Summer is for Reading! Dragons In A Bag

Summer is for reading!

I just finished reading Zetta Elliott's Dragons In A Bag (2018), a young middle-grade fantasy novel. And check out the cover:

Notice anything unusual? As a teacher or parent or family member of young readers, did you know that it is unusual to find African American/Black main characters in fantasy books?

Teachers, this book will welcome all the fantasy lovers in your classroom. Jaxon's time travel and dragon chasing will resonate with all fantasy geeks (like me) and Elliott's authenticity with her main characters will definitely be appreciated by African American/Black young readers. What's that? Your students are mostly White? Even more reason to add this to your classroom library. African American/Black fantasy main characters need to be normalized for White kids.

Although I couldn't find a guided reading level officially for this book, I'd estimate it at a Level N, which puts it smack in the middle of third grade. However, fourth and fifth grade teachers, you should definitely add this to your classroom libraries too (especially if you do a fantasy unit) - not just for our lower level readers, but because on- and above-grade level readers also need to read this and either feel themselves or feel African American/Black fantasy main characters normalized. And all students will enjoy the characters and plot.

Summer is for Reading! The Belles

Summer is for reading!

I recently finished The Belles (2018) by Dhonielle Clayton.

Loved it! To be honest, at first I wasn't sure it was exactly my cup of tea. I'm not a girly-girl type, I don't do makeup often or well, and while I like to look good in my clothes, fashion is not a particular interest of mine. And as I began the book, that seemed to be a lot of the focus.

But WOW. Was there ever a reason for that! That focus was the entire point. Sheesh - almost like the author (gasp!) knew what she was doing!

The social commentary and implications are my favorite aspect of The Belles. This article at Tor does an excellent job of laying it out, so I won't rework it here.

I'm going to gift some teen girls I know a copy of this book because the thinking points in The Belles are so important. I'd think it has already sparked some family discussions.

Get it, read it, gift it!

Poetry Break, Fantasy vs Reality

I'm a few days late for National Poetry Month. But poetry endures.

Fantasy

It doesn’t matter now.

It never really mattered anyway.

It was a fantasy.

A ten year fantasy

in which I struggled to be

your

reality

and you steadfastly held us to

fantasy,

always separating your worlds

so they wouldn’t

collide,

always carefully replacing me in my own

little velvet box

and gently closing the deep, quiet lid

when you left

so that you didn’t hear me and

I didn’t intrude in your

daily life,

bleed into your friends,

spill into your family,

erupt unbidden into your thoughts

at work.

And I breathed life incessantly into

my fantasy

that your heart held me as

mine held you,

and convinced myself that I was okay with

fantasy instead of reality,

that because I enjoyed you,

I enjoyed the fantasy.

My reality was fearful

and you were safe. 

CPR for an imaginary world.

Reality

Reality

would have our lives

 converge,

making me

integral to your daily life

and you to mine –

not limited to flurried intersections

of escape from

wiping faces, folding laundry, and

trips to the grocery store when the milk

runs out,

but fastened to them.

Somehow the fantasy has gasped its last

and now

it is nakedly clear

that it never really mattered.

And

that what mattered in the end

is

I learned the difference between

fantasy and reality,

that you can’t force yourself

uninvited

into another’s reality.

I learned to trust myself,

learned that fantasy

- no matter how seductively wonderful -

in the end

is no more than

smoke and mirrors

that disappear

when the lights come on.

- Kara Stewart, 2008