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In light of the current Ebola crisis in West Africa, the 12th grade English Language Arts teachers at The Hot Zone, which explores the origins and outbreaks of one of the most deadly viruses known to man. With all the information currently available on the outbreak, we wanted to give our students the opportunity to delve deeper into research of the virus. We gave groups of students the task of researching the outbreak with the intention of presenting to a specific target audience, ranging from American children to the citizens of East African countries. The major learning target was that students would be able to present complex and sensitive information to a target audience, focusing on what that specific group would need to know.
our school made a last-minute decision to start the year off with the novel

Matt Kindt's Mind MGMT (a.k.a. me finally getting serious about graphic novels)

I have a colleague in the science department who is a huge aficionado of comics and graphic novels, so when he saw Mind MGMT on the shelf in our library and recommended it, I knew I needed to give it a try.  I've been wanting to get more into graphic novels lately, and this seemed like just the book to get me started.

FAR FAR AWAY - A Modern Fairy Tale

Fairy tales are so en vogue right now, and I'll be the first to say that I am very very into this trend.  I've always loved fairy tales, and the public's new interest in the darker originals of these stories is even more exciting.  TV producers of shows like Grimm and Once upon a Time have jumped on the fairy tale bandwagon, and authors have started to do the same over the past few years.

WINGER

"I get by with a little help from friends" - The Beatles

This Beatles quote was in my head a lot while I read this book. Andrew Smith’s Winger is full of situations where the main character and narrator, Ryan Dean West, relies on his closest friends to get him through the most tumultuous year of his young life. 

Megaphones and Mayhem in DARE ME

Okay. I just want to start by stating that Megan Abbott's Dare Me is a novel about cheerleaders.  Pass all the judgements about the book's subject that you want; I did the same thing when I picked it up.  However, let me go on by stating that, as someone who does not like is typically hesitant about picking up books about cheerleaders, I was sorely (and gladly!) mistaken.

THE KINGDOM OF LITTLE WOUNDS: not for the faint-of-heart!

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Susann Cokal's debut novel The Kingdom of Little Wounds is the story of two young, lower-class girls caught up in a very adult, upper-class world of treachery and deceit. While the Scandenavian city of Skyggehavn celebrates the impending wedding of Princess Sophia, a terrible illness plagues much of the city's nobility, including many members of the royal family.  Ava Bingen, a seamstress, and Midi Sorte, a slave, find themselves at the center of a power struggle amidst the chaos and fragility of the young princes and princesses meant to succeed the throne.  

THE RADLEYS (no relation to Boo)

"Your instincts are wrong.  Animals rely on insticts for their daily survival, but we are not beasts. We are not lions or sharks or vultures. We are civilized, and civilization only works if insticts are supressed.  So do your bit for society and ignore those dark desires inside you. -The Abstainer's Handbook (second edition), p. 54"