Book Talk Tuesday: What Books Are Talking to You?

Picks of the Week

Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement-Set in rural Mexico, girls are faced with a choice: forgo their womanhood or become prey of the ruling drug cartels.

Why Do We Fight? Conflict, War, and Peace by Niki Walker-Conflict is an ever present component of society. Why Do We Fight? helps kids understand conflict and how best to deal with it.

What books are talking to you this week?

Nerdy Social Action by Sarah Mulhern Gross

After reading Sarah Gross' post, I had to share it. Provoking students to action is near and dear to my heart.

In Spring 2011, I was assigned to my first student teaching field experience. Twice a week for twelve weeks, I worked in an eighth grade Language Arts classroom. When I began, the English Department was just starting a four-week poetry unit spanning the themes: determination, cultures, love, and courage. During the last week of the unit, my supervising teacher confided in me that she hoped to inspire 127 social activists, at which my heart leapt with joy. For I believe that it is each and every adult's responsibility to teach, influence, and empower youth to support and fight for causes in which they believe. That Tuesday started off like any other. Mrs. Jennings and I prepped for the day's back-to-back classes during the first two periods of the morning.  Little did I know what I was about to experience.

Spell It Out Challenge

This year marks my fourth year participating in the Goodreads Reading Challenge. Riding on a high from meeting and surpassing last year's reading goal of 45 books, I bumped it up ten books for 2015. In comes the new year, then BAM! I'm hit, knocked down, and run over. Every reader's nightmare, The Slump, the dreaded reading slump, pinned me down refusing to release its captive hold. Though my apartment overflows with books, the library is a half mile away from my home, and my to-be-read list is ever-growing, the slump remained constant.