Today I’m pleased to welcome author J. Andersen to the blog. I hope you enjoy her school reading picks and don’t forget to check out her book!
Hello everyone!!! I’m so excited to be here today to talk about some great reads for this school year. I thought I’d break this down by month to share with you some of my favorite old and new reads for your back-to-school experiences. Ready? Here we go.
SEPTEMBER
Ah, this is the time when students cringe, mothers rejoice, and teachers dream dreams… mostly of things like students jumping out of second story windows and running into the woods. (No lie, this was one of my back-to-school dreams when I taught English years ago.) So for your back-to-school blues/joy, I recommend The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. This Newbery honor made me laugh out loud with antics sure to appeal to teachers and students alike while getting you in the mood to learn.
OCTOBER
By October, sports seasons are in full swing with tension and competition at a peak, and school has begun to feel like a prison. To commiserate with your feelings throughout these times, I recommend:
AND
NOVEMBER
This is the time of year to relax a bit and be thankful. One book that makes me think about the blessings in my life is Terry Trueman’s Stuck in Neutral. It’s a quick read, but this Prinz Honor book is packed with emotion.
DECEMBER
In my town, with December comes snow. Lots of it. Maybe you love it; maybe not. Either way, be sure to check out
JANUARY
I always found that January brought with it judgments and comparisons. Students would come back from Christmas break with new clothes and ‘toys’ and would one-up each other with the items they got. I say quit comparing yourself to everyone else. Stand out. Be beautiful/handsome just the way you are. That’s why I recommend:
FEBRUARY
The month of love… Maybe you find yourself binge eating all that chocolate from Valentine’s Day. If so, you might connect with Lauren from Surviving Haley by Brenda Baker.
MARCH
By this time of year, I hope students have found their groove. And I hope more than anything that they have the strength and fortitude to stand up for what they believe in, no matter who comes against them with a differing view. This is why I recommend a slew from my favorite genre: Dystopian literature. We’ve all heard of Hunger Games and Divergent, which are both recommendations, but here are a few old and new you might enjoy, and yes, my book is in this list too!
1984 by George Orwell—Never forget that Big Brother is watching!
The Giver by Lois Lowry—Living in a colorless world isn’t all it seems.
The Breeding Tree by J. Andersen—When fighting for yourself isn’t enough.
Unwind by Neil Shusterman—for when you really feel like you’re falling apart.
APRIL
By April, you may feel like you need to dig yourself out of a hole or maybe that state testing is making you want to disappear. If so, check out:
MAY
By May you may be thinking about Prom, and I hope by now you’ve fully discovered yourself and your talents. It’s good to be your own person.
For pretty dresses and scandalous hookups, check out Luxe by Anna Gobersen.
But if you want to stand out from the crowd, read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.
JUNE
The school year is done and summer is around the corner. It’s the perfect time to forget everything you just learned. That’s why I recommend The Program.
About the Author:
There’s not much to do growing up in a small town in Western, NY, so J. Andersen wrote stories and won high school writing contests. But in college her writing was limited to term papers. While teaching middle school she began to read young adult books and got serious about writing. She now writes full time, volunteers at the town library, helps to run a School of the Arts at her church, and sings in the church band. She enjoys good coffee—read: home roasted by her husband—crafts, baking, running a small essential oil business, and chasing after her children. You’ll rarely see J. without a book in her hands, and that’s the way she’d like to keep it.
Snapchat ID: jvdlandersen
Is the opportunity to create the next generation of life a dream come true or a deadly nightmare?
When seventeen year old Katherine Dennard is selected to become a “Creation Specialist” in Sector 4, the opportunity sounds like a dream come true. But Kate soon discovers the darker side of her profession – the disposal of fetal organs and destruction of human life. It makes sense, really. In a society where disease and malformations don t exist, human perfection demands that no genetic “mutants” be allowed to live. For Sector 4, “survival of the fittest” is not just a theory – it’s The Institute’s main mission.
When Kate discovers that The Institute is using her DNA to create new life, her work gets personal. In order to save her unviable son, she’ll have to trust Micah and his band of underground Natural Born Rebels. The problem is, if The Institute discovers her betrayal, the next body being disposed of could be hers.
Book 2 in The Breeding Tree series is due out Mar 7, 2017!