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Your Reading Recommendations

DTo Be Read Pileear Read­er,

If you sub­scribe to my newslet­ter, you received a request today to help me add to my to-be-read pile as we approach this long win­ter. Please enter your rec­om­men­da­tion in the com­ments below. If you don’t yet receive my occa­sion­al newslet­ter, you can sign up for it here. There’s always news of what I’m up to as far as writ­ing goes and there’s usu­al­ly a giveaway.

I look for­ward to learn­ing which books you recommend.

Avi

14 thoughts on “Your Reading Recommendations”

  1. Hel­lo!

    If seek­ing a book for pro­fes­sion­al learn­ing, I’d sug­gest Equi­ty by Design by Chardin & Novak 2020 (Cor­win). The book helps edu­ca­tors design lessons with equi­ty for ALL learn­ers through the lens of UDL. 

    If seek­ing a book for use with learn­ers in your class­room, I’d sug­gest the graph­ic nov­el, They Called Us Ene­my by George Takei 2019. Mr. Takei is well known for his por­tray­al of Mr. Sulu on the old series, Star Trek. Dur­ing WW2 he and his fam­i­ly were placed in the US prison camps for the Japan­ese. The nov­el describes those expe­ri­ences. It’s a great read to learn about a part of US his­to­ry that is not taught near­ly enough in our schools. 

    Thanks to every­one who works with our youth and who con­tin­ue to grow as read­ers and writers!
    And THANK YOU to Avi for your shar­ing of your experiences.

    Reply
  2. Since my hus­band and I are both teach­ers and par­ents of teens, we tend to read mid­dle-grade and young-adult nov­els these days. Some of our more recent faves:
    1. Lau­ren Wolk (Wolf Hol­low and Echo Mountain)
    2. Mar­garet Owen (Mer­ci­ful Crow and Faith­less Hawk)
    3. Joni Sensel (Far­walk­er’s Quest)
    I can’t wait to read Per­loo the Bold to my cur­rent class this winter!
    Wish­ing you health and safe­ty, Avi!

    Reply
  3. Sev­er­al books I’ve read recent­ly: Won­der Boys (pret­ty good but too many $100 words. Watched the movie just after & real­ly liked it bet­ter than the book). Giv­er of Stars by Jo Jo Moyes & sim­i­lar sub­ject The Book Woman of Trou­ble­some Creek byKin Michele Richard­son. Both t fic­tion about the women on horse­back who deliv­ered library books to peo­ple in the remote areas of KY in the 30’s

    Reply
  4. I found Del­to­ra Quest by Emi­ly Rod­da around the same time I found your amaz­ing books as a child. I also rec­om­mend 1Q84 by Haru­ki Muraka­mi for an long book for adults.

    Reply
  5. I recent­ly read and rec­om­mend The Hom­ing Instinct : Mean­ing and Mys­tery in Ani­mal Migra­tion by nat­u­ral­ist Bernd Hein­rich. It seemed very rel­e­vant to our own cur­rent sit­u­a­tion. He also wrote One Man’s Owl, which I hope you were able to get a copy of and see if it was indeed that long-lost inspi­ra­tion for Poppy.

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  6. At the begin­ning of the pan­dem­ic I re-read Theodore Tay­lor’s Cape Hat­teras tril­o­gy. This mid­dle grade set has always been love­ly to me and met the need when I could­n’t focus very well–like vis­it­ing an old friend. Oth­er favorites are The Gen­tle­man in Moscow by Amor Towles, Still Life by Louise Pen­ny, Writ­ing Places by William Zinss­er, and I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Ali­firen­ka and Mar­tin Gan­da. That’s an eclec­tic list, but each scratched a lit­er­ary itch for me. Enjoy the vacation.

    Reply
  7. It’s been awhile since I’ve read an Avi book, but I always keep an eye open for them as the ones I’ve read in the past were thought-pro­vok­ing, fun­ny, or just enjoy­able. Anoth­er teacher rec­om­mend­ed this adult (or old­er teen) book to me, “The Moun­tains Sing,” a nov­el by Nguyen Phan Que Mai. Sit­u­at­ed over a few gen­er­a­tions through many wars in Viet­nam, it is one of the most pow­er­ful books I’ve ever read. (It takes a close sec­ond to my all time favorite, “To Kill A Mock­ing Bird.” Hap­py read­ing, stay safe, and I’m look­ing for­ward to your new endeavors.

    Reply
  8. Have you read any­thing by Leigh Bar­dugo? For adult fic­tion I rec­om­mend Inde­pen­dent Peo­ple by Hall­dor Lax­ness. Recent­ly I fin­ished Rose Daugh­ter by Robin McKin­ley and I’m read­ing Beau­ty by Robin McKin­ley now.

    Reply
  9. Avi, I read your newslet­ter and enjoy every one. Being a new author, it gives me insight into things I’d nev­er thought to ques­tion. So, thank you for that. I love the back­ground sto­ries you tell about your books, too. 

    I recent­ly fin­ished a fine mid­dle grade book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Ken­di. A great nar­ra­tive read about the 60s is A Hard Rain: Amer­i­ca in the 1960s, Our Decade of Hope, Pos­si­bil­i­ty, and Inno­cence Lost by Frye Gail­lard. It’s a long one, but worth every word. 

    Hap­py reading!

    Reply

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