MissMcKenzie Reads

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Gone Crazy in Alabama

    Written by Rita Williams-Garcia. Published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins (I must admit at the very beginning that I read this book out of sequence. I read the first book in the Gaither sisters trilogy, One Crazy Summer, earlier in the year and mistakenly thought Gone Crazy was the sequel when I checked it…

  • Morning Girl

    Morning Girl by Michael Dorris has been on my “Want to Read” list on Goodreads since October of 2014 (there are over 250 books on that list–I keep discovering books that sound interesting). I was intrigued by the idea of a story about Columbus’ arrival in the Bahamas from the perspective of the indigenous people…

  • Fever 1793

    I’ve never agreed with a front cover quote more. “‘The plot rages like the epidemic itself,’” states the New York Times Book Review (see photo). The pacing of this book is phenomenal, and I really don’t believe that I am exaggerating. I think it would be a great book to consult as a mentor text…

  • Iqbal

    Iqbal by Francesco D’Amado, published by Aladdin Paperbacks, an imprint of Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing DivisionAt a language arts professional development class, the guest speaker told our group of middle school teachers an anecdote about a session of SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) that she had once observed in a classroom. A thirteen-year-old boy had…

  • Esperanza Rising

    Esperanza Rising

    Esperanza Rising, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, and published by Scholastic Inc.How did I wait so long to read this book? So many of my students had heard about it. Other teachers had mentioned it. Yet, it sat in my collection of someday-I’ll-get-to-you books. I remember one teacher saying that the reading level was too…

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