I know. How Cancon of me. But I gotta say- it does get my knickers a bit knotted up to see how many American and British books are showcased in our English classes and how little Canadian content. So I have made it my informal, quasi-mission to find books from Canadian authors that could workContinue reading “Two Great Canadian Youth Novels I think Should be Taught in the Classroom”
Category Archives: YA fiction
Middle School Reading: The Agency series by Y.S. Lee
The Agency Series by Y.S Lee Volume 1 Mary Lang is a twelve-year old, half-chinese, half-irish London ragamuffin about to be hanged for thieving when she is offered the chance of a new life at Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls. The Academy is an unusual institution run by two very different young ladies, Ann Treleaven,Continue reading “Middle School Reading: The Agency series by Y.S. Lee”
Book review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
If you’ve browsed the YA shelves lately, you will have probably chanced upon a thick-ish book with a black and white cover. The title is written in old-fashioned script. The photo on the cover is of a pudge-faced girl in what looks like a turn of the century shift, a sort of tiara shading herContinue reading “Book review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
YA Reading Continued…
To complete my feverish reading for a potential all school-read, I read two more titles. To recap, the books had to fit the criteria below: 1. Under 350 pages. 2. No movie version 3. An appropriate read for grades 7 to 11 (I know. Kind of impossible, right?) 4. Has themes that can be discussedContinue reading “YA Reading Continued…”
Thoughts on a Complicated Kindness and the Bone Cage
I managed to polish two more books off this week in my quest for just the right book to present to my school reads committee. The first one I’d been meaning to read for a while, the second I thought would be a good fit due to its subject matter. A Complicated Kindness by MiriamContinue reading “Thoughts on a Complicated Kindness and the Bone Cage”
How I loved How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
I am in the middle of a massive Young Adult fiction marathon. The selection process of our 2012 school community reads is in full swing and this time I am obsessed with pushing the best possible books to my committee. Not that I wasn’t before. It is just that the winners for the last coupleContinue reading “How I loved How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff”
A Trio of Books for Youth
Due to the fact that it takes me a couple of weeks to put together the behemoth monthly book posts, I have decided to break it up a little. Since my last post, I’ve read three good books for youth which, conveniently enough, provide me with a modicum of a theme for my first assay.Continue reading “A Trio of Books for Youth”
February in Books
Paper Towns by John GreenAnother YA novel by the smart and witty John Green. This book follows the same pattern I outlined in my previous book post – slightly geeky, non-ambitious, don’t rock the boat guy vs. uber complicated, beautiful and popular girl. In Paper Towns, our anti-hero has been in love with his charismaticContinue reading “February in Books”
December in Books
Well, only three days left of my vacation and I am pleased to say that the sitting there has been a success. I have sat there so long I am now ready to get up again. In order to ease my way back into the swing of things, I am beginning with this post. BabyContinue reading “December in Books”
November in Books
It is a strange thing that books do not appear more regularly on this blog. I am a librarian and a writer – I eat, sleep and even dream books. Seriously. I dream in punctuation. I also review books, recommend books, push books on unsuspecting friends, force them down my family’s throats with high-pitched, hystericalContinue reading “November in Books”
Lina Branter 