"Ten Things I Hate About Me" by Randa Abdel-Fattah

You might want to hate this book.  It features the typical whiny teen girl who puts popularity and self-preservation over being real and being honest.  The plot turns are (mostly) predictable and you can't wait for her to figure out what you, the readers, realize early on.  But ... this novel is more complex than it seems, and Jamilah is written so realistically that she feels like you could reach through the pages and talk with her.  Her struggle -- between "faking it" as a run of the mill Australian tenth grader and owning up to her Lebanese Muslim culture, in a country struggling with diversity and stereotypes, resounds as if it were America today.  Jamilah sees her father as a tyrant, but she loves him, and (bless Mrs. Abdel-Fattah) her dad is drawn with dimensions which take the entire book to discover.  The whole family unit is strong, and brings surprises -- her rebellious brother isn't a complete turd, and her activist sister makes a choice you don't see coming.  The book challenges preconceptions about the Muslim faith and makes clear that living as a first generation immigrant in any nation can create a sense of dualism.  There is a boy (of course) and while some of that goes the way I thought it would, some does not.  The ending is both predictable yet refreshing, as Jamilah has to decide whether to own her true self or the bleached blonde persona she has fabricated.  It was a story I thoroughly enjoyed, and one I chose to pick up and read whenever I had a free minute.  Now, if we could only get certain national leaders to understand the concepts layered in this delightful YA novel.  Brava, Randa. 

"Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea

This fast-read school tale rings about 90% true and has the kind of rich characters students will like, and identify with.  Mr. Buyea does a great job of getting inside the head of 5th graders and makes almost all of these children feel like they can leap off the page.  Told in very short chapters -- reflections from the different students -- this is the tale of a group of kids who get a new teacher, a teacher who has embraced the idea of Personalized Learning!  The connections and dynamics play well in "Part One".  My challenges came with two aspects of the book:  The bully and the crisis.  As to the bully, that was the only voice I didn't buy for a good long time.  The bully delighted in tormenting others.  Here's my guess -- bullies don't see themselves as bullies.  I suspect that their inner motivation is complex, and has something to do with a need to control.  In any case, that didn't work for me, although it did get better by the end, sort-of.  The other issue which nagged was the climax.  It was an event predicted by the foreword, written by John Irving (John Irving!  John Irving!  What is he doing writing a foreword to a YA novel???)  In any case, don't read the foreword, as it is a spoiler, to some degree.  In any case, the big event felt too structured, too deliberate.  Bad things do happen, but it is the randomness with which they happen that often makes them hard to take.  In this case, it felt like the author really had to have things fall out in a very specific way to lead his characters to an ending that he wanted.  I don't particularly like overly crafted resolutions.  For me, books are more enjoyable when they just unfold, and one has a sense the author simply let the story go where it was going to go.  In any case, despite the two things that jumped out at me, it was a great little book, and one that I did enjoy.  For those who really like it, there is a sequel, with a preview in the eBook version I read.  Go for it.

"Tapping the Power of Personalized Learning: A Roadmap for School Leaders" by James Rickabaugh



A fairly typical educational theory book, it's not bad, but it isn't fabulous.  It follows the very typical pattern -- identifying the current educational landscape as problematic, short testimonials about how change is good, a theory, a diagram, a distilling of the parts of the new proposal (which isn't actually that new).  There are lots of little nuggets worth taking away and I agree with the idea of personalized learning, but the book is best read in short bursts.  It is nicely succinct at less than 140 pages, and not particularly dry, but it is not hugely engaging, and takes the concept of "informational" to heart.  I found myself reading and re-reading sections because my mind wandered when I read it.  Having attended a school in the 1970s which was exactly this (students proposing independent research projects and activities to teachers to explore the given curriculum) I feel like I am watching the pendulum swing back again.  Is this a good book to get an overview of the latest undulation in education?  Sure.  It's clear, to the point, and has lots of quotes which can be used in Powerpoint presentations.  Is it the kind of book I'm constantly referring to over the next few months?  Not so much, but it is rare to find that kind of book in this kind of subject matter (see my review of Meeting Wise).