Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

 John Green is a world-famous author, but he isn't typically known for nonfiction. Instead, Looking for Alaska , The Fault in Our Stars,  and his other works are typically geared toward teen readers. However, this book is different. I started following John Green on Instagram maybe a year or so ago, and enjoyed his reels. There was a definite shift in them after a while, as Green started talking more and more about Tuberculosis. I was fascinated by his perspective on the disease, and so I've wanted to read this book. There are bonus points with this one, because I'm also planning on adding it to my AP curriculum. Everything is Tuberculosis  explains just that: how so many things are tied to TB. Green discusses the history of the disease, how treatments were developed, and (I think) most importantly, the stigma tied to TB. It all started years ago in Sierra Leone, where Green was visiting with an organization he works with. He wasn't there to study TB, but a different cr...

 I picked this up because I needed a quick read to get me back on track with my reading goal. It did not have that effect for me. This book (because it's the young reader's edition) is appropriate for about 2nd to 4th grade. While I think it does a fantastic job at what it's trying to accomplish, I would like to get the full version and reread it. This book has been made into a film, and I think its message is excellent. Hidden Figures  follows the story of several African-American women trying to break into the field of aeronautics during and just after World War II. These women started as "computers" which meant that they were checking the math of the predominately white male engineers in other departments. These women were brilliant in their own right, and amazing mathematicians. Eventually, their skills could not be ignored, and many of them were promoted to other departments, and breaking racial barriers that had existed for a century. Based on the intended a...

I read this book to prepare for AP next year to use as one of my lit circle selections toward the end of the year. Just Mercy  details the case of Walter McMillian, a black man convicted of capital murder in Alabama in the late 1980s. The issue - Walter didn't commit the murder that prosecutors illegally pinned on him. The author, Bryan Stevenson, started a nonprofit in Alabama specifically to help people like Walter, and other death row inmates who had inadequate legal counsel when sentenced. As Stevenson outlines the many setbacks and the failures of the courts to listen to Walter's innocence, he also details other work that he did during the six years it took to secure Walter's release. Stevenson works with youth who were detained and sentenced to life in prison (even for non-homicide offenses), women, and other underrepresented populations who lack access to proper legal counsel and therefore end up in prison for far longer than they deserve to be. This book pleads with...

This is another book that I use in my classroom. My 10th-grade students enjoy this story. I've read this book a few times, and I enjoy it more every time I read it. Warriors Don't Cry  by Melba Patillo Beals tells the true story of her experience integrating Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba was a normal teenage girl. She had friends, went to class, got good grades. She had a tight-knit family at home. Her life was forever changed when she put her name down on a list of students to possibly integrate Central High School. Melba went from a normal school to what she describes as a battlefield. She had to be escorted to every class by a soldier from the U.S. military, she had to watch every corner and staircase, she was beaten, spit upon, and yelled at, and even had segregationists calling her home to try and scare her out of going to school. This book is another narrative that is particularly sensitive in the current climate of racial tensions. I also think this...