Sunday Coffee: Catching Up

I've Got 99 Essays.....

Catching up is never going to happen, honestly, but I keep trying. There are ninety-nine ungraded essays sitting on my kitchen table right now, and I really am going to tackle some of them later tonight. But first, I'm going to catch up on my blog (I want to post something at least once, a week), and reading other people's blogs, and leaving comments. But first....

I really do need to acknowledge how good things are right now, even though I am crazy busy and there is never enough time. I'm really happy in my job right now, even though grading is a paper tiger that keeps threatening to eat up me or maybe just my life. But I love the classes I teach, I love my students, and I love my school. So there's that.

Actual Incident From My Life....

Last week I was in the media center with my students. They were checking out their copies of The Great Gatsby. As I watched the students checking out their books, one of my former students joined me. She gazed at the sophomores pensively and said "What they don't realize is that they are about to read the best book they'll read all year."

Also, cool books.

Did you know that Richard Wright, author of Black Boy and Native Son, wrote thousands of haiku? I'm really fascinated by Wright's foray into poetry, and I've been reading and enjoying Haiku: This Other World. There is an interesting and revealing introduction by Wright's daughter, Julia.

What else have I been reading? Well, I'm reading The Great Gatsby, since I'm teaching that. Then, I've started I Am Malala, and just finished reading John Green's wonderful Looking for Alaska.

 

So many of my students have read and loved John Green's books that I really had to read him for myself, and I have to say I totally get it now. One of my reading goals is to read more Young Adult literature, especially the books my students can't stop talking about.

Your suggestions, please...

I'm looking for suggestions or recommendations for two categories of books. One is young adult fiction that has a mythological connection. So, books that are re-tellings or updated versions of Greek or Roman myths (maybe fairy tales too?). I'm designing a research project for my high school so the titles should be appropriate for that age. I want the kind of books that students just can't put down.

The other category is books (fiction or non-fiction) either from or about the Civil Rights movement in the United States. This would be for a new class I will teach next year for high school juniors. I'd like to include a wide variety of readings, from essays and reportage to short stories and novels. Songs, too. Any ideas?

So, are you "catching up," or trying too, in this crazy-busy season?