Top Ten Reasons School Counselors Want Students to Read: Social-Emotional Learning Opportunities! by Sarah Scheerger

Reason #1639 of why I love the Nerdy Book Club...

Reposted from the Nerdy Book Club.

Top Ten Reasons School Counselors Want Students to Read: Social-Emotional Learning Opportunities! by Sarah Scheerger

• Cultivating Empathy

When we read, we climb into the minds and bodies of our characters. We feel with them and we feel for them. I explain empathy to students as follows: Empathy is the experience of walking in someone else’s shoes and imagining how you might feel if you were in a similar situation. This is different from sympathy, which is feeling sorry for someone else. Cultivating empathy is a way to combat bullying. Reading offers a way to understand another’s behavioral choices through first understanding the underlying feelings and thoughts that propel that behavior.

Books offer a “window,” a chance to peek into someone else’s reality and feel with and for them.

How Do You "See" the Books You Read by Emily Asher-Perrin

Reposted from Tor Publishing

For the most part, I have no issues visualizing the books I read. Though it's less like a movie and more of pictures/images actualizing the storyline before my eyes without need of additional equipment. My realized stories translate into life not played out over a screen, but real life. The life of those characters and their everyday reality. Whenever an image is murky or I stumble upon text I have problems computing to pictures, I reference other books or look up on the internet. 

What about you? 

How Do You "See the Books You Read by Emily Asher-Perrin

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Inevitably, when someone is trying to advocate reading over watching things on screens, some variation of this old joke gets made: “Books are like movies inside your head!” This assumes everyone can—and does—create a full mental picture when they read, complete with sets, landscapes, costumed characters, and easy-to-follow action.

But that’s not how it works for me.

Mini Review: Lucky Us by Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom. New York: Random House, 2014. 256 pp. 
Rating: Don't Bother

Please be advised: Mini review contains slight spoilers.

What did I just read? Like really, what did I just read? I have so many questions and no answers. What's up with the father? Is he an alcoholic? What happened to all of his dead wife's money? Why is he stealing money from Iris? By the end, I still hadn't figured out if Edgar had a breakdown after Charlotte died.

Although I love historical fiction, I loved nothing about Lucky Us. The book cover hinted at something good and the blurb promised a wonderful treasure within its pages. Oh, I was going to love this book. Not! I couldn't have been more wrong. What started out as a pleasurable reading experience quickly soured. The book didn't make any sense to me. There is little to no plot as everybody is all over the place. Plus, I held no affinity for any of the characters. Lucky Us is a dismal story with depressing characters and gloom leaping off each page. 

*Click on the book cover or title link for book summary. 
**I won a complimentary ARC in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

Jay Coles. Hachette: New York, 2018. E-book.
Rating: Decent

Trigger Warning: Police Brutality, Profanity: F-bombs 

Goodreads Summary: When Marvin Johnson's twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid.

The next day, Tyler has gone missing, and it's up to Marvin to find him. But when Tyler is found dead, a video leaked online tells an even more chilling story: Tyler has been shot and killed by a police officer. Terrified as his mother unravels and mourning a brother who is now a hashtag, Marvin must learn what justice and freedom really mean.

If I were to judge this book by its cover alone, I would give it a raving five stars. Sadly, that is not the case. There were a few things I liked about the book and plenty I did not, actually, down-right hated. So, for this review, I'm deviating from my normal review style and using a bullet format.