Weekend pick for November 8, 2024

Weekend pick for November 8, 2024

Dr. Rebecca Chatham-Vazquez

Welcome to the second November Weekend Pick!
Dr. Rebecca Chatham-Vazquez is an assistant professor and the director of English Education at North Dakota State University, where she is living her dream, teaching Methods courses and Young Adult Literature and mentoring preservice English teachers. She is in her 15th year of teaching and loves it just as much now as she did on day one. She has taught and worked with pre- and in-service teachers in Montana (very rural), Arkansas (urban), Arizona (urban and rural), and, now, North Dakota (urban and rural). 
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She has been a member of NCTE since 2008, and is a strong supporter of professional organizations like NCTE, its state affiliates, and ALAN. Her research interests include teacher education, rural teacher support, YAL, and methods of teaching reading. She can be reached at [email protected]

Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Hearts Unbroken literally dropped into my life this month. I was walking to the faculty lounge from my office, and I passed by our department’s table of free books and there it was: a book I had been longing to read but hadn’t yet had the chance to! I picked it up without hesitation, took it back to my office, and, once I started it, I couldn’t put it down!
            

Cynthia Leitich Smith

If you are hoping to read a book about friendship, family, and the importance of home, this book is for you. I absolutely love the way Cynthia (Mvskoke) centers characters in her books. In Hearts Unbroken, we follow Louise Wolfe as she enters her senior year at East Hannesburg High. She’s just broken up with the most popular guy at school (just ask him!), and all she wants is to do well this year and become a top journalist for the school’s newspaper, The Hive. When the new drama teacher announces that she’ll be taking an “inclusive approach” to all future casting for performances, she creates a domino effect forcing Louise, her family, her school, and her community into a reckoning with the community’s less-than-inclusive history. Join Louise through the twists and turns of the first few months of school; there are some stormy days, but there’s definitely a rainbow at the end of them. [More on Hearts Unbroken at the end of the month in Rebecca’s Wednesday post!]
            You can read the synopsis and find an excerpt from the book here (https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/ya-books/ya_index/hearts-unbroken/ ) on Cynthia’s website. ​