Many books have inspired me to be a better writer, but it’s rare that a book inspires me to be a better person. Wonder by R.J. Palacio is just such a rarity. A free sample copy of the book arrived in my mailbox at school toward the beginning of last school year. This is the second […]
Today we’re looking at part II of Joseph’s Campell’s theory of the monomyth as discussed in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. I discussed the first phase, separation, here. In this post, we’ll look at the second phase: initiation. Road of Trials–The hero is put through a series of tests designed to measure his […]
During the summer (probably into the fall as well), I’ll be reviewing some of the 2014 Rebecca Caudill nominees. First up is a historical fiction novel that takes place during the early part of the Cold War and mixes in some mystery and fantasy. Title: The Apothecary Author: Maile Meloy Age group: upper middle grade Genre: historical fiction […]
“I’ve always tried to be aware of what I say in my films, because all of us who make motion pictures are teachers — teachers with very loud voices.” –George Lucas As a teacher myself, one of the writing techniques I share with my students comes from Joseph Campbell’s 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand […]
Tomorrow (June 4) will be the release day for The Well, the debut novel by Stephanie Landsem. Stephanie and I first met through the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). When she told me last year about The Well, she explained that she originally thought she was writing a YA novel but realized later that it best fits […]
I first read A Wrinkle in Time when I was in junior high. It fascinated me. Never before had I read a story that took me to worlds so vastly different from my own. Years later, I still love it, and kids today find it as entrancing as I did. If you’ve never read this Newbery […]
On the eighth season finale of How I Met Your Mother, they finally revealed “the mother,” the girl Ted Mosby will marry. The show has only one season left, and we’d been promised for a while that we’d meet Ted’s future wife at the end of this season. If you missed it, we were given only a […]
Let me just start off by saying, I love this book! This is the final novel of the school year for the sixth grade students in my advanced level reading class. It’s part of our combined fantasy/mythology unit since it involves a bit of Norse mythology. The kids really like it, so it’s a fun […]
An infinitive is the basic form of a verb. In English, we express it as “to + the verb.” For example, to give, to run, to sleep, to travel, to speak. An infinitive is “split” when an adverb is placed between the word to and the verb. The most famous example is from the opening of the […]
Yes and no. I did correctly predict the YA winner: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Not too hard to do given the fact that it’s well written, has some great twists, and covers a popular topic (World War II) through an interesting perspective (female spies). I did not correctly predict the juvenile winner: The Quick Fix […]
