Sunday Status: Express Yourself by Emily Roberts

Sunday Status is a look at my current read.  I share one line from the page I'm currently reading and what I'm thinking about the book so far.

Express Yourself: A teen girl's guide to speaking up and being who you are
by Emily Roberts, MA, LPC
Publisher: New Harbinger Instant Help Books
Source: ARC--received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review


"Mindfulness means deliberately paying attention to whatever you are doing, right now (22)."

I requested this book because we are looking for some books to read next year for our girls' group book club.  We're looking for books that either address positive social interactions, dealing with tough girl stuff, or have examples of great female role models.  I saw this one and thought it might be good.

So far, I'm not very far into it, but I like that this is written by a psychologist and already has started addressed the biological factors that teen girls face, with hormones that going crazy and how that affects them from day to day.  I like how it is factual and it speaks to girls on their level, not down to them.  Granted, I am an adult, but I don't think that my students would read this as an adult giving them advice, but as a peer.

On that note, it is a little old for my middle schoolers.  So far, I think our eighth graders would get more out of it, but not our younger ones.  This book will be published June 1, 2015.

Check out the publisher's website information on the book here.

Review: I Am Malala--Young Reader's Edition

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World,  Young Reader's Edition

by Malala Yousafzai

Little Brown and Company

Source: purchased

Rating: ****

“One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world.”

Reading Malala Yousafzai’s memoir reminded me of how lucky I truly am.  Sometimes I forget everything that I have because, even as an adult, I’m focused on what I don’t have.  Then I read something like this and it hits me--how much I have in this world.  All the freedoms and abilities and love.  I want to gather everyone I love up and squeeze them tight, thanking them for all that I have.

Malala reminds me of the strength and perseverance young people have and the greatness that our kids can accomplish, if given the chance.  Malala’s father gave her the chance and tools to do everything she could and wanted to do.  Her mother stepped back and allowed her daughter, her precious daughter, to do what she needed to do because “Falsehood has to die.”  She knew her daughter could make a difference in this world.  I loved how Malala focused so much on her family and how they were dealing the threats and the terror, just as she focused on herself.  She looked at her younger brother and saw how they were affected by the fighting and terrorism of the Taliban.

I knew Malala’s story before I read this, but I was still moved by it, crying at parts because it was just so sad, and at other parts where it was just so beautiful, everything she had accomplished.  I do wish I had also purchased the regular edition, but my intention is to share it with my sixth graders and let them see how much they can do to change this world and make into a better place.  Still, I would have loved to read to the full scope of her writing.  

Things I want my students to take away from this when they read it:

• Stand up and fight for what you believe in, but fight with your words.
• Value your education because that’s the most valuable gift you can have.
• Never give up.

I definitely recommend this, especially if you have a child in 5th-8th grades.  There are so many ideas that you can discuss with them if you read it together.  It would be a great book for a book study or book club for middle school students as well.  Definitely a book that should be in your TBR list, if you haven’t already read it!

How to Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis

   I saw a post on the A Wuthering Heights Facebook page about this book. I skipped over it at first, but went back to check it out later when I was up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. I was immediately intrigued and bought the book so I could start right away. 

   Samantha Ellis takes us through her life via the books she has read. It was beautiful and I immediately felt as if she and we're friends having a discussion about books. This memoir is for book lovers. Travel along through familiar favorites and discover new reads--books you've never heard of and ones you've put off, for whatever reason, that are calling your name again. Ellis delves into our favorite characters and identifies why they're our favorite, but then leads us in questioning whether or not they should be. 

I enjoyed the book up until the last chapter. It seemed like a sudden slip off a cliff and into a void. Maybe I just wanted more, but we were rolling along, having a fine time and suddenly it was goodbye and I was confused because I thought things were going well. I hadn't been prepared for this ending. 

If you are a book lover, especially if you have read classic female characters with a passion that has almost seemed scary, you need this book. You will walk away with a new friend to introduce at next month's book talk.