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Bick's Picks for 2020

12/31/2020

 
This marks the fifth year that I have been picking my favorite books that I read during the past year. I like doing this. Some books are so powerful I knew it would be part of the list as soon as I finished, but alas that doesn't always happen. Some books have a slow reveal. By that I mean they just keep staying in my mind throughout the year. Some one will ask me about books and a few books keep coming to my mind and I think of the same book every time. Others are representative of a theme that seems to be frequently a topic of conversation throughout the year. With other books it is full developed character that stays in my mind or it might be a particularly well crafted scene that I keep thinking about. 

I think for the last four years the books on the lists have held up quite well. Take a look and see if you agree.

 http://www.yawednesday.com/blog/bicks-picks-for-2016
http://www.yawednesday.com/blog/bicks-picks-for-2017
http://www.yawednesday.com/blog/bicks-picks-for-2018
http://www.yawednesday.com/blog/bicks-picks-for-2019

I know it has been tough year for all of us. The trials of living  in and around COVID-19 have been a challenge. At times, I have been extremely productive and then there are days that move like molasses. On the positive side, I have ridden my bike over 2,700 miles. Not bad for 65 year old man. When I started the early morning rides the roads of Las Vegas were nearly empty. It was fairly safe and easy for me to transition from my exercise bike to finding my outside pedal legs after several years neglecting my old bikes. Next, I found myself reading even more. This year it is well over 100 young adult novel and quite a few picture books and a return to some of the adult detective fiction series that I have needed to catch up with. 

I think the list of new YA books for 2020 was strong. It was fairly easy for me to find at least ten books that I could enthusiastically support. The difficulty was narrowing it down. So, this year, at the end of the post.  I have some honorable mentions.

I will try not to go on and on about these books. Most of them were selected as Weekend Picks during the course of the year. If you want larger annotation visit the weekend pick page for 2020 here or click on the images below to see what some of the Amazon reviewers have to say.

Again, the list is in no particular order.
Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Wow! just wow! Tiffany D. Jackson has not had a miss among her four novels. When I finished Grown. I had to just sit and replay the book in my mind. It is a significant tour de force. Please take a look.
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Killing November by Adriana Mather

I had the pleasure to chair a panel a few years ago that included Adriana Mather. Her book at that time was Haunting the Deep. She has stayed on my radar and Killing November was a great find. Maybe the best news is that there is a sequel.
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The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

Bill just gets better and better. The Bridge is stunning. Bill has grapple in fiction with an issue that he openly acknowledges that he has struggled with throughout his life. This novel develops two strong characters through four distinct narratives.
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We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

I am sad to say that it took me so long to get to this book. It sat on my shelf for several months. When the long list for the National Book Award was announced I wondered what I was missing. It turns out I was missing a great deal. This is an historical novel with multiple voices; each with a compelling story. It was my favorite among the ten and I was sad to see that it didn't make the final five. I like all of the books in the National Book Award list, but this one struck me especially hard. 
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Lovely War by Julie Berry

I have to admit that Julie Berry had me with her nod to the Olympic gods. I also found that the way Berry comments on race and war throughout the novel is both insightful and engaging. It isn't surprising that this books shows up on so many award lists and among readers best of the year selections.
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Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth

For awhile now I have been an Eric Gansworth fan. If I Ever Get Out of Here rocked me in so many ways. I love the insider view of reservation life and the flawless connections to music. The arrival of Apple Skin to the Core and its multi-genre approach to memoir is a stunning accomplishment.
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The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore

First, I loved the cover. Then, from the beginning, I was drawn by how the author was able to create such empathy for the characters. 
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Jack Kerouac is Dead to Me by Gae Polisner

This book deserves more attention. To be frank, it isn't an easy read. More importantly, however, it just might be an essential read. Polisner delivers a punch to the gut. She covers female relationships with boys and men and especially with mothers and daughters. If you haven't read a Polisner novel yet, this is as good a book as any to get an introduction to this fine author.
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The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candance Fleming

I find myself reading more and more none fiction. With this book, Fleming provides a first rate discussion of the triumphs and faults of one of America's most notable pioneers of the air. If you don't know anything about Lindbergh, this is a great place to start. If you think you do know about Lindbergh, then you might really want to dive into this book.
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I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal

Few books have influenced my reading, my teaching, and my disposition about society over the last year that I'm Not Dying With You Tonight. I met Gilly and Kimberly at a Source books dinner at NCTE 2019. I was captivated by their energy. I planned to bring them to the UNLV 2020 Summit. Then, COVID-19, George Floyd, and an astonishing contentious election era fraught with racist comments, voter suppression, and a host of fantasy accusations, this book continues to give me hope that we can talk with one another, that we can work together, and that we can make progress.  
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There Were Plenty Good Books Published in 2020.
​Here are a Few Honorable Mentions 

Take a look at the honorable mentions. Did I make a mistake or two? Should some of these be in the top ten? Should any of these be replaced with others?
Until next time.

Bringing Critical Conversations on Art into Public View: McCullough’s (2018) Blood Water Paint and the Legacy of John Berger by Stacy Graber

12/30/2020

 
I am sure that I first met Stacy through some of the people from Youngstown State. I know I heard her present at the Kennesaw Children's and YA conference years ago.  She is one of the most clear minded critics of YA I know.  I mean that in the truest sense of the word critic. She is someone who appreciates what YA has to offer and, at the same time, doesn't flinch from applying crtical theories to her readings and analyses of this body of work. When Stacy agrees to write a post, I know i am going to learn something.

Take a look at some of her previous offerings. The titles alone let you know you are in for a treat.

(2015, December, 30). Reflections on Jack Gantos’ Dead End in Norvelt, Love It or List It, and Place Loyalty
(2016, Aug, 3) Engaging Students as Curriculum Designers: Reflections on an Insight Session at the 2016, YSU English Festival
(May 16, 2017) "Let's Play a Game: 5 of..." 
(December 19, 2017)  “…To Keep the Ghosts Away”:  Images of Purgatory in Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie by Stacy Graber
(Jan. 17, 2019) A Return to the Panopticon in Murphy’s Dumplin’, and Why You Probably Won’t Get Murdered in a Joyce Carol Oates Story if You Are a Size 14 or Over by Stacey Graber
(March 8, 2019) On the Semiotics of Toys and YAL as a Strategy in Defense of the Humanities by Stacy Graber
(Oct 23, 2019) Framing Kafka: YA Texts that Build Background Knowledge Toward Teaching Franz Kafka by Stacy Graber
(Dec 4, 2019) Art in Literature/Literature in Art: Notes on 3 Exceptional Works of YA Graphica by Stacy Graber

Once again her reflections and commentary on McCullough's wonderful novel, Blood Water Paint are spot on.

Thanks Stacy

Bringing Critical Conversations on Art into Public View: McCullough’s (2018) Blood Water Paint and the Legacy of John Berger

by Stacy Graber, Youngstown State University

We have long recognized the value of teaching critical theory to secondary students as indicated by numerous scholars (e.g., Appleman, Connors, Glenn & Ginsberg, Hill, Latrobe & Drury, Soter, etc.).  Yet, in addition to the critical frameworks made available through study, theory also enables a vivid glimpse of thinkers and artists at work (e.g., Barthes, Derrida, Butler, Said, etc.). 
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This causes me to think about my first acquaintance with theory and a writer whose life and work influenced me deeply by the poetic candor of his prose and his uncompromising interrogation of inequality, particularly as naturalized in the practices and artifacts of visual culture. I am talking about John Berger (1972) and his incomparable collection of essays, Ways of Seeing, which originated as a series of videos produced for the BBC and brought critical considerations of art into public view.
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In the context of a blog dedicated to YAL, we could talk about Berger’s (1972) ingenious arrangement of the essays in the collection, the intersessional-pictorial chapters that punctuate and illuminate the Marxist-semiotic critiques. That would speak directly to the multiliteracies commanded by young people who expect to read across text-types and the responsive genre aesthetics that follow suit.  But, I think the true significance of Ways of Seeing for a new generation of readers lies in its deconstructive sensibility, the intent to question assumptions (Berger uses the word “mystifications” (p. 11)) that would otherwise distract from or obscure the reality of oppression.  This complements young people’s impulse to resist dominant ideas about order and hierarchies of power that privilege some and disenfranchise others.
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Berger (1972) comes immediately to mind when reading Joy McCullough’s (2018) Blood Water Paint, a YA work of historical fiction on the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, a gifted painter of the 17th century.  Meaning, everywhere in the account is evident Berger’s indictment of an artistic tradition complicit in solidifying the secondary status of women as expressed by the phrase: “Men act and women appear” (Berger, 1972, p. 47).  With this analytic tool, Berger (1972) unpacks key European oil paintings including Susanna and the Elders—McCullough’s central allegory for illustrating how just being a woman can occasion violence—to show how classical artists positioned women as objects of the gaze to confirm the power and pleasure of a male spectator/possessor (p. 56).  Moreover, Berger (1972) argues that these optics translate to grotesque social effects when they transform subjects to objects and activate a relentless system of surveillance, dehumanization, and commodification.  
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This seems central to McCullough’s (2018) point in Blood Water Paint. Namely, what McCullough (2018) does through her expressionistic prose and synaptic historical shifts or instantaneous transitions between accounts of the biblical Susanna and Judith and Artemisia, is steep us in the sense of what it feels like to be considered an object (i.e., a passive receiver of action deprived of agency), to be hyper-conscious of one’s degraded status, and to be exploited for labor, body, and blood (literally exacted in Artemisia Gentileschi’s rape and the corrupt, subsequent trial).  McCullough’s (2018) book has a shocking effect not only for its unflinching portrayal of physical and psychic violence, but in the realization that its structure is the argument, that Gentileschi’s fate is imbricated in a master narrative of multiform acts of violence against women, which transcend time and culture.
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The lesson is harsh and necessary, and it begs the question: Who is the audience for this book?  I considered that seriously upon offering McCullough’s (2018) literary account of Gentileschi to the students in my college-level YAL course (many of whom are teacher candidates), for I generally propose new YA titles as templates for doing critical-interdisciplinary work at the secondary level.  I knew I could make a case for its viability as a whole-class reading with secondary students in the same way that I would teach Virginia Woolf (1929/2005) who staked out the identical ideological terrain, also through a character named “Judith” (see the account of “Shakespeare’s Sister,” section 3 from A Room of One’s Own).  Yet, I wondered about the level of background knowledge required for studying McCullough’s complex rumination on the difficulty of being an artist (a theme and chapter title in Permanent Red (Berger, 1985)), biblical history, visual analysis, trauma, and misogyny. 
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And then I realized that McCullough (2018) provides the pedagogical map for teaching the text when she contrasts various artists’ renderings of Judith with Gentileschi’s image of the bold, Jewish warrior.  More specifically, through Artemisia’s eyes, McCullough considers technical differences across versions of Judith produced by male artists including Orazio Gentileschi (Artemisia’s father), Allori, and Caravaggio, and concludes that the composition of a work of art is ultimately contingent on the artist’s “truth” (a keyword in the text for one’s lived experience), which is a metonymic expression of a specific set of social relations (pp. 145-146).  Once the question of representation is made manifest (Who is doing the showing/telling and why does this matter?), a critical conversation can be engaged.  

McCullough’s (2018) book very poignantly and personally tracks the kinds of impediments—real social and material circumstances delineated by Woolf (1929/2005)—that would impede and/or obviate the possibility of an artist doing meaningful, creative work: marginalization, ridicule, harassment, incredulity, dispossession, brutality, and (in a more quotidian sense) a simple lack of time to be left alone to complete something artful and whole.
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I wanted to discuss McCullough’s (2018) book because it is artistically wrought and offers an engaging vehicle for enacting the work of critical pedagogy, and because an important exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi’s work in London at the National Gallery has been delayed due to the pandemic (Note: Follow the link to an array of materials made available online in anticipation of the event, which could also contextualize a reading of McCullough’s book).  Additionally, related to the legacy of Berger’s visionary criticism, McCullough’s literary portrait responds directly to Berger’s (1985) guiding, analytic question: “Does this work help or encourage [people] to know and claim their social rights?” (p. 15) in that Gentileschi successfully pursues her life and work beyond the limits of her society.
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References
Berger, J.  (1972).  Ways of seeing.  British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books.

Berger, J. (1985).  Permanent red.  Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.

McCullough, J.  (2018).  Blood water paint.  Penguin Books.

National Gallery, London. (2020). Artemisia.  The National Gallery. 
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/artemisia

Woolf, V. (2005).  A room of one’s own (M. Hussey, Ed.). Harcourt. (Original work published in 1929)
 
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 week.

An Audience Beyond the Teacher, The Inspiring Youth, and an Appeal to the World by Becki Maldonado

12/23/2020

 
We often either underestimate the work that students can do and/or we fail to acknowledge a great deal of the good work they do. Do we do enough to provide them with authentic audiences beyond turning work into the teacher? Do we encourage them to pursue their own curiosity? Do we promote work that leads to inquiry? Do we share examples with our students of the work that other young people are doing throughout the world? In this post, Becki Maldonado provides a few examples of how she tries to go about this work and uses examples of environmental activism.

An Audience Beyond the Teacher, The Inspiring Youth, and an Appeal to the World

Students need to be seen, and their work in areas which matter the most to them need to be acknowledged. All of the major project assignments in my curriculum involve students being able to choose topics, which are important to them. 99% have chosen to read and write about areas of social injustice: immigration, racism, hunger, public health, climate change, etc. The other 1% have chosen topics like the school’s cell phone policy and people wasting money on beer instead of saving their money to upgrade their engine to a V8 in their truck. Regardless of the topics chosen, all of my students want their voice to be heard and told they were making a difference. 

One of my students, who was addressing climate justice, approached me and asked why the school wasted so many plastic bags in the classroom’s trash cans. They pointed out that even if the trash can only has one item in it, at the end of the day the janitor still takes the entire plastic bag out, throws it in the trash, and replaces it with a new one. We discussed the problem at length. I shop at a grocery store, which bags the groceries in paper bags. I offered to start bringing the paper bags up to school and put them in the trash can in place of the plastic bags. The student made a sign in Spanish asking the janitor to only empty the trash on Fridays. I made special arrangements for the student to explain to each class period about the change in the trash and why the change was made. After the initial changes were made, I told the student, “Thank you for taking the initiative and bringing this problem to my attention. You are going to save so many plastic bags from going into the landfill. You have inspired me to eliminate the plastic trash bags at my house also.” The student was glowing from head to toe.

Giving one student permission to change something and make a difference cascaded into other students being inspired to take all the ideas they had been reading and writing about and apply them to solving real world problems. This transformed the learning environment from theory and “ya cool we are working on something we are interested in” to authentic ownership and truly making a difference in their community. Knowing they were making a difference was the key motivation for them wanting to learn how to better communicate through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.


For Authentic Learning Acknowledge the Audience Beyond the Teacher

Education in America has bowed down to the standardized test and measurement gods. The bowing down to these gods has forced the curriculum into a teaching to the test rut. Standardized tests and standards have an odd relationship to each other. Which came first, the standards or the standardized tests? The more focused education gets on teaching to the test the deeper the rut gets. No amount of methods or pedagogy will help while teaching to the test remains the priority. Most of the students, except for those trying to please parents and teachers, don’t care about the tests. 

To get students out of the rut and actually learning, assignments need to have an audience beyond the teachers and the school. Literacy education is all about learning to effectively create and receive messages. We live in the era of globalization and technology. The world is the audience on social media. 

At the beginning of each project, I ask my students two important questions: “What message do you want to send?” and “Who is your audience?” The answer to the what message question evolves as the project is completed. However, the audience question is more difficult for the students, especially in the beginning. The standard answer often given by students  is “the teacher” is the audience. The students and I end up having a discussion about I am not the audience. I am the one here to help them effectively convey their messages. 
If students have never been exposed to writing, public speaking, or creating art, it is very difficult for them to grasp that anyone would listen to them. It is even more difficult for them to envision their message having the potential to impact and inspire other people, especially people who are older. This is where the book Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Franz Alt comes into play.
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An Unlikely Audience Inspired by Youth Climate Change Activists

In his most recent book, His Holiness the Dalai Lama applauds the environmental advocacy work of Greta and other youth advocates. “Seventeen-year-old Greta Thunberg, the teenage environmental activist who insists we heed scientists’ warnings and take direct action, inspires me” states His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2020, p. 43). Let’s pause here and reflect and break down what this is saying. A 17 year old, Swedish girl with Asperer’s syndrome sent a message so powerful it impacted an 84 year old, Tibetan refugee, who is the great spiritual leader of Tibet, living in Dharamsala, India. Even if one ignores age differences, cultural differences, and just got out a map and pointed out where Sweden is and where Dharmsala is, it is obvious her message had an impact because of globalization and technology. Nowhere in the book does His Holiness the Dalai Lama admit to having a mystical vision of Greta Thunberg and other youth climate change activists. The book Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World is a perfect example of the impact students’ messages can have on the world due to globalization and technology.

An Easy to Read Message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama

When I am considering having my class read a book, the first thing I always think about is how am I going to get my reluctant readers on board. A lot of my reluctant readers have panic attacks if the book is big and thick. The great news about this book is it is a  5” x 7” book with 174 pages. Handing them the physical copy is a piece of cake. No panic attack to have to overcome. I also always try to select books that have an audiobook version, so my English Language Learners and struggling readers can listen to what it is supposed to sound like and enjoy the book, instead of having to trip over pronunciation. The audiobook is only three hours and one minute long. What I really like about the audiobook is it has two different speakers: one when Franz Alt is writing and the other for when His Holiness the Dalai Lama is writing. Again, super easy. Most people think a book written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama would be difficult, however, the message is extremely accessible.
There are ten chapters, which are 8-15 pages long. Each chapter has explicit subtitles, which makes it reader friendly. The first two chapters are Franz Alt setting up the problem of climate change, or as he refers to it “The Third World War against Nature” (2020, p. 23). The last eight chapters are a mixture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking and Franz Alt and His Holiness conversing. His Holiness the Dalai Lama discusses how Buddhism corresponds to climate change, but he always brings the conversation back to how the youth climate justice activists throughout the world are making a difference. The act of coming back to the youth activists shows the connection between Buddhism and the youth activists, helping to humanize Buddhists, which for us in the United States can seem like a very foreign religion and culture.

But That’s Greta’s Impact Not Mine

Greta is the prime example of a teenager making a difference by using their voice. We do discuss Greta having Asperer’s syndrome and how it benefits her because it allows her to directly address the issue. There are always students who respond with, “I could never have the same impact as Greta.” To that statement, I challenge my students by asking them, “Have you ever tried to do what Greta is doing?” and “On the issue that is important to you, what have you done to try to make an impact?” Most of the time they haven’t done anything for an audience beyond the teacher. My response is always, “If you have never tried to do anything that would have an impact on people beyond the classroom, how do you know you won’t have the same impact as Greta?” It’s important to keep students from stopping themselves before they even begin due to self-doubt.

Finding Their Own Groove

Of course, the goal is not to have students be like Greta. The goal is for students to find their own groove and to shine by being themselves. Messages can only be impactful when the person sending it is being their authentic selves. No matter how much someone tries to fine tune their message if they are not being themselves and communicating their authentic passion, the receiver of the message will have a barrier appear and think to themselves, “Something is not right here.” When the sender of the message is authentic, the message is more likely to have an impact on the receiver. 
To help students find their own groove, we research and learn about other teens and young adults who have found their groove already. As a starting point, for my students who are interested in climate justice, I give them this list of  youth activists, how old they are, their topic of expertise, and a book that is related to their topic of expertise (Figure 1). Students do not have to do their research project based on any of these activists. They are free to choose other teen activists.

For the project students have to pick one teen activist in their area of interest. There are four sections of the project. 
  1. Me as an Activist Spotlight - The students write down the specific topic they are interested in plus five important facts about themselves. (These can also be goals.)
  2. Teen Activist Spotlight - The students read articles and the activist’s social media and highlight five important facts about the activist.
  3. Collaboration - The students create a plan about how they would collaborate with the teen activist, why it is important that they collaborate, and how collaborating would help solve both important issues.
  4. Book Highlight - A student has to pick a book which connects with the issues that are important to both them and the teen activist. Using the 3, 2, 1 technique, they write about three ways the books connect to their issue and the teen activist’s issue, two important facts everyone should know from the book, and one question they still have. (Modifications and accommodations can be made by using picture books.)
Because student’s should always have an audience beyond the teachers, we print them out and put them on poster board or card stock and put them in the hallway. Some public libraries will allow galleries of students’ work. Always try to prearrange public galleries in social hot spots.

The Message of Our Youth is Important

There are some adults and even some educators who believe we are preparing our youth for adulthood. If one is teaching financial literacy, this could be true. However, in literacy education, students can and should use their voices no matter how young they are. The sooner the youth start to be able to communicate their ideas the better off society and the world will be. Students being able to successfully send meaningful messages which impact the receiver should be one of primary goals as literacy educators.
The following is a list of Youth Climate Activist by name, age, topic of Expertise, and their book:
Greta Thunberg: 17, Global Environmental Diplomacy, No One is Too Small to Make a Difference
Felix Finkbeiner: 23, Tree Planting, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever to Reverse Global Warming Edited by Paul Hawken
Gitanjali Rao: 15,Testing Water for Contaminants, Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation by Candy J. Cooper and Marc Aronson
Irsa Hirsi: 17 Diversification Within the Climate Justice Movement, One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet by Anuradha Rao
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: 20, Ecomusicology, We Rise: The Earth Guardians Guide to Building a Movement that Restores the Planet
Helena Gualinga: 18, The Amazon Rainforest and its Indigenous People, Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon by John Hemming
Leah Namugerwa: 16, Climate Change Awareness and Plastic Pollution in Uganda, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel
Daphne Frias: 22, Effects of Climate Change on the Disabled Community and Public Health, Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do About It by Paul R. Epstein and Dan Ferber
Jurwaria Jama: 15, Carbon Emission, The Carbon Code: How You Can Become a Climate Change Hero by Brett Favaro
Quannah Chasinghorse: 18, Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic by Marla Cone
Environmental Books for 4th-8th grade
  • Cast Away: Poems for Our Time by Naomi Shihab Nye
  • Green Nation Revolution: Use Your Future to Change the World by Valentina Gianella and Lucia Ester Marazzi
  • We Are the Weather Makers: The History of Climate Change by Sally M Walker and Tim Flannery
  • Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines by Paul Fleischman
  • You Can Change the World: The Kids’ Guide to a Better Planet by Lucy Bell
Non-Fiction Climate Justice Books for High School and College
  • Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders by Angelou Ezeilo
  • Climate Change From the Streets by Michael Mendez
  • Indigenous Environmental Justice edited by Karen Jarratt-Snider and Marianne O. Nielsen
  • A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington
  • Writers on Earth: New Visions for Our Planet (Young Voices Across the Globe) edited by Elizabeth Kolbert and Write the World
  • Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, and Wetlands by Cathryn Berger Kaye M.A. and Philippe Cousteau
  • Here: Poems for the Planet edited by Elizabeth J. Coleman
  • No One is Too Small to Make A Difference by Greta Thunberg
Until next week.

Finding Quality YA Books: Reviewing Reviews

12/8/2020

 
Michelle Falter never ceases to amaze me. Every time you turn around you can catch her doing good work and helping others. Just recently, Michelle was awarded the North Carolina English Teachers’ Association’s first-ever Anti-Racist Teaching Award. In part, the recognition noted her work with colleagues.

This summer, Falter co-authored “Becoming Anti-Racist ELA Teachers: Ways to Move Forward” with College of Education Associate Professors Chandra Alston, Ph.D., and Crystal Chen Lee, Ed.D. The white paper outlines five steps and provides practical resources to help secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers work toward becoming anti-racist educators.

Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday was pleased to be one of the places to host this white paper. You can find information about it here.

In addition, one of Michelle's post in 2017 lead to one of my collaborative efforts as a book editor. She wrote about the Netflix's show, 13 Reasons Why. The response was amazing and we then collaborated on a project that resulted in two books about addressing grief and dying in the English Language Arts Classroom. Unfortunately, these two books remain relevant in our current situation. We hope you check them out.
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Michelle's offering this week is perfect. I have been neglecting doing something like this for several months. I was excited that she produced this post. Once you get students reading and thinking about YA literature to they have the resources to find more quality YA offerings? If they don't, Michelle points to several resources that are full of information. Thanks Michelle.

Finding Quality YA Books: Reviewing Reviews
Michelle M. Falter Assistant Professor of English Education North Carolina State University ​

As a scholar of YA literature, I don’t often have a problem finding new YA texts to read. But over the past 10 years of teaching preservice and inservice teachers about YA literature, I have come to realize that not everyone knows how to find critical, thoughtful reviews of literature to make informed decisions for their classrooms and students. I hope this post serves as a helpful tool to find great books and put them in the hands of students. 
In thinking about where to find books, I want to start by saying that I think there is somewhat of a hierarchy of sources. Although my ranking of them is definitely open to critique, I see these categories as moving from most academic to most public. Each has their pros and cons, limitations and strengths. As I talk with my students about how to find quality literature, we talk about where you might start looking if you had an interest in a particular topic or genre of literature and how much one can trust the reviews based on the respectability of sources and expertise of the reviewers.
Academic Journals
In the first category are academic journals such as The Alan Review or the International Journal of Young Adult Literature. Out of all the places to look for reviews of books, I put these journals at the top of my list for the fact that books discussed here (and the scholars who write about them)  have gone through either a rigorous editor review or a peer review process. We can know that the opinions expressed in these book reviews have gone through some sort of vetting process. The authors of these pieces are considered experts on the topics they write about. ​
Additionally, not only are the books reviewed, but often these reviews include implications for educators or approaches to including these texts in classrooms. The reviews move beyond merely a summary and an opinion of the text. Although The English Journal and Voices from the Middle are not specifically about young adult lIterature, their issues often contain articles and columns that do highlight YA lit. The drawback to searching for quality YA texts in academic journals is you have to either have a subscription to access the content, or you have to have access to a library database such as ERIC or JSTOR that subscribes to these journals for you. Also, not all texts are reviewed. And, unfortunately, many of these review articles are often behind paywalls.
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However, for teachers who want to read reviews from these journals, there are a few tips I can provide. Many authors are now uploading a copy of their article pdfs to websites like academia.edu or google scholar for people to access their work for free. Additionally, most authors are willing to send you their article if you email them. So, if you find an abstract or a title that sounds interesting, reach out to the author. Finally, one of the reasons I love The ALAN Review so much is that articles over two years old are freely available online in their archive. Additionally, the journals Study and Scrutiny, Research on Diversity in Youth Literature, and the WOW Review are completely open access and free to read online.
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Review Magazines
In the next category are review magazines. The whole purpose of these magazines is to review books. Some of these reviews are done anonymously (e.g. Kirkus Reviews), but others are done transparently by named teachers, librarians, and professional book reviewers (i.e. The Horn Book and School Library Journal). Most of their reviews are accessible and searchable on their websites, although a few are behind a paywall. All of them have yearly awards for best books of the year and several of them use a star system to highlight particularly noteworthy books. Most of the reviews provide information such as page lengths, genre, and recommended age ranges for readers.
The downside of these websites is that the reviews are fairly short and don’t provide in-depth information. Additionally, they are not really geared towards how to teach the texts or the potential for teaching the texts. Instead, the reviews focus on perceived engagement and literary merit. These reviews are widely deemed as reputable.Often, though, when I need a quick and reliable review, I will head to these resources. Other websites will often quote from these reviews as a way to entice readers to buy the books. ​
Academic Blogs & Websites
Another source for reviews is academic blogs and websites. There are many more out there that I have not listed here, but these are often my go to places to learn about new (and old) texts. What I like about these blogs and websites is that they are curated and written by scholars,  teachers, and writers of young adult literature. Although the reviews found within these sites are not peer reviewed (generally speaking), I do find their background and expertise in this field to give them authority on the topic. Two of my favorite go to academic blogs (besides Steve’s YA Wednesday that is!) are Rich In Color and American Indians in Children’s Literature. 
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Nonprofit Education Organization Websites
Besides academic journals, magazines, and blogs, reviews are also put together by nonprofit education organizations too. Both Social Justice Books and The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) put out reviews of books related to issues of diversity, social justice, and representation. Their reviews focus specifically on those topics. This is helpful in making more inclusive decisions about texts. Common Sense Media, on the other hand, is devoted to more holistics reviews that bring in perspectives of parents and children, along with their own reviews to help educators, parents, and students make informed decisions about whether a text may be a good fit or appropriate given the context or background one has. What’s nice about their reviews is that they move beyond summary, and give ratings and information on educational value, positive messages, positive role models & representations, violence, sex, language, consumerism, and drinking, drugs & smoking, among other things.
News Sources
Moving towards more public reviews would be news sources. What I like about these reviews is that they tend to be much longer, go more in depth, and take a particular angle on the topic presented in the literature. Sometimes the news source will even interview the author and include that with the review. Although the reviewers are not necessarily scholars of YA literature, they do provide an interesting take on texts that appeals to a mass audience. However, I am often in disagreement with these reviews and find some of their ideas about literature outdated. Two of my go to news sources are the NY TImes Book Reviews and NPR Reviews.
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Public Sources
Next, we move our way into the most public, and least academic, or least scholarly, reviews -- those from Public Websites and Social/Public Book Reviews. There are more that I could have added to these lists, but these are ones that I have frequented myself. Many people start here when they are looking for a new YA book to read or pass on to people, and there is definitely nothing wrong with that strategy. My hope, however, is that this isn’t the only place teachers and students are using.

Personally,
Book Riot and Epic Reads are two of my favorite websites to learn about new books. I also get YA newsletters from publishers (e.g. Simon & Schuster) sent directly to my inbox. However, these websites are for-profit entities, and I think that is important to recognize. These websites often make money when consumers/readers, like us, purchase the books they review when we click on their links. Additionally, publishers will sometimes send these websites free advanced reader copies (ARCs) in hopes that the authors/texts will be reviewed favorably by these websites and therefore more people will purchase those books. It’s important to be somewhat leery of sites that are for profit.

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Many people I know also purchase or buy books based solely on the reviews on GoodReads, Amazon, or through YouTube reviews. Particularly with GoodReads, the benefit is that you can get recommendations from your reading friend network. However, many of my friends don’t write long reviews. They may give a book 1-5 stars and call it a day. Therefore, the reviews you do read on any of these public social sites tend to be from people you do not know. 

The positive side of these public reviews is that no one is paying them to review. These are honest, often brutally honest, reviews from regular folks. As a teacher, I find these reviews helpful in getting a snapshot into a wide range of general reader interest and engagement. However, what I don’t find, typically, is rather insightful or critical reviews. I also have no way to judge the authority of the person giving the review. Do I trust a person with the reviewer name @IlikebigbooksandIcannotlie? I am not sure I can. Maybe you are more trusting than I! 
Some Final Thoughts
I tell my students that finding Goldilocks’ proverbial “just right” book takes time, it takes sleuthing, it takes comparing and contrasting across and between various sources. One assignment that I have done some years in my YA Literature course is to compare and contrast reviews across these different categories, looking for what is in common and what the reviewers disagree or differ on. It is pretty amazing the spectrum of ideas reviewers have. I never take one perspective as the ultimate authority on a text. I want to see what scholars say, but I am also interested in public opinion about texts. Often people disagree about things like the literary merit of a text, the engagement factor of the text, or even its suitability for certain age groups. Some folks might notice historical inaccuracies or racist stereotypes and tropes, while others will notice things like text complexity, diction, and language choices. Additionally, some books are great reads, but are less teachable. Reading across reviews gives a much more complex, well-rounded picture of a young adult text. Reading reviews across a variety of sources helps me to know what books to put on my classroom bookshelf and can recommend to individual readers, which books to use for literature circles around a common theme or genre, and which books make sense for a whole class deep dive. They can give me a sense of potential controversies and pitfalls while also helping me justify reading or teaching a YA text. 
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In the end, a review is an opinion, and it’s important to remember that. However, I trust people’s opinions who are experts and scholars of literature far more than @bettybuysbooks, for example, because I don’t know Betty, and Betty might be a bot or a troll. But, hopefully understanding the differences between these types of reviews will help you and your students make more informed, critical decisions about the books you and they read and recommend.
Bio
Michelle M. Falter is currently an Assistant Professor of English Education in the department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences at North Carolina State University. Previously, Michelle worked as a middle and high school English teacher both in Wisconsin, and abroad in Germany and the Dominican Republic, and also as a high school instructional coach in Georgia. Michelle’s scholarship focuses on dialogic, critical, and feminist pedagogies, emotion in the teaching of literature and writing in secondary classrooms, English teacher education, and adolescent literature. She has previously co-edited the books When Loss Gets Personal  and Moving Beyond Personal Loss to Societal Grieving with Steven Bickmore through Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.  Michelle can be contacted at [email protected] or on twitter @MFalterPhD.
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Until next week.

YA Literature and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by Emily Sauls Pendergrass

12/8/2020

 
Emily Sauls Pendergrass is back as a guest contributor. Today, she has a timely reminder that as a collection of human beings we have tried to establish standards of behavior. We have proclaimed that we all deserve to be tried with dignity. That all of us have basic Human Rights. How are we doing? Do we do enough to watch out for one another? Do we follow leaders who work to establish laws and practices that ensure the human rights of all of us?

​This was a wonderful reminder. It had been awhile since I have paused and contemplate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. How are we doing? How are you doing? Thanks Emily.

YA Literature and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by
​Emily Sauls Pendergrass

Books can help us remember our community, show us civil obligation, and lead us to advocacy. In December, people around the globe formally celebrate Human Rights and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) from the United Nations.  The UDHR is a revolutionary statement that “proclaims the inalienable rights which everyone is entitled to as a human being - regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Standing up for human rights is a call for all of us to engage in, explore deeply, and enact change. How do we do this with the context of YA lit and reading with students?
One of my favorite ways to explore human rights with students is through the use of Deborah Ellis’s novels, specifically The Breadwinner. This novel is about a young girl, Parvana, and her family’s struggles during Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Parvana learns to navigate her world where schools are closed, unaccompanied girls are not permitted outside their homes, fresh water is from a pump away from the apartment, her father’s imprisonment, and so much more. As part of year-long study into what life is like in our community, state, country, and world, we dove into the novel and began to unpack life in Afghanistan regarding gender, language, religion, access violations. Our essential question for this unit was “What does it mean for something to be a right?” 
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Through connecting with what they are familiar with and exploring new issues, we sought to understand what Human Rights Violations are and what we can do about them. While reading, students track the human rights violations of 1 or more characters. They start to work on defining the complex issues at hand and record any questions that arise. As they near the end of the book, they choose 1-2 violations they want to learn more about. As they deeply explore their choices, they read to find out what life is like now in post-Taliban rule Afghanistan, they search for other places/countries that have similar experiences, they compare and contrast those experiences, trying to synthesize across the concern. 
The final step is to think about what action steps they as teenagers can take to begin to improve the world around them. Sometimes students write/produce Public Service Announcements about human rights violations in our local community or volunteer to serve in a refugee committee. Once my 6th grade students even wrote a book using The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown as a mentor text. The students wrote The Important Thing About War is that it Strives to End in Peace. The poem at the beginning of the book was all about the atrocities of war and midway through the book the poem changed to sharing ideas for peace. What steps will you take with students to celebrate Human Rights, notice wrongs, and advocate for change this December and in the future? 
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Until next week.

A Brief Look Back at the 2020 ALAN Workshop.

12/2/2020

 
This year's ALAN workshop was unique in that we all had to meet virtually. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic experience. Take a quick look at a few of the moments that some of the participants felt were worth remembering.
Melanie Hundley
Vanderbilt University

I had the joy of sharing a presentation time slot with Shelly Shaffer. We were both presenting books with types of activism in them.  I really enjoyed hearing about Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro.  Shelly’s focus on the characters and their choices of whether to be a bystander or an activist was very powerful.  She included multiple media formats (read alouds, YouTube videos, and a PowerPoint) as a way to engage the participants in the session.  I have learned so much from this ELATE session each of the years that I have been able to be a part of it.  I think it is one of the best parts about NCTE! (Mark was also one of the authors presenting at the ALAN Workshop.)
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Robert Bittner
Simon Fraser University
Vancouver, BC
​

This year’s ALAN Workshop was a delight, filled with thought-provoking panels, insightful keynote speeches, and informative breakout sessions. Ricki Ginsberg, Sarah Ressler Wright, Jim Blasingame, the Board, and the whole ALAN team turned lemons into lemonade this year, bringing people a fantastic selection of panels and presentations in an accessible and flexible format that I’m sure many attendees besides myself appreciated very much!
Charity Cantey
Middle/High School Librarian
Louisiana State University Laboratory School
​Baton Rouge, LA

Wow!  True to form, this year’s ALAN Workshop featured two jam-packed days of wisdom, wit, and camaraderie.  The virtual format allowed me to attend my first ALAN Breakfast, and Angie Thomas’s address was truly inspiring.  I have pages of beautiful quotes and lists of books to read and recommend from authors like Frederick Joseph, George M. Johnson, Tiffany D. Jackson, and so many more.  Nikki Grimes told us, “Somebody needs the story you have to tell.”  This year, more than ever, we did need these stories--their love, their optimism, their fire, their commitment to a better world.  Thank you to the ALAN team for putting together a successful virtual space for such powerful stories to be told!  
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Candence Robillard
English Teacher
Louisiana State University Laboratory School
Baton Rouge, LA
​

I’m so grateful to the ALAN organizing committee for hosting an inspiring virtual workshop. Not only do I have pages of notes filled with quotes to post on my classroom walls and books to share with my students, but I also have the experience of participating in a community of readers and writers. Samira Ahmed’s keynote talk reminds us that “love is a revolution” and “joy is a form of resistance.” Thank you, ALAN, for inspiring joy and love through story.
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Sharon Kane
​State University of New York at Oswego

I never thought that I would be able to attend an ALAN Workshop via my phone while walking along the Erie Canal. I got many miles in while enjoying the speakers and learning about new YA books. Talk about multi-tasking! One of the best parts for me was receiving a text message Monday morning from one of my undergraduates who was also registered, saying, “Good morning, Professor.  It’s Erin. How is your ALAN going?”  We texted our way through the next two days, so in a way we attended the workshop together.  Enthusiastic new teachers like Erin, so passionate about reading, will assure that the spirit and mission of ALAN will continue to thrive in the future. 
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Leilya Pitre
Southeastern Louisiana University
Hammond, LA
​

The 2020 ALAN Workshop demonstrated that no obstacles have a chance when books, passionate readers, and writers are involved. I sincerely appreciate everyone, who was involved in the preparation of this year’s big event, for their dedication, time, efforts, and endless generosity. Ricki Ginsberg deserves a special prize!
A thrilling start with Angie Thomas and Nikki Grimes energized the participants from the very beginning. I especially loved Angie’s hope that The Hate U Give would be outdated. I love the novel; don’t get me wrong, but this is a profound idea meaning that the issues of racial injustice and police brutality will become history, and we will be busy reaching other, more promising goals. 
The two days were packed with funny, sad, inspiring, truthful, and majestic stories. Huge thank you to all the writers—we are at ALAN because you share your stories, and we want to bring them to our students.
Gretchen Rumohr
Aquinas College
Grand Rapids, Michigan


If there is one thing I want to remember about this year’s workshop, it is the meaningful relationships with treasured colleagues and authors that build from year to year.  Even as my arms itched to carry my ALAN box from registration to a much-awaited seat in the ballroom, even as my eyes longed to look around to others’ stacks so that I could trade books and make friendly introductions, and even as I smiled at the computer monitor and not at the faces of my ALAN family members, I felt a strong community of fellow YA lovers and knew I was home. It was thus fitting that Samira Ahmed used her powerful Tuesday keynote to remind us to lead with love. May it be so in the ways that we read and teach--and may we gather again and celebrate new and old traditions for ALAN 2021.
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Alice Hays
California State University, Bakersfield
Bakersfield, California

While I am always in awe over the talented authors that I hear, I was particularly blown away by Malavika Kannan who wrote an #ownvoices book titled, The Bookweaver’s Daughter.  At the age of 19, she has already participated in multiple forms of resistance, beginning with the Pulse Shooting in Florida that occurred during her junior year of high school. You may be familiar with her viral Huffington Post article, “I Led my High School’s Walkout to Demand Gun Reform. Here’s What I Learned” (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/high-school-walkout-gun-reform_n_5aba7939e4b06409775ab481 ).

In addition to her writing, she started The Homegirl Project intended to empower women of color. What I found particularly fascinating about her, and the other authors in her panel (Mark Oshiro and Kim Johnson) is that they all saw fantasy as a way of exploring social justice issues, and ultimately inspiring activism. This is something that I am incredibly interested in, as fantasy  is my favorite genre, while activism is my favorite form of pedagogy. While Malavika praised previous activists for paving the road thus far, and claims to merely be picking up the torch, she is also passing it on to others, and I look forward to continuing to foster activism through young adult literature with books like hers, and the others on her panel!
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Erin Vargo
Senior at State University of New York at Oswego
​

My professor Sharon Kane raves about ALAN every year. Because Covid made the format virtual this year, I jumped at the opportunity to attend. I was so excited for all of the things I’d learn, but even more so for my book box. I have never been able to hear so many authors speak about their books ever in my life! I’ve never been to ALAN in person, but I think being able to see everyone’s rooms, the bookshelves behind them, and their zoom profile pictures made the whole experience that much more intimate. Having the live chat running, I learned even more about the other ALAN attendees. Being a senior English and Education major, I can never seem to get enough YA in my classes, but this workshop has more than satisfied that craving. I can’t wait to share with my host teacher what new YA books she needs to add to her shelves. I will definitely be putting the ALAN workshop on my calendar for next year. For now, I’m enjoying getting a jump on my January reading.
Anita Dubroc 
Louisiana State University (graduate student) 
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 
​

This year’s ALAN, despite its differences, still inspired the closeness and conversation I’ve grown accustomed to over the three years I’ve attended the Workshop. Despite the crappiness of 2020, young adult authors are channeling their frustrations and hope into their works. The author panels showed me how close the YAL writing community is, as they chimed in on each other’s books and themes. I also appreciated the conversations happening in the chat. Thanks to all of you who shared author quotes and social media channels from the panels, as I kept a running Google Doc of links, book titles, and profound ideas that I wanted to remember. (Y’all rock!) The chat also resonated with encouragement and praise from ALAN attendees.

​One panel that I found particularly relevant was on “Intersectionality and Mental Health,” as mental health (or brain health as someone in the chat reworded it) has become more important in recent months as young people deal with months of isolation away from schools, peers, and families which once played important roles in their lives. I particularly appreciated the authors noting that mental health is “just being wired differently” and spoke to the importance of YAL-reading adults as being a necessary part of the conversations to normalize diagnoses, treatment, and medication. Shout-out to someone in the chat who acknowledged that “teachers are first responders” in advocating for their students with these diagnoses. I always leave ALAN inspired as both a reader and an educator: inspired to read more YAL and to read more diversely, but this year, I’ve come away understanding my role in sharing these titles and authors with my former students, fellow educators, and student teachers.  
Dani Rimbach-Jones
Basic High School 
Henderson Nevada

This year’s ALAN was extremely rewarding. Everyone who work so hard to put it together deserves an around of applause. It was inspiring to hear Angie Thomas advocate for unimpressed readers. Advocating for our youth to have books them impress them.

Samira Ahmed’s keynote presentation on revolution was awe inspiring. A revolution isn’t an act of violence but an act of love. In a year that has been turbulent with so many unknowns, it was refreshing and hopeful to be surrounded (virtually) with people who want to to support our youth to be the change the world needs.
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Steve Bickmore
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

I felt that the 2020 ALAN Workshop was fantastic success. It went off without a hitch. I am sure that Ricki felt some pressure and was aware of any tiny glitch as the workshop progressed. From my point of view it was wonderful. Once again, I think there were so many great moments. To just pick one, I have to select Eric Gansworth's keynote. This author is amazing and his ability to share stories from his own childhood on the reservation is amazing. If Eric is not an author you have read yet, then it is time to remedy that as soon as possible. Pick up Apple Skin to the Core or If I Ever Get Out of Here.
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Until next time.

    Dr. Steve Bickmore
    ​Creator and Curator

    Dr. Bickmore is a Professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and a past president of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.
    Dr. Gretchen Rumohr
    Co-Curator
    Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and writing program administrator at Aquinas College, where she teaches writing and language arts methods.   She is also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. She lives with her four girls and a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier in west Michigan.

    Bickmore's
    ​Co-Edited Books

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    Meet
    Evangile Dufitumukiza!
    Evangile is a native of Kigali, Rwanda. He is a college student that Steve meet while working in Rwanda as a missionary. In fact, Evangile was one of the first people who translated his English into Kinyarwanda. 

    Steve recruited him to help promote Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media while Steve is doing his mission work. 

    He helps Dr. Bickmore promote his academic books and sometimes send out emails in his behalf. 

    You will notice that while he speaks fluent English, it often does look like an "American" version of English. That is because it isn't. His English is heavily influence by British English and different versions of Eastern and Central African English that is prominent in his home country of Rwanda.

    Welcome Evangile into the YA Wednesday community as he learns about Young Adult Literature and all of the wild slang of American English vs the slang and language of the English he has mastered in his beautiful country of Rwanda.  

    While in Rwanda, Steve has learned that it is a poor English speaker who can only master one dialect and/or set of idioms in this complicated language.

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