If Richard Peck holds a special place on the reading list of my life, then Aretha Franklin holds a place of prominence on the soundtrack of my heart. If you’ve never read the story of her life, I encourage you to do just that. You’ll see why her voice seemed to know it all. It’s because she lived it all. I have loved Aretha Franklin since I was a child. My parents played her music, and sang her praises; I grew up knowing that hers was a voice without equal. As I grew older,

I’m cutting it close. I want to take a minute to applaud Rick Riordan for knowing what he doesn’t know. I want to thank him for knowing that perhaps his voice isn’t the voice that should bring to the masses all of the mythologies of the world. Yesterday, I finished the second entry in his Rick Riordan Presents imprint—The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes. The first entry in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint was Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi. A novel with Hindu

Let’s talk about “Cancel Culture.” Let’s talk about it in relation to my reading habits, not society as a whole because that would be several dissertations and a docuseries. Cancel Culture is a parting of the ways or a dismissal of a person, place, or idea because he or she or they or it have done something or said something that you find problematic. Although, sometimes it’s really about control. In terms of the books I read, it’s about wanting what I want and accepting noth

Have you ever started writing without knowing what you were going to say? I usually have a topic in mind, but today I don’t have any ideas. I should say that I don’t have any ideas that I can quickly express, and I don’t want to linger for too long today. When I started this blog I didn’t know if I’d have anything to say, but I knew I wanted to use this space to both catalogue and share my thoughts on reading as it relates to my private and professional life. My life as a re

I recently ran into a fellow English teacher. We started talking about the upcoming school year and she happened to mention that she’d decided not to teach Shakespeare to her 9th and 10th graders. Her reasons involve being culturally competent and the Western Canon not being reflective of the students in her classroom. I don’t disagree. The texts we use in our classroom should be reflective of the students within that classroom. I also agree that the Western Canon is highly

I recently ran into a fellow English teacher. We started talking about the upcoming school year and she happened to mention that she’d decided not to teach Shakespeare to her 9th and 10th graders. Her reasons involve being culturally competent and the Western Canon not being reflective of the students in her classroom. I don’t disagree. The texts we use in our classroom should be reflective of the students within that classroom. I also agree that the Western Canon is highly