics, comic book style, that are scattered throughout. One disappointment was many erroneous cultural references, pointed out by those reviewers more in tuned with the 80’s than I.

However, I fell in love with Charlie/Chuck and all the other characters, especially granddaddy Percival Bell and cousin Roxie Bell. In fact, I would love to see a novel featuring the young Miss Bell herself. This was definitely a character-driven novel.

A prequel to the popular verse novel The Crossover—Charlie is the twins father—this book would serve as a companion reading but can stand on its own, although I am not sure that the last section, set in 2018, would make sense to those who had not read The Crossover.

Holt, K.A., Redwood and Ponytail. Chronicle Books, 2019.
 
I love all the KA Holt’s novels I have read; Timothy from House Arrest is one of my favorite characters ever. I even have a place in my heart for Rhyme Schemer’s troublemaker-poet Kevin, and I was happy when Levi (House Arrest) grew into his own novel, Knockout (all verse novels) and makes an appearance in this new novel.
 
Tam (Redwood) and Kate (Ponytail) come from two different worlds.
Kate’s mom puts helicopter parents to shame. She has orchestrated Kate’s entire life so that in 7th grade she will become cheer captain and she will follow her mother’s life—unlike her much older sister who joined the Navy at 18. She lives in the perfect house, which is always being perfected, and her daughter certainly isn’t gay.
 
Tam’s mother is the opposite. Open and accepting and prone to trying out the adolescent lingo (and providing many of the laughs in reading this book). Tam is also looked after by neighbor Frankie and her wife. Frankie, it appears, is full of advice, based on experience trying to fit the stereotype. Tam is an athlete, tall as a redwood, ace volleyball player, who everyone high-five’s in the hallway, but she realizes she only has one good friend, Levy.
 
On the first day of school, Tam and Kate meet and, as they quickly, mysteriously, develop deep feelings for each other, they find each not only different from the stereotypes everyone assumes, but, opposite though they seem, opposite though their lives and families may be they each discover they may be a little different than they thought they were and more alike than they thought. Does Kate actually want to be cheer captain or would she rather run free in the team’s mascot’s costume? Does she really want to have lunch at her same old table or would she rather sit with Tam and Levy which is much more fun? Does Tam really want to beat Kate for the school presidency? Or is she punishing Kate for not being able to admit what their friendship may be? As their relationship experiences ups and downs, and they each try to define their attraction, they also find that others may not be as critical and narrow-minded as they assumed.
 
Written in my favorite format, free verse with some rhymes thrown in for rhythm, the author takes the form to another level with parallel lines and two-voice poetry. I would suggest that the reader have some experience with verse novels before reading. I also loved the Greek chorus—Alex, Alyx, Alexx—who comment on the action and keeps it moving along.

Frost, Helen. Hidden. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
 
A few years after I graduated from college, I was talking to a friend who had become a social worker. I asked her about her job. “The hardest thing is to have to take a child from his parents,” she said. “No matter how neglectful or abusive the parents are, children don’t want to leave their family or have family members leave them.”

Confusing feelings, complex relationships, and speculative blame develop from a simple plot in Hidden—even though both girls were there.

When she was eight, a man ran from a botched burglary and stole Wren’s mother’s car. Wren was in the back, hidden. West didn’t know she was there until he hid the car in his garage and Heard on the news that a child who was in a stolen car was missing, West’s wife and daughter, although threatened and hit by West, try to find her, and eight-year old Darra leaves food in the garage just in case the girl is there. Wren escapes, and West is caught and sentenced to a jail term, and Darra grows up with ambivalent feelings for the girl who took her “Dad” away.

Six years later the two girls meet at camp. They aren’t sure how they feel about each other, but they agree to avoid each other and not discuss the incident. Until one day they are placed together for a life-saving class event and finally realize that they are the only ones that can discuss the past, and they begin to listen to each other’s side of the story “and put the pieces into place” (124). Darra reflects, “Does she think you can’t love a dad who yells at you and even hits you?”(120). When Wren reveals that she wasn’t the one who turned West in, Darra thinks, “Everything is turning upside down.” And reassures Wren “None of what happened was your fault” (124). Together, they become “stronger than we knew.” (138)

Hidden is written in different styles of free verse. Wren recount her past and present stories in the more traditional style of short lines and meaningful line breaks in combination with meaning word and line spacing. Darra’s narration is crafted in a unique style of long lines and shorter lines, the words at the end of each long line, read vertically, tell Darra’s past memories of her father and explain her love for him. I am glad I happened to read the author’s “Notes on Form” at the end of the story that explained the format or I would have missed the effectiveness of this creative format, although the reader could return to the text for the message.

Bingham, Kelly. Shark Girl. Candlewick Press, 2007.
 
This multi-formatted novel— newspaper clippings, phone conversations, letters, internal dialogue, and mostly free verse—chronicles 15-year-old Jane Arrowood’s life during the year following a shark attack, an attack that took her right arm.

“Where can I find that line to stand upon,
step into the stream of humanity,
the place that is mine.” (112)

A high school junior, Jane has won the art contests every year and planned to become a professional artist. Little did she know when she went to the beach that day, her life and her aspirations would dramatically change. The novel, although fiction, has the feeling of a true story of an actual person. The reader experiences Jane’s ordeal from her perspective, even when she argues with her negative inner thoughts.

Through most of that year, Jane journeys through numerous emotions, the majority negative and despairing. She feels the tingling, throbbing, ache of the phantom limb and the frustration of using a prosthesis. She is not encouraged by the cards and presents sent by strangers—Pity Bears—a result of the video of the attack that someone posted. “Those people who write to me. They tell me they love me. / They don’t even know me.” (71)

Her therapist tells Jane that is natural to be depressed. “Allow yourself to feel as bad as you want. / The sooner you do this, / the sooner you will be able to move on.” (25) and then moves her beyond, a step at a time. “’Time to think about the smaller picture,’ / Mel says. ‘Like getting through one day. / Not your whole life, not forever / one day. / Sometimes we can only look at one hour / or one minute.’”

However, she is supported by family (particularly her brother who rescued her and whose quick-thinking saved her life) and friends, and Jane is greatly inspired by Justin, a little boy who lost both legs but retains his optimism.

In the fall she goes back to school, facing the hurdles of being the Shark Girl, some days bad but some good, support coming from unexpected places and people. “’We’re all just trying to help.’ / [Angie] shifts. ‘I don’t want to see you get hurt again.’” (264)

Although she struggles to train herself to draw with her left hand, Jane begins to reflect on the encouragement she received from hospital staff members (and on those who were unsupportive and unfriendly), and she realizes the difference a person can make. She begins to look into careers in the medical field—physical therapist, art therapist, nurse, doctor, gaining a new goal and purpose. “I’m going to start living again, / only differently.” (265)

This story is truly a mirror and a window that will develop empathy for those who have to navigate life “differently.”

Engle, Margarita. Soaring Earth. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2019.
​
I have written before that I find the most effective way to share and discuss any historical event, and the nuances and effects of those events, is through novels—the power of story. I credit what knowledge and understandings I have of the history and people of Cuba to Margarita Engle’s many verse novels and her first memoir Enchanted Air; reading this memoir was the first time I understood the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I read Engle’s new memoir, a continuation of Enchanted Air, which covers the years 1966-1973. This was more reminiscing, than learning, about the lifestyle and events. As a reader of about the same age of young adult Margarita and possibly crossing paths at some point, I am quite familiar with that time period.

Engle depicts a feeling of duality as she longs for Cuba, home of her “invisible twin,” now that travel is forbidden for North Americans.

Readers witness firsthand the era of hippies, an unpopular war, draft notices, drugs, and Martin Luther King’s speeches and assassination, riots, Cambodia, picket lines, as they follow 17-year-old bell-bottomed Margarita from her senior year of high school to her first university experience, fascinating college courses, books, unfortunate choices of boyfriends, dropping out, travel, homelessness, homecoming, college, agricultural studies, and finally, love.

At one point young Margarita as a member of a harsh creative writing critique group says, “If I ever scribble again, I’ll keep every treasured word secret.” (31). Thank goodness she didn’t. This beautifully written verse novel shares her story—and a bit of history—through poetry in many formats, including tanka, haiku, concrete, and the power of words.

Bryant, Jen. Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2008.
 
I have always been fascinated by the Scopes “Monkey” Trial; I think much of America has—whether it be about religion vs science, text book and curricula decisions, the role of law and government in education, William Jennings Bryan vs Clarence Darrow, or Spencer Tracy vs Fredric March (Inherit the Wind).

Most of us know the Who, What, Where, When, and believe we know the Why – but do we? How often do we know the true story of historic events—and the stories behind the story, and the different perspectives on the story. Jen Bryant’s historical novel grants us the chance to observe the events of the Scopes Trial close up and personally.

Through this novel, written in the voices of those who had a ringside seat to this trial, readers secure a ringside seat to the trial, the people who participated in it, and the town that hosted it.

As the reader views the controversy and the trial from the point of view of nine fictitious, diverse characters (plus quotes from the real participants), each character develops more as the story progresses. My favorite are the teenagers of Dayton, Tennessee, because, through meeting those on both sides of the issue and closely observing them and the the trial, it affects them, their relationships, and their futures. Peter and Jimmy Lee, best friends become divided by their beliefs; Marybeth is a young lady who finds strength to stand up to her father’s traditional view of the role of women in society; and my favorite character, Willy Amos, meets Clarence Darrow and dares to believe what he can attempt to achieve. “’Well,’ I pointed out, ‘there ain’t no such thing as a colored lawyer.’”…”Do you plan to let that stop you?” (210)

The novel is powerfully written in multiple formats—free verse in a variety of stanza configurations and spacing decisions, a few rhyming lines here and there, and some prose. And the messages are powerful: Peter Sykes—“Why should a bigger mind need a smaller God.” (11); Marybeth Dodd—“I think some people can look at a thing a lot of different ways at once and they can all be partly right.” (131); and Constable Fraybel—“[Darrow] claims [his witnesses] are anxious to explain the difference between science and religious faith and how they made places in their heart and minds for both.” (143)

An epilogue shares the aftermath and the lasting effects of the trial. Every American History/Social Justice teacher and ELA teacher should have copies of this novel.

Bryant, Jen. The Trial. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004.
 
Our students can learn more about history from novels than textbooks, and, more importantly, stories help them understand history and its effects on the people involved. Familiar with aviator Charles Lindbergh, I was not as knowledgeable about the 1932 kidnapping of his son and the resulting trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, but the most effective way to learn about it was through the eyes, and words, of seventh-grader Katie Leigh Flynn.
 
Katie is a resident of Flemington, New Jersey, a town where “nothing ever happens.” (5). Katie’s father left her and her mother years ago, and both Katie and her mother are compassionate about the plight of others. The Great Depression has begun; Katie donates food and clothing for less-fortunate children and, when the hotel’s assistant chef is caught putting food in his pockets, her mother says she will “find him an apron with larger pockets.” Katie supports her best friend Mike who “is not like / the other boys I know…he’s not / stuck-up or loudmouthed or silly” (10) and lives with his father, a drunk.
 
Katie, nicknamed “Word Girl” by the local newspaper editor, plans to become a reporter and keeps a scrapbook of news clippings and headlines, especially about Colonel Lindbergh and the kidnapping. When the Hauptmann is arrested and the trial comes to the local courthouse, her reporter uncle needs a secretary to take notes, and she takes six weeks off school to help. Thus, readers experience the 1935 trial through Katie.
 
During the trial, readers meet the Lindbergs; the judge; the defendant; the alcoholic defense lawyer who hasn’t won a case in years; prosecutor Wilentz; Anna Hauptmann who swears her husband was at home with her and their baby that night; a witness (paid by the prosecution); and Walter Winchell and other celebrities who come to town for the trial.
 
The story reminds us that at this time Hitler is in power and discrimination and his persecution has begun in Europe. But Americans are just as prone to prejudice and discrimination. The German bakery changes its sign to “Good American-Baked Bread and Desserts.” [Katie’s] “Mother shrugs, ‘Everything German is suspicious these days.’” (96) And Hauptmann is a German immigrant.
 
Prejudice is not limited to Germans. People talk about Katie’s friend Mike. “They say: ‘Kids like Mike / never amount to much.’” (24) He is accused of vandalism but when Katie wants to tell who really was responsible, he tells her,
“I’m a drunkard’s son.
You’re a dancer’s daughter.
Bobby Fenwick is a surgeon’s son.
His mother is on
the School Board,
the Women’s League,
the Hospital Auxiliary,
the Town Council,
If you were Mrs, McTavish,
[who is a member of
the School Board,
the Women’s League,
the Hospital Auxiliary,
the Town Council, (110)]
Who would you believe?” (112)
 
Truth moves to center stage for Katie (if not for anyone else). Thinking about the conflicting testimonies and absence of evidence, she reflects, “Truth must be … like a lizard that’s too quick to catch and turns a different color to match whatever rock it sits upon.” (126) She is careful to write down every word of testimony. “I say, ‘But when a man’s on trial for his life / isn’t every word important?’” (84)
 
The search for truth is the heart of Jen Bryant’s novel told in free verse. After her experiences, Katie is disillusioned with the American Justice System and says that “…everything used to lay out so neatly, / everything seemed / pretty clear and straight. / Now all the streets run slantwise / and even the steeples look crooked.” (151)
 
As in Ringside 1925, the novel ends with an epilogue and a reflection on “reasonable doubt,” media, and “the complexities of human behavior” and will lead to important classroom conversations, not about the trial, but about justice.

Polisner, Gae. The Memory of Things. Wednesday Books, 2017.
 
An engrossing, insightful story about the effects of the events of September 11, 2001. One reason we read is to understand events we have not experienced and the effect of those events on others who may be like ourselves. After witnessing the fall of the first Twin Towers on 9-11, teenager Kyle finds an adolescent girl, wearing wings, poised on the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge. She is covered in ash and has no memory of who she is. He takes her back to his apartment hoping that his father, who is working at Ground Zero, can discover who she is and what she was doing on the bridge. And how she may be connected to, or have been affected by, the events of 9/11.
 
The Memory of Things is told in alternating narratives—Kyle's in prose, the girl’s perceptions are conveyed through free verse—the two characters sharing their stories and perspectives, introducing adolescent readers, who were not alive during 9/11, to the uncertainty and immediate, as well as lasting, effects of this tragedy.

Nelson, Marilyn. American Ace. Dial Books, 2016.
 
A story about identity, family, and pride, this short verse novel was written by award-winning poet and novelist Marilyn Nelson.
 
Connor Bianchini is an Italian-Irish-American adolescent, of 100% Italian heritage on his close-knit father’s side—or so he thinks. When his grandmother dies, she leaves behind the revelation that Connor’s father’s biological father was an American killed during the war.
 
The family reacts in different, primarily positive, ways to the news. “’It’s funny to think about identity,” / Dad said. ‘Now I wonder how much of us / we inherit, and how much we create.’” (19) Uncle Father Joe says, “You’re as much a Bianchini as I am” and Aunt Kitty although “shocked,” admits “…but I’m glad to know Mama had a Grand Romance! / Tony, nothing makes you less my brother!” (25) Only Dad’s older son Carlo objects to the family announcement, “His says bad news should be told privately.” (79)
 
As Connor tries to discover more about his grandfather, nicknamed Ace, he has two clues: a class ring engraved with two initials and the term “Forcean” and a pair of pilot's wings. “Forcean” leads him to the Class of 1939 yearbook of Wilberforce University, an historically black university. Surprised to learn that his grandfather was African-American, “I felt like a helium-filled balloon / only the helium was the word ‘wow.’” (71) Connor’s father has his DNA tested and finds his ancestry is so much more than Irish and Italian. “So Ace connects us to the larger world!” (75) Connor embraces his mixed heritage, “It’s like having more teams you can cheer for! / I’d become a citizen of the world.” And “I walked the [school] halls in slow motion. … Little things I hadn’t noticed before: the subtle put-downs, silent revenges.” (75)
 
Realizing that this grandfather, a pilot, may have been a Tuskegee Airman, Connor researches and learns as much as he can about the Tuskegee Airmen and welcomes this part of his heredity with openness and pride. He can retain his bond with his family while amplifying his own identity and appreciation of who he is. “Inside I’m both the same and different. / I’m different in ways no one can see.” “I fee there is a blackness beyond skin, / beyond race, beyond outward appearance. /  A blackness that has more to do with how / you see than how you’re seen. That craves justice / equally for oneself and for others. / I hope I’ve found some of that in myself.” (117)
 
A blend of narrative and informational text (the information Connor finds on the Tuskegee Airmen), this is yet another book for learning about people and times in our history, written by the daughter of one of the last Tuskegee Airmen and author of a verse memoir, How I Discovered Poetry.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Shout. Penguin Young Readers Group, 2019.

When I think of Laurie Halse Anderson, writer, I think of well-told important stories—whether contemporary or historical, memorable characters, critical messages. When I think of Laurie Halse Anderson, person, I think of hugs, compassion, empathy, attention, and action. Now when I think of Laurie Halse Anderson, poet, I will ruminate on the power of words, the rhythm of words, the lyricism of words.
 
It is hard to believe that Shout is Anderson’s first free-verse writing. I was swept away in the unexpected word choices, startling word combinations, thoughtful line breaks, and subtle alliterations.
 
[As a child,]
I learned then that words
Had such power
Some must never be spoken
And was thus robbed of both
Tongue and the truth. (16)
 
In this memoir Anderson generously shares her life—the bottomless depths and the highest peaks—all that made her the force she is today. A challenging family life and the rape that “splits open your core with shrapnel,” clouds of doubt and self-loathing…anxiety, depression, and shame,” leaving “untreated pain / a cancer of the soul / that can kill you.” (69)
 
But also there were teachers, librarians, and the tutor who taught “the ants swarming across the pages” to form words and meaning, the lessons learned from Greek mythology, the gym teacher who cared enough to inspire her to shape-shift from “a lost stoner dirtbag / to a jock who hung out with exchange students, / wrote poetry for the literary magazine / and had a small group of …friends to sit with at lunch.” (88) and her home in Denmark which “taught me how to speak / again, how to reinterpret darkness and light, / strength and softness…redefine my true north / and start over.” (114)
 
She describes how the story of her first novel Speak found her and the origin of Melinda, “alone / with her fear / heart open, / unsheltered” (162)
 
Part Two bears witness to the stories of others, female and male, children, teens, and adults, connected through trauma and Melinda’s story, the questions of boys, confused, having never learned “the rules of intimacy or the law” (181) and the censorship, “the child of fear/ the father of ignorance” which keeps these stories away from them. Anderson raises the call to “sisters of the march” who never got the help they needed and deserved to “stand with us now / let’s be enraged aunties together.” (230)
 
And in Part Three the story returns to her American birth family, her father talking and “unrolling our family legacies of trauma and / silence.”
 
Shout is a tale of Truth: the truths that happened, the truths that we tell ourselves, the truths that we tell others, the truths that we live with; Shout is the power of Story—stories to tell and stories to be heard.

And a bonus—The 2018 National Book Award Winner for Young People’s Literature, a novel about verse, rather than a verse novel
Acevedo, Elizabeth. The Poet X. HarperTeen, 2018.

The power of words – to celebrate, to heal, to communicate, to feel.

Fifteen-year-old Xiomara grabbed me immediately with her words. She sets the scene in “Stoop-Sitting”: one block in Harlem, home, church ladies, Spanish, drug dealers, and freedom that ends each day with the entrance of her Mami.

Xiomara feels “unhide-able,” insulted and harassed because of her body. We meet her family—the twin brother whom she loves but can’t stand up for her and a secret that he is hiding; her father who was a victim of temptation, and now stays silent; her mother, taken away from the Dominican Republic and her calling to become a nun and forced into a marriage that was a ticket to America; and Caridad, her best friend—only friend—and conscience,

Bur Xio fills her journal with poetry and when she discovers love, or is it lust, she finds the one person with whom she can share her poetry.
“He is not elegant enough for a sonnet,
too well thought-out for a free write,
Taking too much space in my thoughts
To ever be a haiku.” (107)

Aman gives Xio the confidence to see what she can become, not what she is told she can be, and to appreciate, rather than hide, her body. “And I think of all the things we could be if we were never told out bodies were not built for them.” (188)

She also begins to doubt religion and defy the endless rules her mother has made about boys, dating, and confession. With the urging of her English teacher, Xio joins the Poetry Club and makes a new friend, Isabelle “”That girl’s a storyteller writing a world you’re invited to walk into.” (257) and with the support of Isabelle, Stephan, and Chris “My little words feel important, for just a moment.” (259)

When her mother discovers that Xio has not been attending her confirmation class, things come to a climax; however, even though her obsession with poetry has destroyed relationships in her family, it also, with some “divine intervention,” becomes the vehicle to heal them.

As I read I wanted to hear Xio’s poems, but when I finished the book, I realized that I had. A novel for mature readers, The Poet X features diverse characters and shares six months’ of interweaving relationships built on words.

Lesley Roessing taught high school and middle school English-Language Arts/Humanities for 20 years before becoming Founding Director of the Coastal Savannah Writing Project and Senior Lecturer in the College of Education of Armstrong State University (now Georgia Southern University) for 9 years. She currently serves as literacy consultant for a K-8 school.
 
Lesley has published four professional books for educators: The Write to Read: Response Journals that Increase Comprehension; Comma Quest: The Rules They Followed—The Sentences They Saved; No More “Us” and “Them”: Classroom Lessons & Activities to Promote Peer Respect; and Bridging the Gap: Reading Critically and Writing Meaningfully to Get to the Core. She contributed chapters to two anthologies, Young Adult Literature in a Digital World: Textual Engagement though Visual Literacy and Queer Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the English Language Arts Curriculum.
 
Her newest book, Talking Texts: A Teacher’s Guide to Book Clubs across the Curriculum (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) features many of these novels, as well as many of those in her 2018 guestblog “30+ MG/YA Verse Novels for National Poetry Month” plus other verse novels in her section on planning book clubs by genre or format and for poetry clubs.

Until next time.

​​We don’t have to look very hard to find real stories of gun violence in the news from incidences here in the USA and around the world. Already in 2019, over 11,000 different gun violence incidences have occurred resulting in over 3,122 deaths. What?!?! For me, this means that we HAVE to do something as teachers, teacher educators, and researchers.
 
First, let me share a little bit about myself. My family has guns. Please don’t stop reading. Many of the guns have been passed down for generations from our grandfather’s grandfathers. They are all stored properly in a locked cabinet, and we’ve all been through hunter safety training courses. Additionally I’ve taught elementary and middle school in 2 different states. My first school was just a few miles off a military base and most of the students were the children of Army Infantry and Special Forces personnel. My second school was in a semi-rural community outside a major Southern city, and many of the students were hunters and frequently shared their meat with others including places like Hunters for the Hungry (see TWF for an example).

​​After this full disclosure, I TRULY believe that we as educators must step up and work with our students of all ages to build a kinder, more empathetic society where guns are NOT a solution to human problems. How can we do this? We use YA Texts and address the topic thoroughly with students. We don’t hide. We don’t shy away from difficult topics. We dive in and learn together. Let’s explore any example that I used with graduate students WHILE a former student was concurrently doing something similar with her middle school students. 

The Books.
​
I did a quick book talk on each of the following books and explained our goals in reading these texts together
 
Hopkins, E. (2018). People Kill People. Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 9781481442930
Hubbard, J. (2015). And We Stay. Penguin Random House.  ISBN 9780385740586
Nijkamp, M. (2016). This is Where It Ends. Sourcebook. ISBN 9781492622468
Stone, N. (2017) Dear Martin. Crown Reader Pub. ISBN 978-1101939499
Thomas, A. (2017). The Hate U Give. Balzer & Bray. ISBN 9780062498533

Students then chose one of the books above to read deeply and carefully. In class, we began analyzing with images, quotes, and connections before diving into the Bill of Rights and current events. The assignment description is below. 

​Additional learning tasks that we explored included using Flipgrid to share initial analysis of poetry and song lyrics.
 
Some of the songs we used:
This is America by Childish Gambino
What it Means by Drive-by-Truckers
American Bad Dream by Kane Brown

Throughout the unit, we read survivor accounts, we read accounts of family members and teachers, we read polices and laws, we read critiques about video game violence, we read statements from activists groups; we read, we read, and we read some more. We brainstormed alternate solutions of how to address problems people face. We discussed mental health issues and ways to destigmatize the negative connotations of receiving medical help for mental health concerns.
 
We can make a difference. We can have hard conversations with our students about difficult issues. In fact, we must. 

Books used by Middle School Teacher mentioned earlier
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
Excerpts from Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
I am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina

Emily teaches courses in Teaching Reading with elementary and secondary teacher candidates and directs the Reading Education Graduate Program at Vanderbilt University. Additionally, Emily works closely with the local public schools in literacy coaching and facilitating professional development workshops. Her research interests revolve around the complexities of teaching adolescent readers who are struggling and incorporating new literacies into classrooms.Twitter: @Dr_Pendergrass. Emily can be contacted at [email protected].

​Until next week.

Greetings from a Spring Break in Scotland. I am so happy that Mark and Luke were able to get this to me early. Life with the grand kids is important. Mark has been a contributor in the past. You can find is post about YA urban fiction here and his post about middle grades graphic novels here. Luke is a newcomer to the blog. The most important thing to remember is that both of these gentlemen are awesome.  Thanks for taking a turn.

In an article appearing in the Winter 2019 issue of The ALAN Review, we built upon Chris Crowe’s (2004) scholarship and shared findings from our research investigating the representation of coaches in young adult literature (YAL). (see the pdf at the bottom of the post) Specifically, we examined depictions of coaches that appeared in 10 award-winning and/or recommended sports-related works of YAL published over 10 years, between 2008 and 2017.
 
As explained in the article, we identified the depiction of five types of relationships between coaches and adolescent-athletes:
 

• coach-athlete, where the coach develops adolescent-athletes’ skills while looking out for their health and wellbeing;
• mentor-protégé, where the coach provides adolescent-athletes mentorship and guidance beyond the field of play;
• counselor-client, where the coach supports adolescent-athletes on a more intimate level as they negotiate hardships life has dealt them;
• victor-victim, where the coach embraces a win-at-all-costs mentality that is detrimental to adolescent-athletes; and
• master-puppet, where the coach manipulates adolescent-athletes not for the sake of winning games but for their own personal reasons.

 
We discuss in more detail how these relationships function in our selected YA texts and the effects these relationships have on the youthful characters’ lives, both inside and outside the sports arena. We encourage you to give the article a look. Perhaps you’ll find some ideas that can support your work with sports-related YAL.
 
Since we didn’t have space to review the selected YAL in the article, we highlight in this post the titles included in our study, each a work of contemporary realistic fiction. We offer a brief overview of each novel and note some of the awards and/or recommendations they received. If you’ve already read some of the books listed, see if you can identify the type(s) of relationship(s) featured between coaches and adolescent-athletes in those novels. And if there are titles below you haven’t read yet, well, what are you waiting for? 

​In closing, we want to reiterate that high-quality sports-related YAL is about so much more than middle and high school youth engaging in athletic endeavors. Yes, the characters in these books strive to improve their prowess in the arena, but they are more than “jocks.” They also grapple with other social and cultural aspects of their lives and their communities, including sexual assault, race relations, (dis)ability, bullying and homophobia, and separation of church and state. We imagine that many young readers might pick up some of these books because the covers include footballs, cleats, basketballs, and performing athletes, but after turning the last page they will find themselves thinking about more than who won or lost a game.
 
In our article for The ALAN Review, we offer some implications for teachers and teacher educators of our study on the fictional coaches represented in these texts. We believe that teachers would do well to provide opportunities for young readers to analyze depictions of coaches for positive and negative traits so they can more critically consider the actions of the coaches they see in their school hallways and on their televisions. We also believe that these texts can provide teacher candidates moments to think about the kinds of youth-teacher-coach relationships they want to build with the students in their classrooms and the athletes playing in their arenas; therefore, we encourage teacher educators to include sports-related YAL on their syllabi.
 
We hope you’ll enjoy some of these YA titles that tackle both sports and life.
 
Luke and Mark

Luke Rodesiler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Secondary Education - Language Arts
Purdue University Fort Wayne
[email protected]
 
Mark A. Lewis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Literacy Education
Loyola University Maryland
[email protected]
​

This week Anne Cramer offers another post. Anne is one of those people who seems to just read and read. She has contributed on two other occasions. On the first, she wrote an insightful look at the connection between YA and Shakespeare. I hope you will look at it again. The second time she wrote about science fiction in the world of YA.  After reading and preparing both post, my knowledge was expanded. I had more books to read.

​This time, Anne explores indigenous peoples in the world of YA. Many of us, even those of us who read widely in YA should know more indigenous authors. We can't even begin to be allies if we are unaware of the books we can offer our students. I appreciate Anne's efforts. I realize I have a lot of reading to do. This post will be bookmarked for quite awhile as I try to catch up. 

For the last year and a half, I have been fortunate enough to live in Canada. As I started haunting local libraries and book stores, I saw posters for the Canadian #IndigenousReads program. I stopped and asked myself how many Indigenous writers could I list? Three. I was embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, awareness, and my lack of culpability as an educator. I felt compelled to read as many authors and illustrators from different Indigenous Peoples as the public library would allow and use my upcoming YA Wednesday post as a way to share titles.
​   
I am a teacher who wants all students to see themselves represented in our classroom libraries, regardless of the subjects we teach. I know I am not the only educator who has struggled on how to start a dialogue about Residential Schools as well as discuss current issues in the Indigenous communities. Therefore, this post provides a list of titles as well as links to a brochure on how to become an ally and the correct terminology for different Indigenous Peoples.

 I also felt compelled to write once I witnessed the difference between the Canadian and United States government’s commitment to educating students on the treatment of Indigenous Peoples. Canada appears to encourage a national dialogue on the treatment of Indigenous Peoples. It felt like a stark contrast from our own government. The Canadian government started a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is now the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, which provides a website offering educators resources for teaching about the Residential Schools. While the movement by the Canadian government is met with mixed reviews by citizens, the awareness and resources for teachers continues to grow exponentially.

In contrast, my own education with Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop (which actually lasted through the 1980s), and what intergenerational trauma was did not start until college even though I grew up 200 miles from the most infamous Residential School, Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Also, while attending graduate school in 2015, this photo shocked members of my Critical Literacy class. Only one student previously heard of the Residential School program.
​
Recalling these experiences, I put my trepidation aside. I wanted any teacher, regardless of content area, to be able to find a text written by an Indigenous writer. Below is a series of books ranging from picture to poetry and environmental sciences. The books are broken into primary and secondary, with secondary containing sub-categories. I included picture books because I have found a multitude of ways to incorporate them into my reading program, especially with teaching visual literacy skills. There is also a slide show at the end featuring more titles by Indigenous writers. 

Nicola Campbell, author of A Day With Yayah, states that if the only First Nation stories being told are ones of tragedy, it shapes a future without hope for coming generations. She creates stories focused on the passing of traditional practices from generation to generation. In A Day With Yayah, we travel along with an extended family as they go on a picnic to gather native plants and learn of their traditional uses.

Fatty Legs: A True Story is a treasure trove of knowledge. A combination of photographs from author’s life as well as footnotes explaining vocabulary of the Inuit people, Fatty Legs offers a chilling story of the dichotomy offered to children: either learn English through the Residential Schools and lose their culture or stay with culture and lose the chance to survive the Colonist’s overtaking of their lands. The narrator, Olemaun (English name Margaret) is driven to learn English. Her father desperately tries to convince her to stay home. He warns her that “as water wears rock smooth, her spirit will be worn down and made small”. A bittersweet memoir that will resonate with all ages.
​
Another memoir, I Am Not A Number describes the terror that children and parents underwent as Indian agents, government sanctioned kidnappers, scooped up children to take to Residential Schools. After being separated for a year, the protagonist, Irene and her father, take an active stand against the government in efforts to keep their family intact. There are photos of the school and Irene and her father at the end of the book.

Fiction
​
The historical fiction novel, House of Purple Cedar, follows Rose Goode and her family in pre-statehood Oklahoma as her hometown transitions from being predominantly Choctaw. Quickly following a fire in the local girl’s boarding school, her beloved grandfather is nearly beaten to death by the local sheriff.  Her family preaches forgiveness not revenge and this leaves room for compassion to bloom from both the Choctaw and Anglo community members.  Full of quirky characters and tackling issues of domestic violence as well as racism, I was captivated from the moment I cracked open the book until the emotional conclusion.

David A. Robertson’s Reckoner trilogy tells the story of Cole Harper, a member of the Wounded Sky First Nation, who is compelled to returns to his place of birth. Once there, he discovers a series of murders, a community plagued by health crisis, and still-lurking questions about his father’s death.  This transition is made even more difficult due to Cole’s struggle with anxiety and depression. During a 2018 lecture tour, Mr. Robertson talked about anxiety and depression as being the tie that binds us all together. The Pew Research Center’s recent study on teens and depression found it to be the biggest concern for teens today. This trilogy would be a great addition to a classroom library.
​
Hearts Unbroken -- Witty and irreverent teen Lou tries to remain true to herself in light of the micro-aggressions and the massive aggressions of living in Kansas City, ranging from the local Chiefs basketball team mascot to the protests against her high school for putting on its first ever color-conscious casting production, which happens to be The Wizard of Oz. She and her sibling, whom has a starring role in the production, come across L.Frank Baum’s cry for the extermination of “Indians” and must decide how to move forward in a manner that respects both themselves and their culture. 

​The award-winning graphic novel The Outside Circle is not written by an Indigenous writer. However, I made an exception for this novel which tells the story of two brothers who are trying to heal their wounds from the past, which include drug use, gang membership, and a prison sentence. For some students, this is a story that is all too familiar, regardless of what race or culture we come from. 

Non-Fiction

Turtle Island: The Story of North America’s First People explores the civilizations that existed before European colonization. Starting from the Ice Age to 1491, the text creates a timeline through dates, artifacts, and myths. The authors state that the way to Turtle Island is through using myths, science, and imagination. Beautiful photos of land, artifacts, and artists’ interpretations of the past lives of indigenous people mingle with myths and other types of texts to help the history come alive on the pages.

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women is a powerful editorial on the stereotypes of the “Indian Princess”, delivering gut-wrenching poems and photographs, mixed-media collages from a variety of Indigenous women across Turtle Island. An excellent addition to challenging cultural stereotypes as well as a tool for discussion of the #MeToo movement. 

​Before I close, I want to draw attention to the American Indian Library Association,  as well as the Indigenous book store, Strong Nations. Strong Nations has a stringent policy behind the books they recommend as well as starting up an extensive list of authenticated texts written and/or illustrated by Indigenous Peoples. Another excellent resource is the AICL.

Anne spent 17 years as an Middle School classroom teacher at a small, independent school in Central New York. After exploring Canada for two years, Anne is heading back to the United States. She is currently looking for new opportunities to explore literacy. She can be reached at [email protected]

​Until next week.

Taking a cue from Judith Butler (Peter Wall Institute, 2012) who argues the role of the professor as an advocate for the value of the humanities in the face of vocationalized education, I have made certain decisions. Namely, when I think about the work I do with teacher candidates in order to engage their future students in study of the English language arts; it is not enacted through fetishization of skills or tech-tools that marry easily with scientific measurements of academic progress. Instead, I adopt the long view that the kind of textual study we practice might offer students something more like critical consciousness, which will position them to interrogate the seeming imperatives of the information-service economy, which isn’t a new idea but probably bears repeating.

Young adult literature is situated especially well to do this work when it, too, takes a broad view and looks to social and institutional forces that shape and, in some sense, determine the trajectory of lives, and therefore require check.  Which brings me to my authentic subject: Toys.

​The theoretical framework for this conversation comes from Barthes (1991) and his revolutionary book, Mythologies, which considers things like toys, soap powders, fish and chips, margarine, and wrestling as transmitters of latent ideological messages.  At the same time, I draw from Latour (2007) who riffs on and extends Barthes’ argument when he posits the agency of objects in his study of material culture.

​In terms of a pre-reading activity, I initiate discussion by describing my childhood experience of playing with an Easy-Bake Oven and how, at first, the toy positioned me, ostensibly, to adopt the role of homemaker/wife/mother.  However, I explain how, when the cake mixes ran out, the toy instead hailed me as a scientist as I began to seek out objects to melt (e.g., crayons and cosmetics) in a series of experiments.  This reflects the structural logic of Stone’s (2010) book in that the author engages readers in consideration of how toys both reinforce and challenge conceptual categories of race, class, and gender, contingent on individual participation in and/or refusal of conventional narratives directing play.  Likewise, students are invited to share their stories about playing with toys modeled on the kind of ideological tensions described above.  This conversation informs subsequent inquiry.

Finally, after reading (--we haven’t finished yet), we will cocoon in our own dreamy worlds of inquiry and research, meditate on the toy of our choice, and argue, through unpacking semiotic features of the object as symbolic of specific ideological perspectives, whether the toy ultimately enables a liberatory/progressive or more restrictive/limiting view of identity and relation.  And, the ultimate product will take the form of a presentation intended for sharing at a meeting structured according to the protocol for an academic conference.
​
The overarching idea here is that, if objects serve as semiotic markers of social order, beliefs, and practices, they can also serve as palimpsests for social arrangements not yet visible, or society as kids would like to see it created through interventions enacted via play, reading, and writing.  Stone’s (2010) book initiates kids to the practices of cultural commentators and critics through a series of complex negotiations that I’ve seen occur in graduate seminars but not middle school.  Yet, I would argue, in engaging kids in these dialogues, we more earnestly reify Butler’s vision for the humanities and offer students a methodology for interrogating unequal prospects or life chances hardened by institutionalized practices such as current techniques of schooling. ​

Barthes, R. (1991).  Mythologies.  (A. Lavers, Trans.).  New York, NY: The Noonday Press. (Original work published in 1957)

Fiske, J. (1989).  Understanding popular culture.  New York, NY: Routledge. 

Latour, B. (2007).  Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network theory.  Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia. (2012). Judith Butler: Q&A with UBC faculty [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ECjyoU6kGA

Stone, T.L. (2010). The good, the bad, and the Barbie: A doll’s history and her impact on us.  New York, NY: Speak.

​Biographical Statement: Stacy Graber is an Associate Professor of English at Youngstown State University.  Her areas of interest include critical theory, pedagogy, and popular culture.

Until next time. 

I have to admit. Katie is one of my favorite teachers in the whole world. I meet her virtually through a friend long before I met her in person. She teaches, she blogs, she has family, she is a supportive friend and her upbeat attitude is contagious. I believed all of this before I met her. Then when I did, it was all confirmed. She is one of the great additions to my professional life and even though we live miles apart, we are friends. When I read her previous blog posts I have a renewed faith in teachers. She manages to engages students in learning and reading even in an era of excessive testing. She moves forward and does good in the world.

She has several previous posts and they are all interesting. Check them out: #1 YA in the Middle School Classroom #2 When We Love Books; Writers Are Our Rock Stars: Why Author Visits Matter #3 Revisiting the Classics I Never Visited in The First Place by Katie Sluiter. I hope you check them out and then read what Katie has to say this time around.

​As a practicing English teacher, I try to stay current with what is best practice. I read all the newest books by gurus like Penny Kittle, Donalyn Miller, Kelly Gallagher, and so on. I lurk--and sometimes participate--in Twitter chats for ELA educators, and I am part of a few ELA Teacher groups on Facebook. Through participation in these mediums, two things have become apparent: Students need choice and teachers have to teach full class novels.

I have been a huge supporter of student choice for years now, building my classroom library from 104 books in 2012 to over 1200 titles now. My students read, I read, and we talk about books constantly.
 
But I also teach full-class novels. I do this because it’s expected of me in my district, but likewise because I enjoy sharing a text with all my classes. Like a giant book club, some will fall in love with the book, but for some the book won’t be their favorite. But what I love best is the discussion about all the other “stuff” that comes up when reading a novel together.

Take, for example, the canonical middle school novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry. I joyfully teach this text year after year with my 8th grade students.
 
The Giver is a doorway to many conversations about contemporary society including what equality looks like, what the role of a government should be, and what the overall meaning of being human is. This past school year, I decided to take a different path and connect The Giver to our world’s current climate crisis.
 
Before even starting the book, we began by defining the word “dystopia.” Every one of my students has either read a dystopian novel or seen a dystopian film. We discussed what similarities they have that might contribute to what a dystopia is. Repeatedly, students brought up the environment/setting as being “dark,” “ruined,” “post apocalyptic,” and “dead-feeling.”
 
As we began reading, we started searching for evidence of why The Giver is listed under the dystopia genre. At the same time, we began reading articles about the difference between “climate” and “weather” which also allowed us to discuss the idea of precision of language that is repeated in the novel.

​As we proceed, we use focus questions to guide our reading and discussion in order to parallel what is happening in the plot to what is happening in our world regarding climate. Some of the focus questions are:

• Are dystopias the natural consequence of utopias?
• How do our memories give us knowledge?
•  Are there some choices that are too important/risky for us to make for ourselves?
•  How are minds changed about a rule or law?
• What can we do if we don’t agree with a rule or decision?

When we get to the part of the novel when Jonas is questioning the Giver about Sameness, we discuss what would really happen if something about our local climate changed. What if we didn’t have snow in the winter anymore? How would it affect life in West Michigan? How would it affect Lake Michigan and our other Great Lakes? What would it do to our agriculture?

One of the final writing assignments students do puts them into the role of “Receiver of Memory” and gives them a climate issue: The water in the river is changing. It is getting murky and warmer than usual. This beginning to affect the hatcheries--one of the Community’s main sources of nourishment. Based on your “memories” of pollution and climate, how would you advise the Elders?
 
Students then work together on investigating current and past climate and pollution crises and how they have been mitigated--if they have at all. Later in the school year, our 8th grade team does a persuasive writing unit, and many students choose to revisit their work and research from The Giver as they craft letters to politicians about concerns they have as the next generation to inherit the current global and societal issues.

An unforeseen, but positive effect of this unit was the number of students who asked me, “what else can I read that has to do with climate problems?” Because of a grad class I had on Teaching Climate Change in the ELA Classroom, I have a number of suggestions, but these are the Top 5:
 
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
 Here is the Kirkus Review. (From Steve: I loved this one. It is so solid.)
Flush by Carl Hiaasen
Here is the Kirkus Review. (From Steve: I love the humor that Hiaasen provide. His middle grades books make me chuckle. I still love reading his adult offerings.)
Carbon Diaries by Staci Lloyd
Here is the Kirkus Review. (From Steve: I think Lloyd's work still reverberates loudly in today's world.)
Feed by MT Anderson
Here is the Kirkus Review. (From Steve: I can't believe this book was published in 2002. It still rings true as a cautionary tale of consumerism in the modern world.)
Orleans by Sherri L. Smith
Here is the Kirkus Review. (From Steve: Once again, Katie is leading the way. I should know this one, but I don't. I lived in Baton Rouge from 2008 through 2014 and into 2015. This books sounds riveting and will be added to my to be read list.) 

Katie Sluiter is currently an 8th English teacher in West Michigan. She has taught middle school, high school, and community college and has her Masters Degree in Teaching English. She is a doctoral student at Western Michigan University pursuing a PhD in English Education. She has had her personal essays published in numerous anthologies and is a regular contributor to The Educator’s Room. She is a member of and has presented at both NCTE and MCTE. She is a National Writing Project participant and has been published in the Language Arts Journal of Michigan multiple times.

Until next time

I have loved Padma's work for over ten years. It is as if she doesn't make a misstep. I have taught her books, I book talk them every chance I get, I am always looking for her next book release (She just had one and will be touring this month.) . I love talking to her at ALAN and NCTE. She has been a big support on Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday and this will be her third blog post as a visiting author. (Anybody else what to join in?) You can follow her on Facebook. Before you read what she has to offer this time, you can check out her previous posts: One on verse novels and one on Germany and diverse books.  My biggest question is this. Why isn't everyone reading her books? Get one now!

Thanks Padma, for generously providing another post.  

When, during my talk, I asked how many attendees had heard of the "boy problem novel" there was laughter and no hands were raised. Of course not - because a boy's problem is considered to be an "adventure" to which all of us (regardless of gender) can easily relate. A female's problems, however, are considered to be of interest only to other females - and this judgement diminishes and devalues and elevates straight males by raising their status and equating them with all of humanity. Is Laurie Halse Anderson's immortal and vitally important classic "Speak​" a "girl problem" book?  If more males were encouraged to read books that such as speak, perhaps we wouldn't have as many problems and as much violence (especially violence directed against those who aren't straight males) as we do even today in the United States.  ​

That said, I'm sure I, myself have several limitations. My personal circumstances have surely circumscribed my language - I am certain that the words I use are limited, and that, worse still, my brain and heart are not as all-embracing as I'd like for them to be. For example, I tend to, even now (and even, I'm embarrassed to admit, when I gave that talk at NCTE to open that panel), refer to my audience as "guys." Which is awful. ​But that does not keep me from trying, as hard as I can, to do my best and it does not keep me from speaking up. We must admit that we have prejudices we may not even be aware of, we must acknowledge our imperfections, we must apologize when we make mistakes - but most important of all, we must persevere in our efforts to - as trite as it may sound, make ourselves and our surroundings "better" (by which I mean more compassionate, more understanding, more respectful).

Which, by the way, begs the question - what is trite? To this day, I believe, the New York Times Book Review is more likely (as are several other respected review sources) to celebrate crime fiction than to acknowledge romance. This tendency is, I imagine, in part because males dominate the field of crime fiction as readers and as writers, whereas, I assume, females tend to read romances more readily. But this opinion is just an interesting aside.
 
I'd like to end by encouraging us all (and I include myself because goodness knows I still have heaps to learn), to listen as much as we can to those who discuss such issues. Here, then are a two excellent sources to look at: ALA's Amelia Bloomer list - which features books with strong female protagonists; and Grace Lin's kidlit women podcast series. And if you do enjoy them enough to subscribe, I beg you not to just focus on new and upcoming titles or podcasts or lists or posts - but also to re-read archives. We may not always agree 100% with every opinion we hear or with every choice of a book on a list - and we don't need to. I firmly believe that practicing the art of listening is in itself something that broadens our minds and hearts.  

​Padma Venkatraman lived in five countries, explored rainforests, and was chief scientist on oceanographic vessels before becoming a United States citizen. Her novels, A TIME TO DANCE, ISLAND'S END and CLIMBING THE STAIRS received several honors and awards. Her latest, THE BRIDGE HOME, winner of an Earphone Award and contender for the Global Read Aloud initiative, has received starred reviews in PW, Kirkus, Booklist, SLJ, and School Library Journal (for a total of seventeen stars so far). Visit her at www.padmavenkatraman.com,  follow her on twitter (@padmatv) or connect on fb, ig (venkatraman.padma) and skype (padmatvenkatraman).