Ms. Harris's Shelf

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Anya's Ghost

I personally really enjoy graphic novels, but many of my favorites are a little too difficult for some lower-level readers. For that reason, I recently read Anya's Ghost in hopes it would be a good recommendation for those students. Anya's Ghost is about a girl who befriends a ghost after discovering a long-lost skeleton. Things take a turn when Anya realizes her new friend doesn't have her best interests at heart. The novel also explores the difficulties of fitting in as an immigrant in a new country as well as mundane teenage embarrassment over family. The novel also lightly touches on some sensitive subjects, including emotional abuse within a romantic relationship. The illustrations are lovely, and Emily, the ghost becomes truly terrifying throughout the novel. The slow reveal of how she actually died pays off in the climax of the novel. Although I did enjoy the novel, I think it will only be appropriate for middle-grade readers or low-level high school readers.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram would be an excellent book to recommend to any student who feels like an outsider, but especially to students of of immigrants or bicultural students. Darius describes himself as a "Fractional Persian" since his mother is Persian and his father his American by birth. He's a nerd and wants the reader to know it, constantly referencing Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. Khorram does an excellent job developing the strained relationship between Darius and his father Stephen, as the as the intimate friendship Darius forms with Sohrab in Iran. However, I think the novel is most remarkable for its treatment of clinical depression. Darius is depressed, and the novel gracefully shows how depression affects Darius everyday life. We see the mundane ritual of taking his medication (though he does describe the many months it took to find the right medicine), but we also see the more sinister ways depression affects Darius. For example,

I'll Be Right There

I'd like to continue my posts about literature in translation today by recommending the novel I'll Be Right There for study in the high school classroom. First published in Korean in 2010, this epistolary novel takes place in 1980s Seoul during the regime of dictator Chun Doo-hwan. It tells the story of Jung Yoon (Yoon to her friends), a university art student, and her experiences living during this time of intense political unrest. The novel begins shortly after Yoon's mother dies, and her diary entries are steeped in cryptic grief as she processes this event and reveals to the reader the circumstances of her mother's death. Her romantic relationship unfolds timidly, inviting the reader to watch a relationship develop through careful, intimate letters between Yoon and Myungsuh. Kyung-sook Shun, the author, describes violent political demonstrations with the same care and weight as she does quiet meals and conversations between friends, highlighting how mundane the pro

Persepolis and Literature in Translation

More than an "English person," I have always been a language person. I love how we use words and how language evolves over time, and for most of my life, my primary way of indulging in this love has been through reading. I went to college for French and Arabic just to experience even more language. Because of my experiences reading works in other languages, I am a huge believer in reading works in translation. Using translated works in the classroom allows students to learn about diverse viewpoints and broaden their concepts of literary canon. Translated works can also provide perspectives completely absent from English sources. For instance, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi provides a first-person account of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Most of my students only know about Iran from recent news stories, so this graphic novel gives them historical context for current events and US-Iran relations. I encourage all self-professed lovers of literature to expand their horizo

Community Literacy

One of my goals as an educator is to help promote literacy in my community. Our local library has a wide array of children's audiobooks available to check out with the accompanying picture book. This allows parents to make sure their kids are being read to even if they aren't able to do it themselves. My school's National English Honors Society requires that members buy a children's book and record themselves reading it to donate to the library. As a student at the same school, I loved this project. I used it as an opportunity to learn Audacity, a free audio-editing software, and make an audiobook complete with sound effects and "Clair de lune" playing in the background. For the project, I chose to read one of my favorite picture books-- Stellaluna . As an adult, I love this project for promoting community literacy. Not only does it give parents of young children a reading resource, but it also alerts high school students to the importance of reading to chil

Chrysanthemum and Identity

My author study this past week reminded me of an author I haven't thought about since my childhood. Kevin Henkes is an acclaimed children's book author and illustrator, but I have to confess that before the project I was only familiar with on of his books-- Chrysanthemum. I remember my elementary school guidance counselor reading it to my class during a lesson on bullying. Although my name isn't as unique as Chrysanthemum's, by this time in my childhood I had had my fair share of mispronunciations and misspelled certificates. By nine years old, I was so tired of being called Elsie that I declared I was changing the spelling of my name to Elyse. I eventually switched back to the legal spelling, but all of my friends from that time still spell my name with a y, and my most-used email address still documents this childhood sensitivity. When I reread the book for my author study, I was struck by Chrysanthemum's father's concern for his daughter's unhappin