 Katie Sluiter | Welcome to our second Weekend Picks for April, brought to us again by Dr. Katie Sluiter. This week she, along with her student August, discusses two novels, the first by recently featured author Jas Hammonds (see February 19th post), and the second a murder mystery by Holly Jackson. Thank you, Katie, for your inspiring post this week! Katie Sluiter has been teaching ELA for over 20 years in West Michigan where she lives with her family and her English bulldog. She has her PhD in English Education and currently teaches 8th grade ELA near Grand Rapids, MI. |
We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds
I established my classroom library eleven years ago thanks to both generous donations and grant money from the Book Love foundation. In that time, I have watched different book genres and series go in and out of vogue among my 8th grade readers.
 Dr. Sluiter's classroom, part 1  Dr. Sluiter's classroom, Part 2 | When I taught high school seniors, there was a huge request for anything with characters experiencing some sort of hardship. Titles like The Fault in Our Stars (Green), Perks of Being a Wallflower (Chbosky), and Thirteen Reasons Why (Asher). My first years in the junior high were filled with demand for dragon and wizard books. Then it switched to books highlighting social issues like Mockingbird (Erskine), All American Boys (Reynolds & Kiely), and Refugee (Gratz).  Dr. Sluiter's classroom, part 3 |
The past couple years have been an onslaught of requests for mystery, suspense, and horror. While I am pretty open to reading any genre, horror is not my favorite, but I do love a good mystery with some suspense mixed in. One of the first books I read this school year during our independent reading time was We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds.
 | Avery Anderson and her family move to Bardell, Georgia right before her senior year of high school in a very prestigious Washington DC school. Avery’s maternal grandmother, Letty, is dying of cancer, and Avery’s mom insists that they move in with her to care for her even though they haven’t been to Bardell in almost ten years. It is very obvious that whatever conflict there was between her mom and grandmother is still alive and kicking, but no one will tell Avery what it’s about, so she tries to find out on her own. In the meantime, Avery makes friends with Simone Cole, her next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, a member of Bardell’s most prominent family--and whose mother was mysteriously murdered when Jade was just a toddler. As the three girls grow close as friends, Avery and Simone become more than friends. But prejudice runs deep in Bardell, and Avery finds out that fallout from Simone being outed is not the only injustice her family has been involved in. |
| With time against her, Avery tries to uncover the racism, trauma, and scandal that her, Simone, and Jade’s families have been a part of and what the means for the future. I routinely got lost in this book and was startled when our time was up for independent reading. The students kept asking what was happening in the book because apparently I make faces when I read. Hammonds creates a lovely balance between progressing the plot, but keeping just enough back--while throwing a couple twists in--that you just have to turn the next page. A few students have checked the book out after I read it and book talked it, but for many, they need more suspense, more of a puzzle. My student August read Holly Jackson’s popular novel A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. |  Jas Hammonds |
August gives this summary:
 | “High School Senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Salil Singh five years ago; or so everyone thinks. When Pippa Fitz-Amobi decides to investigate the case herself for her Senior Capstone Project, she uncovers the secrets of her small town and realizes that Sal is not the actual killer of Andie. While Pip finds out more of the truth, the real murderer is out there, and isn't very happy about the investigation. Pip is now in danger, and she has a limited time to find out who killed Andie Bell before she's next.” Why should you read Jackson’s thriller? |
“I absolutely loved the book. It was packed with suspense, and the author uses red herrings to her advantage by casting suspicion on every single character. You don't see the plot twist at the end coming, and then when you reread, you struggle to understand how you didn't realize who the killer was sooner. It also calls out social injustice, like racism and misogyny in the justice system,” says August.
| I’m pretty sure August convinced me to give A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder a read, so I am adding it to my summer reading pile--a time when it’s okay if I read late into the night to get to the conclusion of a fast-paced thriller. |  Holly Jackson |
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