Book Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Author: Sherman Alexie
Artwork: Ellen Forney

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Little, Brown

Paperback Publication Date: April 1, 2009
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Junior is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. Born with a variety of medical problems, he is picked on by everyone but his best friend. Determined to receive a good education, Junior leaves the rez to attend and all-white school in the neighboring town where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Despite being condemned as a traitor to his people and enduring great tragedies, Junior attacks life with wit and humor and discovers a strength inside himself that he never knew existed.

Inspired by his own experiences growing up, award-winning author Sherman Alexie chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one unlucky boy trying to rise above the life everyone expects him to live.

I Read Banned Books: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association

This week is Banned Books Week, and it's one of my favorite events of the year because I just love reading and learning about everyone's experiences with banned and challenged books. I also love reading all the articles and seeing the infographics that individuals and companies put together to create awareness. But mostly, I love celebrating the fact that I read banned books, and that I will never stop reading banned books because every book is a book worth reading.

This week, I'll be sharing a few of my favorite banned and challenged books with my readers. I hope you enjoy this little mini series, and getting to know a different side of me.

Hardcover Lover Confessions (13)

Hardcover Lover Confessions is one of two regularly posted discussion post features on The Hardcover Lover.

In the Hardcover Lover Confession posts, I confess bookish habits, thoughts, or other random things with my readers, and then I encourage everyone to start discussing the issue with everyone else. It's a really fun way to get some bookish confessions off your chest.

There really isn't an order as to when I post my Confessions - I kind of come up with them when an issue arises or a thought pops into my head. Sometimes, an issue just eats away at me until I finally decide to write a post. Ergo, there could be one a month or there could be a few a month. There could even be a month when I don't post a Hardcover Lovers Confessions at all. It just all depends on what's going on in the book community or how I feel.

Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin (2)

Last week, I introduced a new feature on the blog called Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin.

In case you missed it, these are notes that I found from my YA lit class. I've set it up to work as a different kind of discussion post. It's acting as a lesson and a discussion post in one. I'll be sharing my notes, and reflecting on them. I'll also be asking what you think of each week's topic.

ARC Review: Dumplin'

Title: Dumplin'

Author: Julie Murphy

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Publication Date: September 15, 2015

Source: Books for Trade from Ashley

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin (1)

Today, I'm trying something new out on the blog. I'm not sure if this has been done before, so if it has, I take no claim for it at all. I just thought it would be cool to share some of what I learned in college. What you're going to find in these Throwback Thursday lessons are notes that I took during my Young Adult Literature class. Some of what I use will be notes that I took during class, and other times, I'll share the thoughts that I came up with while learning.

Keep in mind that I don't really have a lot of notes from this class. It was only a fifteen week course, but I'll share as much as I can, and if it proves to be a much loved feature, I'll keep this format and share some of my own lessons.

So I give you Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin. In this feature, I'll be sharing some of my old notes and thoughts that I had when I first started to really read YA. It's kind of hard for me to even believe that before that class, I hadn't read many YA novels, especially considering where I am now.