Teenage Angst is Bildungsroman

Cameron, Peter.  Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You. (2007).

James Sveck announces that he is not going to Brown University.  He is too smart for that.  Why go to university when all he needs to know can found in books anyway.  What, pray tell, will he do?  He will buy a house in the Midwest.
James is at odds with his mother, father, and sister.  He is troubled by his feelings for his art gallery colleague.  He finds solace in visiting his D-list celebrity grandmother. 
This is James' summer from HELL.
Peter Cameron brings a Holden Caulfield character to a contemporary setting.

Chick Lit from Britain

Limb, Sue.  Zoe and Chloe: Out to Lunch.  (2008).

Zoe and Chloe have the perfect summer planned.  They will get fab jobs and save their money for a proper holiday to boy laden Newquay.  There are a few obstacles along the way.  Their summer jobs turn out to be rubbish and how on earth will Zoe convince her parents that she and Chloe are old enough to go to Newquay alone!  Sue Limb is hilarious.  Grade 8 and 9 girls will love the Zoe and Chloe series.
Other Zoe and Chloe novels available in the school library include, Zoe and Chloe on the Prowl.

Gossip Girl for the Arab World

Alsanea, Rajaa.  Girls of Riyadh.  (2007).

After Friday prayers an anonymous young woman from Riyadh sends stories via email to a list of subscribers to her online list-serv.  Over the course of a year our narrator shares the triumphs and tragedies of four friends - Gamrah, Michelle, Sadeem and Lamees.  Gamrah is the first to succeed in securing love in a traditionally arranged Saudi marriage.  Michelle, whose mother is American, is the rebel in the group and will seek love on her own.  Sadeem struggles when she loses her father and mother and thus has no one to arrange a suitable marriage.  Lamees is the academic in the group and pursues a successful medical career.   Originally published in Arabic in 2005, Alsanea's first novel took the Arab world by storm, stoking controversy and igniting debate about the role of young women in the traditional Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia. 

Short Story Collection

Ellis, Deborah.  Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories.  (2008). Here is a collection of ten short stories that explores how drugs have affected teens across the world.  In Afghanistan, Tahmina and her family harvest opium.  Valerin, a child abandoned in Moscow's Red Square, is offered heroin to "take away the sins of the world".  Kelly struggles to find a place for herself  in the shadow of her drug-addicted sister, Shannon, by entering the Miss Firefighter Pageant.  While the characters may seem trite and the tone might be preachy, Ellis's straightforward writing style makes this heavy subject easily accessible to reluctant readers. 

Akpan, Uwem.  Say You're One of Them.  (2008).

Akpan, a Jesuit priest, creates stories from the children of Africa.  These children are prostitutes in Nairobi.  Maisha, 12 years old, works the streets of Nairobi to help bring food for Christmas and money for her brother's education.  Mary and Pascal are sold by their uncle to Gabon.  Jean and Monique witness the massacre of their mother and the people of Rwanada.  With textured writing and compelling voice Akpan lifts the troubles and spirit of the African child into our souls.

Are you a GREAT teacher?

Whitaker, Todd. What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most.  Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education.  (2004).

Are you a GREAT teacher?  Whitaker offers a quick review of what great teachers do.  I am back in the classroom after a 4 year hiatus and found this book to be a good pick-me-up and a reaffirmation for why I chose the teaching profession.  Furthermore, it offers common sense guiding principles for all teachers - keep your behaviour and emotions in check and students will respond accordingly.

In these times of deficits, cutbacks and finger pointing it is important to remember to maintain a professional and responsible role in the classroom.  One of the recurring themes is that great teachers are positive.

Teachers are the filters for the day-to-day reality of school.  Whether we are aware of it or not, our behavior sets the tone.  If students overhear us whining or complaining about something, it may be the talk of the school for days even if it was something minor.  By the same token, if we always approach things in a positive manner, then this is what the students reflect.  The most effective educators understand this and choose their filters carefully (55).

The teaching profession asks us to make hundreds of decisions each day.  What is the basis for  your decisions?  How to do you plan and prepare your lessons?  Whitaker suggests that great teachers do three things (89).

We may have been taught to "teach to the middle," where the majority of students cluster.  However, as long as we teach to the middle, that is where the majority of our students will remain.  Great teachers take a different approach.  Great teachers aim high.  Great teachers make decisions following three simple guidelines:

1.  What is the purpose?

2.  Will this actually accomplish the purpose?

3.  What will the best people think?

Schools are competing against each other for students in an effort to increase enrollment and thereby increase funding.  Whitaker reminds us that great teachers know that it is people, not programs, that determine the quality of a school (127).

Come down to your school library to borrow this great book.  You can also find many other teacher resources in our Teacher Professional Library.