Kate Malinowski

Finally tracked this down and read it. Cited in two different books I read this week (both recently published). Brief, incisive. Still completely relevant 50 years later.

“We say: stop celebrating our exploitation, our supposed heroism. From now on we want money for each moment of it, so that we can refuse some of it and eventually all of it.”

I care a lot more about these characters and the fate of this world than I did at the end of the last one.

Another on the list of books I put down at some point and wanted to finish before the end of the year.

I didn't love reading this book, but I learned a lot. Parts of this book were hard to get through because they're so dense and overly detailed and the tone didn't always work for me. It was worth wading through highly technical linguistics lessons and descriptions of research studies for the fresh takes on how to think about dyslexia and interpreting national reading scores. It expanded my understanding of linguistics and the science of reading. I even found the parts about modeling the reading process with computers interesting.

The “Educational Challenges” section uses a science researcher's lens to analyze national reading scores and critiques of the NAEP assessment results. There is an essential note on the impact of dialect on reading achievement scores that I haven't seen in other sources. I would recommend the next-to-last chapter, “The Two Cultures of Science and Education,” to everyone trying to figure out why schools aren't getting it done. It lays out a clear explanation of how and why schools of education have failed to incorporate reading science from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and cognitive science into teacher preparation programs and how this has made it impossible for them to adequately prepare teachers to teach reading while fostering a culture resistant to science and prone to polarization in reading “wars.” It's a thought-provoking and compelling argument.

This is a book written to provide background information and context to better understand a problem. Just know up front it's short on solutions.

This is a book written for parents who read parenting books and doesn't offer solutions for school-dependent children. That said, it's a solid, well-researched and accessible resource. Smart provides clear explanations of what the research shows about how foundational reading skills develop, lists of developmental milestones to be aware of and lots of bite-sized actions parents can take to nurture literacy development in the early years. I think it would also make an excellent resource for pediatricians, childcare providers, early childhood educators and anyone else who councils parents on early childhood development.

I especially appreciated the final chapter and the conclusion. The final chapter sheds light on the education research process and how parents might continue to educate themselves. The conclusion is a call to action; it acknowledges that those who have the bandwith to read parenting books also tend to have resources they can leverage to improve literacy outcomes in their communities.

This wasn't the book I was expecting it to be and I kept waiting for it to turn into the book I thought it was supposed to be and it never did - but that is not the fault of the author or the story.

Finished this one in June for the last school district book club meeting.

Yvette Jackson makes a compelling argument that the principles and assumptions of gifted education should be applied in every classroom setting. Assume every child is highly capable and curious and can attain high levels of academic achievement. Build relationships that unlock student potential, activate their interest and agency, and mitigate the effects of racism, classism and poverty. Plan learning experiences from this foundation of high expectations and deep understanding of the students. Selfishly, a part of her argument that really resonated with me is how low expectations and focus on skills over intellectual engagement with content contributes to teacher burnout and dissatisfaction.

4/5 stars because it is so theoretical with minimal details of what her recommendations look like in practice.

First on a shortlist of books I put down at some point in the last year that I'm hoping to finish before the end of 2022.

This book tackles the question - how do historical sites and the people who work at them interpret, represent, and communicate (or obscure) the history of slavery in the US. Great storytelling and a wealth of historical knowledge that sadly was completely new to me.

Audio read by the author was excellent!

This was a great read! Young boy surviving in the Canadian wilderness with his dog and his horse as companions and the help of a few antisocial mountain men. A truly sinister villainess.

I read the whole thing without realizing the connection to Adamson's first book (which I loved but read forever ago) and now I feel like I have to reread both. Each book completely stands on its own.

Listened to as we drove cross country. Induced some bear and cougar terror just in time for camping in the Rockies. I found it answering questions I didn't realize I had about the goals of various government agencies and public land designations and the challenges of making “wild” spaces accessible to people. It also highlighted how political, ethical, scientific and psychological conundrums entangle conservation efforts. Thought provoking if a little dry in places.

Alexandra is such a fabulous character. Shaped by circumstances or the shaper of circumstances? The whole book was more about humans and human interactions and less about the land and homesteading than I expected. Not quite sure what to make of the ending.

Listened to the Rachel McAdams audio version. Whole family was charmed. I've been reluctant to reread as an adult because I was afraid it wouldn't hold up to my memory. Turns out I vividly recalled almost all of the episodes and it was great to hear Anne's voice and the wry observations of the narrator.

Reading this was like watching a quirky indie movie. I felt a tiny bit exasperated by the protagonist the whole time, but completely caught up in each new scene. And I could vividly picture the whole thing. Leah is so passive and reality is skewed just enough that I wasn't sure the whole thing wasn't a dream.

Is there something else I've read where someone inherits a car and picks it up from a mechanic? I was having intense de ja vu during those scenes.

I was scared to start this one because Migrations, even though I loved it, was so bleak. This book is more brutally violent than most things I read, but I couldn't put it down.

CW: Intimate partner violence, rape, PTSD

Great story. The contemporary voice combined with old-timey language kind of grated at first but as the pace picked up I stopped noticing.

Excellent resource. Thorough, concise, very clear and well organized. Going on my shortlist of must have teaching texts for reading intervention. Anyone, including parents and tutors, working with students with language-based learning disabilities or spelling and decoding deficits can use this. Spelling bee contenders can also find all the rules here.

I'm not usually a fan of short stories or sci-fi, but really liked this. I would probably prefer the epic fantasy length version. The ending just came too fast and I want to know more about “edan” and the university planet. Think this would be a hit with young sci-fi fans. Middle school themes include leaving home to pursue education, identity, belonging and saving the world.

Lush fantasy setting based in Argentinian folklore with cool natural elements. There were some very predictable YA threads and some twists I didn't see coming. Takes on issues of identity and belonging in an interesting way. The gendered magical identities reminded me of Witch Boy.

Read in one sitting. Not the escapist fantasy I was craving, but definitely a page turner. Wry, suspenseful, emotionally crushing.

Written as though someone took their writers workshop notebook and organized all the “seed ideas” in chronological order and it magically revealed a taut narrative arc.

It took 100 pages to really get into this, but then it was totally worth it. Had no idea this was the first in a series when I started. So many questions...

Sweet characters all around, but when everyone acts so reasonably and makes every effort to listen and communicate effectively there's not much drama to keep the pages turning. I guess this is Hornby's point about our current socio-political environment.

Cute rom-com about rom-coms. I was distracted by how similar the plot was to Shuffle Repeat.

This book is a tightly crafted, cold, hard stare at ambition and political machinations. Marginalized people (the young, Muslim, poor, trans, illiterate) are used, abused and disposed of by the powerful in their pursuit of more power. It makes for a bleak read.

This is an excellent framework to use when evaluating or planning curriculum. It could easily be adapted for different groups of students, different ages and different content areas. Using this framework will automatically and authentically up the rigor and responsiveness of curricula.

The framework is intended to be dynamic and not prescriptive. This means the lesson plans are extremely vague, intended to be ideas that can be adapted for different contexts. It would have been helpful to see at least one example of a completely planned lesson with time and activities and expectations for what students would be able to do at the end of it.

I really enjoyed learning about the Black literary societies and reading all the primary texts included.

I had the pleasure of reading this with a group of teachers, staff and fellow parents at my son's new school this year. The book (and the group) challenged and changed my thinking. It was a good reminder to stay open to and curious about new ideas.

I was convinced by the central premise: racist policies, driven by self-interest, create racist ideas not the other way around. This premise changes the focus of anti-racism work away from educating people to combat ignorance and bias and shifts it toward devising and championing policies that combat inequity. Kendi provides many clear and useful definitions throughout to help anchor further conversations.

The book is sort of too long and too short at the same time. Too long for a speech, which is the style it is written in, and too short to provide detailed support for the many claims it makes. I imagine that I will prefer the more thorough historical perspective in Stamped from the Beginning.

Shane and Eva didn't really do it for me, but this book is filled with great supporting characters and some very entertaining and poignant scenes. I would love to read the family history Eva plans to write.