Your Teacher is Reading .... Born A Crime

Ms. D is reading Trevor Noah's book, Born a Crime, thanks to Axis360.

Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. 

Nelson Mandela once said, "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." He was so right. When you make the effort to speak someone else's language, even if it's just basic phrases here and there, you are saying to them, "I understand that you have a culture and identity that exists beyond me. I see you as a human being." (Noah)

Ms. D highly recommends this book. Give it a try. It's written in short chapters, but each chapter tells a piece of his story. Mr. Noah has been through some crazy things... like his mom throwing him out of a moving car.

Your teacher is reading ... Akata Witch

Ms. D just finished reading Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. 

Akata Witch transports the reader to a magical place where nothing is quite as it seems. Born in New York, but living in Aba, Nigeria, twelve-year old Sunny is understandably a little lost. She is albino and thus, incredibly sensitive to the sun. All Sunny wants to do is be able to play football and get through another day of school without being bullied. But once she befriends Orlu and Chichi, Sunny is plunged in to the world of the Leopard People, where your worst defect becomes your greatest asset. Together, Sunny, Orlu, Chichi and Sasha form the youngest ever Oha Coven. Their mission is to track down Black Hat Otokoto, the man responsible for kidnapping and maiming children. Will Sunny be able to overcome the killer with powers stronger than her own, or will the future she saw in the flames become reality?

This is such a good book. It is about being yourself and embracing your flaws, but also the power of friendship and family. Super excited about Akata Warrior in October.

Ms. Edmonds is reading: Gun, With Occasional Music

 

Ms. Edmonds is currently reading Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem.

How can you not love a book that says,"Tell him next time he wants to talk to me, don't send a marsupial," and means it literally? Gun, With Occasional Music is a dystopian detective story and whether you're in for the dsytopia or in it for the detective story (I am in it for the detective story), it's a great read. Conrad Metcalf is a detective who's last client ends up dead, and it's up to him to find out what really happened. Featuring, as mentioned before, a kangaroo named Joey Castle, a beautiful blonde named Celeste Stanhope and a freely available drugs with names like Forgettol, Acceptol and Regrettol.

 

 

 

Goodreads says:

Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems-there's a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a brave new world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage.
Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor. Perhaps he's falling a little in love with her at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the Inquisitor's Office and gangsters who operate out of the back room of a bar called the Fickle Muse.
Mixing elements of sci-fi, noir, and mystery, this clever first novel from the author of Motherless Brooklyn is a wry, funny, and satiric look at all that the future may hold.

 

Mr. Singleton is Reading: If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home

In If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, Tim O'Brien writes about his life as a U.S. combat soldier in Vietnam. The book shows how awful and mistaken the war was; how much suffering it caused the Vietnamese people, and how damaging it was for U.S. soldiers.

It's a good book to read in combination with Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, and Ambrose Bierce's writing about the U.S. Civil War.

This kind of writing reminds me of what photographer Lisette Model said about her photographs of people: "The more specific you are, the more general you are." When we get to look in detail at one person's experiences, we can engage with a situation emotionally, and later, think about how that tragedy was repeated millions of times.

 GoodReads says:

Before writing his award-winning Going After Cacciato, Tim O'Brien gave us this intensely personal account of his year as a foot soldier in Vietnam. The author takes us with him to experience combat from behind an infantryman's rifle, to walk the minefields of My Lai, to crawl into the ghostly tunnels, and to explore the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war gone terribly wrong. Beautifully written and searingly heartfelt, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a masterwork of its genre.

 

 

 

*quick note from Ms. D* If you liked The Things They Carried, try this book too. Also, read Slaughterhouse Five, it might change your world.

Ms. Botnen is reading: The Summer Prince

Ms. Botnen is currently reading Alaya Dawn Johnson's The Summer Prince.

Ms. Botnen says:

The Summer Prince is set in Palmares Três--the glittering pyramid city in post-apocalyptic Brazil. June is an artist. She's working to elect Enki as Summer King alongside her best friend Gil. I'm enjoying this book so much! It's rare to find dystopian books with non-white leads that are not set in America. Although I occasionally have to look up the Spanish based words in the text, I love the atmosphere and characters so much that I'm willing to work to figure it out. Fans of The Hunger Games or The Darkest Minds should enjoy this book!

Goodreads (click to read more!) says:

 A heart-stopping story of love, death, technology, and art set amid the tropics of a futuristic Brazil.

The lush city of Palmares Tres shimmers with tech and tradition, with screaming gossip casters and practiced politicians. In the midst of this vibrant metropolis, June Costa creates art that's sure to make her legendary. But her dreams of fame become something more when she meets Enki, the bold new Summer King. The whole city falls in love with him (including June's best friend, Gil). But June sees more to Enki than amber eyes and a lethal samba. She sees a fellow artist.

Come to the library to check out your own copy of this book! We'd love to hear what students are reading. Come to the library to find out how to submit your own currently reading post!

Ms. D is reading: Earthseed

Ms. D'Ambruoso is currently reading Octavia Butler's Earthseed duet: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.
Ms. D says:

This is such a good series! I've been meaning to read them for a while now, but just hadn't gotten around to it. I can't believe I've never read them before. I'm in love. I want more, but this is all she wrote in this set. Sower was published in 1993, but I'm convinced that Octavia Butler saw glimpses of the future. This future, dystopian, America that her main character, Lauren, lives in could easily happen under the right (or wrong!) circumstances. Some of the scenes are very uncomfortable to read, since Lauren's world is not a safe one. However, I highly recommend them both.

Goodreads says:

When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death Lauren Olamina, a minister's young daughter, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny... and the birth of a new faith.

 

If you are interested in this book, come to the library and check it out. Don't forget that students can also write reviews and be published on the library website!