Bickmore's Birthday Suggestions or 12 for the 12th

Last year, I made some reading recommendations for my birthday. Well, it has rolled around one my time and my birthday is this week (July 12th). It makes me happy if people are reading and it makes me even happier if they read books that I love. Since I am under some deadlines and getting ready to go to the 2019 ELATE conference I am going to do it again. 

Some of these are books I read for the first time just recently and others are books that I keep thinking about after years have gone by. Some have made the Weekend Picks list and the others probably will be for too long. I hope many of you find these books familiar, if not, add them to your "to be read list" as soon as possible. 

Since my children aren't around for my birthday this year, I have rounded up these 12 suggestions and gathered them around me. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

In no particular order these are the books:
1. We Were Here by Matt de la Pena
2. Big Mouth Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
3. Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles
4. Too Shattered for Mending by Peter Brown Hoffmeister
5. People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins
​6. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
7. Dig by A. S. King
8. The Wild Lands by Paul Greci
9. Holes by Louis Sachar
10. Dear Martin by Nic Stone
11. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
12. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Okay, to start, I am going to refrain from saying--I Love This Book--each time. Let's just take that as a given. Instead, I will add a link to the Kirkus review, link the picture and the title to a place you can get the book, an provide a couple of sentences of comment. Also, I haven't included books that I have recently talked about in the blog. If you browse the blog and find an author that I need to consider, I would love to hear about it.

We Were Here by Matt de la Pena   The Kirkus Review

This book stands alone as a great story, but for my friends who teach AP and honors classes and can't just wrap their minds around using YA in the classroom this might just be the ticket. At the 2019 UNLV Summit, we talked about how to included YA in the curriculum.  I think you can just teach these alone in a variety of formats. If, however, you can't seem to do that, We Were Here is a great companion book with Of Mice and Men. Read it, you will make the connection.

Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates   The Kirkus Review

Joyce Carol Oates is a tremendous writer. She is also fantastically prolific. Among her many offerings is a collection of YA Novels. One might argue that many of her books are accessible to adolescent readers--especially the short stories. Most certainly a number of her books could and should be used in AP courses, but are they? Maybe we should be more aware of what she has produced in the YA classification. I suggest starting with Big Mouth & Ugly Girl. In an age of school tragedies this particular book still rings as important. Who is bad? Who is a threat and who isn't. 

Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles   The Kirkus Review

Who hasn't wondered about the motivation of a random middle finger in response to what seemed to be a minor offense. Are some of us even guilty of returning the gesture. Jo Knowles' Read Between the Lines is fantastic exploration into motives and the actions of several people whose lives mingle unexpectedly. 

Too Shattered for Mending by Peter Brown Hoffmeister  The Kirkus Review

This book still rocks me even after a third reading. I have tried to promote Peter's book and I won't stop. Kids are surviors. It doesn't excuse the horrible things that people do to them or the conditions that people force them to live in. Too Shattered for Mending is ultimately a book of hope and book that signals, for me, a writer that everyone should be reading.

People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins  The Kirkus Review

People Kill People is a beautiful book about a horrible topic. Once again, Ellen Hopkins hit a home run. When Gretchen, Shelly, and I were putting together the structure for the edited book about teaching about gun violence in the schools, we fully intended to included a chapter about this wonderful book. Alas, we ran out of space. We still intend to write about it in some format. That shouldn't stop you from reading this book as soon as you can.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour  The Kirkus Review

Nina LaCour's We Are Okay is a book that took me completely by surprise. I read it on the advice of a colleague and loved it. It is coming of age story that honors intergenerational relationships. The truth is that living and making ones way in the world can be hard regardless of how old we are. Adolescent or Adult, we all have stuff we are trying to work through. Perhaps we should try harder to connect and see things from each others perspectives.

Dig by A. S. King  The Kirkus Review

I read the first chapter of Dig and had to put it down. Those two pages where so beautiful, so perfect. I sat in amazement. The first chapter captures years of a couple's realtionship perfectly. I do indeed understand that some adolescents may not immediately fill the strength of that chapter, but they will relish the development of the adolescents characters. Readers will read with amazement as King weaves these characters together with her surrealistic magic. This book is Art with a capital A, pure and simple. It is literature worthy of reading and analysis and any level.

The Wild Lands by Paul Greci  The Kirkus Review

Do you love an outdoor story? Do you know kids who love Gary Paulsen? Do you know students who tell you that the last book they read was Hatchet, but they loved it? Then it is time for you to read Paul Greci's The Wild Lands. It is Paulsen with a bit of Disopia and end of days motif running through it. Paul and I meet many years ago at an ALAN workshop. We keep meeting year after year and now he has this wonderful book and a couple more 

Holes by Louis Sachar  The Kirkus Review

I tell people frequently that if I were to teach AP literature again, the book I would use to begin the year is Holes. It has everything--race, feminism, class issues, magical realism, fractured naratives that weave back and forth through time. Furthermore it is a fantastic story. Kids love it and many will have read it as fifth or sixth graders and will quickly realise that you can read a book at more than one level. Students will quickly learn that they can master literary analysis. If you only know the movie do yourself a favor and read this book.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone  The Kirkus Review

Nic Stone's Dear Martin is a wonderful debut novel. It is strong and vibrant. The character is remarkable. Stone uses the letter motif as if she was a seasoned writer. After a unjustice and brutal encounter with the police Justyce McAllister starts writing letters to one of his heroes -- Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. While a couple of books dealing with race and police burtality have recieved more press, Dear Martin should be considered in the same conversation. I keep coming back to it over and over.  

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina  The Kirkus Review

Meg Medina is riding a well deserved wave after being awarded the Newbery Award Medal for Merci Suarez Changes Gears, but at the same time no one should neglect her earlier YA novels. I was a fan of Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass from the beginning. It is a stunning exploration of bullying and isolation. I taught it last spring in a graduate class and I hoped that the students would like it as much as I did. Nevertheless, I was amazed at how universally they loved this book and how many wanted to share stories of their own marginalization while adolescents. this is a powerful book that should be around for a long time.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds  The Kirkus Review

Again, i don't think we should have to make excuses for liking, for reading, or for teaching YA literature. Quality YA can hold its own. Jason Reynolds keeps proving it over and over again. Reynolds verse novel, Long Way Down, is another addition to strong and growing body of work that speaks to adolescents and adults. Sure, this novel could be used as a companion text with Dicken's A Christmas Carol, but why can't we just acknowledge that Reynolds is growing as an author, that his is a craftsman. His books stand on their own merit. The motif of the visiting ghost takes this book to a new level. Perhaps students won't know get all the themes and elements of craftsmanship are involved in the book, but they will remember it. Perhaps ,even more importantly, they will read it again and again.

Until next week.