RAE’S READS

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This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books. Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”

SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR KIDS (TEEN VERSION)

Just as Saturday mornings’ TV programing was aimed at kids, showing cartoons all morning, back in the 50s and 60s, PWR aims book recommendations at kids on Saturdays. Today’s recommendation is aimed at high schoolers.

The teen above could be Sid, the protagonist of Karen Bass’s Drummer Girl because she always wore baggy jeans and an oversized rock band T-shirt, often a hand-me-down from Devin, her away-at-college brother. When she wants to be a part of the rock band of her high school, she submits to her cousin turning her into a girly-girl, complete with mini skirts and scoop necked blouses over lacy camisoles.

The attention she receives from the jocks is unwelcome, and the criticism for trying to be something she’s not from her best friend, Ty is puzzling. With unwelcome “help” from a well-meaning guidance counselor, Sid is forced to confront her confusion about her mother’s leaving the family when she was a toddler and her father’s uncomfortableness when she starts thinking like most girls. The YA novel makes for good reading as well as some humorous (and some not-so-humorous) moments. As an adult, I was taken back to high school, with trying to fit in or at least find a niche, with bullying and drama abounding, and I kept turning pages ,wanting to find out how Sid was going to handle the next situation.

I highly recommend this well-written book for teens.

ESPECIALLY YA BOOKS. I guess I’m still a kid at heart!

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2 responses to “SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR KIDS (TEEN VERSION)”

  1. Rae Longest Avatar
    Rae Longest

    Reblogged this on blogging807.

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  2. Carole Avatar
    Carole

    I really like it when stories include some humor. This book sounds like it was really well-done!

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