AuburnChick's Adventures

A popular book with my boys

Hands-down one of the most PROLIFIC and moving books I have ever read. EVERY teenager needs to read this. I can usually get my staunches non-readers all the way through this book because they CANNOT PUT IT DOWN.

When I see this, I think of the young lady who made it. She did not like to read. She was a very slow reader, as evidenced by the lines she made in the book to mark her stopping points (ugh!!!). She completely adored this book and told me constantly that I needed to read it when she finished. I did, and it made her day when she saw it on my desk, bookmark in place. To know that I was reading something SHE had recommended went miles toward healing what had been a strained student-teacher relationship. She came back to see me on her last day (she left for a trip a few days before school was officially over). I will forever love this young lady!

My students cannot put these books down (there’s a set of three), and I always seem to “lose” one or more of them during a school year. They relate to the setting and the characters’ problems. Although I’ve never read these books, I’ve heard that they are raw and very, very real. This young lady redid her project because she didn’t like the first version and didn’t want to show less than her best work when it was placed under the document camera for her presentation.

The student who read this book was one I never quite managed to connect with despite my various attempts…a fact that makes me very sad. He, as you can see, is a gifted artist. He was very, very intelligent and could analyze a book, its characters, and its various themes. He really liked this book. I need to buy it for my classroom.

Another Allison van Diepen book. Her books NEVER sit on my bookshelves. If you’ve never read her, please do. Follow her on Twitter. She is one of the nicest ladies ever and one I’m trying to find a way to have come down here to speak to my students.