Hi, there.

I'm still around, just really busy with school. Our brand-new building is beautiful, but my air conditioning doesn't work and I'm still getting used to the seven periods a day (as opposed to four 1.5 hr-long blocks). I'm hoping to get caught up with grading this weekend, which would give me more free time for playing on the Internet. I'm still posting (sporadically) on Twitter, but I do have a bunch of books to review and new recipes to post, so those will hopefully go up in the next week or so. Congrats to all the BBAW winners! Hopefully you'll all be hearing from me again soon. :)

Is anyone else reading Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters? I'm loving it! I'm only a few chapters in, but it's so much fun. I loved P&P&Z, too. It was pretty much 75% Austen, 25% zombies. S&S&SM is more like 25% Austen, 75% sea monsters, and it works. Poor Colonel Brandon with his face tentacles...

School's (almost) out for summer

Dear blog,

I am terribly sorry I've been ignoring you for the past few weeks. School has been crazy-busy; thank goodness tomorrow is the last full day before finals. Unfortunately, I still have a week of post-planning and prep for moving to our nice, nearly-completed new high school. But after that, I'll be back to a regular posting schedule, I pinkie-promise. On the plus side, I've been reading tons of books, so I'll have lots of reviews to write*...after I finish grading all these persuasive papers. Who knew so many 10th graders were opposed to school uniforms? Too bad the school board already voted - I'll be rockin' khakis and polo shirts next year!

For now, though, I'm off to bed. Thanks to Glee, I'll have "Don't Stop Believin'" stuck in my head for at least the next three days. Not that I'm complaining - I love me some Journey.

Love,
A frazzled first year teacher

* Including, but not limited to: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which I finally broke down and ordered online), The Thirteen Clocks, the first three trades of Jack of Fables, Mr. Darcy's Diary, Don't Eat This Book!, Smoke and Mirrors, The Eternals, and The Graveyard Book. Yeah, I went on a Neil Gaiman-themed reading binge recently...

On reunions and death

I apologize in advance for the depressing, reflective nature of this post. It's been a while since I've felt the need to go all emo!kid on a blogpost. This weekend has been bittersweet for me. Yesterday, my mom picked me up after school and we drove down to Statesboro for GaSoU's homecoming. Mom was the only person I could find who would come with me, and I didn't mind because she's one of my favorite people in the world. I graduated five years ago, and the only reason I wanted to go back this year was because the Honors Program had arranged for a reception, and I knew (courtesy of facebook) that a lot of my college friends would be there. There was really one in particular that I really wanted to see, though: Holly*. She was one of my best friends for those four years. We lived in the same dorm when I was a freshman and she was a sophomore, and we ended up taking the same Spanish class first semester. I still remember having to introduce her to the rest of the class that first day - it was one of those silly "getting to know you" things teachers do, but because we were in an intermediate Spanish class, it had to be en Español. The majority of my happy memories from college are tied to Holly: going to Waffle House in the middle of the night to write Harry Potter fanfic, driving to Savannah and singing the "Once More with Feeling" soundtrack in harmony, doing callbacks to Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Russell Union...not to mention all the English classes, Jennifer Nettles concerts, and UHP stuff we did together. We had our rough patches, to be sure, but I always thought we'd be friends forever.

When I graduated, Holly was one of the few people I made an effort to keep in touch with. It got difficult: she rarely responded to my IMs, was too busy to e-mail or phone, and I guess we both drifted apart. I'd try to call and renew contact every year or so, but always with the distinct impression that she didn't really care that much. Then, last year, I joined facebook. Holly sought me out and sent me a friend request, and asked me to join a few groups she had started. Encouraged, I wrote on her wall and waited for the friendship to pick back up.

It didn't.

Which is pretty heartbreaking. I mean, why bother friending someone if you're not going to...you know...be their friend?

Flash-forward to last month. I received an e-mail from the UHP alumni relations, telling me about the reunion/reception. I also got an invitation through facebook, thanks to another "friend from college" that I haven't actually had contact with since accepting their friend request. I spent a frantic week trying to find someone, anyone, to go with me - the drive to Statesboro is boring at the best of times; in the current economic climate, it would be downright painful - before managing to talk my mom into it. Knowing that Holly would be there (along with several other people that I hadn't seen in five years) and believing that I would finally get a chance to talk to her about what she had been up to made me giddily eager for the night to begin.

We got there late and ended up having to spend the first hour or so at a table full of strangers. But then, finally, we were told to mingle and given an opportunity to walk around. I spotted Holly across the room with a group of mutual friends, and practically made a beeline for her.

(You can see where this is heading, right?)

She ignored me completely. I think she might have given me one of those "O hai" head-nod-jerks, but that was about it. And then the whole group - a group of people that I once considered my closest friends in the world - left. The night wasn't a complete bust: I did get a chance to hang out with some other friends, and had a great time with them, but it wasn't the same.

This morning, I asked Mom if we could go for a walk around campus. It's changed so radically since I was in school! Most of the buildings that I really wanted to look at were closed, but we did get into the completely renovated library. And guess who we ran into?

Some teeny, tiny part of me hoped that maybe the night before had been a fluke; maybe they didn't realize that they had totally snubbed me. Surely fate had brought us together (again) so that I could reconcile with my former friends. Right?

Nope. Mom made some excuse and left, giving me a chance to talk without her around. But that didn't matter. I tagged along, feeling like an outsider and trying to make conversation. I asked Holly about her post-collegiate life and was rewarded with a smile and a very succinct answer. I probably only stayed with them for five minutes, but it felt like five incredibly awkward hours. Only one person - Jennifer*, the sweetest person in our group, then and (it would appear) now - made an effort to talk to me. When Jennifer mentioned that she needed to go back downstairs to meet some other people, I said my goodbyes and left with her. I told her, on the elevator ride back, how much I had been looking forward to seeing everyone. She offered no explanation for their behavior and I, not wanted to offend, didn't press. She seemed sympathetic, though, and asked me to keep in touch.

The minute we got back into the car, I unloaded my frustration and hurt on Mom. She gave me the usual Mom-like advice, which was nice but didn't really help. The whole experience saddened me, but it also made me thankful for the friends that I have and still keep up with.

But wait, there's more!

One place I insisted on visiting was the old comic book store. I spent so much time and money in that place, it was like a second home to me. As it turned out, the original store had been sold and closed down, but luckily Mom agreed to help me find the new location. She waited out in the car while I went in, promising not to buy anything.

Unfortunately, this was the first thing that caught my eye:


A tribute to Michael Turner. My favorite comic book artist. A man I actually met in the flesh and totally fangirled over. An incredibly beautiful, talented, and strong human being. He died over the summer, and until I walked in that store, I had no idea. Once I got over the shock, I actually started crying. IN THE COMIC BOOK STORE. And then I had to buy the book, and go out and explain to Mom exactly why I had bought a book when I said I wasn't going to, and of course she understood. I opened it up a few times on the trip back and started reading it, but I kept having to stop because it upset me so much. It seems strange to be so emotional about the death of someone I didn't even know (especially four months after the fact) but I think it was that plus the disappointment of (not really) seeing my friends that did it.

So, that's my really pathetic weekend. Now I'm off to my sister's; we're going to a wedding tomorrow. I have 300+ items waiting for me in my Google Reader, several book reviews and a NaNoWriMo novel to work on. Not to mention a lesson plan about To Kill a Mockingbird to create. If you've stuck with my rambling for this long, thanks. Writing is so cathartic; I really didn't want to have to drive with this weighing so heavily on my mind. Hopefully tomorrow will be better - maybe I'll catch the bouquet or something equally horrifying. :)

* Names have been changed, blah blah blah...

The gauntlet has been thrown...

I started my last semester of grad school on Monday. This week has been exhausting! I only have two classes, but because we start student teaching the first week of February, we have to cram a semester's worth of education into one month. Yikes. My classes are interesting, though: The Teaching of Reading (very helpful for English teachers, believe it or not) and Culture and Schooling (aka Diversity in the Classroom). A lot of reading, but it's mostly helpful and interesting and (let's face it) nothing I can't handle, as I am a reading fiend. One of the most useful books so far has been Cris Tovani's I Read It, but I Don't Get It, which has really helped me understand how I read, as well as how I make sense of what I read. I'm sure it will be useful for my (future) students, as well.

One of the articles that I got a lot out of was Dr. Ruby Payne's Understanding and Working With Adults and Children From Poverty. I didn't agree with a lot of what she said (rebuttals are available here and here), but her idea of "3 voices" really struck a chord with me. According to Dr. Payne,

Inside everyone's head are internal voices that guide the individual. These three voices are referred to as the child voice, the adult voice and the parent voice. It has been my observation that individuals who have become their own parent quite young do not have an internal adult voice. They have a child voice and a parent voice, but not an adult voice.

What an internal adult voice does is allow for negotiation. This voice provides the language of negotiation and allows the issues to be examined in a non-threatening way.

Educators tend to speak to students in a parent voice, particularly in discipline situations. To the student who is already functioning as a parent, this is unbearable, and almost immediately, the incident is exacerbated beyond the original happening. The tendency is for educators to also use the parent voice with poor parents because the assumption is that a lack of resources must indicate a lack of intelligence. Poor parents are extremely offended by this as well.

As I was reading, I realized that that's one of the reasons I dislike my (temporary, part-time, weekend) job so much. So many of our customers are older (and richer), and they tend to talk to me like I'm either 5-years-old or really, really dumb. They like to put exclamation points on the ends of all of their sentences: "Well, aren't you a good little cook!" "You sure do look busy over here!" etc, etc. They also frequently ask me a question, and then proceed to talk right over me as I'm answering them. It's very frustrating, but at least now I can think of it in terms of education and use it as an example of how NOT to treat my students.

In other news, Bea over at Feeling Kinda Blog Today has challenged everyone (I guess?) to join her in reading 52 books in 52 weeks. I am already on books 3 (the aforementioned Tovani tome) and 4 (The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde). I love reading Fforde - a friend of mine described his books as "English major porn," and while I wouldn't go quite that far, they are really entertaining in a geeky, literary in-joke sorta way. Yay, books! I'm trying to beat last year's reading record by reading 100 books this year. I'm also counting YA novels, which is probably cheating because they tend to be short. Not to mention a horrible guilty pleasure. I mean, research for when I'm a teacher. Yeah.

In other other news, my friend Ashley has decided that she must lose 50 pounds* before her boyfriend gets home from Iraq in March. I figured, what the heck, I could stand to get in shape, too, and so we began a Serious Workout Regime this week. We started with this strip aerobics/hip hop dance video hosted by Carmen Electra, and holy crap, I have never been so sore. Until the next day, that is, when we hit the elliptical machine at the University fitness center. Yowza. The Regime has been temporarily suspended, pending a full recovery of my poor back and thighs.

*this is a completely arbitrary number on Ashley's part, as she doesn't own a scale and, consequently, has no idea how much she actually weighs

Books Read in 2008

Among the Hidden, Margaret Peterson Haddix**
The Babysitter, R.L. Stine**
The Babysitter II, R.L. Stine**
The Babysitter III, R.L. Stine**
The Babysitter IV, R.L. Stine**
The Baby-Sitters Club #1: Kristy's Great Idea, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #2: Claudia and the Phantom Phonecalls, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #3: The Truth About Stacey, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #6: Kristy's Big Day, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #31: Dawn's Wicked Stepsister, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #38: Kristy's Mystery Admirer, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #44: Dawn and the Big Sleepover, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #45: Kristy and the Baby Parade, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #46: Mary Anne Misses Logan, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #47: Mallory on Strike, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #48: Jessi's Wish, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #50: Dawn's Big Date, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #52: Mary Anne + Too Many Babies, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #53: Kristy for President, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #55: Jessi's Gold Medal, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club #58: Stacey's Choice, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #1: Baby-sitters on Board!, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #2: Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #3: Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #4: Baby-sitters' Island Adventure, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #5: California Girls!, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #6: New York, New York!, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #7: Snowbound, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #8: Baby-sitters at Shadow Lake, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery #1: Stacey and the Missing RIng, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery #4: Kristy and the Missing Child, Ann M. Martin**
The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery #6: The Mystery at Claudia's House, Ann M. Martin**
Bella at Midnight, Diane Stanley**
The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
Bluford High: Search for Safety, Paul Langan**
Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
Captain Wentworth's Diary, Amanda Grange
Chloe Does Yale, Natalie Krinsky
The Cider House Rules, John Irving
The Clique: Revenge of the Wannabes, Lisi Harrison**
The Clique: Invasion of the Boy Snatchers, Lisi Harrison**
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Laurie Viera Rigler
Congo, Michael Chrichton
The Crossing, Gary Paulsen**
The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love, Rosie Rushton
The Dead Girlfriend, R.L. Stine**
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart**
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Dollhouse Murders, Betty Ren Wright**
Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist, Liz Kessler**
Encyclopedia Brown Mystery Collection, Donald J. Sobol**
Enthusiasm, Polly Shulman**
Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan**
Enthusiasm, Polly Shulman**
Ever, Gail Carson Levine**
Fear Street: Cheerleaders: The First Evil, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street: Cheerleaders: The Second Evil, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street: The Knife, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street: Lights Out, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street: Secret Admirer, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street: The Secret Bedroom, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street: The Stepsister, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street: Switched, R.L. Stine**
Fear Street Super Chiller: Bad Moonlight, R.L. Stine**
Flush, Carl Hiaasen**
Forever..., Judy Blume**
Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best Friend Must Do in Europe, Jane Harrington**
The Fourth Bear, Jasper Fforde
Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess, Alfred de Musset
Gen 13: Netherwar, Christopher Golden and Jeff Mariotte**
The Ghosts of Charleston, Edward B. macy and Julian T. Buxton III
Gossip Girl: Because I'm Worth It, Cecily von Ziegesar**
Gossip Girl: You're the One That I Want, Cecily von Ziegesar**
Gossip Girl: I Like it Like That, Cecily von Ziegesar**
Gossip Girl: Nobody Does it Better, Cecily von Ziegesar**
Gossip Girl: Nothing Can Keep Us Together, Cecily von Ziegesar**
Gossip Girl: Only in Your Dreams, Cecily von Ziegesar**
Half-Moon Investigations, Eion Colfer**
Halloween Night, R.L. Stine**
Halloween Night II, R.L. Stine**
His Dark Materials: Northern Lights, Phillip Pullman**
His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife, Phillip Pullman**
His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass, Phillip Pullman**
Hoot, Carl Hiassen**
How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls, Zoe Dean
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, Ally Carter**
Inquiry-Based English Instruction: Engaging Students in Life and Literature, Richard Beach and Jamie Myers*
I Read It, But I Don't Get It, Cris Tovani*
The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler
Just Ella, Margaret Peterson Haddix**
The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikolas Kazantzakis
Less Than Zero, Brett Easton Ellis
Let the Circle Be Unbroken, Mildred D. Taylor**
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow**
The Locker, Richie Tankersley Cusick**
Lords and Ladies, Terry Pratchett
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare
The Nanny Diaries, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich*
Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen**
Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman**
The Once and Future King, T.H. White
The Open Shadow, Brad Solomon
The Other Boleyn Girl, Phillipa Gregory
The Other Woman, Jane Green
Peeps, Scott Westerfield**
Peter and the Starcatchers, James Barry and Ridley Pearson**
Pirates of the Retail Wasteland, Adam Selzer**
The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot**
The Princess Diaries Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight, Meg Cabot**
Rising Sun, Michael Chrichton
Sammy's Hill, Kristin Gore
The See-Through Kid #1: Getting Even, Elissa Snow**
The See-Through Kid #2: Wacky Wedding, Elissa Snow**
Shakespeare's Secret, Elise Broach**
Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Louis Sachar**
The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom, Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy*
The Snowman, R.L. Stine**
The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide, Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black**
The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone, Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black**
Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli**
Stitch ‘N Bitch, Debbie Stoller
Superpowers, David J. Schwartz
Sweet Valley High #3: Playing With Fire, Francine Pascal**
Sweet Valley High #34: Forbidden Love, Francine Pascal**
Sweet Valley University #12: College Cruise, Laurie John**
Sweet Valley University #15: Behind Closed Doors, Laurie John**
Through Ebony Eyes: What Teachers Need to Know But Are Afraid to Ask About African American Students, Gail L. Thompson*
ttyl, Lauren Myracle**
Tunnels, Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams**
Twilight Saga: Twilight, Stephanie Meyer**
Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Stephanie Meyer**
Twilight Saga: New Moon, Stephanie Meyer**
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer**
The Uglies Trilogy: Uglies, Scott Westerfeld**
The Uglies Trilogy: Pretties, Scott Westerfeld**
The Uglies Trilogy: Specials, Scott Westerfeld**
White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms: A Guide to Building Inclusive Schools, Promoting High Expectations, and Eliminating Racism, Julie Landsman and Chance W. Lewis*
The Wish List, Eoin Colfer**
The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon

Audiobooks:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis**
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, Margaret Cho
Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
The Ruins, Scott Smith

Graphic Novels:
The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, Bill Wellingham
Fables #10: The Good Prince, Bill Wellingham
The Killing Joke, Alan Moore
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier, Alan Moore
The Sandman #1: Preludes and Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman
Y: The Last Man #10: Whys and Wherefores, Brian K. Vaughn

TBR:
Becoming Naomi León, Pam Muñoz Ryan**
The Corrections, Johnathan Franzen
Eldest, Christopher Paolini**
Heroes Don't Run: A Novel of the Pacific War, Harry Mazer**
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostovo
The Hours, Michael Cunningham
In Her Shoes, Jennifer Weiner
Kneeknock Rise, Natalie Babbitt**
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Douglas Adams
Lush, Natasha Friend**
My First Year as a Teacher, edited by Pearl Rock Kane
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Oddballs, William Sleator**
Rant, Chuck Palahniuk
Riding Freedom, Pam Muñoz Ryan**
Soundings: A Democratic Student-Centered Education, Mark Springer
What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most, Todd Whitaker*
Zlata's Diary, Zlata Filipovic**

italicized - in progress
bold - educational research
* - for school
** - YA

Mansfield mania and other musings

As of today, I am officially finished with my first (full) semester of grad school. Grades were posted this evening, and I am maintaining my 4.0 GPA. I was actually shocked that I managed an A in my Exceptional Individual class, because I'm pretty sure I bombed the final (which asked a bunch of questions that most assuredly did NOT come from the book we were told to read, nor from the four lectures my professor gave on the days that he didn't cancel class). Moving on...

I've been catching up on my pleasure reading this holiday break. First up was the one Jane Austen novel that I haven't read more than once already: Mansfield Park. I actually grabbed it because I couldn't find my copy of The Golden Compass, but I've been meaning to re-read it anyway before the Masterpiece Theater JA-fest starts up early next year. In theory, I will re-read all six novels by then, but in actuality, who knows?

I picked up my copy of MP (for only £1!) when I was in England several years ago, and I haven't read it since then. I have, however, watched the 1999 movie version starring Frances O'Connor and Jonny Lee Miller at least a billion times, and that, sadly, is the version that I'm used to. Reading the book again made me realize just how much was changed for that particular film - no William, Fanny ACCEPTS (and then refuses) Mr. Crawford's proposal, and the majority of the "action" toward the end of the story plays out on-screen, rather than in letters. Fanny is also a lot less annoying in the movie. Reading the book, my feelings for her varied between sympathy and exasperation; either I shook my head at how cruelly she was treated, or I rolled my eyes and wanted to smack some backbone into her.

The one part of the story that always (to use a fangirl term) squicked me was that **SPOILER ALERT** she falls in love with and marries her cousin. It may have been acceptable back in Regency England (or for most members of any royal family), but that kind of thing doesn't happen anymore, right? Imagine my surprise, then, to find this Mental Floss article waiting in my Google Reader. If it's okay for Giuliani and Poe, then I guess it's okay for Price. Still kinda gross, though.

In happier news, it turns out that the new BBC version (which aired earlier this year in the UK) has already made its way online. I've only been able to watch the first part, but so far I like it. Seeing The Doctor's companion playing Fanny is a bit surreal, but they seem to have stayed relatively true to the novel.

Now I'm reading Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, whose name is a constant source of giggles. I bought it after seeing the preview for the movie:



The book's completely different, of course, but I'm hoping the action and adventure will start soon.

I saw that preview before a showing of The Golden Compass. The other trailers included The Spiderwick Chronicles and the Sex and the City movie. Don't get me wrong, I want to see both of them, but come on! I couldn't believe they showed a preview for S&TC before a kid's movie.

Books Read in 2007

Absalom, Absalom!, William Faulkner*
Alex Rider: Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz**
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
The Ancient Child, N. Scott Momaday*
Arabian Nights and Days, Naguib Mahfouz*
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, Eoin Colfer**
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Thirteenth: The End, Lemony Snicket**
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Barry Lyga**
Becoming A Teacher Through Action Research: Process, Context, and Self-Study, Donna Kalmbach Phillips and Kevin Carr*
Beyond Discipline, Alfie Kohn*
The Blonde Theory, Kristin Harmel
The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter*
Boomsday: A Novel, Christopher Buckley
The Boy Next Door, Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison*
Bluford High: Lost and Found, Anne Schraff**
Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis**
Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko*
The Clique, Lisi Harrison**
The Clique: Best Friends For Never, Lisi Harrison**
Come Together, Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees
Come Again, Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees
Confessions From the Principal's Chair, Anna Myers**
The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon
Cupcake, Rachel Cohn**
The Dark is Rising Sequence: Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper**
The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown*
The Dead Father's Club, Matt Haig**
The Devil in the Junior League, Linda Francis Lee
Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine**
Emily Windsnap and the Monster From the Deep, Liz Kessler**
Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today's Schools, Rud Turnbull, Ann Turnbull, Marilyn Shank, and Sean J. Smith*
Fairest, Gail Carson Levine**
Good in Bed, Jennifer Weiner
Good to Great, Jim Collins*
Gossip Girl, Cecily Von Ziegesar**
Gossip Girl: You Know You Love Me, Cecily Von Ziegesar**
Gossip Girl: All I Want Is Everything, Cecily Von Ziegesar**
Grammar Alive!: A Guide For Teachers, Brock Haussamen*
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood*
Haroun And The Sea Of Stories, Salman Rushdie*
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling**
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling**
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling**
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling**
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling**
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling**
Herzog, Saul Bellow*
Holler If You Hear Me, Gregory Michie*
House of Stairs, William Sleator**
How I Survived Middle School: Cheat Sheet, Nancy Krulik**
How To Get Suspended And Influence People, Adam Selzer**
Inkheart, Cornelia Funke**
In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning, Nancie Atwell*
Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sandition, Jane Austen
Lost in Austen, Emma Campbell Webster
The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor**
Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
Me and Mr. Darcy, Alexandra Potter
More Tales From the Classroom at the End of the Hall, Douglas Evans**
Mr. Knightley's Diary, Amanda Grange
Mumbo Jumbo, Ishmael Reed*
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich
Off The Road: My Years With Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg, Carolyn Cassady
On The Road, Jack Kerouac*
Op-Center: State of Siege, Tom Clancy
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson**
Possessing The Secret of Joy, Alice Walker*
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Princess Bride, William Goldman**
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Alvin Schwartz**
Shopaholic and Baby, Sophie Kinsella
Somebody's Gotta Say It, Neal Boortz
Sounder, William H. Armstrong**
The Storyteller, Mario Vargas Llosa*
Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories, Chuck Palahniuk
The Stupidest Angel, Christopher Moore
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway*
The Supernaturalist, Eoin Colfer**
The Tail of Emily Windsnap, Liz Kessler**
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume**
Teaching With the Brain in Mind, Eric Jensen*
Thank You For Smoking, Christopher Buckley
Thunderstruck, Erik Larson
Understanding By Design, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe*
Wanted!, Caroline B. Cooney**

Audiobooks:
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Lynne Truss
I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, Margaret Cho
Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door, Lynne Truss
Teacher Man, Frank McCourt


TBR:
Bitch, Elizabeth Wurtzel
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostovo
Heroes Don't Run: A Novel of the Pacific War, Harry Mazer**
Lush, Natasha Friend**
My First Year as a Teacher, edited by Pearl Rock Kane
Inquiry-Based English Instruction: Engaging Students in Life and Literature, Richard Beach and Jamie Myers*
What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most, Todd Whitaker*
Soundings: A Democratic Student-Centered Education, Mark Springer


italicized - in progress
bold - educational research
* - for school
** - YA

If they're still starred and italicized by this point, they were for my American Modernism class, WAY too Modern for my taste, and (with the possible exception of Herzog, which was really funny) will probably never be picked up (and therefore finished) ever again.