Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Recognizing And Celebrating The Life Of Sophie Blanchard, The First Woman Pilot, William P. Bintz, Shabnam Chaghervand

Ohio Journal of Teacher Education

This article provides a book review of a new picture book biography based on the life and times of Sophie Blanchard, a woman who should be famous but isn’t, and shares an instructional strategy that teachers can use with this, and other picture book biographies, to support student reading and learning in the classroom.

Book Review: Big Jim And The White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined, Michael Handy

The Utah English Journal

Upon first opening this beautiful book, I regretted that my district may never approve it for my classroom. Policy in my school district prohibits classroom use of texts that use racial slurs. An initial author’s note uses a specific racial slur numerous times, repeating it throughout the book—always stricken when a character says it, but still appearing in scenery. This is a shame, because Big Jim and the White Boy is magnificent.

Book Review: The Bletchley Riddle, Tiffany Bills

The Utah English Journal

Protagonist Lizzie Novis has many labels: half-Jewish, half-American, half-Polish-British, and precocious little sister. One label she refuses to adopt is orphan. The news of her mother’s presumed death upon Hitler’s invasion of Poland reaches her in 1939 London, but she refuses to let it reach her heart. She can’t believe her vibrant, independent mother Willa is not returning from an embassy assignment in Warsaw. She is determined to find out what happened to her, whether or not her older brother Jakob, busy with a mysterious new job, will help or not. But perhaps Jakob isn’t as clueless about Willa’s disappearance …

Book Review: From The Editor, Jace Brown

The Utah English Journal

As I have worked with the reviewers on this edition of the Utah English Journal, I have found myself thinking often about community. I grew up in what was once a small town in central Utah, then moved to Ohio to pursue my PhD in Education. After graduating, I was beyond thrilled to accept a teaching position at Weber State University and return to my Utah community. It was with this perspective—of leaving, returning, and re-entering—that I began reflecting on the many communities in our lives: the communities where we grow up, the communities where we work, and the communities …

Book Review: A Most Perilous World: The True Story Of The Young Abolitionists And Their Crusade Against Slavery, Mercedes Allen

The Utah English Journal

A Most Perilous World brings the reader into the chaotic, tumultuous, and important days leading into the Civil War, during the war itself, and the Reconstruction Period (1854–1872). The book follows four lesser-known but vital historical figures: Lucy McKim, daughter of generational abolitionists; Lewis Douglass, the son of Frederick Douglass; George Garrison, son of abolitionist and journalist William Lloyd Garrison; and Charlotte Forten, daughter of free Blacks living in the north helping slaves to freedom. Though history remembers their parents more clearly, these young people prove that anyone, regardless of age, can make a difference—even when it seems hopeless.

Book Review: All The Noise At Once, Shalece Garff

The Utah English Journal

All the Noise at Once depicts the life of two incredibly close brothers. The eldest is the star quarterback and is being headhunted by universities across the nation (Brandon), while the other is living with autism and difficulties that come with it (Aiden). Unfortunately, many of the activities that he and his brother are involved in (school and football) are almost always crowded and filled with commotion, which sometimes leads Aiden to experience meltdowns when he is overstimulated with touch and noise. Being seen as different puts him on the outs with the other football players, who regard him as …

Book Review: When We Ride, Madalynn Belliston

The Utah English Journal

What do you do when someone you love makes choices that can harm your future? This is the challenge for Diego Benevides in Rex Ogle’s novel in verse, When We Ride. Nicknamed by his best friend Lawson, he goes by Benny to everyone but mom. The novel opens with Benny’s life flashing before his eyes as a gun is pointed directly at him.

Book Review: The Ballerina Of Auschwitz, Kourtney Amodio

The Utah English Journal

Dr. Edith Eger’s young adult memoir, The Ballerina of Auschwitz, is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of choosing how we respond to life’s darkest moments. As a sixteen-year-old Jewish ballerina, Edith was torn from her home in Hungary and sent to Auschwitz, where she endured unimaginable horrors, including being forced to dance for Josef Mengele on the night her parents were sent to the gas chambers. Yet this harrowing beginning is only part of her story. Edith’s journey from concentration camp survivor to renowned psychologist offers readers profound insights into trauma, …

Book Review: The Other Side Of Tomorrow, Adam Hellewell

The Utah English Journal

Yunho and Myunghee, the young protagonists of The Other Side of Tomorrow, written in verse by Tina Cho and illustrated by Deb JJ Lee, have not experienced a traditional happy childhood. For them, North Korea is the backdrop of their impoverished, lonely, and brutal adolescence.

Book Review: Pursuing Language And Metalinguistics In K-12 Classrooms: A Framework For Critical Engagement, Leah Day

The Utah English Journal

The linguistic diversity that exists in many classrooms in the United States, and Utah more specifically, creates the perfect opportunity for teachers and students to discuss the intersection between power, language, and identity. As the number of multilingual learners in our classrooms increases, the need for these talks grows more and more urgent. This book offers extensive professional development for practitioners hoping to incorporate more discussions of language and linguistic awareness in their classrooms with their students. It is an overview of a wide variety of research as well as practical applications in a teaching context. Throughout, there is an …

Book Review: Under The Same Stars, Sara Tesch

The Utah English Journal

On the front of the hardcover edition, acclaimed YA author Libba Bray intrigues the reader with three simple, telegraphic sentences: “Three rebels. Two murders. A century of secrets.” Using three distinct timelines, Bray creates a young adult novel perfect for fans of historical fiction and mysteries. Elements of young adult realism are also present within Bray’s 2025 novel, a Good Morning America Young Adult Book Club pick. Under the Same Stars brings the reader on a journey of self-discovery, mystery, and sacrifice in 1940s Germany, 1980s West Germany, and 2020 New York, stricken with COVID-19.

Book Review: J Vs. K, Miranda Folau

The Utah English Journal

J Vs. K is an engaging story about two fifth-grade boys who find themselves in a rivalry over the school competition to create the “best story”. The story begins when K, a new student, gains attention for his natural writing abilities. This is a threat to J, who dislikes reading and writing, but loves to draw. J has been so excited to enter the storytelling contest at school and has been dreaming of his year to shine and win, bringing fame to the fifth-grade class. The boys quickly find themselves in competition, and become very self-conscious as outside acknowledgements of …

Take A Risk: A Review Of Expanding Literacy, Hollie M. Bergeron, Jenny M. Martin

Virginia English Journal

This is a book review of Expanding Literacy: Bringing Digital Storytelling into Your Classroom by Brett Pierce in 2022. Review collaboratively by two teacher educators and a content area literacy course, this thorough review of Pierce's book for educators includes many perspectives.

Great Lakes Great Books: Making Classroom Connections, Lynette Suckow

Michigan Reading Journal

Use stories from the Great Lakes Great Books list to connect readers to the classroom curriculum.

Viewing Rural, Rurality, And Ruralities As Social Constructs: An Author Interview And Book Review Of Teaching English In Rural Communities, Jordan Parker

The Montana English Journal

"Teaching English in Rural Communities: Toward a Critical Rural English Pedagogy" by Robert Petrone and Allison Wynhoff Olsen provides insights and practical strategies for teachers working in rural areas, where they often face unique challenges such as limited resources and cultural differences. This book provides a lens of criticality through the critiques and celebrations of rural living. This article opens with reviews of Critical Rural English Pedagogy and the chapters in the book. After the review, there are highlights of the exclusive interview with Petrone and Wynhoff Olsen as they relate their personal experiences and reflections on teaching in rural …

Book Review: Ain't Burned All The Bright, Rachel Billings

The Utah English Journal

Ain't Burned All the Bright captures the anxieties, fears, and tensions of 2020 clearly and vividly even though it consists of only three long sentences. Jason Reynolds tells the story of a Black boy and his family during the Covid-19 quarantine and pandemic. Through the prose of Reynolds and illustrations of Jason Griffin, the reader learns what the pandemic was like from the point of view of a typical teenager.

Book Review: Aristotle And Dante Dive Into The Waters Of The World, Corinne Downs

The Utah English Journal

Saenz has intimately captured the somber beauty that is shedding childhood off and stepping into the paths of adulthood. In his sequel Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World, readers find themselves continuing on in Dante's journey. This shy, quiet, and recluse character continues to find himself through moments of ecstasy and grief throughout his senior year of high school.

Book Review: From A Whisper To A Rallying Cry: The Killing Of Vincent Chin And The Trial That Galvanized The Asian American Movement, Krista Hong Edwards

The Utah English Journal

Part historical investigation, part modern-day reflection on identity, and part court drama, Paula Yoo's From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry takes the reader through a rather unknown, yet incredibly important moment in American history. Recognizing that several individuals in this story live in 2022, she sensitively examines the 1982 case of Vincent Chin: a Chinese-American man who was violently killed mere days before his wedding. Vincent was celebrating his bachelor party at a gentlemen's club when the night turned violent and volatile, and two white men employed at an automobile plant pursued Vincent across town to beat him to …

Book Review: The Legend Of Auntie Po, Katy Bigham

The Utah English Journal

Mei is an average thirteen-year-old Chinese-American girl. She loves spending time with her best friend, Bee ( whom she also is developing budding romantic feelings for); baking pie with her father; and dreaming of attending a university somewhere far from home. She tells fascinating stories that leave the neighborhood children enraptured and helps her dad at work however she can. But Mei lives in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885, which makes her life dramatically more complicated.

Book Review: Tokyo Ever After, Grace Houston

The Utah English Journal

Izumi Tanaka goes by "Izzy" - not because she prefers it, as she claims, but because it's easier in her small town in northern California. She and her three best friends are the only Asian-American girls at their school. Together they face the struggles of being Asian-American in a mostly white small town. That is, until a discovery changes Izumi's entire world.

Book Review: A Teacher's Guide To Writing Workshop Minilessons, Belinda 'Ofakihevahanoa Fotu

The Utah English Journal

Eickholdt and Vitale-Reilly's A Teacher's Guide to Writing Workshop Minilessons is a 125 page writing instructor's manual marketed for teachers of k-8 grades. Colors regale the broad cover and every page throughout, with pages sometimes devoted just to one large blocked quote and pictures of writing carpets and writers' cubbies. Every visual and tactile indicator of this book impresses the reader that this is a text meant for teachers of small children; even so, A Teacher's Guide to Writing Workshop Minilessons is a manual of writing techniques applicable to any level of writing.

Book Review: A Snake Falls To Earth, Heidi Stone

The Utah English Journal

Nina, a Lipan girl from Earth, and Oli, a Cottonmouth Snake from the Reflection World, are drawn together to save those who they love the most. Little Badger utilizes traditional Lipan Apache storytelling techniques to draw the reader into the stories of the animal people, monsters, and the importance of family.

Book Review: Kaleidoscope, Justin Scholes

The Utah English Journal

Characteristic of his award-winning style, Brian Selznick's newest book, Kaleidoscope (2021) blends text and beautiful pencil drawings that push readers to consider meaning in words and images. The book features twenty-four short stories, and as the title suggests, each story is a glimpse into a world, a life, a perspective.

Book Review: Ophelia After All, Madison Simpson

The Utah English Journal

Ophelia Rojas has always been the girl who is obsessed with boys. As a senior in high school, she can't remember a time when she wasn't crushing on a cute boy or dreaming of a perfect prom night. Ophelia is also curating her perfect garden as she dreams of studying botany at university, much to her English professor mother's chagrin. When Ophelia starts developing an unexpected crush, she begins to rethink everything she thought she knew about herself.

Book Review: The Girl From The Sea, Austin Andruski

The Utah English Journal

The Girl from the Sea, a graphic novel by Molly Knox Ostertag, is an emotionally rejuvenating tale of young love and self-identity. For Morgan, she wants nothing more than to fit in until she can graduate from high school and leave her island home, finally able to be herself away from people who might judge her.

Great Lakes Great Books: A New Season, Lynette Marten Suckow

Michigan Reading Journal

Five book reviews from the Great Lakes Great Books list for the 2022-2023 school year.

Review: Self+Culture+Writing, Samira Grayson

The Writing Center Journal

Review of Self+Culture+Writing: Autoethnography for/as Writing Studies, edited by Rebecca L. Jackson and Jackie Grutsch McKinney.

Book Review: Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher's Guide To Engaging Families For Student Success, Leah Day

The Utah English Journal

A devastating pandemic has now shaped nearly all aspects of our lives, including education. Students are more disengaged than ever, and we need to take a reflective look at how to drive student success-through engagement with their families.

Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher's Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success is a plentiful resource for all types of educators looking to up their game in connecting with families in their learning community.

Book Review: Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain In A Digital World, Leah Day

The Utah English Journal

Decades ago, Jeff Goldblum delivered some of the greatest wisdom of our time in his iconic role as Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park. Chastising the myopic man responsible for bringing back dinosaurs, he explains, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, that you didn't stop to think if they should." As our schools race toward 1: 1 student/ device ratios and parents give tablets and smartphones to their kids at younger and younger ages, it's hard to deny that we might be as reckless as those darn dino lovers. Maryanne Wolf is not a doomsdayer or a luddite, …

Book Review: Where I End And You Begin, Michelle Ritter

The Utah English Journal

Ezra Slevin is a typical teenager who has crushing insomnia, an identity crisis, and a crush on Imogen - a girl who barely knows he exists. Wynonna Jones is Imogen's overprotective best friend who has a crush on his best friend, Holden, and who has made it her mission to torment Ezra for as long as he can remember. To ramp up the teenage angst, Ezra has been working up the courage to ask Imogen to prom but can't even seem to talk in her presence.