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The man who invited a dance style

Juba: A Novel by Walter Dean Myers

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CBR15Passport I own Based on true events of a little-known dancer of the pre-Civil War era, Juba: A Novel by Walter Dean Myers is a story of race and fame. This is the story of the man who invented modern tap dance. There is a mixture of humor and seriousness to the text as well as the overall tone. There is some language used (the N word and “racoon” without the “ra”) and talk of violence that happened (in the south and even north) therefore, […]

What would you do when the law comes for you?

Monster: The Graphic Novel by Walter Dean Myers and Guy A. Sims

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The flow of this graphic novel adaptation of the Walter Dean Myers Monster was a little hard at times to follow with the bouncing between timelines. We see “before events” as well as “during events” and “current events.” The ending suggests an after the current events scene or two. The themes of truth, trust and lies are tossed on their heads in Guy A. Sims adaptation. Monster: The Graphic Novel includes a realistic take on the justice system. However, due to the type of people […]

Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

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This is probably the first book I read about the US/Vietnam War, and it probably shaped a lot of my thinking about it and my viewing and reading future books and movies. I cannot confirm whatsoever that I didn’t watch movies about Vietnam before reading this, so it’s hard to know what I brought into my first reading of it in 8th grade. So if I watched Full Metal Jacket when I was ten (why you ask? Because it was the 1990s and I am […]

Lightning Round

Tonguebreaker by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Batman Earth One, Vol. 3 by Geoff Johns

Solomon's Vineyard by Jonathan Latimer

Antartica: Journeys to the South Pole by Walter Dean Myers

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

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A few reviews of shorter books that I read quickly over the weekend and didn’t have extra time to flesh out… Tonguebreaker ***** Coming to terms with a society that doesn’t want you based on your body…and creating your own space instead…has to be a challenging thing. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha bares her soul to the world in this collection of poems and one-act plays. Her use of language to lecture gripped me and her exploration of what it means to live in this world, to […]

What makes a writer?

Just Write: Here’s How! by Walter Dean Myers

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#cbr11bingo #birthday  Myers birthday was August 12, 1937.  Just Write: Here’s How! is a non-fiction practical guide with easy tips, accessible language and perfect examples for the teen who wants to learn how to write. In fact, this book maps out these tips so well, adults could benefit from them. Just Write could easily be adapted for classroom use or used by the individual writer.  However, I read the ARC from 2012 and wondering if any updates have been done between then and his death or […]

Locked Up in Myself, Never Gonna Get Free

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The protagonist of Monster is Steve Harmon, a teenager on trial for murder. He is accused of being the lookout for a corner store robbery which ended in the death of the store owner. Steve is not accused of being the person who pulled the trigger, just the guy who signaled to the others that it was safe to enter the store, but he is still charged with murder. The story is framed as a screenplay he’s writing about his own life and his trial, […]



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