From: Ebony Elizabeth Thomas <ebonyt_at_gse.upenn.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 23:28:07 -0500

Pauline has a great idea:

> Might I suggest that those who enjoyed these books take the next step and post their comments on Amazon and Barnes & Noble? While I am not privy to all the machinations that go on behind these websites, I'm sure more positive reviews of these books couldn't hurt.

This is an element I plan to incorporate into our literature classes here starting with the picturebooks course in Summer A. It's a perennial topic of discussion with my TAs, who seem reluctant to add it to my already packed courses. (I'm sure we've all read student reviews on various websites that made us pause.) But when I added a review and online discussion element to the doctoral seminar this term, it was transformative for the class. Therefore, I'm going to figure out how to get my students to begin reviewing digitally, especially when it comes to authors who don't get the exposure of the "page to screen" reads.

I know that many bookish types do not patronize Amazon or B&N for various reasons, so Goodreads is an alternative. IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE has 56 reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17071488-if-i-ever-get-out-of-here

I'm review #56. I want to re-read the novel along with my children's literature students in the fall, so I'll go back and add more later. (Thinking of Kylene Beers' quote: "The first read of any sort of text yields the first draft of understanding. Readers revise that draft through every re-reading.") What stood out for me, quite honestly, was the contrast between how I experienced the book and how some of my students experienced it. I'm still trying to find a way to tell that story, Debbie. I really could relate to Lewis' struggles because a decade and some change later, I was that friendless, skinny little kid who was suddenly a walker between worlds. It's such a familiar story, but this setting was new for me. Gansworth did a great job.

I find it interesting that several Goodreads reviewers compared IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE to Alexie's ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN. I didn't find the two novels much alike at all, but I suppose I'm glad people are reading about the contemporary experiences of Native youth. Both novels were on my syllabus last fall. Next year, I think I'll change Alexie to one of a few authors Debbie has suggested. The challenge with each of my syllabi has been to try (very, very hard) not to present a single story. My students have heard of and love Sherman Alexie (my TAs even posted a link to a talk he gave), but Eric Gansworth is newer to them. In order to present a balance of stories, I am trying to highlight authors they may not have read otherwise. It's an ongoing, perennial battle.

Ebony

--
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Reading/Writing/Literacy Division
Graduate School of Education
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216
Office: (215) 898-9309
Fax: (215) 573-2109
Email:  ebonyt_at_gse.upenn.edu
Website:  http://scholar.gse.upenn.edu/thomas
Twitter: _at_Ebonyteach
Tumblr: ebonyteach
"If I do not love the world--if I do not love life--if I do not love people--I cannot enter into dialogue."
 --Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
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Received on Fri 28 Feb 2014 10:28:51 PM CST