Book List

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

 Today’s Topic: YA Text Recommendations for Bestselling Adult Texts

I love YAL. I’ll read the adult texts that everyone raves about, but often, I find YAL to be more compelling. If you like the bestselling adult novels below, I recommend specific YA texts (or middle grade text) that you might also enjoy.

1. Adult Text: Room by Emma Donaghue

YA Text: Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher

Both texts are about girls who are taken captive. Stolen leaves readers with much to think about.

2. Adult Text: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

YA Text: Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

Both texts bring readers into a magical setting. Circus Mirandus pulled at my heartstrings.

3. Adult Text: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

YA Text: Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow

Both texts combine medicine, science, and a notable woman in history (for different reasons).

4. Adult Text: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

YA Text: Hidden Like Anne Frank: 14 True Stories of Survival by Marcel Prins and Peter Henk Steenhuis

Sarah’s Key is beautiful prose. Hidden Like Anne Frank offers much knowledge about those who were hidden during the Holocaust. I learned many of my assumptions were inaccurate.

5. Adult Text: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

YA Text: Death Coming Up the Hill by Chris Crowe

The Things They Carried is well-loved (and quite deserving of its praise). Death Coming Up the Hill is also set during the Vietnam War. The text is entirely written in Haiku format, and the syllable count of the entire text is the same as the number of soldiers who died in 1968 Vietnam. Chris Crowe is brilliant.

6. Adult Text: The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

YA Text: X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon

X may not be autobiographical, but it is written by Malcolm X’s daughter and a fantastic YA author, Kekla Magoon. It offers a perspective of Malcolm Little’s teenage years that is quite compelling.

7. Adult Text: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

YA Text: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Gayle Forman’s Just One Day captured my heart and reminded me of the things I liked best of Eat, Pray, Love.

8. Adult Text: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

YA Text: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Art weaves through the narratives of these texts. Both have incredible depth and will make readers think. 

9. Adult Text: Maus by Art Speigelman

YA Text: Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier

Both graphic novels feature a survivor’s story, told a generation (or in the case of the second book, generations) later.

10. Adult Text: The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

YA Text: The Living by Matt de la Peña

Both texts feature stormy settings on boats. While this is one of the few similarities between these well-written works, both are wonderful and worthy of high praise.

Which adult books have you enjoyed? Would you recommend (or would you like a recommendation for) a YA text?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

 Today’s Topic: Books on Our Fall TBR Lists

We really want to get to these books.

Ricki

I am determined to get back to my #mustreadin2015 list!

1. Like Water on Stone by Dana Walrath

This has been on too many of my must-read lists. I’ve heard it is incredible!

2. Knockout Games by G. Neri

I just learned what this book is about, and now I really want to read it. I had no idea what “the knockout game” was until recently. I am horrified, and I feel compelled to learn more about this awful phenomenon.

3. See You At Harry’s by Jo Knowles

Everyone raves about this one. I love Jo Knowles, so count me in!

4. When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds

I am embarrassed to say I have not read anything by Jason Reynolds yet. I follow him on Facebook and the web like crazy. I’ll be reading (at least!) one of his books before the ALAN Workshop.

5. Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper

Has this book reached “classic” status yet? I better read it very soon because everyone says it is incredible!

Kellee

I hope that I get to my #mustreadin2015 list; however, my fall is going to be filled with preparing for NCTE and ALAN.

1. Hook’s Revenge by Heidi Schulz

I cannot wait to present about humor with Heidi and some other wonderful ladies at NCTE.

2. – 5. 

The Edge by Roland Smith

Hellraisers by Alexander Gordon Smith

Undertow by Michael Buckley

The Lost Tribes by C. Taylor-Butler

I am the moderator of the “Keeping ‘Em on the Edge of Their Seats” panel at ALAN with these great authors.

What books are on your Fall Must-Read List? 

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

 Today’s Topic: Text that Might be on Ricki’s English Methods Syllabus

This was tricky because I wanted to maintain a balance between professional development texts and quality literature. There are so many great choices! I changed the post title to “might” because I would change my mind next week. I’d love to hear what you would include on your list!

1. Endangered by Eliot Schrefer

Did I just include Endangered on another TTT list? This is an incredibly teachable text, and I think it belongs on every Methods syllabus.

2. Shine by Lauren Myracle

I am very excited to share about this Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award winner at the NCTE convention in November. It is a beautifully complex book.

3. Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

This book not only belongs on every Methods syllabus, but it belongs in every English classroom around the world. This is the kind of book that will change a teenager’s life.

4. Tyrell by Coe Booth

My students loved this book, and I think it teaches valuable life lessons.

5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This is a great book to teach identity development. And it is funny, too!

6. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I taught this book to my tenth grade classes. Students read this book after Night, and they absolutely loved it. It is a book that is appreciated by all types of students.

7. Looking for Alaska by John Green

I read this book in my own Methods class (ten years ago!), and my advisor still uses it today. I observed a recent Methods class she taught, and they loved it just as much as I did!

8. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

The first few pages are difficult to understand, and then the reader becomes used to the language of this book. It is a phenomenal, true story—a story that I think everyone should read.

9. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

This is a great book to show the innovation that exists in literature. It would be great to teach in a creative writing class, too!

10. The English Teacher’s Companion by Jim Burke

My Methods class would be an amalgamation of books (e.g. Lesesne’s Making the Match and Reading Ladders, Plumb’s Commando Classics). The main reason I include this one rather than the others I listed (which I would ALSO use!) is because it is comprehensive for Methods courses. In other words, it focuses on reading, writing, speaking, and listening, among other topics. It does a great job at it, too!

Which books would you include on your English Methods syllabus?