Realistic fiction, also known as contemporary or modern realistic fiction, is where everything in the book feels real and follows the real world in terms of events, characters, setting, etc. My students love realistic fiction. Why? Because it’s so relatable. The struggles the characters go through are issues and situation that could really happen and…

Let’s discuss how adolescents develop. This is something I feel like I should know as a teacher with a degree in 4-8 ELAR, but I still tend to forget some of the important take aways Dr. Teri Lesesne discusses in her Youtube video over this topic, especially when I’ve been working with younger children. She…

Here is the youtube video I watched for this post: Division of Young People’s Literature. I highly suggest following these two professors if you are a librarian or just enjoy literature in general. They are fun and knowledgable and you’ll walk away learning something new! Divisions of young people’s literature is grouped by age groups.…

I read a blog post from Chroniclebooks.com over the anatomy of a book. It was simply put even with pictures which made for easy understanding and didn’t leave me guessing as to which part it was referring to. I knew a few of the terms prior to this blog, like the endpapers (which are the…

According to a list I read by Mertz & England, 1983, there are ten things that make a book YA worthy. After I read the list, the first thing I thought was “So…they have all the characteristics of a smartalec teenager who thinks they’re invincible?” 😂 But for real…here are a few things I found important on…

Need help using search engines? Or maybe you think you have it all figured out, but really could be more efficient with your searching? Check out my Padlet over it all. If you want to dig deeper, visit Bare Bones 101, which is where I found my information. https://padlet.com/t_hargrove85/qqq0kmxt0aow

I remember kindergarten vividly. I still speak to the teacher who gave me the love of education and gave me the idea of teaching one day myself; she lives in Africa, but she still visits our hometown when she can. When I was in kindergarten, there was an AM and PM class and it was…

This had to be my favorite book to read for my Children’s Literature class. The size was a little intimidating (it’s over 600 pages), but once I opened it and started reading, I was mesmerized and hooked on the plot. This book is a mix of font and pictures. The pictures tell one story and…

Written similarly to The Crossover, the book is in verse and is an autobiography about Woodson’s childhood. She grew up during the 60s, and like The Watson’s Go to Birmingham, she lives in the south for a short time with her grandparents and see the hatred that is still prevalent in the southern states. She…

A book written in poems by a boy named Jack. So simple. So pleasant. You can see how he evolves with his poetry writing. Each entry is dated and he begins by saying he doesn’t want to write poetry because boys aren’t suppose to, only girls. You can tell he is having “dialogue” with his…