Darlington School: Private Boarding School in Georgia Good Reads from Mrs. Smyly
Darlington School: Private Boarding School in Rome, GA
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Good Reads from Mrs. Smyly

Melissa Smyly | March 29, 2019 | 385 views

We are always telling our students to engage their passions, to find the one thing that really makes them light up inside and pursue it. My passion is books. I love to read...everything. There is not one specific genre that I prefer. I am not loyal to specific authors. I am happy reading from print sources or electronic sources. I just crave a good story. I got my Masters Degree in Library Media Technology, because the only other place I'd like to be as much as the classroom is the library. I have often told my friends that my retirement goal is to be a personal bookshopper at Barnes and Noble. This leads me to the second part of my passion, I love picking out books for other people. It is like a game, trying to figure out the perfect book selection that will turn someone who isn't an avid reader into a fan for life. My favorite part of elementary school was the Beverly Cleary inspired "D.E.A.R. Time" that Ramona Quimby discussed. D.E.A.R. stands for drop, everything, and, read. I currently sponsor an iPeriod called Reading for Fun which has the same concept. 

This blog is the first in hopefully a series that will offer some book suggestions for readers grade nine through adult.

**Quick disclaimer** Unless I specifically mention otherwise, my book choices are only for high school and adult readers. Sometimes even if middle school age students are capable of reading the book, the subject matter addressed is really for an older audience. So without furthur adieu, here are my book reccommendations from March, 2019: 

"All the Missing Girls"

"All the Missing Girls" by Megan Miranda

At first I thought this book was going to be a typical murder mystery. A small town girl returns to her hometown (after she has grown up) to help her brother deal with her father's medical issues. Everyone at home is still talking about the unsolved mystery of an eighteen year old girl who just disappeared ten years before. While she is home, another young women disappears in a similar manner, and this time everyone she knows and loves is considered to be a suspect. The literary twist to this is that after the story is introduced, the subsequent chapters go in reverse order telling you everything that has happened in the past two week from the climax to the moment Nic (the protagonist) returned to town. This intriguing plot structure had me hooked from chapter 2!

"On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas "On the Come Up"

This book is the much anticipated second novel by Angie Thomas, author of the highly acclaimed book and movie "The Hate U Give." It tells the story of Bri, a sixteen-year-old rapper from the same neighborhood as Starr, the protagonist of "The Hate U Give." While some of the setting is the same, this is not a sequel. It is kind of a companion book, but you don't have to read "The Hate U Give" first (you really should though.... just because it is a great book). I really enjoyed geting to learn and appreciate a culture with which I am not really that familiar. I absolutely loved all of the details of the rap battles, and Bri's poetry writing was really haunting. **DISCLAIMER** The language is pretty rough, so absolutely not for younger students.

 "The Beauty that Remains""The Beauty that Remains" by Ashley Woodfolk

This book combines my love for indie music with my love of literature. It has three storylines of tragic situations in teenagers' lives. One line deals with the death of a sibling to cancer, one deals with suicide of a friend, and one with death of a friend in a car accident. Though all three groups are individual stories, they are all connected by strange relationships with a band called Unravelling Lovely. The way these teenagers deal with death and grief is so well-done. I think it is a great read for anyone.

"Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys

Okay, small confession here, I actually read this one earlier in the year, but I loved it so much, that I thought it wouldn't be fair to leave it out. I love historical fiction. This is the story of a fifteen year old girl named Lina, her mother, and her younger brother who the Soviet Union deported from Lithuania to a labor camp in Siberia during Word War II. Honestly I had not read much about the Russian side of Word War II. Most of the books I have read are about German Nazi's and their treatment of Jewish people during that time. I was fascinated by the acccount of this family. I literally sat down on my couch and did not get up until I had finished the whole book. It is beautifully tragic, written with startling imagery and conditions I never imagined. This book is one that middle school students could read as well. There is also a companion book, "Salt to the Sea," by the same author that I thought was almost even better!! This is a must read.

"Before We Were Yours""Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate

Wow! This basically historical fiction novel is based on the true-life scandel of the Memphis, Tennessee, children's home scandal from the 1930s. The true part is that the "Tennesse Children's Home Society" basically kidnapped poor Southern children in the late 1930s and early 1940 and then arranged for wealthy American families to adopt them. The adoptive families had no idea that the children had been kidnapped. There were some very famous Hollywood stars and politicians who had adopted children through this organization. The story is told from the point of view of one of the children whose family was torn apart at several levels by this devious crime. I was so interested in this plot that I spent hours reading about the true scandal when I finished reading the book. It is heartbreaking.

 

So there you have it. Those are my top five reads for March. Stay tuned for another installment in late April!