weekend read: Legend

I know I'm a sucker for dystopian literature. See The Hunger Games series or the Matched series for more proof. I've also got a stack of similar themed books waiting patiently for summer and pool time.

With Legend, I've heard about it since early 2012 and I ignored it because that's what I do to books everyone is talking about (also see: Gone Girl), but I bought a set of the books for our classrooms at school so I decided I better read it before introducing it to kids. And once I started, I.was.hooked.

The overall premise is the same (futuristic world, there's no more United States of America, dictatorship police state, persecuted people, government lies, unlikely teenage heroes, etc.) as all the other dystopian series out right now. And while occasionally I struggled with the likeness of The Hunger Games, the characters were strong enough that I didn't feel like I was reading a retelling of it.

Legend by Marie Lu is told from two different perspectives: Day, a homeless, Robin Hood type enemy-of-the-state who is being used as a scapegoat for the government's dirty deeds, and June, a privileged, rich girl from the elite side of town who also happens to be the government's military prodigy. Of course, their two worlds come together when Day is framed for the death of June's brother. She begins to hunt him down as revenge, but things change as both of them realize things are not as they seem.

There's more love story in this one than The Hunger Games, but less than the Matched books. I know my students will love this book, it's fast-paced from the start and relatable on multiple levels. They seem to love any book that lets them live in a world where they have power and more control than they do in reality. The book also has enough twists and turns that it's not easily put down and it's also a good fit for adults who can't get enough of the dystopian genre. I can't wait to start the second one.

Have you read this one yet? What did you think?


DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: Prisoners in the Palace

I picked up this uncharacteristic reading choice right after the season finale of Downton Abbey when I thought I could not live without English aristocracy, maids and footmen, and marrying above your social class. And I was depressed that I had to wait nine more months for season four of Downton.

I still haven't recovered from those feelings, but this book did help to lessen the hurt.

Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl is set in London during the year of 1836 (so yes, almost one hundred years before Downton, but whatever). The main character, Liza, and her parents moved to London for her coming out, planning to spend the year at dances and balls, being wooed by suitors and dressing fancy. But when her parents die in an accident and Liza learns she is left penniless, she has to go to work to pay off her father's debts and try to make a way for herself.

Through some connections of her father's, she finds her way to Kensington Palace where she becomes the maid of Princess Victoria. Victoria is held captive by her mother, the Duchess, and her scheming right hand man, Sir John Conroy. Their plan is to portray the Princess as incapable of inheriting the throne when the King (who is sick) dies so they can become her regent and control the throne and its purse.

There's lots of trickery, scheming, plotting, and, in the end, freedom for Princess Victoria and her maid, Liza. It was a fun read that helped feed my fascination with life in England.

After I finished the book, I learned from the author's notes that the book was based on real life stories and letters left by Victoria, the Duchess, the King, and the Queen. Liza and her plot line were entirely made up, but Sir John and his thievery, Victoria and her mother's relationship, and the struggles the Queen had to conceive a child were all historically true. And the writings used in the book (from Victoria's diary or letters from the Duchess) were not made up, but straight from the archives of the British family. It was a fun twist at the end to learn that and I wish I had known from the beginning.

Prisoners in the Palace, a young adult book for all ages, would be a great read for anyone who needs a British aristocracy fix while they're waiting for the next season of Downton Abbey (like me) or anyone who is a history buff that likes a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Another way I'm helping with my Downton issue is watching Call the Midwife on Netflix. It's produced by the BBC and just as great as Downton, but again, a slightly different time period, but with that same mix of lovely British life. Which, for some reason, I can't get enough of.

weekend read: Wheat Belly

Full disclosure: my mom paid me $50 to read this book.

For real. She was so moved by the book, it's impact on our health, and how it changed her way of eating that she offered all her children and their significant others $50 each to read this book.

So I read it for the cold, hard cash. Let's be honest.

But it did cause me to look at food and what I'm putting in my body (and more importantly, my daughters' bodies) a lot closer.

Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD is based on the idea that wheat, all wheat, is bad for our bodies and cutting out the wheat will help us lose weight and the majority of our health problems.

And his case is pretty compelling. The way science has transformed wheat over the decades (to make it easier to grow, for mass production, to make it "better" for us) has changed its makeup enough that what we think is the wheat of our ancestors is nothing close. And that change is what had lead to the boom in waistlines and health problems in the past twenty five years.

He presents case after case of people making changes to their diets that result in massive improvements in health and weight loss because people are eating more "real" food and less filler.

The book was convincing and eye-opening. It's causing me to feed my family differently and better. We have not cut out all wheat and gluten from our diets, it's definitely a process and even cutting down is a better than nothing. Over spring break, I went wheat and gluten free and it felt great. But it was too hard to continue when I returned to school and I quickly fell off the wagon. But the first meal I had with wheat back in my diet did produce the whole-body cramping and uncomfortable feeling that Davis talked about (but dang, that Chick-fil-A sandwich was good).

So I'm convinced this wheat I'm putting in my body is doing more harm than good. And I'm working on making meals that don't focus so much on wheat. Literally, every meal before this book included something wheat-filled at our house. Now it's less, but my kids are still extreme lovers of all breads. So that's going to be a battle to eliminate. But I plan on spending my summer figuring what less wheat looks like for our family.

I definitely recommend reading Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD. It alternates between interesting and dry, with some chapters tough to get through, but the overall message and knowledge is beneficial and powerful. Martin also has a companion cookbook (Wheat Belly Cookbook) that might even be better than the book, more helpful and with practical ideas. Worth your time even if your mom isn't offering you $50 to read it.


DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED. And my mom paid me to read this book.

weekend read: One for the Murphys

I seem to be surrounded by foster care right now. I have students that live with foster parents. I have a friend at church who is fostering a baby and, has on multiple instances, tried to convince Chris and I we'd be good at it too. I have a friend whose Facebook updates are constantly telling about the process she and her husband are going through so they can foster.

Everywhere I turn, I hear about foster care.

It's probably a sign, but for now I'm just going to put it on the back burner. Even though One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is making that harder than it sounds.

I love that Mullaly Hunt is a former teacher. She writes from an eighth grade girl's point of view so well, I'd bet money that she was a middle school teacher.

The main character, Carley, has had a pretty rough life. And when an incident with her step father finally sends her and her mother to the hospital, Carley is placed in the foster care system. She heads to a type of family that she never knew existed: there's love and laughter, there's disagreements without violence, there's no drinking, there's family loyalty and people that care about each other.

Carley reacts like many kids I've had in class react: she rebels and tries to sabotage her new home because where she's living is so foreign. But she's really just a scared little girl that needs someone to love her.

She comes to that conclusion just as her mom wakes up from her coma and turns everything upside down again.

One for the Murphys is a quick read that paints a really accurate picture of the struggles an eighth grade girl goes through. From stressing about making friends to keeping secrets to protect herself, Carley resonates with me and I'm sure my students will love her also.

DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: The Professor and the Madman

I'm going to start off by saying this is the complete opposite of books I usually read. I, for the most part, stay away from non-fiction. Not completely, but for my classroom and for pleasure, I'm much more drawn to fiction.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester is a detailed look into the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, the dictionaries that came before it, the road to getting started, and the actual making of the most extensive dictionary of all time.

Sounds completely dry and boring, huh?

Well, some parts were.

For my undergrad, I took an etymology class which was all about the history of our language, the science of sounds and how our tongues make sounds and dialects. It was as exciting as it sounds. I barely got credit for the course with a C-, I just couldn't care about it. Some parts of this book were like that. I felt like I was back in college, living in Hanna Village, and trying to focus on homework while watching Bridget Jones' Diary for the millionth time.

But for the most part, this book was crazy. And intriguing and crazy.

The story centers on Professor James Murray, who led the OED project, and Dr. W. C. Minor, who submitted more than ten thousand entries for the massive assignment. Where things get interesting is that Minor did all his work while being committed to an insane asylum. And watching this brilliant, yet mad man work so diligently while going crazy is fasinating.

And the end, when he finally loses it is shocking. I still can't believe what happened.

I would recommend The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. It's a turn from my normal reading material and it definitely took me longer to get through it, but it was interesting and worth it. And not just because I'm an English teacher and I love words. It's interesting from a historical standpoint, a medical standpoint, and because watching this train wreck happen is something you just can't turn away from.

Have you read this one before? Have you ever heard of it? It was first published in 1999 so I'm a little late to this one.


DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

This one stressed me out, for real.


Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher is a young adult book about two friends, Eric and Sarah Byrnes, and their messy platonic relationship. In middle school, it was her severe burns and his extreme weight problem that brought the two outcasts together.

But in high school, Eric joined the swim team, thinned down, and Sarah pushed him away. But Eric stayed friends with her even as she made it increasingly difficult. Now it's their senior year and Sarah Byrnes sits in a mental hospital unresponsive.

One day in the middle of school, she just froze. And as Eric visits Sarah Byrnes every day at the hospital, he starts to feel like there is something she's been hiding from him all these years. And since she's not talking, he sets out to find what's been secret for so long.

And what he learns changes his life and Sarah's life forever.

If I would have read this book in college, it would have added fuel to the fire that was my desire to change the world as a teacher. There is a well-written and strong, positive teacher/role model in this book. And that makes me proud. But in the same breath, I think it's not real world anymore---teachers are not allowed to be good like that anymore. At least not where I'm at right now.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a quick, powerful, and moving read. When I started it, I shared what I was reading with my students but the deeper I got into it, it was obvious it's a little more than most middle schoolers need right now. So I'm not adding it to my shelves, but I've got lots of kids searching for it at their public libraries. That's the rebellious part of me: I can't give you this at school, but I want you to know about it and read it on your own. Because this book will speak to many of my kids. It spoke to me.


DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me

My parents never taught me about sex. And unless they're waiting for my thirty-fifth birthday I don't think they're going to.

[He was] the first guy to leave me a note on my bed telling me he couldn't wait to see me again so I would find it when I came home from work. The first guy to find toilet paper in my butt. The first guy who ever said he loved me.

I wanted to die because I was so nervous, but at the same time I felt like I would kill myself if he didn't kiss me. Some complex feelings for a sweet, simple, teenage Republican.

This book started off so strong--I thought it could only get better and better, like a great joke that keeps building until you're giggling before you even know the punch line, because you just know it's going to be hilarious.

Except it wasn't.



My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me by Hilary Winston fits into the same comedian, funny female writers group as Tina Fey, Jenny Lawson, and others. But Bossypants and Let's Pretend This Never Happened were able to keep the momentum going where Winston just made me feel sorry for her. It was uncomfortable, sad, and depressing.

Don't get me wrong, there were good parts, especially at the beginning, and I kept going thinking that the next story would be a positive one, one where she starts to like herself, respect herself, and stop being so in love with her cats. But we never got there. It was pretty disappointing.

It also felt vulgar just for the sake of being vulgar as opposed to be funny. I'm definitely no prude, I love a good dirty joke and laugh at inappropriate things quite often, but the way she wrote it felt like she was going for shock value as opposed to the words actually being necessary.

My favorite part in the whole book is the last paragraph in "I Know You're in There, Whore!" It's about wishing for your past, your high school days where everything was perfect at the time, you just didn't know it yet. She puts into words the feelings I have about those days. Those times where you didn't realize how good you had it until now because you're an adult and grown and you wanted to change so fast and you wish it was all back. That pretty much sums up my whole life: wishing away the part I'm in right now, waiting anxiously for the next one, and then dreaming about how it was. Life! Why you be so crazy?!

I actually feel slightly guilty saying this book wasn't that great. I wanted to like Winston, wanted her to tell me her (ex-)boyfriend's name and his book, tell me who the guy in "The Pre-Famous Dude" is, and lots of other Hollywood writer secrets that she elludes to. I wanted this book to be about dishing dirt and from the back cover it made it sound that way.

I don't think the book lived up to the back cover. Although I'm sure lots of people love this book. I just found it depressing and hopeless and not full of learning or growing. And I think that's what Winston needs.

Have you read My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me? Am I crazy for thinking this? Tell me what you think!

DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: Gone Girl

You guys, this book.

Oh my gosh, it's so messed up.

I'd been wanting to read this book (and hearing about it everywhere) since last summer. I finally got it for Christmas and then took my time starting it. I don't know why I did that. Because once I got started, I couldn't stop. I did nothing last weekend but read this book, I just couldn't put it down.

Gone Girlby Gillian Flynn starts off from the point of view of a husband on the day of his fifth wedding anniversary. But you get from the first page that he's not happily married. The first part switches back and forth between the husband and then the wife's journal while you learn about their relationship, their struggles, and what happened to the now-missing wife.

Except you don't know, not really.

This book messes with your head just as much as the husband and wife mess with each other's. It's a pyschological thriller in its truest form and you really don't know what to believe or think until the very end.

And then you just think no way.

I loved this book. I want to read her others (and this is a genre I normally don't care about). I want to reread this one and notice new things. I want to live in the madness again.

Because that's what it is, complete madness.

And I enjoyed it immensely.

Have you read this one yet? What did you think??

DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: Reached

I found it.

I finally found the desire to read again. And it came back with a venegance: staying up too late, reading with my students at school, and on the bus to and from games. When I read, it consumes me. And I chose a good book to ease back into my obsession.

Reachedby Ally Condie is the third, and final, book in the Matched series. (see reviews for the first two, Matched and Crossed, here). If you've not heard of this series before, think The Hunger Games but with more romance and less violence.

And I'm a sucker for romance so I enjoyed these books.

Reached follows Cassia, Xander, and Ky as they all struggle to help the Rising revolt against the Society as well as find each other. It's pure love triangle: Xander and Ky still love Cassia and both long to find her, be with her, and run away with her.

This novel centers on the Rising trying to take over, how their plans go wrong, and how the three of them (Cassia, Xander, and Ky) contribute to the uprising.

There are twists and turns, there is death and chaos, and, in the end, there are answers, understanding, and hope.

I enjoyed this series. I had lost some hope after reading the second book as I felt it was a little long and unfocused, but the third book redeemed all the second book couldn't do. I'm a little sad that Cassia, Xander, and Ky are finished. I wanted the love triangle to end differently than it did. I understand the decision, but that doesn't make me accepting of Cassia's choice. I think she chose wrong.

That's what's so great about good books--we feel attached to the characters and their lives. We think we know what's best for them and still love them when they make a different choice. Maybe that's why it took me so long to start this last book, I knew who Cassia was going to choose and if I put off reading the truth, I could still hope she'd change her mind.  

What do you think? Have you read this one yet? How did you feel about the ending?

DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: anything by Jen Lancaster

I've reviewed some Jen Lancaster books before (review of four of them here), right around this time last year, ironically enough.

I happen to be re-reading Bitter is the New Blackfor a book club I joined and am once again being reminded how clever and wonderful Lancaster is. She's better than any reality TV personality and, at the same time, more likable. You find yourself rooting for her as you wait for her to be knocked down a couple levels. It's a nice tension for the reader.

I'll admit she is not for everyone, my friend Krissy can't stand to read her stuff. I, on the other hand, love her sarcasm, complete disregard for others, and self-righteous tone. And it makes her fall so much better (and relatable).

I still love Lancaster and follow her on Twitter and on Facebook. It sounds stalker-ish, but I prefer super-fan. She updates her blog often also so readers can get little doses of her as they wait for her next novel.

Since my original review, she's published (I think) two more books. She's also crossed over to the fiction side with a few. I haven't read any of those, I think I wore myself out reading nothing but Lancaster for a while, but I'm back with renewed energy and will pick up another one of her books soon.

Lancaster is highly entertaining in the I-can't-turn-away-from-the-car-crash sense with a dash of hey-that's-me thrown in to keep the reader engaged and loving her character.

If you're just starting with Lancaster, I'd suggest Bitter is the New Blackfor a great introduction. But really, any book will do.



DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.

weekend read: Young House Love

(If you've been around here for a while, you know that Friday afternoons are for book recommendations. Lately, I've been struggling with reading. And I don't exactly know why, but I just can't focus and read anything right now. Things have been hectic and rushed and I can't find the time to just stop and read. Which completely bums me out. So I'm sharing a non-fiction, how-to book today. And next week, it's a non-fiction book on fashion. Just bear with me, I'll get back to novels, it's just taking me a minute.)

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I only got two books for Christmas this year.  Normally, I'd get a pretty nice stack to last me a couple months, but this year I didn't. Although I'm not complaining since I got two pretty awesome books that put all other books to shame.

One of those is the new DIY Young House Lovebook. You read their blog, right? It's awesome, inspiring, and helpful. I don't read it daily, but when I do, I spend hours on their site. It's that good. I've been following along with them on Twitter and Instagram as they did their book tour in the fall and couldn't wait to get my hands on their book.

It was well worth the wait.

This book is just like their blog only I get to post-it note it and make lists right on the page. It is super-addicting.

I have a compulsion (that I would like to thank my mother for passing along) to always be redoing and updating my house: the decor, the paint, the furniture, the placement, etc. I could be happy moving furniture around my house all day. Actually, sometimes that is how I spend my days. Luckily, I married a guy that is good with physical labor because I keep him busy moving and building things. 

This book is full of great ideas--some I've seen before and some I haven't--about how to show your home some love. And I love to love my home. I often get comments on our house posts and I feel like I need to do another home tour since so much has changed since last summer. I'm always changing and updating things. And this book is quite the enabler for an addict like me.

It's got handy features telling you about how much a project should cost and how much time it will take. So you can pick something to do in an afternoon or something that will take all weekend. Some things I have marked to do:

-update our living room curtains with fabric and shower curtain rings/clamps

-get crazy with a shelf and turn the books around backward (crazy, right?!)

-finally add a headboard to our bed (actually, still going back and forth on this one, I really don't like headboards for some reason)

-redo a dresser for the girls' room

-chalkboard wine bottles

-faux fireplace (I've been trying to talk Chris into this one for a while...still a work-in-progress but soon he will see things my way, I'm just sure of it.)

And more, actually. This book has made me wish for a sick day to just create things. Not that I ever call in sick unless I'm really sick, of course.

This book will probably never make it onto my shelf because it will always be out somewhere sitting next to a project. And that's the best kind of book, one that you never stop reading.

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Today is the last day to take my reader survey and be entered to win a Thirty One bag. Get on it!

weekend read: Knit the Season

The truth is I have big dreams about knitting.  I pin things I'd like to create on my Pinterest boards.  I attend knitting classes at cute knit shops.  I own books on knitting, multiple sets of needles, and lots of yarn.

The problem is I never actually knit.  Every time I learn, it goes really well, but once I get home I never pick it up again.

I think the downfall is that I'd rather be writing or reading a book and those are not hobbies that go well with knitting.  I don't watch much TV so I can't just sit on the couch and create.  If I sit still long enough chances are I'll fall asleep so I don't actually know when I should knit.

But you know what I can do really well?

Read novels about knitters.

Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs is the third book in the Friday Night Knitting Club series.  I read the first two books years ago and loved them--loved the community, loved the knitting, loved the setting, loved the people.  So soon after I finished Knit Two, I bought Knit the Season. 

But because it was a Christmas-themed book, I felt I couldn't read it at any other time but the month of December.  Which made total sense to me, but now that I type that sentence, I realize I've just given another prime example of my OCD tendencies.  Exciting stuff.

I did feel it was meant to be when I had the opportunity to attend a knitting class and I happened to be reading Knit the Season a couple weeks ago.  And that justified waiting to read the book (obvious just the rationalization of a lunatic).

This book follows the lives of the same characters as the other books: Dakota and her struggle to follow her dreams while keeping her mother's love and legacy afloat, Lucie and Darwin and their babies, Peri's struggle to live her dream--whatever that is--and keep her friends too, Anita's desire to get married again even though it might be killing her adult children, and Catherine's adventure of finding herself and, perhaps, a new husband.

I loved these characters in the first two books.  I devoured those books, the storylines were fresh and the setting, New York City, made everything just a little bit more shiny. 

But with this book, I didn't feel the same magic.  I didn't care about the characters anymore, I couldn't get into the book like I did the first two.

I wanted to love this book, but I couldn't.

Maybe part of the problem was me.  When I read the first two books, I was different.  As a reader, I've noticed I'm changing and things I used to love don't do it for me anymore.  Maybe I'm a little more cynical.  Or maybe it's just that I have such a limited amount of time to spend reading books, that I expect and demand that they be good, life-changing books.  And this one wasn't. 

It was just okay and fluffy and not important.

Which makes me sad, because I still love those first two books so much.

what {NOT} to read this weekend.

What's great about my job is I'm surrounded by people that love books, recommend good books, and share those books with abandon.  So I often have great books to read and then write about on my Friday weekend reads posts.

Folks, today is not one of those Fridays.

Because as a reader sometimes we come across bad books.  And I'm been very unlucky recently and happened to read two really bad ones. 

Putting Away Childish Things: A Tale of Modern Faithby Marcus J. Borg.  I had high hopes for this one, I really did.  There were many ideas that could have been turned into a great book.  But that didn't happen.  I stopped around page 50 because I just could.not.go.on. I felt apathetic toward the characters, especially the main character, the dialogue was weird and unrealistic, and transitions were completely awkward.  I understand transitions can be hard to write (try teaching it to seventh graders!), but dang, it was painful to read.   From reading some reviews in preparation for this post, it seems that this is Borg's first attempt at fiction.  He's apparently an accomplished non-fiction writer.  I suggest he sticks with what he knows best. 

Prospect Park Westby Amy Sohn.  I'm not going to lie, I love a good soap opera-esq fiction every once in a while.  Especially when it's summer time and I'm sitting out by the (baby) pool, I like to read some fluff.  But this was beyond fluff and I actually felt myself getting dumber while reading this book.  Which is why I stopped.  Plus, it was overtly sexual in an unnecessary way.  And that opinion is coming from someone who read (and liked!) the Fifty Shades of Grey series.  So I think that says a lot.  It was weird and shallow and I hated every character I met.  And that's not always a bad thing, but with everything else this book was lacking, it was just too much.  Just don't waste your time, seriously.

Saying bad things about someone's writing is always tricky.  It's hard to write and it's so personal that I feel I'm just being mean when I say something isn't good.  And, really, someone probably likes these books.  But I'm not sure why.

If you happen to be a part of Good Reads, do you post bad reviews?  I love that website and post all my reviews there, I find it helpful and love reading what other people thought of a book I read.  A couple months ago, I read and posted a review about Girl, Stolen by April Henry.  Thankfully, I liked the book and didn't say anything bad about it because the author found my review on Good Reads and emailed me to talk about it! Seriously, she emailed me to talk about my thoughts on the book.  It was like the holy grail of dorky English teacher moments.  I still get giddy when I think about it.

Have you read any bad books recently?

weekend read: King of the Screwups

Some of my students saw me reading this book in class and asked to have it when I was done.  They didn't even know what it was about or if I would recommend it, they just saw the title and it called to them.

That's the power of a good book.  Or maybe just a good cover and title.

But this one holds up once you start reading it too.

King of the Screwups by K.L Going is about seventeen year old professional screwup Liam Geller.  His dad is a Bill Gates type genius, his mom is a world famous supermodel, he's good at sports, popular, and beautiful.  But everything he does is wrong according to his dad.  And when Liam gets kicked out of the house before the start of his senior year, he moves in with his cross-dressing, glam-rock DJ uncle.  Who his father just happens to hate.

Things are going downhill fast for Liam. 

As a reader, I hated his father.  Seriously, he's a douche.  And it's obvious why, but Liam (like most kids) can't see their parents as flawed.  And this dad has many. 

It's through living with his uncle and having a fresh start that Liam finally begins to understand and love himself. He starts to see himself as more than just a screwup.
King of the Screwups by K.L Going is probably too intense for middle school students.  There is some language and scenes that I wouldn't want my middle schooler reading.  But it's definitely good for a high schooler. It's technically a young adult book, but I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to those of you who are not young adults.

I can see many of my students relating to this character: Liam trying to please his father who is too busy to take notice of him.  I have quite a few students with similar lives.  But I won't book talk this one like I do so many others.  I'll just quietly slip it on my shelf and the right student will pick it up when he/she needs it.  They always do.

DISCLOSURE: AFFILIATE LINKS USED.