Maria's Mélange

Well, well, well.... I did a pretty lousy job of blogging this summer, didn't I? On the plus side, I *DID* read over the summer. If you want to read more blogs - and end up with an even BIGGER TBR list.... go to www.teachmentortexts.com and www.unleashingreaders.com to read other posts. I'm just going to toss a few collages onto the blog, and then I'll describe some of my favorites... Well, this collage had some real winners! I'm not sure I can pick just a few... Crenshaw - You WANT this book by Katherine Applegate; trust me. I loved learning more about comics with Understanding Comics and Adventures in Graphica . Speaking of comics - Nimona  (YA) and The Underground Abductor were amazing. X: A Novel made me want to learn even more about Malcolm X. ECHO was beautiful. I loved how we got multiple perspectives on World War 2 and how the stories wove together. Calpurnia Tate was fabulous! I think I liked book 2 even more than the first one (a

Shadowshaper by   Daniel José Older   ( @djolder ,  ghoststar.net ) If you missed it - we started by chatting about the cover of the book last week! Cover Appeal First Half discussion (pages 1-140) Check out the other half of the discussion at The Brain Lair Visit our Facebook page , comment here, or tweet us (@thebrainlair or @mariaselke with #BattyAboutBooks and/or #Shadowshaper) to join in the discussion! I love the fact that we chose a book that is being praised for how it represents elements of American life that are so different from my own life story. Since we often talk about the need for diverse books to provide us both windows and mirrors, I’m going to frame at least some of my thoughts around those two ideas. ** For those reading my blog who aren’t familiar with this framework**  Many think of diversity in literature giving us a window into lives that are different from our own (helping build connections, empathy, and understanding) and mi