Dystopia
It is no secret that I like to read books. Correction: that I love to read books. What does seem to be a secret, though I can't for the life of me figure out why, is that Gretchen also loves to read books. Contrary to popular belief, the 1,900-some books we have in our living room are not all mine. In fact, not a few came from Gretch's collection.
Now, to be fair, I did have a lot more books than her. And I do talk about reading more than she does. And, yes, I do tend to refer to our book collection as my book collection. That's just an odd quirk of mine. After all, I refer to the intermediate hallway in Wiley Elementary School as "my" hallway" in "my" building. I think I started claiming things as my own as a mental reminder to treat them with the utmost care. Pretty certain it goes back to the days of operating the spotlights in high school and running the sound equipment for the jazz ensembles.
Anyway, back to books. Gretch and I both love reading, and one of the genres that we both love equally are dystopian novels. And, to risk sounding like a hipster (okay, I admit it, I am a hipster), we loved dystopian novels before they were cool. One of the first books that Gretch recommended I read was Gathering Blue followed by Messenger. Before she told me, I didn't even know there was a sequel to The Giver, let alone that it was a series! I, on the other hand, have been advocating for her to read the Obernewtyn Chronicles, a series I was first introduced to while in Australia. She hasn't read it yet, but she will soon.
As the end of the school year approached, my principal informed me that I had a substantial amount of money remaining in my classroom budget, and that I needed to use that money for classroom supplies. So, of course, my initial reaction was to go out and buy books. I brought Gretch along because I knew she'd be better able to help me pick out books for my students than I would. You see, I somehow missed out on most of the YA literature when I was a kid. By the time I was in middle school, I was reading books by John Grisham and Richard Bach. In high school, I was reading massive tomes like Atlas Shrugged and works by Heinlein. I also turned to friends on the Internet for suggestions. One of my favourite blogs is EPBOT, which is devoted to "Geekery, Girliness, and Goofing Off." A recent post made by Jen, the creator of EPBOT, was dedicated to YA literature for those who had just finished reading The Hunger Games.
Thus, armed with a purchasing card, my wife, and Jen's blog post, Gretch and I headed to Barnes & Noble for some major geeking out. Note to those who may have been at Barnes & Noble at the same time I was there with a purchasing card: I am sorry if my squeals, giggles, and running through the aisles towards books disturbed your peaceful browsing.
After shopping, I had two bags stuffed full of books. Some of the selections for my classroom included The Hunger Games, and the Uglies series. I also discovered that I already had some dystopian novels in my classroom, such as Matched. As soon as we got home, Gretch began reading Uglies while I finished reading the Shadow Children series. There will be much reading of books in the Valencic household this summer! I am sure that the Hunger Games and Obernewtyn Chronicles will make their way through the reading lists, as well as Matched, Divergent, and Birthmarked. Depending on how much time we have, we will see what else we get through this summer! There is a great Wikipedia article on all of the dystopian literature written since the late 1800s, so there are definitely plenty of books to read!
Now, to be fair, I did have a lot more books than her. And I do talk about reading more than she does. And, yes, I do tend to refer to our book collection as my book collection. That's just an odd quirk of mine. After all, I refer to the intermediate hallway in Wiley Elementary School as "my" hallway" in "my" building. I think I started claiming things as my own as a mental reminder to treat them with the utmost care. Pretty certain it goes back to the days of operating the spotlights in high school and running the sound equipment for the jazz ensembles.
Anyway, back to books. Gretch and I both love reading, and one of the genres that we both love equally are dystopian novels. And, to risk sounding like a hipster (okay, I admit it, I am a hipster), we loved dystopian novels before they were cool. One of the first books that Gretch recommended I read was Gathering Blue followed by Messenger. Before she told me, I didn't even know there was a sequel to The Giver, let alone that it was a series! I, on the other hand, have been advocating for her to read the Obernewtyn Chronicles, a series I was first introduced to while in Australia. She hasn't read it yet, but she will soon.
As the end of the school year approached, my principal informed me that I had a substantial amount of money remaining in my classroom budget, and that I needed to use that money for classroom supplies. So, of course, my initial reaction was to go out and buy books. I brought Gretch along because I knew she'd be better able to help me pick out books for my students than I would. You see, I somehow missed out on most of the YA literature when I was a kid. By the time I was in middle school, I was reading books by John Grisham and Richard Bach. In high school, I was reading massive tomes like Atlas Shrugged and works by Heinlein. I also turned to friends on the Internet for suggestions. One of my favourite blogs is EPBOT, which is devoted to "Geekery, Girliness, and Goofing Off." A recent post made by Jen, the creator of EPBOT, was dedicated to YA literature for those who had just finished reading The Hunger Games.
Thus, armed with a purchasing card, my wife, and Jen's blog post, Gretch and I headed to Barnes & Noble for some major geeking out. Note to those who may have been at Barnes & Noble at the same time I was there with a purchasing card: I am sorry if my squeals, giggles, and running through the aisles towards books disturbed your peaceful browsing.
After shopping, I had two bags stuffed full of books. Some of the selections for my classroom included The Hunger Games, and the Uglies series. I also discovered that I already had some dystopian novels in my classroom, such as Matched. As soon as we got home, Gretch began reading Uglies while I finished reading the Shadow Children series. There will be much reading of books in the Valencic household this summer! I am sure that the Hunger Games and Obernewtyn Chronicles will make their way through the reading lists, as well as Matched, Divergent, and Birthmarked. Depending on how much time we have, we will see what else we get through this summer! There is a great Wikipedia article on all of the dystopian literature written since the late 1800s, so there are definitely plenty of books to read!
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