More historical fiction

I'm listening to Spite Fences by Trudy Krisher, an terrific author who lives in our area. It different than I expected, dealing frankly with strong issues of racism and family abuse. It takes place just before the American Civil Rights Movement in a small town in Georgia. The main character, Magnolia April Pugh (Maggie) is a strong, spunky character.

historical fiction

I'm reading a bit ahead. Just finished Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi. It's about the infamous feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys. It was interesting. The clans, one living in Kentucky and one living just across the border in W.Virginia, carried on open warfare - shooting each other on sight, going on raids, burning houses. We follow the story from the perspective of the youngest McCoy, Fanny. It is a an interesting book with the central organizing motif of the coffin quilt: a quilt that is more of a family record than a bed covering.

I'm not much of a fan personally of "spooky" books but many teens really enjoy them. Unsophisticated readers often enjoy the Goosebump series. I have been wanting to read Coraline by Neil Gaiman because Neil Gaiman is such a huge name in YA lit (he is often mentioned by other writers as being an inspiration). Coraline is a short book and I read it in an afternoon. It IS creepy with the "other mother" and the parallel world she has created. That hand thing at the end probably has resulted in a few nightmares... And those button eyes...

Then there are the vampire books. I like Stephanie Meyers' highly popular Twilight series - but they are really more like romance or suspense than of the horror genre. Klause's Silver Kiss was good too. Am now reading Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. His books are popular with the teens in my family- they refer to them as urban fantasy. I love his Uglies, Pretties, Specials series (broke my rule about only reading one book in the series). But this one - I don't know.

It was a nice change of pace to move from reading edgy problem novels (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Fanboy and Gothgirl, Fat Kid Rules the World) to a sweet sports novel: Mike Lupica's New Your Times best selling Heat. This is a terrific baseball story but also a heart warming story of a Cuban immigrant family with lots of good guys.

What am I reading?

Realistic fiction that I have been reading this past week includes Fat Boy Rules the World (Going) and Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Nicolson) - very different books. Fat Boy is definitely on the edgy side. Angus? Think Bridget Jones Diary for teens. Just started Postcards From No Man's Land (Chambers).

Student Blogs

I have been very pleased with the blogs that have been started. Last time I taught this course I had students submit book "notes" that I didn't read until they were submitted at the end of the course. I think the use of blogs is going to be much more interactive and should result in some good discussion.
If any of you are having difficulties setting up your blogs don't hesitate to contact me or one of the students who have already "taken the leap"!
Thanks for being pioneers.

WSU EDT763 Blog

I am excited to try using blogging for our class in Young Adult literature. I look forward to reading your blogs!