CET Writes

Image from Amazon.com Jensen Graham’s fertile thought life is full of heroic antics and daring do in which he regularly saves not only himself but his friends as well. Unfortunately, his actual existence is less spectacular.  As an overweight, awkward, socially inept middle schooler, he finds math hard, friendship harder, and avoiding bullying—even by those he thinks of as friends—hardest of all. Although Jensen has always struggled in that game we call life, someone seems to have cranked up the difficulty setting. So, when the elevator tries to break him down… he stalls out and is at a complete loss as to how to recover himself. Forced into introspection by the school newspaper’s power team, Jensen accepts some ugly truths, finds guidance in YA novel, and actively works on “fixing what’s wrong, changing what’s around [him], and doing what [he’s] afraid of” (236). Brave would be a good read for late elementary and middle grade readers (grades 5-8) who enjoy painfully awkward,

Having barely survived a demon possession,  Mia must move in with her Milanese extended family where she’ll stay alive by learning the family heritage and mastering the family trade of demon catching with the ancient lore of bell, book, and candle.  In the course of these studies, she begins to understand that the world is far more complex than she ever believed it to be and the powerfully seductive forces at play can’t be easily categorized.  Beyer constructs a narrative in which the quick and the dead, the animate and the inanimate, as well as the characters and the setting have had a long standing multi-generational intimacy. As the plot unfolds, the audience quickly realizes that the protagonist seems to have a walk-on part in an expansive drama that has been playing out for a very long time.    Nonetheless, for this scene Mia seems to play the role of both Dante and Cervantes simultaneously-functioning as not only the damned but also the guide through this potential hell.    Be

Cover from Goodreads As a typical American teenager, Pri (Priyanka Das) has a lot of questions. As the child of a single, Indian immigrant mother, she has many unanswered questions: Why did her mother leave India? What was India like? Who is her father, and why did her mom leave him? Unfortunately Pri’s mom avoids answering these questions—putting a strain on their relationship and further piquing Priyanka’s interest, as India seems to call to her. Just when mother and daughter seem to be at an impasse, Pri finds a mysterious pashmina that holds the answers to her questions and transports her back to the seat of her heritage. But is this the real? In order to gain the answers that she craves, Pri must travel farther than she’s ever dared—physically, intellectually, and spiritually. This graphic novel's heartwarming navigation of the quotidien terrain of maturation, the hardship of self-discovery, and the adolescent tendency to rail against the confines of familial authority ar

I originally published this piece March 6, 2017 on Deepstacks - DragonLibrary's blog. Skipping up the steps of the grand institution that resides at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, the language arts educator and public school librarian in me appreciates the majestic Beaux-Arts building that I’m about to enter. But the suppressed ten-year-old in me secretly hopes that Cee-Lo Green will burst forth from Patience—his marble prison—and offer up a modern rendition of “I’m a Mean Old Lion.” And even the sobering knowledge that no such whimsy will come to fruition on this day is incapable of sapping my joy.  Having waited these many years, the mere thought of spending my morning on a reading date in the hallowed halls of the New York Public Library prompts a hedonistic flush that can only be rivaled by the fond childhood memory of myself paying gold-lamé-clad homage to Ted Ross’ high-stepping, ousted leader of the pride. After a short jaunt down the first floo

I originally published this piece February 15, 2017 on Deepstacks - DragonLibrary's blog. Standing on the MetroRail platform in the midwinter gloom, I greet a group of colleagues and giddily ask “Did you go yesterday, or is today your first day? Did you go to any good sessions?” A half hour later, I extract myself from the sardinian quarters of the train, now much too intimately acquainted with my fellow educators gathered from the suburbs, the edge city, and midtown as we make our annual pilgrimage to the convention center. Next week, the daily commuters will happily reclaim their usual personal space and breathe more freely. Reveling in my freedom of movement, I scoot off the platform to encounter the bold banner above the glass doors, reading TCEA2017 Convention & Exposition: The Power of You . The power of me , eh? Mighty as I am on a daily basis, like any heroine, I can still appreciate a quality power-up. Ms Pac-Man bow firmly affixed, I gobbled dow