Happy 4th of July to all our readers!
 Audra Slocum | Our pick for this weekend is brought to us by Oakland University' s Audra Slocum who has historical fiction lined up for this hot holiday weekend - but may your reading happen in a cool, shaded spot! Dr. Audra Slocum is an Associate Professor of Secondary English Education and the Director of Teacher Education at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Prior to joining OU, she was an associate professor at West Virginia University and co-director of the National Writing Project at WVU for 10 years. She has presented at NCTE, AERA, and WVCTE and published in English Education, Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, and English Teaching: Practice and Critique. Her scholarship primarily focuses on how teenagers from linguistically marginalized communities navigate oppressive norms in secondary English classrooms. As a teacher educator, she prepares secondary English students to be actively anti-oppressive as they employ core teaching practices. |
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
Looking for World War II historical fiction with layers upon layers of stories, each with their own mysteries? Thirteen Doors, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby offers haunting and lyrical stories in 1940s Chicago. The novel is narrated by Pearl, the ghost of a young white woman who died 20 years before from the Spanish flu. As Pearl watches from the afterlife, she reflects on her own past and the lives of the living girls, illuminating the systemic injustices they face and the traumas they carry. In particular, Pearl focuses on two stories, one of a living girl and one of another dead girl.
 | The living girl she follows is Frankie, a 13-year-old Italian American girl abandoned at the Angel Guardians Orphanage (AGO), a German Catholic orphanage in Chicago with her siblings. In addition to living within the emotional and physical violence of the orphanage, Frankie faces loss in her family and faces loss within the scope of World War II. Frankie’s voice is one of resilience in the face of repeated abandonment. This strand of the novel is based on Ruby’s own mother-in-law’s story of growing up in the orphanage. Marguerite, a young Black woman who is the ghost who captures Pearl’s attention. Marguerite’s developed new skills as a ghost that she teaches Pearl. Together they travel the sites of their lives and unravel the truths in their own lives and seek resolution. As they do, they draw upon their memories, passed down family lore, and old folk tales, adding to the layers of stories. |
| The metaphor of doors and wolves are not strong images in the novel, but it does work to illustrate how systems of oppression force people into impossible choices, making even paths to freedom feel dangerous. Each girl has “doors” that are opportunities that are fraught with risk. Some characters move forward despite fear; others recoil, conditioned by a lifetime of harm. In this deeply layered novel, Ruby doesn’t just tell a ghost story—she tells the story of a society haunted by its failures, and of girls who, in spite of it all, fight for the right to choose their own paths. A National Book Award finalist, it is worthy read. |  Laura Ruby |
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