The Great American Whatever By Tim Federle For Ages: 14 and up From the award-winning author of Five, Six, Seven, Nate! and Better Nate Than Ever comes “a Holden Caulfield for a new generation” ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review). Quinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before—before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa…and before the car accident that changed everything. Enter: Geoff, Quinn’s best friend who insists it’s time that Quinn came out—at least from hibernation. One haircut later, Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy—okay, a hot guy—and falls, hard. What follows is an upside-down week in which Quinn begins imagining his future as a screenplay that mig...
This year's selection of titles offered a good variety of titles that could be utilized in part or whole in our classrooms. Jason Mott's Hell of a Book was definitely read by many creative writig majors who also received a master class from the author in the fall. N.K. Jemison's science fantasy novel is very contemporary and could work well for independent readers or even isn itshort story form in class. Isabel Allende's reflections on feminism can also be used in classes such as Women's Litrature. I assigned the novel about the struggles of Syrians hat continues to this day as an independent writing project to a junior who responded beautifully to the writing and story. Ross Gay's mini-essays in Book of Delights can be a model for mindfulness and SEL activities--daily journaling? And of course, Brene Brown offers so many insights in her Atlas of the Heart (which is also such a beautifully published hard cover book!). Lots to think about and offer with these readings.
ReplyDelete