Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Book Review: Furia, Katie Romrell

The Utah English Journal

This beautiful story of an Argentinian young woman who desperately wants to play futbol (soccer) pulls no punches in its complex exploration of latent and explicit sexism, abuse, and of breaking the cycle with a tenacity dutifully shown on-and off-the field.

Book Review: Punching The Air, Jennifer Stewart

The Utah English Journal

Through art and music, 16-year-old Amal Shahid tries to break the boxes that he is constantly confined to by his peers, family, and his art teacher, but mostly by a racist system that is always pressing down on him. Eventually, these boxes get progressively smaller and darker as Amal is blamed for his friends' poor behavior and is wrongly convicted. While incarcerated, Amal feels suffocated until he realizes that he can find peace and healing both in his art and his words.

Book Review: Somewhere Between Bitter And Sweet, Emily Brown

The Utah English Journal

Laekan Zea Lemp's debut novel, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet, is a story about dreams and fears in a vibrant Latinx community. Penelope Prado dreams of opening her own pasteleria next door to her father's restaurant, Nacho's Tacos, where she currently works. However, her parents have different plans for her life--plans that involve college and leaving their struggling family business behind to find greater opportunities. Now, she not only fears disappointing them but also fears her own weaknesses will keep her from ever realizing her dream. When she reveals a disappointing secret to her parents, Pen is immediately forced to …

Book Review: Race Against Time, Amanda Burrows

The Utah English Journal

US Supreme Court, 1923. More than 50 years after the ratification of the 14th amendment and the end of the Civil War, the promise of" equal protection of the laws" was under attack. Moore vs Dempsey was the first case where the federal court overturned the ruling of a state court; more significantly, it was the first case to rule in favor of a black defendant. Four years earlier, in Elaine, Arkansas, a meeting of sharecroppers at a local church had been bombarded with gunfire. After a few days of rioting, -five white men and an uncounted number of black …

Book Review: The Sound Of Stars, Megan Russell Harbin

The Utah English Journal

One glance at Alechia Dow's stunning cover for The Sound of Stars drew me in, but I wasn't prepared for the beautifully told, relevant story that followed.

The Sound of Stars is written from two, distinct perspectives: Janelle (Ellie) Baker, a human teenage girl, and M0RrlS, a labmade Ilori alien. M0Rrls is part of the alien invasion that has taken over Earth, where Ellie resides. Over the past two years since the takeover, M0Rrls has been in charge of creating a "vaccine" for the humans, per orders from the superior "true Ilori." This "vaccine" will provide the true Ilori with …

Book Review: Thinking Tools For Young Readers And Writers, Jennifer Steil

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Abstract:

This article offers a book review of Thinking Tools for Young Readers & Writers (2018), by Carol Booth Olson, Angie Balius, Emily McCourtney, and Mary Widtmann. The book presents the cognitive strategies tool kit, which includes strategies such as: planning, goal setting, tapping prior knowledge, asking questions, making predictions, making connections, summarizing, inferencing, forming interpretations, adopting an alignment, monitoring, and clarifying. The teachers share lessons for how they teach these strategies to students in their various grade levels. For each lesson, the authors include research, connections to Common Core State Standards, and examples of classroom lessons putting …

Book Review: Breakbeat Pedagogy: Hip Hop And Spoken Word Beyond The Classroom Walls, Drew Emanuel Berkowitz

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This review explores and critiques Breakbeat Pedagogy: Hip Hop and Spoken Word Beyond the Classroom Walls, a book that presents not only auto-ethnographic observations about the author's own approach to critical media literacy pedagogy, but also his views on the role straight, white, cisgender male educators play in the media literacy education of increasingly-diverse high school student bodies.

Book Review: Ink Knows No Borders: Poems Of The Immigrant And Refugee Experience, Kaelin Stanley

The Utah English Journal

At a time when terms such as immigrant and refugee are seen daily in the news and media, the collection of poems found in Ink Knows No Borders is not only refreshing but strikingly relevant to society today. The 64 talented poets whose experiences are beautifully shared in the book provide a unique insider view of the heartache, growing pains, and unconquerable spirit of first- and second-generation immigrants and refugees.

Book Review: What If It's Us, Zach Searle

The Utah English Journal

Ben and Arthur, the co-protagonists of Albertalli and Silvera's first collaborative novel, are brought together by the universe--depending on who you ask. Arthur is in New York City for a summer internship with his mother's law firm, and he firmly believes the universe has a plan for him when he runs into Ben at the post office. Ben is only at the post office to mail off his ex-boyfriend's break-up box, and he is convinced that the universe is out to get him. However, after their chance encounter, Ben and Arthur aren't so sure about what the universe wants. If …

Book Review: You Go First, Laura Jackson

The Utah English Journal

You know it's going to be a fun story when Scrabble letter tiles are on the cover. Tying in a modern phone app version with the elusive charm of the board game, friends are connected. The protagonist struggles to find connection with her parents and friends while providing a positive yet true to life model of how to navigate the struggle. You Go First is a lighter read that has the potential to reach middle school aged students or even a funny reflection for high school students who would benefit from a less difficult level of reading.

Book Review: Being The Change, Whitney Hansen

The Utah English Journal

In Being the Change, Sara Ahmed pleads with teachers to seek out and encourage difficult conversations in their classrooms. She acknowledges the fears many teachers associate with bringing up political debates and current events to their students but contends that these conversations are vital for our students. Through classroom conversations and personal stories, she lays out the current political situation that our students are facing. With this tumultuous setting, she pleads that we must teach our students how to talk to one another and, more importantly, how to disagree with one another. Through these disagreements, Ahmed asserts that students …

Book Review: Shout, Kara Trammell

The Utah English Journal

Laurie Halse Anderson's latest book Shout

is "the true story of a survivor who

refused

to be silent."

Book Review: Illegal, Lisa Jones

The Utah English Journal

Ebo's sister has already fled Ghana for a better life in Europe, and now his brother Kwame has disappeared on the same quest to help his family. As much as Ebo appreciates these efforts, he refuses to be left behind once again-especially as Ebo and his siblings are orphaned. Thus, Illegal shows the dangerous journey of a refugee to find his brother and eventually make it to Europe. Told in the form of a beautiful graphic novel, Ebo must cross the brutal Sahara Desert to the dangerous city of Tripoli and eventually travel across the ocean. In each situation, Ebo …

Book Review: The 57 Bus: A True Story Of Two Teenagers And The Crime That Changes Their Lives, Albert Ricci

The Utah English Journal

Dashka Slater pulls her information from various sources-"interviews, documents, letters, videos, diaries, social media posts, and public records" -to craft her nonfiction account of two teenagers whose lives collide one innocent day on November 4, 2013, on the 57 bus. "If it weren't for the 57 bus, Richard and Sasha would never have met. Although they live in the same city, Oakland, they are from radically different worlds. But one single reckless act changes both of their lives forever." Sasha is a senior at Maybeck High School, they love Russian literature, live-action role-playing, the color purple, and skirts: they are …

Book Review: Circe, Tara Pina

The Utah English Journal

The story of Odysseus and his adventures home to Ithaca is familiar one: one that is taught and read in many classrooms, and one that is adapted and borrowed from often. However, Circe by Madeline Miller does not simply retell this familiar story, instead she shifts the well-known tale to focus on the minor goddess Circe. Miller gives a glimpse into Circe's life that is so moving it will change how you look at the story of Odysseus and surely how you approach it with students.

Book Review: Internment, Leah Smith

The Utah English Journal

Internment by Samira Ahmed is an excellent example of realistic fiction that helps students really engage with their political, social, and personal beliefs. Those who find themselves in a minority group will relate well to the themes and characters, and those who are more privileged will find their eyes opened.

Book Review: Pitch Dark, Madison Sheldrake

The Utah English Journal

Pitch Dark is a futuristic story of adventure and survival, set in motion after humanity deems Earth to be uninhabitable and takes to the stars to save both themselves and their future. The book takes place in space, showing events on two spacecrafts that come together in an effort to learn from the past as the characters look to secure their future. However, unbeknownst to most of the crew members, a secret terrorist plot is underway to undermine humanity's last chance to colonize Mars.

Graves, R. & Hyland, T. (Eds.). (2017) Writing Assignments Across University Disciplines. Bloomington, In: Trafford., Daniel P. Richards

English Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] For the last three years, I have been part of a team of multi-disciplinary faculty that holds a weeklong workshop each semester for approximately twenty teachers. These teachers, migrating to our cozy space in the library from all corners of campus, have applied—they get paid a modest sum, which is not nothing—to attend our workshop in the hopes of improving their ability to integrate writing assignments into their courses. The workshops are part of a larger initiative, Improving Disciplinary Writing, which was borne out of a needs assessment from our regional assessment body. It is designed to bring …

Book Review: Information Literacy In The Workplace, Lore Guilmartin

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Highly Illogical Behavior, Jaden Anderson

The Utah English Journal

Growing up and finding your place in the world can be difficult, but having family and friends to cheer you on helps. Building relationships and remaining loyal is a prevalent theme in John Corey Whaley’s Highly Illogical Behavior. Written in the perspective of teenagers Solomon Reed and Lisa Praytor, they help each other live in the “real world,” while their perception of reality is challenged.

Book Review: Writing With Mentors: How To Reach Every Writer In The Room Using Current, Engaging Mentor Texts, David Premont

The Utah English Journal

Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell, in their debut book, demonstrate their proclivity toward strategic and infectious writing habits in Writing with Mentors (2015). Marchetti and O’Dell’s student-centered writing classroom is evident from the onset of their book as they approach writing in an inquiry-based manner, saturated with examples from professional writers.

Book Review: Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note: Stances, Signposts, And Strategies, Lorraine Wallace

The Utah English Journal

For years, Utah’s Core Curriculum Standards have included teaching informational text, but with Utah’s adaptation of the Common Core, teaching nonfiction is being emphasized more than ever before, and many teachers have grudgingly incorporated these texts into their curriculum. However, many of us have just assigned these new texts with little deliberate instruction, and our students have typically tried to read nonfiction the same way they have always read fiction. After all, they think, reading is reading.

Book Review: Dark Energy, Marina Gutierrez

The Utah English Journal

“This story isn’t about dark energy, except to say there is a ton of stuff in the universe that we don’t understand” (Wells, 2016, p. 2).

With a touch of blue racing through her hair as she drives her BMW 550i Gran Turismo, Alice Goodwin was doing just fine in Florida. That is until her dad whisks her 2,000 miles away to the Minnetonka School for the Gifted and Talented in Minnesota. After stocking up on sweaters, she settles in at her new school while her father, director of special projects at NASA, investigates the crash landing of an alien …

Book Review: All Better Now, Mindee S. Ricks

The Utah English Journal

A modern memoir following a misfit girl from kindergarten to college, All Better Now is equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful. The author and protagonist, Emily Wing Smith, struggles for years to fit in with other kids—she is everything except “normal.”

Book Review: The Hidden Oracle, Tessa Hauglid

The Utah English Journal

“Is anything sadder than the sound of a god hitting a pile of garbage bags?” So questions the (former) god, Apollo, after Zeus turns him into a pimply 16-year-old boy, jettisoning him into a New York City dumpster. Apollo quickly realizes he has lost the very attributes that make him a god: immortality, beauty, and strength. The only divine gifts he seems to have retained are his expansive ego and his wit.

Book Review: Summerlost, Amanda Shrum

The Utah English Journal

Cedar Lee’s life is ripped apart when she loses her father, and brother, Ben, in a car accident. Instead of coming to terms with her loss, twelve-year-old Cedar tries to distract herself by immersing herself in the charming world of the Summerlost Festival, a theater that performs the works of William Shakespeare. However, working at the festival has the opposite effect and causes Cedar to face her fears and the reality of her loved ones’ deaths. In her first middle grade novel, Summerlost, Ally Condie sets a moving and sincere story of grief and acceptance against a setting that is …

Book Review: The Start Of Me And You, Adrianne Larsen

The Utah English Journal

Paige believes that if she could just check each item off of her to-do list, then things could be normal again; she could be normal again. Included on the list are dating, traveling, finding new friends, and swimming. While the to-do items may look simple, they prove to be more elusive than Paige thought. Making changes and moving forward are the lessons Emery Lord grapples with in her novel, The Start of Me and You. As Paige, the protagonist, attempts to clear her "begin again" check list, as she calls it, she realizes that some things in life are a …

Book Review: Revision Decisions: Talk Through Sentences And Beyond, Jennifer Dunn

The Utah English Journal

As an English teacher teaching writing, I sometimes struggle to help my students understand the importance of revising--of making changes and not just sticking with the first thing they write.

In Revision Decisions Jeff Anderson- a grammar guru-and Deborah Dean-a strong champion and voice for strategic writing, teamed together to create a book that even the most novice of teachers can use to instruct their students on how to make revisions to writing through a variety of grammar strategies. Their focus is creating a dialogic classroom in order to help students understand that there are multiple ways to write something …

Book Review: Magonia, Amanda Garlock

The Utah English Journal

At one point or another, everyone feels like they don't belong. But in Maria Dahvana Headley's soaring fantasy, Magonia, Aza Ray Boyle actually doesn't belong. At least, not on earth.

Book Review: Nightbird, Trent Mikesell

The Utah English Journal

A real fairy tale should be every child's dream. However, when the fairy tale world is plagued with a curse, the dream becomes a nightmare. This is the nightmare that Twig faces in Alice Hoffman's novel, Nightbird. Twig should be happy-she lives in an enchanting town with a loving family-but she is one of the unwilling victims of a dark spell and has to deal with its effects while helping to overcome it. Nightbird tells the story of what happens when curses and monsters attempt to destroy a family and town.