As an example of the diverse range of poetry celebrated throughout our world, and as a thought-provoking book to share at any time of the year, The One Thing You’d Save will entice your own students to consider what matters most to them and how the beauty of poetry can communicate that with others.
As his mother and father visit doctor after doctor and try meds after meds, ZJ aches for the time ‘before’ his father’s illness, a time filled with picnics, pick up games, and spontaneous dance parties in the living room. ZJ’s father is a pro football player who is experiencing headaches, mood swings and memory loss. Jacqueline Woodson’s latest novel in verse explores the impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on tight end Zachariah ‘44’ Johnson, through the eyes of his twelve year old son, his namesake.
It is the power of the poem that we turn our attention to this week. In particular, we highlight Kwame Alexander’s powerful and prodigious body of work.
Ideal for verse novel genre study, an exploration of the power of poetry, historical fiction genre study, an examination of the lives of women in medieval Europe, and more, Voices has much to offer mature tween and teen readers and their teachers.
Rebound Written by Kwame Alexander and Illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile Published in 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Grades 4-8 ISBN: 978-0-544-86813-7 Book Review In this much-anticipated prequel to his Newbery-winning novel The Crossover, Kwame Alexander draws from similar themes and the rhythm of basketball to transport readers back in time to 1988 with another […]
Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case Written by Patricia Hruby Powell; Illustrated by Shadra Strickland Published by Chronicle Books, 2017 ISBN 978-1-4521-2590-9 Grades 7 and up Book Review “Tell the Court I love my wife / and it is just unfair that I can’t live with her […]
The Red Pencil Written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Illustrated by Shane W. Evans Published by Little Brown in 2014 ISBN-13: 9780316247801 Grades 4 and up Book Review Turning twelve is supposed to be an important and celebratory experience for Amira. And at first, it is: she’s finally old enough to wear a toob, the […]
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