TRAC

Some people read to find a point of recognition - to find the comfort of their own reality reflected back at them.  There are not enough books in which African-Americans feature as the main...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-hate-u-give.html

As a parent and educator, I have often thought about the question of how (and when) we introduce the more unpalatable, more disturbing 'stories' from our own human history.  I was about 12 ...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2017/04/anna-and-swallow-man.html

This is a children's book suitable for all ages, but probably best appreciated by adults who are still love with their childhood favourites: The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, The Wind in...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-secret-of-nightingale-wood.html

I "recommend" this book to you with many reservations; perhaps it is more accurate to say that I bring it to your attention rather than actually recommend it.  I disliked this book from the...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2016/11/asking-for-it.html

When my daughter was a young teenager, we discovered the novels of  Robin McKinley  together.  McKinley won the Newbery Medal  for The Hero and the Crown in 1985, and has been specialis...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-court-of-mist-and-fury_5.html

Does this book cover draw you in or put you off? I'm a big believer in the importance of reading outside of your comfort zone . . . not all the time, but certainly once in a while.  Alth...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2016/04/illuminae.html

The problem with reading book summaries is that they often focus on some aspect of the plot that might seem "gimmicky" (at least to this reader), and that can put me off.  Neither the title...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2016/03/simon-vs-homo-sapiens-agenda.html

Thoroughly immersed in the BBC's sumptuous production of War and Peace , I have been in the mood for all things Russian in the past few weeks.  In my corner of England, we've yet to see sn...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-wolf-wilder.html

AS WE TURN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF 2015, "BEST OF" LISTS ARE POPPING UP EVERYWHERE. Like most avid readers, I am a sucker for recommendations from people who read a lot and really love books. Wh...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/12/top-ten-reads-from-2015.html

> THERE COMES A TERRIBLE MOMENT TO MANY SOULS WHEN THE GREAT MOVEMENTS > OF THE WORLD, THE LARGER DESTINIES OF MANKIND, WHICH HAVE LAIN ALOOF > IN NEWSPAPERS AND O...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-brighter-fear.html

IN FLANDERS FIELD THE POPPIES BLOW BETWEEN THE CROSSES, ROW ON ROW, THAT MARK OUR PLACE; AND IN THE SKY THE LARKS, STILL BRAVELY SINGING, FLY SCARCE HEARD AMID THE GUNS BELOW  JO...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/11/poppy.html

THE MONTMARAY JOURNALS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTMARAY (BOOK I) THE FITZOSBORNES IN EXILE (BOOK II) THE FITZOSBORNES AT WAR (BOOK III) When I was researching war novels targeted at th...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-montmaray-journals.html

After a mostly glorious and golden beginning to October, today was the first day when I really felt the in-betweenness of the seasons.  The wind, brisk and biting, definitely had the chill ...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/10/cuckoo-song.html

> “We need to reclaim the word 'feminism'. We need the word > 'feminism' back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only > 29% of American women would de...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/10/feminism-in-ukya.html

I recently reread that classic YA novel The Catcher in the Rye -- one of my own adolescent favourites -- for the first time since the 1980s.  According to The Guardian , it ranks as the 7...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/08/lgbt-themes-in-contemporary-ya.html

15 year-old Darren Jacobs is grappling with: 1) his parents' recent divorce 2) his father's coming out as gay 3) his body image 4) his sexual feelings 5) his confused emotions about at ...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/06/me-being-me-is-exactly-as-insane-as-you.html

When I was in graduate school, working on a M.Ed. in Reading Education, I was exposed to the ideas of Jim Trelease -- author of The Read-Aloud Handbook , and a tireless and inspirational promote...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/06/reading-aloud.html

This is a book which deals in history, time-travel, murder, intrigue and missing persons.  It is also a book about identity – the importance of knowing who you are and where you come from...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-door-that-led-to-where.html

Walk into nearly any bookstore or library at the moment and you will see a curated collection of Terry Pratchett's prodigious literary output.  If you've never read a Terry Pratchett novel, ther...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/04/tribute-to-terry-pratchett.html

I don't know how many times, over the years, I've had a student reject a recommended book by saying:  "I've already seen the film".  With this in mind, TRAC's latest book list  is focused on ...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/03/book-to-film.html

As I was reading my way through UKLA's  longlist for 2015, I came across Tanya Landman's Buffalo Soldier .  I had two overriding thoughts about this particular book:  (1) that it was a ...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/03/buffalo-soldier.html

It's not easy to write a good romance novel. If there is any genre which tends to drift into cliche, not to mention emotionally unhealthy fantasy territory, it's the romance.  Blame it on fai...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/02/romantic-cliches.html

Any passionate reader will agree that stories can provide a specific kind of comfort and solace.  Most readers will also admit to identifying with a protagonist's struggle -- maybe not always, a...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/02/i-was-here.html

Over the past month, I've been reading my way through UKLA's Longlist of fiction for 12-16+ readers.  The selection of books I chose to read was fairly random, but mostly based on their availab...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/01/where-have-all-parents-gone.html

Are you stuck indoors, trying to avoid the whiplash of wind and onslaught of icy rain or even snow? Well, here is a good tale for a cold winter's day. In the opening chapters of this histo...

http://tracbook.blogspot.com/2015/01/ghost-hawk.html