Tag: literature
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Teachers: Those Who Can’t Teach? Not On Your Life!
What profession do you admire most and why? Full disclosure, I am a teacher. I taught full time from 2007 to 2020, middle school English and literature. Then covid hit and I sat out (per doctor’s orders) the 2020-2021 school year since I wasn’t old enough for the vaccine yet. A shift in administration created…
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Book Review: The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce was recently published on July 8, 2025 by The Dial Press, an imprint of Random House. I was offered this ARC by the publisher because of my interest in and book reviews of several other books published by Random House, such as Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, one of…
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Book Review: The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell
NetGalley is a digital platform that provides book people with FREE advance reading copies (ARCs) of books yet to be released in exchange for a review written and posted on their site, on Goodreads, on Amazon, on your own social media. Sometimes you are offered a book, but more often you request a book that…
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Book Review: My Friends by Fredrik Backman
My Friends (Atria Books, May 6, 2025) is the second book I’ve read by Swedish author Fredrik Backman (translated by Neil Smith). In its almost two months since publication it has garnered a solid average of 4.52 stars in Goodreads with over 45,000 ratings and over 9,800 reviews. At this point, does it really matter…
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Book Review: Orbital by Samantha Harvey
I’m not really sure what I want to say about this book. I finished it last night, but it took me much longer to read it than most books I read these days. Clearly displayed on the cover is the notice that it won the 2024 Booker Prize, a British award given to the best…
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Book Review: Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver
Reading Mary Oliver is sort of like feeling your heart pounding in your throat, threatening to break at any moment. I feel sadness at the very beauty of her words, and then I feel mad because I can’t replicate that same beauty with my own. I am trying very hard to be a writer. I…
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Book Review: Buzz! Boom! Bang! By Benjamin Gottwald
This delightful children’s picture book has no words, just beautiful and colorful illustrations. It is a master class in the literary device onomatopoeia. If I were still teaching middle school language arts, I would bring this book into my 7th and 8th grade literature classroom and have students sit in small groups to “read” it…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 